Chapter 67

The alarm blared in Michael’s ear like a tornado siren. Bleary eyed, he noticed that it wasn’t even light outside and momentarily cursed himself for having a better physique that didn’t require as much sleep now as it did before. It robbed him of the little moments, he felt as he refreshed himself with [Healing Aura]. Not that sleeping in was any good. It felt nice while you do it, but then it filled Michael with the dread of a wasted day. Back before the dungeon, the dread had been about survival: if he didn’t work—or find a job after he had been fired—he would not be eating the next day. Now it was more existential. If he didn’t wake up, then the whole machine he had set up would grind down to a halt and the world would eventually be exposed to dangers it couldn’t deal with.

He idly noticed that he wasn’t at full mana, absorbed a copper coin and then remembered just why he was not at full mana in the first place. His full aura felt stifling. With a sigh, he summoned his healing aura and consumed some of his mana, swearing that he would find a way to upgrade his aura and mana pool as soon as possible.

Johanne was already up, somehow. It was as if she didn’t need to sleep at all, either due to her magically enhanced constitution or, more probably, a spell she used. He considered asking her about it, but he felt that if he removed even sleep from his life to make room for more work and training, then he might really lose his grip on his humanity and go insane. In fact, even though he frequently took long rests that lasted entire days inside the dungeon, he felt like he was overworking himself quite a lot.

In the end, however, he could not slow down. Not now, at least, not until he resolved several issues that demanded his attention. Finish setting up Unity headquarters, the science division and fortify the land around it. Deal with Carmela and the blurring man on his land. Find out about other delvers and dungeon openings and deal with them.

Only then could he rest.

He joined Johanne for breakfast, which she had already almost finished preparing. He tried to take over, but was sent sitting at the kitchen table like an unruly child with gentle yet firm words. She was following a recipe online and had sent a man working for Unity to purchase the relevant supplies. Compared to Michael’s wealth, even overpaying the poor errand boy like she had was did not even put a dent in his cash stash, but the poor man mindset had not yet left his body. It felt like a waste. A waste he could afford, he repeated to himself.

“Did you spend all night on the internet again?” he asked her as she worked. He had bought her a phone, but perhaps he should have waited a little bit. Oh well.

“Of course, my lord. There is yet much for me to learn about your world. Many fascinating things. Did you know that in Quantum Electrodynamics…”

On she went. Even with the increase in intelligence from his level-ups, Michael had issues following her dumbed-down explanations. He literally felt it when he gained a point of intelligence from simply trying to follow.

That’s it. Next time I spend some days in the Valley, I’m taking some books with me. I need to increase the intelligence stat.

If only he had a spatial storage of some kind.

Then Johanne veered towards talking about the lab she wanted built for the science division of Unity. Which, it appeared, would come under her command. Old Dave had been quite flabbergasted about it when he learned of it, but since her position was equal to his in the budding company, and since she was doing a good job of it despite being literally fresh from a long sleep in amber, he couldn’t do anything but vent some frustration.

“She’s just taken over the whole science division! The recruiting process, the building works, everything!
In barely a couple of days?” he had almost choked on his spit when he got the report and budget requests.

“Yes, and she’s doing a better job than any of us could.” Travis had replied. “It’s like she understands the scientists she’s recruiting. She’s good. Very good.”

Michael had nodded once, Old Dave had lost his will to speak and Travis had grinned at that.

Then Johanne mentioned a particle accelerator to study magic at a subatomic level and shocked Michael out of his musings.

“It might be a tad too expensive even for Unity Corp right now, Johanne.”

“No problem, just heal a few more people and you will be set, my lord.”

“I think you are confusing millions with billions. A particle accelerator is not cheap.”

“You are right, it is not, but I think we can make do with a small one for now. I studied the designs, even though I might have forgone studying economics in favor of science. Although…” she tapped her chin, “there are a few promising start-ups I have instructed Travis to acquire, which will reduce our liquidity even more while at the same time giving us access to strategic resources… my lord, I think you should start healing people in large batches. What is the range of your healing skill now?”

“5 meters, according to the skill description.”

Johanne hummed. “You should work on increasing that limit. From what you told me, it is not at a bottleneck yet. Healing will be our main income for a while yet until we start producing truly innovative products by mixing magic and technology. Besides, we need money not only for the lab, but also for the factories, for the headquarters, and for your mansion.”

“Mansion?” Michael echoed her, flabbergasted.

“Of course. Did you think I would allow you to live in that tiny hut you planned to build next to the dungeon, my lord? The container-house shall work because it’s temporary, but you will eventually live in nothing short of a mansion. Now, if I may be so forward,” Johanne said, “we must talk about an issue that has been tainting our otherwise excellent position: Carmela Esposito.”

“What about her?” Michael asked.

“She is a liability. Her connections were unneeded from the very beginning, and now her threat has been left to fester.”

“Well, she was there when it all started.” Michael said defensively, even though he knew that Johanne was right.

“Sadly, yes. I wish it would have been me, but alas… I understand the chain of events that led to this predicament. Since you are very busy, I will speak to her, clarify our positions.”

“That’s not a good idea.” Michael said, but there was nothing more said about the matter, because Old Dave chose that moment to call Michael over the phone. “I need to go,” Michael said, “I have a training session with Sensei Stephan and then Old Dave wants to know what to do about Mustang. We can’t keep him in the broom closet indefinitely.”

“I shall stay behind to deal with the matters here.” Johanne said, showing Michael her new phone, “I can handle myself.”

It was not her ability to handle herself that got Michael worried.

