“Sub-freezing temperatures can better preserve liquids,” the Priest said to Xia De while shaking a test tube. He then showed Xia De his “refrigerator” in the basement. It was a metal box wrapped in quilts, straw, and canvas, with ice inside. The ice had large holes carved out to hold potions or herbs that required low-temperature storage.
Priest Augustus only lifted the lid for Xia De to glance inside, and before the cold air could even well up, the Priest immediately covered it.
“Ice in Tobesk during the Summer is very expensive. I got this from…”, the Old Priest rarely blushed, “from the church’s incidental expenses. So, Saint Byron's Chemistry College is very expensive; you can’t learn these things without money.”
But Xia De didn’t have to worry about potion storage. His house was large, with plenty of free space. After learning these things from the Priest, he planned to convert a part of the basement into an ice room. Although he couldn't make ice, he could make it snow, and he could control the intensity of the snowfall.
He just had to be careful that the curious cat didn't sneak into the ice room. Although it was timid outside, it was very curious about things in the house.
In addition to the extract, Xia De also handed over several ores and some labeled liquids he brought back from Coldwater Port City to Priest Augustus for identification (Note).
Unfortunately, most of those items were worthless. The warehouse dispatcher didn't have the means to identify Ring術士 materials. The most valuable item was a fist-sized silver ore, worth about 12 pounds.
Xia De only asked for 11 pounds and sold all those things to the Priest, which was also a thank you to the Priest for helping him make the extract diluent for free.
He would definitely trouble the Priest again in the future, so accounts needed to be clear, but not too clear. This was an Outsider's small insight into dealing with people.
After bidding farewell to the Priest, it was only ten in the morning. Estimating that the reply to the urgent letter had not yet arrived, he went to Old John's pawn shop on the way.
When he entered, there were surprisingly customers in the shop, but fortunately, they were just ordinary people. Xia De pretended to wander around the shop curiously, carefully observing the pawned goods on the shelves that looked like trash but seemed to have some value.
This place took almost anything. If Xia De wasn't planning to buy new furniture to fill empty rooms when he had time, he could completely buy old goods from here at a very low price and take them home.
He waited until the customers left before walking to the counter.
“The relic you asked me to help find will take some more time. That kind of request is not easy to fulfill,” Old John’s first words were this.
“No problem, and I can increase the price. I have money now, so I can raise the acquisition price to 200 pounds,” Xia De said. Old John nodded, indicating he remembered, while busy with his accounts. He had just spent 3 pounds to buy a pipe from a down-and-out middle-aged man, which was said to be an antique.
“I saw you in the newspaper. Is 200 pounds the bounty Leedweich Field gave you? When did they become so generous? I thought they would give you at most 100 pounds. Oh, and what was the private thank you from the Royal Family?” He looked up and smiled at Xia De.
“If you don’t mind, how about you take it out and let me see it? I can appraise it for you.”
“The Queen gave me a ruby ring. I’ll bring it next time. This time, I have two matters.” Xia De held up two fingers.
“First, I want an ordinary item that can be used as a pendant. Do you have a door? Made of metal, it needs to be small, the door itself must have a keyhole, and it can be pushed open.”
“What do you want to do…” Old John was stunned, then put down his pen and looked at Xia De in surprise.
“Last time you bought a time key… Oh, your idea is really interesting, intriguing. Wait, I’ll go find it for you.”
Xia De was, of course, looking for this type of pendant for the time key. The next usable time for the key was Thursday morning, and the time for the action with the two ladies was Thursday night.
Entering the second journey in advance and gaining power before the battle would certainly be good. But if he kept the key and entered the past at a critical moment, giving himself some breathing time, or even specifically gaining power from the past, that also seemed good.
Xia De had been considering this problem when swimming underwater yesterday and finally decided to save the opportunity to use the key until Thursday night. If he really encountered an unsolvable problem, he would at least have one more chance to try his luck. But if he entered early, he would have no idea what to prepare for.
However, if he wanted to use the time key in battle, a new problem arose: there might not be a door nearby when fighting the Silver-Eyed One.
The time key’s judgment of a door was very lenient; as long as it was a door, had a keyhole, and could be pushed open, it didn’t restrict the style or size of the door, and the key could automatically match the keyhole. That’s why Xia De thought of getting a door-shaped pendant.
