The hall they entered wasn't that spacious to begin with. There was dust everywhere, and even spider webs appeared at the corners. The desk was dark brown in colour, with its outer layer getting pale spots in lots of places.
William cleared his throat to attract the attention of this spirit master sitting there, reading many scrolls in a serious way. He knew this master must have noticed their presence long time ago, as he gave William the feeling of being strong,
In William's estimate, he was in dark gold grade, at least at the mid stage if not higher. And he was right about his guess.
"How may I help you?" the old man said, without even lifting his eyes off his scrolls.
He looked as if he didn't care about new customers, which felt a bit weird to William. The place was empty, as it was intentionally trying to kick customers away from here.
What were they doing by establishing a business and hoping that no one would appear there? That was just crazy!
"Ahem, I want to ask if this is the right place I heard about," William was having more doubts now about the intel of Smith, "I heard you sell news and secrets, even things about monsters and dark masters… Is that true?"
"Sure, but you have to know that our services are very costy. So it's better if you return and send your elders or masters to deal with this if you really are ready to pay."
"I'm the master you need to deal with," William didn't like this old man the more he spoke.
And when William said these words, that old man lifted his eyes off the scrolls he was reading and looked at William in a serious way for the first time.
When William looked back at this old man's eyes, he was startled as well. "Two black eyes, with few shimmering stars floating inside. I heard the more stars in your eyes, the stronger your ability becomes. Is that true?"
"Oh, you indeed have keen eyes," the old man smiled, hiding his shock from what William just said, before adding, "my spirit is rare… So how can you just tell from my eyes?"
"Consider me someone who knows lots of things," William shrugged. He already recognised the spirit of this master in front of him. And now he realised why this impact dared to say they could get any news anyone wanted, even from monsters and dark masters.
It was the spirit of the Cosmic Butterfly. It was rumoured that outside of all the worlds, there was an endless space there. And this was called cosmos. The cosmos was a mysterious place that no one knew anything about. But there were many speculations about this place, including a theory about being the memory of events happening anywhere in any world.
It was like a grand library, one that got the imprints of anything happening in any world. It happened that this spirit could tap into any memory once they got anything related to it.
For example, this old man could give William answers about the Nightmare monster one William spoke a little about this enemy of his. But there was a catch. Such spirit used a ton of spirit power to operate, usually way beyond what any spirit master could have. And that was why the services of this impact were pricey.
Yet that didn't matter in William's eyes. What he truly cared about was just one thing; the reliability of the news he'd get from this place. As he recognised this man's spirit, he was sure such news was quite reliable.
"So, young master from unknown place… How may I help you?"
"Let's start first with the fees," William knew that this man would need to consume elixirs to replenish his lost spirit power in return for using his spirit, "how much will this cost me?"
"Will… If you are going to ask about things in this world, then it will cost the price of ten million spirit crystals per question. If you seek answers about well hidden secrets, then the price will be double. If this news is related to other worlds, even pocket worlds included, then you have to pay one hundred million per question…"
"I see…" William wasn't surprised by the mention of other worlds in this man's words. He knew much about this spirit thanks to a personally experience. He also estimated such a cost was partially depending on the number of elixirs used by this man.
"But there is something I need to tell you first… I can't guarantee that answers will be detailed enough to satisfy your needs. From my experience, the normal questions will yield short answers. If you want more, you have to either think carefully about your questions, be ready to pay for more questions being asked, or use the ultimate service from the start."
William got what this old man meant. After all, this was the tiny world. Even if this master was dark gold grade, he was still limited by his low power considering the grand outer world.
"What's this ultimate service?"
"You'll ask a question, and I'll try to take a look about anything I can reach with my spirit and technique, getting answers for you. In return for that, you'll get mostly the answer you seek. However…"
The old man paused, looked at William in hesitation as if he didn't believe William could afford such service.
"How much will this cost me?" William cut the chase and asked directly about what this man wanted to speak about.
"One hundred million spirit crystal per question," the old man raised on finger in the air, "but I guarantee the quality of the service and the answers will satisfy you for sure."
"Fine," William decided to give it a try, "here… This is one hundred spirit gems inside."
William took one of the tons of rings he had and handed it over to that old man. The man got the ring and his eyes shone in bright light.
"You are indeed special… Ok, what's the question you need to ask?"
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