Death... and me

Somewhere else in the Inner City, Roan had just arrived at a different building. That was the one indicated by Gval before he left the antique shop through the Dimensional Realm's Teleportation Formation. Roan didn't care about others seeing him escaping like that since he was using a different appearance. Naturally, he was also doing the same thing now that he had arrived here.

The building looked quite ordinary. It wasn't a shop or anything like that, just a typical house. Of course, Gval said that he was only responsible for one of the entrances, which was this one. He knew that there were several more scattered in the Inner and Outer City.

As soon as he entered the house, he noticed an old woman sitting at the door. She simply glanced at him before extending her hands.

"Gval sent me."

Roan said as he delivered the token Gval passed back then.

The woman nodded before checking the black token with her Spiritual Sense. Roan didn't underestimate the woman just because of her appearance. When he used his Spiritual Sense to check her, he couldn't feel her cultivation at all. Both he and Rean had pretty strong souls for their cultivation level. Because of that, they could at least tell when someone was in the Core and Soul Fusion Realm even without being able to say which stage they were in. However, he got nothing for this woman.

'Nascent Soul Realm, at the very least. As expected of the Capital. Even a doorkeeper can have such a level.'

A moment later, the woman threw the token back at Roan and said.

"It's disrespectful to pry into someone's cultivation without their permission. But since this is your first time, I'll let it slide. There will be no second time, understood?"

Roan narrowed his eyes but nodded nonetheless.

"Good! The fifth door on your left. Put the token on the formation, and it will teleport you to the place you want."

Roan didn't say anything and went straight to the room. He already confirmed with Sister Orb that there are formations in place, but none of them were active. After putting the token over the teleport formation, it flashed with silver light. Soon after, Roan disappeared from the house. 

Still, the Teleport Formation wasn't that impressive. From what Sister Orb said, it could only teleport someone at most 50 kilometers or so away. That being said, the black market was still located inside the Outer City.

As soon as Roan appeared, he noticed that he was inside some kind of jail. However, it wasn't closed but opened instead. He didn't need to know formations to understand that this room where the teleport formation was located was full of it.

'Most likely, it was built this way in case someone entered without permission.'

[Correct. That old woman outside most likely communicated with the guys here to say that your entrance was verified.]

Roan then left that jail-like teleport room and appeared in front of a hall. There was only one attendant there who was also covering his or her face. 

"Token."

Roan then passed the token and waited. A few seconds later, the person seemed to do something to his token before giving it back.

"You can stay inside for at most two hours. After that, you must leave, or it will incur a fee. I believe you know the rules, but I'll say it anyway. 

No questions about the other part's identity;

All payments are made right away;

Don't lose your token;

Any losses caused by yourself have to be paid before you leave this place;

The Black Market gets 20% commission over everything you sell, whether it is an item or a piece of information.

That's basically everything you need to know."

Roan nodded before asking.

"Where can I buy information?"

The attendant then pointed in a particular direction.

"You can find the Dark Web building in the center of the black market."

After that, the attendant sat once again and ignored Roan.

Roan didn't mind that as he stepped out. It turned out that the black market wasn't small. However, it made sense that almost no one came to this place. That's because the market was built underground. He could see the formations above, preventing the ceiling from coming down. Simultaneously, it was perfect since they could simply let go of the formation, and the weight of the earth would get rid of everything in a flash.

Roan had three goals in his schedule. First and most importantly, it was the information regarding the Sasamil Throne Succession. That was directly connected to his life, after all.

Another thing was the so-called Yin Energy Skills. He had heard about how cultivators used Yin Energy to manipulate the Dark Element. Gval, for example, didn't seem surprised to see Roan using it either. All the skills he has used so far were based on his own comprehension and the skill manuals he read in the past. He wanted to see what kind of Dark Element skills the cultivators in the Capital came up with. That being said, the black market was the perfect place for that.

Last but not least, he wanted to check the Shadow Reapers. He had heard a lot of them but haven't found anything about these guys. Even the Dalamu Sect only knew how to contact them to acquire their services. If possible, he would like to become one of their members as well. That would make things a lot easier.

Although the black market was quite spacious, there were very few people there. Also, everyone was hiding their natural appearance like what Roan was doing. Still, there were a few confident cultivators that didn't bother to do such a thing. Of course, that wasn't Roan's problem.

It wasn't hard to arrive at the center of the Black Market. Sure enough, he found the building the attendant was talking about a while ago, the Dark Web. There were two guards that looked more like statues in front of the entrance as well. Once again, Roan couldn't see through their cultivation. Still, he ignored them and passed through the door. The guards didn't do as much as spare a single glance at him.

Inside, he saw several booths spread out in a circular room.

'Indeed. They wouldn't work with sensitive information out in the open.'

Roan saw that three of the ten available ones were occupied. He ignored that and selected one for himself. Inside, there was only a simple table with two opposite chairs. Each chair had one door behind them, the one Roan used to enter, and another used by the Dark Web Organization.

Roan then closed the door behind him before sitting on his chair. A few moments later, the other door opened, and a cultivator wearing black clothes came out. Just like the attendant, this guy was also hiding his appearance with some kind of Spiritual Energy Skill. The only thing Roan could see was his dark eyes.

"Token."

Roan passed it to the guy, who verified it for a moment. He nodded in the end before giving it back.

"Your information access is Class D. The price of the information will depend on the information itself. What do you want to know?"

Roan narrowed his eyes.

"Class D? What category is the Sasamil Throne War information classified at?"

The guy on the other side went silent for a moment. 

"Class B at the very least. You can't buy this information."

"What do I need to do to improve my classification?"

"Simple. You just need to trade information with us. Depending on the value of what you say, your stand within the Dark Web Organization will rise. Still, don't look down on the Class D level. You came from a small country, right? I can tell since you didn't know about this categorization before. The Class D level is more than enough to buy most information related to the Royal Families and Sects of those places. Someone like you shouldn't pry into the Imperial Family's business."

Roan didn't care, though.

"What kind of information do you require?"

The attendant saw that Roan didn't give up before nodding.

"Anything sensitive that hasn't been spread out yet. It would be best if there's proof of what you were talking about. Of course, we have our own way of verifying it, so it would be in your own interest to not come up with just any bullshit. Trust me, those who tried to do that before didn't have a good ending."

Roan narrowed his eyes.

"Supposed that I have something good to say. What guarantee I have that you won't lie, saying that your organization already knew it before putting the new information for sale?"

The guy didn't seem surprised by Roan's doubt.

"Our reputation. If we really did such a thing, our Dark Web organization wouldn't have lasted until today. Of course, if you don't believe us, you can simply leave straight away. No one will stop you."

Roan pondered a bit and decided to give it a try.

"Is there no other way?"

The man nodded.

"You can come with someone who has access to this class of information. In that case, we won't stop you from buying it."

Roan shook his head. He did have some information about the Sasamil and Chrole Empires. He also had a few guesses due to what the Soul Gem System said. Still, there would be no way to verify his claims. Besides, he would rather not share what he knew.

However, it was at this moment that the man suddenly looked in a particular direction. 

"Oh! That's quite shocking! It seems like you aren't that simple after all. Just now, you received permission to get access to Class A information. I don't know how you did it, but I won't pry either. Go ahead, what do you want to know?"

However, Roan was even more shocked than the man himself. Just how the hell did he get this permission?