Chapter 3478

Spatial fluctuations gradually subsided, and Su Xiao returned to his private room. This time's vacant seat banquet, due to the accumulation from the previous two times, yielded especially satisfying returns.

Su Xiao glanced at the nearby floating Soul-Shattering Shadow Stone. The fusion of the Soul-Shattering Shadow Stone was already complete, but this thing still needed to stabilize, allowing the primal energy inside to become stable before it could be used. Don't forget, "Soul-Shattering Shadow" is an ability developed by the historically most vicious female exterminator, Green Gillian. To master this ability, one must be stable.

The ideal way is to first see Green Gillian's remnant soul and inquire about the details of "Soul-Shattering Shadow."

The problem is whether Green Gillian's remnant soul exists, which is still unknown. As for asking the old exterminator or Marvin Waltz, they, having mastered "Devouring Shadow," are incompatible with "Soul-Shattering Shadow."

"Devouring Shadow" and "Soul-Shattering Shadow" each have their pros and cons. The former requires devouring blade demon energy or sealing it within the body. The old exterminator and Marvin Waltz did exactly that—one devoured blade demon energy, the other sealed it.

Su Xiao took another path: he sealed the blade demon energy within his blade, thereby mastering the Magic Blade ability.

When "Soul-Shattering Shadow" was mentioned earlier, the old exterminator and Marvin Waltz's "you're on your own" gaze undoubtedly represented the high risk of mastering this ability.

"Devouring Shadow" is invincible in group battles, "Void-Shattering Shadow" is the fastest in speed, and "Soul-Shattering Shadow" is the strongest in one-on-one combat. These three systems are actually all based on the Azure Qing Qing Gang Ying ability, having evolved from it.

After observing the Soul-Shattering Shadow Stone for a moment and feeling it still wasn't stable enough, Su Xiao paid 50 soul coins to let it continue stabilizing.

Arriving at the alchemy laboratory, Su Xiao picked up the alchemy secret manual on the experimental table and began interpreting the content on page six. His index finger touched the metal page, and mental power emanated from his fingertip, like faint blue ink stains, rendering each engraving on the page blue.

Two hours later, Su Xiao lifted his index finger. He felt a splitting headache, occasional double vision appeared in his sight, and there was a bitter almond taste in his mouth—this was due to excessive mental fatigue. He had already interpreted part of page six before, originally intending to finish this page this time and see what good things were recorded on the back of page six, but he got stuck on the final engraving.

Su Xiao's engraving interpretation this time was a bit too forceful, causing a subtle tearing sensation in his mental power. He rubbed his brow, rested for a moment, then decided to finish preparing this batch of potion quotas, then go soak in a hot spring, then sleep, to calmly escape his current dire state.

Ten hours later, in the planting area, accompanied by the sound of several hummingbirds flapping their wings, Su Xiao sat up from the vine bed. Given the area of the planting area, raising some birds was naturally no problem, especially since this time's permit increase had expanded the planting area by nearly half.

There are many hummingbirds here, as well as other bird species. One kind has an explosive hairstyle, looking quite funny. There's also a parrot abandoned and rescued by Am, chattering nonstop all day.

Because it's too noisy, Su Xiao glanced at it, and it has been silent for several days now. Fortunately, Bubu is uninterested in parrots other than Mali Li; it stares at Mali Li mainly to film short videos.

These birds were all picked up by Am and are well cared for by Am. These bird species fear Su Xiao the most, then fear Benny, are neutral toward Bahar, and are close to Bubu and Am.

Su Xiao checked the team channel; the potions prepared this time have all been sold, yielding a total profit of 5362 soul coins. The returns from potions are becoming increasingly satisfying.

Pushing open the door and walking out of the planting area, Su Xiao checked the Soul-Shattering Shadow Stone. The primal energy inside was still not stable enough, but there was also good news: the fusion of 【Faceless】+【Ancient Mask】 had actually succeeded.

Su Xiao previously thought this fusion would definitely fail, possibly even sacrificing the Ancient Mask, but it succeeded instead. He took out the fused 【Ancient Mask】.

【Ancient Mask】

Origin: Abyss/Turbid Evil Warmbed (Faceless People's Dwelling).

Quality: This equipment has no fixed level constant, but has an upper limit.

