Chapter 78: Overload

Looking at the object Lu En pointed to, Rita slightly furrowed her brow.

“It’s him.”

She remembered this man.

When a student lost something, Lu En had once suggested it might have been this man named Luo De who took it casually.

So she kept watch and specifically cast a tracking spell when she left.

But she hadn’t expected him to dispel it so easily.

A warrior with fifth-rank spiritual accumulation typically has far fewer techniques than a mage, aside from close combat.

The fact that he could dispel it so easily left a strong impression on her.

“There are too many people here; we can’t force the issue.”

Rita thought for a moment, “Come to think of it, a friend of my father’s, a minor noble, fell on hard times and his heir came to Jade City to settle. My father once aided him—he’s now a captain in the City Guard.”

Lu En felt a quiet surge of relief.

He was a commoner, with no connections in officialdom or among the nobility.

Unconsciously, he began to be glad he had used the Infatuation Secret Art on Rita.

Though she was only the daughter of a fallen noble, her father’s accumulated network was still enough to provide convenience.

“Good. This man roams the labyrinth alone—he’s likely just a commoner with no background. Have your friend find an excuse to lure him out of Jade City.”

“We haven’t seen each other in years; showing up and making demands outright probably won’t work.”

Rita worried she might disappoint Lu En and spoke out without thinking.

Lu En smiled faintly.

He pulled out a magical pouch.

“Here’s a thousand Jin Along. Give it to him.”

He had learned from his teacher a technique to modify magic rings into [Overload] state, earning a fortune from the price difference alone.

Here, we must first explain what [Overload] is.

When magic rings were first developed, the technology was still imperfect.

If too much spiritual energy or magic was infused at once, it would trigger a critical overload protection, preventing activation and instead putting the ring into an [Overload] state.

In [Overload] state, a magic ring’s effect drops to about eighty percent.

This was originally a desperate compromise due to flawed technology.

But later, people discovered that triggering an [Overload] ring required drastically less magic or spiritual energy.

Even a person with only third-rank spiritual accumulation could activate a sixth-rank magic ring in [Overload] state.

As a result, countless [Overload] rings flooded the market.

Because they required so little energy to trigger, even at only eighty percent effectiveness, their price was half again higher than normal rings.

The Heavenly Flower Kingdom quickly noticed this phenomenon.

They swiftly improved the rings, making [Overload] impossible to replicate.

[Overload] rings gradually vanished from the market.

Later, the Heavenly Flower Kingdom repackaged the [Overload] rings, marked them up by one hundred percent, and relaunched them as second-generation magic rings, exclusively for the wealthy and nobility.

People had no choice—it was the Heavenly Flower Kingdom’s exclusive technology.

Lu En’s teacher, needless to say, had once been a mage of the Heavenly Flower Kingdom.

Harris had been in a foul mood these past two days.

Although the newspaper’s focus still centered on the ancient dragon from the Dragon Viewing Festival,

rumors that the potion factory had been blown up and released toxic fumes had spread among the residents.

Just this morning alone,

he had seen three people claiming to have been poisoned by the fumes.

Yet, after diagnosis by the mage medical unit, all were proven to be healthy hooligans attempting fraud.

But from ancient times to the present, truth was never the point.

Once they lied to the public about being poisoned, public opinion could never be cleared.

Of course,

the ownership of a pleasure-potion factory certainly didn’t belong to a lowly Garrison Commander like him.

He was merely entrusted by superiors to manage it and take a cut.

As for the counterfeit and substandard products, they were the result of a single engineering mage cutting corners on his own.

On the observation platform of Jade Domain Square,

“Captain Harris, a letter from the Lord Mayor.”

A guard respectfully handed him a letter.

Harris’s mouth was filled with bitterness.

The inevitable had come.

He dismissed everyone else and, with trembling fingers, opened the letter.

Without doubt,

the words were filled with scolding, reprimands, and the Lord Mayor’s usual sarcasm.

Threats and intimidation pressed down on his heart like stones.

But it wasn’t without a way out.

At the end, the Lord Mayor demanded he resolve the matter properly.

“Sigh. All my savings these past few years are gone.”

Harris had once been the son of a baron—he wasn’t without means to handle such matters.

But whether bribing the press or muddying the waters, it required vast amounts of Jin Along, especially in Jade City, where every inch of land was priceless.

At that moment, the same guard approached again.

“Captain Harris, a woman named Rita Riddell wishes to see you. She says you’ll recognize this.”

He handed over a dagger.

On its hilt was a unique family crest and pattern.

“Rita?”

Seeing the object, Harris immediately recalled the little brat who used to follow him around.

Nostalgia welled up, but under these circumstances, all he could muster was a faint, bitter smile.

Moments later,

Harris and Rita sat at a small tea stall near Jade Domain Square.

After some small talk,

“You’re saying I should lure a man out of the city or to some remote place—you want to deal with him?”

Rita nodded.

Then she placed the magical pouch directly on the table.

Harris opened it and raised an eyebrow.

Five hundred Jin Along.

Not a fortune, but certainly not trivial.

But it could ease his immediate crisis.

“What’s his status?”

“Most likely a commoner.”

“Most likely? You don’t even know the man, and you want to take him out?”

“.”

Rita said nothing.

Harris sighed. What could he do—they had history.

“Describe his appearance. I’ll check the records.”

Rita channeled her magic, projecting a magical image before him.

“Sixth rank? You’ve come a long way.”

Seeing his friend’s spiritual accumulation, Harris complimented her—but her expression remained cold, far less warm and charming than before.

He shrugged.

He had his own base now; he didn’t need to grovel for favor.

But as he looked at the magical image before him, his expression changed.

He turned stiffly toward Rita.

“Is his name Luo De?”

Rita froze.

“You know him?”

“Know him? He’s someone recommended by the Argyle family—everyone in the City Hall knows him.”

Saying this, Harris placed the magical pouch back on the table.

Jin Along is valuable, but only if you’re alive to spend it.

The Argyles aren’t an ordinary earl family; their constant presence on the front lines has given them vast numbers of high-rank warriors. Even marquises give them respect, let alone dukes.

They often recommended talented individuals to the Jade Domain for advancement, and none of these people failed to shine across the continent afterward.

To oppose fifty thousand Jin Along?

The Lord Mayor would likely have him dragged out and blood-sacrificed ten times at once.

“Really not possible?”

Rita’s expression turned grim; she did not want to betray Lu En.

Harris stood up.

His expression turned cold.

“Miss, bribing a constable and attempting murder within Jade City could earn you a sentence of over ten years.”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear any of our previous conversation. I’m available for the gathering anytime, but let’s drop the matter of this Luo De.”

Saying this, he turned and walked away without waiting for Rita’s reply.

He left Rita sitting where she was.

The gloom on her face was heavy enough to drip.

(End of Chapter)