"Oh," Keynes said, realisation dawning on him. "So you can detect the essence inside me?"

Kora's frown deepened as a mixture of emotions flowed from her aura. She was confused, startled, and excited all at once. They wound between the workers gathered outside the rift, noticing the higher number and levels of workers at this rift compared to the others they had cleared that day.

Keynes's attention was briefly diverted as he saw Natalia speaking to the cluster manager and Ulf heading towards the dome's exit. Only Miguel remained, clearly waiting for Kora.

Seconds ticked by as Kora walked in silence with Keynes towards the dome's exit. There was a lot of heavy machinery there - trucks, containers, and some sophisticated equipment made from Level 3 and 4 materials. It made sense; if they were about to collect Level 4 lava, nothing of a lower level would be able to withstand the heat.

"How do you know I can sense essence? Natalia didn't mention it,” Kora asked.

Keynes shrugged. "Haven't your first question made it self-evident? How would you know I do anything with essence if you couldn't detect it?"

Kora realised her mistake and followed Keynes as he opened the door for her. They descended the stairs and stopped a few steps outside the dome, leaning on the railing. In the time it had taken the carry team to clear 20 rifts, less than five hours had passed.

"Fair point," Kora said, her voice quiet. "I didn't think my question through it seems."

Keynes nodded absentmindedly, considering the girl. Even though she seemed smaller and more fragile, her attributes were far higher than Keynes’s. Without their Talents and skills, she was far stronger than him. It was weird.

What spread before their eyes filled him with a different kind of weirdness. Things had gone far. The entire rift cluster was a hive of activity with tens of thousands of workers removing everything from the rifts.

"Anyway, will you tell me about the essence?" Kora asked, excitement clear in her voice.

Keynes was tempted to babble out an answer, but time spent with the other founders had instilled a sense of caution in him. He knew that knowledge should be distributed carefully and with a specific goal in mind. Although Kora and the others worked for his company, he didn't want to reveal all of his secrets to them. Maybe he was being too paranoid, or maybe he had taken the lessons of the other founders too far. He wasn't sure.

"I will think about it," he finally said, before turning and walking away.

***

"What was that about?" Miguel asked from behind Kora.

"I'm trying to figure out who this person is," Kora replied, watching the VIP walk along the metal pathways between the domes towards the VIP living quarters.

"Looks like another big ego smartass," Miguel said, joining Kora at the railing. "He'll level up and be gone in a week."

"Yeah, I know," Kora said, worried. This stranger had done something with the essence inside his body that she had never seen before. Other VIPs allowed the essence to seep into them like snow melting on water, but this guy's essence moved with patterns and precision, as if building something inside him. I have to know what he's doing with it.

"Let's go back. Nat will want to review our performance for today. She isn't happy with our timings," Miguel chuckled.

***

"That was uncalled for," Esopp said as they sat in Keynes's apartment. Esopp had insisted on having the conversation before the next round, interrupting Keynes's plans to search for essence-related spells on Artefact Exchange. However, Alice had enthusiastically offered to help with the search, so Keynes had agreed.

"What do you mean?" Keynes asked, distracted. Alice had just told him that no essence-related spells were for sale. Was this related to the items with insight modifiers? It seemed likely. Both aimed for the same goal - training the Spirit. Why hadn't Artefact Exchange flagged this pattern? They must have noticed it. Unless they were aware of it and chose not to share the intelligence. Just another thing for my future PA to worry about, Keynes thought, filing the information away for later.

"You didn't need to tell Goodman to kick me out," Esopp said, reaching for a drink. Despite his complaint, he seemed to be in good spirits. “We almost gave him a heart attack.”

Keynes didn’t share his good mood.

"What's the matter?" he asked, his smile fading.

Keynes weighed how much he wanted to tell him. It wasn't that he didn't trust Esopp, but the timing didn't feel right for some of the information. He focused on Esopp and said, "It's about Artefact Exchange." He knew that Esopp didn't trust Serrata, so he thought this would be the best approach to the issue. If he tried to bring Esopp's attention to the items with insight modifiers or spells related to essence first, he would probably fail, as Esopp's priorities were strange.

"What's about them?"

"How close is our relationship with them?" Keynes asked.

Esopp emptied a glass of water as he thought about his answer. It was unusual for the other founder to be so sombre, like Columbus or Wagner.

"There isn't any formal agreement between our companies, but Serrata appears to be trying to align with us," Esopp said. "Which isn't surprising, considering Untainted Paradise has you. What is surprising is that others don't crawl to us and still try to bully us to their whims. But you should never trust a politician. Their agendas are convoluted and run deep."

Keynes's frown deepened.

"I didn't know she was a politician."

"Every head of a major company is embroiled in politics. That's why Wagner enjoys staying in Geneva. The whole city is a damn political theatre," Esopp said.

"Odd for someone with a Talent like his."

