If crime doesn't pay, then you aren't doing enough of it!

Endyr thought of multiple ways this Quest could go down. On the one hand, she knew that her enemies were the Altar of Darkness, which made them likely to be Devils and thus weak to Light, Fire, Lightning and Ether. Unfortunately, Endyr possessed none of these Affinities, but still had the tried-and-true method of just bludgeoning the Devils to death instead. On the other hand though, the System never stated how many Devils there were, so Endyr could only assume based off of what she already knew about their Race. The most vital piece of information was whether or not the Devils had an item containing the Divinity of any God: Divinity was secreted from the soul of a deity, so "They" could observe through it even centuries after it was split off.

Appearing before a God would bring on more trouble than it was worth, but the System was adamant this Quest was of equal importance to her. The fact it refused to disclose what her rewards actually were wasn't selling the statement, but Endyr knew the System would not directly lie to her. She didn't know if it even could, since in all her years of interacting with it, the System held tighter to its own rules of impartiality more than anyone. 

'First and foremost, I need to get an invitation...and probably change my appearance since that doorman already knows I don't have a ticket. Sigh, you really couldn't tell me about this before I went and talked to him?'

The System maintained its characteristic silence, and Endyr was left with the choice to either find and steal and invitation or just sneak right into the Emporium. Deciding not to waste time (the System had already informed her she had thirty minutes to enter the auction) Endyr went with the latter. She had managed to sneak into the church of the Almighty Primordial right under "His" nose after all, so doing the same here should be no problem. 'Of course, I'll need to mimic the concealment skill that Abomination possessed first. Thankfully, this body is the one with the Eye and not Altair, so that shouldn't be a problem.'

This would be the first time Endyr actually used the Abomination's Eye she received from driving the Blood Coven out of Sky Cross. She was slightly apprehensive, since things associated with Abominations usually caused a great deal of pain and trouble, but she was also incredibly curious to try it out. First, she walked down the alley the Cultist was just in. It was the most deserted place around she could see, and would be the only place to find clues. Plus, there was a chance she would get jumped by a Devil, which would make obtaining information a lot easier. Alas, the Devil seemed to have truly fled, and Endyr went unbothered.

Once she was out of sight of everybody else Endyr took a deep breath and focused her attention on the constant stinging that was taking place in her left eye. She had no mirror, but if she did she would have seen her two purple eyes undergo a change: the right darkened further purple, while the surface of the left began rippling like it was made of water. After several seconds of channelling Mana into it, Endyr let out a sharp breath of pain and struggled to keep her knees straight. She had to put up with the pain and struggle to stop her normal Mana Vision from activating, which took more mental effort than she thought it would. After about a minute though, Endyr felt a subtle shift in her face....and then her vision exploded in colours.

From the effects of trying to channel to Abomination's Eye, Endyr figured it would be a more powerful version of Mana Vision, but the actual effects still surprised her. Her right side's vision was still normal, but her left portrayed a very different sight than the alley. She could see individual strips of Mana, not just coloured clumps like before, and could also zoom in at least a dozenfold. But that was simply on the surface of her new tool.

By focusing on those strands of Mana, Endyr could highlight all other strands of the same type in her sight, causing the rest to vanish. Furthermore, looking for several seconds caused a string of information to flow into her mind. How it was formed, its strengths and weaknesses, what would happen if you mix it with other types...All of this came freely to her. If this was something all Abominations had access to, then it was no wonder they were deemed such a massive threat. Such a capability would allow them to perfectly decipher any trap or spell used against them, or track specific targets for miles on end. And this wasn't even factoring in their hearing, smelling or taste. 'Apex predators indeed' Endyr reaffirmed her opinion of the Abominations, and felt a mix of pride and exasperation of indirectly creating such a species.

With this, sneaking into the Emporium would be ten times easier. It also made Endyr realise the value of criminal activities: murder, breaking and entering, blasphemy and more had enabled her gain this power. And now, she was going to break into a shop and steal their product while killing some of their guests on the way. 'Heh heh, people always say crime doesn't pay, but in that case you must not be doing enough! If money can't solve problems, then the problem is the lack of money...'

Endyr swept a look towards the spot the Devil had been hiding and focused on that. She saw strands of icky black come into focus and removed everything else. The strand became a line, one leading away from here towards the Emporium. Endyr reached out and tentatively touched it, causing more information that just observing to flow into her. 'Hmm, this is Darkness and not Shadow, with a bit of Nether involved too. Its owner seems to be in the middle of Grandmaster with top D Rank Core. Oh, I can sense his Skills? No, I can only get a rough feel. Two offensive, one defensive and one mobility. That one is likely what allows him to move in shadows, though he could just have an Artefact instead. Male, less than fifty years old but older than thirty, a robust physique and...quite a strong malicious intent. He must have recognised me then.'

Endyr received just slightly less information than she would have from a proper Analysis, all from a single strand of Mana. She was well and truly pleased with it now, and couldn't help but feel excited for what she would get from this Quest too. Deciding she had done enough recon here, Endyr turned and began waling back to the Emporium, pulling up her hood to hide her left eye. When she had the building in sight, she stopped and peered at it from a distance. Once again, the world broke down into thousands upon thousands of coloured strings, and Endyr sorted them by shades of black. Within several seconds she had discovered the Devils' trail again, this time leading right through the front door.

'Alright then. Now, how do I get in?'