The pillar that had appeared together with the dragon and the Tier 4 event had, after Albert dealt with it, disappeared without a trace. Something else, however, was left behind from the fight.

Samantha Cromwell studied the area, her personal shield shimmering as the irradiated air tried to ionize her atoms and failed. She had been hard at work before Albert left and ventured inside the portal, studying his ring and trying to replicate its effects. And, while a far cry from the effectiveness of the actual thing, what she had managed to build was nothing short of impressive.

It was a bulky device, built only thanks to the Lair’s precise constructor features, refined by her painstakingly trained, honed, and perfected ability to manipulate mana even though she was not a magic user. The shield it projected was weak, and only lasted for a short hour before the device had to be recharged back to full at the lair. It was also heavy, and had to be worn as a backpack that inflicted severe back pain to most people who were forced to carry it around for longer than a couple hours.

Yet, it was still a work of art. An advancement far beyond what she had ever though possible in her lifetime barely a few weeks ago.

In the area, everyone wore one such device. The alternative was death by radiation poisoning. She could heal them, of course, but she chose not to disclose the presence of the healing wands to the workers just yet.

Samantha looked around at what she had been able to accomplish in just a mere week. At the sheer size of the operation where people were lifting scales made of stone bigger than trucks, hauling them away on oversized transport vehicles, hacking at what was left of the dragon and taking it away piece by piece to be studied.

It was only the tip of the iceberg. Even with Albert gone, it wasn’t like there was nothing to do. In fact, there was a lot that needed to be done before he returned from his ‘field trip’. The blueprint the Lair had been given was very clear: the Kirkesis Core was a fundamental part for Phase II of the building process of the containment device for the Eggs, but Phase II could only begin after Phase I was completed.

This meant a lot of man-hours and materials, resulting in bustling activity at the Lair. There, a slew of… psionically aligned people worked on the project non-stop. At the same time, however, the scope of the activities connected to the Lair, to Albert and to Samantha Cromwell had expanded dramatically.

On the other side of the portal was a vast empty field a couple hundred kilometers from Temalas, owned by Transit Global. The site of her future research and development division, where already foundations were being built for a large number of buildings that ranged from living quarters for the many hundreds of engineers and scientists working on the project to labs and facilities.

At the head of it all was her. Samantha Cromwell. And the irradiated field was the Dragon reclamation site. Working in an irradiated field where a nuclear weapon had been detonated barely a few days ago was not an easy task, not even with the shield, and the sole fact that she had managed to do it without much issue convinced Transit’s CEO that she indeed was as capable as she claimed to be. Not that there was any need, given her track record.

Even if she only decided to give him bare scraps of her work, those scraps would be so powerful and revolutionary that the cost Transit was sustaining would pale in comparison.

This was not to say that Samantha had forgotten about her deal with Giancarlo D’Onofrio, the man at the top. He had a sick daughter who needed healing, and despite her coldness, Samantha did not feel like making the man wait longer than he had already waited. She knew that the man was growing desperate as the health conditions of his only child deteriorated.

“It’s time.” She said, talking to the CEO on the phone.

In less than an hour he was ready to receive her, and had had his daughter moved to the HQ building. She had been put, per Samantha’s request, in a room isolated from the rest of the building, alone. All that was there was the machinery necessary to keep her alive. Only one medic, and no surveillance cameras.

The CEO agreed to all of it.

After she arrived at the skyscraper in downtown Temalas City, Samantha wasted no time and walked with confidence to the elevator. She wore a tight-fitting, long-sleeved black dress that revealed nothing, and did not bother removing her sunglasses as if she didn’t even need to see. Inside her purse was a small assortment of various items, and to the untrained eye they might have looked like small science experiments made by a teenager in middle school when in truth, they were much more than that.

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“Right this way, Ms. Cromwell.” Said the young woman at the front desk, flanking Samantha as she approached the elevator. “Mr. D’Onofrio is waiting for you in his office.”

The woman beamed her best smile, radiant like the sun, and called the elevator for Samantha. She, in turn, smiled back and waited.

