Suspicious bar

Glitch walked to the center of the village, in front of a rundown building. From outside, it looked like an abandoned building, but there was this poster stuck next to the half-broken door.

[Knowledge is power. If you know something and are capable, contact us.]

It was these two weird lines, but he knew it was the recruitment center for some guild or organization that deals with information.

Now these kinds of organizations were pretty common on martial arts planets with clan and family systems, but he only heard about them being present on some magic planets.

Usually, on kingdom-based planets, dealing with information has much more dire consequences.

If he did not know about the key line, 'knowledge is power', he wouldn't even notice this organization.

He wasn't aware of the organization's reach. It could be a small regional organization, or it could spread to a large kingdom or a few. Regardless, this could be the most beneficial organization for him.

He knew the consequences if things ended up wrong, but not caring about them, he walked into the building.

As he moved near the gate, a strong, sweet smell of alcohol assaulted his nose.

The smell seemed different from the bitter beers commonly available in taverns. It was more like sweet wine or something similar.

It piqued his interest, so he wasted no time and pushed open the door to enter.

The moment he entered the building, he felt multiple eyes on him. His mouth dropped as he saw a well-furnished bar inside.

He froze there for a moment, not expecting such a magnificent interior. It hit him that there must be some illusion magic used on the outer wall of this building.

His eyes darted around as he saw many people enjoying their drinks in crystal-clear transparent glasses, whispering among themselves.

He noticed that everyone in the bar had masks on their faces except the bartender behind the counter.

The people sitting here were also in luxurious clothes. This was the opposite of loud, smelly taverns full of dirt-cheap adventures.

This looked more like some VIP bar made for rich nobles' entertainment.

'Is this related to the information guild?' He had some doubts, but then he moved toward the bar counter.

The people in masks continued to stare at him, but no one moved to stop him.

As he walked up to the counter, the bartender, dressed in a black suit, asked with a smile, "Dear sir, what would you like to have?"

Glitch did not know if this was some kind of code, so he just shook his head.

The butler looked at him up and down and asked again while pouring some kind of drink for others, "Are you here for a job?"

Glitch once again shook his head.

The bartender tapped on the counter. "Are you here to give something?"

Glitch said with a smile on his face, "I am here for a trade."

The bartender stopped his work and asked while staring at him, "What do you mean by trade, sir?"

Glitch scratched his cheek, looked around, and said it in a low tone so that only the bartender could hear him. "Something that interests everybody."

He did not mention the ruler, but it was one thing that all the NPCs should be interested in right now.

After all, for NPCs, the addition of a ruler was a normal 3-month cycle. Even with no players, a planet still went through this cycle with NPCs as rulers. 

Not only that, NPCs in Universal Online were also aware of the player's unique situation.

They refer to players as essence rulers who require essence for immortality.

There was confusion among the player base about how these NPCs knew about them. Even NPCs on a new planet that just appeared and met no players were aware of the essence.

Sure enough, as he said that, the bartender bowed a little to him and pointed to the side door next to the bar counter. "Dear customer, your special drink is available on the second floor."

Glitch sighed internally at this overreaction by the bartender. He was sure that all the members sitting here must be members of the information guild. It was just a waste of time.

He followed the bartender's instructions and walked to the other room through the side gate.

On the other side, he found himself in a dark room with a wide table and a set of chairs in the center of the room.

There was this person, wrapped in a black robe with a green mask on his face, sitting at the other end of the table.

It was so dark that he could not even see the wall or the ceiling in this room. Still, he could sense a lot of eyes on himself. He shrugged off this discomfort and moved toward the masked person.

The masked guy pointed to one chair near him. He sat at the opposite end of the table and stared at the masked guy.

Both of them stared at each other, saying nothing.

After some time, the masked person asked him in a monotonous voice, "Sir, what kind of information do you want to trade?"

"About the Rulers."

The masked guy paused for a second and then nodded his head. "Sir, the standard price is 10 bronze coins for species, 20 for source of power, and 1 silver for appearance. Are you okay with the price?"

Glitch squinted his eyes. "This is very cheap."

The masked person shook his head and said, "Sir, high command set the prices. Even if I want to, I can't help you much with that."

Glitch shrugged his shoulders and said, "I know a few combinations of species and sources of power."

He thanked a few idiots who were bragging about their species in the canteen. He memorized their choice combinations in case he encountered them on the planet.

The masked guy stared at him and asked, "Sir, you need to tell me the exact number."

He was about to reveal the number when he paused. 'Nah, giving information about B grades can be risky. There could be a kingdom ruler from the gang working for this organization,' thinking that he said, "I know 10 species and source power combinations."

The masked guy froze when he heard that.