Chapter 82: Museum

"Breaking through the darkness at dawn, I have seen the Light!"

Aaron muttered to himself in his heart, ending his first Meditation.

Although his expression was calm, his emotions were actually very agitated.

After all, having planned for so long and experienced so many setbacks... he had finally seen hope!

And he held it firmly in his hands.

Immediately, he noticed that the gazes of the people around him were somewhat strange.

He heard words such as "lunatic," "jumping into the river," "bankrupt," and the like...

"Fortunately, the language hasn't changed much. Although it sounds like it has a heavy accent and dialect flavor, it is barely understandable..."

Aaron ignored the gazes of the people around him and rubbed his stomach; he was even hungrier now.

"I arranged everything for my slumber, yet I forgot to prepare for after waking up. A miscalculation..."

He felt his pockets; inside were a few gold and silver coins, which was the pocket money he had brought before his slumber.

Of course, he couldn't spend them directly now, but they should be sellable as ancient coins, and the overcoat he was wearing should also be able to fetch a good price at a pawn shop.

Just then, Aaron felt two gazes coming toward him.

In the flow of people, two men wearing pitch-black uniforms with white stripes, looking like patrolmen, began to notice him, with a tendency to come over and question him.

This was an era that championed ambition and honor.

Big merchants and factory owners desperately squeezed the workers, then took the money they earned to buy land or donate to charity to gain fame, and racked their brains to marry into the nobility, thereby squeezing into the so-called "upper class."

Ordinary workers and the middle class worked hard every day, were exploited, lived like walking corpses, and would be fired for the slightest mistake.

Especially workers without any special skills, who were like parts of a machine, replaceable whenever they broke.

Therefore, they were often in a hurry, with pale faces, rough skin, and mostly suffered from occupational diseases.

And Aaron... whether in appearance or demeanor, was too out of place.

Especially since a worker could not have the leisure to stop and admire the scenery of the Ivey Bridge, and then suddenly look agitated, with the posture of someone about to jump into the river.

He turned around, merged into the flow of people, and quickly disappeared.

At this moment, the patrolmen's sense of responsibility was obviously very low; finding that he had not disrupted public traffic or caused any major trouble, they were too lazy to pursue him.

Aaron walked on the street.

In the corners around him, several half-grown brats wearing flat caps were gathered.

They were likely pickpockets, perhaps even having switched to becoming robbers; children of their age either became child laborers or child prostitutes.

There were not many ways out for people at the bottom, and mixing with the underworld was one of them.

They stared at Aaron, keenly sensing the difference in this guy, and exchanged dangerous looks with each other.

Almost all child pickpockets had connections with gangs.

Aaron sighed in his heart and walked into a pawn shop.

"Hello, customer... is there anything Old Morgan can do for you?"

An old man wearing a monocle, with graying hair and a black vest, was wiping a piece of porcelain; seeing Aaron enter, he greeted him politely.

The scale of this shop was not large, but it should have been carrying out quite a bit of fencing work for gangs.

In fact, all pawn shops had some gray business.

Aaron did not mind and took a gold coin directly from his pocket, placing it on the counter.

Old Morgan picked up the gold coin, his expression changing slightly: "Real gold... please wait a moment..."

He opened a small box and quickly took out many tools, studying this gold coin: "Pattern, luster... hiss... this seems to be an ancient gold coin, from the Kajiashi period? No... impossible!"

Old Morgan's heart was full of doubt, although his experience told him that what he held was a genuine ancient gold coin.

But a subtle sense of incongruity made him feel that this gold coin was too "new," as if it had not gone through a thousand years of historical accumulation...

Immediately, his expression became solemn, feeling that he seemed to have leaked something due to his loss of composure.

"This customer, I am sorry, I cannot determine the age of this gold coin itself; perhaps you can go to a larger pawn shop..."

Old Morgan said this on purpose because he felt that no matter how he looked at it, this item did not have a legitimate origin and was not something a worker could produce.

Perhaps it was stolen goods!

This usually meant they were eager to sell, with a large profit margin.

"What if I want to sell it right here?"

Aaron revealed a trace of anxiety, and a smile appeared on Old Morgan's face: "Then I can buy it at the gold price, 1 Pound!"

The Pound of this era was directly pegged to gold and was a quite strong currency.

"2 Pounds... otherwise I would rather go somewhere else." Aaron muttered, making a move to take the gold coin.

"Deal!"

A smile appeared on the corner of Old Morgan's mouth; he felt that this ancient coin was worth at least 10 Pounds!

Aaron walked out of the pawn shop and immediately discovered that children were following him.

He revealed a pleasant smile, circled around the area, and then turned into a secluded small alley.

"He's there!"

Amidst the scream of a little girl, several burly men surrounded him, with ferocious smiles appearing on their faces: "Kid, hand over all the money you have on you!"

They were all gang members, and this kind of thing was a daily routine.

At this time, to increase persuasiveness, a short man even took out a dagger.

Aaron's gaze swept over them, and he nodded with satisfaction: "Very good... I like your jacket, it belongs to me now..."

A moment later.

Dressed rather decently, looking somewhat like a member of the middle class, Aaron clapped his hands and walked out of the alley.

Even without any Extraordinary Ability, his physical fitness had reached the peak of humanity, and he was skilled in the art of killing with cold weapons.

Not to mention, he had also awakened a bit of the Spirituality of "Radiance," making him equivalent to half an Extraordinary!

Common thugs like these were just serving themselves up on a platter.

He looked at the stunned little girl, smiled, stepped into the flow of people, and quickly disappeared from sight...

Half a month later.

The suburbs of Green Forest City.

Sotos Museum.

A lady with long golden hair, dressed appropriately as if she were a tour guide, was enthusiastically introducing to the group of gentlemen and ladies before her: "Ladies and gentlemen... what we are looking at now is the Sotos Museum, which is listed in the Invis historical and cultural heritage registry... It was expanded with the once-prominent Sotos Family castle as its main body. We can see that massive banyan tree, which is over two thousand years old... The Sotos Family fanatically worshipped the primitive faith symbolized by the Green Banyan Tree, so this is perhaps a testament to their Glory. In fact... the massive Green Banyan growing on the castle is the only one of its kind in the whole world!"

"As everyone knows, this is also the hometown of the continent's historical and cultural celebrity, the Legend inventor, the founder of modern medicine, the Father of the Steam Engine, the Conqueror of Kajiashi, and the Green Forest Earl—Aaron Sotos!"

"Although there have been many Green Forest Earls throughout history, when this title is mentioned, everyone only thinks of Aaron Sotos. Regrettably, we cannot see the face of this celebrity from a thousand years ago; works like oil paintings can usually only be preserved for a few hundred years, and the Green Forest Earl of that time did not leave behind any statues..."

As the tour guide lady explained, her gaze swept over the crowd, lingering for a long time on a young gentleman.

The other party was dressed decently, his pure white stand-collar shirt ironed neatly without a single wrinkle, wearing a black wool formal coat over it, and a black silk top hat on his head; everything was in the most popular fashion style of the Kingdom.

Even more astonishing was his handsome face, with purple eyes like stars, and his temperament clearly marked him as someone from high society.

At this moment, this gentleman looked at the castle, which had been renovated many times and converted into an exhibition hall, a look of extremely complex nostalgia appearing on his face.