Chương 8: 175. Power and Planning

Alex sat comfortably in his office chair, leaning into the leather with both eyes closed. The advancement of his [Parallel Mind] had come with an unexpected bonus. The connection between all of his minds seemed to be faster and much more fluid. He currently sat, watching through Scout's eyes as he was pulled from the back of a truck and moved to a van. It still felt a bit odd, almost like he was watching the events through a VR headset, but he was getting more used to it by the moment.

Unfortunately, continued practice would have to wait, as a knock sounded on his door at the same time a thick sack was being shoved over the clone's head.

"Who is it?" he asked, standing from his desk.

"Edwin, sir." Alex tapped the tablet sitting on his desk to dismiss the wards and opened the door.

"Come on in," he said.

"Master Moore, it appears you were correct after all. Their purposes were indeed nefarious."

"Not really the best thing to be right about."

"Were you able to ascertain any of their identities?"

"Not yet, but when I do, and I figure out where they're taking 'me,' and we can go from there. There's still a lot I need to get done in the next couple of days, and I need your help to do it. Did you bring what I asked for?" Edwin presented a folder from his back that Alex was certain he hadn't been carrying. The corner of his mouth twitched when he saw it was the pouch he'd gifted to Edwin. Together, they moved over to the desk, and he reactivated the wards.

"There is a ton to get through tonight, and I don't want to take up too much of your time. There are three things we should talk about: skills, staff, and construction. Not too much different from our talk before we left. First, I want to start by hearing what's been going on in the nearby safe zones and the world. I did a bit of research, but it seems like you've been keeping up with this better than I have." Edwin nodded and stood with both hands clasped behind his back.

"Very well, sir. As you know, a lot has begun to change in your absence. Last month, martial law was officially declared in all safe zones across the country. Public morale hit an all-time low. There were riots, and crime saw a major spike everywhere. This left many of the Guild's branches scattered to the wind, but the entire ordeal spread through the public like wildfire. There was a moment where freshly displaced and displeased citizens might switch to supporting the Guild, possibly leading to a resurgence.

I'm not sure what it was that led to the decision, but the head of the next largest branch, the one in Colorado, made a public announcement to close down. It may have been the people who were trying to join as a result of discontent, rather than ones who wanted to support the Guild or further its original message. Or… it may have been pressure from the Hunters. There is no way to know. Most of the public knows at least a version of the truth about Rylan Voss.

"I mentioned before that many left the safe zones, but I must commend the HA. From what I've seen, they've managed to hold on to their power while keeping their safe zones in check. They had two weeks of conscripting awakened under a new bill called the Emergency Deployment Act. This led to more unrest, but as people realized this was less like going to war and more like getting a dangerous job at home, things began to calm down.

Some of the rewards offered led to supporters among the normal people coming out, and overall, the Hunters Association has done an adequate job of preventing everything from falling apart.

"There have been talks over the last two weeks of new drugs popping up in the safe zones and a black market of sorts forming, but none of us spend enough time there to really notice it. The food rationing has gotten better, from what I heard from one of the construction crews, but I believe that until that is solved fully, there will continue to be unrest in the safe zones." Alex nodded thoughtfully.

"Food would seem to be a major factor. Are they pushing out from the safe zones or creating farms or anything similar?"

"I have heard complains of eminent domain being used to seize farm land as well as a few rumors of land being seized if there is a Rare Rift or higher on the property. I'm not entirely sure how accurate the second one is, but I could see its plausibility."

"Okay, that's all sort of what I expected. How was Magitech received?"

"Quite well. I believe many saw it as the government taking care of them, and some of the immediate projects announced were adapting power, water, and communications grids to have backup functionality with the new magitech. Many sections of major cities went under a boil water advisory for a time, and some entire sections lost power."

"Good, I'm glad it helped. We'll need to work on getting ourselves set up on it as well and make sure we're able to operate independently of the others. What about the global situation?" Edwin shook his head.

"Quite grave, sir. Russia reinforced its borders and cut off communications with certain zones in Siberia, and was only saying that it was "classified as a research area." Last week, they deployed Awakened to Donbas, reigniting conflict and taking advantage of the focus of other world leaders being at home. Ukraine responded swiftly with their own awakened, though when the difference in unawakened and D Rank soldiers became apparent, they reportedly started to conscript and awaken civilians en masse.

