Chapter 36: Atlas Corporation
“This quest… is different,” Ain muttered, furrowing his brows.
[Quest: It’s a Cold World]
[Description: Obtain the ice-aspect by contracting an ice-aspect spirit pet.]
[Reward: Unknown]
This new quest violated two of the rules he had determined for Quest the previous day. First, the quest didn’t align with his plans at all. Where did the ice-aspect come from? From the previous passive approach, this quest seemed to be actively guiding him. Second, the reward was no longer Heavenly Whispers. Rather, the reward wasn’t even known. It wasn’t revealed at all.
Understanding the quest, Ain supported a frown laced with indecisiveness. He faced a dilemma. With the Chronarch Precept, Temporal Blitz, and Temporal Shift at hand, he naturally wished to obtain the time aspect. He was immensely attracted by its prospects. On the contrary, he couldn’t care less about the ice aspect. Why should he contract an ice-aspect spirit pet?
Although the unknown reward, invoking a gambler's heart, seemed intriguing, it still paled in comparison to his yearning for the time aspect.
“Why would the quest want me to obtain the ice aspect? Is it guiding me towards something? Or is it really just random? I don’t think it’s random…” Ain muttered; his thoughts conflicted. Shaking his head, he disregarded the quest for now. His attraction to the time aspect was infinitely greater. The quest was without a time limit anyway. It could be considered next time.
“Wooo…!” Nox flew over eagerly, almost spouting gibberish. Ain discerned its intent through their contract. “Alright, show me,” he said with a smile, leaving behind his messy thoughts.
“Wooo…!” Excited, Nox nodded with its eyes vigorously. Its cloudy body trembled in focus as it used its new innate skill – Haunt. In less than a second, its body turned transparent before vanishing from sight. Without their telepathic connection, Ain couldn’t discern its location.
“Great job! It’s much faster than before!” Ain praised sincerely. He was genuinely surprised at its swift progress. “Wooo…!” Nox’s voice appeared directly in his mind as it happily flew around him with the familiar manic energy. It’d been suppressing itself this whole time.
Ain laughed as he attempted to capture his spirit pet. Remaining cloaked, Nox zoomed around the room in an effort to evade its spirit master. The duo continued playing around for a few minutes. Eventually, Nox failed to support Haunt and appeared directly above Ain’s head, prompting him to capture it with quick motions.
“Wooo…” Nox didn’t struggle this time, laying in his arms comfortably. It had exhausted some aether, but it was far from its limit. Its upgrade to Rank-1 had been greatly beneficial. Ain suspected they could use Possession and Phantom Claws concurrently for much longer durations.
“Alright, take a break. I’m gonna search for time-aspect spirit beasts using Cyberspace,” Ain said, returning to the bed. Just before he sat down, he suddenly paused. He glanced at the wrinkled bed sheets and discomfort arose in his heart. Tossing Nox into the air, he hurriedly fixed the bed before taking a seat with a content smile. He didn’t like the messy bed.
“Wooo…” Nox transmitted weird thoughts, which he promptly ignored. With a flick, the hololink’s holographic display was activated and he began browsing through Cyberspace. After some repetition, he’d quickly discovered the convenience of Cyberspace. It was easy to obtain news, general information, and browse various markets. Soon, Ain began searching for time beasts on Cyberspace. An hour later, he glanced away and sighed. “The time aspect is indeed too rare. There are no time-aspect spirit beasts for sale. Even information about them is sparse.”
During his hour-long search, he’d gained almost nothing. There were only some rumors or legends about time beasts appearing in the wild or in some far-away auctions. Either way, they weren’t accessible to him, whether it be with his current strength, or status. The one thing he’d ascertained for sure was his inability to afford them. His 57 aether crystals were seemingly worthless in front of time-aspect spirit beasts.
Turning off his hololink, Ain glanced at the ceiling blankly.
“I might need to… consider the quest,” he muttered. With a sigh, he briefly instructed his ghostly companion before calling it a day.
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The next day, Ain caught the sun’s warm summer greeting, awakening at dawn. Within an hour, he was seated on a hoverbus with curiosity visible across his face.
Hoverbuses were a common form of public transportation in the Dawnstar Federation. They possessed a large occupancy, either hovering above established roads or shuttling through the air at great heights. Ain knew of their existence, and even saw a few since his day inside Everlite City. But riding one personally? This was his first experience. With Nox disguised as his scarf, the duo glanced out the window in awe, witnessing the beautiful landscape passing below. There was no lack of picturesque parks, dazzling lakes, and vibrant hills dotting this bustling metropolitan. Colorful and exotic architecture was everywhere, lacking the utilitarian conception he’d grown so used to.
