Chapter 2605: Shopping

"Timestamp?"

The red-haired girl by the fire asked:

"This seems to be another new concept; I have never heard of it."

"This is a concept we defined ourselves: every individual exists at a correct point in time, and this point in time is that individual's timestamp. Of course, the timestamp changes in real-time because the time to which an individual belongs increases by every second. The introduction of this concept doesn't actually have much significance; you can just treat it as 'correct time'."

Mr. Davis said:

"Therefore, do not use 'Beacon Acorns' in a time that does not belong to you. After all, if you use them after traveling through time, then theoretically, everyone after the travel will have a different 'timestamp' than yours."

"Beacon Acorns," "Oak's Luck Potion," "Empty Bottle Fruit," and even "Time Stability Anchors" were all items on the list of items for sale that the 【Forest Hermit Society】 had provided to Xia De. Given Xia De's current reputation within the Hermit Society, this should be most of the items the hermits had available for sale.

Among them, the "Time Stability Anchor" was not the most expensive; the "Luck Potion" actually had the highest price. However, other items could be purchased with cash, while only the "Time Stability Anchor" could be exchanged for relics.

This item itself was not a relic, but its outstanding effects indeed had the value of a relic. Besides suppressing time curses, Xia De even thought that after members of the 【Tree Hole Society】 wore it, their "Haste Spell" would certainly be suppressed.

Therefore, he discussed it with Miss Danister, and in the end, Xia De handed over the Poet-level relic 【Noble Blood Red】, which he had obtained in Moon Bay City from that Marquis of Morsen whom he and Mr. Bernhard had played a "Heart of a Horse" joke on.

This was a reconnaissance-type relic that could turn into a small bat and share vision with the user, but many sorceries could achieve the same effect. Xia De had originally thought about giving it to Ajelina if there was a chance, but now it seemed the little princess would not be able to get it.

And the extra "Time Stability Anchor" belonged to "Miss Owl," who also needed one.

Besides the stability anchor, it was never wrong to stock up on two bottles of "Oak's Luck Potion," which could increase luck. Although there was a probability of entering the Angel-level relic 【Emerald Dream】 after drinking the potion, this was not considered a very bad negative effect.

It was just a pity that this potion could not be used often, and Xia De had already used it once this year, so he only bought a small bottle to give to Miss Danister.

It wasn't that he didn't want to buy more, but the hermits were only willing to sell one bottle. Their asking price was 100 Crowns, which was about 1300 to 1500 Pounds. Earlier this year, the price of that small bottle Old John sold to Xia De was only 132 Pounds (Chapter 1169).

This once made Xia De think that Old John had subsidized the difference last time, but when the hermits brought the bottle, Xia De discovered that the portion of this potion was much larger than what Old John had sold him, and only then did he understand that the old gentleman at the pawnshop had sold the potion separately.

"Beacon Acorns," that peculiar item used to detect time travelers, naturally also had to be purchased. Unlike "Empty Bottle Fruit," which was a relic derivative, and "Luck Potion," which was a divine item, Beacon Acorns were supernatural materials born purely from nature.

"We discovered a peculiar area in the forest full of oak trees. Anyone who enters that area will passively know the precise current time. This is somewhat similar to the effect of the sorcery 'Time Perception,' but one will lose this ability after leaving that area."

Beacon Acorns are all produced from the oak trees in that forest. Of course, we also processed the acorns to amplify their sensing ability."

This kind of acorn is very durable for storage, so the Hermit Society had quite a lot of stock, and the hermits also relied on these acorns to find ordinary people who traveled through time, like Baron Kaming.

The price of the acorns was 1 Crown for 6, which was about 2 Pounds each. Although this was still expensive, it was considered very cheap for the Outsider who was no longer poor.

It was just that, unlike the acorn Father Francois used that could maintain its effect for a month, the acorn Xia De bought could only exert its effect for 24 hours. This duration was related to the growth conditions of the acorn itself; the one Father Francois ate was obviously more precious.

And the sensing range of the acorn was linked to the user's own sensory ability.

Xia De finally bought 30 of them, and the hermits also reminded Xia De that this kind of thing could not be used frequently:

"Their detection function places a considerable burden on the mind."

"It's fine, we have many people."

Xia De was not worried about this, and then he studied the other contents of the list with Miss Danister.

The hermits not only sold potions and alchemical items, but they also sold a small number of relics, some knowledge of Ringed Shushi, and some interesting secrets.

Among the relics, a 【Youthful Eternal Leaf】 actually appeared, and just as Galina had once said, the selling price of this Poet-level relic far exceeded that of normal Poet-level relics. Of course, Xia De would not buy it.

Besides that, Xia De also saw a Poet-level relic 【Coin of Cat and Dog】 on the list.