"Last month, China moved troops to 'protect' the Rift zones in the South China Sea. They started to aggressively recruit into a state-run cultivation program and cut off a lot of outside communication. Cyber attacks increased for a time from the major Chinese teams, but there was already enough chaos that the main purpose of the attacks seemed to be probing for information, rather than instigating an attack.

Just yesterday, it was announced that they are offering Rift relocation for "cooperative" foreign nations, likely aimed at some of their neighbors in an attempt to get more cooperation."

"Jesus," Alex wiped his face with his hands and rubbed his eyes.

"The end of the world has basically come, and no one stops their scheming.

"Western Europe seems to be doing very well. Their government organized local resistance and supplemented it with its armed forces where needed. They seem to have the same problems we do in some of their major cities, but in general, the country seems to have a more solid grasp of things."

"Why do you think that is?"

"One of the discussion posts talked about how our country is naturally divided. The way the party system is set up in politics often leads a large portion of the population to distrust whoever is in power at the time. I suppose, in Europe, it's a bit more accepted to accept and trust those in power. They certainly have some of the same problems that we do, though the people's expectations and reactions appear to be at the heart of the difference."

"Hmm. I see," Alex said.

"What about alliances or coordination between world leaders? What about the UN?"

"There are too many moving pieces within the UN to rally at the moment. NATO recently made an announcement about something they're calling RCA, the Rift Containment Accord."

"What's it for?"

"I don't know the specifics, sir. I can look more into it, if you'd like. My general understanding is that it's meant for standardization of protocols and information sharing."

"Hmm, no, that's okay. This was plenty, thank you, Edwin. How were you even getting information on things like cyber teams? That was awesome." Edwin gave a small bow.

"It is all online, sir. Even before the integration, it was common for there to be daily news on recent cybersecurity attacks, though if it's not your occupation or interest, it's not likely something you'd look into."

"Fair enough. I do want to know what's going on in the world, but at the moment, that's outside of my scope, and these kinds of updates are enough for me to stay aware. For now, here is a list of the kinds of skills I want you to keep an eye out for. I'm going to start replacing some of my less-used skills with ones that accelerate learning, memorization, and mental stats.

Some of my current skills I can already do naturally with unstructured magic, and it's time to keep pushing toward an optimized build and getting away from the dependency on the System." Edwin looked over the list once before tucking it into the pouch at his back, naturally falling back into his previous position.

"Is there a price range that I should stay within for any of these, Master Moore?" Alex gave it a moment's thought before shaking his head.

"No. We have a ton of funds right now, and there won't be a ton of people with D-Rank stones out there. Now is the time to throw our weight around a little bit. Be discreet about it, of course. I don't want to draw unnecessary attention to the house, but these will be important in learning what I need before the timer finishes. How are the bags I gave you before?"

"Quite flush, sir. No additional funds should be necessary… for quite some time." His mustache gave a small twitch.

"Great. Now, let's talk about staff. You've seen me use my [Mirage] skill to create a duplicate before. That's the skill that got advanced, and the double that the goons just took a bit ago. The skill has its downsides, though. One is that the clones are created completely naked." Alex noted Edwin's slightly raised eyebrow and continued.

"I already wanted to get a few people on staff to create or mend armor for us. Unfortunately, that's going to come with a whole slew of things that need to be done. If I get an armorer or tailor, we should also get an enchanter. If we actually expect any of those people to do their craft and grow in levels and proficiency, they're going to need workshops. That means more money, more time, more construction. Do we have the property space right now to start setting up that kind of infrastructure?"

"Indeed, we do, sir. I'd simply need a list of the staff roles you'd like to bring on, and I will take care of the rest. You don't need to be as involved as you were with the greenhouse projects and getting the Grants started."

"Fair enough. Thanks. I'll make a list and give it to you tomorrow. Also, I need to reach out to Jake tonight and get the two of you in touch. We need to chat anyway to set up future meetings with the HA, and I'm hoping he can help us get in touch with some people we might need for these roles. I know it's a long shot, but I'm really hoping I can poach Evan from the Hunters." Alex refocused his rapidly moving mind.

"Last note on staff is your assistant. I have suggested it a few times, but now I want to make it an order. You need help, and I want you to find someone to assist you in your daily work. The load is only going to increase, and I'm already starting to feel uncomfortable with how much I'm putting on your plate."

"Very well, Master Moore. Are there requirements you'd like the assistant to meet?"

"Not really. I'm sure your requirements are going to be more stringent than anything I could think of."

"Would I be in charge of my assistant to delegate work and to train?"

"Of course…?" Alex's eyebrows came together, and he looked at Edwin suspiciously.

