Today was Tuesday, the day of the Dawn Church's Holy Prayer Festival. Shade had promised Bishop Owen and Priest Augustus that he would appear at the church in the afternoon to participate in the activities and deliver a public speech. Aside from that, he had some matters to attend to.
Leaving Mia at home to keep house, Shade packed up the things in his basement and headed out.
His morning outing was for the purpose of buying a few things.
The first stop was Old John's Pawnshop. Father John was reading a newspaper and waiting for customers, just as he did every day. Hearing the chime of the bell, he tilted his head from behind the paper to see it was Shade, and then said with a yawn
"Come to buy something again today? Speaking of which, how did your exam week go? Louisa's Ancient Languages should have passed, right?"
Father John was the black market shopkeeper with the best relationship with Doctor Schneider's group.
"She passed, and my alchemy assignment passed as well. Father, I'm prepared to spend a large sum of money on purchases this time."
After waking up and strolling through the familiar Tobeisk, far away from the damp harbor city filled with pirates and fishmen, Shade was in a very good mood.
"You? A large sum of money?"
Father John looked at him suspiciously, completely disbelieving the claim and assuming it was some kind of bargaining strategy.
Thus, Shade reached into the inner pocket of his coat and pulled out 100 pounds in banknotes tied with a strip of paper; he reached into the outer right pocket of his coat and pulled out another 100 pounds tied with paper; finally, he reached into the left pocket, and there was another 100 pounds.
Currently, the highest denomination banknote issued by the Kingdom was 50 pounds, but these were typically used only for large-scale commodity settlements and were rarely seen on the market. What Shade produced were 5-pound notes, sixty in total.
"That relic worth 300 pounds, the one your friend left here for consignment—I'll take it."
The old man looked at the money in astonishment, then nodded.
"The one with the function to extract energy or something similar, physical or non-physical, from a living organism and pour it into the user's body—that's the requirement, right? The thing is still here. If you want to buy it, I can get it for you now. Although I knew last time that you'd encountered a wealthy noblewoman, I didn't expect..."
He didn't finish his sentence, instead quickly collecting the banknotes. He made Shade wait a moment, then disappeared for twenty minutes, returning with a long, slender object wrapped in cloth.
"A cane? A longsword?"
Shade was quite expectant.
"A cane isn't this long, and if it were a cold weapon, do you think it would sell for only 300 pounds? You should understand how expensive weapon-type relics are."
As the old man spoke, he placed the object on the counter, then walked quickly to the shop door and locked it.
Removing the cloth strips revealed a fishing rod.
"Scribe-grade relic [Soul Fishing Rod]. Entirely black, the material of the rod and hook is similar to refined steel. It is telescopic; when fully extended, it is 5.24 feet (approx. 1.6m). The fishing line is transparent, material unknown, and can be extended as needed during use."
The old man deftly took the rod in his hand, and with a *click*, pulled out the retracted section, then handed it to Shade for inspection.
"Once the [Soul Fishing Rod] hooks a living person, it can harvest fragments of their memories. If that living person is a Ring Caster, one can obtain a portion of their Spirit; there is a very small probability of directly obtaining the opponent's Spirit Rune, which perfectly fits your requirements. As for the side effects..."
Seeing Shade swinging the rod around to feel its balance, Father John tapped the table to get Shade's attention.
"It must be used in the manner of fishing to activate its effect. Furthermore, the target cannot lose their ability to move; they must take the bait voluntarily. Once hooked, the angler must read the acquired memory and cannot refuse, and the acquired memory is a random segment—one cannot choose. Moreover, using this method to read others' memories for a long time will affect one's own personality, even for a high-ring caster. More dangerously, once the number of uses exceeds 13, for the rest of one's life, there is a probability of suddenly seeing a giant fishhook descending from the sky."
"Oh?"
Shade looked at him in surprise.
"What is that?"
"I cannot answer you, because people who see the hook will actively try to touch it, and then vanish. The news of the fishhook comes from what they say when they see it."
The old man shrugged.
"Probably some strange existence is fishing. Do you see that line of Shru-runes on the rod? That is the language of the Fourth Epoch; I happen to know a bit of it. The translation is roughly—"
[We are the fishermen, but we are also the fish.]
There was no bargaining for this fishing rod: 300 pounds, paid in cash. Even when Shade brought up the matter of the cane, he couldn't get Old John to budge, because it was consigned by a friend, and he had no authority to lower the price.
Thus, after paying this sum, Shade's savings dropped from 900 pounds to 600 pounds. Although his ability to earn money had increased, unfortunately, his expenses had also grown.
The fishing rod was for the potential Divinity ahead, so this money could not be saved under any circumstances. After returning the rod to his home, Shade put on his robe and mask and made a trip to the Black Raven Library.
The acquisition of the Whispering Spirit Rune [Greed] was something he had not anticipated, and the acquisition of a Spirit Rune meant he could master power in a completely new direction. Currently, the connection between Greed and Time or the Silver Moon seemed minimal, so following his habit, Shade only intended to learn one oddity related to it. If suitable oddities appeared in the future, he would acquire more power of Greed.
Similar to [Gluttony], [Greed] was a relatively common Spirit Rune. Numerous ancient books and relics allowed Ring Casters to obtain runes of similar concepts.
Aside from daily necessities, emergency reserves, repairs to the third floor of his house, and second-year tuition, Shade could still produce about 200 gold pounds. Compared to the first time he chose an oddity for [Gluttony], this time he was very well-off.
