Chapter 341: New Relic and Wonder

Today is Tuesday, the day of the Saint Prayer Festival of the Dawn Church. Xia De promised Bishop Ouwenzhu and Priest Priest Ao Gu Si that he would appear at the church in the afternoon to participate in activities and give a public speech. And besides that, he had other things to deal with.

Leaving Mia at home to watch the house, Xia De packed up the things in the basement and went out.

The morning trip was to buy some things.

The first stop was the Old John Pawnshop. Old John was waiting for customers while reading the newspaper as usual. Hearing the bell ring, he tilted his head from behind the newspaper and saw it was Xia De, only then did he say with a yawn:

"What are you buying today? Speaking of which, how was your exam week? The ancient literature of Lu Yi Sha should have passed, right?"

Old John was the black market shopkeeper who had the best relationship with Doctor Shi Nai De's group.

"Passed, my alchemy assignment also passed. Old Man, this time I am prepared to spend a large sum of money to buy things."

Walking in the familiar Toby, away from the port city with pirates and mermen and wetness, Xia De's mood was very good.

"You? A large sum of money?"

The old man looked at him suspiciously, completely disbelieving this statement, and thought this was some bargaining strategy.

So Xia De reached into the inner pocket of his coat and grabbed a stack of 100 pounds of banknotes tied with paper strips; reached into the right pocket of his coat and grabbed a stack of 100 pounds of banknotes tied with paper strips; finally reached into the left pocket, another 100 pounds.

The largest denomination banknote issued by the Kingdom is 50 pounds, but it is usually only used for large-scale commodity settlement and is rarely seen on the market. Xia De took out 5-pound banknotes, a total of 60 sheets:

"The relic worth 300 pounds you mentioned, the one a friend consigned here, I want it." (Chapter 99)

The old man looked at the money in surprise, then nodded:

"It has the function of extracting energy or similar entities, non-entities from the life form itself, and then injecting it into the user's body, right? That thing is still there. If you want to buy it, I can get it for you right now... Although I knew you met a rich noblewoman last time, I didn't expect..."

He didn't continue, but quickly collected the banknotes. He let Xia De wait for a while, and then he was gone for twenty minutes. When he came back, he had a long, thin thing wrapped in cloth strips in his hand.

"Walking stick? Long sword?"

Xia De was quite expectant.

"Walking sticks can't be that long. If it were a cold weapon, did you think it would only sell for 300 pounds? You should understand how expensive weapon-type relics are."

The old man said, placing the thing on the counter, and then walked quickly to the shop door to lock it.

He took off the cloth strips, and inside was a fishing rod.

"【Soul Fishing Rod】, a document-level relic, is black all over. The material of the fishing rod itself and the fishhook is similar to refined steel. It is telescopic, 5.24 feet (about 1.6m) when fully unfolded, the fishing line is transparent, and the material is unknown. It can be extended according to needs when used."

The old man nimbly took the fishing rod in his hand, *click*, pulled out the part that was retracted inside, and then handed it to Xia De for him to check.

"【Soul Fishing Rod】 once hooked a living person, it can harvest the other party's memory fragments. If that living person is also a sorcerer, then it can obtain a part of the other party's spirit, with a very small probability of directly obtaining the other party's spirit rune, perfectly meeting your requirements. As for the side effects..."

Seeing Xia De swinging the fishing rod to feel the weight, Old John tapped the table, letting Xia De pay attention:

"Must use the way of fishing to activate its effect. And the other party cannot lose the ability to act; they must take the bait actively. Once hooked, the angler must read the acquired memory and cannot refuse, and the acquired memory is a random segment and cannot be chosen. And reading other people's memories using this method for a long time will affect the personality of even a high-ring sorcerer. What's more dangerous is that as long as the number of uses exceeds 13 times, there is a probability of suddenly seeing a giant fishhook falling from the sky for the rest of one's life."

"Oh?"

Xia De looked at him in surprise:

"What is that?"

"I cannot answer you, because those who see the fishhook will take the initiative to touch it, and thus disappear. The news about the fishhook was told by them when they saw the fishhook."

The old man shrugged:

"It's probably some strange existence fishing. Have you seen the line of Pu Lu script on the fishing rod? That is the language of the Fourth Era. I happen to know some. The rough translation is—"

【We are fishermen, but we are also fish.】

This fishing rod was not negotiable, 300 pounds and cash payment. Even if Xia De brought up the walking stick, he couldn't make Old John loosen his mouth, because this was consigned to him by a friend, and he didn't have the power to lower the price. 【34

So, after paying this money, Xia De's savings dropped from 900 Jin Bang (Author's Note) to 600 Jin Bang. Although his ability to earn money has increased, unfortunately, his expenses have also increased.

The fishing rod is for the divinity that may come next, so this money cannot be saved no matter what. And after sending the fishing rod back home, Xia De puts on his robe and mask again and goes to the Black Raven Library.

The acquisition of the whisper spiritual rune 【Greed】 is something he did not expect, and the acquisition of a spiritual rune means he can master power in a brand-new direction. The connection between greed and time and the silver moon seems small at present, so Xia De, following convention, only intends to learn one miracle related to this. If there are suitable miracles in the future, he will then acquire more power of greed.

Similar to 【Gluttony】, 【Greed】 also belongs to a relatively common spiritual rune; numerous ancient books and relics can allow a Ringed Ringed Shushi to acquire runes of similar concepts.

And Xia De, after daily needs, emergency preparations, repairing the third floor of his house, and tuition for his second year, still has about 200 Jin Bang left. Compared to the first time he chose a miracle for 【Gluttony】, this time is truly very generous.

