Slow jazz music, the odor of tobacco, the slight gossip of women, the laughs of men, and the classic beverage clerk behind the counter set the scene in tune. In the scenery was a table that sat at the corner of the establishment remaining inconspicuous and independent from it, yet there occupied a young male with his head turned downwards sipping on some alcohol in silence. He held the book gifted to him by that woman and read its contents very meticulously. He went over the map and read it slowly.

The young male was none other than Neil Axiom contemplating how he would go about entering the CloudEye Monarchy. His knowledge currently on the location would have been almost nil if he hadn’t included the information he obtained from the teenage female. Neil knew he needed to find something that would help in his infiltration, execution then escape and if things went south then a whole abortion of the plan had to be considered. Either way, power was still the only thing he could rely on as it could save his life in critical times or maybe even help him grasp an opportunity.

‘I’ll take it step by step and plan each step as I move on, after all, I don’t know who I’m going to encounter at this Auction. Anything can happen so firstly will need to gain information about who will be attending this occasion and every single threat that may or may not encounter. There’s still time until the auction begins, so there is no need to rush through this and it’s never wrong to be careful when facing the unknown.’, Neil thought.

As he sat thinking about this, the front door burst open and Guards of Rein attired in greyish garments with images of a swirling cloud imprinted on their clothing sprung forth, and in front of them were two figures. One female and one male each with blonde colored hair left the audience in silence, they wore purple garments lined with golden strips and glyphs of a flying sparrow engraved on the shoulders and back of the attire. The male had ocean-blue eyes and the female, had striking violet eyes. They were both pleasing to the eye exuding a carefree aura which made them easily approachable. The guards behind them were menacing giving every single single person in the building a stink eye, very appropriate indeed. The question on everyone’s mind right now is why nobility would even enter such a shabby, ordinary-looking establishment. It was indeed very unusual.

The female’s irises slightly gave off a violet luminescence as she scanned the whole area, she seemingly was looking for something yet was unable to locate it due to the time she spent gazing around. She finally came to a halt when she looked in a particular direction. The male next to her followed her line of sight and laid his eyes in that particular direction as well. The direction they both looked in was currently where the young Neil was situated, contemplating heavily on how to enter the auction. They both walked to Neil with the guards following suit. Neil was able to sense the pair walking in his direction and lifted his gaze to stare in their direction as they approached.

“Oh, who might you two fine people be?”, Neil asked with a straight face
When the pair finally made it to Neil’s desk, they both looked at him and the female was the first to respond.

“My name is Louise Evergreen”, she responded in a firm tone that was neither imposing nor prideful.

“You can call me Ernest”, the male named Ernest said as he held up his hand for a handshake.

Neil did not have a ‘cooking’ clue about what was going on. He remained ignorant of nobility but that didn’t imply he grew stupid over time; he immediately knew by their attire and how the pair carried themselves that they weren’t ordinary and were of a different societal standing than those other people in the building. Neil decided to return the handshake and gestured for the pair to take a seat adjacent to him. Ernest and Louise sat down and the guards behind them followed suit as they stood behind the pair and stared down at Neil. Neil took note of this but didn’t care, he looked at each of the guards then returned his gaze to the pair. At this moment some relieved sighs echoed in the surroundings hence the scene resumed once more.

“What's the matter?", Neil asked.

Ernest and Louise smiled and Louise responded, “Oh, nothing. It's just from where I'm looking you are [CINTH] correct?”

Neil squinted his eyes; it should be reminded that a [CINTH] was not something common and only a few could even identify one depending on their Aspect attainment and thus the woman in question was either his equal or she possessed a certain ability similar to that woman in the City hall.
So, for Louise to immediately determine Neil’s status led him to wonder what type of concept she possessed and simultaneously gauge her strength.

”What do you want with me?”. Neil asked with a sigh.

“We need you to help us find someone”, Louise spoke up.

“Hm, I could help you but obviously, you should know that everything has a price, no?”, Neil calmly replied

“Indeed, but first let’s talk about specifics. The reason why we came here was that we are looking for a person codenamed ‘Ace’. This figure was able to infiltrate the Evergreen Mansion just southwest of Shea and took an item that belonged to the family.”, Louise said

“Ace huh…, for a person capable of such a feat how could I even compare to it? I could assume that the Evergreen Mansion has many guards at the Ethereal Aspect perhaps you even have people at the Corporal Aspect so how was a nobody even able to steal an item from your noble residence?”, Neil said.

“We deduced that Ace possesses a [Composite] concept that aligns with the concept of space so he must've been able to cross through space and pass most of our security measures.", Louise emphasized clearly. Silence ensued….
Neil chuckled which led to Louise and Ernest frowning slightly.

“You want me to die?”, Neil rhetorically yet coldly asked.

Louise remained quiet and thought before answering,” I understand what you might be thinking but there will be others like you on this quest. If you do accept then anything you ask, we will deliver provided it doesn’t overstep our boundaries or go against our beliefs.”

