Cyril Sarnath
patreon
Chapter 181
🕑 Added 2023-08-18 16:43:45 +0000 UTCHey everyone, I hoped to post two chapter this week but there are several developments that keep me occupied.
1. I started editing the first book with a professional editor and it is time consuming. Optimistically speaking, I see the first book finished by the end of September. You will have a chance to read it first before the chapters are uploded to RR.
2. A few unwelcome personal matters.
I still plan to get another chapter as soon as possible as it will show two other perspectives that are vital for the story--they come with small time skips. Then comes the final competition of the 2nd world dominion and... it will be time (for Keynes) to leave Earth. I won't be done with Earth by any measure as there are still characters that I want to cover (Harter and few others) but my plan was always for the story to be one a cosmic scale.
Thanks for supporting me and enjoy reading! :)
------------------------
Andre Turtelli didn’t particularly dislike the tropical climate of the Panama region. Especially that his tolerance to temperature had been further increased with an ascension to Level 7, but he found the air of the Gates of South borderline unbearable. It was too hot and humid.
His advisors and personnel were in a far worse position as they were lower Levels and with access to fewer items of power. Even so, there shouldn’t be anything this extreme on Earth.
Unless it was the city itself, he concluded.
The Gates of South wasn’t an ordinary place after all. The super-city was designed by Tay Tark, and built from scratch in a few months, to withstand a Level 5 outbreak and accommodate up to 10 million High Level ascenders without issues. Unlike Arshem, the rogue city in Asia, the Gates of South belonged to the World Government. It also acted as its informal capital even though the official seat was in Paris.
Andre was taken aback by the splendour of the super-city and he was certainly going to have a word with the prime minister about this. It was preposterous that the World Government projected a stronger image than the Solar Council which was in charge of the former.
The trip from the airport to the city hall was a short one and once inside a building the oppressive heat and humidity vanished. With his spiritual sense Andre felt the hum of power moving through the walls, floors and ceilings. He paused and for a good minute gathered his thoughts. Andre didn’t expect this level of advancement outside of the Solar Council.
The first impression of the Gates of South made him worried. We cannot allow the World Government to slither out of our grip. They’re critical to our agenda. And the issue was that the World Government knew this. Problems didn’t end there though.
Unlike before when the World Government was one man—Windsor Freeman—this time around there was no single head to remove. Replacing the current prime minister would mean next to nothing and hunting the deep state could threaten the stability of the council’s fragile rule.
Andre stopped before the door, which reminded him more of a palace than a city hall.
Shaking his head, he pushed the door apart, noticing with growing anger that it was made out of Level 4. Wasteful and extravagant.
The chamber took Andre’s breath away. It screamed one word: opulence.
It wasn’t that it was larger than the Solar Council meeting chamber, but how it was made larger.
A spatial formation.
Its energy signature was unmistakable. To Andre’s knowledge the formation was in an experimentation stage as some of the required ingredients weren’t obtainable currently and the Institute tested substitutes. The effects were a mixed bag with several casualties.
The prime minister looked up from the massive oval table in the middle of the chamber. The man was best described as sleazy. His smile was too measured, his mannerism polished to perfection and devoid of any character.
“Chairman, welcome to the Gate of South. I hope you had a nice trip.”
In response Andre wanted to bash the prime minister’s head against the table but he wasn’t a savage and he returned pleasantries.
While the prime minister’s face was no different to a mask, his spiritual aura was more expressive. For once, Andre thanked the humiliation at the hand of Keynes Kid. It forced him to master his spiritual aura.
The prime minister was wary of him, which was understandable. On the surface, Andre didn’t have business coming here while two major events were in progress: the siege of Sandman’s dominion and an exploration of the greater rift. On that account Andre agreed.
But fortunately he also had access to the Sovereign’s profound information system, which brought to his attention the economy of the second world dominion. Without thinking twice, Andre reprioritized his plans and paid the prime minister a visit.
“What’s the matter with the weather?” Andre asked, keeping his tone neutral and his aura tightly wrapped.
The prime minister was not ready for the question, which showed in his aura while his face remained unblemished. He quickly recovered though.
