The Exquisitor Tournament was a multiversal tournament between minor factions. The higher they ranked in the tournament, the more benefits they had and support they received from the higher dimensions.
However, the natural resources of these minor factions were saturated and their potentials ran out. Usually a top 1,000 dimension would never be able to change their rankings.
Unless, they found a way out. And these ways out were usually resources and powers from a different dimension.
Dimension like Terrorstate.
A few minor factions liked to snatch stray souls from other worlds, turned them into Primers, and sent them to unconquered worlds like Terrorstate.
This was the same situation with Cyber Runner.
Carter learned all of this after the talk he had with Nina and Quill.
'Nina said that the Exquisitor Tournament has a very handsome reward for its participants. Maybe I should find a way to join it.'
Joining the Exquisitor Tournament required a faction to back you up. Cyber Runner was obviously not Carter's choice.
'I'll think about this at a later time. Now. It's time to put on a show for Nina and Quill.'
Carter called Kaito into the office.
"Yes, Mr. Caine?" Kaito opened the door.
"I'll be going to sleep now. Don't disturb me under any circumstances. Two people will be arriving shortly. One is the Ghost. The second is the Eldritch Knight.
You will know who is who once they're here."
"The Ghost... And the Eldritch Knight... Are they dangerous, Mr. Caine?" Kaito said.
"They are. But not to you, you can be certain of that."
Carter left the rest to Kaito as he returned to his bedroom. He transformed into the System Ghost and vaulted out of the window.
Kaito had been running back and forth to arrange the guest rooms for these people. There were at least twenty guests currently staying in the building.
He didn't think that he would need maids to help. But after today, Kaito reconsidered.
'Maybe I should hire some maids.'
Carter did give him the authority to hire more helpers.
The doorbell rang.
"Coming!"
Kaito opened the door. In front of him was a tall man with a brown trench coat and a fedora.
Kaito froze as he saw the man. There was nothing on his face at all.
"You are..." Kaito jerked back slightly but quickly regained his composure. He was much braver than the seemed to be. "Ghost?"
The faceless man nodded.
"Please come in. Mr. Caine has told me that you are here to meet with Miss Nina and Mister Quill?"
Ghost didn't reply. Instead he walked straight into the house. Kaito frowned even deeper.
He quickly closed the door and followed Ghost. A few of the Invokers spotted the Ghost.
"Terror?!" One Invoker shouted and pulled out his brush.
Ghost didn't even stop and continued walking.
"Please wait!" Kaito was right behind him. He noticed the Invoker and immediately explained, "He's not a Terror! He's a guest! Please put away your weapon!"
"A guest?" The Invoker lowered his brush. He watched as Kaito continued to follow the Ghost away.
"Who is that guy?" Another Invoker said. "Is he also an Eldritch Knight?"
Without the guide of Kaito, Ghost could still find Quill's room. He politely knocked on the door.
"How did you know where his room was?" Kaito mumbled.
Nina heard the commotion outside and came out of her room. She immediately recognized that man.
"You!"
Ghost briefly turned toward her. He didn't say anything.
As soon as Quill opened his door, Ghost immediately went inside.
"What the?! Who the hell are you?" Quill said.
"Shut up, idiot. That's who you're looking for." Nina entered the room as well.
Quill gulped as he observed the faceless man. If it wasn't for his eerie lack of a face, the Ghost was rather normal looking.
Quill rolled his sleeves up and showed Ghost the Cyber Core.
"I saw your friend, Zeneros Blackburn. I was wondering if you could help me remove this."
Ghost's head lowered as he looked at the Core. He had no eyes so Quill didn't know how the guy even saw.
The Ghost hovered his palm over the Cyber Core. Electricity shot out and caused Quill's muscle to spasm.
"Argh!" He groaned.
"Quill!"
"It's alright. I'm fine... It's just a little uncomfortable." Quill bit his lip and tried to hold in the pain.
Letters and symbols appeared constantly on the surface of the Cyber Core. The blue veins surrounding it slowly disappeared.
Suddenly, the Cyber Core shot up and fell into the Ghost's hand.
[Synchronization + 3.9%]
[Current Synchronization]: 29.1%
'It isn't even 30% yet… This skin is difficult to raise its synchronization. I need to find a better way.' Carter sighed secretly in his mind.
Quill fell backwards but was caught by Nina.
"Are you alright?" Nina said.
Quill smiled weakly. His face was a little pale. "Not dead yet."
[Add x1 Cyber Core to System Ghost's Item?]
'Add.' Carter answered with his mind. And with that, the Cyber Core was attached to this skin.
Quill tried to stand up straight to talk to the Ghost.
"Thank you, sir."
Ghost still didn't answer. He simply nodded and turned around.
He went straight to the exit without saying even a single word. The Invokers watched as he left. No one tried to stop him this time. They all knew that Ghost was Caine's guest.
They only questioned, secretly, who the Ghost really was. Was he an Eldritch Knight? He didn't look like it. Was he a Terror? No, Terror couldn't walk in broad daylight. The Ghost was something else. A mystery that couldn't be solved.
Piper watched as the Ghost disappeared down the street. "This Carter Caine is more connected than we thought."
She turned around and was about to go inside when she saw a different silhouette appeared down the road.
"Isn't that..." Piper squinted her eyes.
The silhouette approached the building.
"Hello, Piper. We met again." Zeneros said.
Piper smiled. A girly innocent smile that she didn't have for quite a while. A smile that could only appear when she knew that she was safe.
"Zeneros. It is not easy to find you."
"I am a busy man after all. There are a lot of Terrors out there." Zeneros said.
His voice was calm with a sense of undeniable authority.
"I know. That is why I'm here to join you." Piper said.
"We'll see, Piper. Whether or not you are worthy to follow me."