Keynes placed a piece of paper containing the key points of their partnership in his dimensional pouch. On the one hand, he was flattered that they were giving him an equal share, freedom of choice and protection but he still had no idea how to process this whole twist coming from Wagner.

It showed him how crafty Wagner was. Bringing Esopp Earl and Columbus Curt together? How likely was that? Yes, they had a history together as those people had known each other for decades but Keynes was convinced that the war sundered the past acquaintances and turned them into deadly encounters.

He was aware that his past ordeals made him oversensitive and distrustful, affecting his judgement. After Hugo and Sophie, Wagner was the first person he decided to trust. True, Keynes’s hand had been forced a ‘little’ by Daiyu Fen’s critical condition but Keynes firmly believed that he’d made the right choice.

But now standing in the presence of two potentially hostile Level 7s his trust issues resurfaced and he questioned his judgement. Still, he strongly hoped that their ludicrous and shocking proposal was a genuine piece, not a ruse in service of Windsor Freeman.

Keynes’s eyes flitted over them, searching for clues as to what their true motives were. He didn’t see anything out of the ordinary although it didn’t mean there wasn’t, he simply didn’t know those men well enough to know what constituted out of the ordinary in their case.

Eventually, not seeing another way out of this, he sighed and asked about one of the points in their agreement.

“If we keep the opened rifts to ourselves, how is that different from what Windsor Freeman wants?”

Wagner turned to him but it was Columbus Curt who replied.

“Each time we open rifts of a higher level than the current highest level, the previous highest level rifts will become public. We will still maintain them and charge a fee but anyone will be able to access them.”

“We are not a charity, Keynes,” Wagner added. “We wish to run a successful business first and foremost. It will benefit everyone involved. Our clients will be able to safely clear rifts and take the rewards for themselves alongside any materials inside the rift they can take out in a twenty-four-hour window.”

Keynes tried but couldn’t see the difference between their idea and the World Government’s plan. He told them so.

“Windsor Freeman wants the rifts for himself. He has ordered everyone to send all rewards to his estate in Spain. He wanted the ultimate control over everything,” Esopp Earl explained. “The scientist from the Institute killed by Tom Ventura was trying to figure out a way to reverse the effect of your Talent.”

“What? Why—never mind, I think I get it. He wanted to close the rifts so I could open them at his whims. And by doing so, no one else in the world would have access to the rifts.”

“Yes.”

Keynes had always felt bad for Murphy Polloc. He seemed like a decent man. Keynes thought that Captain Ventura had gone overboard by killing him but it looked like he had seen the threat that man had been. It was a dangerous precedent though. It might have potentially saved the world but killing anyone who posed a threat? No. That was definitely a step too far, right? It had to be. He shook his head, feeling doubt and conflicting emotions.

It sometimes feels like I am losing my empathy.

Keynes shifted his attention back to Esopp Earl and Columbus Curt.

“Fine. I see the difference now and I agree that your idea sounds appealing but I cannot imagine the World Government stepping aside and letting us do this. We don’t have an army to keep the rifts safe and if we had one we would turn the areas around the rifts into war zones.”

“The boy is right,” Hellescott said, earning a warning look from Esopp but no one stopped him from speaking so he continued. “President Freeman won’t stop until he has him back. Even High Lord Rugman’s betrayal or our withdrawal from the World Government won’t change anything. In fact, opening the rifts will play into the President’s hand.”

That last part voiced Keynes’s suspicions about this whole thing being a set up by Freeman. But would the leader of the opposition abide by Freeman’s plan? Unlikely. Very unlikely.

Somehow, Columbus Curt’s presence here alleviated Keynes’s worries. This realisation allowed Keynes to relax for the first time since their arrival. He sat down, letting go of his dimensional pouch’s content.

“We are working on the counter measures as we speak,” Esopp replied. “The World Government has satellites that can detect rifts as they emit spiritual energy. We’ve developed a barrier that blocks spiritual energy. The problem is an initial energy burst that has a different energy signature.”

Keynes half raised his hands as his mind soaked Esopp’s words.

“They know the locations of every rift?”

