Chapter 77: Hacked

Time seemed to have been fast-forwarded as the sun and moon alternated unceasingly.

Ain’s training was progressing smoothly, alongside his studies and the attribute traces measurement service.

Over the past few days, he finally allocated some time and learned to concoct the Blood Refinement Pills, finally becoming self-reliant in terms of medicinal pills.

His research on the supreme traces continued, but Ain only spent an hour each day. Although he could measure accurate attribute traces, his alchemy techniques needed to be excellent in order to manipulate the concoction process and cause the desired changes in the attribute traces of the final product. This could only be accomplished through repeated practice and study.

So far, he could only produce high-grade pills consistently, with perfect-grade pills being a rare surprise. Once his alchemy techniques improved, not only would he be able to produce perfect-grade pills more often, but his research would also accelerate.

As time passed, an early morning trip to the Cyberspace transmission hub had also become a routine.

Unfortunately, the snowball effect Ain initially expected didn’t occur and no new customers appeared. Only Goddess Nocturnal and Green Water continued their transactions with him.

But he wasn’t distraught at this occurrence. Green Water had single-handedly offset Ain’s lack of customers. Ain actually had to limit Green Water’s transaction volume, and the primary cause was Ain’s lack of spirit energy.

When he first used Scan on the Rank-2 Ghost Pearl, Ain believed the spirit energy consumption for scanning Rank-2 resources to be easily bearable. But the following day, he was quickly proven wrong by Green Water.

Not only did they send over more resource samples, but they were also all at Rank-2.

As such, setting a limit to the transaction volume was the only option. After all, alchemy and training all required spirit energy as well. Even with the Spirit Recovery Pills, Ain was still hard-pressed for spirit energy.

Along with his transactions, he also gained a better understanding of his customers.

Goddess Nocturnal and Green Water both seemed to be spirit masters. Oftentimes, mixed in with the resource samples, there would be blood samples from various spirit beasts.

Scanning them had broadened Ain’s horizons, especially the Torchlight Dragon’s blood sample sent over by Goddess Nocturnal. This was an extremely rare and powerful dragon species spirit beast. Anyone who could interact with one couldn’t be an ordinary spirit tamer.

Along with the daily transactions, Ain also received a request from Green Water to cooperate privately, which he declined without thought.

Ain couldn’t be sure of Goddess Nocturnal’s rank, but with such vast resources, Green Water couldn’t be a low-rank spirit tamer. It was safer to avoid any extra contact.

Overall, everything was well, especially his account. With Green Water’s contribution, it had reached 6320.5 energy crystals.

With each passing day, Ain stared at the increasing number and felt numb. He was already a billionaire in star coins.

With such wealth, he could finally proceed with one of his goals, which was to buy a spatial storage device!

Ain felt a burden lifting off his shoulders just from the thought of it.

…

On Friday morning, along with the rising sun, Ain prepared to leave for the transmission hub.

Just earlier, he had updated the trading post, making his service unavailable for the next two days in anticipation of the group trip. After completing the requests that he received yesterday, he planned to visit Liberty Firm to purchase a spatial storage device.

With a smile on his face, Ain was fixing his hair in front of a mirror when his hololink started emitting noise.

Bleep! Bleep! Bleep!

Hearing the sound, the smile on his lips faded. This unfamiliar sound had never appeared from his hololink before.

The sound was discordant and piercing, prompting annoyance and impatience. The peaceful mood in his humble home was ruined.

He brought up his arm and observed the holographic screen on his wrist. Reminiscent of a glitch, it flashed with disorienting patterns and changed colors constantly.

“What is this?” A frown appeared on his face as Ain tried to operate the hololink, but to no avail.

Suddenly, just as he was about to remove the hololink from his wrist, the blaring sounds halted, and the flashing screen turned pitch black. After silence returned to the room, a line of text slowly appeared on the screen.

[Ain Weisman, do you want to make a deal?]

Experiencing the unexplainable event, followed by these words, Ain couldn’t help but furrow his brows as his frown deepened.

His nerves tensed up and unease settled in his heart. There was even a sense of danger in the depths of his heart, but not from Premonition. It was just a natural response to the unknown. Ain didn’t reply and continued to stare at the screen.

Ten seconds elapsed in this silence. Failing to receive an answer, the text slowly faded into the darkness, leaving nothing behind. But before Ain could think further, it appeared once more, asking him the same question.