"I'd like to bring on Ms. Mei as my assistant," Edwin said plainly. His face shifted from confusion to surprise, brow climbing beneath the brim of his pointy hat.

"Really? That's pretty… unexpected?"

"Is it truly, sir?"

"Well, yeah. She seems like the opposite of you in most ways I can think of. Also, she's significantly stronger than you, which worries me a bit. You don't think she'll be a headache?" This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"As I said before, I believe working with her ill-suited mannerisms should fall to my role. She seems eager to learn and find her way into your good graces. I would rather keep an eye on her while she does so. She currently lacks a role in the house and doesn't seem to have plans to go anywhere." Alex thought on the idea for a few long moments before nodding.

"All right. I see what you mean. You can take her as your assistant… I just worry it's basically adding more work to you, rather than getting someone who's already trained to help you alleviate some of the work."

"No need to fret, Master Moore. I have seen many in this industry train and leave. I do not think Ms. Mei lacks the mettle to learn this role and do it well." He dipped his head again, maintaining his confident and deferential posture. Alex shrugged, still surprised.

"Well, okay. Lin will be your assistant. I guess that just leaves us with construction. I won't get involved in it, and leave it up to you or whoever you plan to bring on to help plan the buildings for the staff being brought on. However, I also want to build a larger building. Something like this," he pulled another note from his notebook and passed it to Edwin.

"This is the general layout of the multi-room barracks they built in the Shadow Rift. I think we could make something a bit nicer and multistoried for the adventurers we're going to bring on."

"On that note, sir. Several of the Ashen Hand have returned and are lingering uncertainly near the large tree out front. How would you like me to proceed?"

"I'll take care of them, but they're the sorts I'd like to allow to stay in a building like that," he said, nodding to the note in Edwin's hand.

"Very well. Is there anything else I can do for you, sir?"

"Two quick things. I'm going to deal with a few of the Ashen thugs that came back. Can you get Ian or John, whichever is on shift, and have them meet me back here? I want to cover their progress and where they want to go. When I give you the hiring list tomorrow, I'll have some instructions on what they can get for their reward from last month's work."

"And the second, sir?"

"Two minor changes to the workshop. I'm expecting some stuff to show up from the HA in the next couple of weeks. I'll talk with Jake more later and then with the director in a few days for our debrief, but this will come from their researchers. I want to make sure that there's a space in the workshop for the magitech to get set up. Let's make sure it's prepped and ready. It should only take up about a quarter of the main space; one of the corners will work fine.

The second is that I want to gather some high mana items and make Valtherion a comfortable sort of nest. We'll start his evolution in a couple of days, and I want to make sure he's got somewhere cozy to do it. Don't go crazy with valuable items, but don't use mana stones either, he'll just want to eat them." Edwin's mustache shifted, and Alex knew he was smiling.

"That's all I've got for you right now," Alex said.

"Master Moore…"

"What is it?"

"Do you mind if I ask about your plans moving forward? It is not my place to question your intentions, though knowing your movements might help the state of the house's readiness. These tasks and your desire to move things along quickly suggest that you're planning to leave again. Is that correct, sir?" Alex nodded.

"Yeah. Time is still ticking toward this continental event, and I can't stay here too long. From what I understand, most of the team is going to go their separate ways for the next month. We're supposed to have a group meeting about our plans in the next day or two. You should definitely be there. I'm probably planning to travel west, though. Maybe a bit south, toward the Blue Ridge Mountains. My focus is going to be on finding Rifts and marking ones with high rarity.

Along the way, I'm going to keep trying to recreate this elven ritual and make some progress there. It might be a long shot, but if I can figure out how they manipulated the Rift, then it could solve all of our problems before the event even starts."

"So an estimated month's absence?"

"A month, maybe two. It depends on what everyone decides in the meeting. It's pretty clear, though, the more time we spend outside of a Rift, the more time we're wasting with the potential time-dilation."

"Why not stay in a Rift the entire time, then?"

"Leveling is slowing down a ton for us. I could only gain a few levels in 3 entire months of that Rift fighting and trying to gain experience. I'm close to breaking into C Rank now, but unless we get a C Rank Rift to spawn in the next few months, it's going to be very slow progress. I feel like I'm better off making progress in my magic and testing out these theories with the elven ritual on Rifts that I can find. Can't exactly do that from within a Rift." Edwin bowed deeply before adjusting his vest.

"A wise plan, sir. I would only encourage you to take care of yourself. Rest and nutrition are still important, even if you now have a super-human physiology." Alex laughed and stood.

