After both parties implicitly displayed their abilities, goals, and intentions, Aiwass and the Shadow Demon temporarily reached an agreement.
As the Shadow Demon once again submerged into Aiwass's shadow, the shadows that had spread like mud throughout the bar were drawn back into the shadow beneath Aiwass.
Like a pool with an open drain, the shallow lake of shadows quickly "dried up."
The warm winter sunlight once again streamed in, filling the bar room.
It was as if the damp shadows that had just covered everything were merely an illusion.
Good.
Aiwass breathed a sigh of relief.
Now, the four most important tasks were completed.
He had completed Aiwass's revenge, killed the "friend" who betrayed him; successfully destroyed his own incriminating evidence; obtained the next investigation clue; and awakened and appeased the Shadow Demon.
Now, it was time for the delightful treasure chest opening!
Aiwass carefully listened and found that Haina was still searching downstairs and had not come up.
Looting time!
He eagerly rubbed his hands together and began to search for his spoils.
Aiwass quickly found a small, thumb-sized round box that looked like a balm container. Etched on it was a crescent moon pattern with a human face, and below it was a small line of text: "1886-03-071, Living Silver Workshop."
He was very familiar with this Water Icosahedron.
This was a Dream Tincture, a specialty of the Stibium Kingdom.
"Good stuff. A good start."
Aiwass's mouth curved slightly upwards, and he casually put it into his pocket.
Dream Tincture is a magical potion that stabilizes dreams, anesthetizes the body to prevent easy awakening, and is an alchemical product of the Path of Equilibrium. It can also be used as an anesthetic for surgery, but its primary purpose is as an auxiliary medicine to increase the success rate during advancement.
In a wuxia novel, it would be equivalent to something like a Foundation Establishment Pill. At lower levels, it offers a quite significant increase in breakthrough success rate.
Among players, Dream Tincture is known as the "Minor Advancement Potion," which can increase the success rate of advancement rituals. It's roughly similar to a magical potion that increases the success rate of Enhancement in classic MMORPGs where equipment can be enhanced and crafted.
In the setting, advancing a professional level requires entering a dream to perform a complex and highly failure-prone ritual within the dream. But in the game, it is determined by a cold success percentage for advancement, and preparing certain rituals or materials can increase the success rate.
If successful, after a special effect, the advancement is successful, and the professional level cap increases by ten levels. Then three options appear for you to choose one.
These are the Path characteristics obtained upon successful advancement this time.
If it fails, you are sent back to Level 19. For players, the materials are gone, and they just need to prepare the ritual again to advance; for NPCs, if advancement fails, they have to wait for a cooldown period that increases with level, becoming longer and longer, at least half a month.
Veronica is currently a Level 19 Demon Scholar and is about to advance; or it's also possible that she failed several times, which is why she prepared Dream Tincture for herself.
From the number of ritual spells she mastered, she must have stayed at the Second Circle for quite some time under circumstances where the level cap is locked, skill levels can still be raised normally, but they won't add to the professional level anymore.
Aiwass's current promotion from the First Level to the Second Circle is not difficult, and he is basically certain to succeed. He doesn't need it for now.
He can use it when he advances from Level 19 to Level 20 later.
Moreover, because Aiwass is advancing on two Paths simultaneously, he will need two doses.
Dream Tincture itself is not a particularly rare magical potion, so there's no need to specially cherish it. Its price in Stibium is not high, only forty-six white crown coins. However, because it is purely handmade by Alchemists, the supply is insufficient, so it requires pre-orders and is subject to purchase limits.
And most importantly, this medicine will be relatively difficult to buy in Avalon for the time being.
Because since two years ago, the Stibium Kingdom has become an enemy nation of Avalon.
All alchemical products from the Stibium Kingdom are restricted from export to Avalon; correspondingly, Avalon also does not allow the import of alchemical products from the Stibium Kingdom, and likewise does not allow the export of its own minerals and timber to Stibium.
Currently, on the Avalon market, apart from a small number of existing stocks... there should only be hoarders and scalpers who charge ten times the price as a starting point.
Five hundred white crown coins is just a starting price.
This is a price Haina wouldn't even dare to imagine. It's about ten years' worth of a common worker's salary.
Aiwass could afford it.
He just didn't want scalpers to make so much money so easily.
He also didn't plan to leave this Water Icosahedron to the Surveillance Bureau even if the Surveillance Bureau got it, they would only resell it at a high price. It's even highly likely they would sell it to the Moriarty Family.
Because everyone knew that Young Master Aiwass had recently embarked on the Path of Transcendence and become a priest. He also needed to stock up on Dream Tincture in advance.
Then there's no need to let middlemen earn the difference.
But unfortunately, after finding the Dream Tincture, Aiwass couldn't find any more good items.
He only found some ritual materials.
But those were all human materials, such as placentas or infant scalps. Not only were they worthless, but he also had no use for them.
Aiwass had already sworn not to use materials from his own kind for rituals and he genuinely disliked such cruel acts. So he did not take them away. Instead, he left them on Veronica's body as evidence of her crimes.
The red robe on her body was actually valuable.
...However, Aiwass felt that he probably couldn't strip it off.
