Clarissa came down and I told my soldiers to allow her into the lab. She frowned when I ordered her people away but didn’t say anything.

“We have multiple issues we need to deal with. That thing being the least of them,” I said with a sigh. Jacob was still poking at it, and carefully pushing something into its robe folds.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Jacob Copper is the Master Fleshcrafter,” I replied.

“Oh. That…that isn’t good. And a headache,” she said.

“Well for now we three know, and of course the Avatar,” I replied.

“Michael, his status is legendary. Only second to the Divine Empress. The political fallout if this comes out would be immense,” she said.

“It can’t be that bad,” I countered.

“Michael, it would be. It could start a rebellion. The horrors he was a part of are…are quite immense. If we are tainted with that legacy, it will go poorly.”

“Well, we can’t kill him, it wouldn’t stick,” I replied. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh.

“Rebirth resonance. Doesn’t it have huge security risks?” she asked and I nodded.

“Memory and stat loss as well. But even if we kill him, it won’t stick. I might be able to counter it, but it wouldn’t be simple. I have no doubt he would kill himself, rather than let himself be captured,” I replied. There was silence as we both considered what we could do and what we wanted to do. These were two separate things unfortunately.

“Michael, if he sticks around and it comes out, and it will, then it will cause shockwaves,” Clarissa said.

“Who would believe it? I mean look at him. He doesn’t look Asian?” I suggested. “The only one who could figure it out is the Avatar, and if she shouts it out, we can just use his appearance and vouch for him. His research is interesting,” I replied.

“Interesting enough you want to spare him?” she asked me, and I nodded.

“Yes. He had techniques to help deal with the residual damage I suffered and for dealing with curse damage. He is completely and totally a war criminal of the highest order, but he is also incredibly knowledgeable,” I countered. “He also took down that thing. His combat abilities are nothing to laugh about either.”

“You can defeat him?” she asked me.

“Yes but killing him would be tricky. He permanently cursed his appearance, to change it. The title of Master Fleshcrafter is not just for show,” I replied.

“And he wants his own lab and to poke very dangerous things?” she asked.

“The layers and the forbidden zone. He wants to poke both in an effort to develop better technology. We could kill him, and hunt him down, but it would put us back at least a decade with our research efforts.” There was another stretch of silence after this statement.

After the disappointment of the upgrade, we didn’t want to just get rid of another way to progress. It would be too painful. The Master Fleshcrafter had picked his timing perfectly. “You sound convinced, is there anything you want me to say?” Clarissa finally asked.

“If you object, then I will get rid of him. He isn’t worth drama between us. But we would have to do a full purge then. No half measures. Most of the research department would have to be eliminated and Qi Ji Long crippled,” I replied.

“That would have other risks. You seem like it is all or nothing. We could lock him up and make him do research like that,” Clarissa replied.

“And he grows resentful and does something stupid? Better to just give him assistants that report make to someone monitoring the entire situation, and not just Doctor Katz. He let this happen, so while he is useful, his judgement is questionable.” I let this happen to. But Doctor Katz wouldn’t look at the dangers. We needed someone paranoid to watch Jacob and his every move.

“I know the person and can make arrangements. So keeping this between us?” Clarissa asked me.

“Yes. Unless you think otherwise?” I asked.

“The person I have planned to watch him, will need to be informed of something,” Clarissa said.

“Just say the research he is doing is high risk and we want someone to monitor things, to make sure there is no mad science getting out of hand. We don’t need some super powered up serial killer breaking free,” I replied.

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“Very well,” Clarissa said. We went back over to Jacob who was poking and prodding the thing he had captured. It wasn’t a person and it wasn’t a monster, it was a thing that looked like a cloaked humanoid.

“So, you decide to melt me again?” he asked.

“We decided you can stick around, your research will be monitored, but we don’t plan on restricting you beyond necessary safety precautions. No mad science or super charging something up that might escape,” I replied and he nodded.

“And a specialty lab, increased funding, and the research topics?” he asked. I looked at Clarissa, since this fell under her purview.

“The question is control and risk. How risky are the things you want to investigate?”

“Very risky. The layers and the forbidden zone on top of this thing,” he replied and gestured at the sorry looking being strapped down to the enchanted table with spikes impaled into it. Clever, they were enchanted to be null, that way they weren’t easily consumed. They resisted energy effects. I had no doubt there was more to them.

