“Alright, time for your part. Drink this.” I handed the politician a flask. He looked at it and then at me.

“Is it safe?”

“The liquid won’t harm you in the slightest.” He looked at me and then at the flask. He slowly took the flask and drank some of the blood crystal powder infused water.

I then held out a brown crafting crystal. “Now swallow this.”

“Umm, no. I saw what those things did. They are dangerous. I want to leave.” I very carefully slapped the man, so I didn’t kill him. Teeth went flying out of his mouth and he screamed in pain. I kneeled down next to the man where he was screaming on the floor. Blood pouring out of his mouth.

“Now you can either swallow this, or I can make you suffer a lot more, heal you up, and repeat until you are broken. Now swallow.” I pushed the crystal into his bloody mouth. “Swallow.” I reached down and put a thumb over his one of his eyes and gently pressed down.

He swallowed the brown crafting crystal and let out blood choked sobs. “Good. Good.” I then put my hand on him. I carefully focused and only pushed so much energy into the crystal. I let go of the man and looked down at him. Good to know I could prime a crystal inside a person.

I then grabbed one of his legs and dragged him over to a corner of the room. I then went to the far end of the room. I then paused. Why do one? I was curious if I could stack the effects, and using a human body would be the best way to go about this. Since the body was the circle. I began getting out the rest of my brown crafting crystals. I went over to the man again.

I had him swallow three more. I carefully primed them all. There was no difficulty in doing this with multiple crystals. I think I knew how the Ritualist was combining monsters. One more secret to cross off the list. What was left of the man’s face twisted in pain and he let out a groan. I then went back to the far side of the room.

“One small step for Michael. One giant leap in explosive warfare.” I focused and triggered the mental link. There was a moment of stillness. Oh shit, my danger sense screamed at me. Why did I think this was a good idea? I quickly began to make hand signs for Aqua Sphere. A massive force exploded out of the man. “Aqua-”

I had a brief glimpse as his entire body instantly turned into flying viscera. A wave of force slammed into me and forced me against the table behind me. My body went right through it, turning the table into splinters. I was then slammed into the stone wall of the building.

Debris and viscera slammed into me. I felt like I was being crushed against the wall. A second or two later, the force stopped. I stumbled as I regained my footing. My entire body ached from being slammed against the wall.

A bell began to clang in the distance. I shook my head to try to get my bearings. Something was on my face. I wiped it, it was a clump of hair. I threw it to the ground. I slowly made my way out of the wrecked room. It took a moment to force the door open since it had been wedged into place.

I exited the building. Already a contingent of soldiers had arrived. There was a lot of people shouting. “Quiet.” Only a few people listened to me. “I SAID QUIET!” I shouted. Everyone quickly shut up. The bell continued to ring in the distance.

“Did the bell start ringing because of what just happened?” I asked.

A Captain of the RMPF spoke up. “Yes Champion Michael. Are you okay?”

“I am fine. Some research got out of hand. The building needs to be cleaned and repaired. Someone get Clarissa. Also, someone should check the rest of the staff.” One of the guards in a blue uniform then spoke up.

“We will get them. The RMPF doesn’t have jurisdiction here.” I didn’t have the patience to deal with this, but I couldn’t undermine people working directly for me.

“Fine, just go, make sure they are okay.” The two guards in blue uniforms quickly entered the building. The Captain gave me a look like he wanted to say something but didn’t say anything. He then turned his soldiers and began issuing orders to secure the area and to inform people that there was no attack.

A few minutes later, three people exited the building, look quite banged up. One of them was the good doctor Katz. He gave me a look, but didn’t say anything. I could tell he was judging my blood and viscera covered body, well tough luck for him. The nearby buildings were checked by the RMPF. It appeared that there was a force bubble created, and the range was limited or localized to the research building.

Clarissa, Naran, Gerold, Bob, and Laura all showed up right after. “What happened?” Clarissa was the first person to speak up.

“Follow me, Captain secure the entrance.” I wanted to view the extent of the damage now that I had a moment to process everything that had happened.

“Yes Champion Michael!” I entered the building, the leadership council followed me inside. I went back to the room I had been testing things in.

“Primed crafting crystals. A lot all at the same time. We can now produce explosives.” There was a long stretch of silence at that as they looked about the room. Bob looked positively ill.

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“It appears the explosives aren’t limited to just the crystals,” Naran said carefully poking a clump of brain matter on the floor with his boot.

“Similar to hybridization, we can stuff a person with several primed crystals. Then boom. We officially have the threat of suicide bombers,” I said. There was silence after that. After a minute, Naran spoke up again.

“I am guessing the brown crystals, I heard they create invisible force?” I nodded at that.

“The blue crafting crystals, melt.” I still hadn’t worked out the MAD threat the Ritualist had showed off. But with this new discovery that didn’t matter as much anymore.

“At the very least, they will allow us to address the difference in numbers and more easily defend a fixed position. We toss bombs over the top of the wall, we can neutralize quite a bit,” Gerold said.

“Maybe a counter for high level monsters?” Bob offered.

“More tests will be needed,” Clarissa said.

“Any leaks on the crystal powder production?” I asked. Ignoring the topic of offensive measures for right now.

“No, we are keeping that information locked down for now,” Clarissa replied.

