33 - Chapter 32 - Day 1815

Adya awoke the next morning and proceeded to get ready for the day. The full night of sleep had done wonders for her state of mind. She would really have to remember that she possessed the body of a five year old. No matter what memories she had, the body had needs and limitations that needed to be respected. She had been considering the information that she had obtained during her questioning of Jarel.

She knew conclusively that she was too weak to protect herself let alone her family. Jarel would be a good bulwark against local threats, but actually deploying him in the open would just bring threats from further afield. A bunch of tier 10s running around was no joke.

She either needed protection, where she would end up under the control of whomever she chose. She would also make herself a public target of everyone else at the same level as her protector, and no doubt get drawn into whatever political machiavellian machinations were afoot.

Or she needed to become too valuable to threaten, the problem with that was, if it was valuable only at the local level, it would actually make her a target, if it became valuable on the larger stage, then that would make her a massive target, but with zero protection. She would end up under someone’s enforced protection In essence a slave in a box, however nice that box would be, it would still be a box.

She could hide and wait until she was more powerful. She had no doubt in her abilities to gather significant strength, but it was still a long way to tier 10. Jarel had already confirmed that she was being hunted. However benevolent the motivations, that did not change the fact that a number of very powerful cultivators had been given instructions to locate and return her. While hiding may provide some respite in the short term, there was no chance that it could be maintained long term. She also had to add that fact, that the search for her had started when she was still protected by the system. Did the fact that her protection had now been removed mean that more people would be hunting her now?

The idea of multiple tier 10s with unknowable agendas spreading their vast networks across the globe in a hunt for her did not sound appealing in the least. Soon, she would have no idea who was hunting her or why. Even if she could hide, her family could not. They could still be leveraged against her.

There were her choices, hide, and maybe get a little more time, possibly at the cost of her family. Choose a protector and become beholden to them. Or become valuable, and be fought over. But were they all mutually exclusive choices? What if she could choose a combination of all three? Would that work?

It just might if she played it right, and she was able to deliver. She would need a protector, that gave her assurance. Yet, the reason she was protected would have to be something other than who she was. If she designed and ran a facility that could convert mana stones to coins, a feat that had been attempted by many, but achieved by none. It would present a genuine reason to the world for her to be protected, but not enough of a reason for them to go to war over her. As long as everyone could access the facility and benefit equally, then they would have no reason to challenge the status quo, nor any reason to look at her more deeply. She could set up the facilities here, in the middle of nowhere, and ask her protector to send her protection. People she could potentially suborn to her own purposes. So she would keep her distance from her protector, while taking over their people, while presenting a simple economic reason for her protection to the world.

Yes there were a lot of qualifiers in that plan. She would need to create a machine that no one else had managed to. She would need for that elder to be benign in their motivations towards her, and she would need the team she had to be strong enough to temporarily subdue whoever was sent to protect her.

And to even begin in earnest, she needed Sai to complete the analysis. Maybe there were steps she could take that would allow her to improve her odds. She needed to speak to Jarel again. He could also help her deal with the shadowed hand.

Adya did not rush; she took the time to prepare for the day, and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast. She reassessed her plan from all the angles she could think of, even having Mai run simulations based on a range of conditions. The results were not encouraging. Based on her current understanding, the risk of her plan failing were high, the consequences bad. However, the consequences of doing nothing were decidedly worse.

Sometimes one had to go with the lesser of two evils. She made her way to see Jarel. This time she went to see him alone. His door was no longer guarded. She knocked and entered, keeping up appearances.

Jarel was finishing his own breakfast by the look of things.

“Greetings Jarel.” said Adya without preamble. “I have more questions. Who gave you the assignment to look for the strange child that you mentioned?”

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“The assignment was from the elder herself.” replied Jarel.

“Is that the usual process?” asked Adya. Good she was getting more information about this mysterious elder already.

