I walked over to Claire, who was still staying vigilant for any new threats and informed her of my findings. Well, more like I lied about what I had been talking about, but that wasn’t anything new. Now that things have gone a little off script - which was also nothing new now that I thought about it - I had to improvise the ending a little.

  “I’ve spoken with someone within the Abyss guild, she should be high up on the food chain,” I said and took out one of the fancy shard Noe had carved. I didn't have any other prop preplanned, but this will do in a pinch. “This was given to me by the friend I was talking about, it should pinpoint my locations regardless of where I am.”

  Claire gave the trinket a once over and nodded. “And this friend of yours says she can track you down?”

  “She has, but it’ll take some time to reach us. She wants to make sure that there are no traps before breaking us out, but she’s confident that she can get to us at least.”

  “Perfect,” Claire grinned, “That means that we can take it easy for a while.”

  I nodded. “But shouldn’t we try to find out more about this place? I know that Ryan’s trying to blackmail us, but I think some of his information’s out of date.”

  Claire paused before giving me a questioning look. “What do you mean?”

  I took out one of the scraps of blank paper and pointed at it meaningfully. Let’s see if I can’t fish some information out of her for now. “This thing says that it knows about my sick sister and if I didn’t do something soon, she’d die.”

  Claire’s posture changed almost immediately as if I had hit a nerve. “And how is that information wrong?”

  Judging from her extreme reaction, it seems that the Regressor’s information about her wasn’t inaccurate and she most likely did have a sibling in poor health. That’s good, it means that I can go with my first idea and nudge her toward the Abyss guild, especially if I make it so that she is the one giving me the information of her own volition.

  “Uh, I mean that my sis was sick before, sure,” I shrugged, “She got infected by some horrible virus in the second Trial and things weren’t looking well for her, but one of the Aspirants in the Abyss guild is a doctor, or maybe has some kind of healer Class, but they were able to cure her pretty easily. I guess Ryan wouldn’t know about it since this happened after he left.”

  “How good is this doctor?” Claire asked again, and it was clear to see the desperation that she was trying her best to hide. She wasn’t doing a very good job at it.

  “Can’t say for sure,” I shrugged, “Since, you know, we can’t really judge these class abilities with conventional logic, but the guy’s been able to cure every disease and ailment so far.”

  “Even supernatural ones like curses?”

  I pretended to think for a moment before nodding. “Sure, there were a few guys in the Abyss guild who caught some stray curses, turning ‘em purple, and that was easy enough to get rid of. I’ve never seen the guy fail.”

  Of course, the individual I was talking about was myself, and I was technically a doctor - it said so on my title! I’m sure that between Noe and the Regressor’s knowledge of medicine, I could figure out a way to fix whatever ailment that was plaguing Claire’s brother… probably. Either way, giving her the hope of a solution would ensure her short-term cooperation and I’m sure that some liberal use of brainwashing could fix any minor problems later.

  “And can anyone make use of the guy’s services?” Claire continued to ask.

  “Uh, not really,” I answered, “I was lucky to be a part of the first batch of Aspirants in Pandora, and that I had ties with the guild still, so I could skip the line to meet the doctor, but I heard that the demand’s grown so large that only members of the guild can access his services. Kind of cruel to deny treatment for the common folk, but that’s the way of life now I suppose.”

  The woman sunk into deep thought before finally opening up again. “You seem to know people associated with the Abyss guild, so how close are you with them still? Do you still have any sway in their affairs?”

  “I used to be teammates with one of the founders, all the way back in the Second Trial,” I said with a blush, “But I didn’t join them when I was given a chance and instead joined one of their competitors. They didn’t mind, and I’m still on good terms with some of the higher-ups, so you could say that I have some say. Even helped some people join the guild when the whole organisation got famous!”

  “I see…”

  I smiled and continued to lay on the propaganda. “Honestly, just between you and me, and only because I trust you so much, but I want to quit my current guild and join up with Jae-Hyun and the rest of them. I’d suggest you do the same, but, uh, that’s obviously up to you!”

  “And why do you say that?” Claire asked, raising an eyebrow. She was taking the bait, which was perfect.

  “I heard from my friend that they got some kind of extra reward for doing so well in the last stage, and if they take over control of Pandora with that election thing, then they can directly influence the way the Main Stage goes. Not sure how credible that is, but I’m sure that you know how these freaks in charge like to reward talented individuals or teams.”

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  Claire frowned. “Yeah, I know that all too well, and how they like the punish the others…”

  I nodded, pretending to be oblivious to her resentment. I’m guessing her brother’s issue had something to do with underperforming in the Trials. “Exactly! So that means that being a part of the Abyss guild, run by the number one Aspirant in the world mind you, can only mean that their members will continue to excel. They’ve really tapered off recruitment after the last Trial since there's so many new unknown guys flooding in, so this might be the last opportunity to join them.”