[Ain Weiman, do you want to make a deal?]

Ain didn’t respond again, continuing his inaction. But internally, his mind was racing, attempting to understand this matter and resolve it.

He eliminated many possibilities, such as a glitch, an ingenious advertisement, or a prank. In the end, only the simplest and most logical explanation was left.

“My hololink has been hacked.” Ain realized. And when he considered the timing and recent events, the sense of danger in his heart multiplied.

The holographic screen, as if stuck in a loop, displayed the text before fading away every ten seconds. Then, it would reappear again and continue.

With a lack of information, Ain’s abilities, Analysis and Deduction, didn’t offer him a new perspective. Ain could only attempt to gain more information.

Having decided on his course of action, he moved his fingers and responded.

[Who are you?]

Of course, Ain didn’t just agree to the “deal.”

[Irrelevant.] As soon as he sent his reply, the text on the screen instantly changed, causing Ain to narrow his eyes slightly. The response was too quick.

He swiftly considered his reply and decided to inquire about the “deal” instead. Ain didn’t believe he could convince the other party to reveal their identity in this situation.

[What deal?]

Yet again, the text updated within milliseconds of his response. But this time, it caused a chill to run down his spine as he stared at the text with wide eyes.

[Wise Man. One decimal attribute traces measurement service. Purchased AMD. Searched mechanical knowledge. Fourteen successful transactions. Goddess Nocturnal. Green Water. 6333 energy crystals.]

“…” Ain couldn’t help but clench his fists when his suspicions were proven true. He had indeed been tracked through Cyberspace!

Ain was already aware of the potential danger when he first developed the idea, but the possibility seemed minuscule at that time. That’s why he had still proceeded with this plan.

Only now did he realize his immense error. Why did he ignore the obvious danger?

This was no different from the Spirit Awakening Ceremony. He had unanimously believed that he would successfully awaken his innate talent, completely ignoring the possibility of failure. This was not due to confidence, but ignorance and arrogance.

In his heart, he couldn’t possibly fail to awaken. Although all was well in the end, Ain had realized the faults in his thinking at that time and swore to correct himself.

But what was the result? He thought himself special again, believing he wouldn’t draw attention, or be tracked in Cyberspace.

And this time, unlike before, he had to face the consequences.

Although Ain’s heart was in chaos, his mind still tried to rationalize. Brooding over his mistake was unhelpful now. His information was exposed, and so was his ability to accurately measure attribute traces.

In such a scenario, just as he thought earlier, he could only engage in the conversation. Since the other party revealed their knowledge of Ain’s actions, it must have something to do with the “deal.”

[What’s the deal?] Once again, the text updated within milliseconds of his response.

[I don't care about your secrets. You can measure accurate attribute traces. You've attempted to study AMDs. Use your advantage to develop a new AMD.]

When Ain read the text, he was once again stunned.

“Develop a new AMD? That’s it?“

This was vastly different from his expectations. Was that really the other party’s goal? While Ain’s heart relaxed a little, he still held onto his vigilance and asked.

[Why?]

[Because current AMDs can't measure accurate attribute traces, but you can. You've attempted to develop a new AMD.]

Ain stared at the updated text on the screen, baffled. Could the reason really be that simple? In truth, Ain had always taken his mentor's word for granted when it came to the inability of AMDs to measure attribute traces accurately. He trusted his mentor implicitly, but at the same time, he'd occasionally pondered the truth of those words.

The world was vast and shrouded in mystery. Just how powerful were the most formidable people in this world? How rich were the legacies of the peak organizations? Was it truly impossible to measure attribute traces with accuracy? These questions had lingered in Ain's mind. Now, he couldn't resist asking.

[Is it really impossible to measure attribute traces accurately?]

[Yes.]

The response he received was brief, offering no surprises. But confirmation from this unknown person was meaningful. With the ability to hack Cyberspace, their identity couldn’t be ordinary. Ain felt a wave of relief wash over him as the sense of impending crisis began to dissipate.

[Do you believe I can develop a new AMD that can measure accurate attribute traces?]

[Unknown. But you have the highest probability.]

Ain fell into contemplative silence. If indeed no one else could measure attribute traces accurately, he might hold the highest probability of making a breakthrough in AMD technology. Despite his numerous questions about this mysterious encounter, Ain decided to continue the conversation for now.