The hypnosis Troy was under was unrivaled when it came to mental magics that could be used legally against young cultivators. She dangled from a mile long crack that curled in a spiral up the portion of mountain she was on. Shimmying effortlessly up the natural handhold, Troy was elated.

 

She’d been climbing for days, maybe more. She’d lost count of the sunrises. At one point, missing an entire night worth’s of activity while being enamored by the formations all around her.

 

The problem was that Troy had pushed herself into sections of the mountain’s climbing challenge that were much more difficult to pull your mind from. Older, more refined Cultivators with season cycles of experience closer to the hundreds rather than the tens, could with ease.

 

While Troy, had only ingenuity. An ingenuity that had pushed her through areas of the climbing course that some believed required the aid of others, luck, or a sense of timing so perfect that the climber was able to use the flying tower based classrooms like a moving set of ladders.

 

A feat Troy had completed with the aid of dozens of hard light clones. She’d seen the first vast expanse on the mountainside comprised of smooth marble, and hadn’t paused for even a moment within her climb.

 

Instead, Troy cloned herself constantly. Her clones jumping free of her body to drop down onto towers that both rose and fell in their flights all around her. To then later reach out and be pulled momentarily higher up the mountain.

 

Holograms of the actions had landed Troy on the front page of the school’s digital magazine. An image of her clones hanging from a window arms outstretched toward the diving Troy who wore a huge grin, was sensational.

 

She hadn’t felt she’d done anything remarkable, she’d even wondered for the slightest moment if what she’d done was considered a violation of the rules most climbing challenges had in place. Yet no one had stopped her, nor did the formations she was being controlled by at that point allow for her to think of anything but the climb for more than a handful of instances.

 

She’d even thought of messaging Arson back through her overlay, only to have the thought physically purged from her mind. The more intense the emotional attachment to thoughts involving anything outside the climb, the more fierce the workings of runes threaded into the mountain became.

 

In moments where the pressure on her mind became too much, Troy was comforted by Arson’s messages. She couldn’t respond, but he always seemed to message her with words of support when she needed them. A detail she gathered was inspired from their growing bond, otherwise she would have been saddened by his diligence without response.

 

I hope you know I care, and I’m doing this for you as much as myself, Arson. Troy reached out a hand and was once more yanked into the air, filled with excitement as she was pulled to a new height.

 

“Woohoo!”

 

…

 

Almarine strolled into the dump and gasped at what she saw there. Perfectly cut lawns. Buildings being developed with accented vegetation that gave the area a refined and regal ambience. All topped off by the smiling faces of many of her own charges there to work.

 

“Well, this is pleasant,” said Almarine softly. The woman headed straight toward the main warehouse, that had also been renovated and now looked more like a large shopping center, rather than a vast empty space built for storage.

 

She almost made it inside the building, before a whistle, drew her attention from the action all around herself, and toward the rooftop of the warehouse.

 

“What do you want, Momma Almarine?” said Jade. The woman crouched on the rooftop, watching over the entire area.

 

“Oh hello, there you are, is that any way to speak to your dearest great grandmother,” asked Almarine with a smirk. The woman teleported to stand beside Jade on the rooftop and took in the view from the perch high above. Wind whipped through her hair and both women waved at a group of orphans that greeted them as they passed below.

 

“Makes you wonder why we didn’t do something like this before, right?” offered Jade after a long silence. Her eyes roving over the area as if she wanted to catch every change made to the landscape when it occurred, and no later.

 

“I tried something similar and failed, but many people try. Recycling to this degree has never been done from what I have seen, but many have come close, while other realms don’t need a system like this, as waste is non existent in much of the higher realms,” stated Almarine.

 

“Yes, but is that because of these types of practices, the mighty covering up their overwhelming greed and vanity by hiding everything they don’t value, out of sight, out of mind?” Jade waved a hand toward the fields of trash in the distance that still grew in size even with the efforts of her son and his friends.

 

“I see your point,” said Almarine. The two women remained in silence, a large portion of the day passed before either one even thought to speak up again, both plagued by the weight of matters of life outside their control.

 

“What do you need, Momma Almarine?” asked Jade again. Almarine sighed and looked away from her charges spread throughout the land below and toward Jade.

 

“I need your expertise, and not the skillset that made you into a powerful Dungeon-ball player, but the one that makes foreign realms fear your presence,” said Almarine. Jade’s smile was pure as she looked up toward Almarine.

 

The excitement that threatened to burst free from Jade’s visage was only seen by the elder woman once before, season cycles prior when Jade first arrived in Maelstrom, hired to secure Almarine and bring her to the living habitat core at the center of Maelstrom.

 

“Oow, what are we doing a political bombing, assassination? No no no, that’s not your style. This doesn’t have anything to do with Arson, does it?” asked Jade. Almarine frowned and nodded.

 

“Unfortunately, it does, and to be honest I don’t know if you will be willing to help me after you hear what I have planned,” responded Almarine. Jade rose to her feet and turned to face her great grandmother.

