Lars and Nina were taken aback by his response. They were expecting something such as ‘I am’ or ‘my name is.’ But they didn’t know what to think of ‘I am known as.’

Does it mean The Joker isn’t his real name? Of course, it isn’t. Lars thought.

Is he a deity? However, I’ve never heard of one named The Joker. Nina said to herself.

Lars was the first one to break the silence following Toni’s introducing himself as the Joker.

“Your Excellency The Joker, It’s a pleasure to be graced by your presence.”

“Sir Joker, we’re humbled by your presence,” Nina added.

Toni waved them off.

“You may continue.” He said.

The teenager looked at the woman.

“With His Excellency overseeing our deal, we can move forward now. I will get you 4 wings of Vespal Moskito, intact.”

“And I will provide you with the ingredient list of the first codon: Introvert.”

“I need the place where your contact will be.”

“There is a restaurant called Akimichi Grill across the street from the Zongo Library. Ask for the chef, give him the wings, and tell him the Admiral men will come to get them.”

Lars nodded.

“And you will give me the list?”

“Yes. Just tell me how.”

“Let’s do it here. It’s safer this way.”

“I agree. If I receive my package before our next meeting, I will provide you with the list during the meeting.”

“Your Excellency, can we trouble you to make the same experiment in the future?” Lars asked.

Toni remained silent for a moment.

“I wish to make the same request. You are a being far greater than us in terms of power and status. There is probably little we can offer; however, there are mundane things below your status we can take care of for you.”

“She is right. We can definitely help you out.”

“The young man here is obviously from a wealthy family and definitely has a lot of connections. I’ve experienced quite a lot in my life and have forged many skillsets that may prove useful.”

Toni could tell the two were desperately trying to get him to do more of his so-called experiments. He understood their motivation. There was a lot to gain by cooperating, and sharing knowledge, information, and goods… while maintaining anonymity.

“Very well. I shall make this little experiment of mine a recurrent one.”

“Thank you, your Excellency, The Joker.”

“My deepest gratitude, Mister Joker.”

Toni nodded.

“We will meet at the end of every week, at the exact time when the sun reaches its zenith.”

“Sunday at noon, it works for me,” Lars said.

“We need names to address each other.” The woman added.

“Is there a game you like playing?” Toni asked Nina.

“The Shogess.” She instantly replied.

Toni searched Ansel’s memories to find out what she was referring to. It was a board game created by Wilem Von Shroeder.

This Wilem guy… He took Chess and Shogi from our world and created a new game called the Shogess.

“You will identify yourselves with the names of the pieces from the Shogess.”

“Can I choose first? I was brought here first. I’m technically the first member.” The teenager said in a hurry.

“Go ahead,” Nina said.

“I shall be known as the King.”

Toni nodded. He had a feeling the teenager would choose that.

“I will go by the Bishop.”

“We also need a name for our group. I propose the Joker Force. In your honor, your Excellency.”

“How about The Arcana Joker Force?” The Bishop offered.

“The Arcana Joker Force, hmm, Arcana Joker Force… I like it!” The King said.

“What do you think?” Nina asked Toni.

“It seems to please both of you. Then, we shall be known as The Arcana Joker Force.”

Toni looked at the teenager.

“You are the Arcana Joker King and will be addressed as The King.”

The teenager stood up and bowed to Toni.

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“It’s my honor to receive such distinction from you, The Joker.”

He then looked at the woman.

“You are the Arcana Joker Bishop and will be addressed as The Bishop.”

The woman also stood up and bowed to Toni.

“It is my honor as well to be graced with such distinction by you, The Joker.”

The man sitting on the cloud nodded.

“The Shogess has nine unique pieces, and so will the Arcana Joker Force.”

He started waving his arms again, moving clouds from above to the table. He created seven more chairs around the table. He then pulled another cluster of clouds and directed it to the table. The surface has now changed. Two symbols were engraved on it. Before the teenager was a crown, the symbol of the King. And the symbol of the Bishop, a pointed hat, rested in front of the woman. As soon as he was finished, he felt a wave of fatigue crippling his mind.

I overdid it. I didn’t realize creating things here uses my stamina.

“Our core members will have a seat at this table.” He said.

“I’ve never imagined I would one day belong to a secret order that uses appellations from Wilem Von Shroeder's Shogess. He was a magnificent man who created many things. Speaking of which, I heard a rumor he wrote a set of manuscripts of great power. Apparently, there are fourteen of them. Is there any truth to it?” The King asked.

Toni did not utter a word. He knew nothing about the subject.

“Who knows? People said Wilem Von Shroeder had read the Heretic Scripture. From his understanding of it, he had written fourteen manuscripts rumored to contain the truth about Genomes. These manuscripts are commonly known as the Scrolls of Heresy.”

“The Scrolls of Heresy… What a name!” The teenager added.

“We shall end the meeting now,” Toni reluctantly said, as he was getting tired by the second.

“As you command.” The King and the Bishop replied simultaneously while getting up from their chair.

