Chapter 1876: Seeking Data

"I cannot share the identity of the individual, unfortunately," Rui shook his head, denying the guildmaster's offer.

"I certainly understand that," Guildmaster Vaughn graciously replied. "I shall respect that decision. However, it is impossible for us to find the person you seek without their identity or some identifying element."

"That's fine," Rui replied. "What I seek is information. Information about the Beast Domain. Information that only the Adventurer's Guild has."

"Ah," the guildmaster understood why Rui had sought him. "That is certainly more amenable. It is true that no organization in the world understands the Beast Domain better than the Adventurer's Guild. I can recommend information packages that you might want to consider purchasing from us unless you have a good idea of exactly what it is you seek."

"I am open to the former," Rui admitted. "However, I do have some ideas as to what it is I need."

"Oh? Pray tell, then."

"Specifically, I am looking for data on acute ecological and environmental change across danger zones up to Master-level in the Beast Domain," Rui replied. "I am aware that the Beast Domain is in a constant state of chronic ecological and environmental change due to the continuous displacement migration of beasts. I, however, am not looking for that."

Rui stared at him with a pointed look. "I want data on abrupt and acute changes that cannot be explained by the displacement migration or the Beast Convergence Theory."

The guildmaster frowned at Rui's words. "That...is not what I was expecting, I must confess. I am unsure as to how this data can help you find an individual person. However, I am willing to aid you nonetheless."

Rui smiled. "Thank you, it is certainly much appreciated."

The guildmaster's confusion was understandable.

Rui would have been very confused had he been in the man's place himself.

However, the Beggar Sage had been very clear. The Divine Doctor was a man who left chaos in his wake everywhere he went. He had essentially told Rui to follow his trail of unique chaos.

This was extremely difficult because the Beast Domain was inherently very chaotic.

It certainly wasn't possible to accomplish it by exploring the Beast Domain by himself. That's why the data of the Adventurer's Guild would certainly be very useful.

The reason he asked for acute and abrupt changes was because change, to a certain extent, was constant. He needed change that was not part of the usual consequences of human encroachment or beast convergence.

Only then could he find clues as to what the Divine Doctor had done and where he had been.

On top of that, thanks to the Beggar Sage providing him with when and where the Divine Doctor entered the Beast Domain, Rui knew where to start looking. He could corroborate the data of the Adventurer's Guild of the Valley of Prisms at the time that the Divine Doctor had allegedly entered it and verify to see if the Beggar Sage's assertion that the Divine Doctor was a man who spread chaos was true or not.

Of course, Rui doubted that he would be wrong.

This was the immortal leader and founder of the Beggar's Sect, after all.

More importantly, once Rui gained a sample of what the 'chaos' the Divine Doctor spread looked like in terms of ecological and environmental data, he will have gained what could thought of as a chaos signature in the form of patterns in statistical data measuring change in ecological and environmental parameters.

This would allow Rui to be able to roughly develop a trail for the Divine Doctor through time and the Beast Domain. Unfortunately, the precision would drastically reduce further in the future Rui tried inferring the possible paths through pattern recognition.

This was where his grandmother's prophecy came in. It drastically reduced the possible locations for the Divine Doctor, which would ensure the precision of his pattern recognition would remain.

As for finding the exact location of the Divine Doctor, Rui hoped that his own innate capabilities, like the predictive model, fauna flow, and the Angel of Laplace, could cover the final hurdle to physically finding the Divine Doctor in the flesh in the Beast Domain.

These four sources of information would come together and allow Rui to find the man he had been looking for.

"As I said, I am naturally willing to provide this data, but I'm afraid it is not something that can be sold for free," the guildmaster smiled wryly.

"Name your price," Rui shrugged.

He had so much wealth that wealth had lost all meaning to him at this point. Rui wasn't sure if he would ever undertake purely commercial commissions ever again. If he did undertake them, it would be for experience or for purposes other than monetary remuneration.

"I'll have the amount compiled and sent to you," Guildmaster Vaughn assured. "In the meantime, I can provide some luxurious guest suites for you and your convoy while you wait."

"That would be appreciated," Rui replied.

The two chit-chatted lightly about several topics before it finally came to an end. While guided by staff to luxury suites, Rui couldn't help but begin planning the inevitable switch that he would need to make with Master Reina at some point. He needed to quickly come up with thorough plans to ensure that nobody noticed it or suspected Master Reina of being him.

He began inspecting the layout of the buildings and their architecture, security measures, and other factors that would be relevant in formulating a successful switch plan. Of course, Rui highly doubted that doing it within the guild headquarters was the most optimal way of doing it.

Regardless, it was best to always consider all his options at his disposal. He would definitely need to spend some time studying the data that the guild would provide him. He could simultaneously scout his potential options to make the switch as cleanly as possible. Over the next few days, he had a lot of work to do.