The Prophet Association was very lively at noon. Even though it was close to lunch break, the flow of guests in the lobby on the first floor was endless.
While Xia De was waiting on the first floor, he happened to see Vice President Mark leading a group of people, carrying promotional flyers for the next edition of rhode cards before their release. Seeing Xia De standing there waiting for someone, Vice President Mark smiled and asked:
"Mr. Hamilton, are you here to see Luvia Annett again?"
Because Xia De came too frequently, and almost every time he came to Luvia for a divination, the receptionists on the first floor all knew Xia De. Hearing Vice President Mark's teasing, they all laughed.
"I'm here to invite Miss Annett to lunch with me."
Xia De said, feeling quite embarrassed, then patted his cat, telling it to behave.
"Lunch?"
Vice President Mark took out his pocket watch and glanced at it:
"It's 11:15. Then you can leave with Miss Annett now. There are five minutes until lunch break, and I don't think it's a problem to let her off early."
"How can I? I'll wait five more minutes."
Xia De shook his head firmly, refusing. It wasn't out of politeness; he had already waited fifteen minutes, so waiting another five minutes was nothing.
"Meow~"
The cat in his arms rubbed against Xia De's chest, wriggling to find a more comfortable position to lie in.
"Alright, then would you like to come to my office and sit for a while? We can talk about the next edition of rhode cards."
So, at lunch at the Canary Restaurant on Silver Cross Avenue, while the dishes were being served, Xia De told Luvia the interesting story of his chance encounter with Vice President Mark.
As the central street of Tobesk, Silver Cross Avenue has extremely high consumption. The Canary Restaurant is a high-end restaurant, and because he had important matters to discuss, Xia De even specifically chose a corner seat.
"By the way, how was your trip to Sin Mansion?"
Only after the serving waiter left did Luvia ask, and Xia De recounted everything that had happened that morning. After Xia De encountered desire in Coldwater Port last time, he had already told Luvia about this Level 0 relic, so Luvia also knew what it was.
Upon hearing that Xia De had encountered desire again, she was even more surprised than Xia De obtaining the third Ling Rune of the Three Ring:
"You always say you can't find ownerless relics, and you even complain that as soon as I appeared on Sicar Mountain, blood money also appeared. Look, you encountered desire again, and it seems to have set its sights on you."
She meticulously inquired about all the details of Xia De's trip to Sin Mansion that morning. After lunch, she insisted on dragging Xia De to Saint Delan Square Six to check his body, to confirm that desire had not tampered with Xia De's body.
The first step of the body check was for Xia De to take off his shirt in the bedroom, but when Xia De lowered his head and unbuttoned his shirt, he found Luvia holding the doorknob behind her back, backing away while closing the door.
"Hmm, what are you doing? Mia seems to be outside."
Due to lighting, Mia's nap spot was usually the living room window sill or the back of the sofa, at least in Summer and autumn.
"I'm going to check your body."
The purple-eyed girl said with a smile.
"But you haven't been recently..."
"Oh, young gentleman, have some basic common sense. That period doesn't last forever."
So Xia De blinked, and sure enough, he saw that the blood aura on Luvia's body had dissipated a lot.
【Is this Miracle meant to be used by you like this?】
"Since it's a body check, of course, it needs to be more in-depth."
Luvia said with a smile, pointing at the curtains, and with a whoosh, the curtains on both sides automatically closed towards the middle.
Thus, the body check took the two of them an entire afternoon. By the time the sun set and the cat's scratching at the door could be heard, Luvia finally confirmed that Xia De's body was normal:
"Yes, completely normal. In fact, your physical condition is even better than before."
"I used the power of the Phoenix flame to unleash the gluttony, but this flame did burn my body once, so the enhancement of physical quality is normal... That's what the stories say."
Xia De walked towards the door in his slippers, and after opening the door, the aggrieved cat immediately cried out.
He smiled, squatted down to pick up the cat, and with a flick of his finger, conjured a small flame, which then transformed into the shape of a cat, immediately attracting Mia's attention.
Luvia, who had reapplied her lipstick in front of a small mirror on the desk, also stood up. She glanced at the bedsheet and decided to take it back to wash herself. She would not let Jialinna Cavendish's maids wash such a bedsheet.
"The stories also say that bathing in dragon blood can make you stronger, but who would do such a foolish thing? Xia De, have you noticed that your body is abnormal? Devouring the flesh of desire, enduring the burning of the Phoenix flame, all can make you stronger. Even every time you advance, the improvement in your physical quality far exceeds the normal level, which is not normal at all."
Luvia asked, and although she had been in the house all afternoon, her complexion was surprisingly good. She was standing up the collar of her white blouse to cover her neck.
