What did it mean to be better than others? It was the question that caught Keynes off guard. The concept of superiority wasn’t black and white, it came in many shades of grey. Even the slightest misconceptions could have catastrophic consequences. The concept applied differently to nations, groups and individuals as well. In this case, the insight was about him individually.

  Was it wrong to be better than others? Not really. That was the whole idea behind sports. People competed and the better ones won. But his question didn’t have anything to do with sports. It simply asked if Keynes was superior to others. As he dug deeper into the insight, there was something else it connected to, the Perfect State.

  He had a strong hunch that the higher he’d climb as the Perfect State ascender the fewer equals he would have. Wait a minute. What was the point of standing at the pinnacle of the power hierarchy when one couldn’t choose one’s peers?

  Did he think less of his parents, Harter or even Kora because they weren’t Perfect State ascenders? He kind of didn’t know if Harter was one or not, but for the sake of the argument he assumed he wasn’t. The answer was of course he would never think less of them no matter what kind of chasm of power separated them.

  He began separating strength, competitiveness and other components from the concept of superiority, leaving it pure.

  In its pure form, superiority had several components like narcissism, ego or hubris. It would be untrue to claim that Keynes had none of them as every human had these traits in different proportions and quantities. But could he say that these defined his character?

  He almost replied no then remembered that he defied the Chaos out of hubris. And more than that, he was adamant about pursuing a Perfect State, which itself was a sign of arrogance. According to Lem Solaris, one needed to have a certain amount of arrogance to become a Perfect State. In truth, while mastering attributes wasn’t the easiest thing to do, Keynes was yet to see what was the whole fuss about.

  So, I guess, if refusal to bend my knee or pursuing perfection is called arrogance, then I am guilty as charged but I won’t ever call myself superior to others, even if others see me as such.

  Keynes held a very specific concept in his mind when he said it. He didn’t want to be hypocritical. He was, after all, a boss of his unnamed organisation. But being a boss made him only superior in a specific context and didn’t apply outside of his organisation.

  The visions shifted and Keynes had a strong inkling of what would be the next scene. He stood before a rift in the cave in Jamaica. The expected question appeared in his head: did Keynes’s Talent define him?

  Hell no.

  But—No. Just no.

  *

  Persephone watched a girl named Kathryn Steel—later known as Persephone—during her Talent Revelation Ceremony. Her memories of that day were a rollercoaster of emotions. She had been a heiress to the House of Steel, noble servants to the House of Hurburg, a less prominent but still very powerful Old Blood family. Like everyone in the Steel family, Kathryn’s Talent had been shaped by the Hurburgs through means she hadn’t understood nor had been explained to her. Kathryn Steel was a servant from the very moment she was born. It was more than a contract between the two houses, it had been an ancient bond. Other Old Blood houses had their own servant houses. She didn’t question it, she didn’t complain. Despite her status as a servant, she lived like a princess. She didn’t experience hunger or poverty. In fact, the House of Steel had their own servants that made sure all their needs were met.

  It had been an idyllic life far removed from the perilous politics of the High Parliament and mundane lives of the lower classes.

  Naturally, there had been much hope regarding Kathryn’s Talent as she was expected to replace her father in the next decade.

  The moment Kathryn saw her Talent, her heart skipped a beat and she made an unlady-like sound. She was thrilled. Her family was ecstatic. The House of Hurburg congratulated her and sent Kathryn an invitation to visit one of their mansions in Southern Spain, and not just any mansion but the one near the house of the president of the World Government himself. Their main residence. Persephone remembered that time to this day. The whole world revolved around her, or so she believed. She heard whispers that her Talent might be what some people call: a Broken Talent. Because of this, her status was elevated above even her father’s.

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  The Hurburgs welcomed her and showed Kathryn something she had never had—agency. She wasn’t actually in charge of her fate, but she met people who were. For the first time in her life, she directly talked to people who stood at the pinnacle and ruled their own lives. They served no one.

  Kathryn liked that.

  But soon an issue came to light. The Hurburgs hadn’t invited her to indulge one of their servants, they weren’t philanthropists. They were ruthless business magnates and wanted to profit from Karthyn’s Talent. The problem was that Kathryn’s Talent didn’t work as expected. Her desires weren’t the Hurburgs desires. And not because of lack of trying. She did her best to align her desires with her masters’.

  But desire wasn’t something one could simply adopt on the fly, the same way a person couldn’t just love someone because they were told to do so. Thus Kathryn’s idyllic time ended.

  The Hurburgs discarded her like an unwanted trash. They had no use of her.

  Persephone watched the scenes come and go with nostalgia but also vexation. Karthyn hadn’t had the slightest inkling of how her Talent functioned. Yes, it applied only to her desire but that was the extent of her understanding. So, shortly after returning from Spain and dealing with a mental breakdown—she was only 16 years old—Kathryn started to pick herself up. Her family knew that the Hurburgs had discarded her so they, being good puppets, did the same. Their betrayal hurt even to this day. Kathryn didn’t let it stop her from… desiring to become like the Hurburgs.

