Chapter 10 Cryptic Archive
Now, some of you might have been wondering about how I was able to remember the minor stuff such as the code to enter the [Hidden Twilight] or even what specific rock to pass through when I tried to go inherit the legacy of the [God of Destruction].
When I originally transmigrated into this world as Asher, my brain capabilities seemed to have increased several-fold, as I even seemed to obtain a sort of Eidetic memory. Through this, I had a fleeting thought about the location of the legacy. After I obtained the legacy, I had a transformation in every single aspect of my body and soul, thus evolving my Eidetic memory into a perfect Photographic memory.
Counting on his memories to reveal every single detail he had ever written in the novel, he sorted out some information that would give him just the right amount of money, neither too much, nor too little.
While pondering over these facts, I headed towards a particular counter. There seemed to be a lean-looking man on the opposite side who adorned a black and blue suit. He seemed to be wearing a Red mask which seemed to have several enchantments embedded in it. One of those enchantments was probably meant to serve as a way to distort his figure in the eyes of others, letting nobody be able to ascertain his body structure.
Nodding at him, he motioned me over to get in the booth and walked out from the counter. The [Hidden Twilight] wasn't exactly something that the Association publicly supported or even authorized. Essentially, this meant that everything happening in here was meant to be kept under wraps. Due to this, any sorts of identification items or verification processes weren't used here.
If one day, some illegal activities that happened here were to be revealed to the whole world, then any individuals deemed to be publically associated with this might be denounced or even condemned across the whole nation. Due to this, nobody was willing to share their identities in this place other than people who thought they had nothing to lose, or in simpler words "morons".
As long as you had enough money in here, anything worked out. The only rule in this place was that using your powers as an awakened wasn't allowed.
Getting into the booth with the man, I casually took a seat as I saw him close the door, which automatically activated the enchantments laid in the room. These enchantments served only a single purpose, to isolate anything that happened inside from the outside world. An organization whose sole existence was to deal with information obviously wouldn't want their information getting leaked out now, will they?
As he sat down in front of me, he muttered "Buy or Sell?"
Having already decided to sell information, I replied "Sell." assertively.
"Do you know the way we operate or should I explain it to you?" asked the middle-aged man, or so I assumed his age from his voice.
Asher: "Nah, I do. I have to give you the information first, then you'll give me a fair price."
If I was a normal person, I'd have screamed out the words, "ARE YOU TRYING TO SCAM ME!?", but knowing how they operated I didn't. That's right, this was how the number one information organization in the world, [Cryptic Archive] operated. Banking on their trust and massive amounts of wealth flowing in from each and every single organization out there, including the Association itself, it was fairly confident in buying "any" type of information, no matter how costly it might be.
Middle-aged man: "This ain't your first time here, eh? Well then go ahead, what type of information are you going to give me?"
Asher: "You."
Middle-aged man: "Huh?"
Asher: "I know who you are, Evelyn Mist."
Evelyn: ".."
Well, I didn't want to do this either but it's not like I had a choice. If someone wearing a cheap rip-off tuxedo went over to you and told you something like "You can find a legendary artifact in that dumpster over there", what would you do? Not to mention the fact that I had no way to prove that my information was legit either. I had only mentioned the locations of the artifacts vaguely in the novel. It's not like I had written down the exact address of an old man and made it so that there was an artifact lying under his bed. The descriptions of the surrounding areas of those items and other cheats were all done based on when the protagonist of the original novel originally visited them.
Let's say there was some overpowered god-ranked item buried under a tree, not to mention what it was doing there in the first place, I could only describe it as something like beside a huge mountain, the lower part of which was mysteriously covered in snow. No author would ever write down something like the coordinates of the item itself.
Let's say there was originally a [S] rank awakened passing by the mountain. That [S] rank then used his powers to cover the bottom half of the mountains (for no absolute reason as this is only a hypothetical situation). Then that would become the landmark I would mention in the novel. Now, if my actions caused a change and that [S] rank never did cover the mountain with snow, I'd have to go on with a shovel, lunging at every tree near every mountain I could find.
Similarly, let's say there was a treasure buried near a pond. Now, at some point in time two [B] ranks fought near it which obliterated the pond itself. Then the landmark would be gone and the poor god-ranked artifact would probably never see the light of day until another Alex with his plot armor "unknowingly" stumbled upon it.