Chapter 283: A Troublesome Threat

Hearing this, George sighed and said, “But sometimes, those flawed items that are considered oddballs actually contain many good things. And in terms of price, they are really quite cheap compared to their functions.”

“I think you just like the feeling of hunting for treasures in the trash, George! But if this hobby becomes widely known, it might give those rats in the dark a chance! Since this assassination failed, the mastermind behind it will either send a stronger or more targeted Assassin, or they might choose other ways to achieve their goals,” Knight Val warned him seriously.

George’s hobby had a specific term in the art collection world before he transmigrated, called “finding a bargain.” In the Suzhou dialect of Jiangsu province before his transmigration, it was called “eating an immortal’s gallbladder.” It means that a priceless treasure exists, but no one else sees its value. Only you, with your sharp eyes, discover it and buy it at a low price.

Usually, finding a bargain means buying a very valuable antique at a cheap price, and the seller is often unaware. This is a jargon in the antique world, vividly reflected in the character “pick up,” because the antique community generally believes that finding a bargain is something you can meet but not seek. Therefore, in Northern dialects, the word “pick up” is used to imply its rarity, which is a very witty expression and also a vivid embodiment of the teasing culture in Han culture.

This behavior first gives people the temptation of getting rich overnight. Especially the stories of finding bargains at various antique appraisal meetings in society back then happened every time. These stories stimulated people’s nerves, so many thought they might find a bargain and make a fortune. This trend swept through the entire Tianchao society before George transmigrated. Even George back then was influenced by this to some extent.

At that time, he had no conditions in this regard, so even when he went to the antique streets, he dared not reach out. After all, the collection market is a high-risk market. There are chances to find treasures, but also many traps. Especially after the antique craze rose, under the influence of utilitarian factors, many antiques were priced artificially high, and a large number of fakes passed themselves off as real. For many collectors who lacked professional appraisal knowledge and had a shallow understanding of market operations, it was basically impossible to make a lot of money by buying and selling antiques.

As the saying goes, the buyer is never as sharp as the seller. At that time, he had already struggled in society for a while. Naturally, he would not blindly gamble his hard-earned money, but that small-town desire to get a bargain remained in his heart to some extent.

Even after coming to this world, his identity had changed completely from the beginning. But as the saying goes, it is easy to change the landscape but hard to change one’s nature. Even with wealth that an ordinary person could never earn in a lifetime, George still appeared quite stingy in some aspects.

For the overdevelopment of the Territory, the reform of the army construction, and even the bribery of his subordinates’ hearts, George could be said to throw money around. However, regarding his own spending, while he could not be called stingy, he did calculate things quite a bit. So when buying Magic Items, except for the urgently needed battle supplies, he preferred items that became very cheap due to problems during the production process.

Isn’t there a saying that garbage is just resources in the wrong place? George liked to find things that suited him from those failed works. Besides getting a bargain, there was also a secret pride in his unique vision, which was very similar to ordinary people who longed to find bargains.

It was just that George’s current status and position were higher, and the things he came into contact with were different. Plus, the preciousness and non-universality of knowledge in this world allowed George to act like a professional in front of some sellers.

Since he obtained several defective items that satisfied him, his interest in this area was completely aroused and could not be stopped. Of course, Val’s words now served as a warning bell.

Knight Fukna also stood up to add, “That’s right! Isolde’s worry is very reasonable. Although this assassination failed, the person who acted was not left behind. After he returns, your fight with him might be clearly laid out on the opponent’s table for analysis. The Assassins that might appear next time will definitely improve based on the intelligence gained this time. And your hobby of buying defective Magic Items is not a secret either. Although the cost of specially made cursed items is not small, it is still an acceptable choice. In both aspects, it is better for us to be well prepared.”

Realizing that both were putting pressure on him at the same time, George had to give in: “Alright! From now on, I will restrain that hobby. But regarding the search for that Assassin, I leave it to you, Knight Val.”

“I will do my best in this regard. But Botfish has been refusing visitors for the past half month due to some research experiment. I don’t know when he will finish his experiment and have time to spare.” A look of difficulty and helplessness filled Knight Val’s face.

You see, for Mages, the pursuit of the Arcane can be said to surpass everything. Especially high-level Mages often become a kind of obsession that ordinary people cannot understand. Of course, without such obsession, they could not have condensed their True Names to become true high-level Mages in the first place.

The higher the level of magic, the more complex it is, and the more human resources, material resources, and time are required for research. To spend several months working wholeheartedly in the laboratory for an uncertain experiment that might not succeed is nothing out of the ordinary for a Bronze Rank Mage.

