Chapter 161: Skin in the Game

Cracking her neck, Rachel reached for a glass of water on the table, wetting her mouth before responding. "The way it was described to me, I’d hesitate to fool ourselves into thinking that they’re such:

"5th-dimension are lesser gods.

"6th-dimension are your typical gods.

"And 7th-dimension are creation deities, which implies they actually have the kind of power to do anything. I can’t confirm how skilled she is since I’m fumbling around in the dark as much as you, but Izanami appeared extremely comfortable using Conner’s Seed to do whatever she wanted and was healing the damage Dionysus did with his inexperience."

The white-haired man’s sober gaze returned to the information. "As for Stage 4: You believe these ’high deities’ or ’outer deities’ are what took Dionysus when he broke the rules?"

Rachel tilted her head to indicate it was a guess, making the President rub between his eyes. "Probably."

"Well, that’s not concerning... No, what’s troubling are these barriers of isolation. We can’t be sure how far it goes, but someone beyond anything we can conceive is orchestrating all of this... For what purpose? How fickle are these barriers? We know they can be broken through by using these Seeds in legendkin. What other weaknesses are there that others could exploit?"

Tom sank into a chair, streaming out a long puff of air. "Taking not just one creation deity...but all of them across the multiverse, or perhaps something bigger, and smashing all of them into one being to duke it out to bring out the smartest, toughest, and most ruthless counterpart. How did this happen? Apparently, they don’t even know."

Leo wore a grave expression while sliding one finger from the word ’Rachel’ to a red line connected to Cerridwen, a question mark, Fiona, and the UK’s World Tree.

"The United Kingdom is a hornet’s nest right now. Ireland closed its borders, and prominent figures are now making demands of their neighbor. If that wasn’t enough, Scotland is getting involved as well, causing internal and external problems, along with other factors, that are pushing events toward civil unrest. Adding to that, England had one of our most wanted terrorists on a leash while they committed atrocities on American soil..."

He shook his head, vision darting to Galahad, Merlin, Relica, MI6, magical submarine, Scarlet Hand, Arthur, and the UK Parliament. "We confirmed that Scarlet’s mother was never on that submarine, but Relica was. Whoever Adele escaped with before the operation, it wasn’t the UK government."

The President tapped the legendary figure’s name. "Arthur Pendragon...a member of the Cabinet who is a pivotal Independent governing figure in the country with ties to the major parties. He has many friends amongst the House of Lords and is generally very well seen as a populist, bringing sides together... I can’t see him having anything to do with Relica."

Rachel relieved an itch under her bra strap and leaned against the chair’s side. "I agree. It’s too soon for all the ’Knights of the Round’ to meet up or do anything as a unit. I bet Arthur is looking to make his circle, though. If possible, I’d like to meet with him personally."

Leo kept his gaze on the board. "I’ll see what I can do. It might be worthwhile to see what you can extract from him, given your young but impressive talents, and Maria being present could catch any lies. In any case, Tom and I will be pouring over this board for some time, adding to it, and working out a way forward. We’ll address a few more things before I let you rest..."

His firm expression shifted to her. "I am intrigued by this PMC angle you brought to Tom. Naturally, if I were to propose something like this, I’d need to go through Congress and the Senate, ironing out rules, procedures, and safety protocols. We already need to amend the US Constitution to include all of you that changed...including my 8-year-old daughter."

Rachel’s eyebrows furrowed, catching a laugh from the man for the first time. "Yes, I’m a late father, adopted, which means I have skin in the game. I’m not going to have a world where my daughter is shunned and discriminated against, nor the average unpowered human cast aside. We need to do this right."

Showing the US leader a soft smile, Rachel nodded. "I can understand that. What about Scarlet?"

Tom stood to get a better look at all the lines connected to Scarlet’s name. "For now, I think it goes without saying she’s best situated with you. How is she adapting? I’ve heard good things from Captain Barbara."

Her ears tilted to the right; the White House was fairly isolated, unusually so, blocking her from most of the sounds outside. "My mother seems to have taken a shine to her. In fact, I think my sister-in-law and her have a lot in common," she mumbled, recalling everything Nia had shown her. "I’ll figure it out, I guess."

"Text me if you need anything in that regard," the general stated, focusing on the whiteboard, where her name and his attached notes were. "Level 12... The highest we’ve been able to confirm is Level 6, outside of your group and Relica, but I can understand why, with the last week you’ve had.

"Currently, Anthony is doing a follow-up quest with Fiona, Maria, and some of the Green Berets you were with to test a few things that were different from Barbara’s."

He paused, mouth tight, upon reaching the World Tree again. "Fiona keeps asking about returning home and her family, but I’m not sure when that will be possible with the current situation between Ireland and the UK. We’re stretched too thin on resources, too. If that’s not enough..."

Rachel pulled up the back of her chair as Tom looked at the President, who glanced back before returning his gaze to the most barren side of the board, where the Crystal section was. A short sigh came from the white-haired man as he rubbed his jaw.

"Very well, Tom, after meeting her, I’ll green-light her addition, regardless of the PMC business with Congress and the Senate. A lot of what we had planned will change after this meeting anyway... The whole damn world changed overnight, and we’re trying to catch up."

"Yes, Sir," Tom said, his grave tone more somber now as he slid a folder over for her to browse. "To begin, Rachel, I fully expect you to be invested in pursuing this PMC angle now more than ever, right? You want the freedom to go places restricted to the public and pursue angles you have a vested interest in."

"I am," Rachel confirmed, tapping a finger against the folder. "That being said, my body probably won’t be up for any stress for the next week or two, no matter how crazy it makes me just to sit around. Even I have my limitations, it seems, and Maria isn’t fully fixing this one."

He forced a chuckle, dropping into a seat to open another folder. "Understandable. I don’t expect you to be ready to start this until you’ve recovered. This is just...preparing you for what we’re expecting from this ’potential’ PMC future, not that you don’t have experience in this area already."

Tom’s brow furrowed as his eyes flicked up to study her. "And you still haven’t told us what you’re going to do about the offer Chang’e gave you."

Laughter shook Rachel’s chest as she looked at the top-secret folder in front of her. "You’ve piqued my interest. I’m guessing it has something to do with the Legend Quests. As for Chang’e... I’ve looked at her Feat, and it is quite tempting, but I won’t make a decision until my mind’s in the right place."