“It’s a novel phenomenon,” He replied. “It has appeared when we’ve transplanted trees from the dominion here. My people are convinced that Level 5 trees produce Level 5 oxygen and it somehow affects the climate in the region.”
“You have done… what?” Andre asked, finding it harder to keep his composure.
“We’re hardly the first to do this. Areshem—”
Andre stopped the prime minister. At the same time, reminding himself that he didn’t come here to discuss the weather.
“Forget it. It’s not important,” he said. “But now that we are on the topic of the dominion. I have a few questions.”
The words had almost a physical blow to the prime minister. Still, the man kept his mask of a face intact.
“I am happy to help, chairman. My loyalty to the Solar Council is absolute.”The prime minister actually bowed, which Andre found repulsive as he knew that it was all for show.
“Good, let’s start with some numbers,” Andre said coolly. “I am told that the world dominion produces a 100 times more skill shards and items than all available rifts but none of this is reflected in your tax reports.”He wasn’t going to mention the raw materials as the Sovereign’s estimation was pure guesswork and didn’t look as impressive as the skill shards or items.
The prime minister took his time in answering while Andre carefully observed him with his every sense. When the prime minister’s facade was about to fall apart, he somehow smoothed it.
“Mr Chairman, let’s cut to the chase. With the fallout of the previous government and chaotic economy, we’re left on the verge of insolvency. Without income from the dominion the government would have fallen apart. And please don’t be fooled by the grandeur of the South Gate. With so many powerful ascenders around, we must cultivate a certain image,” he said. “Like you do with Hunter.”
Such audacity!
Liars and thieves.
It seemed that Andre’s silence emboldened the prime minister as he spoke again.
“An institution of the World Government is relatively young, given thousands of years of humankind history, and its success relied mostly on strict societal control and information suppression. The recent schism between the Old Blood and the World Government created a host of issues exacerbated by the outbreaks and the Dominion of Monsters. The source of essence is completely outside anyone’s control and abolishing levelling sounds like a recipe for a full blown rebellion, neither the Solar Council nor the World Government is ready to face. We, the government, are not trying to usurp power here. We are trying to keep the broken ship from sinking, while you are demanding the same materials we need to patch the ship.”
Andre finally calmed down. He needed to take a look at this with a cool head. He wasn’t an idiot and he recognised the prime minister’s monologue for what it was—a threat.
Seconds ticked by as Andre walked to one of the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a state of art garden. A threat or not, there was much truth to the prime minister’s words.
The world was a mess and interplanetary politics was even more complicated as Mars’ and Venus’ grew frustrated with the lack of rifts on their planets. The Solar Council not having an ability to open rifts was their biggest weakness and forced them to rely on Hunter to keep others in line. It made their authority tentative. Something Andre found unsustainable despite Lord Sovereign’s assurances.
It wasn’t even about Hunter’s fickle personality but the threat of new powerhouses growing in the wild. Vivena Sael was only the first of many that would come; and if not for Doctor’s Talent, they would have had a hard time keeping her under control. Andre didn’t even want to think about Keynes Kid and Untainted Paradise. Those were problems for another day.
Now was the time to remind the World Government who was in charge.
“I have some good news,” Andre said, finding alien satisfaction in what he was about to say. “The Institute is hard at work in bringing several solutions that will turn things around for you.”
The prime minister’s aura showed a mix of distrust and wariness.
“What solutions?” the prime minister asked.
“Mandatory mana-powered ID chips.”
“It’s a failed idea,” the prime minister dismissed it, a little too boldly for Andre’s comfort.
“It failed by design,” Andre replied but didn’t elaborate as it was all he’d been told by Lord Sovereign. “And doesn’t end there. We’re introducing a new version of fully controlled Web connected to the ID chips.”
This caught the prime minister off-guard as the chance of leaking the sensitive research information was nearly zero now that the Institute was directly controlled by the Solar Council. Research was too important to be left in the hands of others, as it could lead to creation of people like Lowe who almost had hidden the existence of the greater rift from the Solar Council.
Smiling in his mind, Andre continued, “With closed cities and control of trade, the economy will stabilise. We’ll be able to introduce proper licensing for hunting and levelling. Soon, with your help, we will have things under control.”
It didn’t take a genius to see the implications of their plans. Some people and organisations wouldn’t like it but the Sovereign future projections were bleak without order and control.
