CHAPTER 257: CONTROL STRATEGY

With the help of Mex, a formal meeting was requested with the Sparkborn Sovereign.

Adrian, who had been expecting this since the moment he made this plan, accepted immediately. The meeting was agreed on, and the location was set: the Sparkborns’ sector.

The next day, at the appointed hour, Papa Perez and Mex stepped onto the Sector Transit Hub platform. Mex, who had been nervous about this meeting, was even more so now that he was formally accompanying his elder.

He swiped his ID card, and the 20-credit fee was deducted. The familiar white light enveloped them.

They reappeared on the Sparkborns’ arrival podium. Mex had been here before, but seeing it through his elder’s eyes, he was struck by the difference.

His own Normat sector was vast, sprawling, and disorganized; a place where people had carved out a life over generations. This place was cramped in comparison, but it was also clean, disciplined, and filled with a focused, purposeful energy.

There was no litter, no one idling in the plazas. He saw groups of humans, elves, and dwarves moving in disciplined shifts with smiles on their face.

As they walked, their path was blocked by a colossal structure that took up enough space for almost thirty houses.

From the outside, it was a massive, windowless fortress, its walls built from the repurposed, dull-silver alloy of the deconstructed houses. But its roof... its roof was a single, massive, transparent expanse of a shimmering, crystal-like material, angled to catch the light of the Nexus dome above.

"Whoa..." Mex breathed, stunned by the scale of it. "What is that?"

"Papa Perez, I presume." A calm, polite voice greeted them. "Welcome to the Sparkborn Sector. I am Charles, chief administrator for Sovereign Adrian."

Papa Perez inclined his head, a gesture of respect. "Sir Charles. We thank you for receiving us. May I ask... what is this incredible structure? The life energy it radiates... it is remarkable."

Charles gave a polite, and completely unhelpful smile. "That? Oh, that is our primary agricultural project. It’s something special to us."

Perez and Mex exchanged a look. ’So this is where the food comes from.’ The scale of it, the obvious technology and magic involved... it confirmed their fears. They could never compete with this. Copying them was an impossible, childish dream.

"This way," Charles said, gesturing. "The Sovereign is waiting."

He led them not to a grand hall or a formal office, but to one of the small, grey, unassuming houses

Karl, who had just finished his drills was standing by the door, about entering inside as well. He gave Mex a knowing grin and nodded respectfully to Perez, but said nothing.

Charles swiped his own ID card, and the door opened, revealing the scene inside.

The living room was impossibly cramped. Every member of Adrian’s inner circle were there. Loryn, Damien, Mara, Nyra, Eli, Serena, Melissa, Jeffery, Master Von, name it.

And at the small table in the center of it all, Adrian sat with his PAD in front of him.

The combined, passive aura of the Transcendents could be felt by the two Normats.

Papa Perez froze in the doorway. He had come here to negotiate with a clever young merchant who was upsetting the local economy. He had just walked into a meeting of a full-fledged, multi-racial government.

Mex, for his part, was simply trying not to faint. The sheer power in this tiny, grey box was more than he had ever felt in his entire life.

"Papa Perez," Adrian greeted him, his voice calm, his blue eyes piercing. He gestured to the only two empty chairs in the room. "Welcome. Thank you for coming."

Perez slowly entered, his mind racing to recalibrate his entire strategy, his entire understanding of these "Sparkborns."

He sat, Mex taking the seat beside him, looking like a child despite his height. The old Normat had come here to make a demand, to negotiate for his people’s self-sufficiency. He now realized that he was in a position to do nothing but listen.

Adrian looked at the old, wise Normat leader and began the meeting.

"I believe you have come to discuss the future of our two peoples."

Perez inclined his old, blue head, a gesture of deep respect not just to Adrian, but to the entire pantheon of power crammed into the tiny room.

"Sovereign Adrian, on behalf of the entire Normat people, I must thank you. What you have done with your Canteen..." He paused, searching for the right words. "It is more than just a kind gesture. The food you provide is... special. It has brought a vitality back to my people that I have not seen in my lifetime. Our entire race is very grateful for your generosity."

"But," he continued with a heavy sigh, "it is this generosity that confuses me. It simply doesn’t make sense. After arriving here, I now see your incredible structure. It is clear you are producing this food yourselves."

Perez’s gaze hardened slightly. "But I know the cost of raw foods in the Mall. What you are doing can’t be a business. You are selling these miraculous meals at a price so low it amounts to a massive, unsustainable loss. I am confused as to why. Why would you do this? What is your true endgame?"

Adrian let the old Normat’s questions hang in the air with a small smile touching his lips. "You are right to be suspicious, Papa Perez. And you are right about the price. It is unsustainable, if my only goal was to make a profit. But it isn’t."

"Just yesterday," he said with a different tone now, "I finished up my final tests on the Concordat’s Nutritional Packs. I found something... interesting. The packs are not just food, Papa Perez. They’re a weapon."

A sharp gasp escaped Mex, but Papa Perez’s expression only darkened, his worst fears being confirmed.

"They’re a limiter," Adrian continued. "They are specifically engineered to keep a civilization docile. They provide the bare minimum calories to survive, but they are completely devoid of any life essence.

Worse, they contain a subtle agent that, over time, serves to block out the ambient energies of the world from your system. They are designed to ensure no one in the Slums ever grows stronger. They are engineered stagnation."

"It is clear what the Concordat’s motives are," Adrian stated, his gaze sweeping the room. "They don’t care about our Ascension. They care about control. They want to keep us in this cage, weak and dependent, and they are willing to slowly poison us to achieve it."

Papa Perez let out a long, slow breath. "They gave us this prison," he murmured, "and then they gave us the very food that ensures we will never have the strength to leave it. A perfect, cruel system."

"That," Adrian said, his voice ringing with a new purpose, "is why I am selling our food at that price. This is not about profit. This is about breaking their control. I want to give your people, and all the people in this Slum, a chance to break free from the Concordat’s web. I want to give them back the potential that has been stolen from them. I want to give them a chance for a real future."

After hearing Adrian’s frank talk, Papa Perez was truly humbled. He had come here suspecting a trick, a new form of exploitation. He had found an ally. It now made his former, secret plan to ask Adrian for the secret so the Normat could be independent, feel small and almost shameless.

"Ahem." Charles coughed politely, drawing the attention of the room. "Papa Perez, if I may. Your original message mentioned ’matters of mutual economic interest.’ I believe there was another issue, besides your gratitude, that made you visit?"

Perez was met with the curious stares of everyone in the room. He wondered for a moment if he should voice his original intentions. But, seeing the honest, determined look in Adrian’s eyes, he decided that the truth was the only path forward.

He let out a breath and said, "You are correct, Lord Charles. You see... my people are grateful, but we are also afraid. We have become dependent on your Canteen. We were originally wondering how possible it might be for us to... to regain some control over our own food supply. You might not always be available, or you might be forced to raise your prices. We... we need to be able to stand on our own." He finished, expecting a polite refusal.

But to his, and everyone else’s, complete surprise, Adrian’s face broke into a smile.

"That’s a smart idea. A very good one. And I am in full agreement with your plan."