Ain’s goal was the deeper regions of Heart City. Specifically, the thriving markets for the affluent and rich. Cyberspace was a congregation of information, but not everything could be discovered there, especially with his low access level.
Cyberspace was segregated into access levels. Ain currently possessed a 2-star access, obtained upon registering with the Spirit Master Association. In comparison, regular citizens commonly possessed a 1-star access. Of course, with wealth, connections, and merit, regular citizens could obtain higher access levels as well, and this also held true for spirit masters. Ain hadn’t researched this topic intensively, but he inferred that information was limited by one’s access level. As such, he might discover items, or even markets, not visible on Cyberspace.
“Atlas and Liberty Firm, these are my primary targets. They aren’t far apart either. Of course, if there’s time, I’ll have a look around at the nearby stores as well.” Ain disembarked at the hoverbus station amidst a crowd, internally planning his route.
Following a ten minute walk, he arrived before a large and connected three-building complex. The structure in the middle was the tallest, with two symmetrical buildings flanking its sides, reaching almost half its height. The entire complex was predominantly silver, embellished with blue highlights throughout. At the crest of the central building were a couple words indicating its identity – Atlas Corporation.
“According to what I discovered on Cyberspace, the Atlas Corporation is one of the most powerful entities inside the Dawnstar Federation. With a hand in almost everything, it has a greater likelihood of having rare spirit beasts for sale,” Ain reiterated his findings while admiring the silver and blue structure. He couldn’t necessarily afford them now but discovering time-aspect spirit beasts was the first step.
“Nox, just act as my scarf and don’t run around once we’re inside, got it?” Ain said, petting his gaseous scarf which seemed to be exuding white flames.
“Wooo…” Nox responded obediently.
With sufficient preparation, he entered the building on the right with a deep breath. Out of the three connected structures, the one on the right was the commercial building. Passing the air-conditioned glass doors, Ain followed the other incoming customers and arrived at a brightly-lit well-decorated open floor. Numerous items were showcased here, neatly arranged on wooden shelves and tables, meticulously categorized. A faint membrane seemed to encompass their vicinity, apparently a security measure. Without special permission, customers couldn’t touch the merchandise. Only upon a purchase could they lay their hands upon them. This instantly shelved Ain’s idea of using Scan en masse.
After a brief observation of the surrounding customers, he better understood the gimmick here. This store specifically addressed spirit masters. Customers could use the provided digital catalog to browse and request to inspect the items personally under supervision. Rank-0 items such as elixirs, armor sets, weapons, herbs, and other regular items were available at one of the lower floors, with laxer security measures. The current floor traded Rank-1 items, suitable for Ain. Without sufficient rank, or status, he couldn’t go any higher.
Upon searching the digital catalog, he failed to discover any time beasts. After hesitating for a moment, Ain steeled his resolve and approached the sales counter.
“Hello,” he greeted the salesclerk courteously.
“Welcome. How may I assist you?” The sales clerk, in a silver and blue uniform, smiled brilliantly, displaying her professional charm.
“Do you have any time-aspect spirit beasts here?” Ain inquired hopefully. He also noted the faint aether fluctuations around her. The sales clerk was unexpectedly a spirit master as well!
Hearing the question, the sales clerk's eyes subtly twitched, clearly unprepared for such a request. Time aspect was the most scarce and extraordinary aspect. There’s no way such a spirit beast would be sold like any other.
Although surprised, she still responded timely, without missing a beat, “I apologize. We do not have any time-aspect spirit beasts here. However, we do have some extremely rare light-aspect and dark-aspect spirit beasts. They’re all great selections for your next spirit pet. Please take a look at the catalog.” The salesclerk tapped on the digital counter a few times before flicking towards the catalog in his hand. Instantly, a row of spirit beasts appeared on his digital catalog. There were seven in total, all of the light or dark aspects.
Ain only cast a cursory glance before looking away. “I see. It’s fine. I’ll look around at some of the elixirs,” he responded quickly, turning to take his leave. He felt awkward at the strange look in the sales clerk’s eyes.
“Please let me know if you have any other inquiries.” The sales clerk smiled brightly.
Was he really trying to buy a time-aspect spirit beast? She wondered to herself. Before her musings furthered, another clueless customer attracted her attention and she quickly moved on.