CHAPTER 129: REVEAL

Reveal

Osho took a deep breath as he regarded the people who sat around him at the round meeting table. His body still ached quite a bit, and he had more than a few bruises under his shirt. As it turns out, being in close proximity to a nuke of unstable Corrupt Mana could rough you up quite a bit, even if you are being protected by a mobile sky domain.

Eleanor, Mrs Jane, Kurt, Sam, Irene, Fredrick, Lady Haggai, Principal Timothy, the Citadel Lord, Major Thompson, Simon, and Stephen, Ellie’s father.

The room they were in was dark and not overly large. It had black walls which were made out of a Mana insulating material which made it extremely difficult to peer through via Mana sense, and the walls were several meters thick. They also muffled sounds and vibration, and they were extremely durable.

Needless to say, it was a top-secret meeting room.

The fact that Osho had managed to convince most of the higher-ups of the Citadel to attend spoke of the importance of what he had to say. In fact, the only reason Simon wasn’t here was because he was busy organizing a Citadel-wide sweep, something the Citadel Lord should have been a part of, but by his words, ’That’s why it’s good to have trustworthy assistants.’

As for why Osho had gathered them here, his friends included?

Well, let’s backtrack a bit to a few days ago.

Osho and the others had been unconscious for a few days, with Osho being unconscious the longest. However, the reason was simply due to him draining his Mana to such dangerous levels, so his body had to slowly reabsorb the surrounding Mana to replenish itself. Something made easier by the fact that Gale’s domain was active even while unconscious, so the Mana within helped him recover faster.

Still, it had taken nearly a week before he woke up again. Then, he had to deal with the backlash his body faced which was quite severe. The corrupt Mana alone had done quite a number on him, and the added strain of forcing his Mana to help keep the orb of Corrupt Mana under control made it worse.

Hence, he spent a while just healing, and during this time, he’d come to learn just how severe the results of the Abyssal Scrounger’s attack had been.

Around 200 students had died during its frenzy, quite a talented number of them too, with the death of Han Jiwon naturally being the worst. As distasteful as it was the higher-ups had ultimately decided to keep his involvement with the creature under wraps as the backlash would simply be too intense. Principal Vermont had to release quite the hefty compensation, though, under the guise of donating to those who were affected by the attack the most. However, he seemed almost eager to do so. The ordeal weighed on his mind, no doubt.

And there had been a lot.

A large-scale funeral had been held for the students who had perished during the attack, their families compensated by the Citadel as well as by Principal Vermont. After that, the Citadel Lord gave a grand speech before offering a formal public apology in addition to the compensation.

The Skyblight Harbinger was one thing. In that regard, it was a beast tide. Those happen regularly to all Citadels. Damage is unavoidable, and blaming the Citadel Lord was pointless.

However, this was different.

Calling it a terrorist attack was the most apt description for what had happened. The attack had been deliberate and happened right in their backyard. Moreover, it targeted their younger generation, something the people couldn’t accept lying down.

People blamed the higher-ups for their negligence. They blamed the Expert Ranks for not reacting fast enough and stopping the dome from forming, or even stopping the ’terrorists’ from getting so close in the first place.

Hence, the apology. There had also been a long speech given about taking down the perpetrators and ensuring they faced justice.

Osho had been unconscious throughout all of this, but to his relief, they hadn’t revealed that his group was the one that dealt with the Scrounger. Even luckier was that the other students who survived were unconscious at the end, so they didn’t see the whole thing either.

Speaking of, unfortunately, many of the students who survived were still recuperating as—unlike their group—they didn’t have any way of resisting the Corrupt Mana reasonably. Hence, they had been exposed to it far more, resulting in their conditions being quite severe, with some being completely comatose, the time of their Awakening being uncertain.

To summarize, this entire situation had been one big shitshow and Osho didn’t like it at all.

Hence, when he was reasonably recovered, he called for this meeting, and most of those who attended were the more high-profile individuals within the Citadel. What’s more, they were people he trusted...