Category: Special Ornament

Material: Fate Tree Bark, Hundred-Faced Bird Feathers, Chitin, Forgetter's Blood, Faceless Souls……

Durability Equipment Requirement: Willpower above 70 points.

Basic Trait: All Things Equilibrium (Passive). The disguise effect brought by this equipment will be determined by the wearer's charm attribute, soul strength, natural/elemental affinity, and compatibility.

Equipment Effect 1: All Beings (Active). After wearing this mask, one can use a medium to disguise appearance, voice, physique, behavior patterns, breath, etc.

Hint: The medium is divided into three tiers in total.

1. The target's personal belongings.

2. The target's flesh, bones, organs, etc.

3. The target themselves, requiring the body to be over 80% intact (the mask will devour them).

Hint: The choice of medium will determine the maximum duration of the disguise state (e. g., if the disguised target has already been devoured by the mask, then disguising this person will have no time limit).

Hint: This ability cannot disguise gender, nor can it disguise targets whose body size exceeds three times the user's.

Hint: After each use of this item, it will consume 1 durability point + 1 point of the user's charm attribute (charm attribute is permanently deducted).

Equipment Effect 2: Seal Retention (Passive). After this mask devours a unit, it will "seal" that unit's disguise, allowing the user to disguise as that unit at any time, without needing to pay the disguise cost again.

Hint: Seal Retention (Passive) can store at most two disguises, but can replace already "sealed" disguises.

Equipment Drawback: Mask (Absolute Passive·Cannot Be Resisted). This equipment is extremely fragile; after being attacked, it will be damaged, thus escaping your grasp and fleeing to an unknown place.

Equipment Drawback: Faceless Greed (Absolute Passive·Cannot Be Resisted). You must periodically "feed" this mask; it will only devour items related to the "Abyss" or "Fate."

Equipment Drawback: Arrogant Conduct (Absolute Passive·Cannot Be Resisted). Due to the influence of the proud face among the myriad faces, after wearing this equipment, you cannot move too fast—at most a slow jog or brisk walk; otherwise, the disguise level will plummet.

Rating: Visible after wearing.

Introduction: The myriad faces of the Faceless gaze upon you. What you consider dangerous may not be, while what you overlook may bring greater danger. Use it cautiously—though it is truly very useful.

Price: Tradable, transferable, lendable, abandonable.

……

The attributes of the 【Ancient Mask】 can be said to have changed greatly. It looks complex, but is actually easy to understand. Its grade is hard to determine, because it entirely depends on the individual user.

Charm, soul strength, natural/elemental affinity—high in these, the disguise level from wearing this will be high. Su Xiao thinks this suits him well.

First, his charm attribute is -12 points, but his soul strength reaches 590 points. Even stepping back, if we offset the two, just the bonus from elemental affinity alone is astonishingly high.

Su Xiao's current elemental affinity is 923 points. This thing increases on its own when idle; Su Xiao has always felt this attribute is useless.

If the magic grandpa or spellcasters knew Su Xiao's thoughts, they would surely roar a curse at you.

Now, the "Ten Thousand Year Waste" elemental affinity finally takes effect—this means Su Xiao wearing the Ancient Mask will have a very high disguise level.

Besides this basic bonus, the Ancient Mask's effect is simple: disguise others through a medium. Of course, the best medium is to kill the person to be disguised, let the mask devour them, and store this disguise.

This thing has drawbacks: if struck in the face, it shatters. If the mask breaks, it will seize the chance to flee. As for not being able to run after wearing it—this doesn't matter. With the trait of shattering on impact, it's destined not to be worn in battle.

What truly makes Su Xiao wary is that this mask needs regular feeding, and it's picky—it only eats items from the Abyss, as well as fate-related items.

Earlier, Su Xiao obtained "Dark Blade" and worried it might create a "Dad-tier" item. Now it seems not; the one truly qualified to become a "Dad-tier" item is not the mass-produced "Dark Blade" from Abyss output, but the unassuming "Ancient Mask."

This might also be a trait of Abyss power—difficult to control its regularity.

To be fair, the "Ancient Mask" is truly useful. Su Xiao is hesitating whether to use it. One can estimate its effect will grow stronger and also become harder to control. But one point: Su Xiao has already come into contact with upper-tier "Dad-tier" items. With his dual identities as an exterminator and a reincarnation paradise hunter, he basically won't be favored by "Dad-tier" items.

