Athelei was walking these shady streets for he sought something so vital to him yet so incredibly simple.
The Information Network he loved to browse was not all-powerful. It only contained knowledge that other orange Users uploaded to it, and with a controlled number of said orange Users, the flow of information was... lacking.
That was even considering all the orange Users who once lived and had already passed away.
Athelei guessed that all the uploaded information was stored in the server it was sent to. And it made sense, since having a Private Server Host was possible and clearly utilized in the past. That meant that if Athelei could not access those servers, the relevant information would never reach him.
The orange Users of the past most likely uploaded their most valuable intel onto privatised servers owned by the organisations they were a part of. It elicited a sigh from Athelei when he guessed this out.
All he had right now was a 'public' one, available to the people of Oxhor. And, for some bizarre reason, barely contained information on what had transpired before the monster surge a hundred years ago.
Thus, Athelei had to walk and search on his own.
He had to search for the intel he so desired himself.
And he needed a lot, from Mystic Pattern books to ones on Tangible Will, from information on Mystic Artifacts for his Inspect to recent stories, and even from locations where ruins lay to the more mundane rumours of the current ongoings in Avina.
These were things not commonly shared on the Information Network, mostly because the range of orange Users were also limited. The ones who have contact with the black markets and the criminal underworld wouldn't share their whispers there.
Many risks came with sharing underworld info, and even then, nobody really wanted orange Users around them. The most common entry requirement was for someone to display the colour of their Cosmic Interface.
If it was orange, they'd likely be kicked out and barred from entry. If they had a bit of influence, then they would be followed closely. If they had more influence than that? Impossible.
The nobles and many leaders did not fancy the orange Nebula Gem for they preferred to strengthen themselves with perfect memory and did not wish to be ostracised from confidential talks.
This made Athelei think, 'I wonder how many criminal organisations and black markets I can wreck? I just have to hide the fact that I have access to the Information Network and go crazy.'
The thought made him chuckle, but he wouldn't do that... yet. He still needed the convenience of their existence.
And, just as expected, a pair of cloaked figures were barring Athelei's path forward.
"This area is governed by the Cone Snail Crew. You an orange, bud?" The one on the right spoke, lightly resting his hand on the knives that lined his belt.
Athelei shook his head and executed Examine on one of the nearby rocks.
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A rock.
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"Tsk, no fun today," Seeing the light of a cyan, the cloaked pair nodded and allowed Athelei passage. The latter walked past but without hearing a comment whisper in his ear,
"If you buy from Flamehead Gi, we're going to charge you if you wanna leave."
Athelei continued to walk without pause, slightly intrigued by who Flamehead Gi was and what he might have done to earn such a treatment. He only pondered for a few moments before shaking his head.
'Prudence, Athelei. Prudence.' He chanted to his human brain, trying to control his urges.
Athelei walked through a few more streets and alleys before arriving at the spot where more cloaked figures lurked about.
The shine of diversely coloured masks worked well with the dancing torches, and the smell of sweat was greater here.
Stalls were lined up like badly maintained teeth on each side of the narrow street. Any customer here had to snake their way around them to move forward. The concept of personal space had been deprived from said customers as well, making it a pleasant place for the expected acts of thievery.
Athelei felt the weight of 3 large silvers scattered about his different pockets and prayed he was adept enough to defend himself from those swift, dextrous hands.
Walking around while he kept himself conscious of those who passed him by, he took in the details of this here black market.
There were simple resources such as flour, meat, and blood, as well as a mess of different miscellaneous items. Flower pots, teacups, pans, daggers, 'special soil,' beast organs, suspicious herbs, 'special sugar,' risky potions, and many more were all displayed on rickety wooden boards.
As he walked around though, Athelei was slightly irked by how many rips and tears had suddenly surfaced on his cloak. He had only walked for a few minutes as he window shopped, but his cloaked may soon become rags. This solicited a sigh from him. He still had no stable source of income because he was still taking his first steps.
'I should visit this place rarely and only when needed.' Athelei nodded, acknowledging that he got a good understanding of this location.
It was time to leave, and so Athelei chose a direction to move towards and hastily enacted upon his decisions. His next stop would be the Adventurer's Guild.
But a pang of hunger suddenly struck him as he walked. His gaze was pulled towards a group of cloaked figures moving in his direction as saliva pooled in his mouth.