"Perhaps this is related to my biggest secret, which I haven't revealed to you yet."
Xia De was referring to the secret of divinity. He believed that the divinity deep within his soul was subtly influencing this body, coupled with the negligible peculiarity of an outsider's soul, which led to this result.
"Alright then, it's not a bad thing anyway, and..."
She walked towards the bedroom door, gathering her shoulder-length brown hair behind her head with both hands. The curtains had already been pulled open, and in the light of the setting sun, the purple-eyed girl's skin was rosy and radiant.
She kissed Xia De's cheek by the bedroom door, then looked at Xia De with her purple eyes up close:
"I'm also a beneficiary, aren't I? You performed very well, Knight."
Although his intimate relationship with Luvia had begun over a month ago, Xia De still blushed, and this reaction made the purple-eyed girl laugh:
"I just hope that the influence of the Level 0 relic desire on you really just slightly increased your desire. I'm one Ring higher than you, but I already feel a bit unable to cope. Also, what do you plan to do with that pink book? Keep it yourself, or find a reason to sell it to the academy?"
Outside, the sun was already setting, and the two, tired from an afternoon's work, decided to go out for dinner. Xia De and Sister Devlin had agreed to meet at 8 PM, so there was no need to rush.
"Keep it. The spells on it are very valuable. I already have over seven thousand pounds in savings, so I'm not short of money right now."
"Indeed, if you exclude those strange uses, it can almost be considered a basic spell compendium."
Luvia also supported Xia De's idea, only reminding Xia De to check his mental state every time he read it. She was still worried that desire had tampered with Xia De's body or the parchment, and this worry was by no means superfluous.
After dinner, the two went to the University District together to walk the cat. Among the six districts of Tobesk, the University District has the best and quietest environment.
Xia De originally wanted to take advantage of the time he had now to go to Black Raven Library to look for Miracles related to sloth to add power to the new Ling Rune, but Luvia told him not to rush.
"First-year Knowledge mentioned that Ling Rune can also affect Ring術士 in reverse. Unlike gluttony and greed, sloth is not your Great Sin at all. Are you sure you can adapt to its power? If you delve too deeply into its power without preparation, sloth will definitely affect you directly."
Walking on the embankment of the University District, Luvia gave a suggestion, which was to consider the Miracle of sloth only after Xia De advanced to Four Ring.
What she said made a lot of sense. Xia De believed that gluttony and greed suited his personality, but sloth completely conflicted with his personality. Moreover, the evidence that sloth's power was not completely suppressed was that on the Great Sin Chains, there were still only the gluttony and greed rune chains.
Although he had obtained the power of sloth, he had not truly mastered this power.
In fact, this is the norm for Ring術士. After obtaining a Ling Rune, one needs to experience and refine its power to ultimately master it. Xia De's previous Ling Rune had too high a compatibility with him, which is why he didn't have this trouble.
By the time they returned to Saint Delan Square, the gas lamps around the square were already lit. And Xia De and Luvia also began to formally discuss the matter of the "death Chosen One."
"The intelligence provided by Sister Devlin is very interesting. The suspicion of 'Reverse-Born' Joey Barton has now increased infinitely."
Xia De placed the two brand new blood money, the old blood money, and the 【Standing Coin】 together on the coffee table, while Luvia took out the 【Dragon Blood Treasure Coin】 and the diviner's silver coin.
"Finally, I can divine."
Luvia said, about to begin, but Xia De stopped her:
"I remember you once said that as long as you see a Chosen One, or more accurately, the first candidate for the Chosen One, you'll know 'that's him.'"
"Yes, that's how I found Iluna."
Luvia nodded, and Xia De then said:
"You can't see Joey Barton, but in a little over an hour, Sister Devlin will be here, and you can meet her."
"That's a great idea."
"Meow~"
Mia pounced on the coins on the table, then was caught in mid-air by Xia De:
"If we deduce this way, Priest Augustus wouldn't be the first candidate, because you've seen him countless times."
"No."
Luvia denied Xia De's idea:
"I can only detect a Chosen One when they have developed their talent to the extreme, enough to support the Ritual, by sensing their unique talent. And, this requires at least a minute of observation."
"In other words, Priest Augustus's suspicion still cannot be ruled out. No problem, let's meet Sister Devlin today, and tomorrow I'll bring the key into the city and let you take a look at the Priest."
Thus, the six coins were temporarily not used. If Luvia could rule out the suspicions of Priest Augustus and Sister Devlin, or confirm their identities, then the cost of divination would be greatly reduced.
If there were enough coins, Luvia could not only continue to divine this Chosen One Ritual but even have a chance to divine a way to solve the Gap problem.
PS: There are still five thousand tonight.