That is to say, even if a new "Dad-tier" item is raised, it will probably "look down" on Su Xiao, leading to a peaceful parting, neither harming the other.

Even if truly entangled, Su Xiao has a backup—just pay some cost, let Caesar help him pass a tribulation, and send this new "Dad-tier" item away.

Moreover, Su Xiao's goal is not to make the Ancient Mask become a "Dad-tier" item; he wants to use it during its enhancement to gain profit for himself.

Having thought this through, Su Xiao took out a piece of black maple branch, threw it into the mask. The next second, crimson energy threads extended from within the mask, greedily devouring this small piece of black maple branch. This feel is somewhat close to a wooden mask, and it especially loves black maple branches.

After the mask devoured the black maple branch, Su Xiao felt that the Ancient Mask's rejection of him had greatly decreased, and compatibility surged upward.

Originally, the compatibility between this mask and myself was -15.7%, barely usable, but now, the compatibility of this thing with myself has soared to 98.6%, so real it leaves one speechless.

Su Xiao took out the 【Misfortune Gold Coin】; this lucky item, after following me, has always looked down on me. A'Duo'er tossing it for half a day wouldn't temporarily reduce 1 point of luck, but Su Xiao tossing it once would temporarily reduce 1 point of luck—'billing' that's precise, reducing luck for 5 hours, definitely exactly 5 hours, not a second less.

Earlier, A'Duo'er temporarily reduced 1 point of luck, and damn it, it recovered in less than 5 minutes. This made Su Xiao realize that this 【Misfortune Gold Coin】 is a sycophant—facing A'Duo'er's fawning, which is shocking, Su Xiao uses it, and this broken coin becomes utterly impartial.

Su Xiao has seen plenty of junk equipment, but sycophant equipment—he's truly seeing it for the first time. Originally, he planned to give it to Caesar to let him know the wickedness of this world, but now it's unnecessary.

Ding~

Su Xiao tossed the 【Misfortune Gold Coin】; the coin fell, great misfortune, Su Xiao's luck temporarily -1 point, his eyes narrowed.

Well, the coin is gone.

Damn it, in the Reincarnation Paradise, one can still toss great misfortune. Su Xiao previously thought it was due to his own bad fortune, unrelated to this special equipment with a 'tool spirit', that it was his own problem. Now it seems, it's not that at all.

Farewell, sycophant gold coin.

Su Xiao casually tossed the misfortune gold coin into the mask; the next second, the ancient mask revealed its ferocious side—crimson tendril threads pulled the misfortune gold coin apart and finally devoured it.

Su Xiao took out the "Dark Blade"; after the "Dark Blade" appeared, he found the ancient mask in his hand trembling. This thing wasn't out of fear, but excitement to the point of frenzy—the crimson tendrils protruding from inside the mask writhed, as if craving Su Xiao to feed it the dark blade.

Seeing this, Su Xiao put both away—one into his personal storage, the other into the team storage. His earlier guess was correct: the ancient mask has the prerequisite of a parent-level artifact. Seeing the dark blade, its first reaction wasn't fear of higher-level abyssal artifacts, but to devour it.

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The ancient mask obtained by casually inserting willow branches let Su Xiao feel even more the uncontrollability of abyssal power, and his awe toward the abyss deepened somewhat.

Su Xiao sat cross-legged on the carpet; he currently has 585 complete soul crystals, took out 200, to enhance the Blood Spear Master ability.

【Yes/No to enhance Blood Spear Master—enhancing this ability requires complete soul crystals ×100 pieces, as well as 34 soul coins.】

One by one, soul crystals shattered around Su Xiao; the feeling of enhancing Blood Spear Master from Lv. 57 to Lv. 59 wasn't particularly obvious, after all, it's an accumulative process—technique abilities are in tiers of 10 levels, thus a major benefit appears only occasionally.

Su Xiao currently has 48 soul crystal cores; he thought it over and decided to first push the Blood Spear Master so that all three technique abilities reach or exceed Lv. 60.

Moreover, when enhancing to Lv. 60 and above, Su Xiao can to some extent alter the Blood Spear Master's traits—this is one benefit of technique abilities: as long as the general direction is correct, taking a few wrong small steps along the way can be corrected.

