Chapter 139: Calculated Gambit (II) Even those who were charging at Finn, attacking with the intent to kill, halted in their tracks. This was a development that went beyond their expectations, and even their imaginations. To their knowledge, just as Finn had calculated, there was no magic, be it elemental, enhancer, or nurturing — beast or artifact — that could explain what had just happened. That had been Finn’s only move, and yet it had brought every soldier to a stop for those few moments. But not everyone was shocked. Elara, for one, had a look of confirmed realization on her face compared to the shocked look on the faces of the academy students surrounding her. Having been close to Finn for years, she had long suspected the nature of his power, especially after the way he dispatched the Master-rank Arcanists in the forest the day before. Besides Elara, the General watched from the balcony of the highest floor of the central administrative building. A tall, broad man. He stared at the commotion Finn was causing without a hint of surprise. If anything, he looked furious, with a stony expression set on his face. For a second, Finn met the General’s eyes over the distance, and a challenge seemed to be written in them: What are you going to do now? They’ve all seen this magic that makes no sense... And more importantly... Finn broke eye contact with the General and lowered his gaze to one of the soldiers that was closer to him. An unassuming Grade 3 Master-rank Arcanist. One of the six Master ranks Finn had sensed on site — not counting the General who was a Grade 2 Master-rank. This unassuming soldier stared at Finn with a feverish intensity as Finn stood in the center of the open field, activating [Frame Skip] for a second time as the lion-like beast from earlier came in for a second swipe after shaking off its earlier confusion. Finn was extremely purposeful with his second display of the spell, leaving more after-images as he dodged the swipe and appeared ten feet away again. This time, a few soldiers took a step back subconsciously at the inexplicable sight occuring before them. The field went silent. The General, watching from his high vantage point in the distance looked even more incensed, clenching the rails of the balcony harder. But through it all, Finn’s eyes held the same soldier’s. A smile cracked on the lips of the said soldier. And in a split second, the mana fluctuations emanating from him shot to the roof, rising past the level of a Grade 3 Master-rank Arcanist and into Grade 2, rising even higher and reaching the peak of Grade 2. All the soldiers around him broke out of the stupor Finn’s magic had numbed them into. They took steps back in caution, giving the unassuming soldier space as his mana fluctuations continued to rise even further. It not only reached the peak of Grade 2, but broke past it, surprising even Finn, and also the General who now watched with a somber, wary look on his face. The soldier finally stabilized at the middle stage of Grade 1 Master-rank, closer to the peak than he was to the entry stage, showing that he was a powerhouse through and through. In Finn’s original time, this kind of man would be equivalent to a normal Preceptor rank Ossuarist. He reckoned the man was still a small step below someone like Preceptor Elias in power, but that didn’t change the fact that he was extremely powerful. The man took a step forward, heading towards Finn, who still stared at him directly. Without needing to be told, every soldier in the man’s way cleared immediately, giving him a direct path to Finn. He reached the young man and grinned, looking at him assessingly. Already, the beast from before had gone silent, mellowed to a calm by the raw oppression emanating from the man in front of Finn. It lay in a submissive pose a short distance away, not even considering moving towards its owner for fear of being killed. It seemed even the beast understood that in front of mana fluctuations as oppressive as this, all it could do was remain as unseen as possible. The man naturally paid it no mind, and neither did Finn. "You’re an interesting one. You seemed certain someone would step in to save you. You even spotted me before I made a move. How were you so sure?" The man asked Finn with the grin still on his face. Finn released a breath. It was good the man was direct. He also didn’t like beating around the bush. "I always knew there was no way I was the only bearer of a magic like mine," Finn replied with a composed air. "The fact that I’ve never heard anything about any other was odd." He raised a hand and listed off his fingers one-by-one. "I then concluded it was either people like me were being killed immediately, imprisoned, or employed and kept hidden." He looked at the man pointedly. "The common factor between all three is secrecy. And which power can do that in our country so effectively except the government?" The man paused for a moment after Finn spoke, then suddenly, he chuckled, a deep, genuine sound that seemed at odds with the tension permeating the field. "Killed or imprisoned," he repeated, shaking his head with amusement. "You don’t know just how special you are if you think those are viable conclusions." His grin widened as he studied Finn more intently. "But I like your boldness. For you to have made this move... this spectacle, you must have calculated and come to the conclusion that the last scenario was the most likely..." "...That the existence of people like you — of Transcendents—" he let the word hang in the air for a moment, and Finn smartly put up a carefully crafted look of dawning understanding, as if hearing the term Transcendent for the first time. "—is being kept secret by the government. That if people like you exist, there would also be recruiters. Agents who operate in the shadows to handle situations exactly like this when they arise..." "...And you bet that an outpost this close to the capital would surely have agents stationed here. You gambled everything on that assumption." He looked Finn up and down and nodded, looking genuinely pleased. "Your calculative ability and decisiveness is impressive. Very impressive. Especially considering your young age..." Finn listened to the man talk with a frown on his face. For someone who was meant to keep the existence of Transcendents a secret, he was being loud right now. Did he not care about the soldiers listening? Or does he intend to kill everyone here afterwards...? Finn couldn’t help but think darkly. He didn’t doubt that the man could. And not just that. Unlike the General, he likely wouldn’t be questioned for doing it at all, so long as the secret knowledge of Transcendents was kept silent. That was his duty afterall. But then Finn noticed something as he glanced at the surrounding soldiers. A subtle shimmer in the air separating them. A barrier of some kind, though he couldn’t quite see where it began or ended. The man caught his glance and his grin widened further. "They can’t hear us. Privacy is important for discussions like these." A feeling of relief washed over Finn silently, and he subconsciously glanced Elara’s way. She was with their academy team and Lyssa’s. None of them could hear what he and the Agent were discussing, so they were safe. Elara had been his main concern. If it were just him, he might have escaped right from the onset, back in Greystone. But Elara had done so much for him. He couldn’t let anything happen to her as a result of his actions in Greystone. She was a witness after all. That was why he took a risk as daring as this, depending only on his deductions. And it seemed to have paid off. All the previous charges against him were essentially rendered useless. The General could no longer do with them as he pleased.