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"Huh? Did you really think I play cards purely to slack off?" Qingque defended herself.
"Yes." Sylvester didn't hold back at all, letting out a firm nasal sound before adding, "What else would it be?"
"Heh heh!" Qingque's voice jumped an octave as she spoke with great seriousness. "That's exactly it!"
Sylvester's eyebrow twitched as he rolled his eyes again. "You're actually shameless enough to admit it?"
Looks like Fu Xuan really hasn't assigned her enough work.
"Of course, it's not only that—ahem." Qingque shook her head, cleared her throat, and said proudly, "Look, the Celestial Jade was excavated by me from ancient texts. It's my research achievement. To a person, it's like my own child—surely you can understand that, right?"
"Mm… a lot of people do say things like that." Sylvester nodded noncommittally, more or less accepting her explanation.
Though what he'd seen more often were people who instinctively treated their own papers as academic trash.
"So!" Qingque continued eloquently. "A child's future is naturally the top priority. Spending most of my time on it is perfectly reasonable, right? Since I was the one who unearthed it, I naturally have the responsibility to let it flourish and be recorded in history!"
"So, when I play cards, I'm not just playing cards—I'm playing cards with great significance." As she spoke, she pressed a hand to her chest and said in a deeply "moving" tone, "Do you know how much psychological pressure I'm under every time people misunderstand me with those strange looks? But for the sake of pushing the Jade Abacus to the cosmos, I dare not think of my personal sacrifices!"
Sylvester's eyebrow twitched again and again. Looking at Qingque, whose face was practically screaming "noble martyr" as if she were about to die heroically for the Xianzhou, he felt nothing but admiration.
Then he mercilessly exposed her. "I've really never seen anyone dress up slacking off and playing cards in such a dignified and refreshingly elegant way."
Fu Xuan really hasn't assigned her enough work.
He said helplessly, "If you worked as diligently as the IPC's employees, Fu Xuan would probably wake up laughing in her dreams. Don't you think so, Mr. Aventurine?"
Aventurine was still immersed in the overwhelming happiness of having obtained four purple curios in a row. Especially when compared to his previous streak of bad luck, the contrast was so great that his mind had gone blank for quite a while.
Sylvester's remark snapped him back to reality.
Aventurine froze for a moment, then smoothly put on his professional smile. "Oh? If Miss Qingque were to come to the IPC, I can guarantee she'd start with a P35 position the moment she walked in. After working casually for a while, a P40 position would be well within reach. The Ten Stonehearts would even compete to hire her as a special assistant."
Though he wasn't close with Qingque, he had a general understanding of personnel movements within the Divination Commission. After all, truckloads of documents were shipped daily to the place next to Sylvester's—completely not knowing would actually be difficult.
In short, it was obvious she was a key talent being groomed by the Divination Commission. For someone like her, a P40 position at the IPC was simply appropriate.
"Eh, then forget it. I'm most afraid of running all over the place with leaders." Qingque curled her lips and muttered softly, "At least the Master Diviner doesn't make me pour tea or serve water."
Aventurine just smiled it off. After all, he wasn't here specifically to poach talent.
He carefully examined the three curios in his hands: one was a strange light mass mixed with various colors; one was a blue light point the size of a firefly, surrounded by rotating arcane patterns; and the last one was… a tablet computer?
Looking at these odd items gave him a headache.
Yet at the same time, there was a strange sense of delight. To some extent, not understanding something meant it was powerful, didn't it?
"Shopkeeper Sylvester, just how powerful are these curios? Please explain them to me."
Sylvester looked at the three purple curios, his eyes widening slightly.
He'd been too busy trading barbs with Qingque earlier and hadn't checked them right away. With these three combined, they were probably on par with a gold curio, weren't they?
Aventurine's luck really was something else.
Sylvester pointed to the blue light point. "This curio is called [Reiji Maigo]. It's a powerful artifact jointly created by a mortal human with a limited lifespan and their lover, whose race was that of a Crimson Lord, so they could be together forever. Its effect is simple yet overwhelming: every night at midnight, it restores the host completely to their 'state of existence' from 24 hours earlier."
"Injuries, lifespan, even things like the Xianzhou's Mara-Struck condition—none of that matters. As long as you were fine 24 hours ago and are still 'alive' now, even if you're reduced to just a brain floating in a jar, you'll be restored to a complete person! And beyond this original function, after universal adaptive enhancement, if you suffer a fatal wound, the effect will trigger early. In other words, you get one resurrection per day!"
"Amazing! This suits me even better than the [Spirit Bomb]."
Looking at the blue light point in his hand; Aventurine's professional smile was completely replaced by genuine joy.
He knew his way of doing things was dangerous. No one was more willing than him to take huge risks for profit—Diamond included.
Fortunately, his insight and luck had always been good, allowing him to keep winning up to now.
But he had never forgotten those moments when he brushed past death. Leaving aside the distant past, back in Penacony, Acheron's slash may have come from within a "dream," but that didn't mean he would've been safe in reality.
If not for a Knight of Beauty who happened to be passing by, and a chaos physician the IPC hired for him, he'd probably still be lying in an intensive care ward.
And now, with this item as a foundation, it was practically equivalent to adding an ever-present weight to the scales of his gambles!
The utility of this was immense—especially for someone like him, who gambled with his life occasionally, and occasionally did so often.
"Can I use it just by attaching it to my body?"
"That's right." Sylvester nodded.
Hearing this, Aventurine didn't hesitate. He immediately pushed the blue light point floating in his palm into his chest.
The moment it touched his body, the light vanished.
Aventurine felt a special vision surge into his mind.
Within a dark, mysterious space, precise gears and arcane chains formed the machinery that housed the [Reiji Maigo]. The blue light point glowed faintly yet unshakably within that space.
Faintly, he could even hear the click-clack of clock hands.
It was strikingly obvious—yet strangely untouchable.
Aventurine opened his eyes. Within those peacock-brilliant pupils flickered a trace of awe.
This thing was far too mysterious. No matter what methods he used to probe it, he couldn't find where it was hidden—yet he constantly felt that it was always functioning.
And from another angle, if even he couldn't find it, then anyone else trying to steal it was clearly indulging in wishful thinking.
Aventurine's anticipation for the next curio only grew stronger.
This trip—his gains were truly immense.
He pointed at the ordinary-looking tablet. "Shopkeeper Sylvester, then what is this?"
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