【To enhance Blood Spear Master requires consuming soul crystal cores ×10 pieces, as well as 540 soul coins.】

Su Xiao chose to enhance; he took out the 10 soul crystal cores, which shattered, turning into soul energy that sank into his body. His blood qi surged, startling Benny, who was sleeping on the cat rack, into exploding fur and waking up; together with Bubu Wang, they slipped under the bed.

After a long while, when the erupted blood qi re-aggregated, Su Xiao, sitting cross-legged on the ground, opened his eyes. The red light emanating from his eyes, and his current aura, were enough to make those with weak willpower faint on the spot.

Su Xiao could feel that this transformation of the Blood Spear Master was significant.

【Blood Spear Master (Passive)】

Skill Effect: Blood qi attack power increased by 372%, bodily energy control greatly enhanced (Qing Qing Qing Gang Ying/Blood Qi).

Blood Qi Intensity: 85 points.

Lv. 10 Ultimate Ability: Slaughter Spear Blade (Passive)—all your blood qi-based attacks carry a life force recovery suppression effect (determined by the enemy's stamina value, deciding the degree of suppression).

Lv. 20 Ultimate Ability: Ruthless Spear Blade (Passive)—all your blood qi-based attacks carry a defense-weakening trait.

Lv. 30 Ultimate Ability: Iron Blood Spear Blade (Passive)—all your blood qi-based attacks carry a defense/armor penetration trait (high amount).

Lv. 40 Ultimate Ability: Die and Be Reborn (Passive)—when your blood drops to a near-death state, your soul power will be fully activated; during this period, all your melee attack damage increases by 50%.

Lv. 50 Ultimate Ability: Blood Death (Passive)—after your blood qi ability attacks an enemy, the enemy will, in the subsequent 10 seconds, receive a total of true bleeding damage equal to the Hunter's Agility attribute ×3.1.

Tip: If the enemy's stamina attribute is below a certain degree, they will suffer deep blood death state.

Deep Blood Death Effect: Wounds cannot be healed by conventional means (such as healing potions, healing abilities, high-tech medical treatment, etc. —none can treat this injury); the enemy will continuously suffer true bleeding effect until death.

Lv. 60 Ultimate Ability: Blood Soul Resonance (Passive)—requires raising the breath external release ability to or above this level to fully awaken this ability.

Tip; if blood qi resonance is completed, your blood qi external release ability will merge into this ability.

……

The changes to the Blood Spear Master, compared to before, can be described as worlds apart. Su Xiao previously chose the wrong direction, so the Blood Spear Master's enhancement was blood spear attack power—at Lv. 57, it increased blood spear attack power by 654%.

Now it has become blood qi attack power increased by 372%, which seems weaker but is actually not so—blood qi attack power represents the enhancement of the Blade Dao Blade·Blood Blade, Blood Shadow, and Slay sword techniques.

Moreover, due to the existence of fixed upper-limit ability, the blood spear used for long-range sniping is actually not weakened; the blood spear has an upper limit of 1, and all aspects have massive enhancement.

Su Xiao feels the current Blood Spear Master suits him better—or rather, the enhancement to blade techniques is higher, and the manifested blood spear has two uses: preventing himself from being kited, and coordinating with the "Slaughter Ring" for ultra-long-range sniping.

Su Xiao calmed his breath for a moment, used the remaining soul crystal cores to enhance his own blade technique ability.

【Tip: Blade Technique Master has been enhanced to Su Xiao checking blade technique ability—overall stable rise; the transformation of the Blade Domain still requires some time.

Take out the "Basic Passive Skill Scroll Treasure Box" obtained from Yuyu An—this thing, when opened, doesn't check luck; seven choices, one of seven "Basic Passives" are all the highest potential ones, thus it's equivalent acquisition.

【You have opened the Basic Passive Skill Scroll Treasure Box.】

【Random draw in progress……】

【You obtained Basic Passive·Awakening.】

【Basic Passive·Awakening, Lv. 1.】

Type: Basic·Passive Scroll

Corresponding Trait: Perception.

Prerequisite 1: Stamina attribute 6 points (achieved).

Prerequisite 2: True agility, stamina attribute 230 points (achieved).

Prerequisite 3: Have mastered one kind of perception ability above Lv. 50 (achieved).

