"I can sell information on anomalies. I know about a lot of them. The method to avoid them, their containment method, and their defeat method."
That was the advantage of coming from the future.
But I couldn’t just dump all my knowledge and expect to walk away rich and unnoticed.
Information like that was dangerous.
The materials from anomaly corpses could be refined into high-rank artifacts, potions, weapons, or even curse-weaving inks.
If I wasn’t careful, someone would come knocking at my doors, and force me to reveal all I knew.
I had to scale my information I sold based on my own strength.
I selected the Rank 3 Anomaly from my memory and started typing out the report.
...
[Anomaly Code: Shade Nest]
Rank 3
Classification: Contagious Environmental Manifestation / Dungeon
Threat Area: Western Outskirts, Abandoned Metro Line 7, near Beeston Tunnel, Nottingham, United Kingdom
Primary Ability: Reality Bleed
Behavior: Passive until provoked; becomes aggressively territorial when exposed to sudden light or sound.
Containment Protocol:
1. Area must be kept in darkness.
2. Use echo-dampening runes to muffle all sound-based vibrations.
3. Spray corridor entrances with Null-Distortion Spray (Type-B).
4. Three concentric layers of boundary spells must remain active at all times.
5. Sleep gas may reduce activity inside the anomaly zone but has no long-term effect.
Defeat Method:
1. The anomaly’s central core is located in the third maintenance tunnel, identifiable by melted concrete support pillars.
2. The core appears as a levitating obsidian crystal veined with pulsing red lines.
3. It must be pierced with a Rank 2 weapon embedded with a Light-elemental rune.
4. All direct mana-based attacks against it are ineffective. They will be absorbed or redirected by the anomaly.
Additional Notes:
1. Corpse matter within the zone may sprout Rank 1 or Rank 2 Specters within 2 to 6 hours.
2. Specters are unstable but aggressive.
3. All infected remains must be burned completely.
...
Once I finished writing, I leaned back and read through the submission twice.
The wording was technical enough to be taken seriously but didn’t use so much jargon that it looked fake.
Before hitting "Submit," a pop-up appeared.
[Do you have proof of this information? Upload photos, video, or approved verification seal.]
I didn’t have any of those.
Still, I wasn’t worried that my intel would be marked as nonsense.
I clicked "Send."
[Submission Received. Review in Progress. Expect response in 12 hours or less.]
I sat back, rubbing the back of my neck.
"A Rank 3 Anomaly should be valuable enough, but not so rare that I attract attention."
The submission included everything. Location, defeat conditions, behavior patterns, and the method of sealing of the Anomaly.
Anomalies were bizarre entities.
They could be objects, phenomenon, myths, memories, or monsters.
It was rumored they came from another dimension or were remnants of a broken reality. Nobody really knew for sure.
What was known, however, was this: killing an Anomaly didn’t mean it was gone for good. It always after a century. You couldn’t truly kill them.
And most couldn’t even be killed and sent away for century to begin with.
That’s what made them terrifying.
The world of supernaturals had people with powers, techniques, magic, legendary artifacts.
But even they had limits.
And Anomalies laughed at those limits.
Take the Rank 2 Anomaly, Yeti as example.
It appears only during whiteout blizzards. It strips off its victims’ clothes and causes them to freeze to death.
The method to defeat a Yeti: You must burn a photograph of its first victim while inside a snowstorm it created.
Yeti was extremely dangerous.
And it was only a Rank 2 Anomaly.
Anomalies were classified into seven ranks depending on their danger, the information known about them, and the potential destruction they could cause.
They were much stronger and dangerous than the Supernatural of the same rank.
Rank 0 Anomalies (Passive-class Anomalies)
They have been documented, and are harmless.
Example would be Rank 0 Anomaly, Star Door.
It appears in abandoned schools and opens when no one is looking at it.
Once you enter it, you will be teleported to a world with black marble ground and a dark sky with countless stars.
You have five minutes to return.
Or else, you will be forever trapped in that world.
Rank 1 Anomalies (Trigger-Class Anomalies)
The majority of them have been documented.
They are harmless unless a specific trigger is activated.
Upon the activation of the trigger, they become hostile.
They are usually bound to places, objects, or states of emotion.
Their trigger condition can be as simple as a word, or a gesture.
The Murderer Mask was a good example.
It was a plain, creepy mask that only activated if worn alone in front of a mirror.
Then it hijacked the wearer’s mind and sent them on a killing spree.
Rank 2 Anomalies (Hazard-Class Anomalies)
They can be killed, banished, or sealed, but only if you followed the exact defeat conditions.
Multiple ’variants’ of the same anomaly of this rank can exist. Each variant of the anomaly has a different method of defeat.
Example would be Rank 2 Anomaly, the Weeping Woman.
The known variants of the Weeping Woman are: the River Mother, the Widow on Fire, the Birch-Bride, the Theater Maiden, and the Rooftop Lover.
Each one of them has a different defeat condition and appearance.
However, their trigger condition is the same: responding to their cries.
Until Rank 2, the Anomalies are documented, and the methods to defeat them is known.
But from Rank 3, this changes.
Rank 3 Anomalies (Lethal-Class Anomalies)
It is possible to seal them with great risk. They are capable of town-wide destruction.
Approaching them without a strict protocol is the same as a death sentence.
They can recover and resurrect instantly if they are killed with ’incorrect method’.
Trying to defeat them is not encouraged.
It is advised to seal them, or to threaten them so they run back to their own world.
Each Anomaly could return to their world/dimension any time it wanted. This was where they would go if they felt threatened.