Chapter 379: Search History
It was no surprise to Nero when Flintlock appeared in his dream again that night, though he wore a smug look on his face that Nero found very annoying for some reason.
"I assume you had no problem finding First Knock," he said, as if it was entirely natural. "I hope you didn’t destroy the whole book searching for it - it’s quite a fascinating read."
Nero maintained a neutral expression, and did not reveal his thoughts at all to him.
"Why was Unity’s Network in an isolation sleeve?" Nero asked, instead of responding to him.
Flintlock nodded, as if expecting the question.
"I see you found that one too," Flintlock said without any indication of surprise. "I wouldn’t have expected anything less. The reason is fairly simple. Unity’s Network comes in various Star rankings, and a 2 Star version of the card is very easily detectable because of its unique signature. That is to say, you won’t randomly be detected for using it, but while passing through security checks, such as the ones on the entrance of all towns and cities, it would easily be detected. That is to say, I don’t recommend you take the card into KMA with you. Best to discard it before entering."
Nero expected as much. The safety and security of KMA had long been lauded. That was not to say that the academy never suffered any incidents. Naturally, it had been attacked by curses various times over the years. It was just that they managed to handle each incident with the utmost skill and expertise, resulting in the least possible damage.
"So if I were to use it now, that would cause me no issues?" he confirmed.
"None at all," Flintlock said. "But, knowing your nature, I’m sure you’ll want to confirm for yourself before concluding our deal. I’ll come back tomorrow, and we can put an end to this. Once you enter the network, pay close attention to how missions and intel is ranked, and the distinction in merit pricing between availing and submitting information. I would tell you myself, but I’m sure you would rather confirm yourself."
Nero smiled faintly. He liked talking to smart people, there was no need to waste breath on elaborating on the basics. Flintlock dispersed the dream, and Nero slept soundly. The next day, he took full precautions before breaking Unity’s Network out of its isolation sleeve. He did not immediately use the card once it was free, and instead studied any interactions the surrounding aether had with the card, yet there were none. He also patiently waited to see if anyone came to check up on him, as if the presence of the card had been detected, but that didn’t happen.
Only in the afternoon, once he was sure no one was coming to check on him, did Nero finally activate the card.
Just like with First Knock, an image appeared in his mind, though this time it was far more elaborate. The image was of a circular chamber with several doors on its walls, almost side by side.
Each door had some words written on them. For example, the door directly in front of Nero simply stated: Historian.
Nero walked through the door, and found some bits of information about his alias, such as total merits available, total merits earned, number of missions completed, number of intel provided, number of resources redeemed and so on. Naturally, all of those were at 0, since he had completed no missions, nor did he have any merits, and so on. There was no personal information, such as date of joining, original identity etc.
He stepped out of the room and approached the next one, which said missions. Nero expected to see a very large number of missions available, but all he saw was a simple board with a dozen or so simple missions available.
It became obvious at a glance that the number of missions he could see, and the difficulty of missions available to him were dependent on his total merits earned. Meaning, the number of merits he had earned throughout his time at Unity would dictate the kinds of missions he could see. Unlike available merits, total merits earned would not decrease, and would only rise based on how much he earned.
That last bit was absolutely important. It did not matter how many merits he had, only how many he earned. So if Flintlock sent him many merits, it would not contribute to his total merits earned since those would be traded, and not earned through missions.
That was an interesting mechanism to ensure that members continuously contributed to Unity, instead of relying on network or resources to redeem their resources. Nero could guess that the type of intel or resources he could redeem would also depend on his total merits earned.