“Good. Keep it that way. The powder process is the lynchpin to several strategic and tactical advantages. The longer we hold onto it the greater advantage we can consolidate,” I said. I looked about the destroyed room.

The impact was not as much as I originally thought. I went over to ground zero, where the man had been. I then looked at the edges of the room. There were chunks of bones and viscera. He hadn’t been vaporized, only pushed apart.

In fact, the space at ground zero was some of the cleanest in the room. “We will hold off on offensive weapon production for now. But if the RMPF wants to invest into crafting crystals with there share of tax revenue, that is their choice. If weapon production is engaged in, it will go through the research center and Clarissa,” I said and turned back to face the leadership council.

“Also, these weapons while giving an edge on level 1 monsters, aren’t going to be much use overall.” There was silence as everyone stared at me and I rolled my eyes at how slow everyone was being. “I was in an enclosed space and the impact of all those crystals barely did anything. At most bombs will cause confusion and training to use enchanted weapons, won’t change much from using the weapons themselves.”

They looked around at the mess. “Are you sure about that Champion Michael?” Gerold asked.

“Fairly sure. Better to invest in stats than equipment until there is a lot more testing done. For now I want to avoid the one million crystal threshold, so we will hold off on that purchase. You have my list otherwise Clarissa?” I asked.

“Yes, I do. I will make the necessary building purchases if you don’t return in time.”

“I should return, when the treasury is built up to 800,000 points. That will take, what thirty, forty days?” I asked.

“Yes unfortunately, there is something else that has come to my attention that needs to be addressed,” Clarissa said. I waved a hand and she continued speaking. “The Union teams are using other cities to turn in most of their crystals to avoid the tax on level 2 crystals.” I turned my head to look at Laura who winced slightly at my gaze. This was clearly a power play by Clarissa, but I decided to back her up for now. She probably didn’t air it before since there were other people listening inside the Enchanting Hall.

I was annoyed at Laura since I thought we had an understanding. Apparently, trying not to be an asshole was interpreted as weakness. Time to put the squeeze on her and the Union. I knew Clarissa was manipulating me in that direction, but that was fine since it was city crystals and someone trying to scam them. The silence stretched on for a bit before Laura spoke up, keeping her voice steady.

“There is no law against that. Less of a risk than having a large number of crystals on hand and improves grinding speed.” I nodded slightly at that. All correct and valid arguments. Naran did the same thing. But he was Naran and the only other member of my combat team.

“True, very true. But the tax rate is at ten percent for level 2 crystals, which is reasonable. If they refuse to pay, then there will be problems. I am thinking a total ban on all city services, not allowed to own any property, and a cart fee of 100,000 points to enter the city.”

“That is-“ Laura began to speak but I cut her off.

“I hope you aren’t going to say unfair?” She shut her mouth. “Good. They are being granted a lot of stuff, knowledge, privilege, and a chance at skill points. Just like I am not squeezing the Union to death about the lost contracts and the dungeons at other cities, your teams are expected to do their part.”

“What about the war against the Ritualist?” An odd direction to go, but I would play along.

“What about it?”

“You started it, but my teams took the brunt of the deaths,” Laura said.

“Do you really want to toss blame around. Those who live in glass houses that are easily melted should be careful about throwing stones. If you want to bring up past stuff, then I should hold you accountable for the Guild. I haven’t forgotten you were a part of it. But in the interest of keeping the peace, you won’t have to pay the taxes retroactively, but starting tomorrow, teams owe taxes. I don’t care if they are out of the city, take it out of your fees or budget.”

Laura glared at me. “Fine. I will make sure it is done.” I didn’t appreciate her tone.

“Clarissa, perform an audit of the Union. Gerold, I think having your soldiers stationed inside their building would also be appropriate to monitor their activity. Next time, you should thank me for my kindness.” She kept glaring at me. “Really Laura? You really want to glare at me and push things and not take a hint?”

“You put your boot down on people’s necks and lead us into disaster. Don’t you agree Bob?” I kept staring at Laura even when Bob spoke up.

“Don’t get me involved in this. I am content to stay in my lane.” Bob was spineless, just the way I liked him. He could take the non-important tasks off Clarissa’s plate and be the first line of defense for people complaining about life in Purgatory.

“Are you making a power play Laura? Why? Do you think you can win against me? What is the point?” I asked, genuinely curious. I had no idea what she was trying to accomplish besides annoying me.

“My people, they died for your mistakes,” she said with anger in her voice. I nodded at that.

“Yes. I screwed up. I have screwed up a lot. But being difficult and trying to undermine me, will only force me to crack down and wipe a lot of people out.” I kept my voice calm and collected. I wasn’t afraid of anyone here.

“Then step down. Take responsibility.” If only that were possible. But without me, there would be power plays and things would descend into chaos. That didn’t even begin to address the threats outside the city.

“I would if I could. But then who would replace me? You? One of your teams?” I shook my head. “It just isn’t possible to run this city without an iron fist.”

“And that is what caused the mess in the first place. Now this. Human experimentation. How long until you start using people like the Ritualist?”

I took a deep breath, the stench in the room was bad and it wasn’t just the blown apart body. “Alright, then what are you proposing exactly, details.” I wasn’t going to change anything, but I would hear her out and decide if I should keep her alive or not.