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."
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.
Just to be sure, he went into those rooms. It was as he expected with one specific difference. In the resources room, he could see all the resources available listed, but the ones he was ineligible to redeem were greyed out. Only the ones he could actually take had their names written properly.
The intel section was also divided in an interesting way. The prices of intel changed depending on his location, for example, Kolari intel was cheaper for him than Novan intel. Moreover, there were no specific names or taglines written for the bits of information available. Nero, instead, had to select and enter keywords himself to see if relevant information was available, but naturally almost everything was greyed out.
Further, merits really were divided from 1 Star all the way to 6 Stars, and redeeming resources or intel required the relevant level of merit.
What was interesting was that Nero could also subscribe to daily, weekly, monthly or annual news updates, and pick the level of information he wanted. That was actually a pretty decent way to stay updated on what was happening around the world, if it weren’t so expensive.
Just out of curiosity, Nero entered the name Prince Felix Macedon to see what information Unity had, and discovered that there was not a lot. Most information could easily be redeemed by 1 Star merits, but there were also 4 pieces of 6 Star merit intel available. Of course, even though Nero could see the number of bits of intel available, he could not see what they were about at all. He could either buy information randomly, or further refine his search, if that was his intention.
He searched for a few other names too, such as Patrick Grant. Patrick, naturally, did not have so many bits of intel on him, though surprisingly there was one 3 Star intel relating to him. The fact that there was something relating to him that was so important aroused some curiosity.
Irene Grant had only a couple pieces of intel, both 1 Star. Edward Grant had quite a few, and many of them were even 4 Stars! Marilyn Grant, similarly, had a few including one 4 Star intel.
Nero figured that if someone could check his search history, his alias would be compromised. But then again, if there was such an obvious backdoor available to check what members were doing, then their identities would not be nearly as safe. Almost everyone would have their identity revealed based solely on the intel they searched for, which would make the point of anonymity redundant.
Still, Nero’s curiosity was not sated, so he searched for Kolar. Instantly, he saw millions of bits of intel, with hundreds of 6 Star pieces of intel. Yeah, that was probably too broad a topic.
He searched for Vanessa Abel, and saw that she had quite a few hits - far more than Nero, Patrick and Irene combined together. Then again, her identity was special.
He searched for Morphius Kade, and found many pieces of intel, including one free one! That took Nero by surprise, so he checked it, since he could check that one.
The intel was only one sentence!
’ If you want to die, keep looking into my affairs. ’
Beneath the sentence were the details of the person who provided the intel. The alias was... IAmMorphiusKade.
Nero resisted the urge to laugh. He did not actually believe that if the Sage joined Unity, that’s the alias he would pick. Naturally, someone else had picked that and had left behind that bit of intel as a prank.
Shaking his head, he turned away from the intel door and looked at the few others. There were doors which had no words on them, so Nero could open them, but others had descriptors yet still could not be opened.
The Conference Room was one such room that Nero could not enter. The Recreation Hall was another, though that room came with some information. That room would open once every two weeks, and if he entered, he could interact with other members of Unity who entered the room as well.
Interesting.
The last door looked far more grand than the others, and even had a proper title card rather than having its descriptor etched directly into the door. The last door led to The Administrator and, surprisingly, Nero could enter it if he wished.