Chapter 7: Basil Inn

Lei En walked away briskly, not letting out a breath until the church was out of sight.

He rolled up his sleeve to check; there had been a bruise on his arm left from a beating, still very visible when he looked in the mirror back at the apartment, but now it had faded to near disappearance.

At this moment, every wounded spot on his body felt a warm current, his muscles somewhat sore and swollen, as if many ants were crawling inside him, both numb and itchy, yet very comfortable.

The spot at the back of his head that had taken a heavy blow was the same—even when he pressed it with his hand, he could no longer feel any pain.

Lei En finally understood why he could recover from his injuries so quickly, despite being beaten by Ramsey for so long, sustaining severe wounds all over, and being sunk into the river.

This was all the effect of the phone absorbing souls.

What it absorbed in the square just now was Ruiz's soul, and last night when he crossed over, what he absorbed was the soul of his predecessor—the previous "Lei En"!

Without his predecessor's contribution, the current Lei En could not possibly have come back from the dead.

Thinking of this, Lei En's feelings were very complicated.

Not only had he taken over someone else's body, he hadn't even spared the soul, turning it into nourishment for his own body's recovery.

"I will personally avenge you," Lei En said silently.

Besides the surge in battery level and his injuries being nearly healed, two or three more icons had been activated on the phone's interface. But there were too many people on the street, so Lei En did not immediately check what these icons did and continued searching for lodging.

As he walked along, Lei En quietly turned on the camera, observing the people who appeared in his field of view.

Under his strange eyes, every person's soul was fully revealed.

Lei En found that the vast majority of people's souls were about the same—at least in terms of strength, the differences among ordinary people were very small.

After covertly observing several hundred people along the way, he gradually discerned some patterns.

The color of a soul represents a person's emotions.

When people are relaxed and calm, with little emotional fluctuation, the soul appears pale white; if their emotions are agitated, such as anger or fury, it shifts from white to red—the redder the color, the more intense the emotional fluctuation and the deeper the anger.

When emotions are low, such as sadness or grief, the soul turns blue.

Green indicates happiness and joy; yellow indicates concern or admiration.

Pain and fear are black; disgust and dissatisfaction are pink; numbness and dullness are gray.

But the color of a soul is not always pure and singular; people's emotions are constantly changing, usually blending two or even more colors together like a mixed blob of paint.

If a person was relatively far away, Lei En could only see the changes in soul color and would find it difficult to immediately distinguish a person's emotional fluctuation.

Only when he was within ten paces, focusing his mind on a single target, could he intuitively sense the soul's fluctuations, as if feeling them himself, and most precisely experience a person's mood.

From all Lei En had observed along the way, the people of Lien District had souls predominantly gray, mixed with some blue or pink, and very few had green or white in their souls.

Lei En sighed inwardly; this was obvious.

How could people living in a slum possibly be in a good mood? Few people would feel satisfied with life here.

Color is the outward manifestation of the soul, and within lies the true essence of the soul.

Lei En noticed that deep within every person's soul lurked a bizarre thing.

This thing resembled a symbol, extremely tiny in size, and easy to overlook if one didn't look carefully. It was composed of red and black, twisted into a mass, baring fangs and brandishing claws, swimming within everyone's soul like a living creature, giving off a filthy aura.

Lei En was very familiar with this aura; it was extremely similar to the aura on Ruiz just now—the two clearly came from the same source.

"Blood Soul Curse!"

Lei En recognized it immediately.

An evil thing present in every person's soul—

what else could it be but the Blood Soul Curse?

"Is the Blood Soul Curse in my soul the same as everyone else's?" Lei En couldn't be certain, because he couldn't see the state of his own soul.

Although he had heard the Lord of Darkness's whispers in a nightmare last night, which confirmed the curse existed, his soul was formed from the fusion of two people, and with the MutatedPhone present, he didn't know whether there would be a difference.

Aside from the Blood Soul Curse, the vast majority of people's soul forms were very simple, and Lei En could see through them inside and out at a glance, which indicated they were ordinary people.

Only a very few people had souls that were both powerful and distinct.

These people's souls were similar to the Holy Swordsman Dempus's—more solid, with layers, and at the deepest core, besides the Blood Soul Curse, there were other foreign objects present.

Some of these foreign objects were abstract characters, others took the form of some kind of creature, all different from one another.

Lei En knew these things were soul Elements!

Each Element within a soul represented a kind of ability, and those who possessed Elements were all extraordinary beings.

For instance, Lei En saw an extremely burly man, a head taller than ordinary people, wearing light armor on his upper body, stepping in tall combat boots, with a round iron shield hanging on his back, and a sword wedged between the shield and his back, only the hilt visible—but judging from the thick hilt alone, this sword was definitely not light.

He walked on the street, his heavy footsteps producing dull thuds, yet his speed was not slow; pedestrians ahead scrambled to get out of his way, afraid of being bumped by him.

Anyone could tell this was an extraordinary being.

Lei En observed this extraordinary being's soul: several times stronger than an ordinary person's, divided into three layers from outside in, with two Elements at the deepest level.

Somewhat curious, he quietly quickened his pace to follow the man, concentrating his mind and staring directly at the soul.

The details of the two Elements magnified in his eyes: one was a white tricolor symbol, the other took the form of a gray stone rune.

Lei En didn't know what these two Elements were called, but the intuitive sensations coming from the Elements let him understand their functions.