“Yes and much more,” Esopp replied. “They are mapping Level 3s and 4s though it is time-consuming because the sealed rifts have yet a different spiritual signature that has a limit of several kilometres.”

“That’s not everything though,” Columbus added. “After setting the infrastructure up and having Zimmermann be our face here in Geneva, our ultimate plan is to move off-planet.”

“Wait a minute,” Keynes stood up. Hellescott looked as surprised as him. “What do you mean off-planet?”

“The World Government’s greatest achievement,” Wagner explained. “The colonisation of our solar system. We can go to Mars or Venus or even Jupiter’s moons. And luckily for us, every colony denounced the World Government. They will gladly work with us.”

For all this time, Keynes hadn’t considered the rifts on other planets and moons.

You called Earth a Celestial Anchor once, Alice.

Yes, that is correct.

Are other planets and moons also Celestial Anchors?

There are some requirements but in most cases, yes, they are, master.

There was one issue though.

“We would need a spaceship for that.”

“That won’t—”

“It will not happen,” said a voice.

It came from the middle of the front yard and belonged to a man wearing a grey robe with a black sash around his waist. His face was well-tanned, his expression relaxed.

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As everyone whirled around, their weapons appeared in their hands, with exception of Hellescott who didn’t have a weapon, and Columbus who didn’t show one.

“Who are you?” Esopp asked, his tone sharp and dangerous. He held a long, white staff that shed off flakes of snow. His hands were covered with ice and his pose indicated a fighting technique.

Keynes remembered the intruder’s voice, he’d spoken to him in the small hotel’s lobby. This was the same man who had given him the coordinates of the three rifts and had brought his family and friends to him.

Could it be?

“Shaper?”

That word brought even more tension though it was only a guess based on what his family and Wagner had told him.

In the corner of his eye, Keynes saw Columbus shift his stance. The other man was clearly on edge.

Wagner uncorked and drank two potions, then chomped a few small fruits. He too, like Esopp Earl, had a staff.

Keynes took out his shortswords again, together with his Cloak of Shadows.

The entire scene lasted for less than three seconds and before anyone moved, the intruder raised his hands defensively and said.

“Hear me out.”

Only then Keynes noticed that Wagner, Esopp and Columbus were about to uncoil like three deadly serpents. Wagner and Esopp tapped the ground with butts of their staffs, Columbus had no obvious weapon but his footwork and the motion of his hands indicated that his body was his weapon.

“You not only haven’t listened to Hugo Horta’s message, Wagner Zimmermann, you’ve also brought together an unlikely combination of Esopp Earl and Columbus Curt to this.”

“You are indeed him.” For some reason, the corner of Wagner’s lips curled up.

“I am him, yes, as Keynes Kid has already pointed out.”

Upon hearing the confirmation only Hellescott seemed to not understand the weight of that statement.

“Who is this Shaper?” Hellescott asked but no one answered him. The tension was too high. If this man walked into a meeting of three Level 7s then he had to be at least a Level 10.

“What do you want?”

That seemed to be the question everyone had in mind.

Keynes tried to decipher Shaper’s expression but it felt like looking at a computer-generated face. It wasn’t natural.

“Wagner Zimmermann, you messed with things that are beyond your comprehension. Keynes Kid should be now maxing out his attributes, learning about the cultivation and finding out his own place within the System. Instead, he is stuck in Geneva, inside the web of your intrigues.”

“He came here because his friend had internal bleeding and she was dying.”

A realisation snapped inside Keynes’s head and he added.

“And she was hurt because of an assassin who was after me but he couldn’t track me. Instead, he tracked my family and friends who had been brought to me by you.”

A very humane expression of shock crossed Shaper’s face.

It was the moment the three Level 7s decided to attack.

Wagner used his walking stick to tap the ground, roots exploded in a circle around Shaper, trying to imprison him and form a cocoon.

The air around Columbus wavered, he shot forward, shattering the stone under his foot.

Esopp aimed his hand at Shaper, waiting for Columbus to score a hit.

Shaper stood, unconcerned as the roots started to snake around his legs. Then Columbus arrived, his silhouette only a blur to Keynes’s Perception. A punch flew at Shaper’s face, then without any overt motion, Columbus was thrown back like a rag doll.

