Benefit Exchange

Iver actually had no idea what the Advancement Instance ritual involved.

That was mainly because the official game had never made a map of the Dream Realm, so players' experiences when advancing were incomplete. Of the required ritual materials, only one or two were somewhat expensive; the rest were merely extras.

As long as they gathered the materials, they could open an instance.

Before Level 50, entering the Advancement Instance through the ritual gate would queue up a nine-player party, with only one slot for each Path. Once the nine players entered, they wouldn't fight any minor monsters. They would go straight into a fairly easy randomly selected BOSS fight.

After clearing the instance, the game would randomly determine whether each player had passed. The higher the level of the Advancement Instance, the higher the failure rate. Without using additional materials that increased the success rate, twice as many players would advance during a full moon as during a new moon.

At first, the success rate had been fairly high. When advancing from Level 9 to the Second Level, six of the nine players could clear the instance, and even in a new-moon instance, three people could advance successfully. But as the levels rose, advancement became increasingly difficult. When advancing from Level 49 to Level 50, only a full-moon instance guaranteed that at least one person would pass. In a new-moon instance, all nine players could even fail to advance.

The players had gotten used to it.

It was like pulling for characters and getting nothing. Everyone already considered it perfectly normal.

Starting at Level 59, all subsequent Advancement Instances became high-difficulty solo instances.

By Version 6.0, the level caps for most Paths had been raised to Level 85. The Paths of Authority, Equilibrium, and Wisdom had reached Level 90 first, while the remaining Paths were unlocked one after another later. The final advancement from Level 89 to Level 90 was terrifyingly difficult. Thus, although the level cap had been raised to 90, the vast majority of players were stuck at Level 89. Only a handful of bigshots who both grinded and spent money—and possessed the requisite skill—could truly max out their levels.

The difficulty of clearing the earlier Paths would probably be lowered only after the Level 90 caps for all Nine Paths had been unlocked.

That was what the official game had done when it previously raised the level cap to 80.

However, although Iver didn't know how NPCs advanced, he could at least understand one thing.

NPCs advancing within the first fifty levels would certainly also need to be matched in the Dream Realm with nine people of the same tier from different Paths. If nine people couldn't be gathered, the ritual couldn't be completed—though at low levels, there would certainly be enough people.

When enough people could be gathered, the nine nearest people would be selected first. If nine people couldn't be gathered locally, one or two would be pulled from farther away, keeping the distances between the nine people as short as possible.

According to the occult texts of the Path of Beauty, an Advancement Instance was described as "sharing prosperity under the full moon, sharing ruin beneath the new moon."

Based on the guesses of the more knowledgeable players, perhaps the full-moon day involved PVE, while the new-moon day involved PVP. That would also explain why the ritual's success rate was higher during a full moon.

And tomorrow was a full moon—a dungeon that required a certain degree of cooperation.

In other words, tomorrow Iver would enter the Dream Realm as someone of the Dedication Path. Sherlock, meanwhile, would be on the Path of Wisdom.

The Paths of Equilibrium and Authority should both have people from Avalon. It was harder to say where the advancement candidates from the other Paths came from.

Meanwhile, after Sherlock exchanged pleasantries with Oswald for a while, he began discussing business.

The thin man, whose expression was somewhat languid and who seemed indifferent to everything, took a book with an incredibly dark cover from inside his coat.

Sherlock handed the book to the old butler upside down, with the title facing downward, and said casually, "I'm only here this time to deliver something from Mr. Kent to Iver."

"For such a small matter, I thought that girl with no sense of time would be the one to do it."

Oswald clearly still remembered Hai Na's two-hour delay.

He handed the book to Iver without looking at its title himself.

This was the respect Oswald showed the masters of the house as their butler. Since the book was a gift from the Bureau of Supervision to Iver, he wouldn't look at it.

Iver took the book and openly turned it around to look at its title.

"Shepherd's Secret Covenant."

It was another Grimoire. He had no impression of its contents.

But judging by its format, it should be an ancient technique from the Dedication Path...

It was quite a good reward, Iver thought.

No, it was far too generous. Any ancient technique worthy of being called a "secret covenant" was at least on the level of a church's Sacred Art. When Sherlock had helped the Bureau of Supervision solve a major case, the Bureau had only given him a Grimoire of the Path of Wisdom.

For such a simple low-level dungeon, you're giving me a reward this good?

Why don't you just beat me up instead? I don't feel comfortable holding on to this thing.

"Please open the book and take a look first, Mr. Iver. Confirm that you can open it normally."

Sherlock's expression was calm, and his voice was low. Like a government employee working overtime, he exuded a perfunctory, official chill. "If you can't open the book, I'll have to take it back to the Bureau of Supervision. Mr. Kent will send you another Grimoire that you can open."