 

“Spill… now.” Another nod came from Almarine at her granddaughter’s directness, an unintentional sigh escaping her lips before she spoke up again.

 

“I need you to help me blow up your home’s largest stadium grounds to make it unfit for the tournament of scions…?” Jade's jaw dropped momentarily, until a contemplative look took over her facial features and she closed her mouth in thought. Almarine worried she’d be denied for only a breath before Jade spoke up and she couldn’t help but smile.

 

“Like the whole thing, isn’t that place the size of a small city?” Almarine nodded in answer to Jade who responded simply, her excitement bubbling to the brim.

 

“Figures, I’m in, but I made someone a promise that if I ever did anything like this again I’d include them,” said Jade. Almarine tilted her head in question toward Jade who immediately looked away, making the elder woman ask the obvious question.

 

“And who would that be? Do I know them by chance?”

 

Jade looked back at Almarine and shrugged as she looked at her watch. Her free hand waved through the air and a mansion was revealed, perfectly positioned on the rooftop’s available space. A set of stairs leading from the front door all the way down to the ground below, giving access for others to come freely up to the large building now atop the renovated warehouse.

 

“Have you…, met the king of our realm layer?”

 

Almarine’s head straightened and her eyes widened and she had to force herself not to scream her response, only able to manage a yelled whisper.

 

“You want to bring a sparking dragon to…” Almarine trailed off for two reasons. One she’d begun to make the same insinuations that any elder would in Almarine’s position, and two, she saw the potential in how this could work more in their favors.

 

“Is this why you’ve upgraded your shack into this dazzling villa behind you, you entertaining a royal, dear?” Almarine’s smile was beautiful. Gracious to the point that Jade spluttered momentarily before she was able to get a word out.

 

“Hey old lady, what are you trying to say here? I only upgraded the available space to accommodate the staff with long shifts. They deserve—“

 

“Yes darling yes, of course they do. It's not like they don’t live but a few miles away, and their physical training while being a part of Arson’s conglomerate is impeccable too, but I see your point, child, so when shall I be meeting this man of—"

 

It was Jade's turn to cut in, “Don’t you dare!”

 

“When can we meet up with this friend of yours,” asked Almarine.

 

“He should be here soon. Why? Are you in a rush or something?”

 

“Well, yes. I need to have destroyed the complex and suggested using a stadium of our own to the Oligarchs of both realms before the tournament three days from now,” explained Almarine simply.

 

“Three days, the whole thing destroyed, in three days,” asked Jade.

 

“Three days,” asked Jade again.

 

“Yes, not including today, we have three days. Is your public fee sufficient,” asked Almarine.

 

“Nooo… my private fee is more appropriate for something like this,” said Jade as she walked away.

 

“And how much is that exactly,” said Almarine. She turned to look back at the changes to the land and smiled, but notice she still hadn’t received an answer.

 

“Jade dear, how much is your private fee,” yelled Almarine while she turned to chase after the younger woman who’d already entered the large home behind her.

 

This better not cost me too much… I still have financial goals that need to be met.

 

…

 

Arson finally gave in. Though he was an Acolyte of the Headmaster, he still was limited by not having had completed the admissions process.

 

“So if I complete this, I’ll be able to attend the preliminary scrimmages that take place before the tournament,” asked Arson to the attendant. The woman nodded and he sighed, pressing his hand to his head momentarily, before he put his hand on the signature screen displayed for him on the attendant’s surface table. The school administrator typing away vigorously on the projected keyboard.

 

“I’ve never seen you before. Are you sure you want to pay your life savings to take part in that event. It's only the preliminaries, I’ve seen others try the same in hopes to make a name for themselves amongst the scions and burn out before the tournament even comes around,” said the woman, still typing, even while she smirked up at Arson from her desk.

 

I think she just insinuated that I can’t afford the access pass, but wouldn’t that at least make me a hard worker since I’m able to pay, oh… yeah… there is that. Arson caught a glimpse of his Career Criminal brand in the reflection of the window behind the woman and rolled his eyes.

 

“I’m sure. Thanks for your help,” said Arson, once more pressing his hand down to sign up for both the prelims and the tournament of scions. It was then that his predetermined rank amongst the registered scions was given. The display made the woman’s mouth open slowly before she managed to speak up, Arson only still standing there due to the unspoken words that could be read on the lines of her forehead like her mind was a literal open book.

 

“It says your rank is undeterminable, you have been given rank 100 of 10 thousand,” said the woman. Arson looked away and nodded slowly as if confirming something mentally, now knowing that the rank he had just received most likely wasn’t a detail he should share casually with how she’d just reacted.

 

“Who are you?” asked the woman as Arson turned to walk away.

 

“Carter Gestalt, ma’am, future valedictorian.”

 

Arson didn’t stop when the woman spoke up again. His mind was consumed with his work underneath Adroit academy.

