The man walked back into the dingy hallway behind him, his dog trundling along. There was a single staircase at the end of the hall, but despite the sparse furnishing, Sam was able to pick out a litany of traps that ran up and down the passageway. Flamethrowers, dart shooters, even a pit trap in the very middle. Sam had no idea what purpose they served in the middle of the city, but perhaps there was a bit more going on here than he thought.

Sam followed the other man’s footsteps carefully, making sure not to trigger any of the traps. It was likely that none of them would even hurt Sam, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Behind him, Lao strode confidently, barely paying attention to his surroundings. The man had clearly been here before. Sam wondered what other secrets were dwelling in the recesses of his city that he had no idea about.

They reached the staircase without incident, and as Sam set foot on it, the thin creaked loudly. He ignored it, and kept walking. The staircase deposited them on a dank landing, with a single ray of sunlight illuminating it from behind. The space was exceedingly cramped with three men and a bear sized dog, and Sam quickly made his way into the next room. A spike shot up from between the floorboards and broke on his armor. Sam looked around, to see the man in fatigues giving him a guilty smile.

“Sorry about that. This line of work is too dangerous not to be careful.”

Sam shook his head and walked into the room. There was a single desk in the room with a chair behind it, as well as two recliners on the other side of the room. Sam did not miss the fact that there was a thin wire connected to a button on the bottom of the desk that led to the recliners. He would stand for this one. Lao and the other man followed him in, with the dog thankfully remaining outside. Sam had no idea why the dog was so large, but it also seemed to be quite intelligent as well.

“Right. My name is Arthur. I am this city’s chief, and only, intelligence officer,” the other man said as he sat down behind his desk. “I deal with petty criminals, insurgents and infiltrators. A few of your captains have come here to petition my services, and I have delivered on all of them. Now, what is it that you wish for me to do?”

“I heard that you possess a probability measurement skill, is that true?” Sam asked.

“It is. Using it is quite draining on me though.”

“How powerful is it?”

“Well, there isn't really a limit, but its abilities depend on the amount of information I have on the subject that I am investigating. In addition, there is a soft cap on its capabilities with the amount of mana that I possess. The more far reaching its effects, the more it costs.”

“If I told you everything about the Seven Seals, and the other two factions, could you tell me which of the weapons they would go after?” Sam responded.

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“I believe so? Depends on how much you tell me.”

Sam proceeded to tell Arthur as much as he could about the weapons, the Overlord and Rodney Kane. A few minutes later, the other man nodded, and he began to write something down on a piece of paper Each word that he wrote caused him to shake slightly, and by the time that he was finished, he was sweating profusely. He passed the paper to Sam without a word.

Excalibur: Rodney Kane 97%, The Overlord 27%

The Thunderbolt of Zeus: Rodney Kane 43%, The Overlord 74%

The Sickle of Cronos: Rodney Kane 84%, The Overlord 56%

Gungnir: Rodney Kane 75%, The Overlord 74%

The Spear of Longinus: Rodney Kane 25%, The Overlord 83%

Sam read over the list in silence, and he was astounded at the level of certainty that he saw there. He had already come to the conclusion that Rodney Kane was going after Excalibur, but he had no idea about the other weapons. Of course, none of the predictions were exact, even the one for Excalibur, but they were still useful nonetheless. It would allow Sam to strategically plan which weapon to go after in the future. Sam folded up the piece of paper and smiled at Arthur.

“That was incredible. Your talents are being wasted here. Why don’t you come work at the city hall?” Sam asked.

“Lao already made me that offer, and my answer is still no. I have no interest in being some bigshot. I was a cop before the System came, and I am happy to continue in my line of work afterwards. No offense, but I never like the bigwigs running everything very much.”

“Huh. Fair enough. How much do you charge for your services?” Sam replied.

“I charge by mana point. What you just had me do will cost you 17,000 credits. If you doubt me, then I am happy to sign a System contract to prove it,” Arthur reassured. He was sweating less now, and seemed to have recovered somewhat.

“No need,” Sam answered, sending the money over without a moment’s hesitation. That much was like pocket change to him at this point anyway, and Arthur had provided valuable information. Besides, Sam was sure that it wasn't a scam. If Lao vouched for him, then Arthur was legitimate.

Sam and Lao left, brushing past the big dog on the way out. It sniffed at Sam, but did not seem aggressive. As they walked down the stairs, a few more traps triggered, but Sam ignored them. None of them could get through his skin, let alone his armor. As they entered the sunlight again, Lao sighed.

“I wish I could do more to help that man. He seems fine on the outside, but every time that I go near him, my Dao forces me to feel all of his emotions. He has a lot of pent up bitterness within him from something in his past.”

“Really? He seemed quite normal to me,” Sam said.

“Oh, trust me. I’ve met my fair share of men like him at my monastery. Quite a few monks came there to escape the horrors of their previous lives.”

“Damn, I’ll take your word for it. Well, we all have our own issues, especially after the System came. Hell, the Overlord turned out to be my…” Sam suddenly remembered that he had never told anyone about his relationship with the man.

“Your what?”

“Uh, my greatest enemy. I had expected for Rodney Kane to be more of an adversarial figure, because of his innate sin, but it seemed that power was more important in the end,” Sam said, his increased Intelligence concocting a response a moment later.

Lao frowned, but did not push the matter any further. For the next half hour, the two men wandered the city in contemplative silence, slowly making their way back to the city hall.