Chapter 970: The Wisdom These Situations Demand

“Magic was revealed on Earth,” Farrah began, “when the Engineers of Ascension sabotaged the grid in what was ultimately the action that spelled the end of their organisation. Without the ability to detect and resolve proto-astral spaces across the globe, those spaces broke down and ejected monsters into the world, causing the monster wave crisis.”

She tapped the clicker in her hand and the briefing room’s projector screen lit up with rows of ID photos and names. Farrah’s was at the top.

“My role,” she continued, “was to lead a workgroup of Network specialists to identify and ultimately rectify the sabotage, which we eventually did. I had been studying the functionality of the grid for some time prior to this, using my knowledge of magic from my own world. That said, even in my world, the principles by which the grid functions are rare and not yet fully understood.”

She gestured at the projector screen.

“Aside from myself, what you are looking at are the most prominent Network specialists regarding the grid at the time, recruited from branches around the world to work on the issue. The Network, and its secret society predecessors, had been studying the grid since its inception, but had had critical gaps in their knowledge base. Without fully grasping the fundamentals of magic theory, their progress in every field was stunted. And the grid is based on magical principles so sophisticated they work back around to being simple. At a glance, the grid is so basic that it doesn’t seem magical at all, yet is the most vast and powerful magic artefact I have even heard of existing.”

She gestured at the faces again.

“My grasp of magic and their legacy of studying the grid. By combining our respective knowledge bases, we made more progress in a year towards understanding it than in the previous few centuries combined. Through its study, I became one of very few people to specialise in the underlying theory governing the grid. What is called, on my world, a natural array specialist. The people of Earth in the workgroup became the first outside of Emi Asano to receive systematic training in the core fundamentals of magic. Anyone here who has studied magical theory probably recognises many of the names and faces up there.”

She turned to take a long look at the faces.

“Most of the magical advancements on Earth in the last two decades can be traced back to these people, and those they have subsequently taught. But the one thing they have been forbidden from passing along is knowledge of the grid itself. The grid is critical to the safety of Earth, and the magical wave crisis demonstrated that it could be disrupted.”

“Are you saying that magical knowledge has been suppressed?” Clive asked, anger in his voice.

“Not suppressed,” Anna said. “Restricted. Obviously, an understanding of the grid is required, should it be compromised again. For that reason, a group of researchers continues to conduct research, but their results are strictly contained. Many of the faces up here have been a part of that project, for obvious reasons. Many have retired or moved on, but they are carefully watched and protected, for obvious reasons.”

“Many of them are here in Asano Village,” Natalya said. “They were brought here as part of our investigation.”

“What about the Engineers of Ascension?” someone from the Chinese Network asked. “They sabotaged the grid, so they must have some knowledge of its functions.”

“We’ve studied the EoA’s research into the grid, and it’s all a dead end,” Farrah said. “Monkeys throwing sticks into an engine. It couldn’t lead to what we found in Pakistan.”

“How can you be sure?” the Chinese representative asked.

“Because we have complete records of all the research the EoA ever conducted,” Jason said, and all eyes turned to him.

“Who is ‘we’ in this situation, Mr Asano?” the representative asked. Jason turned in his seat to look the man in the eye.

“Clan Asano.”

“Do you intend to share that information with the global community?”

“If, when and to what degree we see fit.”

The man shot out of his chair.

“I must protest—”

“Then do it outside, so the briefing can resume.”

The man looked at Jason, gulped, then sat back down. Jason turned his gaze back to Farrah.

“One of these faces,” she continued, “is almost certainly the source of these new, artificial transformation zones. Whether they have continued their work off the books or taught someone else who has, the direction their research has taken is very specific. I described the ongoing restricted research into the grid, which is about securing and repairing it. The researchers now in the village have been examining what we retrieved from Pakistan, and we’ve concluded that it is a complete separate research track. This unofficial research has been iterating towards one goal: creating new transformation zones, presumably to harvest reality cores.”

“Do you have any confirmation of that?” an English representative asked.

“We have been working with the Asano Clan in Europe,” Natalya said. “We have found what we believe is the site of a transformation zone in the western Pyrenees, no more than eleven months old.”

“There still could be alternative sources for the knowledge to this, could there not?” a French representative asked. “We know that contact has been made with forces external to our planet. Ms Hurin is not the only potential source of magical knowledge.”

“True,” Anna said. “But while there has been contact with outside forces, doing so is difficult and we have a good handle on the nature of those contacts. Our belief is that someone on this screen either is or can lead us to the perpetrator. While the multi-nation intelligence taskforce has been focusing on the intelligence agencies, Ms Hurin and I have been investigating her old workgroup. More than eighty percent of them are now right here in Asano Village.”

Farrah clicked the control again and most of the faces were greyed out.

“Preliminary vetting of the group has cleared them,” Natalya said. “At least for now, but deeper investigations will continue over time”

“Our focus now,” Anna said, “is on those we could not find. The missing and the dead.”

“Currently,” Natalya said, “the intelligence taskforce is actively searching for the members of the workgroup who have gone missing. We are also checking that the ones reported dead actually are.”

“As of right now,” Anna said, “we are narrowing our focus to several of the missing individuals, and one in particular.”

Farrah brought a new slide, showing just one face.

“Simon McKean,” she said. “He was the head of the Earth researchers, ranked only behind myself in the workgroup.”

“He was from an Australian Network family, like myself,” Anna said. “I knew him for most of my life, before the Network schismed. For all of that time, he was obsessed with magic. Not essence magic, like most of us, but the theory. He was driven by a thirst for knowledge.”

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“Which paid off,” Farrah said. “During my time on Earth, he was unquestionably the best native ritualist I encountered. He had a hunger for the magical theory I brought from my world that was borderline unhealthy, but our relationship was rather contentious. He always felt that I was withholding knowledge, and that someone from Earth should be in charge of fixing the grid.”

“Meaning himself, obviously,” Anna added.

“It made for an unpleasant work environment,” Farrah said, “but he was too capable to push out of the project.”

In the front row, Clive raised a hand.

“To what degree do you think your personal interactions have pointed your attentions in this man’s directions?” he asked.