 

“Arson fixed his biggest problem since the work staff they’d collected was incapable of seeing the damage to the sewage systems. He solved this with micro-dosing a preprepared meal that he served before they worked each shift with crystalline recollection potion.

 

“Empty stomachs don’t work,” said Arson under his breath with a laugh.

 

“Can’t believe that worked,” said Arson. The effects lasted just under the shift's timespan, and Arson shut things down once he started to see the work crews accuracy slow down.

 

He had them tackle the broken piping issue first, and was happy to see the water that had become polluted, slowly clean itself under the effects of the powerful filtration systems also weaved into the underbelly of Adroit academy.

 

Arson was on his way to a tower on the first floor, entirely devoted to runes, in an attempt to network with individuals who may know experts or be masters themselves.

 

If he was truly going to reconstruct his new redesigned towers for Adroit Academy, he would first need to understand how the runes on the base of each tower were constructed. As well as how realistic it would be to remanufacture the broken segments they’d already found.

 

He knew that the stones beneath each tower couldn’t both shift their physical properties and retain the seamless connection to every other tower that allowed the constructions not to collide aerially.

 

Arson: How did it go?

 

Rob: Fine, I guess. The people you had poisoned are showing slightly higher physical test results, so with the reviews they gave us after you told them that it was a free cleanser sent by BlackHole, the original anger died almost immediately. Now from what Jazz told me 100% of the poisoned students are using the delivery service daily.

 

Arson: Good, I assume numbers are on the rise then?

 

Rob: For sure. I’m just blown away that they went from being poisoned, to welcoming a fresh new batch into their bodies multiple times a day.

 

“Arson: It's a plant I found on another planet called VoidSeed, it literally cannot be digested, not even cultivators gain a resiliency to it when taken over millennia, no matter what, you have toxins, it will purge them. Too bad it pushes out some of the good with the bad, there is a reason I’m limiting the dosages.

 

Rob: Arson Lane put out a commercial, if you haven’t seen it. I just sent you the Chatter box to it. The comments are CRAZY!!!

 

Arson pulled up the video and read a few comments before he even watched the video.

 

“OMG, I’m dead, I can’t breathe, how did she keep a straight face the whole time. Hahaha" BigCiCi812.

"I’m sad that I wet myself laughing, but still glad I watched this ad 10,000%" BradlyBradMega

"BlackHole has done it again, I swear I need to figure out who is behind their marketing, gonna go broke buying all the stuff

they make" EmpressLillpad777.

Arson laughed aloud and finally scrolled back to the play button. Lane appearing straight faced, her gaze stern as she looked into the cameras focus.

 

“Have you ever been incapable of being better? So cowardly that you wouldn’t even take your own medicine if you knew it would make you powerful enough to hold up the heavens, only because you normally are the type to run away from responsibility?” The camera view, rolled back to show a very familiar balcony with a blonde girl thrashing about as sludge poured from her body, forming a pool of toxins that she splashed about in.

 

“Well, then this is not the product for you, we couldn’t even show you this video until we made sure she wouldn’t and couldn’t sue us. But trust and believe, all it took was one of our infused meals and a few days of regular training, and this girl beat her first of two masters in a week. She’s instead a member of our newest fine dining cleansing meals service, rather than the lawsuit I thought was about to be embers down our backsides,” said Lane. Arson could barely keep in his laughter by that point and grew self-conscious at how he looked to others momentarily but the commercial continued and Arson lost his composure completely.

 

Lane through a trick of cinematography, seemed to lift her leg and step on the girl, resting fully on the girls chest, a hand on her knee in an expression of exhaustion, as she slowly sighed, the girl beneath her foot coming to a stop, before she looked at the camera and said, “What, don’t look at me like that, chump, this girl had to be tricked into becoming her best self, rather than being a sack full of toxins. What’s your excuse? Click the service button below or forever suffer alone in inadequacy…”

 

Lane pointed at the camera and Arson felt he couldn’t breathe. He immediately sent it to Jade, and the two messaged briefly before he called her.

 

“Hey mom, how are you? Did you get my invite to the tournament?” asked Arson. His mother’s hologram smiled and Arson could have sworn he heard two familiar voices in the background of their call.

 

“Of course I did, son. I may even use my plus one if I can figure out who would go with me first,” said Jade. Arson nodded, wondering for the first time in his life if his mother ever got lonely.

 

“As beautiful as you are, momma, I’m sure they’re plenty of people who could spend a moment walking by you let alone get to spend a fortnight watching the matches by your side. If you have someone in mind, just ask them, I’m sure they would love to have you ask,” said Arson. His mother smiled.

 

“Thanks, kiddo. You just focus on that tournament. Not many of the scions are pushovers, most come from long histories, tied to even richer bloodlines.”

 

Arson walked into the runic tower he was looking for, held oddly enough in a crafting cluster currently. Thanked his mother, said his goodbyes and started his search.

 

Shouldn’t be too hard to find how something was built in the place it was built, right...?