Adam was in great need of money.

Money could do many, many things in this world; it could even buy immortality.

Ever since the development of the Metaverse was completed, all those who passed away were able to upload their consciousness to the Metaverse, thereby attaining immortality on a psychological level.

However, money was required for the maintenance of the Metaverse, and if one didn't have resources in the real world, then they would be forced to serve as slaves and playthings in the Metaverse. Just like in online games a century ago, free players were trash, and constant spending was required for an enjoyable experience.

In this world, the rich were extremely careful and meticulous when selecting an heir as their heir would be the one who provided for them once they passed away and entered the Metaverse.

Those who were even wealthier and more powerful naturally wouldn't be willing to hand their power over to someone else. They wouldn't be content with living for eternity as a "cyberlich", so they needed power and physical bodies. Damaged body parts could be replaced with prosthetics, but the brain would inevitably die from old age someday, and it was under this context that blank slates were born.

In a world where immortality could be attained, the poor could no longer console themselves with the notion that death was the ultimate equalizer, and the power of money was infinitely magnified.

This was a world in which money was truly paramount, and Adam desperately needed money.

In order to become more powerful, he had to install powerful prosthetic limbs and other tools that would assist him in his training.

All equipment related to adapters was extremely intricate and immensely expensive.

750,000... 

After settling on an agreement with Red Spider, Adam returned to the academy, and the next day, he began to make preparations for the mission.

Unfortunately, he didn't know many people in Layton Academy, so he could only discuss the mission with Hook first.

"I want to do a mission. Can you help me find some people?"

"Of course. What kind of people do you want?"

"Firstly, I need someone capable of entering a nesting dream in an internal space," Adam replied. "According to what we learned, special personnel with inquisitive or investigative personalities are required to enter internal spaces. These are people who like to find out secrets, who always want to get to the bottom of things..."

"We're friends, but you don't seem to know me very well," Hook chuckled as he pointed at himself, then asked, "What type of personality do you think I have?"

Adam's eyes immediately widened at the sight of Hook's smug expression. 

“Don't tell me..."

"That's right, I have an inquisitive personality. I like to find out things and gather information, and my psychic body will be able to take you into internal spaces! However, friendship is friendship, and business is business. We may be pals, but you have to pay for my services."

"Of course." Money was the best universal pass in this world. "How much do you want?"

"You have to tell me how dangerous the mission is going to be before I can decide."

"We'll be entering the psychic world of a girl who's suffering from PTSD."

"I can do 150,000."

"That's a little too expensive." Adam shook his head in response. "I still need to recruit other people."

"I'm already giving you a friendship discount here. As we were taught in our lessons, the psychic worlds of PTSD sufferers are dangerous places. There are generally going to be very powerful emotional aberrations lurking in there, so I'll be risking my life if I go with you on this mission."

"That's why I need to assemble at least a team of three in order to ensure the mission's smooth completion." 

Adam thought back to what had happened the night before. The anomaly that had abducted Kim at the end was extremely powerful. It was massive in stature, but also had extraordinary speed, and it would be very difficult for him and Hook to take care of it on their own.

"You want a team of three? I know someone really strong. She's a year above us, I can take you to see her now."

……

"I'll take 500,000, and I'm all you'll need. There's no need for a third person." 

Standing before Adam was a girl whose face was riddled with black patterns. She was quite short, standing at only around 150 centimeters in height, but she had an exceptional figure. However, her back hunched over in a slightly unnatural manner, as if she were a panther constantly ready to pounce.

"500,000?" 

That was already over three times Hook's asking price!

"I'm not taking anything lower than 500,000. Trust me, I can get the job done." 

The girl was looking straight into Adam's eyes, and she could see that he was still hesitating, so she took the initiative to drag him into the psychic world.

"You must be hesitating because you're not sure if I'm worth that price, so let me prove myself to you."

The girl hadn't invaded Adam's psychic world. Instead, she had dragged him into her own world.

