It was clearly the voice of a woman, and it was Jacob's first time calling her, so he was quite surprised, but only momentarily.
Jacob replied coolly, "I was stuck in something. Please forgive my offense."
"No worries, I don't mind at all. On the contrary, I should be congratulating you on your unbreakable achievement in the history of epic plains. I really admire you, Mr. Ancient. Now you are on equal footing with him." She plainly replied with a hint of admiration.
'So, she knew I'm already a 3-star privilege holder.'
Jacob knew what she meant since in the entire epic plains, probably the Dark Marquise was the only one who had the same privilege, and since she called the day, he was sure she had tried to use her privilege to send him an unignorable call but failed. And he was right!
"It wasn't a big deal. I was just lucky." Jacob impassively replied, as he didn't reveal his thoughts. He wanted to know what Dark Marquise wanted before initiating his plan.
Dark Marquise replied, "Heh, Mr. Ancient, you are too humble. Not only did you manage to clear four out of five trial conditions on your own, but you somehow made the great Nelsen surrender as well. Even I'm not capable of that."
"You seemed to be well-informed." Jacob chuckled as he had to admit the Dark City was really everywhere despite not interfering with other powers, and they were well-informed about everything.
"It's an occupational hazard. Even if I don't want to know I had, I hope you understand." Dark Marquise calmly replied, "The reason for calling you was simple: I want to know if you have the medallion?"
'Heh, just as I suspect they all know about it.' Jacob wasn't surprised, nor was he afraid, while replying, "Indeed, do you have some instruction for me?"
"I don't dare to overestimate myself. The reason I want to call is that I want to cooperate with you." Dark Marquise replied with a hint of excitement.
"What kind of cooperation?" Jacob asked plainly.
"Before I reveal anything, I want to know if you have any thoughts of joining the Dark City. Because if you're a member of Dark City, I can protect you as well as freely talk with you about this, or the Dark City laws restrain me. I hope you can consider this carefully because your life is really in danger." Dark Marquise revealed with confidence.
Jacob's eyes narrowed as this unexpected and Dark Marquise didn't sound like she was threatening him at all. Whatever it was, it had to be related to the medallion. He had already figured out that someone didn't want anyone to have that. Even the three hegemonies tried to do everything they could to stop him from competing in the trial solo.
They even succeeded, but who could've thought that Nelsen would yield and still make Jacob whole by surrendering his benefits? Even Dark Marquise was shocked when she found this, and since the star network was down, she was helpless since it was impossible to find Jacob. So, the moment star network recovered, she instantly contacted him.
"Can you at least tell me what kind of danger?" Jacob asked.
Dark Marquise refused without hesitation, "I'm afraid without joining the Dark City, I can't disclose his information because this topic is too sensitive. I'll be instantly harming myself. Just revealing this much is already putting a very huge pressure on myself."
Jacob's eyes narrowed dangerously, since he didn't expect even the Dark Marquise to be afraid.
'Well, I was already planning on joining the Dark City before going to the unique plains since this matter of Path of Legend is too huge, and every power is after it. So, going alone would be too dangerous in the long term.
'Furthermore, I still need to investigate, and Dark City is clearly more reliable than the three hegemonies. I was just waiting for the right time to bring this matter up.' Jacob thought with scrutiny.
After his 'talk' with Captain Free Sword, Jacob knew the Unique Plains were far from simple, and even if he was powerful, those powers there were not to be trifled with.
Furthermore, even if he could suppress the entire unique plains, his goal was the Legendary Plains, and having an enemy there meant certain death without a backup. The Dark City was an existence that even three hegemonies were wary of, and he didn't have any enemy there except Halberd, and he seemed to have already been taken care of by Dark Marquise. So, joining them was not a bad idea, and he would have a background in the unique plains as well.
"What kind of benefits would I get joining the dark city, and how much freedom do I have?" Jacob finally asked, as he wanted to know if he could move freely even after joining the dark city.
He doesn't want to be overly restrained because of the rules. Now that he didn't need to kill anyone for immortality, he could work with them as long as they won't get in his way.
Dark Marquise quickly replied when she sensed Jacob was interested. She had personal dealings with Jacob, and she knew how treacherous and willy he was, and his weapon technology was peerless. If she could recruit such a person, it would bring her huge benefits, especially now that he could go to the unique plains anytime he wanted.
"There are two kinds of members in the dark city, outer and personal. The other members are those who can join any power as long as they won't harm Dark City. But the benefits are also very limited as they don't have access to the true resources of the Dark City, and even if they die, the Dark City won't interfere or seek justice for them. They also won't have any say in dark city matters.
"But the personal members are different, like the three hegemonies; once you become a personal member, you can't join another power. It is akin to betrayal, and Dark City will hunt down traitors no matter where they hide.
"The personal members also have freedom, but they have to put the Dark City before their personal gains, and they can't leave the Dark City no matter what. They will live and die with it. As long as they won't break the laws of the dark city, there is nothing to be afraid of.
"But the benefits far outmatched the little restriction. One of them being absolute protection. As long as you are in the right, you can kill the core members of three hegemonies, and the Dark City will protect you. If some dare to target you, the Dark City will also retaliate with full power.
"As for resources, they are out of your imagination and limitless. As long as you have merits, you can get anything like knowledge, treasures, materials, etc. You'll naturally understand once you become one.
"Now, you can decide if you want to be an outer member, then you can join through my personal recommendation, and you can directly become Dark Viscount. Once you enter the Unique Plains, your dark noble rank will be upgraded to Dark Earl directly.
"But if you decide to join as a personal member, then you have to start from Lower Dark Noble Rank and compete in Secret Dark Missions to raise your ranks. I'm really helpless in this matter. The Dark City rules are fixed, and everyone has to follow them. But I can guarantee that you won't regret it." Dark Marquise stated.
Now, it was Jacob's choice whether to become an outer or personal member of Dark City!
