Lucien turned the amulet over once more before setting it down.
"Have we checked his blood against the database?"
"We have, sir. We found no matches," Marcus replied.
"None?" Lucien raised an eyebrow.
"None."
Crowshade had blood samples of nearly every major supernatural from all hidden clans.
If Alan Veritus was someone from a major house who could use their portal artifact, Crowshade should have had his blood sample.
"Did he log in today for the first time?"
"Yes, sir."
Lucien let out a breath and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
There were too many unknowns about Alan Veritus.
"Sir?"
"What is it?"
"What should we do with the report he had sent? He has not attached the proof to verify that the method he sent is effective."
"Send our people to verify the information he has sent."
"But sir—"
"Just do as I say."
Every field agent was valuable.
Even if someone sent detailed information, unless they attached proof that their information was correct, Crowshade won’t send their field agents.
If the information was wrong, the agent would die. It was something Crowshade did not want to risk.
Video. Photo. Seal of verification from a major Hidden Clan. Anything would work as a proof.
But Alan hadn’t sent any of those.
"Sir, why are we ignoring the need for a proof in his case?" Marcus asked, hesitatingly.
Lucien was quiet for a moment.
Then he glanced at the amulet again.
"Think, Marcus. He used a portal. He sold a genuine Daelthorn amulet. What does all of this mean?"
"He’s... hiding his identity and he needs money?"
Lucien’s lips twitched.
Marcus was diligent in work. It could be seen how he showed Alan’s profile to him after noticing something about it was weird.
But sometimes, Marcus was slow.
"You are wrong. This was his proof. The portal, the amulet. He’s telling us he’s not some random idiot making things up."
He picked up the tablet again, stared at Alan’s profile.
"This is his way of saying: I’m someone high in the pecking order. Take my word seriously."
Marcus thought about his words and nodded. "Thank you for answering my question, sir."
Lucien tapped the side of the tablet.
"Send a small team to verify the anomaly location. Don’t engage. Just observe and report. If the data checks out, we’ll flag it for containment."
"Yes, sir. Anything else?"
"If the information is confirmed," Lucien said, "upgrade his account to VIP status."
"Understood, sir."
Lucien looked down at the amulet one more time, lost in thought.
Daelthorn didn’t train mages. They didn’t even like magic.
For someone affiliated with that family to be a 3-Star Mage at sixteen...
There were too many oddities about Alan Veritus.
’Is he someone from Exiled Isle?’
That would explain the high rank of Alan despite being only sixteen-year-old, and why his blood sample was not registered with Crowshade.
’I’ll need to look into him.’
...
MC’s POV
I spent most of the night researching how to get an official Anomaly Hunter license.
The remains of Anomaly—or what they sometimes produced—were incredibly valuable for alchemy.
That part made them very attractive targets for Alchemists like me.
Also, some anomalies dropped materials you couldn’t get anywhere else, not even in the black market.
"I can earn extra cash by taking the jobs to hunt Anomaly and get my alchemy materials at the same time. It’s two birds with one stone."
Moreover, there was another reason I wanted the Anomaly Hunter license: killing anomalies without a license could get me arrested.
That law wasn’t just there to protect the daring, but stupid supernaturals from the anomaly.
It was also for others’ safety.
If you messed with an anomaly without the skills or knowledge to handle it properly, you could provoke it.
And when an anomaly got pissed, civilians usually paid the price.
I navigated through the main page of the Underworld.
When I finally found the licensing page, I nearly puked blood.
"Ten thousand dollars just to apply, and then I still have to pass a test?"
"Why don’t these bandits just ask for a kidney while they’re at it?"
I slammed my thigh and leaned back in my chair. No point in getting angry. I didn’t have ten grand anyway.
With no other choice, I told myself I would just have to wait until I had enough money before applying.
It was not ideal, but I could earn the money back easily by taking jobs with my Anomaly Hunter License.
The next morning, I had breakfast with Mom.
Dad still wasn’t home.
We ate in silence for the most part, except for her gently reminding me to chew properly and not rush. I nodded along, trying to act normal.
After we finished, she stood up and gestured toward the hallway.
"Come on," she said. "Let’s do some reading in the study."
I groaned inwardly but followed her to the mansion’s study.
The books were already laid out on the low reading table.
She picked one up and sat beside me on the floor cushions.
The first story was about a brave tailor who defeated giants by accident. Then a tale of a clever fox who outwitted a lazy tiger.
After that came a weird story involving a talking fish and a boy who collected feathers.
I recognized most of them.
I kept a fake smile, nodding at all the right moments, pretending to be curious about the next plot twist.
It made mom happy and excited. That was enough of a reason to sit there and play the role of a child for a few hours.
Around noon, I gave her the best puppy-dog eyes I could manage.
"Mom," I said, drawing out the word, "can I play some games for a bit?"
"No, you’ve been playing too much games these days. It’s harmful for eyes."
"Please."
I upped my effort and made a cute face.
Finally, after several minutes of requests, she sighed.
"Okay, but only for fifteen minutes. Then we will have lunch. Dad will be back home by then."
"Thank you! I love you, mom!"
The desktop in the study was enough for my need.
I switched it on, pulled the chair close, and climbed it with some struggle.
The angle of the screen faced away from the door and mom’s reading spot, so I wasn’t worried about her seeing what I was doing.
I logged back into the Underworld site.
First thing I checked was my account balance.
[Balance: $1,100,000]
’...what?’
I had estimated maybe seven hundred thousand dollars, tops. This was too much.
I immediately went into the transaction history to see what got me so much money.