Chapter 269: Normal Food

While pondering, Rekton turned his head to look at Klein, who was shrouded in gray fog at the very head of the table, and said:

"Respected Mr. Fool, I may have a battle in the next few days, and I may request your help then, to create a patch of stormy weather suitable for combat."

"If the battle takes some unexpected turns, I may also need a battlefield of extreme heat."

Klein looked at Rekton speechlessly. His earlier words had mainly been meant for Little Sun to hear. A struggle between demigods? And you even need a battlefield advantage — are you planning to fight a whole group by yourself?

After muttering a couple of complaints in his heart, Klein maintained his calm demeanor and spoke in a leisurely tone:

"Agreed. When the time comes, chant my name."

"What kind of battle? Mr. White Tower, do you need help?"

After hearing Mr. Fool give an affirmative reply, Little Sun asked with great concern.

Rekton shook his head slightly and gave a soft laugh:

"I'm not alone. I don't need any additional help."

"Let's bring our exchange to a pause for now. There's no need to rush to find your chief right away. I'll bring you several portions of already-prepared food in a moment — it'll be more convincing that way."

"No problem."

Little Sun, Derrick, nodded repeatedly. He was extremely curious about what Mr. White Tower and his companions' food was like. It must be far more abundant than in our Silver City.

Rekton turned to look at Klein at the very head of the table. With a slight shift in his gaze, he opened his mouth and silently mouthed, "Wait a moment."

Crimson light rose up, slightly dazzling, and Rekton found that Little Sun's figure beside him had already vanished.

Klein dispersed the gray fog shrouding his front and looked at Rekton with puzzlement:

"Is there something else? Do you want to continue studying that crown?"

"No." Rekton shook his head slightly and said:

"Through this gray fog, can you use the abilities belonging to the Marauder pathway?"

"The Marauder's abilities?"

Klein murmured in thought, then closed his eyes and performed a simple divination.

Soon, he reopened his eyes and shook his head slightly:

"It won't work. If I had a corresponding item, I should be able to use the related abilities through this gray fog."

Hearing this answer, Rekton wasn't too disappointed. He had already guessed as much — after all, Klein had not yet truly mastered the Gray Fog.

Leaning back against the chair, he explained his purpose:

"I plan to split off the identity belonging to Rekton and transfer the Reader pathway characteristics within my body over to it."

"This soon? After I become a demigod and my control over this place deepens, I might be able to manage it."

Klein spoke with puzzlement. The other party had mentioned this intention to him before, but hadn't seemed so urgent about it at the time.

Rekton smiled helplessly:

"I need to stay in the Southern Continent for a long time, and I don't have suitable candidates under me, so I can only figure out ways to squeeze my own avatar."

"It's not a big problem. I'll contact Palleis in a while — by then His state will have recovered somewhat, and stealing the characteristics from my body shouldn't be an issue."

"Palleis? He's an angel of the Marauder pathway?"

Klein asked with some curiosity.

"That's right. Sequence 1 of the Marauder pathway, currently being hunted by A Meng, and presently parasitizing Leonard, barely clinging to life."

Klein fell briefly silent, unsure what to say for a moment. Even a Sequence 1 angel could only barely cling to life under A Meng's pursuit? Then I, who am similarly targeted by A Meng...

Seeing that Klein had stopped speaking, Rekton directly changed the subject:

"I'm currently in the White Whale Sea, some distance from shore, so the variety of food might not be enough. If it's convenient for you right now, you could help me supplement some."

Recalling that the food selection in the restaurant aboard the White Agate was fairly complete, with plenty of beverages too — after all, it was a passenger liner that docked once every two or three days.

Klein nodded gently and said:

"No problem."

"Right, don't teach Tu Ba Ge any strange things. A pirate on my end is about to explode with rage because of it — he even dreams about eating rabbit now."

Silver City.

Derrick, having ended his private exchange, woke up from his bed. He waited anxiously in his room for a period of time.

After roughly twenty rapidly alternating flashes of lightning, thick gray fog surged before his eyes, and a towering figure seated upon a high-backed chair appeared in his vision. The voice of Mr. Fool echoed in his ears:

"You may prepare the bestowal ritual."

Derrick immediately rose to his feet. He rubbed his fingers together, lit the candles that had long been arranged, dripped essential oils and hydrosols into the flames, took two steps back, and began chanting the prayer incantation:

"Fool who does not belong to this era, mysterious sovereign above the gray fog, Lord of Yellow and Black who wields good fortune."

