“Should we be worried?” Columbus asked some time after Keynes had left.

Esopp sighed, deciding to put the tablet aside. He had to give it to Wagner’s engineers, they’d built an insane piece of technology here. Of course, if one considered formations, runes and mana a technology, which Esopp kind of did.

“He’s just upset about his friends,” Esopp remarked offhandedly.

“It hardly looked like upset to me,” Columbus said. “Are you sure your son’s mess hasn’t left any lingering damage?”

Esopp gave Columbus a hard stare, wondering if the other man was baiting him. It was unlikely for Columbus who had never struck Esopp as an overly playful man. That was why he chose the military career instead of the political one. Maybe leaving the army behind stressed him too much? If Esopp’s mental state wasn’t so strained, he’d definitely tease Columbus but he wasn’t in the mood for that. After the meeting was over, Esopp was going to push for the last few percent to hit Level 8. Then he would use Withered Regrets to replace one human essence level with rift essence level. If his calculations had been correct and he didn’t have reason to think otherwise, then he would be looking at 43 points per attribute. A pure human essence ascender, like Syberius Sael had been, only had 39 points at Level 8. A difference of 4 points per attribute wasn’t anything to scoff at. While these numbers were not very intuitive they mattered.

“He’s perfectly healthy,” Wagner interjected. “I had a team run a full health check when he was here.”

“Then what’s the matter with his emotionless disposition? We have to be careful about letting another sociopath grow in power.”

Esopp snorted. Columbus was being ridiculous. Keynes Kid was a handful, but at the end of the day he was only what—seventeen? By the law, an ascension made him an adult but the science of ascenders was clear, no matter the level, seventeen was still seventeen. Extra Mind attributes added some mental protection but did nothing for resilience and wisdom which could be only acquired through experience of long years.

“Cut him some slack, will you?” Esopp said. “He’s been through hell—”

“For which you’re partly responsible.”

Columbus’s harsh words brought a silence that even Wagner didn’t look keen to banish. But, yes, Columbus was right. Esopp had been in charge of Hidden Hand, the organisation which had handled the discovered rift and Keynes Kid.

“I take blame freely where I deserve it. I should have raised Waxilium better. He mishandled the Jamaican compound’s operations, but even though I was tied up in fixing up the energy crisis on Venus, I am not convinced I’d have changed Freeman’s mind with regard to speeding up the opening of the first rift. It does look like a glaring error in the hindsight but that’s always the comfort of looking back and knowing the consequences.”

His response came less harsh than he’d expected, which incidentally eased the atmosphere. It veered the conversation away from Esopp. They discussed the potential consequences of delaying opening the rifts for the Solar Council and how far they should push. Columbus wanted to stay on their good side until Emerald City had fully functional defence measures and would protect them from assault. They also had to take into account their Level 4 rift cluster. It was hidden but mostly undefended.

Moving Level 4 rifts was out of the question at the moment. They only had two Level 4 rift orbs of relocation and they were going to use them for the rifts discovered in different parts of the planet. Unlike the outbreak, locating sealed rifts wasn’t an easy task. Tools required to locate a rift had a short range and Earth had a massive area. Their current prototype had a range of twenty kilometres but the cost of building it was an order of magnitude higher than the ten kilometre model. Wagner wasn’t sure if it was worth it. The location of the cluster on the island had been given to them by Shaper. They also had a location of Level 5 rift cluster a few isles away. That was partly why they set up Emerald City in Southeast Asia.

Eventually, their conversation dwindled and Wagner asked.

“Should we include him in the long term plan deliberation when he’s like this?”

“It’s better to wait until the next meeting with it,” Columbus said.

Esopp almost snorted at that. Wagner and Columbus and their ambitious future plans. Either way, Esopp didn’t think Keynes would care much about them as long as he was free to do what he wanted.

Almost thirty minutes later, Keynes returned. Esopp squinted at him, giving him a scrutinous glance and somehow, he felt like one being scrutinised. That boy’s spiritual aura was monstrous. Esopp had a hard time believing that the boy had cowed Turtelli in Geneva, buying them precious time.

Nonetheless, Keynes needed to sort out his appearance. His long hair was a mess, his apparel while good quality was mismatched and definitely out of fashion. Esopp was going to put him in touch with his man.

The cold indifference vanished but Keynes’s eyes had an echo of haunted stare that belonged to someone who had seen too much. It couldn’t be helped, if they wished to walk ahead of the rest. There were always going to be challenges and danger. But Columbus wasn’t wrong. The last thing they wanted to do was to raise a tyrant. They all had done hard calculations and had seen the numbers. By Level 6, Keynes as a Perfect State ascender was going to surpass them in the raw attributes and from there the divide would only grow wider. They couldn’t kill him because without Keynes Kid there would be no more rifts. Individually, they couldn’t keep up with him either. Hence Wagner’s and Columbus’s insistence on powering up the organisation, Esopp mused. It is the only tool left to them that will let them keep Keynes in check. Or so they hope.

“Dominion rewards, right?” Keynes asked as he sat down.

“You sure you don’t want to postpone the meeting?” Wagner asked.

“I’m sure.”