“But—”
Andre raised his hand, interrupting the prime minister.
“Emergency call,” he said, then accepted the call.
“Sir, please check the dominion leaderboard under the world dominion subsection,” one of the officers said in his earpiece.
Andre brought the System then navigated to the aforementioned section and froze.
Not because he found Keynes Kid there but because Kora Kowalska was with him. How was this possible? Andre had her in the most secured facility with runes that prevented Talent teleportation up to Level 5. These runes were priceless and one of the most valuable assets handed to them by RuneSight.
It didn’t matter if it was Kid’s or Untainted Paradise doing. All that mattered was that their enemies were capable of breaking out a person, somehow, from the most secured location on Earth. Andre had neglected to report this to Lord Sovereign as the girl was a minor figure in the scheme of things and it hadn’t been clear what had happened but now Andre needed to act. Urgently.
“Something important has come up, prime minister.” Andre turned around. “We’ll be in touch.”
Andre didn’t wait for the prime minister to reply and strode out of the meeting chamber, while dialling Lord Sovereign.
***
Vivena softly landed among trees. Thanks to the strange mutant plant, the dominion’s debuff was barely an afterthought. The plant and information on how to get to the centre was a courtesy of the Solar Council. She only regretted the time wasted on breaking bones to get what she wanted.
Though the Solar Council didn’t hide the fact that Keynes had reached the centre of the world dominion, they neglected to inform her about it and tried to stonewall her when she told them she was going after Keynes.
The delay cost her greatly as 9 out of 10 spots were already taken and it was now the race with time, which made Vivena furious. There were thousands of ascenders trying to find the centre. She had killed many of them but the way into the centre was still elusive.
She unfolded [Poison Aura] to the maximum extent with the decaying wood poison in it. The decaying wood poison was the nature killer. Anything possessing nature affinity would be poisoned and die. She didn’t do it out of spite but for convenience. Once the aura was up, Vivena started moving forward. She would rather use [Flight] but the dominion had a spatial anomaly that kept her from reaching the centre that way and so she was forced to move on foot.
Waste of time…
It wasn’t really as she needed to collect ingredients to unlock passage forward but she hated how slow the whole process was. The biggest hurdle was the lack of precise information.
Naturally no one posted any info how to get into the Inner Sanctuary as the System called it and she was on her own. Almost. Sometimes she ran across another ascender or a group and got them talking. Mostly after breaking bones. At this point, ascenders were stronger than usual, but no one was as strong as her. Not even close.
Then she came across a person in a white mask, mismatched rift items, armed in an oversized axe and shield. They raged as they cut through monsters and trees alike.
The surrounding area was quite heavily damaged, which indicated that the fight was past its peak.
Vivena considered the next step. She wanted information but she could sense frustration and anger in the ascender’s aura. They didn’t have the key to the Inner Sanctuary.
Then the last of the monsters fell and the ascender whirled toward her.
“Who are you?”the man’s voice from behind the mask asked.
What kind of question was that? She would laugh it off if not for the ascender’s sudden change in spiritual aura. His emotions vanished leaving only a weak pressure betraying his presence. Vivena was wary of those who could precisely control spiritual aura. It was an easy way to distinguish between Level-junkies and credible threats.
Their standoff stretched out as neither of them did any move or spoke further.
He’s a mixed essence Level 7. She could easily kill him but that would be a waste. What if he had the information? But was she strong enough to subdue him? She was less certain about that.
“If you don’t have business with me then move on and don’t waste each other’s time.”
“You’re after the Inner Sanctuary and with only one spot left, it may be better to take you out,” she replied calmly.
“That’s so stupid,” he snorted. “While good folks murder each other, the fucking government grows in power. But I’ll kill you if you attack me though I’d rather not fight you.”
The White Masks. Them and their twisted ideology.
Despite his argument, Vivena wasn’t going to risk leaving competition alive. She was about to use a quick poison serum when a dominion message appeared.
The Inner Sanctuary is closed.
The final competition is in progress.
You can find more information in the System subsection…
She was frozen by the message while the other man howled a familiar word in rage.
“KID!!!!!”
Comments
vdv9
Tyftc
