"Are you mad? If producing the Grandmasters had been this easy, there would have been thousands of them fighting or fighting on the battlefield, not just a few hundreds of them," Jim shouted as he got over his shock.

  "Grandmaster Jim is right, Grandmaster Zaar. If making reaching Grandmaster class had been this easy, we wouldn't have produced around a hundred of them every century," said Mr. Carline, saying what a sane person would say after hearing such words.

  Even those standing behind also wanted to say something about it but did not say it, but it is clear from their faces that they also believe it is a crazy, impossible project; even I used to think that but subjets of the program have given me some hope.

  "I disagree with your assessment; while we might not be able to produce hundreds of them in nine months as Pyramid had ordered, I have complete confidence that we would be at least able to make 50 of them," I said with complete confidence.

  I would not have been able to say those words ten-eleven days ago, but now I could. I have found some subjects that I have the confidence to turn into the Grandmasters; some of them would be able to take them that step very soon.

  My confidence had stumped them again.

  "It is not like I don't like to believe you, but this thing is very hard to digest. Still, I will help you with every step I can, and who knows, we might be even able to achieve this impossible target," said Jim, sporting a smile that I hadn't seen on his face in quite a while.

  I still remember the day when I first met Jim for the first time; he sported the same smile when wave after wave of rat monsters crashed on us. We were nearly exhausted but still continued to kill the rat monsters with a big smile on our faces.

  "The Pyramid had ordered us, and I will follow the orders, no matter the futility of it," said Mr. Carlile.

  The others, one by one, expressed their support; each of them knew how impossible this project was, but they were still willing to follow it. They know how the war is going and how many people are dying each day.

  If we could bring out such a number of Grandmasters, it would solve a lot of problems.

  I wish I could share the real intelligence with them, but the council had barred me from doing that. At least they see some result that could rouse confidence in the project, but they would not let me share it.

  "Since all of you have come on the board, it is time for you to see the subjects of the project," I said, and twenty-seven screens appeared in front of them; every screen showed the image of the room with people inside.

  Some screens had tens of people while others had a few hundred; I have sorted them into different categories according to the time at which they will need to reach the Grandmaster class.

  Their places in these groups are not permanent, or even groups are not permanent; they will change according to the progress people inside that made.

  "There are nine hundred and thirty-three people in it currently; everybody is chosen due to their suitability with my methods," I said and showed their data. The data is minimum; not everybody needs to know everything.

  "There seemed to me no S+ or S grade potential in the list?" Jim asked a second later. This is a categorization of which young potential are referred to.

  S+ Grade is extremely rare that even in millennia, very few people get this classification; according to my knowledge, only Jill and I had gotten that. The S Grade is also rare that only a few people get this designation; only people who created the core before becoming a Grandmaster fall into this category.

  "Those people do not need our help; they can level up Grandmaster on their own," I replied before turning into the screen.

  "We will work on it continuously, but the center of the attention would be on these guys!" I said and made that screen, in which there are only seventeen people.

  "All of them are old; there is not a single A+ Grade young one among them," said Mr. Carlile.

  He is right; the window I had shown him had old people or those who are not in the prime where the advancement is fastest, those below forty. In this group, the average age is fifty-eight, with the youngest being forty-two years old and the oldest being one hundred and twelve years old.

  "Why aren't we focusing on those with A+ and A-Grade potential? We will get a much better result than those old guys; we might really be able to make some of them Grandmaster within the timeframe we have got," Jim said, referring to seven windows where I placed A+ and A-Grade potential.

  "Yes, those A+ and A Grade have great potential, and we are going to give them the greatest focus, but that focus would be long term as we want to bring out their fun potential before making them level up."

  "While these of window 01 have nearly used up all their potential, only enough remain in them to level up into the Grandmaster class with little push from us," I replied.

  "That is a viable strategy. We should not burn their potential by forcefully trying to level them up; it would be a grave sin," said Grandmaster Rogan softly, and everybody acknowledged that with a nod.

  While the Grandmaster gives a fighting chance, it is with the might of Grand Lords that the war is won. We need to advance the potential of our most talented so they have a chance to reach for that power, not burn their future and, with it, humanities.

  If we do that, then, as Grandmaster Rogen had said, it would be a grave sin.