In a dim little room in the Black Raven Library, Xia De sits on a sofa and explains his requirements to the person behind the wall through a small hole. To avoid missing out on valuable miracles, he specifically states that the price can be slightly flexible.

It took the library half an hour to list a list of 7 miracles for Xia De, six of which can be learned with the whisper element spiritual rune 【Greed】.

The cheapest, 【Heart of Greed】, is worth 15 Jin Bang; this is a passive ability that enhances one's own greedy desires after learning it. This is a miracle that complements other miracles with "greed" as a condition, and ordinary Ringed Ringed Shushi certainly wouldn't learn it.

The most expensive is 【Valda's Death-Seeking Contract】, which costs 350 Jin Bang excluding learning materials, and up to 1200 Jin Bang including materials. This is an active ability that uses a "lending" relationship to sign contracts with other intelligent creatures through handshakes; once the contract is violated, the miracle will claim the life of the violator.

It sounds very powerful, but the miracle is useless against Ringed Ringed Shushi of a higher level than oneself, and it will fail due to textual traps or if the caster dies; it belongs to the precious "contract" type of miracle.

Xia De didn't choose the most expensive or the cheapest, and ultimately chose the miracle 【Treasured Item】, which costs 232 Jin Bang including materials.

This miracle is quite simple to explain: it uses one's own greed and cherishing of a certain item to endow this item with supernatural abilities.

The miracle itself is only useful for ordinary, inanimate objects. One can only choose one "Treasured Item" at a time, which can be changed every lunar cycle. And the power of the miracle is limited by the degree of greed and cherishing for the item itself, as well as one's own level.

Different Ringed Ringed Shushi's choices of different "Treasured Items" will endow different supernatural abilities, but this ability will only be amplified according to the item's appearance. For example, shoes will make the wearer run faster or jump higher, and glasses will enhance vision in the dark or increase the field of view, but it is absolutely impossible for a ring to suddenly be able to fire fireballs after choosing it.

Judging from the records provided by the Black Raven Library, most Ringed Ringed Shushi who learn this miracle choose coins or banknotes as their "Treasured Item." Because greed for banknotes never fades.

Of course, there are also some Ringed Ringed Shushi who choose special Luo De Pai as their "Treasured Item." As a result, the cards will possess supernatural powers such as high-speed flight, hardness, or sharpness.

You must know that 【Founding · Balance】, controlled by Xia De, cannot even be sharp enough to be used as a weapon.

This miracle, of course, also has very slight side effects.

First, greed for items of the same type as the selected "Treasured Item" will be amplified. Second, once the selected "Treasured Item" is lost, the user of the miracle cannot use the miracle again for six lunar cycles, and during this period, their own "greedy" desires will be amplified.

But these side effects are acceptable, which is why Xia De chose to purchase this miracle.

After paying the high cost, his savings fell to about 400 Jin Bang. Back home, seeing that it wasn't lunchtime yet, Xia De used materials such as "moneywort," "bezoar," and "bones of the greedy" to finish learning the miracle.

However, a small problem arose when selecting the "Treasured Item."

He took out all his cards, intending to select 【Ancient Fairy Tale · Match Girl】. But when the spiritual light of the miracle covered the cards, what was selected was actually the entire deck, including 【Founding · Silver Moon】 but excluding 【Founding · Balance】.

【Founding · Balance】 could not be selected, probably because it had already been activated and did not belong to ordinary items. And the entire deck was selected, probably because of the amplification of the miracle's effect by the "divine radiance" state.

He cannot select multiple targets, but he can consider a "set" as "one" target.

Evidence for this conjecture lies in the fact that Xia De feels he can replace different cards into the deck, causing the replaced cards to lose their "selection" and the newly added cards to gain "selection." Therefore, when Xia De obtains new special cards, the new cards do not need to wait for the next lunar cycle to be selected.

【You spent so much money to purchase a miracle, just to stuff more cards into your opponent's hand while playing cards? Outsider, you really are a greedy person.】

"Do not slander me."

Xia De hooks his fingers, and under the effect of 【Treasured Item】, the fifty-four cards fly one by one from the far end of the table to the desktop in front of him, stacking neatly.

Xia De then takes a newspaper and spreads it out, then manipulates the fifty-four cards to cut the newspaper.

The expenditure of over 200 Jin Bang is very worthwhile. In the state of divine radiance, although the sharpness of these cards is not enough to split bricks or crack stones, it is enough to slit a human throat. Moreover, in the entire deck, the power gained by the special cards is even greater than that of ordinary cards due to the greed in Xia De's heart.

If he could replace the entire deck with special cards, the effect of the miracle might be further enhanced.

When the cards first started flying, Little Mia hid behind Xia De, peeking at this scene. And when they stopped on the table in front of Xia De again, the cat, with wide eyes, immediately walked out, jumped onto the table, and curiously stretched out a paw to touch the top one.

Although the cards gained the characteristic of sharpness, manipulating the cards to fly using 【Treasured Item】 is far inferior to Xia De's direct control over 【Founding · Balance】. But compared to the curse 【Move Object】, which can achieve similar effects, the control of 【Treasured Item】 is more precise.

For example, Xia De, who suddenly had a mischievous idea, made the card that Mia was constantly batting at suddenly fly up. While Mia was pursuing it, he manipulated the card to fly around on the table, making the cat constantly wave its paws.

"Meow~"

It suddenly stops, presses its little paw on Xia De's arm, and looks at Xia De with its big amber eyes.

The outsider laughs, lets the card stop in front of the cat, and it stretches out its paw with great satisfaction.