Tip: Satisfying any one of the three prerequisites allows mastery of this ability; if all three prerequisites are satisfied, the potential of 'Basic Passive·Awakening' will be fully unleashed, making it a top-potential basic passive ability.

Skill Effect 1 (Potential Fully Unleashed): Perception +2 points (this refers to perception speed, perception accuracy, perception acuity, perception intensity, etc.).

Tip: Perception intensity is extremely important; when the enemy's attack capability exceeds your perception intensity tolerance limit, your perception circle may temporarily 'shatter', entering a state of no perception—this state's duration will be determined by your perception value and the degree of damage to your body's perception system.

Skill Effect 2 (Potential Fully Unleashed): Body perception potential upper limit +1.

Skill Effect 3 (Potential Fully Unleashed): Meditation, contemplating nature, ability development, etc., efficiency increased by 10% (this refers to increasing the total of all existing bonuses by 10%).

……

It can be said that 'Basic Passive·Awakening' is quite a good ability; enhancing this ability benefits one's development. In melee combat afterward, perception is also crucial—he will use up the skill scroll in his hand.

【You have already mastered Basic Passive·Awakening.】

Su Xiao checked the skill list and, by the way, tested the upgrade cost of "Basic Passive·Awakening". He could imagine that such a top-tier potential basic passive, when upgraded, would definitely be so expensive as to make one doubt life.

【Upgrading Basic Passive·Awakening Lv. 1 requires consuming 240 Soul Coins.】

Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao found that the upgrade cost of this ability was unexpectedly friendly, as friendly as "Basic Passive·Physique" in the later stages.

Previously, Su Xiao thought "Basic Passive·Physique" would require at least 160,000 Soul Coins as a base, but the result was that "Basic Passive·Physique" only used 135,000 Soul Coins. The upgrade range of this ability belongs to: it doesn't feel expensive in the early stage, becomes increasingly expensive in the mid stage, requires one's old life in the mid-to-late stage, and finally trends toward smoothness, merely slightly higher than the mid-to-late stage.

Su Xiao currently has 10,538 Soul Coins. He decided to go to the Skill Upgrade Hall to try it out. Perhaps this perception attribute corresponding basic passive is even friendlier than imagined, and among the many basic passives, the least friendly is "Basic Passive·Soul Toughness", so expensive it makes one's vision go dark.

Three hours later, Su Xiao walked out of the Skill Upgrade Hall. His "Basic Passive·Awakening" ability had been successfully upgraded, with Soul Coins remaining at 218.

This gain was due both to the fact that upgrading this top-tier potential perception passive ability is not too expensive, and because the 【Reincarnation·Glory Badge】 reduced the upgrade cost by 20%.

【Basic Passive·Awakening Skill Effect 1: Perception +34 points.

Skill Effect 2: Physical Perception Potential Upper Limit +3.

Skill Effect 3: Meditation, comprehending nature, ability development, etc., efficiency increased by 61% (this is an increase of 61% on top of the sum of all existing bonuses)

……

Su Xiao experienced a rare perception overflow, making him feel that everything around him was very slow. What the passing contractors chatting were saying became so slow that he began to not hear clearly.

This state was just right for going to the Land of All Beings. The remaining stay time, he would mostly spend in the Land of All Beings, now that the Land of All Beings is free, always free-riding, always enjoyable.

Arriving at the Training Ground, Su Xiao transmitted into the Land of All Beings, and a prompt appeared.

【Enter the Eighth Layer of the Land of All Beings? You need to confirm your Physical Attribute is above 240 points and Soul Strength is above 320 points to stay in the Land of All Beings·Eighth Layer for more than 24 hours.】

Su Xiao chose to enter. The next second, he appeared on a barren black land, with the surrounding ground filled with various long blades.

Su Xiao looked around. Unlike when he was in the Seventh Layer of the Land of All Beings, he did not see a frozen lake formed by soul energy.

【Prompt: You have entered the Absolute Protection State.】

【Your vital points—brain, heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, etc. —are all protected by an absolutely invincible protective layer.】

【While in the Land of All Beings·Eighth Layer, you can enjoy high-level recovery effects for free (healing your injuries to the state you had when you first entered the Land of All Beings·Eighth Layer).】

【The Land of All Beings·Eighth Layer has two key facilities in total: 1. Training Ground, 2. Land of Thought.】

【Training Ground: Used to perfect one's abilities.】

【Land of Thought: Used to conceive new abilities, or to conceive and perfect existing abilities.】

……

Su Xiao looked ahead. On the distant mountain peak's top, there was a stone platform. He had just thought of going there when he was directly transmitted to the summit.

