Chapter 9: Information Brokers

Chapter 9: Information Brokers

Oakhaven’s central market district was a loud, chaotic maze of flickering holographic shop stalls and shadowy alleyways. Under the umbrella of the town’s absolute anti-pvp field, players traded everything from low-tier mana potions to illegal account-recovery keys.

Kaelen pulled his dark cloak tighter around his chest plate, keeping his visual UI focused on the player names hovering above the crowd. Even with weapon locks active, he could see Crimson Guild spotters standing near the main gatehouses, carefully monitoring every player entering and exiting the market square.

"They're watching the public boards," Lyra said, walking close beside him. Her silver familiar was resting quietly on her shoulder in a compact, dormant sphere. "If we put up an open request for ancient dungeon coordinates, Crimson will know which sector we’re targeting within minutes."

"That's why we're not using the public boards," Kaelen replied, turning down a narrow side street lined with glowing blue lantern posts.

They stopped before an unmarked door set into the side of a sunken stone cellar. A small, rusty brass knocker shaped like a hooded skull hung at eye level. Kaelen tapped the knocker three times in a rhythmic pattern—two short strikes, one long.

A narrow eye-slot slid open, revealing a pair of glowing yellow optical lenses.

"Kaelen," a raspy, synthesized voice grunted from behind the iron door. "Word travels fast. They say you walked out of the Lower Vaults with something that has the Crimson Enforcement masters pulling their hair out."

"We need a quiet room, Varis," Kaelen said flatly. "And five minutes with a Sector 4 vault map."

The iron door unlatched with a heavy click, swinging inward to reveal a dimly lit basement room overflowing with old server racks, glowing map scrolls, and hardware diagnostic rigs. Varis—a heavily modified rogue player wearing a patched leather coat—stepped aside to let them in, bolting the door securely behind them.

"Information isn't cheap these days, assassin," Varis said, leaning against a worktable stacked with cracked data slates. "Especially when the Crimson Guild is offering a fifty-thousand gold bounty just for the location of your account tag."

Lyra stepped forward, placing a velvet pouch filled with high-grade runic ores—taken directly from the Crypt Executioner’s vault chest—onto the workbench. The rare metals gleamed under the amber work lights.

Varis’s eyes widened slightly as he scanned the ores. He swept them into a drawer and pulled down a large, glowing holographic map of Sector 4, expanding it over the center table.

"The Architect's Core Matrix you found isn't the only one," Varis said, tapping a blinking icon near the northern border. "The Penalization Patch seeded five core vaults across the regional map. The second one sits inside the Sunken Spire—a Level 52 aquatic dungeon locked behind an ancient cipher."

Kaelen leaned over the map, staring at the swirling blue waypoint. "Level 52. The environmental hazards there will cut movement speed in half."

"Which means with your agility penalty, you'll be moving through that water like concrete," Varis warned, looking Kaelen dead in the eye. "And you won't be the only ones going. Crimson Guild dispatched a heavy raid party toward the Spire twenty minutes ago."

Kaelen’s eyes hardened as he memorized the map coordinates. "Then we leave through the south sewer gates before they set up a blockade."