"However, I think I also have myself to blame in a way."

"What do you mean by that, uncle?"

Kailen asked, curious.

Jackson replied after downing another glass of whiskey.

"Ah...Good whiskey. So I kind of rumbled on and on about being an alchemist and adding some poison to the system of one of the opponents I defeated before I killed them. I think that statement may have contributed to people guessing I'm a Black Flask."

"Fair point," Old Ha nodded.

He reclined softly into the sofa, right arm resting along its top edge.

Kailen mused outwardly.

"You could use their misunderstanding to your advantage."

"True," Bianca said.

"Kid has a sharp brain," Cyco nodded in agreement.

"Very well thought of, Kailen. However, there's a problem with that. It's not that simple, else many people with poison affinities would have impersonated Black Flasks," Nuel added.

"Quick to catch on," Old Ha added.

"This kid here, even after demonstrating his Black Flask capabilities openly to the whole empire during the society wars, had to take a comprehensive Black Flask test in the alchemy association for the sake of formalities."

Kailen nodded to Old Ha's words.

He had taken the Black Flask formal examination and had confirmed his Black Flask identity.

Old Ha continued, "This is done so that individuals with poison affinities don't try to impersonate Black Flasks. Your situation of people sending rumors flying around is not the first."

Everyone nodded in agreement and understanding.

The old man's words made a lot of sense.

Black Flasks were overpowered and dangerous people.

Take Kailen for instance — because he was a rank 1 Black Flask Alchemist, even though he was at the ascendant level, he could kill beginner stage galactic level lifeforms like a bunch of chickens.

The prestige of being a Black Flask was not something that others could just enjoy by acting like one.

There was a system in place to formally confirm who was one and who was not.

Even for Kailen, who had clearly demonstrated his poison alchemy abilities openly before the empire, with no doubt about his capabilities, he still had to take the Black Flask Alchemy test for the sake of formalities.

"Anyway, that man Ross Kadmen, I heard some interesting news about him."

Old Ha looked around him, as if he didn't want anyone to hear what they were talking about.

This further piqued their curiosity.

He sent each one of them a thought transmission.

"He's a hybrid."

"That's not something weird now, right? In this era, intermarriages among races are completely normal, so hybrid births are not something new," Nuel could not help but ask.

"Let me land first, brat."

Old Ha made a gesture for him to stop speaking, then added, through another thought transmission, "He is from the Spectral Race."

"The hell, those guys more attuned to awakening mind control and illusion affinities?"

"They can trap you in illusions that can literally make you go mad."

"He's part of those terrifying mind control freaks?"

"One wouldn't notice it at all, because of how he doesn't physically look like them."

"Well, it's obvious his demihuman traits are more phenotypic, that's why."

Kailen listened to them in stunned silence.

"Golden Finger, I remember during the time I challenged the university tower on Earth and fell into that illusion, you told me about this Spectral Race, right?"

The Time Dilation Artifact made crunching sounds, chewing some pizza she had gotten from who knows where, and replied,

"Yeah. They are a revered race in low-tier, mid-tier, and high-tier civilizations, due to their terrifying ability. However, they are not omnipotent. After all, the universe is vast, and there are methods to interrupt their mind control and illusion methods. But still, they cannot be underestimated."

Kailen nodded in understanding.

He was a runesmith and was well aware of illusion-repelling runes and even mind control-repelling runes, so that was not shocking to him.

However, a question couldn't help but creep into his mind.

"Can't they be used to identify Vimodial contractors?"

He asked the Time Dilation Artifact, curious.

"For instance, the academy can employ the help of the Spectral Race to temporarily screen students on seasonal occasions, by letting them use their mind control temporarily on students to command them to truthfully confess to whether or not they are Vimodial contractors."

"Don't you think the Universe Alliance came up with this idea? However, it was strongly rejected by the members of the Alliance, because it's a double-edged sword."

Kailen's eyes glinted in realization.

"The alliance members were thinking of the possibility that the Spectral Race members could, instead of honestly screening individuals by using their mind control on them to temporarily command them to truthfully confess whether or not they were Vimodial contractors, they could rather use their mind control to instigate them to make a false confession that they are Vimodial contractors when they are not Vimodial contractors.

The other races were scared that the Spectral Race would use this to harm the other races."

The Time Dilation Artifact replied with a nod and crunching sounds.

"Not bad. Also, willingly letting the Spectral Race mind control the other races, even for a few moments, would give them more of a controlling edge over the other races. Inasmuch as there would have been rune oaths in place to ensure that the Spectral Race members didn't try anything untoward, no one wanted to take that risk."

Kailen nodded inwardly in understanding.

He didn't judge the races in the universe for having this thought.

Inasmuch as willingly letting the Spectral Race use their mind control to identify Vimodial contractors might have yielded some results, he understood why no one would agree to it.

For instance, he would not, under any circumstance, let anyone mind control him — even if he knew the person meant no harm.

Even if logic said it was safe, the very idea of surrendering his mind — even for a moment — made his skin crawl.

Of course, that didn't mean Kailen was a saint who would stop psychologically torturing his enemies like he did with the Harkers.

Call him a hypocrite — he didn't really care.

And he wasn't the only one.

The entire universe was full of hypocrites — terrified of being controlled, yet desperate to control others.

Although the Vimodial threat was one that bordered towards impossibility to completely erase, with the Spectral Race's help, they could have reduced it.

Still, no one wanted to give up that illusion of freedom, even if it meant people kept dying and worlds kept falling to the Vimodials.

It wasn't logic that ruled the cosmos.

It was pride.

As for Kailen, ending the Vimodials was something he believed was personally possible.

He would end them for the sake of himself and his loved ones.

Also, he was not seeking to reduce the Vimodial threat, he was seeking to end it, so the help of the Spectral Race just discussed would have never been an ideal solution in his opinion, repulsion for mind control aside.

Kailen also understood why Ross Kadmen was treated so well by the royal family.

The Spectral Race was no joke.

These conversations with the Time Dilation Artifact had not even lasted for a second.

Kailen's attention returned to Old Ha, about to layer further on the conversation.

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