Well, not all of them. He was still iffy on Fredrick, and along with the Citadel Lord, they were a calculated risk. As for Ellie’s father, well, despite their scarce interactions recently, Osho knew the man quite well, both from his past life and this one. The man was trustworthy.

Lady Haggai, for how annoying she is when it comes to her experiments, still meant well for Osho, and harming him wouldn’t align with her goals. Similar to Stephen, Osho knew Principal Timothy from both his lives, and the man was trustworthy. Mrs Jane and Ellie were a no-brainer, Kurt, Irene, and Sam had proven themselves, and similar to Lady Haggai, it wouldn’t be in Major Thompson’s best interest to harm Osho.

So what was so important that Osho needed to be so careful about who he invited and trusted to join?

"Alright. Obviously you’re all wondering why I called for this meeting and have stuff to do, so I’ll cut straight to the chase." As soon as he started talking, their already reserved attention became even more trained on him, their curiosity barely masked.

He took a breath again before looking at Gale who was resting contentedly in his arms, half-asleep.

"When I first obtained Gale’s egg, I didn’t hatch him immediately. Instead, I used the funds obtained to gather materials and carry out certain actions on his egg before hatching him," He started. "This was before Gale’s potential was tested. At the time, it was recorded at the Master Rank."

He lingered. "Some time later, I procured more materials and did it again. However, I never checked his rank again after that," He smiled and little and rubbed the bird’s feathers.

"After that, I managed to gain entry into the black market under the persona of Maven and performed a similar action on someone’s beast." He gave Fredrick a look, the latter’s eyes widening in realization and shock.

"The third time, it was just before the confrontation with the Skyblight Harbinger. Back then, I remember asking for materials to make a ’tonic’ to give Gale, which significantly boosted his abilities just before the final confrontation." Then he stared at Ellie.

"I then made a similar ’tonic’ for Sugil, Ellie’s beast, giving her wings and turning her into something more resembling an Amphiptere. And while she never did another check, in certain that if she decided to test Sugil’s potential once more, she would see something that wasn’t the Elite rank." By the time he finished, he saw everyone’s faces light up in realization as they put two and two together.

"... Hold on, are you saying what I think you’re saying, Osho?" Mrs Jane ventured carefully, and Osho smiled.

"If what you think I’m saying is that I know how to evolve beasts at will, then yes, that is what I’m saying." His words were met with silence, and a moment later, everyone looked like they were about to rush him with questions, but the Citadel Lord raised a hand before saying with narrowed eyes.

"Eyes. Let’s say we believe you, why are you revealing this all of a sudden?" He asked, and Osho nodded, clearly expecting such a question.

"There are a multitude of reasons, sir, but i have a few main ones," He paused before continuing. "The world is changing. That parasite we fought was probably one of many things being created in secret, right under our noses. To be frank, the only reason this entire situation didn’t end worse than it did was due to Gale and his unique abilities. The same applies to the situation with the Harbinger. Even if we eventually took it down in the end without Gale’s help, the losses would have been horrific. I can’t keep affording to play around while our enemies continue to play with us from wherever they are. We need more beasts with skill sets similar to Gale that can effectively combat them. This could potentially level the playing field.

Moreover, we almost died because no one knew what I could really do. If keeping a secret makes things more dangerous then I might as well come out and reveal the truth. Besides, a semi-descent background check and two braincells could easily realize that Gale’s growth pattern isn’t simple. A bit of thinking will tell you that perhaps it isn’t due to coincidence. Eventually, someone is gonna figure out, and whether they have good intentions or not isn’t something I want to leave up to chance. Better I show you now, on my own terms, than have you learn about it when it’s being used by someone you can’t control.

Lastly, I need a better support base. I can’t keep dancing around the bush when I need something to evolve a beast. You all know as well as I do just how important something like this is. So I can’t be wasting time." He shook his head.

The room was silent for a moment, then the Citadel Lord sighed and spoke grimly.

"Fine. Explain your intentions." He said, and Osho smiled. So far so good.