Abyssal Awakening

"But most importantly is what they plan to 'recover' from the Inverted World." The branch manager grinned as she snapped her finger.

Behind her, a series of images showing the Zenia group leaving the academy could be seen as Alice furrowed her brows, realising she had eyes everywhere, watching every move.

'Though… Seems like she can't see inside the Academy. Is the principal holding her back?' Alice couldn't help but wonder to herself.

"Now, I'm no fan of giving out unconfirmed information, as they are mere speculations. Any knowledge based on unconfirmed information is prone to backfire and this is no exception. However, speculation can become the first step to finding out the truth.

"According to my sources, it seems like the Zenia's are trying to collect samples of Sealed Lords. Lords similar to the one we're beneath right now. Since the stronger Lords are… Hard to access the deeper you go into the Abyss, they could attempt to claim the remains from the Inverted World." She chuckled as Alice furrowed her brows.

"They're not strong enough." Even when sealed, the Lords aren't something anyone could just approach.

"Oh I know they're not." The branch manager let out a laugh.

"But they're not the main force after all. While Abyss Lords are strong, moving around the Surface and Abyss is… Complicated. If an Abyss Lord is seen moving into the territory of another Lord, it could be seen as a declaration of hostility. Therefore, they can't be moving around unless it's been agreed upon beforehand.

"Since the Zenia's have only arrived with the core member, guards and two researchers, I don't believe they've received permission to have a Lord act as an escort for them. However, that's only what's visible to the public eye. I'm sure they have a method to call a Lord to their assistance if things turn sour."

Furrowing her brows, Alice began to wonder how many Lords the Zenia's have. Since they are the most important family when it comes to Abyss Blood, there's no doubt that they hold a lot of sway over things. Not only could they cultivate their own Abyss Lords but Lords could even owe them favours for the blood.

She was confident but fighting Lords was still a dangerous endeavour that Alice would rather not take unless she's gotten six Sigils.

"Anything else you can tell me?" Alice asked but the woman shook her head and opened her palm.

"Tsk." Clicking her tongue, Alice gave her another 10 gold but she didn't say anything and kept her palm open.

"Stingy." Alice frowned.

"Business is business."

Receiving another 10 gold, bringing it up to 20 gold, the branch manager smiled happily before storing it away.

"Both of the researchers they brought with them are rather… Looked upon within the family. There have already been rumours saying that they're geniuses in the making when it comes to Abyss Blood. The man, Michael, is said to be doing research on Angel type Blood. A new type of blood that's recently been discovered and is said to be a great defence against Abyss abilities.

It's still a rather new discovery so not much is known but they say he's even modified his own body to adapt to this new blood.

"Melissa, on the other hand, focuses her research on blood based rituals. Similar to that of the Eclipse but at the same time, different. She's researching how to overwrite the changes brought upon the body by the Abyss, how the Sigils modify your form and so on.

She theorises that with the right direction in research, it's not impossible to make alterations to a Sigil even after it's been grafted onto the body.

"With these two prized researchers coming to the Abyss with seemingly only a handful of guards, it seems quite impossible doesn't it?" The branch manager smiled while Alice was silent.

If this is true then it's indeed strange for them to only have six Sigil Hunters acting as guards.

But at the same time, she didn't see any energy fluctuations in space signifying that someone was following them in the Void.

'Could it be that they have another method of calling for help?' Alice frowned before glancing up.

"Do you have more information on everyone the Zenias sent here?"

Raising her eyebrow, the branch manager revealed a business smile.

"Of course we do. What kind of information are you wanting? Scandalous ones, what they eat, when they sleep, which sock they put on first? I'm sure I can satisfy your desire for the right price." She rubbed her fingers.

"Find some evidence to see if they're scum or not. Research comes with a price, what do they experiment on, how do they experiment and if they drag anyone innocent into it. Find me evidence to see if they're 'human'." Alice narrowed her eyes.