"Well, with these clones, I'm probably back to being closer to a normal human physiology." He walked Edwin out before activating the wards and following him down the stairs. When in the front yard, he was surprised to find the brave squatters still waiting under the tree, despite the light from the front of the house not reaching it very well. From the full distance away, Alex could see their mana signatures and counted six bodies.

As he approached the group, three of the six stood and positioned themselves defensively. Alex called out when he was still a decent distance away.

"Are you the only ones that accepted?" There was a pause.

"Yes. We couldn't get the guild leader to leave the house, though. Some are still there with him, sayin' your power was a fluke. More than half left straight away." Alex closed the last of the distance to stand in the group. Nodding, he let out a breath.

"Not quite what I'd hoped, but pretty much what I expected." While they talked, he sent a mental prod and his thoughts to Warrior and Mage, who were still in the workshop.

"What are you going to do?" came a voice from behind the three who stood. When Alex leaned to the side and saw the teenager sitting with his back against the trunk of the tree, he smiled.

"I'll make them leave."

"They'll come for you here if you don't act soon," the first man who spoke said.

"Don't worry about that. Let's learn about you guys for a second. Everyone, tell me your names and classes." He clapped his hands, making two of them jump. When they'd all finished introducing themselves, he nodded happily. It had been easy for him to scan the entire group and check their claims. All of them, except for one, had told the truth, lying about both his name and class. Two of the others gave him suspicious looks, but didn't say anything.

"Well, you're sure there's not anything else you want to share?" The one who had lied, calling himself Andrew when his real name showed as Richard, spoke up.

"How do we know this is even worth it to join up with you? At least the Ashen Hand showed up strength and gave us jobs and pay. What are you offering?" Alex spread his hands.

"I'm not going to offer you anything right now. It's your choice if you want to stay or go. Staying will mean some pretty grueling tests and training, only when that's done will I think about offering you anything at all. You're still welcome to leave." His voice hardened on the last line.

"Well, it's not gonna matter at all if I stay here if you just stand around. I'm telling you, the Guild leader and vice captain will come and attack you. Even if it's not tonight, they'll—""I told you. Don't worry about that right now."

"We told you about us," the dark-haired teen said.

"What about you?" Several of the others seemed to perk up at the question, even Richard.

"My name is Alex Moore. This is my home, and pretty much everyone here is a friend of mine. I'm still pretty angry that you guys were here at all, and giving Edwin a hard time on top of it…? That's going to cost you."

"But we chose to stay," Brock said. He was a short man with shaggy black hair and stubble. Despite his shorter size, he was of a stocky build and had several scars on his visible skin, leading Alex to believe he was a frontline fighter and had used potions regularly.

"That's a smart choice, but ultimately, you're doing that for you. I want to see more from each of you if you're going to stay."

"But why w—" Alex held up a hand and cocked his head to the side. He scratched his forehead, and there were several long moments of silence before he spoke up.

"Please watch closely. I'm going to cast a spell, but I won't attack any of you, so relax." He groaned when all of them seemed to tense, but moved to their left regardless. He moved a small distance away from the tree and faced the wood line leading to the adjacent property. There was a bit of time to kill, so he stood there dramatically, thinking about how best to make the display for those gathered.

It only took him a moment to make his decision, and he could barely keep the smile from his face when he looked to his left and saw Ian approaching. He must have been the one on shift that evening and was likely sent by Edwin, and unable to find him at the office, found Alex there. Alex held out his arms to both sides and heard a few of the people behind him whisper. Through his right hand, he let mana threads form and rapidly build a simple lightning bolt spell.

In one fluid motion, he stepped back, angled his arm high into the sky, and lunged forward while throwing his back arm forward. It mimicked the motion of throwing a ball or javelin, but at the end of his throw, he activated the spell circle and sent a single bolt of lightning to the sky. When he finished, he straightened and looked up at the night sky, blinking away the jagged streak that lingered in his vision.

"The hell was that?" one of the six shouted. Alex waited and let the smile slip onto his face, but prevented the laugh that wanted to escape. The lightning bolt that formed in the sky was massive. It was close to a mile distant, but the resulting flash and thunder that followed it made his bones rattle like some of the thunderstorms he'd experienced as a kid. Almost all of the six behind him reacted this time, clearly understanding that the enormous lightning strike had landed near the house.

To them, it looked like Alex had thrown a powerful yet small bolt into the sky, and after a short delay, a titanic replica had crashed into the distant forest.