That is why so many Mages eventually chose the path of the Lich, a road of no return. No matter how they were in life, their souls, corroded by Negative Energy for a long time, inevitably fell into madness. As for the Great Liches who used special abilities to protect their minds, the difficulty of transformation was greater, and they were also rare among the already scarce Liches.

Now, not only George, but even Knight Fukna showed a disappointed expression. It seemed that both had originally pinned their hopes on that Great Prophet, but now it seemed that the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment!

However, Knight Val seemed to be waiting specifically for the two to show such expressions: “But the Shadow Energy hidden in this Scimitar is very special. It can be said to be a personalized manifestation of the user’s own traits. So even without Botfish’s help, it should not be too difficult to get some information about it.”

Shadow Energy is a variant of Negative Energy, and this change often arises from the user’s needs. The Shadow Sun Monk is one of the experts in this field. They are martial artists who cultivate the balance between Good and Evil, Light and Shadow. This school teaches its members how to pursue the power of balance. Shadow Sun Monks use the power of darkness to absorb the lives of enemies, and then use the power of light to transfer the absorbed power to their companions.

Shadow Sun Monks learn through contrast. They know that Evil lurks in everyone’s heart, even in the purest and most tempting people. By exploring the demons hidden in the heart, exposing them to the light, accepting them as part of their own souls, they can understand themselves and their abilities even better. Shadow Ninjas believe that denying rather than accepting a person’s inner impulses is like not using the left hand.

From the beginning, they followed the subtle balance between Light and Shadow, Good and Evil in their cultivation. Even if their hearts belonged to Good, they knew that Shadow and Evil were always part of the user. This understanding allowed them to carefully control their energy, enabling you to use your abilities of both Light and Darkness.

From the initial basic abilities of balance like Shadow Sun Touch and Shadow Sun Flame, to the advanced abilities like Light in Darkness and Darkness in Light, similar to the Eastern philosophy of Yin and Yang—Even Darkness can no longer suppress the light in their hearts. On the contrary, Darkness can ignite and stir up the light in their hearts, making it boil and burst forth to break free. At the same time, they do not reject Darkness because they know that without darkness there is no light, and vice versa. Advanced applications of Shadow Sun Void, Children of Light and Shadow, and even the final Balance of Light and Shadow must use their own life energy to assimilate the external Light and Shadow Energy to be used.

Because these users do not directly use the natural energy of the outside world like magic spells, their energy retains their own deep imprints. Although this makes their control of energy much more skilled than many senior Mages, as long as there is a trace of energy residue, it brings considerable convenience for finding them.

The Shadow Energy soaked and left on this Scimitar after long-term use by its owner was enough to make a strong man seriously ill and bedridden. With such an obvious clue, Knight Val dared to make such a statement, even without the help of the Great Prophet Laurel Botfish to complete a general probe of the opponent.

After this psychological change that seemed like a roller coaster, George immediately clenched his fist and roared at Knight Val, “Mr. Val! At a time like this, can you stop taking big gasps on purpose! Isn’t it better to save this bad taste for another time?”

At the same time, Knight Fukna looked at Knight Val with an unhappy expression, obviously also dissatisfied with the actions of the Territory’s strongest fighter just now. However, since he was not the superior one, he could not question him directly like George. Perhaps if it were Sir Bart or Sir Ahuatan, they might not have such concerns. But as the Knight with the weakest strength in the Territory, Mr. Fukna always gave people a feeling of lacking confidence when he was with Knight Val.

Knowing that a collective anger is hard to offend, Knight Val immediately turned the topic seriously: “Alright! Alright! Now you don’t have that tension you had just now, right? But now we need to consider how to deal with the assassination that might happen again next.”

“This is indeed a difficult problem! According to George’s words, if that Assassin can move as shadow, ordinary Guards seem to have no effect on them. Trying to achieve perfect protection is not a small difficulty,” Knight Fukna said with some headache.

Knight Val frowned and spoke his thoughts: “Now we can only start from two aspects at the same time. One is to understand the source of the Assassin as much as possible and solve the problem through this channel. The other aspect is to improve your strength, George. This way, at least it can increase your ability to protect yourself when dealing with sudden situations.”

“Let’s try the first one as much as possible! As for the second one, that is not an easy thing. Do you have any good methods, Knight Val?” George knew the other party would not shoot without a target, so he naturally asked this question.

“To be honest, it is a bit embarrassing. The path you take is really a bit different from ours, and most Knights in the Territory are not suitable to guide you. Overall, your style is more like a one-on-one duelist. The way to quickly improve your combat ability now is the use of weapons. After today’s incident, I wonder if we can find a Swordsman for you through our own channels to be your martial arts instructor,” Knight Val said with some difficulty. In his view, this behavior was slapping his own face.

