Chapter 839: Fleeting Time
Xia De looked out the window. The misty fog was a common sight in Tobesk during the transition from autumn to winter, as the steam factories and gas companies were entering their peak operational period.
“I’ll probably be busy making a batch of No. 4 holy water recently, but I’m not sure if releasing a large quantity into the local black market will attract the Church’s attention,” the old man said with concern.
“Are you very short on money recently? I can lend it to you.”
Counting the 1,000 pounds he hadn't yet collected from the foreign princess, Xia De's savings now exceeded five digits.
“No need to lend it to me. I need to repay a debt. I still owe Schneider 3,000 pounds,” the Priest said. Only then did Xia De remember this matter; it was the cost of materials for the Spiritual Cultivation Order's opening ceremony.
Bringing up this topic, Priest Augustus smiled and asked, “By the way, what project did Schneider invest in to earn so much? You were vague last time. I can ask him when I give him the gift later. Speaking of which, exam week seems to be approaching again. As the year-end nears, the church also needs to audit accounts and prepare reports, as well as year-end summaries and plans for the next year. Why do I feel busier than you young people?”
Xia De only hoped that even if Dr. Schneider revealed the source of the money, he would absolutely not disclose that Xia De was also involved in the gambling.
“If you’re worried about selling the holy water, I can take them to the black markets in Coldwater Port and Middlesburg to sell. For such scarce goods, there’s no need to worry about not finding buyers. Spreading out the supply will also prevent detection.”
“That’s a good idea, but only Coldwater Port and Middlesburg?” the Priest asked, leaning against the sofa. Xia De nodded.
“If I want to go to more places, I need a special mineral called white stone crystal, and it randomly takes me to a certain location.”
The Priest shared his secret, and Xia De didn't mind sharing this information with the Priest.
The old man wiped his pipe and didn't comment on Xia De’s special “ability.”
“Priest, do you think this world might be destroyed?” Xia De suddenly asked. The old man raised his eyes to look at him, a surprised expression appearing on his aged face.
“All things have an end and death. I thought you already knew this truth.”
“No, no, I want to ask if you know the specific time of the world’s destruction?”
The Priest blinked. “That’s also the purpose of my collecting angel remains. Ever since I came into contact with this power, I’ve known that the world’s destruction will definitely happen. It could be tomorrow, but it could also be ten thousand years from now. If you want an answer from me, I’m sorry, I don’t know yet. But at least I can confirm that the sixth epoch is a very special epoch, and the day of all things’ end is related to the epoch we are in.”
(Mia running...)
For the next nearly two weeks, Xia De, as he wished, lived a peaceful and tranquil life.
Without the trouble of the time key, news of the next Chosen One wouldn’t appear so soon, and there were no clues about the divinity he was thinking about. But at least he bought a new “white stone crystal” at a high price from Coldwater Port, ready to go to any City where he might obtain divinity.
However, Xia De wasn't entirely idle. He collected enough materials to perform a ritual to link sloth to the Miracle - 【Great Sin Chains】. The Knowledge about original sin provided by Tree Father was very rich, but the Knowledge within it was extremely terrifying and blasphemous. Xia De only discussed some related content with the doctor, and the doctor sternly warned Xia De never to tell a third person about this Knowledge.
“You’ll get into big trouble. I don’t even know how your soul can bear such Knowledge.”
Xia De drank a full bottle of holy water in front of him to prove that he had not been corrupted by the Great Sin.
Of course, most of the materials required for the ritual, besides those kindly provided by Miss Jialinna, were purchased by Xia De from various places. But at this point, he had a lot of savings, so he didn't feel bad about this expense.
Newspapers gradually began to frequently report the news of Carson Rick's Second Princess Margaret Anjou's upcoming visit to Tobesk. The City Hall also launched a “common era 1853 Autumn Tobesk City Public Security Management Investigation” for this purpose. Because of this operation, the City was in chaos for a while, but it was quickly suppressed by Leedweich Field.
During this period, Xia De unexpectedly received a request for help from Baron Passos, introduced by his old friend, rhode cards player, and the original owner of 【ancient fairy tale - match girl】, Baron Lavende. He assisted the Baron in secretly retrieving the Baron's family heirloom—a golden medal with the family crest—from an underground rhode cards casino in the northern slum that was about to be shut down.
Although this only took one night, it involved secret infiltration, a rhode cards game, a shootout in the corridor, lock picking and searching, and destroying mortgage records. This was not a simple commission, and as compensation, Xia De earned a three-digit sum of pounds from a single deal.
This included hush money; the Baron didn't buy back his family heirloom with money precisely because he didn't want others to know that he had mortgaged it to an illegal casino. The damage to his reputation was far more important than a few hundred pounds.
And after this big deal, Baron Lavende and the idle Xia De played cards at the Prophet Association, and when he saw the 【Founding·Death】 card, he almost fainted from excitement, which could only be considered an epilogue to this big business.
Xia De also did some serious things during these two weeks. He accepted the invitation of Professor Hesenge Garcia, the Vice Dean of the History Academy, and after the autumn elective course “Closed Space,” he also took the professor’s “Introduction to Space Exploration” course and submitted a ten-foot-long paper as a final report.
Xia De's theoretical conjectures on the nested use of multiple Mystic Locks, mentioned in the course, received high praise from Professor Garcia. Although Xia De was only a correspondence student, because of this paper, he gained some reputation in Saint Byron's History Academy.
Outside of his academy courses, Xia De used his leisure time to delve deeper into the “pink book” obtained from 【desire】, successfully mastering some practical spellcraft, such as the Greasy Spell, Living Rope Trick, and Limb Enlargement Charm. Of course, Xia De didn't learn these spellcraft for pleasure with girls; he was already strong enough. He hoped to enrich his spellcraft list through learning, as he lacked these basic spellcraft due to his rapid leveling speed.
At the same time, he successfully developed “yellow moon versions” of the Miracles common to both the 【yellow moon】 Ling Rune and the 【Silver Moon】 Ling Rune.
Unfortunately, although he learned that “those who worship the exalted sun can also borrow the great power of the Silver Moon” when he touched the “book of nameless sacrifices” in the fifth epoch Library, Xia De was unable to learn abilities like “Moonlight Ray” based on 【Sunlight Ray】.
For this, he even specifically consulted Iluna, who had returned from Middlesburg, but Iluna was not familiar with the power of the Moon and couldn't give Xia De very good advice. On the contrary, because Xia De had described the usage of 【Sunlight Ray】 too many times, after her class with Miss Jialinna on the first Sunday of the frost descent month, Iluna miraculously learned 【Sunlight Ray】 without performing any ritual.
Xia De found it hard to describe his feelings at the manor at that time.
“The excellent talent of the Balance Chosen One is truly admirable and enviable,” Miss Jialinna said in a good mood. Before Iluna could speak, the witch kissed Xia De in front of Iluna and kindly “admonished” her student: “Young girl, you still have a long way to go, don’t be overly happy because of temporary improvements.”
Iluna’s expression at the time made Xia De think she was about to throw a Sunlight Gun.