The training session was going to be one of the last ones they did at the park. Now that Michael owned the gym they could just commandeer the big room for themselves without anyone interfering, after all. It would cut on the profit margin the gym made, but it was such an insignificant item in Unity’s budget that it didn’t matter at all. It would be a couple of days before the purchase was finalized, though.

The Sensei thanked him profusely for his help. Yesterday the realization had not yet truly settled in, but after sleeping on it he realized that things were going to change now that Michael was the owner of the whole gym. They could expand! They could teach more people, with better equipment and more room!

After that, they each settled into their own training routine. They both had things they wanted to focus on, different parts of the style they needed to improve as a foundation to build upon afterwards. They trained in silence, with only the occasional exchange of instructions as each commented on the other’s form.

***

Johanne’s expression morphed the moment Michael stepped out of the house. The gentle smile slid off her face like a mask, replaced by a stony determination. She pulled up her phone and dialed the number she memorized to call Old Dave—and Michael’s—secretary.

“Laura,” she said, “I need a car at the apartment immediately.”

“On it,” the cheerful voice at the other end of the phone replied.

Johanne hung up.

Several minutes later she was in the back of a SUV with dark windows. Having told the driver where she wanted to go, she felt like there was no need for further conversation. Normal people were not Michael, nor were they his closest collaborators. Travis had devised a classification system for the upper echelons of Unity Corp who were also in the know with what Candle Light was doing. According to the naming scheme, she was a Level 1 Operator together with David and Travis himself, while Michael was a Level 0.

She felt no need to communicate with anyone of a Level greater than one unless strictly necessary. Much less a driver.

She reached the location a couple of hours later. She had the car circle around the block and park out of the way.

“Wait here,” she told the driver, then cast an invisibility spell on herself. She frowned when she felt her mana dip without the familiar rush of fresh mana entering her body, but she had been given enough coins to make do. Absorbing a couple of Copper coins, she made her way towards the building in the distance.

Once she was close enough but still out of the way, she dropped her invisibility. Coming upon the road in front of the squat compound, two gruff guards greeted her. According to the intel she got from Travis, there was a code word to access the inner parts of the building. She wouldn’t stand up to close scrutiny without spells, of course, but that was never her goal. Her goal was to reach the person she was looking for as quickly as possible.

“You’re not one of ours,” said one of the guards closer to the heart of the building. Johanne had made it quite far before she was detected, the compartmentalized nature of the criminal organization working in her favor.

“I’m not,” she replied simply, then weaved a spell with dazzling speed and the guard dropped to the ground, unconscious.

Carmela was sitting in her office when the door was literally torn from its hinges, swinging inwards before crashing on the ground. A spiderweb of cracks extended from the frame into the wall as the silhouette of a woman came into view.

“Carmela Esposito, we need to talk.” Said a voice from the threshold.

“And who, I wonder, might so forcefully want an audience with me?” replied the criminal mastermind, her voice calm. “Prego, come in.”

Johanne made her way into the room and seized a chair, dragging it across the floor until she sat in front of Carmela’s desk. The woman in question observed Johanne’s movements with a dispassionate gaze, but not without pressing a little button hidden under her desk.

“My name is Johanne. I demand that you stop bothering my… employer.”

“Who is he?” Carmela asked with a smirk, “to send such a powerful person after me, hmm…”

“You know who he is. Recall your man, or—”

“Or what?” a male voice said from the broken door. It felt young, yet full of anger. Johanne did not see it, because her head swiveled to survey the new threat, but Carmela scowled. She was about to probe the strange woman for information when her idiot underling appeared, way ahead of time.

Johanne got to her feet in an instant. The man had blurred forward, no doubt propelled by a movement magic just like Michael had told her he would, but she was ready. The blur impacted a translucent shield that surrounded Johanne and was sent crashing into a wall.

“You bitch!” the man yelled. A fireball appeared in his hand. “I will kill you!”

He threw the fireball at Johanne. It burned terribly hot and bright, instantly increasing the temperature of the room by a dozen degrees and setting some paper on fire. Johanne simply watched the ball approach, then waved her hand like she was swatting a fly out of the air.

The magic was instantly dispelled, the ball of fire unraveling like ink on swirling water. The man snarled at her, his figure once again blurring forwards as many more balls of fire appeared in the air, this time thrown much faster than the first one and coming from all angles and directions.

“Another fucking mage?” the blur yelled as his fireballs were swatted away to unravel, barely hot air remaining in their wake. “You didn’t tell me there was another!”

Carmela, the target of the rant, was still sitting with naught a worry in her face.

“Do something!” yelled the man. “She can disrupt my magic!”

“Fucking hell, Josh, non fare il coglione, you are setting fire to the whole building!”

Indeed, even though there was a veritable barrage of spells coming her way and Johanne was dispelling most of them, some were hitting the walls and furniture. The room was soon transforming into an inferno.

Meanwhile Johanne was continually burning through her stash of coins, but she had brought more than enough. Just as she burned through half of her stash she went on the offensive. A spear of force stabbed towards the blur, who managed to partially dodge it. Not completely, as the spell was a targeted one and not an aimless one. Johanne was prepared. The man’s dodge saved his life but wasn’t enough to avoid the kinetic part of the spell, and he was sent flying towards a wall only to collapse in a heap.

“Enough,” Camela’s voice came from behind.

Then magic surged.

Johanne knew what battles she could fight, and what battles she should flee. So she fled. With the speedster out of commission, she activated her escape spell fast enough to reach the SUV.

“Go!” she commanded the driver.