"Talents have nothing to do with our personalities," Esopp replied. "What brought up your question, anyway?"

"I found a concerning trend on the market. All items with insight properties and essence-related skills are regularly bought, and Artefact Exchange is keeping these transactions hidden. No history," Keynes said.

Esopp nodded, unsurprised by Keynes's revelation. He explained that it was normal for larger, even allied organisations, to only share information if it was in their best interest. Although Esopp distrusted Serrata and Artefact Exchange, he didn't think this was out of the ordinary. However, Keynes wasn't ready to let it go. He told Esopp about the report and why he believed these items and skills were important, and that the entire activity warranted a thorough investigation.

Esopp didn't disagree with Keynes, but he urged him to delegate this issue to the master spy and intelligence department. It wasn't their responsibility to play detective. They had people to do the grunt work.

From there, the conversation returned to the rifts and their progress. Esopp shared how much essence he had received that day - 2.5% from 20 Level 4 rifts. Keynes was in a much better situation with 8.5%.

"Hm, how long before you level up?" Keynes asked.

"Discounting boss instances, no longer than fifteen days," Esopp replied.

That didn't sound too bad. Keynes should be able to reach Level 4 in six days.

It was possible to increase the speed of progress, but it would mean clearing the rifts with less than five people. The system penalised parties larger than four. With five to ten ascenders, the penalty (which was their current one) was 25%. With eleven to twenty-five people, the penalty was 50%, and with more than twenty-five ascenders, the penalty increased to 75%. There were some discussions about levelling up larger groups, as it would reward more total essence, but the natural range of essence was only 50 metres, making it difficult to fit many people within the range. Knowing Wagner and his love of spreadsheets and efficiency, there were people working hard to figure out how to make use of this phenomenon.

After a few minutes of small talk, Esopp finally mentioned the reason for his visit.

"Hidden rewards. We need to figure out how to get them without alerting the carry team. They're scary," Esopp said, his smirk hiding a hint of respect in his voice. In their current state, the four carries would have easily defeated Esopp or Keynes without breaking a sweat.

Keynes still had to figure out what to do about Kora's request. Her skill could be useful in training others, but only after they had a proper screening process in place.

"I don't think there's much we can do," Keynes admitted. "Their leader doesn't let any VIP anywhere near the reward chest, and she's usually the last to leave a rift. Besides, having a door open in thin air wouldn't go amiss, don't you think?"

"In that case, we may be forced to reveal our identities to the carry team, but only them," Esopp said.

Keynes's brows rose, but he didn't argue with Esopp. He was right. They couldn't ignore the hidden rewards. The rewards from the hidden vault were outstanding, and it wasn't even the highest tier of available hidden rewards.

Level 1 rifts had hidden compartments, but they weren't worth their attention. They were technically trinkets.

Level 2 rifts had hidden rooms with up to four tailored items.

Level 3 rifts had hidden vaults with eight valuable and tailored items, of which only one could be picked per ascender inside the rift. Keynes didn't know how many ascenders could enter the hidden vault, but he suspected only four, as there seemed to be a pattern.

Level 4 rifts must have their own hidden reward chamber, but either Keynes hadn't encountered it or he hadn't sensed it. This only made him more curious about the potential rewards in such a place.

"So how do we do this?" Keynes asked.

Esopp shrugged, but a mischievous smile flitted across his face. Of course, that man was up to no good. He was almost 80 years old, but he behaved like a teenager.

***

"Yes?" Goodman asked, not taking his eyes off his paperwork. Granted, they had given him a tablet and his secretaries helped with the ever-growing workload, but it still felt inadequate. This alone frustrated him. Being pestered by silly requests from VIPs drove him nuts.

"We have a request," the tall one with short hair said.

Of course you do.

Goodman paused, remembering the voice. As he looked up from his desk, his heart skipped a beat. These two together were a bad sign. Silently, Goodman prayed to whatever god might be willing to listen.

"What kind of request?" he asked, feeling a growing lump in his throat.

"We have to extract something from the rifts, but it isn't possible without alerting the carry team," the shorter one with black hair said.

Goodman stared at them with a blank expression. What were they saying? What did they mean by "extracting something from the rifts"? They noticed his consternation, and the taller one added, "We may tell them who we are, and we'd appreciate it if it remained between us."

"Oh, okay."

They finally turned to leave. The black-haired teenager in his creepy coat gave Goodman chills. He wasn't imagining it; he felt his aura judging him.

As they reached the door, Goodman shook off the shock and asked, "What are you extracting from these rifts?" He wasn't interested in their identities, but he was responsible for the content of the rifts.

The younger one left the room, leaving the older one alone with Goodman.

"Good stuff," he said.

Huh? What kind of answer was that? Before Goodman could collect his thoughts, the VIP was gone, leaving Goodman with dread spreading through every cell in his body. If they were going to be this flippant with Natalia and her team... I think I will have another headache.