“No, I am only a tier 5, normally Tier 10s would not even bother to learn our names.” mused Jarel. “It was certainly an anomalous situation. I was so starstruck with the opportunity to meet a tier 10, I did not even question the oddity.”

“What was your impression of her reason in searching out this person,” asked Adya.

“I did not sense any obvious nefarious intent, though I have no doubt that she would have been able to keep it from me if she so chose.” replied Jarel.

“Tell me about the scroll that you were given to pass on to this person.” asked Adya.

“The scroll is a powerful artifact, I could tell that by holding it.” replied Jarel. “I could not investigate it further as it has a locking formation on it. The elder mentioned that the right person would be able to unseal it, anyone else attempting to unseal it would be rendered unconscious.”

“If this elder, or another sent out a protection detail to defend against interference from other tier 10s, what would be the make up of such a force.” asked Adya.

“Most tier 10s will not act directly, the cost of doing so is immense for them. For the tier 9s and tier 8s it's only a little better.” said Jarel after some thought. “Usually tier 7s are the highest level of agents that are active, but the cost to send them for every minor issue is not justifiable. So usually, a tier 6 threat would be the first serious level of threat. To deal with a tier 6 team, usually two operatives working together, another tier 10, would send a team of peak tier 5s, with two tier 6s.”

“How would you rate your combat prowess against a random peak tier 5.” asked Adya.

“I would be able to restrain them temporarily, depending on their focus.” answered Jarel.

“How many tier 5s would it take to knock out a peak tier 6?” asked Adya.

“At least 5 combat oriented peak tier 5s would be needed.” replied Jarel.

“Is it possible to temporarily knock out tier 5s and tier 6s, maybe if they are taken by surprise?” asked Adya.

“Yes, but it would require careful planning in advance.” replied a now frowning Jarel. He did not like where this series of questions was leading.

“Do you know other agents who were sent to hunt for this same person?” asked Adya.

“Yes, quite a lot of them in fact.” replied Jarel.

“How long would it take you to report back to the elder, and to get an update on the status of the search? Specifically if anything had changed recently.” asked Adya.

“Around a week to ten days.” responded Jarel.

“Would you need to meet them in person?” asked Adya.

“No, it would be via a remote communication formation, but I would need to go to the closest sect to access it.” said Jarel.

“What is the risk that the communication formation can be spied upon?” asked Adya.

“Very low, no one around here is powerful or competent enough.” replied Jarel. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Yes you can.” replied Adya. already anticipating the question he was going to ask.

“Are you the person I was sent to find?” he asked.

“I literally have no idea.” replied Adya, happy to be able to answer truthfully. She did not want to send Jarel out, or allow him to directly interact with the elder, her control was not good enough for that.

Jarel signed in response. He could tell she was not telling him everything but she had not lied about not knowing if she was the person he had been sent to find.

“I need you to go and get an update on the current status of the search,” said Adya. “You will do nothing to bring attention to yourself. Nor will you come across as suspicious in any way. After receiving your update, on the way back you are to locate and bring back another tier 5 agent, after you have made preparations to knock them out. You will bring them back to show me to them in private, then proceed to knock them out. You will not allow them to become suspicious. If you are not sure about their motivations, then you are to leave them behind and find another target. Are the intentions behind my orders clear?”

“Yes my lady,” replied Jarel through gritted teeth. He was not happy that he was being sent off to hunt his former team.

“I know that you don’t like the idea of hunting your former colleagues,” said Adya calmly. “I need you to assess my next words logically and not emotionally. Your colleagues are already enslaved by the very organisation that trained you. The only change in them coming to work for me, is a change in organisation. In fact, seen from another perspective, you are freeing them. I want you to internalise this argument and repeat it quietly within your mind, when you start to get emotional about your orders.”

“Yes my lady,” responded Jarel, knowing that this girl was showing him the extent to which his previous organisation had control over him.

“Then make arrangements, and be on your way,” said Adya.