Villain Hiring: Help! Author Wants Me Dead

I had just finished having my bowl of instant noodles when Damien's voice sprang me into action.

'Are you awake, Noah?' He asked, almost too impatiently.

Giving the guy an almost deadpan stare as I turned my focus back to my soul space, I realised that the place looked a little different.

It was no longer all black in here, and I could actually see motes of white floating around the place, making me curious.

'Oh those?' Damien chipped in.

'Those are actually nothing more than a sign that your soul is very close to a breakthrough.' He said.

"A breakthrough?"

'Yes, even souls have distinct levels and forms which they can improve and evolve into.

Usually, most of the mortals are never able to awaken even the second realm when it comes to their mental power, since it's very hard to develop.

It is such that even kings of huge lands and shrines are unable to do so.

Luckily, you are not just any mortal and actually have the advantage since you were supposed to be the last villain of this story and are thus given unlimited potential just like those Gods who gain too much power at too early a stage—' Damien blurted out, confusing me.

But before I could ask the all-knowing system any more questions, he had something else in mind.

'Can you help me with something?' The first generation system asked, shocking me.

I pointed at the blue blob of existence as I questioned it again. "Did you just say that you need my help? Like, the same dirt poor guys help who, according to you by the way, can not even become a good villain?"

Damien grunted, clearly not having the patience to play with me.

"I'll even give you an important piece of information you are not supposed to know in return for it," Damien said, catching me totally off guard.

Feeling a little excited about what secret I was supposed to know, I quickly nodded my head and asked the sentient system.

"So, what do you need help with?"

The blue blob of light made weird noises as a ding sounded not soon after.

[System Update.]

(Secret Mission)

Objective: Help the best villain-making system in the world, Damien, with information by using the tablet gained from The Hollow Archives.

Rewards: A secret that is hidden from you will be revealed by the first generation system.

(Do you accept?)

[Yes! I would love to be the system's secret spy.]

[Hell no! Who would dare to go against the mighty and handsome Author of the world?]

***

I almost laughed at the floating blue screen that appeared in front of me as I realised that this was just another one of Damien's tricks.

Snickering out loud, I instantly chose the first option.

"Heh, if I were scared of the Author, I wouldn't be alive in the first place."

The physical blob of blue that Damien was, along with those weird horns on his face, if you could call it that constantly flickered as he laughed.

'Yeah, my boy! That's the spirit!!'

'Who even cares about the Author? Fuck him lol.'

"Anyways," I said. "What do you need information about anyway?" I asked Damien, curious about what it could be that even the Great Damien could not understand.

'Use the obsidian black tablet you had received from the Hollow Archives organisation and help me search for Sia Daffneer's situation.

There seems to be something unusual about her—

Raising an eyebrow, I did not question Damien as I left my soul space and stood up, searching for that tablet I had kept safely somewhere.

It took me half an hour of rummaging through my belongings before I realised that I had kept it in the secret drawer below the high table placed below my kitchen, where we used to eat food together often.

Anyways, I switched the screen on, realising that even though most of the organisations and guilds had fallen after the Descent of Gods, The Hollow Archive had instantly adapted to the situation, as if they had known about it all along.

'Nothing to be surprised about when you think about the fact that they own and have the guts to sell almost all of the information, visible as well as highly confidential, about everyone and everything in the world', Damien muttered in my head, making me nod my head in understanding.

"That was indeed true." I thought, scanning the miscellaneous amount of information appearing in front of me.

The most interesting fact was that, except for the title, everything else was locked under a folder which would only open once we bought it.

My eyes traced the list of report entries on the screen. Each entry was neatly categorised, labelled with a price, and marked with an urgency rating.

Some were outdated, others newly added, and a few were marked with a dangerous red tag—information that, if acquired, could likely get someone killed.

Amazing, I thought, looking at the various titles.

Past Activities in the realm of the dead– 1,00,000 Credits.

Assassinations done in the past 3 months– 10,000 Credits.

Known Members of the fallen Kingdoms– 5,200 Credits.

High-Ranking Figures & Their Locations – 5,000 Credits.

Internal Conflicts & Weaknesses of the US Subcontinent– 4,800 Credits.

This information hub is just what I needed right now—

Not only this, but now that I had finally overcome my depression and was able to function like a normal human, I realised that I would be able to do so much more with this tablet.

As long as I have enough amount of credits, I could perhaps even find out what my 'favourite' Aunt Ana is allergic to and kill her in her sleep-Lol.

Anyways, pulling up the search button on the top right corner, I typed 'Sia Dafneer', hoping to get all types of information about her.

"Kekekke," I laughed.

"I'm going to suck information out of you and get my reward—Sia Daffneer."

***