Chapter 120: 21st Floor [7]

The second Replica gave Atlas a task with fewer rewards than the first. It was also a riskier task, as it required him to enter the city.

He was told to find somebody. The only description he was given was a hair color, a rough build description, a gender, and a name.

Maria, the daughter of the taskgiver. She had been kidnapped by slavers and taken into the city for auction.

In any other situation, Atlas would have taken his time with such a task. It was crucial to maintain secrecy and avoid alerting the enemy when it came to saving people.

However, Atlas did not have that kind of freedom. Even though his enemies were trapped, he still had to worry.

'They will know of my presence in the city the moment I enter through the informants they've set up. They will not be able to send many people to respond, but they will ascertain that I am trying to complete the floor trial.'

Then, it would become a race. Atlas had to finish all of his tasks before they could ruin his chances, and they had to ruin his tasks so he was forced to remain on the 21st Floor.

Despite knowing that his presence would be exposed, Atlas still entered the city. It was relatively small and a majority of its activity was taking place on a single street, but he instead decided to enter an alleyway.

From there, he sensed a strange qi. It was hidden in plain sight, guiding all of those who were capable enough to sense it to this location.

It looked like no more than a shack on the side of the road. The interior didn't help its case. It was small, cramped, and didn't seem like it could be inhabited by even a single person.

The unassuming appearance was clearly intentional. The ground was light as if there was no foundation underneath.

After all, there wasn't. Atlas squatted down and ran his fingers over the ground until he found an indent. He put his hand there and raised it, revealing the hidden staircase beyond. Explore more adventures at m,v l'-NovelFire.net

"Welcome."

A person was waiting for him there. He was robed and carried a lantern to illuminate the way.

"As you have found this place, you have proved your credentials. I will now lead you to the main area."

Down the staircase and through several layers of security was an area far larger, enough to encompass a large portion of the district.

The robed man left Atlas at the bottom of the staircase and he was greeted by a butler of sorts who led him to where he needed to be and sat him down in a sort of waiting room.

There were no indications as to what the purpose of this space was. It looked like a building where many people worked on miscellaneous tasks.

Nevertheless, Atlas knew what it was. A person who found this place and entered it could only ever be searching for one thing.

"Welcome to Heaven's Eye, esteemed customer. How can we provide our services for you today?"

The final person who approached and also the one Atlas wanted to speak to was a woman with a veil covering half of her face. She wore a somewhat revealing red dress with ornate golden flower patterns running across its surface, and her eyes looked at him with a light of curiosity.

'Another Sky Sage.'

Atlas noted her strength as he nodded to greet her.

"I am in need of information for the sake of this trial. Please find me the location of the Replica named Maria."

At some point, the air around them had solidified. A formation activated to contain any sound within the confines of this border, allowing not a word to leak out.

Heaven's Eye. It was an information guild with a reputation and influence that wasn't confined to the 21st Floor. Anywhere one could find civilization, one could also find a branch of Heaven's Eye.

They were the biggest information guild in the entire Tower, but their services weren't available to everyone. Even customers who'd found them weren't allowed to return without being tested again.

The test on the 21st Floor was a simple judgement of talent. Atlas found them early, so the test was also meant for beginners.

If he wanted to find this place on another floor, he would have to try much harder, and if he wanted to become a customer who could enter and leave the guild and gain information as he pleased, then he would have to become one of only a handful of people in the Tower who'd reached the same status.

Atlas knew of Heaven's Eye, but he did not know he would find it here.

And Heaven's Eye knew about Atlas, but did he truly only come here for such a small request?

"We can easily find the location of a Replica for you, esteemed customer. However, is that your only request? We are quite a bit more capable than such a task requires us to be," the woman said.

She, along with everyone else in this building, was aware of the wild chase that had been occurring on the 21st Floor for the past month. They knew more details about it than even Atlas did as a participant.

Were they offering him that kind of information?

"I didn't know the people of Heaven's Eye were so curious about my situation," Atlas said, looking at the woman with cold eyes.

"Heaven's Eye is interested in the situation of every talented Ascender," the woman replied swiftly.

"And you have stirred up the most interesting event the 21st Floor has experienced in the past several hundred years. Considering that this kind of scene is not rare when you are involved, how could we not be interested in your situation?"

Atlas nodded.

They knew the information because it was their job to know the information. They were offering it to him for none other than the sum of money they assumed he had after the events of the 11th Floor.

'They have been following me for quite a while.'

It was truly the strength of the most powerful information guild to do so without him noticing.

Staring the woman down for a few more seconds, Atlas put it down.

He couldn't deny that the information they had would be useful.

"How much do you charge?"

The woman smiled.

"We can talk about that after introductions." seaʀᴄh thё Nôvel(F)ire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

That was the story of how Atlas met the woman who called herself Scarlet Fox. The light of ambition in her eyes was interesting to see, and from the way she brought him the information he requested within half an hour, he could tell that she'd be a valuable ally.

'Heaven's Eye…'

There was a reason they were number one.

'...I will have to find them again in the future.'

However, after receiving what he wanted this time, he moved on.

He knew the target's exact location, exactly how to reach it, exactly how many people were present, and exactly how they moved. With this kind of information, he was practically a God.

The slavers didn't know what struck them. They were slaughtered like nothing. The strongest of them was an Earth Sage, after all.

After thirty minutes of acquiring information and another thirty of battle, Atlas was already taking the woman named Maria back to the mother who hired him.

But that brief first encounter was bound to become so much more.

Atlas didn't know about it yet. He was far too focused on escaping the 21st Floor to think about what would happen after.

But, perhaps in the future…