"Gulp," Athelei was familiar with this feeling from his time with Irene.
'A group of several Nightwalkers...' Athelei licked his lips as he looked past the group of Nightwalkers as if they did not exist.
He walked past them, getting a whiff of a hunger-inducing scent as he did.
...But Athelei kept walking.
He was in no position to fight, nor did his plans allow him to. Not yet, at least. Simply knowing of the presence of Nightwalkers was a blessing for him already.
It meant that something would happen, sooner or later.
.
.
.
After having a stinky stroll around the black market in Avina's slums, Athelei made his way over to a cleaner, yet possibly rowdier area of the seaside city.
Bars and taverns became a common sight here as the nightlife brought boisterous laughs and lively bard songs. The strong smell of alcohol tickled Athelei's nose as he walked under the mystic light wisps.
When Athelei walked over the third drunkard passed out in the middle of the street, he arrived at a large square. It was bustling here, and Athelei could see people from all walks of life moving around.
The commoners were enjoying themselves, the nobles held themselves aloof in their carriages, the slaves were performing their assignments, the knights were patrolling, the Adventurers were partying, and a few Artists were performing street magic.
Athelei had read of the last one on the Information Network, but it was still baffling to watch in real life.
'They should be at least at Rank I... how much time have they spent learning and perhaps even creating their pattern tricks?' Athelei was very much intrigued after the initial bafflement.
He could see the fun in learning such things as well as how he could play with them even in battle. Athelei watched their hands move and noticed some kind of technique with their hands and wrists. He could not see how the Mystic Patterns were being drawn and it was an amazing thing.
Hiding a glowing white drawing within the darkness of the night was difficult, as one would usually assume.
'Magic is pretty cool,' Athelei thought to himself in passing, 'But it's all sleight of hand though...'
Upon walking a full round around the outskirts of the joyous square, Athelei decided it was time for him to enter the famous Adventurer's Guild.
'I can finally be like them,' Athelei excitedly thought to himself as he recalled all the Adventurers he had the pleasure of observing.
.
.
.
To the north of the square was the Adventurer's Guild. It sat directly opposite a large blue cathedral of the Church of Libra.
Instead of the smell of spirits and booze permeating the air here, the vicinity of the Adventurer's Guild had no one scent. From blood to mud and sulfur to perfume, every step of the way brought a new one to the table.
Athelei walked through the chattering voices, climbed a few steps and walked into the building.
What greeted him was a large reception hall with a ceiling height that rivalled churches. The upper floors of the guild building all had a clear sight of the hustle and bustle down below, only disturbed by a chandelier of great grandeur hanging down at the centre of the hall.
Standing at the door, Athelei mapped out the reception hall in his mind.
In the distance before him were large staircases that led to the upper floors. To his right were wooden counters that spanned the entire length of the hall. The centre was kept clear of any objects save for several well-placed benches and potted flora. And at his left spread several boards with about a hundred, maybe more, posters and flyers.
There was also a bar and restaurant at the far left end of the hall, with a few Adventurers enjoying dinner by the tables.
It was truly a lively spectacle to behold.
As per an article that Athelei once read, as well as the stories told to him by the Harmonic Knights, he walked towards one of the wooden counters.
There, he found a tidily dressed female receptionist, who had already taken note of his approaching presence.
"Hello," The lady receptionist greeted with a smile that suddenly froze.
Athelei had taken off his hood to fully reveal his grey-scale features and olive-gold irises. He saw the slight shock in the receptionist's eyes and chuckled,
"I'm human," He said with a wave, "It's just that I had been tainted by some weird Mystic Artifact."
The Nefarious Icon then materialized on Athelei's chest, on top of all his clothes... but secretly obstructed by a fake that he had sewn on to mask its appearance.
"See?"
The lady receptionist shook off her shock and narrowed her eyes, "May I?" she asked, gesturing to the Nefarious Icon.
"Go ahead," Athelei smiled. He knew how the system would interpret this and place the Nefarious Icon and his fake badge as one object. He learned about such a loophole through his tests with Lisa.
A purple Cosmic Interface appeared near the receptionist's face, and Athelei watched her slowly nod in understanding.
