Revensol squinted at the powerful signature that spiked suddenly and did not disappear, only fading away after a while. It had happened in the lift carrying Harlev and a few subordinated along with the three lords. They had expected something would happen, that was why Harlev had moved in the last.

“What happened?” Revensol asked the hologram of Harlev who looked without any blemish. Whatever had happened had not affected the man and he would have expected nothing less.

“Explosion, sir. It occurred suddenly and though I could feel something was wrong, I couldn’t sense the bombs before the machines exploded.” Harlev reported.

“Any injuries except the lords?”

“No injuries except the death of the three lords.”

“That will be problematic. Send me the details of those who set up the machines. Someone may have done it for their revenge, including that harvester. Did you sense any presence during this whole event?”

“There was nothing there. I had fully spread my senses because my instinct had been screaming at me but still found nothing, no one. Can it truly be his doing?”

“It can be as we still don’t know how he bypasses the Layers but if he could do so even before, then why had he not done it a long time ago? Why do only now? We will have to get answers to those questions.”

“I will send you the names shortly.”

“Do so.” After nodding, Revensol turned off the connection, and with it, the hologram disappeared in the blink of an eye.

***

Soon a new entry appeared on the data feed which Revensol quickly isolated and confirmed the names and ids of those who had been involved with setting up the machines. He then started searching for any and all information about them. Some of his attention was on this task while other parts were doing their own thing.

Another part of him was working on unveiling what the nobles had been doing and though just the orphanage fiasco was enough to fulfill the requirements set by Knrama, Revensol did not stop there. He had been digging deeper and deeper and though a few, he had found some links that connected some of the members of the orphanage to the purge that had followed after the so-called plague.

It was not just for Knrama, it would also help him in recruiting the young harvester.

The part that had been searching about the people who had set up the machines then once again turned towards the lift, checking the data feed from the lift, reading every instance no matter how seemingly useless.

He had prepared measures that would make sure he would know and be able to capture the harvester if he tried to leave the settlement but if possible he would rather not use them. They would spoil the relationship before it had even been created and would make it impossible to convince him. He had to get him to agree voluntarily as it would simplify their plans to a large extent.

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The type of work that he wanted Inero-ie to handle was not something he could give to someone who had been coerced to work with them. He could make the invasion very very easy as he had happened in this settlement or it could become a nightmare because they could be exposed prematurely, losing their biggest advantage, anonymity.

Forcing him to join had never been an option. That was why he was shifting through a sea of data to the point even he felt overwhelmed, just to find the true reasons behind the plague. That was the only thing that had any relation to him in this whole settlement.

***

Lifeless. That was Cile’s impression of this small settlement. When she had first entered it, even then it did not have the level of vitality a settlement with nearly a million strong population should have but now it was even more so the case. The pathways were completely devoid of any pedestrians, while the trains that should have been filled with people with even more waiting for the arrival of empty carriages were filled with only a few people.

Starting from the Ground Layer and slowly exploring everything present, she found a drastic contrast to the capital, her birth settlement.

“What happened?” After exploring and finding the bleakness, Cile asked the guard who followed her, always a few steps behind but she could see his Qi filling their surroundings. All he needed was to think and it would transform.

“I would not know, Princess. But, considering that the Lord sent me here to protect you, he should have knowledge of what is happening here. That is why I requested Princess to consider your decision.”

Getting visit permits for other settlements was difficult, so difficult that only a select few even bothered to apply knowing full well how they would convince the authorities. That was what traveling to any other settlements was for normal citizens, difficult, very difficult. Only a few had free access to go wherever they wanted, and included in the few were the Seekers.

This restriction made it so that each settlement had a unique way of doing things, affecting the paths of their research. These differences could invoke new ideas so she had dragged herself into these places, especially the forging sub-sectors where the metallic alloys were being created as she too was in the midst of creating one.

The temperature changed suddenly when they entered the forging sub-sector. The air had gone from cold to very hot and an unpleasant feeling struck her once again. She wanted to leave immediately but bore with it. Curiosity was doing things that were not in your best interest, that might harm you, that you might regret later, that was what she understood of curiosity, and if she wanted to emulate it, she had to bear with this much.

***

The barriers remained erect around Harlev and his subordinates safeguarded them while the barriers also took on a different role, acting as containers for the exploded machines. He had kept the barrier just in case, even though his intuition no longer pushed him into action. Experiencing the sudden explosion had been a wake-up call, they had to be more careful. If not for the intuition yelling at him, they may have become a part of the casuilites.

Harlev exited first, followed by his subordinates their barrier still active. First, he motioned those surrounding them to back off, and then upon his mental command, the three barriers filled with blood and distorted metal moved out of the lift.

Gasps filled the vicinity and as he surveyed the surroundings, he saw the people, their hands closed tightly into a fist, reddish droplets of blood gathering towards their fingertips.

“As you can see, an unexpected incident occurred. The machines explode suddenly and simultaneously, all three of them. For now, the investigation will start and everyone will be informed of the results.”

The whispers became louder but Harlev turned a blind eye to them, letting them go on. This once again proved the limits of combat exercises they had repeated outside. There was a difference between an exercise and an actual battle, especially in the environment and the number of people that can never be simulated to this extent irrespective of the massive amounts of data that they had.