  I paused for a second and saw that the woman was honestly contemplating my suggestion, and decided to add on to the charm. “I heard all of the executives made it to the top five rankings in the last Trial, and that ain't normal. I'm willing to bet everything that I have that there's even more preferential treatment and benefits if you’re up in the hierarchy! I’m sure that with your influence, you can easily make it to the very top!”

  Claire nodded for a bit but ultimately sighed and whispered. “If only I could control them all…” Her frown deepened. “How many executives are there?”

  “Eight,” I said with confidence, “A relatively small group!”

  “Eight… doable, but…” She looked at me and probed. “And roughly how strong are they? Do you know their skills or abilities? What about genders?”

  Huh, were level or overall stats factored into her powers? It would make sense, I suppose, because otherwise, she’d have completely dominated her original city-state. No, there must be more limitations than that, surely. Her class wouldn’t be too developed after just a small handful of Trials, but it wasn’t like she’d just spell out the details of her skills to me.

  “Um, I’m not too sure about level or abilities, but it’s an even split of sexes, so four and four,” I said reluctantly, “Aside from that, I only know that one of them turns into a giant and that their leader’s abilities are through the roof. His stats must be equally insane because he was able to hold off an army of Aspirants on his own before. Who knows how much he’s grown since, but either way, all of them are freaks of nature. Rough guess, they probably have like 3-4 times my base stats.”

  “I see... that might be a problem...” Claire continued to whisper, “No, that’s fine for now. You’re sure that this doctor of theirs is capable, right?”

  I nodded quickly and gave her a thumbs-up. “Of course!”

  “Then can you see if you can get me in the guild with your connections?” she asked, “I’ll promise to do my best to help secure them the vote if I can get the assistance of their doctor. I need him to treat someone close to me.”

  Hmm, more questions. Why would she willingly tell me that she’d offer her help if she could just brain-control this hypothetical doctor to do her bidding? It’d be a lot easier to charm her way to success, and the Regressor even stated that it’d work on anyone who was male. That could only mean that her abilities may not play well with the classes of other Aspirants, or that her control wasn’t as watertight as I thought it would be. Then again, it could be due to a million other reasons, it was impossible to be sure. Gah, I hated dealing with incomplete information.

  I shrugged again. “Sure, I suppose. I’m sure that they can spare you the help if you're part of the guild. They’re all nice people.”

  “If… if they can do this… if they can cure him, then I’ll help this Abyss guild,” She said, sincerely this time, but that expression quickly turned into a scowl, her face almost rippling with rage. “And I’ll fucking gut that bastard Ryan and his goons to pieces. He thinks he can blackmail me? When his people were the ones who put Vee in that position in the first place? That fucker-”

  “Um, Claire, you okay?” I asked, feigning concern about her tantrum. I didn’t need her to completely go off her rockers right now.

  She blinked a few times, apparently forgetting that I was even present for a moment before collecting herself again. She stared at me with that intense look that signified the use of her ability. “Sorry, forget what I said.”

  I stared blank-faced and nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Now find us a safe spot to hide while we wait for your aid to arrive,” Claire continued, “I want to meet this friend of yours as soon as possible; will she be here soon?”

  “Let me check…” I pretended to send out some messages, making sure to pause just long enough to make it seem like I was talking with someone else. “She says that she can break us out, but we need to make our way back to that cage. It’s where it’s safest place to extract us.”

  “Then we go back,” she said, “Lead the way.”

  I nodded and did as I was told, but not before sending a few messages to make sure that I was in the clear. I’ll also have to make sure that Noe’s perception abilities extended to her so that my little performance didn’t seem too out of place, but my system assured me that adding the redhead into the mix wouldn’t strain my Luck Charges much.

  Walter’s Fine: Jae-Hyun, you set up to let Claire loose?

  Jae-Hyun: Yeah, bring her to the lounge. I’ll have you and Yoona act on my behalf until I can ensure that her abilities are constrained. I’ll let you know when the preparations are complete; it shouldn’t take longer than a day so keep her in the HQ until then.

  Walter’s Fine: Will do.

  Jae-Hyun: I’m guessing you’re disguised right now?

  Walter’s Fine: Yeah, I got something at the store for that. Claire won’t be able to recognize me. What you said about her brother seems accurate, I think I know a way to help with the situation, and she said we’ll have her full support if I get it fixed.

  Jae-Hyun: Perfect, do you need any help with that?

  Walter’s Fine: Nah, I picked up a few tricks from the last Trial perfect for this situation. I’ll be fine.

  Jae-Hyun: Thanks, Walter. If we have her on our side then it will make managing larger forces a lot easier going forth. I owe you one.

  Walter’s Fine: No problem, I’ll keep you informed.

  With the Regressor’s side of things done, I asked Noe to patch me through to Noel.

  Walter’s Fine: Hey, Noel, I need you to do something for me. I’ve finished brainwashing a VIP and the boss needs her out of here. There’s a couple of things I need you to do first though.

  Lady Awesome: Sure thing, little bro. What do you need?

  Walter’s Fine: Nothing much, just gotta set the mood right.

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