"Ohya? That's quite the desire you have there. Sure, I can fulfil that. But the price of such knowledge is… Expensive. The Zenia's keep a tight lid on everything they do. If you were asking for information on the main family then I'd say it's impossible since even the main branches of the Underground struggle with that.

"But if it's just these members that's appeared today, it's achievable."

"How much?" Alice didn't want to beat around the bush as this swindler in front of her wanted nothing but money.

"1 Platina."

Hearing this, Alice's smile twitched as she realised that she had fallen into her trap. That's everything she's earned today from her fights! 1 Platina and 30 gold pieces!

Her goal from the beginning was to take every single piece of Gold Alice had left.

"Tsk, take it." Throwing her coin pouch at the branch manager, Alice wanted to avoid her as much as she could in the future. Talking to someone who has all the information they could gather on you was rather annoying and if she had appeared here as Alice Agnelia then it might've been even more troublesome.

Which made her wonder if this woman could even guess she used to be the only daughter of the Zenia family head. The forgotten member that's been locked away for 10 years.

"Fufu~ Pleasure doing business my dear. Take this and I will let you know when I've obtained the information you desire." She smiled, giving Alice a golden coin, different to the coins in circulation as it had the mark of the Underground stamped on the face.

"Manifestation of trust between two individuals huh?" Alice narrowed her gaze while accepting the coin.

"Indeed, the coin is my favourite thing in the world after all. With the right price, I'm willing to do anything." She shrugged her shoulder.

"Is that so, regardless, I think we should call it even now. I've hidden my identity and you've tried to pry my privacy open. Let's keep business as business, okay?" Raising her finger, Alice made a slashing motion towards the coin, overlapping both Tiamat's power and Allura's slash.

Flicking the coin into the air, Alice caught it before waving her hand and left the room while the branch manager narrowed her gaze at Alice's departing back.

She had attached an 'eye' and tracker to that coin yet Alice was able to notice it and sever the connection.

It only made her even more curious about this 'Kale Grani' that appeared out of nowhere. Regardless, she's been commissioned and to assure her service was worth the price, she immediately got to work.

What the branch manager didn't notice was a pair of raven eyes observing her from the shadows before closing.

Sitting on the roof of the building hiding the Underground, Kaden gave his body a stretch before leaning back.

He had kept an eye on the meeting in case the branch manager tried to pull a fast one other Alice but it seemed like he didn't need to worry in the first place.

"Kids grow up so fast these days." He muttered with a small yet proud smile on his face.

She wasn't as helpless as he had expected, a far cry from the Alice he saw in the Zenia prison. The Alice right now was full of life and the desire to take hold of her own fate.

Sitting up, Kaden snapped his finger and created a Raven in his hands before allowing it to fly away.

Since Alice was wanting to dig up some dirt on the Zenia's, he'd give her a hand. He wasn't sure how much the branch manager of this place could find but having two Lords find information was better than just one.

###

After leaving the Underground, Alice wanted to shed a silent tear for her poor coin purse. The money hasn't even warmed her pocket before leaving.

Even though she wanted to earn more money, she doubted the Arena would allow her back in considering she basically scammed them of their bets for an entire day.

'I need to get a weapon too… Using Void Fang is too conspicuous, but any random weapon would just break if I try to use it.' Alice sighed.

It didn't need to be an outstanding weapon, just something that could withstand her power for more than one exchange.

[O' master mine, why don't you just use the Zenia's money? They've agreed on taking you to the Inverted World have they not, why don't thou put on an act once more and seduce them into buying you weapon?] Cayla suggested, leaving Alice speechless.

[What? The core member named Erick seemed to be rather fond of you was he not? Just make him pay for your weapon as you 'coincidently' bump into each other through the markets.]

While she may need to put on another act that gave her goosebumps, doing so to get a good weapon wasn't bad. Plus, she was spending the Zenia's money, the more expensive the better!

'Alright, let's go get compensation for the platina I spent.' Alice grinned as she immediately began to track down the Zenia group once more.