Chapter 97: The Secret Art of [Gluttony]

The alleys leading in all directions were like a maze, connecting the lower city of Tobesk and the edge of the university district. Walking along the alley, he turned the corner and saw a steam pipe that had broken for some reason, leaking water outward.

For the safety of his boots, he bypassed that puddle. Only then did he continue to walk forward, and before long, he saw a rusty metal staircase clinging to the outside of a dark yellow wall.

Walking up the metal staircase with a *thump-thump-thump* sound, he felt the entire staircase shaking.

After knocking on the door, he said to the inside:

"Introduced by Cuckoo. She said the quality of the book last time was problematic."

"She always says our books have quality problems; this woman is too picky."

A muffled voice came from inside. After opening the door, a man with bare arms and an anchor tattooed on his arm led Xia De into the corridor. Xia De followed behind him, holding his breath; this guy had a very strong body odor.

"Do you know the rules?"

"I don't. I just arrived in Tobesk from out of town."

Xia De said, suppressing his voice.

"Then what do you want to do? Buy books in the library, or consign books?"

"Buy books."

Because he was holding his breath, his speech was muffled. Fortunately, his voice was already strange because of the mask, so the other party probably did not notice.

"Okay, this way."

The floor of the corridor was peeling in many places due to dampness, making a creaking sound when stepped on. The doors on both sides of the corridor were all closed, and it was unknown if anyone was inside.

The man led Xia De to turn left in front of the corridor and arranged for him to enter a small, temporarily unoccupied room to wait.

This room was extremely dim, without windows, and a smell of... canned fish permeated the air. Little Mia would probably like it here. The space was not even as large as the bathing area of the washroom at No. 6 St. Theresa Square. There was only a sofa inside, and the wall facing the sofa had a square hole opened, which was covered by a wooden board.

On the wall on one side of the hole was a rusty black iron gas lamp. The man who led the way turned on the light, letting the dim yellow light barely illuminate the room, before closing the door and leaving.

Xia De sat on the sofa, which was still quite clean, and waited for a while, looking at the oil painting of the hanged man hanging on the wall. The originally straight gas lamp pipe bypassed this painting before connecting to the gas lamp. Xia De was pondering why the gas pipe was not placed higher so it wouldn't have to bypass at a right angle.

The wooden shutter was suddenly pulled open, startling Xia De.

An impatient man's voice came from behind the shutter:

"What do you want to buy? Is there a specific book title, or just a requirement?"

The man had a distinct local Tobesk accent. Judging from the voice, he was probably only in his thirties. But the light was dim, and it could not illuminate the space behind the shutter. Just as the shutter was opened, the smell of canned fish became stronger; clearly, the person speaking had just been eating.

"About the 【Gluttony】 secret art."

Xia De said simply, disguising his accent as not being a Tobesk local. This was very simple, because he really was not a local.

"【Gluttony】? Wait."

Afterwards, the man had no sound, and only the sound of constant page-turning could be heard from behind the hole.

【Gluttony】 was also not a rare spirit rune; it was actually quite common. But common 【Gluttony】 runes are mostly Enlightenment or Whisper runes, especially the black iron-colored Whisper 【Gluttony】. Reading the stories of the cannibal tribes of the 4th Era that have already disappeared has a high probability of obtaining it. Relatively speaking, the silver blasphemous 【Gluttony】 rune related to evil gods rarely appears.

"Yes, what price range do you want?"

The man's voice sounded at least ten minutes later. Xia De knew that bargaining was not done here, so he did not hide his intentions:

"Around 15 pounds is fine, don't exceed 20 pounds."

This was the answer given after considering his financial situation.

The man did not answer, but was writing quickly in the space behind the shutter. Judging by the sound, it should be a fountain pen. But what he placed on the wall of the hole was a slip of paper and a pencil. When trading items here, the item name would not be spoken to prevent item information from being leaked.

A total of two secret arts were written sloppily on the slip of paper; it seems Xia De's price range was too low.

The two secret arts were "Parkinson's Gluttonous Desire" and "Satiated Food."

The former, judging by the naming method, was a secret art newly developed in recent years, and it was highly likely to have flowed out from the three major secret art academies. Its effect is to impose a "Gluttony" state on a target, making them have an incomparable desire to eat within a certain period of time. For ordinary people, doing this is highly likely to cause the other party to eat themselves to death; for Ring Mages, the effect depends on various factors such as the difference in level between the two sides.

This was a secret art consigned by someone at the Black Raven Library. The other party asked for 14 pounds and 3 shillings and did not provide materials for learning the secret art. The learning requirements, besides 【Gluttony】 and related spirit runes, must also be Enlightenment or Whisper-type spirit runes.

Even if Xia De bought it, he would not be able to learn it.

"Satiated Food" is a secret art that can only act on oneself. Its effect is relatively more complex. The user needs to set a certain edible item as a target for themselves after using the secret art, and eat this item continuously four times at ten-minute intervals, with each time eating more than the previous time. Ensuring that after the last eating is completed, one must reach a state of satiation.

When the four times are over, the "Satiated Food" effect is satisfied. One can use this secret art to turn the selected target food into food that can reach a "satiated" state after one bite. It is not just psychological satiation, but also satisfies physiological eating requirements. More importantly, eating the target "Satiated Food" has a healing effect, but no matter which effect it is, it only works for the secret art user.

And if one wants to change the target food, one must go through at least one complete lunar cycle.

This secret art was also consigned by someone at the library. Because the food produced can only work on oneself, and the effect is not very prominent, the price is very low, only 9 pounds and 7 shillings. And if the buyer wants to obtain learning materials, then they need to pay 11 pounds in total.

Learning this secret art can only be done with a blasphemous silver spirit rune related to 【Food】, which Xia De happens to satisfy.

"But is it useful for me to learn this secret art?"

He asked himself, and then thought it was very useful. Not only could it save him meal money, but in the case of being injured during the day, he would not have to use 【False Immortality】 to hard-carry. More importantly, even at night, the effect of the secret art 【Cynthia's Silver Moon Grace】 is more biased towards mental healing, while 【Satiated Food】 can slightly make up for this defect. Unfortunately, the healing effect of this secret art is also not obvious.

【That's not necessarily true.】

The whispering voice in his heart sounded.

"Why?"

Xia De asked in his heart, but on the surface, he still made a hesitant and thoughtful appearance.

【Your gluttony does not come from contacting the residual power of an evil god, but from devouring a part of a god's power. This spirit rune, unlike normal blasphemous runes, is very powerful. Superimposed with the state of divine radiance, the secret art learned from it will likely be very powerful.】

Xia De could also feel the special nature of 【Gluttony】, because as long as he summoned the Ring of Fate, 【Gluttony】 would flash with silver spiritual light. This is the performance that only occurs when ordinary spirit runes take effect. ===== CHAPTER 98 =====