Toni could tell they wanted to stay longer. He also wanted to gather more information, but it would have to wait. He entered the Focused Intention state and severed the string binding them to the mysterious space. The two people disappeared with the light shrouding them. Toni sighed as he used the meditative state to exit the place.

He was back in his room. He looked at the clock on the wall. He was surprised when he saw the time.

We were in that space way longer than this. It seems like time flows twice as fast in there than here. That’s good to know.

Exhausted, he dragged himself to bed and immediately fell asleep.

Nina was back in her cabin. She looked around and noticed she was in the exact place before the incident that led her to meet The Joker and the teenager. Her first action was to take out the pocket watch in her coat and check the time. She was surprised to come to the same conclusion as Toni. The flow of time was faster in the mysterious space. She put the watch back and exited the cabin.

“Admiral.” The people who crossed her path greeted Nina.

The woman just nodded in acknowledgment. She continued walking on the deck of the vessel. The wind was a bit strong, but it didn’t seem to bother her. A man came running in her direction.

“Admiral, we’re headed towards a storm zone.” He said, handing her a spyglass telescope.

Nina took it and looked ahead. She saw dark clouds north of their position. She handed the object back to the man and lifted one of her fingers to feel the wind. She also examined the direction the clouds were moving. Thanks to her Genomer’s powers as Cloud Navigator, she could easily make sense of her observation.

“Reduce our current speed by 30% and maintain it for 10 minutes. Then, further decrease the speed by 5% every 10 minutes. By the time we reach the storm zone, it will be at a level that won’t threaten us. I trust you will be able to take it from there.” She ordered.

“Roger that, Admiral.” The man replied and saluted before leaving.

Nina resumed her walk and finally stopped in front of a cabin with a guard by the door.

“Admiral.” The woman guarding the door saluted.

“Open the door.”

The guard obeyed and opened the metal gate. Nina entered and closed the door behind her, leaving the guard outside. A man was chained at the center of a small room. His clothes were covered in blood. His face was swollen as a result of a continuous beating. A few of his teeth were on the floor. The man only opened one of his eyes. The other one remained shut due to the swelling.

“You again.” He said in a soft voice.

Nina grabbed the only chair in the room and sat facing the prisoner.

“Are you ready to talk now?” She asked.

The man laughed painfully.

“As I said before, I know nothing. You’re wasting your time.”

“Is that so? You’re of no use to me then.”

“You can’t kill me. Your superiors want you to bring me alive.” The prisoner said mockingly.

“Too bad for you; they aren’t here.”

“What do you mean?”

“On this ship, I am the judge, the jury, and the executioner. It doesn’t make sense to me why they want you alive, so I’ll expire you.”

“You wouldn’t dare. You have your orders.”

“Accidents happen on the field. You can’t always carry your orders to the letter. They’d have to be happy with your corpse.”

“They’ll know you disobey orders.”

Nina smiled and took out a small syringe. She removed the cap.

“This is called Curare poison. It’s a peculiar one. It has no effect whatsoever when a person drinks it. However, if it is injected in the bloodstream, that’s another story.”

“You can’t!”

“Do you know what it is? A neurotoxin that causes muscle paralysis.”

“You’re bluffing.”

“It blocks neuromuscular transmission. You’re a man of science. You know what it means. It’s the process that allows the central nervous system to control the movement of muscles.”

“Please! Don’t do this.”

“The good thing is that it can be injected anywhere as long as it’s in the bloodstream.”

Nina grabbed the man’s foot.

“I will talk.”

“I found the perfect injection site, between two of your toes. Even if someone suspects foul play, good luck to them finding it. Oh did I forget to mention that by the time we reach our destination, there will be no trace of the poison in your system?”

“Stop it. I will talk.”

“I’m not interested. I cannot believe a word you will tell me at this point. You will say anything to stay alive, and I do not have the time to verify whatever you will say. You had your chance.” Nina replied as she gently stabbed the space between two of his toes with the syringe and pushed the clear liquid inside.

“You murderer!”

“Yes, I am. And believe me, I sleep quite well at night.”

Nina removed the syringe and hid it in her coat.

“In a few seconds, some of your muscles will stop responding little by little. Then, all of them will follow the same fate. And of course, the heart is also a muscle. Most people tend to forget that fact.”

“You…” The prisoner couldn’t finish his sentence.

Nina sat back in her chair and watched as life was leaving the man. After a couple of minutes, she put her fingers in his jugular to take his pulse. She felt nothing. Satisfied, she closed his eye which was wide open. She then lay him down on his back, put her hands on his chest, and started a cardiac massage. After three rounds of the charade and breaking a few of his ribs, she stopped and knocked at the door. The guard opened it.

“He went into a cardiac arrest during the interrogation. I tried to resuscitate him. He’s dead.” She said to the guard and walked past her.

She went to the deck and was looking out into the sky. She retrieved the empty syringe from her pocket and dropped it overboard. She stayed there for a few more minutes thinking about the recent events before returning to her cabin.