Evelyn: "How do you know about me?"
Asher: "Now now, you do remember your organization's rules right? No questions asked."
When I had originally come to the [Cryptic Archive] I didn't expect that I'd see Evelyn here. Evelyn Mist, one of the more famous [A] ranks out there, was quite strong. She was known for her beauty, strength, beauty, young age, beauty and beaut- *cough*. Well, the stronger you get, the more your body starts to evolve into something more "perfect" in all ways. Your charm stat eventually increases. Even a slightly ugly guy like Alex, the protagonist who was probably at the [F-] or [F] charm stat at the moment could become handsome like me if he became a [B] or [A] rank. Of course, he'd never truly catch up with me as I was handsome from the get-go so by the time I reach [A] rank, I'd probably also have the charm of a [B] or [B+]. Charm usually rarely increases through the use of items.
Charm increases every time your body evolves, or to put it simply every time you break through a new major realm like from [E+] to [D-] or [D+] to [C-]. This is why a lot of higher-ranked awakened, who were already handsome/beautiful would have transcendent looks later on. This made them quite famous among the common people. Evelyn was an example of that, possessing both strength and looks.
The final and most important reason I knew about her was that she was the Homeroom professor of Alex and the other main cast. She was described as a woman who mostly acted cold, although she also had the quirk of being quite curious, meddling in affairs she wasn't meant to. If she was even a bit curious about you, she'd instantly investigate your whole background and everything about you.
This was one of the reasons she joined the [Cryptic Archive]. People didn't need some grand reason to do things, simply pursuing the way they wished to lead their own lives was enough. Evelyn, someone highly curious in nature would perfectly fit in an environment where she would have the chance to get to know about a plethora of mysterious secrets.
As for how I managed to see through her disguise inlaid with strong enchantments? Don't forget, I had the Divine Eyes. Not only could I see through those enchantments, but it also seemed that one of the hidden features of this was something similar to an X-ray, yet not the same. It was more like an ethereal concept, with which I'd be able to know about things I look at. Not the same as an appraisal either as this didn't involve the system's official status screens. Something vaguely akin to the knowledge of what I was seeing pour into my brain. If I looked at a human, I'd instantly know their name and be able to see their "true appearance", even if I'm not looking at it directly.
Nervously biting her lips, Evelyn slowly removed her mask thus disabling her enchantments. The room we were in didn't have any decorations in it at all. It also restricted any information from getting out. If I wasn't in the [Hidden Twilight], Evelyn might have attacked me to prevent me from spreading information. Too bad for her I guess.
'Her beauty surely lives up to the name eh?' Having green hair and eyes, both giving off the luster of an emerald, and an approximate height of 175 cm, coupled with having milky white skin that just made you want to touch it she was a beauty indeed. Though this didn't mean that I fell into a daze or something similar which happened to those protagonists like Alex, who acted as if they'd never seen a girl in their whole life. Well, guess I just wasn't a simp!
With the mana now being present everywhere in the world, changes in the appearances of Humans were also to be seen. Nowadays, it wasn't uncommon for people to have hair and eye color of all kinds found in the spectrum.
Evelyn: "Who are you, and what do you want?"
Asher: "You can call me Alex and I want 1 million credits."
Evelyn gave me a nod and I shared my account details with her.
'Guess 1 million credits was simply not that much of a big deal for an [A] rank.'
I had made an anonymous account with a fake identity before coming in here and covered up my traces, so I was confident in her not being able to find anything about me by looking into my account details.
After transferring the money, she asked, "How did you find out about me?"
I replied, " I never said I'd tell you how I found out about you. You simply just asked me what I wanted and I said I want 1 million credits. Don't worry though, I won't tell anyone about you."
Waving at her, I got up and walked towards the door.
Evelyn: ".."
She was utterly slack-jawed. I chuckled and stepped out of the booth, a million credits richer. Taking in a deep breath, I felt quite happy after scammin- *cough* I mean trading someone and earning a million credits.
Pondering back to why I told her my that name was Alex, I cackled and laughed maniacally. Alex, considering the simp he was would fall into a daze the first time he'd meet Evelyn during the entrance examinations. When I had gone into the booth to meet Evelyn, she must have realized by looking at my body structure that I was possibly in my teens. When she'd see Alex falling into a daze, she might react to it as him recognizing her when they met back at the [Hidden Twilight]. Given that Alex was almost as tall as I was in height, and of a similar build, she'd instantly pair the two together and begin her investigation into him. Later on, even if she found out that Alex wasn't the one she was looking for, she'd already be too engrossed in looking into Alex, given the number of secrets the man was hiding.
In the original novel, Evelyn had begun to investigate Alex after the entrance examinations anyways so it isn't even like I changed anything.
Whilst praising myself for my extremely god-like IQ, I decided that it was finally time.. Time to see some real action and check out how my new skills fared, but at the same time also earning money. Making up my mind, I walked in a particular direction, still praising myself for not being a simp while Evelyn hadn't moved an inch from her position inside the booth, unable to process the facts about the "trade" she just delved into.
