Chapter 93

“Think you can replicate it?” Travis asked on the way out. They crossed the shield again, causing some tingling in their skin but nothing more, a sign of a clear escape. Now that they were out, there wasn’t much danger to them anymore.

“I don’t think so,” Michael replied. They were talking about the shield, and only because they knew that the sound dampening magic on their car made sure nobody could hear them. “I would need blueprints. I know the magic making the shield can’t be that complicated, but that’s not saying much when it comes to magical circuitry. Take skill fractals for instance, even a simple one is actually infinitely complicated.”

“Aren’t magic circuits different?” Travis countered, moving his hands about. “I remember Johanne talking about them, trying to explain how they work to me. They didn’t seem all that complicated.”

“Then you know more than I do,” Michael said. “I didn’t really delve into that. But from what I know, she only dabbled in Elemental Energy circuitry which, if ease of use translates like I think it does, is orders of magnitude easier. Although, I doubt they had the chance to study magic scientifically at the OA. Its effects, perhaps, but magic itself? Hmm…”

“Then what, they did it with rituals here? Chuck some random things together and shit happens?”

“Could be,” Michael shrugged. “Magic is weird like that.”

“Well, if you get a nighttime stroke of genius or something, let me know,” Travis grunted, no longer as interested. “Having a shield like that around Site 00?”

“With our magic?” Michael exclaimed. “Revolutionary, yeah. Too bad we are defenseless.”

“Pff,” Travis scoffed, “don’t be ridiculous. As if I’d leave Site 00 without proper defenses. Let’s just say that there is some heavy ordnance, not-very-legal stuff in there, hidden.”

As the land transitioned into hills and woods, thus began the long and boring journey on the winding roads of Kentucky, leading everywhere and nowhere. Rural Kentucky soon made them wish they had ways to teleport around rather than being forced to pass through yet another small town. As the looming peaks of the Appalachian Mountains began to show through in the distance, whenever the road took them high enough to see, they knew they were getting close to Site 00. To home in the middle of nowhere. Passing through the towns, some of which felt hopeless and worn out, so remote only a small subset of people would ever truly enjoy living there, Michael understood why the others in his company were so sure people were going to move and come to live at the Site once the houses were ready.

“What now?” he asked idly. “The meeting went sort of well, didn’t it?”

Travis grunted in affirmation.

“They are struggling,” he elaborated. “Kavanaugh all but confirmed it.”

Michael hummed. “You think?”

“They can’t deal with magic anymore, not now that it’s no longer just remnant ancient magic. Magic is awakening, isn’t it? But they don’t have a dungeon to power-level their people.”

“What if they are hiding the big guns?” Michael said. “Just like how they somehow got the shield even though their mana is shit. They could have some ancient relics hidden somewhere.”

“You said they only have ancestral magic there, right? Not even a single normal aura?”

“Nope.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Then it’s probable ancient relics is all they have. That goes for mages too. And the thing about ancient powerful things? They soon become outdated, are finite in number and can’t really be adapted to fit new environments,” Travis said confidently. “My gut tells me that they aren’t hiding their mages at all. More like they don’t have them. Ancestral magic is quickly losing ground against real magic, and it shows. They might have an ace up their sleeve or two, maybe ten or a hundred, but they no longer want to use them against small-fry anomalies. All of this is not just extrapolation from our chat with the doctor, of course, I have my sources.”

Michael crossed his arms as his face darkened. “Like how you knew about the chest?”

“That’s right,” Travis confirmed. If he got a hint of Michael’s displeasure, he did his best not to show it. He was, after all, temporary head of the Spy division or whatever its name was, and even after he found a suitable candidate it wasn’t like he was going to let himself be pushed out of the loop. “The other agencies are keeping an eye on the OA, because of course they all want even a tiny piece of what they have, and this plays in our favor. And remember Michael, agencies are made of people, people who can get sick or whose families can get sick. Wonder who can heal them in exchange for a favor or two? People who can be bought, blackmailed and threatened. Not that we’d ever do any of that, of course.”

“Of course. What if they have something like my oaths?” Michael inquired.

Travis shrugged.

“What’s the plan now?” Michael repeated his original question.

“Get the OA in a position where they have to rely on us for everything. We start small. Jobs like this one. We investigate a bit, tell them about our findings. Suppose we find a source of magic? Well, that gets omitted from the reports, of course. They are gonna know we are up to something, but unless they decide to act, they can’t do shit.”

“What if they do?” Michael pressed.

“Then we defend ourselves, of course. Pretend. Say that we felt attacked and retaliated accordingly. Then, based on the outcome, other things follow naturally. Now, that’s if we find magic sources: dungeons and the like. The anomalous shit that pops up around them is another story. The more stuff happens that’s beyond their control and too expensive to deal with unless they pull out their limited stock of artifacts and mages, the better. They will be forced to ask us for help until, in time, they won’t be able to function without us.”

Michael was impressed. “Won’t they investigate us in the meantime?”

“Sure. But we have Johanne who can detect auras from farther away than even you can. She will see if mages come close to Site 00. As for mundane means, well… guess who is among the chief suppliers for the government agencies?”

“Who?”

There was a glint in Travis’ eyes. Pride. “Naoshida Industries. Whose CEO and owner owes us favors. Whoever dealt with the guy did a fantastic job of it.”

“Wait, isn’t he the guy I healed back then?”

“Yep. A couple of his friends and family are in Saint Hernest, and Candle Light is helping grease the wheels for a few deals they are making. Our new Operators need to stretch their new magical muscles, after all, and we got a few abilities that are rather useful in the modern world. Did you know that one of them can hack computers with his mind? From a distance?”

“I had no idea.”

“That’s,” Travis looked at him long and hard, “because you don’t read the reports. Anyway, while this is going on under the radar, Unity is leveraging its growing international weight. With all of our projects around the world about to start, we are building the kind of reputation where if Unity says something, the public believes it. Our PR strategist is leveraging everything we are doing, at a loss mind you, to help the planet and the people in it to make us look like the saviors of the world.”

“How? It’s only been a few days.”

“If it was longer, you’d already see David’s face all over the news. The real savior himself, who came from the stars to save America. In due time. For now, in the right circles news travels fast, and people know what direction the wind is blowing. They have been told we are developing new AI technologies. They know that we are—as Johanne’s team said—cooking with semiconductor technology. It’s bullshit, by the way, they are using mana crystals to cheat their way into computronium or something like that and squeeze free computation out of magical rocks that need no electricity and produce no waste heat. To put it short, people know that Unity is joining the big leagues. Unless we fuck up, which we basically can’t do, with the ironclad control we have over the company.”

“Aren’t we small fry compared to some of them?”

“With PetroLink under us, I would put us at top 500. Of course, considering we can’t pull too many resources from PetroLink unless we can plug the hole in our finances somehow, it will take a while before we can leverage that power. But then again, it’s not all about money anymore, is it? The dungeon made sure of that, and despite our secrecy, David and I are making sure the right people begin to suspect something is afoot.”