But the book didn’t mention whether this kind of door would work, so he still needed to test it.
Old John was also very interested in Xia De’s eccentric idea and quickly found what he wanted from his recycled odds and ends.
The pendant was made of pure metal, and the pendant itself was a door. The skilled craftsman used bearings and nuts to allow the small door to be pushed open. The door frame and body were held together by magnets, so there was no need to worry about the door opening due to shaking.
The keyhole was only the size of a needle eye. Looking at it against the light, one could see that the keyhole directly penetrated both sides of the door, a transparent structure.
“Come on, try it,” Old John urged, he liked such novel ideas.
Xia De held the door in his left palm, then took out the time key he had bought last time from his pocket. He placed the key against the door and only then realized that the key itself was almost larger than the door.
But with a gentle poke, the key actually “entered” the needle-eye-sized keyhole. The part that didn't enter remained its normal size.
Xia De continued to push the key inward until only the key handle was exposed.
Old John raised his eyebrows, smiling, while Xia De whispered, “May the Father of Infinite Trees bless me in time.”
After reciting, he gently turned it, and as expected, it wouldn’t turn because the time hadn’t arrived, but this itself meant Xia De’s attempt was successful.
“Interesting, truly interesting. I never thought before that the time key could be used this way,” Old John said with a smile, then asked Xia De to try from the other side of the door, and the key could still be inserted.
This novel idea was actually not complicated. People in the past hadn't thought of it, probably because those who had entered the past had never thought of treating the journey to the past as a resting point.
If Xia De hadn’t been forced by the pressure of reality, he would also want to enter the past in a stable environment.
“I’ll take this pendant. How much?” Xia De didn't even let the other party wrap the pendant. Instead, after confirming there was no rust on the surface, he directly hung it around his neck.
“It’s free. I’m giving it to you for free,” Old John shook his head.
“Why are you so generous this time?” Xia De asked suspiciously. This was not like his usual behavior.
“First, what kind of person do you take me for?” The old man tilted his head slightly, not giving Xia De a chance to answer the question, “The idea you just proposed is enough to pay the price.”
“And what else?” Xia De asked again.
The pawn shop owner looked at him and smiled, “Don’t you have one more thing? So, what else do you want to buy? I can give you a good price.” He rubbed his fingers at Xia De. This was the kind of behavior that was typical of Old John.
Xia De, standing in front of the counter, sighed, “Alright, this time you probably have a chance to fleece me badly. I want to buy an offensive relic that can be used by a low-level Ring術士 and has weak negative side effects. I have 350 pounds in cash here.”
Aside from the money reserved for emergencies, he had taken out most of his savings. But since he was going to fight the Silver-Eyed One, there was no reason to keep a large sum of money unused.
Although Xia De was stingy, he also knew that some money couldn't be saved.
“What are you going to do?” Old John asked in surprise. Older people had more experience and saw things more directly.
“Based on my understanding of your finances, even if you earned a sum, you shouldn’t spend money like this… Are you going to fight someone?”
“Something like that, so I need a handy weapon. I know that truly powerful relics cannot be bought for 300 pounds. I still have a few rhode cards here that I can temporarily pawn to you. The appraisal certificates are all here, so you don’t have to worry about counterfeits.”
He was about to pull out the cards, but Old John immediately stopped him. The old man shook his head and said, “Do you think relics with small negative characteristics and strong positive characteristics are everywhere? Even if I could get one for you immediately, you definitely wouldn’t be able to afford it. Why don’t you tell me what the person you’re dealing with is good at, and I can find some cheaper, targeted relics for you.”
After hesitating, Old John advised again, “Young people still need to learn patience. Don’t always think about dueling with others. You are only a First Ring, and you should not casually get involved in dangerous matters.”
“But this time, I have to go. As for the opponent… I’m sorry, I can’t say much, but the other party is seriously injured, so I think it should be fine.”
“These young people nowadays…” The old man sighed, then walked out from behind the counter and left the antique shop through the back door.
Xia De waited for a full twenty minutes before Old John returned, holding a dusty wooden box. The box looked quite old. Old John told Xia De to stand back a bit, and he blew on the box, sending dust flying. After the dust settled, he opened the box and pushed it towards Xia De. Inside was a golden candle, or more accurately, a candle stub. It was the thickness of a pen, perhaps originally very long, but now less than the length of a thumb remained.