“Let me start then,” Esopp said, surprising others, in particular Keynes. “Yeah, I have received some rewards as well. I’m pretty sure they aren’t as impressive as yours but I’m happy with them.”

Esopp took out the first item.

Lesser Rift Orb of Rarity

Increases a drop rate of higher rarity items from monsters and chests.

Affinity: None

Note:

Can be used on a Dungeon.

Monsters’ drop must be enabled to be affected.

[Rift Consumable]

Level 2

Then came the rift.

Rift (Rare; Variable)

Level

2

Status

Closed, Personal

Requirements

Requires Owner’s Permission

Modifiers

-

Details

-

Affinity

Dominion

Special Status

Unexplored

He’d also received a bow with a passive skill that could track anyone wounded by the bow. It was a decent Level 3 weapon with a solid feel but Esopp had no need for it. He had one already but he waited for the arrival of the [Create Ice] skill shard from his won bid war to finally make use of it.

“These are for placing second at the weekly ranking,” he explained to the stunned others. “Now for the personal achievements, missions, challenges and other such frivolities like lending a hand in killing the sub-boss.”

Following rewards weren’t impressive, just some rare materials and potions Esopp had no use of but they were clearly valuable, he’d checked, most of them weren’t even listed on Artefact Exchange. He also had received a belt with a resistance property against mental attacks, but he sold it and used the money to buy [Create Ice]. Then, there were five Level 5 essence orbs with different affinities. Each orb contained essence equivalent to a single Level 5 common rift. He’d considered using them for himself but a quick calculation discouraged him from this course of action. They would’ve given him only 1.25% toward Level 8, which was as much as 10 Level 4 common rifts. Because of the essence’s affinity, these must be worth much more.

Others eagerly looked over the materials but didn’t dwell on them.

“And this,” Esopp dropped a bomb on them. He placed a silvery orb on the table and waited for the others to check the System label. Wagner used a formation in the table that did the same for him over the distance.

“Orb of Dominion,” Wagner muttered and Esopp recognised that look with cogs working overtime behind Wagner’s eyes. He crushed any plans the other man might have with regard to the orb. “You can have all of this, but the orb is mine.”

In the corner of his eye, he saw Keynes slump a little. So the boy had designs for the orb as well? Him, Esopp couldn’t blame. From bits and pieces of knowledge he’d learned that these orbs were required to upgrade existing dominions. Unfortunately for Keynes Kid, Esopp wasn’t all selfless and such. He wanted to carve out a little place for himself as well. Claiming a vacant island and turning it into Esopp’s dominion sounded very appealing.

“I will buy it from you,” Keynes said, unable to contain himself.

“Don’t.” Esopp shook his head. A quick look at Eteris—an Artefact Exchange trading application—showed the latest bid ending at over 200 billion solar credits. Not bad but in comparison to Esopp’s stake in Untainted Paradise, it was peanuts. The orb wasn’t for sale. “It would do some good for each of you to have a dominion.”

“I don’t see the appeal,” Wagner said but others weren’t convinced with Keynes looking outrightly shocked at Wagner’s statement, which led to Keynes explaining the mechanisms and advantages of a dominion. Although, he admitted that his dominion was a little superior due to the circumstance of being an ‘inheritance’ from the sub-boss.

Esopp listened to Keynes’s revelation with his mouth and eyes growing wider. A free view? Changing terrain or weather? Esopp had to actively push down the urge to take the orb and find a spot to activate it. Suddenly, the fortunes paid for these orbs weren’t looking like lunacy.

“I agree with them. The healing buff saved Earl’s ass after all,” Columbus said, allowing himself a faint smirk.

That it did, Esopp thought grimly. He had the Tear of Gyra but Esopp couldn’t use it unconsciously. It was a serious drawback of the item, and a reminder to always have a trained team with him. They didn’t need to actively help him but were there for emergencies. The third Hated Foe was going to be rather deadly and Esopp might need the Tear to get himself out of it alive.

“It is something to consider for the future,” Wagner admitted less hesitantly than before then turned to Esopp. “Is that all?”

“No,” Esopp replied, unsure how to feel about the last bit. He took out a crude, thumb-sized shard of a grey glass with dark smoke swirling inside it like water. He kept it between his fingers in front of himself. “This is called a Trait of Dominator.”

Keynes frowned then his eyes showed signs of someone looking at the System, then they widened in disbelief.

For the first time in days, Esopp allowed himself to smile. The item didn’t come out of his dimensional pouch but from somewhere else.

“It is a soulbound item,” Esopp said.

“Meaning?” Wagner asked, leaning forward.

“Meaning it cannot be given away,” Keynes explained and to emphasise the point, Esopp placed the shard on the table. It dissolved into smoke the next second, returning to Esopp ethereal storage space.

“What is this?” Columbus asked.

Trait of Dominator

“Having others in your grip is the only way.”

-

Adds a trait of dominator to the Spiritual Core. Effects are not universal.

-

Note:

This is not a buff/debuff.

[Permanent Consumable]

Soulbound

The flavour text was a little ominous but overly, Esopp didn’t think the System would reward him if it was detrimental to his strength. But he was going to wait until Level 8 and use it regardless if the kid figured it out or not.

“It changes your spiritual core,” Esopp replied. “Doesn’t say much else.”