Keynes was about to step into the semi-soul space when the voice of the Lem Solaris’s visage stopped him.

  “Just hold on, Keynes,” it said. “And listen to the rest of the report. It’ll change your mind about the whole thing. First of all, I wouldn’t let Natalia Kowalska hand the control of the base to someone else. So be assured that I’m always safeguarding what’s happening in the base and spaceship.

  In this case, I have to admit that your friend surprised me. She allowed others into the command, without giving them any real control of course, but she let them think they may be if they prove themselves. Her intent is very simple, Keynes. You put in charge your friends and people you know very well without considering the competence of anyone else. She—”

  “Wait,” Keynes interrupted the visage. “I clearly remember our first conversation about the chain of command and using alignment, usefulness and willingness as main criteria. Suddenly, we’re letting everyone do whatever they want. These two approaches are very different. Explain.”

  “My first advice still stands, the three traits are paramount. However, back then you weren’t aware of the True Soul nor now these people are guaranteed the positions they want. They simply express what they’d like to do and your heads give these people a chance to prove themselves. The issue you are facing is distrust from a majority of your crew, which makes them not only useless apart from donating mana to the spaceship but in the greater picture, the divide between you and them increases.

  Hence, you must make some concessions first. That’s also why I told you all in our second discussion that things should be more organic and forcing certain policies and structures when people aren’t ready can be detrimental.”

  Keynes understood. It made sense even though it was weird to consider strangers having a virtual command over their base. But with the visage watching over their shoulders, giving them a shot didn’t sound that risky. He couldn’t forget that all these people were on probation and didn’t have any real say in all of this. But he was curious.

  “How are they doing?”

  “Those that Natalia has brought into the command are doing well with a single exception of a young man who is doing exceptionally well. His suggestions are impressive and deeply insightful.”

  “How did we miss him the first time?”

  “Simple. You weren’t recruiting for a command position and that young man was not interested in anything else. Also, he isn’t fully aligned with your goals.”

  “Is that so? Why?”

  “He wants to go home and his decisions are aimed at making it happen. Of course, he doesn’t know the whole picture but his deductions were surprisingly precise. If you aren’t planning to employ him, then I’d advise to minimise your exposure to this person. He’s very perceptive and may glean from you more than you wish to divulge.”

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Not gonna happen. I won’t hide from anyone or be scared to move around, fearing I might run into some young smartpants.”

  “In fact, he’s a year older than you.”

  Keynes tsked. He let the visage finish off the report. All in all, their situation was very promising with people taking all kinds of jobs, shoring up Keynes's organisation’s weak points. However in all of this, Keynes found himself a little lost. Yes. His position had been put outside of the organisational structure for a reason and now he saw benefits of such a decision. He could stay away and everything worked just fine.

  But that left Keynes at loss, which surprised him. He wanted to not be bound to day-to-day operations. So why was he brooding now?

  He needed to move forward. Something to occupy his mind.

  “What would you say about a friendly spar?” the visage asked.

  “Right. You’re also a dream tree. You can create mind projections.”

  “More or less.”

  “Fine.”

  ***

  Keynes pushed himself off the ground. His body hurt, his hands trembled from exhaustion. Above him stood the person he’d almost lost his life to.

  Vivena Sael.

  She was like an impassable wall and worse, she was only at 80% of her full strength. Keynes hoped that being the Fourth Degree would make a difference, and while it did, she was still too far above him. Her attributes were twice as high as his because of her Talent. And that difference would increase over time. Her Talent increased all her attributes 10% per one poison that affected her with a limit of 15 poisons at the same time. So as long as she had access to 15 poisons her attributes were at 250% of her Level.

  At Level 10 as a rift essence ascender her standard attributes will stand at 70 points. Then, her Talent would increase them to 175 points. Keynes as the Ninth Degree would only have 103 points per attribute. Of course, this was without considering her Major Talent Upgrade, which was bound to improve her Talent by a wide margin.

  However, Lem Solaris during their last conversation told him that he must learn a way to deal with her Talent. After his little mishap with the Vitality attribute, he knew now that there was more to attributes than a number. Quality also mattered and on top of that was his spiritual aura. But he was still a long way from being able to employ it the same way Shaper had done.

  “Stand up and fight,” the phantom of Vivena said, then rushed him, giving Keynes no chance to dodge the attack.

  Pain exploded in his chest as the sword pierced him there. Keynes grunted then kicked with all his remaining strength but Vivena’s face barely twitched.

  However, his goal was to dislodge the sword from his chest. His Tier 2 Vitality, as he started to refer, was high enough to turn a mortal wound into a non-mortal one. But it did little for the pain.

  The visage had offered some pointers at the beginning of the fight but Keynes refused them. He wanted to find the solution to his issue on his own.