Grand Ascension-Chapter 108: Ambitious

Finally! Makun thought.

Yime's office, room 3-1 was right ahead.

It had been thirty minutes since he left his quarters for Yime's office. But, he had trouble finding it, the underground base was even bigger than he thought, a whole ecosystem.

Navigating from the residential part to the offices was a real task, but he had managed just in time.

He had arrived with ten minutes to spare..

Makun walked to Yime's door.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

No one answered, but he waited patiently.

"Come in."

He heard Yime's soft voice call for him through the door.

Makun pushed the door open and entered.

His sight was greeted by a large office, easily three times the size of Orel's. The walls were painted a deep charcoal grey, lined with wooden panels that gave the room a sense of authority.

A massive desk dominated the center, crafted from dark mahogany, its surface immaculate save for a laptop, a desktop computer, and a small black obsidian mirror that seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it.

Behind the desk, a floor-to-ceiling window displayed what appeared to be a forest landscape, though Makun knew it had to be an illusion, they were underground after all.

Two Ashwood trees stood in opposite corners, their emerald leaves swaying gently, pumping that familiar refined Ashe into the air.

A large flat screen television hung on the left wall, currently dark.

Beneath it sat a shelf lined with vials of various colors, similar to what she had at the pier night market, potions or reagents he could not identify. Metallic devices were arranged beside them.

The right wall held framed certificates, commendations, and a single photograph of what looked like a younger Yime standing beside an older man with long silver hair in military dress.

This was not the office of a field agent, this was the office of someone who commanded.

"Take a seat." Yime directed him to the couch.

Makun complied and went ahead. He sat on what felt like genuine leather, dark brown and worn smooth from use, the kind of couch that had seen countless meetings and difficult conversations.

"So, how did you like your apartment?" She asked, her eyes fixed on him.

"It is excellent, I adore it." Makun answered earnestly, he truly liked it.

It was something he never had before, a cozy place he could call home, even though he knew it truly belonged to the MIO.

"Good that you like it." Yime replied, "What about your teammates, did you meet them?"

Makun sank into his mind, remembering the confrontation with Danielle, Sarah's warm behavior and Raymond's playful character.

"Yeah, they are...interesting." He said.

"Definitely." Yime cleared her throat. "What matters are the results you produce."

Results! Makun pondered.

Results were always accompanied with rewards, that is how life worked, be it as a fast food employee earning a raise or promotion, when kids brought back good grades home and received praise or gifts, or in sports where victories meant trophies and contracts.

That meant MIO rewarded their employees, he wondered what type of reward he could get if he performed well.

Were the rewards proportional to the mission grade, probably, that made him wonder what Yime, Orel and Amelia had gotten after the Naija City mission.

Maybe it was considered a failure, people did die.

But he needed to know.

"On the journey here, you mentioned my salary, five thousand dollars per month." He paused. "Do we get bonuses for excellent results? How does it work?"

Yime looked at him, her dark eyes fixed on him. By now she could tell Makun was ambitious.

"You do get bonuses, but it won't be money. You have only been a mystic for a week or so... you have no idea how important certain resources are." She tinkered behind her desk. "Some wars across the continent are for things no one could guess, practitioner or not. To low elites, some of those resources are worth everyone's life."

She stopped tapping her desk and looked at him deep in the eyes. "MIO grants you access to some of those."

Makun took a huge breath.

During his last conversation with Yime at the pier market,After asking the first out of three questions he had; who held real power in the world, Makun had come to realise the mass considered as the elite was considered as low elite by knowledgeable practitioners.

Lower elites could be grouped into public dynasties, billionaires, presidents, old money... And they were overseen by those with real power, the great families and individuals on par with them.

From how she had explained before, he knew the lower elite had no real decision power of what happened around the world when it came to real matters.

Her saying wars across continents were for resources no one could guess, might have been her accepting the fact that politicians, billionaires and public dynasties were all putting a farce on.

They were playing a scene to veil the eyes of the mass behind the veil.

MIO having access to such resources meant that they had a hand in those occult plays, that they could control politicians to do their bid.

This meant their backing was bigger than what he could think.

If I manage to move up the ranks, maybe I might have connections to know the truth of the situation.

This led to his next question, rewards granted results yes, he needed those resources for power and a rapid advancement on his mystic route, but more than mystic power, he needed to be influential, he needed connections, and a high status.

Sure, he was going to attract attention, however it was the only way for him to get answers.

"The results, do they affect our ranks too?" He finally asked after deliberating whether to do so or not.

At the end it did not matter, Yime had seen his desperation, she had seen him die, she knew more than anyone how much he needed those answers.

He was going to be brutally honest with her.

He had to move up the ranks, increase his clearance level and figure things out.