The white symbol represented pure strength, granting the man power far exceeding that of ordinary people;

The gray stone rune could make a person's skin tough and resilient, their physique powerful, able to resist ordinary injuries and enhance the body's overall resistance to blows.

"This person is an 'Iron Guard'—no wonder he's wearing a full suit of armor."

Lei En didn't have a deep understanding of extraordinary professions, but he also knew that Iron Guard was one of the most common extraordinary professions.

Iron Guards excelled in defense; while their raw strength was not as great as a "Berserker's," they were balanced in offense and defense, had enduring stamina, and possessed tenacious Willpower, able to adapt to all kinds of combat environments. Many nobles and merchant guilds liked to hire Iron Guards as escorts or even cultivate them themselves, so they were very popular.

The Iron Guard's weakness was slow speed, but this was relative to other extraordinary professions.

In the eyes of ordinary people, this Iron Guard walked extremely fast, covering a great distance with each stride, and left others behind in just a few steps.

Lei En hadn't intended to keep following, but then he saw the man enter an inn by the roadside.

This inn was very large, occupying the best spot on the street, roughly at the center of Lien District, three stories tall in total, with a large courtyard behind it.

Even from far away, one could hear the noisy sounds coming from the inn's hall.

"Basil Inn."

Lei En observed for a moment. Guests were entering and leaving the inn from time to time, and to his surprise, quite a few of them were extraordinary beings—he had already spotted three in just this short while.

This immediately caught his interest.

It was still morning, not even lunchtime yet, but this inn was so lively, and with so many extraordinary beings coming and going, it was clearly no ordinary inn.

Lei En entered through the front door, and a strong smell of alcohol hit him in the face.

Looking around, the spacious hall had a dozen or so tables set up, and half of them had guests seated around them. They drank freely and shouted loudly, paying no attention at all to someone walking in.

People gathered around the tables not just to drink, but to play cards.

"It's my turn to play, haha, you're dead this round!"

"Fireball, blow you to pieces!"

"What kind of bullshit luck is that hand of yours?"

"Damn it, I don't accept that, deal again."

Voices rose one after another. Each person clutched the cards in their hands, their expressions focused yet animated.

Some drew good cards and happily chugged large mouthfuls of beer; some lost and cursed loudly; others scratched their heads and ears, fretting over their bad luck; the onlookers joined in the jeering, and several waiters wove through the hall carrying trays of drinks. The whole inn was noisy and never quiet for a moment.

Of course, not everyone was playing cards—some just sat at the tables with friends, drinking and chatting, seemingly exchanging information.

Seeing this scene, Lei En was momentarily stunned.

It was completely different from what he had expected. Then he remembered: what they were playing was a game called "Ten Thousand Spirits Cards."

This game had been popular in the Empire for many years. It originated as simulated combat between extraordinary professionals called "Ten Thousand Spirits Wizards." Later, the gameplay gradually spread, and more and more people began to play. The Alchemy Association saw the business opportunity, refined the rules, and officially issued various cards. Enthusiasts spent money buying and collecting them, then battled friends across a table.

Ten Thousand Spirits Cards was popular not only among ordinary people, but many nobles and extraordinary beings were also devoted to it.

Some well-funded enthusiasts even established clubs and held regular tournaments. The tournaments were ranked by scale, and winners not only received prize money but could also earn special titles and gain admirers.

It was so popular that there was even a profession dedicated to playing cards, called a card player.

Lei En had never played Ten Thousand Spirits Cards himself; he had only watched classmates play.

Because the cards were not cheap, nor easy to collect.

To play a round, each person needed at least a set of 60 cards. Prices rose according to the cards' quality—the cheapest ordinary cards cost only a few copper liso, while the rarest legendary cards were said to be worth tens of thousands of Gold Shields, enough to make one's jaw drop!

Lei En skirted past this group of guests who had come to play cards first thing in the morning and arrived at the inn's front counter.

Before he could speak, a deep voice came from behind the counter—clearly audible even in such a noisy hall.

"Young man, are you here to stay, or to play cards?"

A warm face tilted up from behind the counter. Its age was hard to tell—most of it was hidden beneath a dense red beard. A large nose was very prominent, and deep-set brown eyes sat in sunken sockets. The eyebrows were thick and bushy, while the red hair on top was shaved into an eye-catching mohawk.

Seeing this cockscomb-like hairstyle, Lei En almost couldn't hold back a laugh, but dared not actually laugh out loud.

Because this was a dwarf.

The counter was only half a person's height. Lei En could see the dwarf's body—even though the other party was only as tall as his chest, his frame had expanded sideways, with arms thicker than Lei En's thighs, a broad waist and round shoulders, and solid muscles, like a large wine barrel. He probably weighed twice as much as Lei En; if it came to a fight, Lei En would only end up getting beaten.

Dwarves were not humans; they had not been cursed and were born with brute strength.

Lei En discreetly probed the other party's soul. His soul was different from a human's, but more powerful than that of an ordinary extraordinary being.

He was somewhat surprised to see a dwarf in the Lien District.

Dwarves were not uncommon in the Empire, especially in large cities near mountains or along the coast. Many dwarves had settled down and ran various businesses, with some becoming formal subjects of the Empire.

Longshande had dwarves too, but they all lived in the relatively affluent Honiton District, or in Silver Star District where the extraordinary academy was located, and generally did not come out easily.

"Boss, how much is your cheapest room?" Lei En asked.