The hum of the Government surveillance drone was the cleanest, most threatening sound Kaito could hear. While Kael's Dark Frost froze districts to the east, the metallic eye of the State targeted the only remaining anomaly: the Water Tower, a point of Static Order in the Crown Slum.
"We have to get out of sight! (Kaito gasped, sliding down the rusty ladder of the Tower, feeling the burn of Optimized Entropy in his chest). General, use speed. I will use the Noise."
Wulfrina darted ahead. With Kaito's Passive Skill active, she no longer needed to worry about containing the unstable Purity of the Optimized Eternal Frost. Kaito's Optimized Entropy (Level 1) created a field of filth around both of them, making them look like just two more elements of disorder in the Slum.
Kaito activated the Lycan Analyst Eye to the max, despite the critical XP (0.1). He was no longer looking for Lycan Essence, but the human Surveillance Grid.
(In Kaito's vision, the city transformed into a data grid)
The drone was a primary sensor (Sensor: Optical/Thermal ), but the streets were full of secondary sensors (TrafficCamera: Off, FacialRecognition: Offline).
"Haron's Domain of Entropy messed up their optical system, General! (Kaito shouted, dodging a tangle of garbage). The Chaos here is our latency advantage! We move beneath the lines of sight, where Signal Noise is maximum!"
They plunged back into the heart of the Slum, Kaito's new Passive Skill shining.
«The Optimized Entropy Mask»
The route back to the Glass City the clean, modern, and ostensibly pure city center was dangerous. The Glass City was the preferred territory of the Dark Lycans, where Dark Frost and Absolute Order reigned.
However, with Optimized Entropy, the experience was surprising.
As they crossed the invisible border from the Slum to the clean, asphalted streets, Kaito felt the world become more rigid, more orderly. It was like leaving a laggy game server for a low-latency server.
Wulfrina flinched, expecting to be detected by the city's Purity System, but nothing happened.
"Master, I should be screaming on the Lycan sensors! (Wulfrina hissed, her red eyes wide). The Purity here should repel us!"
"It won't, General,"
(Kaito smiled, feeling strangely comfortable amidst the order)
"My new curse, the Optimized Entropy, transformed us into Corrupted Data! To Kael and the Shadow Guild, who only track Purity or Brutal Chaos, we look like a miscalculation, a signal trash that should be ignored. We are White Noise in Purity."
They walked among the crowd of executives and tourists.
(Kaito analyzed a passing Dark Lycan Patrolman):
NPC: Dark Lycan
(Lineage: KaelPatrol )
Status: Purity Patrol, High Concentration
Target: Tracking Pure Eternal Frost signature (Failure)
Kaito's Observation: Ignoring Essence Anomaly (Low Priority)
The Dark Lycan passed by them without even blinking, visibly frustrated at not finding the anomaly Kael had described. Kaito and Wulfrina were invisible because they were too filthy for Purity to care about.
"The Optimized Entropy is our perfect disguise! (Kaito whispered, sensing the brilliance of his hack). Now, we go to the most unlikely place: the Heart of the Glass City."
«The Information Knot (Data Knot)»
The Broken Byte Black Market wasn't located in a dark alley, but in the sub-levels of one of the city's most gleaming and orderly buildings: the Data Knot Tower, the nerve center of the entire fiber optic infrastructure of the metropolis.
The building was a fortress of glass and steel. Status: Maximum Signal Purity. The kind of place Haron, Master of Physical Entropy, would hate.
They entered the underground garage of the Data Knot Tower, where the surface Purity broke down into the disorder of the subsoil: tangled cables, loud air conditioning, and the smell of server ozone and something more something that smelled like information and dirty money.
"It's here. (Kaito pointed to a discreet, dimly lit service door at the end of a service tunnel). The Broken Byte Black Market is the Gateway to the Digital Underworld.
Information Essence Cultivators use this knot to sell stolen data, hacked artifacts, and rare essences."
The door had no conventional locks, but a digital access panel with blinking, erratic lights. Kaito placed his hand on the access keypad.
His Lycan Analyst Eye glowed.
Artifact: Access Panel (Type: QuantumFirewall)
Status: Rank A Encryption.
PatchLevel: Zero.
Vulnerability: EntropyCollisionAttack. Requires: INT 15 or Pure Chaotic Essence.
"The encryption is Rank A, but the patch is zero! It's an old and powerful system, but not updated! They expect a Pure Force attack, not an Intelligence hack!"
(Kaito said, smiling).
Wulfrina watched, tense. "Master, you have to use the last 0.1 XP to open the door! It's our last resource!"
"I don't need my XP, General. (Kaito denied, his hand hovering over the keypad). I have the Optimized Entropy! I will use the permanent filth on me to cause an Essence Collapse in the Firewall!"
Kaito injected the Optimized Entropy Essence (Chaos Disguised) into the keypad.
The access panel digitally shrieked. The blue and red lights flashed frantically, and the steel door trembled, resisting the injected Signal Noise.
[ SystemNotification: Infiltration Attempt Successful! Quantum Firewall Deactivated by Essence Collision (OptimizedEntropy). XPConsumed: 0.0 ]
The door opened with a heavy click, revealing a dark, damp, spiraling tunnel. The air inside was dense, charged with static electricity and something else something that smelled of information and dirty money.
"We made it! (Kaito whispered, exhausted but victorious). The Master of Optimized Filth is in the Black Market! It's time to turn INT into XP!"
They entered the tunnel, and the door closed automatically behind them.
The tunnel, however, was not empty. The faint light revealed a hunched figure, sitting on a plastic chair, with pale skin and eyes bloodshot from information cultivation.
"You have an interesting aura,"
(the Cultivator, a thin, nervous man, said, his eyes fixed on Kaito's Optimized Essence).
"Filthy, but stable. Who is the Master of Filth? I am Wire, the Data Gatekeeper. No one enters the Broken Byte without paying an Entry Fee of 10 XP."
Kaito opened the panel. He had 0.1 XP.
"Wire, I don't have XP. But I have something worth more," (Kaito replied, the Data Analyst gaze fixed on the Gatekeeper, knowing this was the first negotiation). "I have the location of Elder Haron and the Purification Protocol. Want to make an Information Trade?"
Kaito and Wulfrina reached the Broken Byte Black Market, but are out of XP and facing the local Cultivator, Wire, who demands an Entry Fee of 10 XP. Kaito tries to negotiate, offering Wire the Rank S Information about Elder Haron. The next stage will be a battle of Intelligence to survive the digital underworld.