At that, Iver flipped through it briefly.

After confirming that he could indeed open it, he paid no attention to its contents. He closed it again and placed it on his lap.

Once Sherlock saw that Iver had finished checking, he gently removed the top hat he was wearing.

"Hello, Mr. Iver."

At a faster pace than before, Sherlock formally relayed, "Director Kent intends to hold an awards ceremony next Thursday. It will take place at the White Shoes Club in the Red Queen District at five-thirty in the evening. There will be a dinner after the ceremony.

"The nature of this awards ceremony is 'to commend outstanding officers of the Bureau of Supervision who have made exceptional contributions to eradicating evil in the name of the Queen,' as well as to summarize the major events of this quarter. Director Kent invites you to attend. At that time, the central Bureau of Supervision will present you with a Crystal Cross Medal."

Upon hearing this, Iver immediately understood.

The Bureau of Supervision wants me to do something, so they're giving me a deposit in advance in case I change my mind.

Was there anything recently that Iver could help with, and that only he could handle?

It could only be the matter he had reported in the newspaper today.

He had solved such a major case on his own, personally killed a dangerous wanted criminal, and even found and purged a meeting point of the Noble Red Society on Glass Island... The fact that he had become a "hero" and a "celebrity" was built on the Bureau of Supervision's incompetence.

After sealing off the Pelican Bar and investigating further along that lead, the Bureau of Supervision could easily discover that it was a transnational black market that had existed on Glass Island for a long time. Even ordinary people, let alone supernatural beings, often bought prohibited items there and exchanged highly confidential intelligence.

If they followed the trail, they could uncover not only the minor matters of a Demon Scholar and an illegal Path's forbidden Grimoire, but possibly major cases involving smuggling, espionage, and treason.

But conversely, if they really began investigating directly through the Pelican Bar lead... it would amount to slapping themselves in the face.

Such an important stronghold had existed right under their noses for so long without being discovered by the Bureau of Supervision. Instead, it had become an almost open secret among the common people and an important market for trading illegal goods. In the end, this secret had even been discovered by a university student who wasn't yet a proper supernatural being—a cripple in a wheelchair.

The Bureau of Supervision would probably be in trouble.

Therefore, Director Kent's intention was probably for Iver to make a public statement. As long as he mentioned at the awards ceremony that "my investigation into the Pelican Bar was connected to the Bureau of Supervision," that would be enough.

For this, he had even given Iver a fairly valuable Grimoire.

Not only that. As long as Iver accepted the book, it was equivalent to accepting this commission.

It also meant that Director Kent owed him a favor.

Thus, after thinking it over, Iver revealed a foxlike, maliciously pleased smile.

"—An officer of the Bureau of Supervision?"

He pretended to look confused, but believed that both Sherlock and Oswald could understand what he meant. "But I'm just an ordinary person. I'm still a student, too."

Sherlock understood Iver's meaning exactly.

"That won't be a problem."

He spoke without hesitation. "You aren't an official officer, but even a student can become a consultant for the Bureau of Supervision. You can be registered with the Bureau, just like me. And you won't have any substantive duties. You'll only need to make it clear at crucial moments that you're also a member of the Bureau of Supervision. If you become interested in an incident later and wish to participate in the investigation, you can join it as a consultant."

Sherlock's words were extremely smooth. Clearly, he had memorized Director Kent's exact words.

As Sherlock's consultant status allowed him to make such a promise directly to Iver, Director Kent had evidently anticipated Iver's reaction before Sherlock left.

The director must have asked Hai Na in detail beforehand about Iver's personality, abilities, and the things he wanted to do.

Once he realized that Iver was intelligent and not easy to fool, he had immediately arranged more substantial benefits for him.

"Mr. Kent's exact words were, 'This is a reward for your heroic actions, and also an appearance fee paid in advance for inviting you to attend the awards ceremony.'

"Of course, if you truly don't wish to attend, that's fine too. You can still keep the book, and I can refuse Director Kent on your behalf."

Sherlock put his top hat back on and lowered the brim slightly.

"—So, what is your answer?"

"Of course I agree. Please tell Director Kent that I'll attend on time."

Iver revealed a gentle smile, but didn't mention the book, Shepherd's Secret Covenant, at all.

Only then did he truly understand the weight of his identity.

He was no longer a player with an unregistered identity and no backing... He was Iver Moriarty.

As long as James was still alive and Avalon had not yet fallen, no one could swallow up his accomplishments. Even less could anyone treat him as a tool and order him around at will. If they wanted Iver's help, they had to exchange benefits with him. They absolutely couldn't take everything without giving anything back.

And then, Iver immediately realized something else:

—You've got to be kidding me.

So when I was a player, these people secretly pocketed this much of my loot!