Esopp cast [Ice Shot]s. Sharp blocks of ice shot toward Shaper only to shatter without causing any damage to the man.

What Level he had to be to disregard the strength of Level 7s? Why did no one ask that question? Was Windsor Freeman as strong as this man? That would be insanely bad.

Wagner came at Shaper third, his staff moving in a pattern. In barely a few steps, he was upon his adversary. But as the staff met Shaper’s head, it shattered, like the [Ice Shot]s earlier, with no obvious damage to Shaper.

Wagner did a few steps back, then halted and stared stupefied at his staff or what was left of it.

The next second, Shaper stepped out of the roots as if they weren’t there. Columbus and Esopp didn’t wait and attacked again, the sheer force of their feet destroying the ground. The strength of Level 7s wasn't a joke.

Unless they faced Shaper.

He did something and both men dropped to their knees, gasping for breath.

Alice, what just happened?

He used his Spirit. Whatever stage he is in, it is far above Medium.

Ignoring Wagner who still stood, shocked, and Hellescott who didn’t move a single step since the start of the fight, Shaper approached Keynes.

“It appears our plans have been derailed. This is not the place you should be in, or the design you should be a part of.”

“What do you mean?” Keynes asked.

“I am your maker, Keynes Kid. I have shaped history, always moving the events to the moment when you unlock your Lockpicking Talent and open rifts.”

Keynes was conflicted, his head started to spin. This was too much…

Shaper’s hand steadied Keynes and then he handed him a potion which Keynes drank without questioning what he was doing.

“This is a mental clarity potion. It will dispel shock.”

All of sudden, Keynes could think, really think. He gazed at Shaper and asked.

“Why?”

“Because like Windsor Freeman, he needs you, Keynes,” Wagner explained as he regained his own mental clarity. “It looks like I underestimated him.”

“You were planning to lure him here as well?” Esopp asked. “Are you out of your mind, Zimmermann?”

“Didn’t expect him to be this strong though.”

“I boosted each of my attributes to over seventy points. Not even Windsor Freeman could withstand that punch.”

“Your fist didn’t connect, Columbus Curt, but it had enough strength to cause some damage to me,” Shaper said without turning around. “Also, I wouldn’t disregard Windsor Freeman so easily. He is craftier than you give him credit for.”

“Wh—”

“Enough,” Shaper cut him off. He turned around and barely sparing Hellescott a glance, did something to him, causing Hellescott to collapse. “He will be fine. Now. You three.” He meant Wagner, Columbus and Esopp. “If I could, I would have killed you for messing with my plans. But I cannot. Like Windsor Freeman, you have your part to play in the future and that leaves me with only one choice. One that I hoped to avoid but it turned out that even I am not able to control fate as well as I thought. No matter. With Keynes Kid being here, all other versions of desired future are no longer possible.”

A porcelain white hexagon cube appeared in his hand.

Master, this thing radiates a massive amount of Spirit!

Keynes felt its insane spiritual energy too. It felt stronger than Wagner’s aura used on Siebert earlier but at the same time it wasn’t obtrusive like a high-level aura, it didn’t try to crush Keynes’s Spirit. It felt like a powerful contained Spirit Core.

Could it be, Alice?

I … I am not allowed to speak on these matters, master.

It feels wrong though, Keynes didn’t push Alice for answers. If she couldn’t tell him then she couldn’t, the end of the story.

It does.

Others noticed it as well. Their reactions were similar, they backed away from the cube and Shaper.

“This little thing is harmless to you. It holds the last vision of the future.”

“It holds… what?” Esopp asked in disbelief.

Keynes and Wagner glanced at each other, a silent understanding crossed their minds. This cube was similar in nature to the Fruit of Insight. Wagner’s fruit failed to deliver the expected results though. The Level 7 gardener had a look of a fascinated child. Keynes shared his emotions. Curiosity burned his entire body.

“It holds the future or rather a possible future. One that ends well for us.”

“You want to show us the future?” Columbus asked suspiciously. “Why?”

“You will find the answers in the vision.”