The elevator opened with a ding. She stepped inside, turning 180-degrees and watching the doors close and slowly hide the face of the attractive lady who greeted her. Then, once she was alone, Samantha looked up and smiled.

D’Onofrio was the CEO of one of the largest companies in the world. Not only that, but of a company that dealt in all kinds of things, from transportation of more-or-less regular goods to contraband of the most vile and dangerous things known to man. Deep within the files of his computer, and in the paper-only documents that only he knew where they were stored, was enough information to probably topple the governments of half the planet.

Yet, in this very moment, Mr. D’Onofrio was a small man. His hulking size served only to make it all the more evident as he watched the feed from the security camera in the elevator, and waited with bated breath while Samantha took all the time she wanted to get up to his office. She was doing it to make a statement, an unneeded statement he thought, although he would later have to concede that he would have done the same had he been in her position.

It was then that he saw her look directly at the camera and smile. An odd thing for her to do. She knew of the camera, of course, it was very visible. But to smile at it was totally out of character.

She disappeared.

Before his eyes could bulge out of his skull, she reappeared in his office, wearing the same polite smile that hid a very self-satisfied grin both of them knew she could barely contain.

Despite his great skill in negotiation, D’Onofrio could not hide his surprise.

“You wield magic. You kept it well hidden, all these years.” He said.

He did not expect it, but what Samantha said next completely shattered his already vacillating foundation of composure.

“Oh, I do. But I haven’t kept it hidden. I figured out a way to make it so anyone can wield magic. If they are willing to pay the price, of course.”

She paused.

“I am going to give you the tool to heal your daughter. You will be the one to do it.”

The man rose to his feet. “How?” He asked. No, pleaded.

“This.”

She slowly reached into her purse, and revealed a small device. It was something D’Onofrio had never seen before, some strange medical-looking staff, of whose nature and existence he was not privy. And, considering his position and his company, this only meant one thing.

She had made it, or had it made at the new black site she had had built with his money. At a division of his own company that he did not have access to, filled with tight-lipped former employees of his that now could be called employees by name only. Resistant to all forms of bribery or coercion. His sight into the black site was totally and utterly absent. Samantha had somehow predicted that he would not keep his word, that he would try to spy on her and taken measures to counteract his every attempt. Yet, she didn’t bring it up. She didn’t even acknowledge it.

It was a very dangerous line D’Onofrio was walking here. And with his daughter mere moments from being healed, he better tread carefully. Besides, he had already come to the conclusion that it was better to be on Samantha’s good side rather than her bad side, and that even mere scraps of what she really did at the site were bound to be more profitable than the whole rest of Transit combined.

His investment looked more interesting by the moment, although most of the reasoning for it would come later, as his mind was currently occupied by other thoughts. All he could think about was the little girl in the room next to his office.

“It won’t be enough to cure her.” Samantha said. “Her condition will require a few treatments.”

“How—”

“I checked on her. I have other magic tools, suited for purposes other than healing with me. One, two, perhaps three. Who knows. Didn’t you notice the delay between my disappearance and when I arrived in your office?”

There were no cameras in his daughter’s room. He could not have known, never having seen teleportation happen with his own two eyes. This had allowed Samantha to teleport as close to the girl’s room as her own map allowed, enter the room and appraise the kid. Then, she only had to waste charge on the healing wand until barely enough was left for the first ‘treatment’ she had planned.

Meanwhile, her wording made the CEO realize that perhaps, if he waited enough time, he might even get to own one such wand himself. He might get the chance to wield magic.

Knowing full well that it would only put him in greater debt towards the devilish woman in front of him. Knowing full well that he had already accepted the offer before the offer was even made.

“I see.” The CEO said, barely whispering. He inched close. “Can I?”

Samantha nodded, and offered the wand for him to take. He half expected her to retract her hand when he tried to grab it, but she didn’t. Instead, she just stared at him in the eye, studying his every movement from the moment his hand reached for the wand until he clasped it, and then when he clutched it tight to his chest as if it was the most prized thing in the world.

She cocked her head. “Well, then. Shall we?”