As soon as I stepped into the conference room, the guards closed the doors behind me, and a graveyard silence settled over the conference room. Cold, indifferent gazes from the far side of the table locked onto me, examining me as if I were some rare specimen laid out in a lab with equal parts of amusement and curiosity flickering in their eyes.
What alarmed me most was that my Fractured Fate and Fateless were triggered.
[ — Fractured Fate —
> Unknown Grimlock detected attempting to scry the contents of your Cypher Card.
> Immediate action required. Select response:
(Reveal / Hide / False Fate)
Note:
i) A Grimlock's Cypher Card is part of their fate.
ii) False Fate lets you display a fate of your choosing instead of your true one.
iii) Fractured Fate passively conceals your fate from all others unless you grant permission. ]
[ — Fateless —
You have discovered Grim Cypher < Muse Vision > and recorded it in the Fate Index.]
[ — Fate Index —
> Muse Vision: The Grimlock may analyze the material, Gionical, or ideological purity of a target, calculating its rarity and true market worth.
i) Golden Road: The Grimlock may appraise a being's maximum latent power, offering a projection of its possible growth trajectory.
ii) Fake's Flaw: Identifies the target's structural, energetic, or psychological flaws to help Grimlock distinguish between fake and original.
Note:
i) The success rate of using this Grim Cypher depends on's strength and knowledge of the Grimlock.]
Reading the back-to-back prompts, the hair on the back of my neck stood erect, knowing how catastrophic it would be for me if these leaders were to learn about my Grim Cypher. Not that there weren't Grimlocks with Grim Cyphers that could copy or mimic other Grim Cyphers out there. It's just that any Grimlock instinctively keeps their Grim Cypher private out of caution or because their Cyphers demand it.
There's a well-known saying among Grim Raiders: 'In a Grimlore, Grimlocks are more dangerous than Grimlords.'
Grim Raiders are the bold Grimlocks who venture into Grimmyth to raid Grimlores. If even they said this, then there had to be truth to it. Acknowledging the concern, the F.O.E. passed a bill protecting the privacy of a Grimlock's Grim Cypher.
Therefore, imagine my surprise when one of the eight prefecture-level figures within the F.O.E.'s administration before me blatantly ignored the law and attempted to pry into my Grim Cypher without my consent.
As for my Grim Cypher recording the Grim Cyphers of others, I was not worried. The precedent set in People vs. May Myers made that clear. May's Grim Cypher functioned the same way as mine, and the ruling established that copying another person's Grim Cypher was legal so long as no privacy laws were violated. In other words, as long as I did not obtain someone else's Grim Cypher through deceit, with force, or disclose it to others without their permission, I was in the clear.
My Fractured Fate Grim Cypher's Fateless effect was a passive type, something I had no control over. In contrast, the Muse Vision Grim Cypher's Gold Road effect was an active type—if they wished to use it on me, they were required to obtain my consent. Clearly, this Grimlock had done no such thing.
If not for my Fractured Fate, I would have been helpless at that moment. As such, I immediately chose to conceal my Grim Cypher information from them.
< Hide >
As soon as I chose to hide my fate,Chief Grim-tech Director Margaret Mitchell recoiled and began to bleed from her eyes, suffering backlash. The atmosphere instantly froze over, turning sharp and solemn.
The heads of the other leaders turned to her in surprise. They weren't surprised by her using her Grim Cypher on me, but that she failed. They were used to her erratic behavior. However, they never expected her Muse vision to fail to read my Grim Cypher.
All six of them looked at me in astonishment, causing their Grim Cyphers to flicker in their pupils unconsciously. They clearly hadn't expected this outcome. Their faces remained calm, indifferent, unreadable… yet behind those expressions, every single one of them was now far more interested in me than they had been a moment ago.
I stepped forward planning to capitalize on their interest, curiosity and astonishment. I introduced myself without waiting for them to address me, overlooking the incident earlier.
"Respected Grimlocks, I am Crayon V. Wyatt, a newborn Grimlock. It is a pleasure to meet you all, and I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedules to make this meeting possible."
I paused briefly before proposing, "If you wish to view my Cypher Card, please initiate a card-info trade using either your own Cypher Card information or something of equivalent value. Additionally, I have compiled a detailed report of my contract ceremony outside Grimmyth, which I would be happy to share with you."
Also, by openly showing my willingness to trade Cypher Card information, I cut off their excuse to invoke eminent domain over my Grim Cypher under the pretense of the greater good. I wasn't overthinking it. These prefecture-level leaders possessed the authority to do exactly that, and one of them had already demonstrated that they could not be trusted.
"That's good enough," the City Commander Dia Laos agreed with my proposal with a nod, surprising the other leaders and me. I expected a pushback, but City Commander Dia proved that not all of them were bad.
Soon, her eyes illuminated with her Grim Cypher, a radiant musical note, locking with mine while I willed my Grim Cypher to reveal itself, a miniature black hole. As our gazes locked, I got a series of prompts.
[Grimlock Dia Laos's Grim ID saved in your Grim Web community.]
[You have shared the G-book 'My Contract Ceremony' with Grimlock Dia.]
[Grimlock Dia Laos has requested a Cypher Card Info trade. Do you agree?]
< Yes >
[You have shared your Cypher Card Info with Grimlock Dia Laos.]
[Grimlock Dia Laos has shared their Cypher Card Info with you]