"Your faithful servant beseeches your gaze;

Beseeches your bestowal;

Beseeches you to open the gates of the kingdom."

As the incantation finished, a phantom creaking sound seemed to echo in his ears. A phantom door was opened, and grayish-white fog poured forth from it. Then he saw portions of oddly shaped, variously colored food fall out from the phantom door.

Derrick hastily ended the ritual, bent down, and picked up the portions of packaged food one by one, placing them on the wooden table nearby.

Besides the food, there were also several bottles of strange liquid contained in glass bottles — some deep red, some orange-yellow, and others in colors he couldn't name.

Are these Mr. White Tower and his companions' food? How am I supposed to eat these? Derrick was momentarily at a loss, bewildered.

The next moment, grayish-white fog suddenly surged before his eyes, along with crimson light surging like a tide, coalescing into a series of images.

It showed a man with scorched-yellow eyebrows and deep blue eyes. With a seemingly reluctant expression, he opened every single boxed food item one by one and tasted each of them.

Is he a believer of Mr. Fool? Is this to cover up for me how to open and eat these foods?

"Thank you, great Mr. Fool!"

After the images that appeared in his vision faded, Derrick spoke with excitement and devotion to thank Mr. Fool.

He found a rope, bundled all the food together, and carried the several bottles of strange liquids called juice and wine in an animal-hide bag as he headed to the round tower where the chief of Silver City resided.

Dai Li Ke carried a heap of strange things that Silver City had never seen; he was strictly inspected many times by the guards at the base of the Round Tower; only after a figure shrouded in dark shadow appeared did the guards let him pass.

At the top of the Round Tower, in the Chief's room.

Dai Li Ke laid out all the food on the ground, then turned his head to look at the Silver City Chief, whose hair was white, whose laugh lines were pronounced, and whose cheeks still bore some deep or twisted old scars.

He swallowed, constantly organizing his wording in his mind, and after a brief pause he spoke.

"Your Excellency Chief, a member of the gathering wants to exchange for the Druid and Classical Alchemist's potion formulas."

"He proposed using their normal food from the outside world, and helping us develop crops that can adapt to Silver City's environment as exchange conditions; these are the prepared foods he sent over."

"If we agree to the trade, he will later exchange with us using food of equivalent value."

In the Silver City Chief Ke Lin·Yi Li Ya Te, a dark green complex symbol appeared in each of his left and right eyes.

After Dai Li Ke finished explaining the specifics of the deal, he then nodded slightly and said.

"Do you know the concrete value of the potion formula in their eyes, and what value the food he mentions has?"

Dai Li Ke shook his head and said.

"I don't know."

"However, I can ask other members for the corresponding prices and then make a comparison."

Chief Ke Lin neither approved nor objected, he nodded slightly, the dark green complex symbol in his eyes disappeared, and then his gaze passed over Dai Li Ke and looked toward the shadow behind him as he spoke.

"Notify Elder Looviya and the other elders who remain in Silver City to come."

Dai Li Ke was stunned for a moment, thinking the Chief was speaking to him, and just as he was about to respond, he heard a low voice coming from behind himself.

"All right."

Dai Li Ke waited anxiously in the Chief's room for a while.

Soon, all the elders of the Silver City Six-Person Council who were not on exploration missions arrived.

At Ke Lin's gesture, Dai Li Ke again explained the matter of exchanging potion formulas for food.

A woman wearing a purple-patterned black robe, beautiful and dignified, walked to the ground where the food was laid out after Dai Li Ke finished speaking.

She casually picked up a portion of food from the ground and awkwardly opened its lid.

She first closed her eyes to feel it carefully, then broke off a finger, threw the bloody finger into the lunch box; after a writhing of flesh and blood, she took out that finger, pressed it back, and the severed wound healed quickly, her palm restored to wholeness.

After doing all that, she turned her head to look at the remaining elders behind her and nodded slightly.

"No problem, at least I can't detect anything."

After Ke Lin nodded slightly, he turned his head to look at the people beside him and spoke after pondering.

"Hmm, who else wants to go check it out?"

The remaining elders exchanged glances, each went up to pick up a portion of food to inspect, but mostly they were curious about the so-called normal food, something they had never seen or even imagined.

(End of chapter)