  If her Talent worked only on her, why did she need anyone in the first place?

  With every waking moment, Kathryn let her Talent dictate her next step. Persephone could only shake her head at watching her younger self. Kathryn had used her Talent for every single decision. Worse than that, she hadn’t given much thought about the mechanism of her Talent, which had led her to many serious miscalculations. What she hadn’t known then but knew now was that the scope of her Talent could be nearly unlimited. It meant that she could desire herself to become Level 50 and her Talent would show her the next step on the path of fulfilling her desire. The issue was that there could be thousands if not millions of such steps and she’d never know how close to fulfilling her desire she was. Some desires could have more than one path and she couldn’t tell which path her Talent had picked up or worse, some paths required drastic measures, like killing her friend Baruka or her parents. She did the former but didn’t commit the latter.

  At some point, Kathryn realised that she was a slave of her Talent and what did she do? Nothing. Her Talent gave her agency, or so she believed. Even long after the fallout with her family and effectively being disinherited by the House of Steel, she continued meticulously following the whispers of her Talent in chasing many of her desires.

  She wasn’t proud of it but her Levelling before the first outbreaks came from assassinations committed by her on her path to power. But she was no longer naive at that point, she understood that to reach true power was to step beyond and above the World Government. Back then, an impossible feat.

  Then came a day, when her Talent told her a very contradictory thing. If she wished to be stronger than Windsor Freeman she should stop killing humans. Kathryn did as her Talent commanded, not questioning it for a single moment. She had utmost faith in it.

  Two years later, the first outbreak happened.

  Seeing most of her life unfold before her eyes in a rapid succession Persephone had no illusions. Her Talent was the cornerstone of her being. Even now, most of her decisions were based on her Talent, though she ignored it when she judged the consequences too troublesome.

  Is there really nothing more to me than my Talent? Persephone asked herself and grimaced, finding the answer not to her liking. Despite her many ambitions, without her Talent, Persephone would be an empty vessel. She knew that deep down and she hated herself for that truth.

  Was this the time to change it? To become someone else? No. Someone more then? Perhaps. She might have no choice because if her Talent one day put her on the collision course with Keynes Kid, she would be in deep shit.

  ***

  Kora calmly mused the visions of her past and the meaning they held. She was here to answer the very simple and yet difficult question. Did her Talent define her? In a way, yes, it did. But it wasn’t always the case. Before Level 5, Kora’s Talent was as much a hindrance as it was a boon. The fact that her Spell Enhancement Aura Talent affected everyone made it problematic in certain circumstances. Only after the Minor Talent Upgrade had given her an ability to blacklist monsters and ascenders, her life was turned upside down. From that point onward, Kora was no longer simply Natalia’s sister but became a powerhouse in her own right, capable of boosting any ascenders in her vicinity.

  Things changed again when she met Keynes. Suddenly, her Talent was no longer the thing that her identity revolved around… But was it ever? She mused. Even as a member of the carry team, I spent more time planning and researching rifts than using my Talent to boost Ulf and Miguel. Yes, my Talent is useful, but there is no way my Talent is all there is to me…

  ***

  Keynes felt a fragment of his core identity solidify but he was far from finished with the soul stuff. Nonetheless, the Insight of the Soul was running out—insights never lasted long. Realising truths about himself wasn’t done in a single session it seemed. He would worry if that was the case as this would mean there wasn’t much to him.

  Breath after breath, Keynes slowed down his heartbeat. He was back in the rift. So, I’m an arrogant prick, who doesn’t react well to authority, and craves perfection. Hm. That sounded like he was an autocratic asshole. Was he? He hoped not. He still needed more insight to better learn about himself. But there was a certain quality, which he wholeheartedly agreed with even though it hadn’t been a focus of the vision.

  He was a defier.

  For better or for worse, he would never bow to anyone.

  Anyway, that was something for later. Now, he wanted to consider a different revelation derived from the insight. The soul was a true reflection of who he was. It was a hidden message. There was no room for uncertainty or inaccuracies. The importance of having the pure idea of his soul was staggering. And telling.

  “The soul is the key to move past Level 10,” a crystal but warm voice said.

  Keynes’s heart skipped a beat as his bond Alice informed him who stood behind him. She was back! Keynes turned around and found a child weaved out of light. He knew it was Alice but for a split second, he thought it could be Lem Solaris, and his hope dipped. The bond was unmistakable. This was Alice. Not only that, her spiritual energy felt a few times stronger than usual. She stared at him with a smirk and anticipation.

  “I’m back, Keynes,” she said, giving him a smile that spread warmth in his chest. She was part of him and yet, she was now more than that. He extended his hand and touched his face. He touched her! Her form was physical…

  “Alice.” He grunted feeling a traitorous tear fleeing from the corner of his right eye. Showing emotions wasn’t something he was adept at. “Where the hell have you been? I thought you were gone.”

  She made a faux surprised face. She understood he was trying to jest and she knew he was bad at it.