In a dim small room in the Black Raven Library, Shade sat on a sofa and explained his requirements to the person behind the wall through a small hole. To avoid missing any valuable oddities, he specifically stated that the price could fluctuate slightly.
It took the library half an hour to provide Shade with a list of seven oddities, six of which could be learned using the Whispering Element Spirit Rune [Greed].
The cheapest, [Heart of Greed], cost 15 pounds. This was a passive ability that, once learned, enhanced one's own greedy desires. It was an oddity used in conjunction with other oddities that required "Greed" as a condition; an ordinary Ring Caster would certainly not learn it.
The most expensive was [Valda's Life-Claiming Contract]. Excluding learning materials, the price was 350 pounds; including materials, it soared to 1,200 pounds. This was an active ability that utilized a "debt" relationship to sign a contract with other intelligent beings via a handshake. Once the contract was violated, the oddity would claim the violator's life.
It sounded powerful, but oddities were useless against Ring Casters of a higher level than oneself, and they could fail due to linguistic traps or the death of the caster. It belonged to the precious "Contract" class of oddities.
Shade didn't choose the most expensive, nor the cheapest. In the end, he chose the oddity [Treasured Object], which cost 232 pounds including materials.
The explanation for this oddity was quite simple: by utilizing one's own greed and cherish for a certain object, one could bestow supernatural abilities upon that object.
The oddity itself was only useful for inanimate ordinary objects. Only one "Treasured Object" could be chosen at a time, and it could be changed every lunar cycle. Furthermore, the power of the oddity was limited by the degree of greed and cherish for the object itself, as well as the user's own level.
Different Ring Casters choosing different "Treasured Objects" would bestow different supernatural abilities, but these abilities would only amplify based on the object's form. For example, shoes would make the wearer run faster or jump higher, and glasses would enhance vision in the dark or expand the field of view, but it was absolutely impossible for a ring to suddenly fire fireballs after being chosen.
According to the records provided by the Black Raven Library, most Ring Casters who learned this oddity chose coins or banknotes as their "Treasured Object." Because greed for money never fades.
Of course, some Ring Casters chose special Rhode cards as their "Treasured Object." Consequently, the cards would possess supernatural powers such as extreme speed of flight, hardness, or sharpness.
One must know that [Genesis·Balance], controlled by Shade, could not be made sharp enough to be used as a weapon.
This oddity naturally had very slight side effects.
First, greed for similar items to the selected "Treasured Object" would be amplified. Second, if the selected "Treasured Object" was lost, the user could not use the oddity for six lunar cycles, and during this period, their own greedy desires would be amplified.
But these side effects were acceptable, which is why Shade chose to purchase this oddity.
After paying the high fee, his savings dropped to around 400 pounds. Returning home, seeing that it wasn't yet lunchtime, Shade used materials such as "Money Grass," "Horse Dung Stone," and "Greedy One's Skeleton" to complete the learning of the oddity.
However, a small problem arose when selecting the "Treasured Object."
He took out all his cards, intending to select [Ancient Fairy Tale·Match Girl]. But when the spiritual light of the oddity covered the cards, the selected target was actually the entire deck, including [Genesis·Silver Moon] but excluding [Genesis·Balance].
[Genesis·Balance] could not be selected, likely because it had already been activated and was no longer an ordinary object. The entire deck was selected likely because the "Divinity Afterglow" state amplified the effect of the oddity.
It wasn't that he could select multiple targets, but rather that he could consider "a set" as "one" target.
The evidence for this hypothesis lay in the fact that Shade felt he could replace different cards into the deck, causing the replaced card to lose its "selection" and the newly inserted card to gain it. Therefore, when Shade obtained new special cards, the new cards would not have to wait for the next lunar cycle to be selected.
[You spent so much money on an oddity just so that when you play cards, you can stuff more cards into your opponent's hand? Outsider, you truly are a greedy person.]
"Do not slander me."
Shade flicked his finger. Under the effect of [Treasured Object], the fifty-four cards flew from the far end of the table to the tabletop in front of him, stacking neatly from top to bottom.
Then Shade opened a newspaper and manipulated the fifty-four cards to slice through it.
The expenditure of over 200 pounds was well worth it. In the Divinity Afterglow state, although the sharpness of these cards was not enough to split bricks or stones, it was sufficient to slit a human throat. Moreover, the power obtained by the special cards in the deck was far greater than that of ordinary cards due to the greed in Shade's heart.
If he could replace the entire deck with special cards, the effect of the oddity might be further enhanced.
When the cards first began to fly, little Mia peeked out from behind Shade to watch the scene. Once they stopped on the table in front of Shade again, the wide-eyed cat immediately stepped out, jumped onto the table, and curiously extended a paw to touch the top card.
Although the cards had gained the property of sharpness, manipulating the cards to fly using [Treasured Object] was far inferior to Shade's direct control over [Genesis·Balance]. However, compared to the spell [Move Object] which could achieve similar effects, the control of [Treasured Object] was more refined.
For instance, Shade, suddenly feeling mischievous, made the card Mia was repeatedly batting at suddenly fly up. While Mia pursued it, he manipulated the card to fly back and forth across the table, making the cat constantly swing its paws.
"Meow~"
The cat suddenly stopped, pressing its small paw against Shade's arm, looking at him with large amber eyes.
The Outsider laughed and let the cards stop in front of the cat. Very satisfied, the cat extended its paw.