Luweiya had once taken this relic out; its appearance was a gold coin the size of a Pound, with 【Cat and Dog, You and Me】 engraved on the side.

Luweiya had once personally said that this relic was forged by a demon, and handing the coin to any cat or dog would grant complete control over it before its death. But after both master and servant died, the demon would take away the soul of one of them, and this decision was made by the enslaved party.

"Why are you buying this?"

Miss Danister asked curiously, but Xia De smiled without explaining.

The knowledge of Ringed Shushi included basic sorceries and incantations, but there were also a small number of unique secret arts mastered by the Hermit Society itself. Most of the incantations among them were related to "Luck" and "Trees," and Xia De could not learn them until he obtained the miracle - 【Tree】 from this time key reward.

"The sorceries here that apply luck mostly require 【Luck】 or 【Fate】 spiritual runes; Luweiya would be very interested in this. Oh, Divine Berry Art, Dorothy knows this (Chapter 1030)."

Ordinary Divine Berries for healing, restoring physical strength, and satiety; blue Divine Berries for storing one's own Qi; purple Divine Berries for restoring mental power; green Divine Berries for increasing toxin resistance... This sorcery was actually developed with so many variants... Hmm? Divine Berry Bomb? This works too?"

Xia De looked at the list of sorceries, thinking about choosing gifts for Luweiya and Dorothy while also planning to choose interesting powers for himself.

Among the sorceries related to trees, 【Call Tree Man】 was a summoning-type incantation, and there were also advanced sorceries to summon more powerful Tree Herders or even "War Tree Men";

【Thorn Storm】 was a field-type sorcery, growing a large area of sharp thorns from the soil to cover the ground, limiting the movement speed of enemies in that area and causing physical and toxin damage. Xia De's 【Moon Thorn】 spiritual rune could be considered "Thorns" under the influence of "Moon Shadow," so he could learn this, but after consideration, Xia De did not buy it.

【Forest Rampart】 was a defensive-type sorcery, throwing a small piece of wood to form a sturdy and reliable wall shield. Although this kind of shield could not move after appearing, its defensive effect was said to be quite good.

In short, Xia De was still very interested in unfamiliar knowledge, but in the end, the sorcery he chose was 【Forest Path】, which corresponded to the brand-new Enlightenment spiritual rune - 【Direction】.

This unique sorcery not only required 【Direction】 but also spatial talent. The sorcery could only exert its effect in a "Wild Forest" field. The specific effect was to create a path, and traveling through the path could shorten the distance needed to travel in the forest.

When moving on the path, outsiders could observe the caster, but in their eyes, the caster was just walking, and even if they followed the caster's footsteps, they could not step into this "shortcut" like him.

Of course, the caster could also use direct contact methods like "holding hands," "hugging," or "carrying on the back" to let companions step into the path together with themselves.

Strictly speaking, this did not belong to "Spatial Jump" because during the use of the sorcery, people on the road could see the caster, so this ability could only be classified as a "Quasi-Spatial" ability.

Of course, this ability was very important for Xia De, who needed to travel through the forest every day. Even if the time saved was not particularly much, it was better than always wasting time walking the same repeated route.

What Xia De didn't expect was that Miss Danister also chose a sorcery. However, she didn't choose the high-ring sorcery "Nature's Fury" with the highest price on the list, but the incantation "Obscured by Leaves."

When this incantation was used, one needed to place a leaf in front of one's eyes, and then one could make oneself invisible. Although Xia De had not seen this incantation elsewhere, it still belonged to a relatively basic auxiliary-type incantation. Miss Danister probably wanted to use this to refine her mastery of illusion.

However, Xia De noticed that these lists of sorceries and incantations did not include the "Natural Transformation" that the hermits were best at, nor the methods to communicate with the power of the forest.

Those powers belonged to the true secrets of the Hermit Society. It was likely that unless Xia De was willing to join them and live here from then on, he would have no way to learn them, no matter how high his reputation in the Hermit Society was.

As for the secrets that the Hermit Society was willing to sell, most were related to this forest land. They sold detailed topographic maps of the Vista forest land, which included most of the "Mysterious Areas" in this forest land that the Hermit Society had explored.

"But I want to remind you."

Hearing that Xia De wanted to buy a map, "Secret Keeper" Mr. Meloni reminded him:

"Even though we have been stationed in this forest land for so many years, our understanding of this forest is definitely less than ten percent. The forest land itself is hiding its own secrets, which is also a way to prevent those sealed Paradox Worms from running out.

This map is only for reference; don't think that just because you have a map, you can move around the forest land at will."

Besides marking the station information of the Hermit Society, the map also marked the locations of a small number of tree holes that could achieve "Spatial Jump." Of course, if Xia De wanted to know the origin of these peculiar tree holes, he would have to spend money to buy additional information. ===== CHAPTER 2606 =====