“We could set something up outside the city, to the Northwest. Would be fairly close to the forbidden zone, but we would need high stat people out there and it would take a bit of time. For now, this thing is far more concerning. It doesn’t show up on the Regional Map,” Clarissa said.

“It isn’t human, and uses stealth properties. Look, you can see the energy that is part of its stats and being around the spikes. But in the other areas, nothing for the most part. Definitely monster related. It is probably inheriting physical characteristics from monsters it consumes. If the stealth of a monster isn’t energy manipulation, but something that is part of the monster, then it stands to reason it could be transferred over.”

“This being doesn’t have crystal transferred knowledge. And isn’t manipulating energy to achieve this effect. Since it is incapacitated, and the effect is still active. It is a built-in function. If this could be replicated, we could have stealth armor. Harvest it off this being. It would be incredibly painful for it, but I don’t think either of you care?” Jacob asked. We both shook our heads.

“Great! The real trick is how it can layer in the energy unlike enchantments, or similar. But these are physical properties. Look at this bit of cloth I separated. It still maintains the properties of the whole. It is alive, somehow. There is no brain! But it could speak intelligently as well. This might be the first actual instance of complete disembodiment, while retaining intelligence.”

“Learning to exploit this phenomenon through energy manipulation would be quite a boon. Sure, it would take time, but meta-point applications always provide the most useful insights that aren’t common.”

Jacob was really pent up as he spewed forth all his thoughts at once. Clarissa and I took a moment to process all of that. “It cannot escape Jacob. It might adapt as well.”

“I know, which is why I implanted it with a device. One thought and it will be disabled, don’t worry,” he replied.

“Still, no chances. I will be sending one of my Chief Auditors to work with you. They will be reporting to me and ensuring there are no accidents. Anything you discover, you are to pass on to her,” Clarissa said.

“Not a problem. As long as there is stuff to research, I have no complaints. At least you won’t skin me alive,” he replied. We left him alone and left the lab.

“He is…a character,” Clarissa finally said as our soldiers fell in behind us.

“Indeed, but Jacob is worth some leeway. You had something else planned?” I asked.

“Yes, a meeting about our long-term plans and agenda. If we are going to change directions as a nation, now would be a good time. Possibly consider upgrading other cities to peer out over the void,” she said.

“For scouting, I get that, but how much is there to plan? I will be off grinding. Things just need to run smoothly,” I countered.

“There are two other major issues. The age range of people arriving. It is going to increase again like the previous times cities were upgraded. Since this was the final upgrade, we might get babies or seniors with mental issues. Also, the population crunch. We are trying to be efficient about pillar use, but it is not easy.”

“You want to purchase those trillion point scams,” I accused her.

“Long term it is our only viable option. The hardest part will be saving up that many points. Someone will have to hold them and be trusted,” she replied.

“If it will be anyone, it will be me. I am the least likely to die, and I can’t go rouge. I will just set aside a portion of my points that are extra for whatever nonsense you decide to purchase,” I replied.

“We need more store pillars. One at each gate would be quite useful,” Clarissa explained.

“Four trillion, that is an insane amount. Not going to invest it back into the economy?” I asked.

“We have reached the point of diminishing returns with level 4 zones. It has been a struggle so far. The bigger issue is the population. I hate to say it, but we need another war,” Clarissa said.

“Only ten years, and we are already at the breaking point?” I asked.

“No, we are at the start of the breaking point. In ten more years, we will be there. More people come to the capital of course than other cities, but it will get worse. I am thinking death arenas will be useful to stem the population tide,” she replied.

“Whatever you think is best, you have my support,” I replied.

“Thank you Michael. If there was a better way, but it isn’t like we can stop people from arriving, unless that is the vote option,” she suggested.

“And that raises the question of what is happening with Earth. Everyone still has the same date of September 1st. We are either stuck in time, or Earth is stuck in time, or people or put into storage and taken out,” I replied.

“Or the Almighty System is doing temporal manipulation,” Clarissa added in.

“That too. It could be anything. Speculation is the favorite hobby around here after all,” I replied.

“Indeed. Poking that forbidden zone, are you sure about that?” Clarissa asked me.

“Yes, it is time we begin clearing towers and poking things. Maybe. But any insight we can get could prove useful,” I replied. Without having to repeat ourselves, extreme safety precautions and limits would need to be set. We didn’t want to piss off the Almighty System, but taking a more proactive stance was needed now that further city upgrades weren’t possible.

With one avenue closed, we needed to look at others.