With all her experiences doing her job, the receptionist was quite shocked by the fact that all she could glean from her Appraisal were the words, 'Unknown Mystical Badge.' She had seen many a treasure and had the pleasure of running her Appraisal on them whenever she received them for processing.
The fact that none of her prior knowledge helped her this time depicted how truly weird that Mystic Artifact may be.
"I see," She said, adjusting her clothes and straightening herself up, "What can I do for you... sir...? ma'am..?"
Athelei continued to smile, enjoying the chaos in the receptionist's mind as it appeared on her face.
"I would like to register myself as an Adventurer if that's alright," Athelei answered succinctly.
"Ah, new blood. I see. Please give me one moment,"
It took but an exact moment for the lady receptionist to grab a thick book out of thin air. She then flipped through the pages of the book before landing on a blank spot. With her hand held over the blank page, she asked,
"Name, Family name or place of birth, classes, and er, race..?"
'Purple Tier I Skills, Archive and Print?' Athelei calmly noted as he recalled the relevant Skill descriptions that he had come to know of through the Information Network.
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Tier I Skill: Archive
- [Active Effect] Archive allows User to store nearby physical information sources inside a pocket dimension as well as access the storage at any time. Size limit of individual objects and number stored per cast increases per level.
- [Passive Effect] Archive creates a personal pocket dimension. Dimension size increases per level.
=o=o=o=o=
Tier I Skill: Print
- [Active Effect] Print allows User to give their knowledge physical form. Amount of information printed per execution increases per level. Requires a medium.
- [Passive Effect] Print enhances User's physique with regards to dexterity. Enhancement increases per level.
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"The name's Nikiri Mist," Athelei then displayed a Mystic Pattern and a shine of olive-gold Tangible Will, "Artist and Dictator... The Cosmic Interface tells me I'm a Mutated Human."
The receptionist nodded as she heard Athelei's answers. The thick book swiftly received his details even faster than a typist could input them.
"Which is your family name?" The receptionist clarified.
"Mist."
"I see. Never heard of them before..." The receptionist wondered when a brilliant idea seemed to spring into her mind, "Could it be because of that badge? You've become a part of their family by becoming a different kind of human now?"
Athelei blinked, thinking, 'T-that was not the story I was going with, but that sounds so much nicer...'
"Er, yeah," Athelei stepped back from the fiery gaze the receptionist suddenly gave him, "I received some weird memories when I mutated... And that included this last name."
"That's quite the story," The receptionist added a few footnotes to his profile, "What about your Cosmic Interface?"
Athelei executed Examine on the thick book that the receptionist held.
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A book.
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"Cyan," Athelei answered as the screen popped up.
"Wonderful, wonderful. You should be a basic-level Rank 0 Artist and a mid-level Rank 0 Dictator specifically, yes?"
Athelei nodded in affirmation, "Good eye, miss."
"I've been in this business for much too long," The receptionist giggled, "And my name is Mabel... Miss, no, mister? What are you?"
"Well... I used to be male." Athelei answered, "But, as I said, the artefact was weird. I don't have the... you know... those parts anymore."
Mabel blinked, freezing for a good moment. She looked at Athelei with judgement written across her eyes, "Wait, none? As in nothing?"
"...Yes." Athelei chuckled wryly, laughing inwardly, 'I was right to have this kind of a cover story. Humans can't comprehend such a reality.'
"I'm so tempted to ask for proof..." Mabel muttered and secretly gave Athelei a glance but he still heard her clearly as she continued, "...But it would be rude to do so..."
Athelei's face twitched when he heard that. Mabel seemed to be a think loudly now, act later type. "Miss Mabel, my registration?"
Mabel realised the state she had been in for a good few seconds and straightened herself once again.
"Ah yes," She said, pulling out a clean scroll and executing her Tier I Skill, Print. "With this, you should be registered! Here is a small token of your status as an E-class Adventurer."
Mabel handed Athelei an iron name tag necklace as she pulled a small book out of thin air, "Here is a handbook of the ranking system as well as the need-to-knows of being an official entity related to the Guild. Please give it a proper read, Miss... Mister... Uh... Adventurer Nikiri."
Athelei received the items and nodded, "Thank you, Miss Mabel."
"It was my pleasure." Mabel curtsied with practised grace, "Welcome, new Adventurer."