"Holy shit!"

"What the f-" Alex turned around to find two of the six scrambling away and using movement skills to get down the driveway. He did laugh then, shaking his head and approaching the four that remained.

"Well, that got rid of two of you. I should assume, then, that you four actually do want to be here. Your first task will be to pick up and dispose of the rubble over at the other property."

"Y-You just blew up your own house?"

"No, this is my house," he said casually, pointing his thumb at the mansion before dismissing the few System windows that appeared in his vision.

"That was a property I wanted to develop, but from what I saw, you guys pretty much ran it into the ground. Several leaks, the front door was barely on its hinges, and trash was in the front yard. You all treated it more like a frat house than someone else's property." None of them met his eyes.

"Give it half an hour, then go and start picking up the debris. You're all over level 15, so you shouldn't have an issue moving it all. I'll have a few dumpsters brought in the next few days to start hauling it away."

"Yes, sir!" Following that, the others joined him, and Alex waved them away.

"Don't call me sir. Just be smart about this. You have a lot to gain by shaping up your act and wanting to be here. I'll send more instructions soon. For now, you know your job." He turned and walked toward Ian, who was watching the forest in confusion. He just jerked his head toward the house as he passed, and Ian followed silently. Mark and Sam were both awake when they walked through the front door, both carrying weapons and looking like they were about to charge out of the house.

He ushered them back to bed and followed them up the stairs with Ian in tow. When they returned to the office, they entered and took their seats.

"That was a big display. Did you really kill them?" Alex's face grew serious.

"Yeah. There was more going on there than just some thugs squatting. Looks like they had loot from stealing from people, and they were actively preparing to come attack me here. I see a few strikes there that I'm not willing to let be anymore, and I technically gave them two warnings, even after Edwin attempted to get them to leave. Anyway, the house was really in poor condition, and I want to build something else there instead. So, thought it might be better to just set an example."

"Was… that a skill?" Ian asked.

"No, just some magic, and a bit of showmanship. It wasn't as impressive as you might think. But that's not why I wanted to chat with you. You and John have both held up your end of the bargain. You worked for the last month and kept the property safe while I was gone. The Ashen Hand wasn't really something you two could handle alone, and Edwin told me that he specifically asked you two not to intervene. So, I want to help us all take the next step.

"I promised you both a place to stay and the chance to get stronger. The next step for that, in my mind, is getting a few teams set up. I'd like for the two of you to be team leaders, but I won't force it on you if you don't want."

"What do you mean?"

"I'd like to start pulling on some more adventurers and form two teams. Ideally, we'd even get a third down the road. For now, two teams would mean that you could have time off to either recuperate or delve nearby Rifts. From there, I'd also like to get a smaller team to follow each of the two adventuring teams and harvest materials from the Rifts that you all delve. That way, we're making more of a profit.

With Magitech coming, materials from Rifts are only going to continue increasing in value as we find more uses for them."

"Sounds like a great idea. Why do you want us to lead? I'm not a leader," Ian said.

"Neither am I," Alex laughed.

"Well, at least I wasn't. I'm trying to adapt. I trust you and John. Hell, I met the two of you on the day I awakened! You both stayed here when you didn't need to, for no cost at all. Edwin speaks highly of both of you, and you're both above the average level at this point." Alex shrugged, unsure of what else to say.

"Will we make our teams? Recruit people?"

"You can. I would like to work and test those four from earlier. While it will be important to see if they can meld well with a team, I want to test their character, too. It doesn't do them any favors by the circumstances we all met." Ian nodded.

"Okay, can I think on it?"

"Of course. I'll want to talk with John as well. You can have a few days to think about it and talk with each other. In the meantime, I feel you're both owed something for the time you spent working over the last month. Like I promised, that comes through training and resources. Link up with Edwin tomorrow and give him a list of two or three skills in order of most important to least important. I'll give him instructions to try and find one of the three as a reward for you. I'll offer John the same."

A single eyebrow rose on Ian's forehead.

"That's generous. Thank you."

"Don't mention it. That's really all I had for you tonight. If you wouldn't mind, I think I'm going to try and grab an hour or two of sleep before jumping into some more training."

"Sure, no problem." Ian stood and walked to the door before thanking Alex again. Alone again, Alex activated the wards before leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes. Through the link of [Parallel Mind], he checked on each of the three clones. Warrior and Mage were back in the workshop, safe and unnoticed. When his mind switched to Scout, though, he was shocked by what he saw.