"Artificial superhumans?"
The crowd was stunned, a wave of confusion washing over them. Sebastian, however, rely touched upon the subject before letting it go. He sighed heavily.
"Unfortunately, Dr. Becky's research failed. If only I hadn't abandoned her proposal back then… perhaps she would have had the peace of mind to continue her work, and she wouldn't have left us so soon."
At the ntion of Becky's death, a wave of sympathy rippled through the audience. The quality of the papers she had published was still considered cutting-edge, even by today's standards.
Thea gently rubbed her grandfather's back. "Grandpa, Dr. Becky died in a car crash. It was an accident. You don't have to bla yourself."
Suddenly, Sebastian rose to his feet. He gestured toward Lila and declared to the entire hall, "Therefore, I have decided to formally adopt Ms. Whitmore as my honorary granddaughter."
A stunned silence. Then, whispers.
"What? Why announce it so suddenly?"
"That logic feels… a little thin."
"What is Sebastian playing at?"
He was playing at sothing, of course. Sebastian's deliberately awkward gesture was a clear warning to certain factions: do not attempt to harm Lila in any way. The Carrington Family is watching your every move.
While everyone else was debating the bizarre announcent, only Kael caught the hole in Sebastian's story.
Did Dr. Becky's research really fail? he wondered.
Kael didn't know for sure. But considering the strange events of the past decade, the idea of an "artificial superhuman" no longer seed so far-fetched.
…
After Sebastian Carrington left the stage, Lila beca the main topic of conversation. But the more observant guests noticed sothing else: of Arbazon's four shareholders, only three had appeared: Ben, Elon, and Lila.
The fourth had yet to show their face.
***
On the second floor, in a private VIP suite, Lucien Mordant stood with several Aethelgardians.
A man with the classic, tapered head and wide, dark eyes of a Gray spoke. "What was the aning of that, Sebastian? Does he know about us?"
Lucien stood to the side, his tone sycophantic. "Sir, we have been laying the groundwork for many years. It's inevitable the Carrington Family would sense sothing."
Another alien, a woman with three pairs of eyes, shot him a glare. "We've invested vast amounts of capital in you. All this ti, and you still haven't unearthed Becky's research. You're useless!"
Lucien offered her a faint, dismissive smile. "You're quite right, Miss Irene. But then again, the special agents you sent directly don't seem to have made any progress either."
Irene turned her head away in a huff.
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Lucien addressed the Gray again. "Sir, I assure you, it will all be worth it. You saw that beast with your own eyes all those years ago. It nearly destroyed half the city. And who would have thought it started as nothing more than a cute little cat."
At this, the Gray's eyes seed to widen even further. He let out a dry, rasping chuckle. "Oh, Sebastian. The more you protect the girl, the more you prove that Becky's research was a success."
Lucien Mordant murmured to himself, "But where did she hide the results?"
…
The rest of the event featured a few spectacular performances, but the heavy hitters in the audience had lost interest. They were all trying to get a word with the Carringtons, hoping to negotiate custom Brain Chip contracts and supply deals.
Kael had no patience for the schmoozing. He went backstage to find Lila but was told she was in a private eting with Sebastian. Finding him bored, Ben clapped him on the shoulder and dragged him off for a drink.
Kael and Lila ended up staying in New York for three days. Lila was practically invisible, spending all her ti with Thea and Sebastian. She wouldn't tell Kael what they discussed, but he saw the look on her face grow heavier with each passing day.
Then, on the third day, the gloom vanished. Lila was her confident self again.
The two of them boarded a private shuttle, the trip back to Houston taking less than a second. They reconnected on their own terms for a couple of hours before logging into the ga.
Three days away from Godpath felt like an eternity. The town had undergone a seismic shift. Starlight Town was, unsurprisingly, the epicenter of the boom.
Elon had officially opened leveling passes for Tydrisa's Quarry to the general player base. To cater to different groups, he introduced tiered packages for 10, 30, and 50-person teams. The original hundred-thousand-dollar ticket price had been a deliberately exorbitant fee to fleece the major guild leaders. Now that the mainstream player level had caught up, the prices had normalized:
Solo Entry: $5,000
10-Person Team Pass: $45,000
50-Person Team Pass: $200,000
The 10-person pass was perfect for groups heading to the Land of the Behemoth, while the 50-person pass was designed for full-scale grinding operations in Tydrisa's Quarry.
As for mining the quarry itself, Elon had decided to hire NPCs. It wasn't about being cheap; it was about security. Player miners were impossible to supervise. It was a guarantee that so would pocket the gems they found.
As Kael watched the bustling crowd at the Starlight Town teleport nexus, a ssage popped up. It was Elon.
"Boss, you're finally on."
"What's up?"
"It's about that guy you ntioned, Gilded Hand. He's lost his mind."
"Lost his mind?" Kael was surprised.
"He bought two hundred million dollars' worth of chipped diamonds in one go. Said he was going to power-level his socketing skill. If that's not insane, I don't know what is."
Kael let out a breath of relief. He'd thought Elon ant Gilded Hand had actually gone crazy. Then again, maybe he had.
"Okay, thanks for the heads-up."
Kael opened his friends list, selected Gilded Hand, hesitated for a second, and then closed the ssage window. Instead, he pinged Orion.
"Do a favor and ask your guild leader what his socketing level is at."
"Don't you have him on your friends list?"
"Just ask him!"
"Uh, okay…"
Three minutes later, Orion ssaged back.
"My guild leader isn't responding. Guess he's in the middle of a major grinding session."
"Alright. Let know when you hear from him."
"OK!"
With that handled, Kael walked over to the teleport nexus. A large group of players was clustered around it, arguing loudly.
"What's going on? It failed again!"
"Yeah, that's three failed teleports for today."
"I keep getting the error: Teleport Nexus: Insufficient Energy."
"There are just too many people using it. Everyone going to the Land of the Behemoth and Tydrisa's Quarry has to pass through here."
"And now that everyone's a higher level, no one wants to do the lowbie essence quests anymore."
"Yeah, we can't rely on players to power the nexus forever."
"So, what are we supposed to do?"
Just then, the crowd noticed Kael approaching. The complaints imdiately died down, replaced by respectful greetings.
"Fourth Chieftain!"
"Sir!"
Kael had overheard their discussion and knew it was a serious problem. He smiled and walked into their midst.
"Sorry, everyone. I've been tied up with things lately," he said. "I heard what you were talking about, and I'm going to find a solution. For the next couple of days, I'll need your help. Please try to run so of the essence quests. I'll have Isolde increase the mission rewards to make it worth your while."
A cheer went up from the players.
"Aweso!"
"Praise be to the Dawnbreaker!"
…
Kael waved goodbye and turned, heading for his sister's office.
His mind was made up.
It was ti to solve the teleport nexus energy problem. For good.
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