Neil thought for a moment and proceeded to ask a question,” Is your Evergreen family attending the Cloud Eye Auction?”

“Indeed, we are, and from my guess you want a spot in, right?”, Louis’s lustrously pink lips arced into a smile.

“Sharp woman indeed. Since you already know, then this is the price you will need to pay and the only price worthy of my cooperation.” Neil firmly planted his stance in this matter.

“Hmm…, well the spot is possible but the other 4 you are going with to take down Ace also requested the same thing and only a single spot remains so you get what I mean, right N.E.I.L?”, Louise smiled mysteriously

“I never once mentioned my name in this conversation. I'm surprised.”, Neil was reveling in this conversation. A cold yet indifferent smile bloomed on his face and his azure eyes began to glow ever so slightly.

He understood that Louise made him a target but when did she? He had only interacted with two people since coming to the city, perhaps that woman exposed him or her Concept is far more terrifying than he anticipated. Secondly, after Ace’s defeat and the retrieval of the item, she would want all 4 of them to duke it out and sustain injuries then launch an ambush to kill off 4 of them at once.
This will not only prevent anyone from obtaining the spot but all evidence of such an endeavor to vanish into smoke. The true definition of one winner and no second place.

‘So, she wants all of us to die huh, but if one of us does successfully retrieve the item and kill the rest how would she go about taking the item from the possessor? No, I almost forgot the most important piece in this plot and that is she is NOBILITY. She could easily summon several Ethereal or Corporal [CINTH’s] to just outright bombard the remaining person and successfully take the item. There are just too many methods she could employ here and considering that ability she examined earlier I can safely assume she has an ocular type concept, [Perception], [Inverse Observation] maybe [Ayond Vision]? She is in the dark while I’m exposed and then there’s that guy Ernest. As expected of the natives of The Dark Tetrad Continent, unfortunately, there is no other solution to enter the Auction except taking many risks with very high chances of failure. I just have to accept this ‘mission’ but I need to be extremely careful as I proceed’, Neil thought.

“So do we have an agreement?”, Louise said calmly.

“Very well, I wholeheartedly agree”, Neil said with a mysterious smile.

“Good very good “, The one to speak up was Ernest as he gave Neil an octagonal-shaped object.

“That contains all data on Ace and the names of your colleagues, including 1000 Nu Matrixes to express our generosity”, Louise spoke to Neil as she stood up from her seat. Ernest followed suit, and the pair and guards began the building leaving the young Neil sipping once more on his ice-cold beverage.

“The mission will begin tomorrow early afternoon led by Ernest and the five of you. All you need to prioritize is the death of Ace and retrieval of the item.”, she said as the group left the building.

When they left the building and began to head to the Evergreen mansion, she looked at Ernest and smiled mischievously,” That Neil is quite interesting, I could only discover his identity as a [CINTH] and Name but I wasn’t able to find what type of concept he possessed which intrigued me even more. It wouldn’t be far-fetched to think he has a pseudo-[Composite] concept or a complete one. Ernest remember, don’t underestimate him or that ‘woman’ because your only outcome would be death and if things succeed but not in the direction we wanted we can always retreat and try again. Don’t bury yourself too early.”

“I understand Louise, but fear not I will not do anything that could lead me into damnation”, Ernest assured Louise with a bright smile.

“I hope so”, Louise muttered softly, and thus the pair silently made their journey back to their residence.

Neil remained in the establishment relishing in his beverage while he chuckled to himself,” What a pity, things won’t go as they planned. This Ace character has me quite interested though. A [Composite] concept is something you don’t come by every often but it's not worth mentioning in front of me.” The glass was raised just in front of his face and his reflection revealed a carefree smile that spoke the confidence in himself and a ridiculing attitude of how stupid Louise looked down upon him. Neil just remained in the building as his gaze then diverted to the object Ernest gave him,” The [TheroCortex], quite expensive I must say. Capable of storing almost anything, from memories, knowledge, and organic to non-organic materials. Unfortunately, these noble people are all stingy, this one is low-grade and possesses a reasonably small space.

Neil proceeded to stand up then directly went to the clerk and said,” Talk about the Nobility in this City, specifically the house of Evergreen.”

The clerk looked at Neil and didn’t respond, he simply ignored Neil and continued to serve drinks at the counter. Neil was confused for a moment and then understood the situation so he looked around him and tapped the counter three times with his index finger, spontaneously 100 Nu Matrixes appeared on the counter which the clerk swiped in an instant.

The clerk looked at Neil and smiled,” Very Well Sir, what would you like to know?”

Neil looked at him with a serious expression,” Tell me what you don't know.”

The clerk chuckled, "You are in luck, sir."

Through all this nobody noticed a snow white looking bird stationed at a nearby windowsill which overlooked the entire conversation with a mysterious glint in its eyes.

{Improving with each chapter}