Su Xiao sat cross-legged on a small circular stone platform. Initially, he felt nothing. Soon, he discovered that in the aspect of sword technique move development, his inspiration had become abundant, and this feeling kept growing stronger.

He temporarily did not need to develop new sword technique moves, so he looked toward the Training Ground, that is, that barren land filled with various long blades. The next instant, he was transmitted to the Training Ground.

Su Xiao made the draw-and-slash posture, drew his sword and slashed diagonally. With a whoosh, a black-red slash matching chain was diagonally slashed out—it was Blade Dao Sword·Slay.

Suddenly, hundreds of figures appeared around him. They were identical in form to Su Xiao, but their bodies were made of soul energy. All of them made the draw posture and slashed Blade Dao Sword·Slay at Su Xiao.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh……

For a moment, Su Xiao was drowned by the slashing matching chains of Slay. When his eyes reopened, he was already standing at the starting point of the Training Ground. Undoubtedly, this was the deepest feeling he had ever had of Blade Dao Sword·Slay. Previously, he always used this ability to slash others; today, for the first time, he was slashed by this ability, and moreover, over a hundred instances of Slay drowned him. Fortunately, he had the invincible shield.

This function of experiencing one's own sword technique inadequacy is merely part of the Training Ground's effects.

After Su Xiao activated the limit, a figure identical to him in form and aura appeared ahead. This replicated body can only exist within the Eighth Layer of the Land of All Beings, and all its abilities are exactly the same as Su Xiao's.

To perfect one's abilities, fighting oneself is undoubtedly the best choice. To improve proficiency, the Seventh Layer of the Land of All Beings is most suitable.

Speaking metaphorically of "proficiency", within the Seventh Layer, when Su Xiao himself slashes once, the thousands of soul avatars formed around him will also slash the same strike. After the soul avatars shatter, the insight from slashing this strike is fed back to Su Xiao himself through soul energy, commonly known as one slash gaining thousands of points of "Quantity Degree".

After honing a sword technique move to proficiency, coming to the Eighth Layer to battle one's mirror image with sword technique moves undoubtedly best allows one to experience how one's newly developed ability functions and what its shortcomings are, thus enabling perfection.

After perfecting one move, one goes to the Land of Thought in the Eighth Layer to sit for a while. Soon, one can comprehend the opportunity to continue breaking through this move's upper limit. Then one returns to the Seventh Layer, frantically stacking the move's proficiency, and ultimately, as long as one's body and will can endure, this cycle makes the honing of sword technique moves most efficient.

When the remaining stay time in the Reincarnation Paradise was 2 hours, Su Xiao left the Training Ground, dragging his fatigued body back to his exclusive room to soak in the hot springs. Soaking until half-asleep, half-awake, he returned to the second floor of the accessory shop in the real world.

Real life remained peaceful. Su Xiao rarely woke up naturally. After experiencing full vigor, he took out an item.

【Dragon Academy Recommendation Letter (usable during the return to the real world for rest. Due to world time flow speed difference, in the world where the Dragon Academy is located, 10 natural days = 1 natural day in the real world. After arriving at the Dragon Academy, you cannot obtain World Origin, treasure chests, etc., in this world. This world is a super high-level world).】

After consideration, Su Xiao decided to let Bonnie and Am rest in the real world. Previously, they had played through a world's progress, and both were nearly autistic, needing to relax. Therefore, this time he went with Bubu and Bahamut.

Su Xiao prepared to go to the Dragon Academy to explore the power of crystals. This time, he did not seek to master any ability, but rather to obtain crystal-related knowledge and combat experience records of the crystal defense system. In this regard, the Dragon Academy is a good place.

Su Xiao did not intend to stay long at the Dragon Academy. After obtaining crystal-related knowledge, he would return, rest and recuperate, and welcome the next nightmare-difficulty world.

While waiting, the door of the accessory shop was pushed open. A short, frail figure walked in and said:

"My dear friend, let's set off."