This was an island with many pieces of training equipment situated in the surrounding area. Most of the equipment was very primitive, and at this moment, the girl was standing atop a wooden stake, looking down at Adam from her vantage point.

In the real world, she was only 150 centimeters tall, but in the psychic world, she was at least 185 to 190 centimeters tall at a rough visual estimate, and looking up at her, all Adam could see were her long legs sheathed in tight-fitting clothes.

"How are you going to prove yourself?"

"I'm going to show you that I'm more reliable than even three normal adapters. In order to take care of the little girl's inner anomaly, what you need is power!" 

She performed a somersault down from the stake as she spoke, and her long leg came crashing down like a war ax.

So fast! 

Adam could only see a blur flashing in front of his eyes, and he had no time to evade, so he could only raise his arms to protect himself.

There was a massive disparity in power between the two, and Adam was forced to his knees by the attack, while his forearm was also instantly broken.

Thankfully, his two loyal anomalies, Mummy and Hellhound, sprang out of his body once again to protect him, and they rushed into battle against the girl.

"So you're a invocator-class adapter? That's extremely rare!" 

The girl was rather taken aback to see the two anomalies, but that didn't slow her down at all.

Two sharp blades extended out of her arms, and she parried Mummy's carving knife before engaging in battle against the two anomalies.

The two sides went back and forth for three or four exchanges, while Adam looked on with intrigue.

This was the first time that he was seeing his developed anomalies battle in earnest. The battle against the three frog aberrations was a completely one-sided slaughter, so it was impossible to gauge the power of the two anomalies through that battle.

Observing them now, Adam discovered that not only were the two anomalies more powerful than he had imagined, each of them had its own style.

The anomaly of pain, Mummy, appeared to be quite aggressive and swashbuckling, but it was clearly a meat-shield-type combatant. It was able to withstand damage far better than the other anomaly, and not only were its bandages as hard as chainmail, even after sustaining injuries, its self-regenerative abilities were quite exceptional. However, its main flaw was the lack of diversity in its modes of attack. Aside from hacking and slashing violently with its carving knife, it didn't appear to have any other effective attacking variations.

In contrast, the anomaly of anger, Hellhound, had far more variation in its attacking methods. Not only could it tear at its opponent with its fangs and burn them with its flames, it could even shoot fire over a distance. 

With Mummy taking care of close-quarters combat and Hellhound supporting it from afar, the girl was beginning to lose her composure, and she was even a little surprised.

"I didn't think that there was someone this good among the new students, but this is where the battle ends."

She forced back Mummy with her blade as she spoke, following which a series of cyberglyphs appeared on her body, and her speed was instantly doubled.

The first thing she did was use her newfound speed to break through the encirclement, and after that, cyberglyphs began to surface on her blades as well. A large amount of energy began to gather on her blade, and it seemed that she was about to unleash a lethal strike.

"That's enough! Don't hurt them." Those anomalies were manifestations of Adam's emotions, so if they were injured, he would be harmed as well. "You're very powerful, certainly worth the 500,000 price tag."

After unleashing her cyberglyph form, the girl was able to suppress the two anomalies in a very short time, so her powers were certainly nothing to be scoffed at.

Adam hadn't fought many adapters thus far, but his logic when it came to power scaling was very clear.

Firstly, he had fought Shae in the past. She was already the cream of the crop among the new students, yet there was no way that she would be able to suppress the two emotional anomalies so easily.

Thus, the most powerful new students were perhaps only equivalent to average senior students.

Going by that logic, this girl most likely ranked near the top even among the senior students, and the power that she had displayed was definitely superior to that of three Shaes.

"500,000 it is. Do we have a deal?" 

Adam stood up from the ground, then reached out his uninjured left hand for a handshake.

"Deal!" The girl's expression softened slightly as she stowed her blades away. "My name is Nie Yiyi. When is the mission?"

"Tonight. When would you like to be paid?"

"Just pay me after the mission is completed." 

After that, Nie Yiyi left the psychic world.