The so-called Swordsman is actually a branch of the Warrior. They focus more on using skills to defeat the enemy. Of course, because the changes are not very big, many people do not regard them as a separate profession to inherit.

Unlike the classical system of Knights that integrates master-apprentice, master-servant, and family relationships, the master-apprentice relationship of Swordsman is a bit more distant. They often learn sword skills by paying money in categories, which leads to an awkward interest dispute appearing in the originally intimate master-apprentice relationship.

This also makes it so that although inheritance is also emphasized among Swordsman, they lack the rich heritage and connotation of Knights. It is often just purely about skills. Because of this custom, it is also very common for a person to have several sword skill instructors, unlike Knights who usually have only one instructor in their lifetime.

Although many years have passed, this original rule has changed to some extent. For example, Knights from the same Territory with good relationships will put their Heirs together for teaching. After all, every Knight has different strengths, and this practice is not easy to lead students astray.

But there is still only one true instructor. George’s instructor is Knight Val. This makes even George, with a higher status, always unable to speak too heavily in front of him. Even questioning is usually just harmless.

“Swordsman?” Saying this, Knight Fukna beside him also frowned.

After all, on the known path of Swordsman, it seems the highest level reached is the Master level of Bronze Rank, and their peak is far from that of Knights. So Knight Fukna could not help but have some opinions on this.

Knight Val patted his chest and said, “Don’t worry! I will find a real Weapon Master. But George, I will tell you in advance. The price is not cheap.”

The so-called Weapon Masters, their power comes from the unique melee weapons they have mastered perfectly. A Weapon Master seeks how to perfectly connect their beloved weapon with themselves and merge the two, so that they can use the weapon casually and without thinking, just like using their own limbs.

George did not stop the other party’s good intentions: “Alright, in this regard, you handle it, Knight Val! If there is nothing else, the two of you go and execute the ideas we just discussed as soon as possible!”

After dealing with the assassination just now, George was already quite exhausted. During the discussion just now, George could be said to have been forcing his spirit. The two Knights could also see that George needed rest now, so they left quite tactfully.

After finishing the daytime schedule, George, after adjusting himself, sat on the bed as if making a decision: ‘It is time to strengthen the effect of the Thunder Method. The battle during the day shows that for those dark powers, Thunder is the most effective!’

‘Wind is born from hot ears, clouds from dark eyes, thunder from vibrations in the belly, rain from sweat of all sizes, and fire is born when eyes are dizzy…’ With such scriptures, George slowly entered meditation.

It could be seen that the Thunderbird Spirit in his Sea of Consciousness was slowly deforming, finally turning into a round well mouth. Then, the thunder water in the well seeped in bit by bit, gradually increasing. However, this water was dark green, seemingly the condensation of thunder from the ground.

Many closed pipes in the void opened their restrictions due to the birth of the Thunder Pool. Not only the initial thunder from the ground, but even the static electricity of Yang Thunder from deep in the sky also descended along the pipes. The dark green thunder water instantly became much lighter, and blue-white thunder light and golden-red electric flowers were born.

That pool of thunder water turned into five colors, the water surface shimmered, and many glows were born. This was close to the legendary ancient Thunder Pool. As for forming a pool from a well, if in the ancient Chinese system, with the Eight Trigrams of the I Ching opening the way, the forty-eighth hexagram, the Well Hexagram, literally means to draw, nourish, and never run out.

The five-colored thunder water in the Thunder Pool continued to temper and consolidate. The self-consciousness on the original Essence Spirit had already disappeared. The natural patterns on it separated out, swimming and playing in the thunder water. With continuous spiral coiling, the thunder patterns absorbed the lightning essence everywhere around them. Some pattern ends even began to grow new branches. The egg-sized natural patterns after a while had already become palm-sized, and the expansion was getting faster and faster, and the shapes were becoming more and more complex.

One of the thunder patterns was winding and twisting, as if a brush moving like a dragon and snake; this was the Thunder Rune Beast Seal. Another thunder pattern’s tip curled, like clouds rolling and unfolding; this was the Cloud Pattern Thunder Seal, one of the Jade Clear Gold Seals. It is said to have the ability to command the primordial energy of heaven and earth and manipulate the weather.

At the same time, the Tower Reaching the Sky in his mental space also changed. Countless golden snakes of thunder danced wildly in the void, descended from the sky, and quickly wrapped around the tower from top to bottom. Then, countless small golden-green bird seals emerged from the thunder and flew up, then slowly landed on the Tower Reaching the Sky. As the bird seal divine runes merged with the tower, the parts of the tower that were originally ordinary, made of dirt and rocks, turned into jade that shone with a faint light. Countless cloud pattern thunder seals faintly appeared on it. At the same time, a base made of black marble for the floor was also slowly forming.