Not to mention it was women's clothing, which Aiwass couldn't wear; and Veronica wasn't wearing much underneath, so directly stripping off her clothes would be a bit perverted...
Of course, even if he got the red robe, it wouldn't be of much use.
In the game, players had no identity, which is why they could infiltrate the Noble Red Society with the red robe. But he was now Aiwass Moriarty, and he couldn't pass the Noble Red Society's review at all.
If he really succeeded in joining, then he would be threatened by the Noble Red Society in turn. Because once the matter was exposed, Aiwass would not be able to survive in the Avalon Kingdom at all. Even his adoptive father, elder brother, and Yulia would be harmed by it.
"...Eh?"
Aiwass suddenly pulled out a brass ring shimmering with brilliant golden light.
It was engraved with a scarred fist, tightly clenched, with blood dripping from between its fingers. And the sparkling "blood" was actually ground ruby powder. Under the sunlight, it reflected a dark red, viscous luster, as if it were real blood.
The next moment, a light screen popped up:
[Noble Red]
[Otherworldly Accessory (Light Purple)]
[Jewelry - Ring]
[Trait: Minor Dictum Resistance (Triggered by Path of Transcendence only)]
[Spell: Violent Choking Spell (Once daily, 1/1)]
[Requirement: Dark 2]
[Gesture, Medium Range, Instant Effect]
"We are all wounded fists, blood-clenched hands, scale-less blades."
Yeah, it dropped!
Aiwass's eyes lit up.
This was the best loot Da Zi could drop!
Minor Dictum Resistance can nullify the interference and control effects of Authority Path, such as Level One Dictum Spells and Dictum Combat Arts - Shouting, and weaken control effects below the Third Level by one level.
The Authority Path is the most common Path ability in Avalon. If Aiwass wears it, control skills cast by Otherworlders below Level 10 won't be able to hold him; control skills below Level 30 will also have their intensity reduced by about 10 levels. The only drawback is that this Water Icosahedron is too conspicuous, and wearing it normally can easily lead people who recognize it to mistake him for a member of the Noble Red Society.
But its effect is indeed good, it's exceptionally practical in the early stages... and Aiwass is on the Path of Transcendence, so he can trigger the passive effect. It's suitable for carrying in his pocket and wearing when needed.
And the spell attached to the ring, "Violent Choking Spell," although it sounds a bit silly, is actually a quite practical spell.
The fact that casting it through the ring requires two points of Dark attribute mana shows that it's not a low-end item.
"Choking Spell" is a First Level Transcendence Path spell, whose effect is to make a person enter a state of choking on water. If Aiwass now obtained the corresponding occult book, he could learn this spell.
"Violent Choking Spell" is its Second Circle upgrade. Its effect is to immediately make a person fall into a state of severe choking. From the text description, it's like having irritating liquid like chili oil or seawater poured up your nose, and you'd probably cough uncontrollably for several seconds before recovering.
If a person is constantly coughing violently, they actually can't exert much force.
Because they cannot inhale normally, their strength will weaken. In the game, the effect is "Damage -10%, Accuracy -10%, Attack and Movement Speed -10%, lasts for three seconds," but Aiwass feels this value is definitely conservative.
If it were in reality, being caught off guard by this move could very likely expose a fatal weakness.
Similarly, a person in a state of violent choking cannot speak, let alone shout.
Even for some time after the effect ends, they might not be able to speak clearly. The mucous membranes would have been damaged, making it easy to continue coughing inadvertently.
And the Authority Path's Dictum abilities all require shouting loudly.
From this perspective, this equipment is specifically designed to counter the Surveillance Bureau's abilities. Once discovered, he can use it to obstruct the enemy and immediately escape.
Aiwass couldn't help but feel fortunate.
Fortunately, he exposed a weakness, enticing Veronica to choose Haina as her breakthrough point.
She must have thought that his shot was too weak to penetrate her defense. So, it would be better to take the shot, immediately feign death, and then, taking advantage of Haina's moment of relaxed vigilance, cast a spell to instantly kill her.
So she didn't want to show too much threat because what she needed was Haina's carelessness.
Such academics are very prone to revealing weaknesses in their mindset.
But Veronica knew this... and Aiwass, of course, also knew.
He knew that Veronica would definitely look down on Haina, which is why he deliberately set up a trap, pretending to shoot at her, thereby giving Veronica a chance to successfully execute her plan. As Veronica watched her plan gradually approach success, she herself had already relaxed her guard.
Thankfully, he dug a pit and chose a righteous ambush!
Otherwise, if they truly engaged in a full-blown fight, even if Veronica's continuously channeled spell didn't hit, she could counter with a grab, weakening Haina with the "Violent Choking Spell."
Moreover, this ring itself is an identification for the Noble Red Society. And only official members can obtain it; peripheral members like Evil Bartender do not have one.
Although in the game it's just a piece of equipment...
But Aiwass thought.
In reality, it might have other uses.
Just as Aiwass usually dared not wear it for fear of his identity being misunderstood the reverse might also be true.
I haven't adjusted yet, thinking of writing less, but these two chapters are again over six thousand words...
The recommendation is coming soon, please keep reading~