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Chapter 19: Because You Were Originally a Good Person

Although many people are reluctant to admit or realize it, in fact, most people have a certain dark side in their hearts, whether they are players or NPCs.

For example, in the world of “Iron and Fire,” there are often NPCs who renege on their promises after releasing missions, and even try to kill the players who completed the missions.

And the players are immortal, so why would they be afraid of this? If you want to mess with me, of course I will fight back directly, but it is very troublesome to be calculated by NPCs all the time when doing missions.

However, there is an organization whose NPCs will never calculate players, that is, the “Blade Warriors” within the territory of the Holy Solomon Empire, composed of extraordinary warriors who hope to serve their lords with their swords. They master the “Kingsguard” bloodline path, the first Sequence of which is Justice X.

Whether it is a murderous bandit or a sneaky thief, as long as they drink Justice X, they will all become knights of noble character.

They keep their word, do not play tricks, do not bully the weak, and will definitely give the rewards they promised to the players. If the difficulty of the mission is 100 points, they will never say it is only 99 points. If the players complain that the difficulty is too high, they will even take the initiative to add money. They are a shining example among the NPCs who release missions, a friend of the players.

What’s even more amazing is that this change in personality is not gradual, but the moment the potion takes effect, it cuts off the dark psychology of the NPC and directly removes it.

Asker still remembers a mission called “One Drink to Forget,” which was about a drunkard NPC who had just joined the Blade Warriors. Because chivalry did not allow him to drink excessively, he could only ask the player to find him good wine.

When the player found the wine, the guy even brought the bottle to his mouth, but in the end, he still couldn’t drink it, his face full of pain, entanglement, and helplessness. So the name of Justice X spread among the players, and they gave it the nickname “Honest Man” potion, meaning “Drink this bottle of milk, and you will be an honest man.”

According to some adventurous players, after drinking Justice X, your game character can no longer steal, provoke, or kill for no reason, nor can you break into the homes of NPCs without permission. Even some players who like to swear found that even some aggressive words were blocked, such as “What are you looking ******” and “What ****** are you looking at,” which became “beep!” when they came out of their mouths, causing a lot of complaints from uncomfortable players.

Of course, there are also those who feel that it is very immersive after getting used to it again.

“Ah, I don’t feel anything.” Eleanor said puzzled.

“How can you not feel anything?” Asker was quite surprised. “Don’t you have a feeling of ‘I don’t know why, but I’m being forced to turn over a new leaf,’ or ‘I didn’t have a choice before, but now I want to be a good person’?”

“No.” Eleanor said honestly.

“If someone on the side of the road asks you for donations in the name of ‘a child at home is seriously ill and needs help’,” Asker thought of a classic psychological test question online and asked, “what would you do?”

“Donate money.” Eleanor blinked. “See how much money I have on me.”

“What if the other party is a liar?” Asker immediately asked, “In fact, there is no sick child at all, he is just using this name to cheat money and squander donations?”

“If I can be 100% sure that he is a liar, then I definitely won’t donate money.” Eleanor said in a matter-of-fact tone, “But even if there is only a 1% chance that it is true, why wouldn’t I donate? Maybe it can save the life of an innocent child, right?”

“So that’s how it is.” Asker sighed, “So you were a good person from the beginning.”

“Because her values are already very upright, so even after taking the Justice X potion, her mentality has not changed at all?” Medea said thoughtfully.

“That’s great.” Nuo, who thought she wouldn’t donate money in this situation, said guiltily, “Eleanor, you are really a kind and good person.”

“I don’t know if it’s my illusion, but I feel like you are mocking me?” Eleanor said suspiciously.

“No, this is not mockery. In this cruel era, there are fewer and fewer people like you.” Asker touched his chin and sighed, “Once upon a time, I was also a pure-hearted teenager, how did I become so dark and suspicious now?”

He muttered and turned to Nuo and instructed, “Nuo, pay attention not to let Eleanor handle the team’s funds, I’m afraid she will be cheated out of all her money in the future.”

“Okay.” Nuo nodded.

“Wait a minute!” Eleanor cried and laughed, “Why did you suddenly start looking down on me! Don’t look at me with that pitiful look!”

In addition to affecting her mentality, Justice X also provided Eleanor with a certain amount of physical and mental strength, making her six attributes significantly improved. Another thing worth mentioning was the “Smite Evil” ability. According to Eleanor, who automatically acquired the relevant knowledge, this ability gave her a stronger ability to strike evil. When fighting evil enemies, her six attributes would receive a significant bonus.

“The question is, how do we judge who is evil?” Medea asked, thinking to herself that I wouldn’t be classified as the type that “Smite Evil” would work on, would I?

“Free heart certificate, if I remember correctly.” Asker said, “The premise is that Eleanor needs to sincerely believe that the enemy is evil, then the ability of Smite Evil will take effect on her.”

“Eh! Then, if I use the ability of Mind I to exert mental influence on Eleanor.” Medea’s eyes lit up and she said, “As long as she thinks that the enemy in front of her is evil, then no matter who she faces, wouldn’t she be able to exert the bonus of ‘Smite Evil’?”

“You are a genius.” Asker said, both amused and annoyed. Of course, this method had been explored by players and nicknamed “Justice Warrior Sleepwalking Style” or “Hypnosis Flow,” but it was not discovered until much later in the plot. The fact that Medea could come up with such a cheap trick without any hindrance the second she heard about the characteristics of Justice X showed that this woman was a schemer herself.

Eleanor’s mouth was half open, as if she had never thought of this. She hesitated and said:

“But… wouldn’t it violate the true meaning of justice to interfere with the judgment of good and evil with mental abilities?”

“What is the true meaning of justice?” Medea asked disdainfully.

“Justice is…” Eleanor tried to speak, but was interrupted by Medea’s righteous words, “The true meaning of justice is to defeat the enemy! Only by surviving can you have a say. How can dead justice be justice? If it’s dead, you say it’s evil, and it becomes evil. Can it still get up and talk back?”

Eleanor didn’t refute, but her expression clearly showed that she didn’t accept it.

“So now in our team, there are two people who are still missing potions.” Asker quickly came out to smooth things over and changed the subject, “Medea, how are your potion materials?”

“I haven’t collected the Menarche yet.” Medea burst into tears. Other spiritual materials were easy to say, even if the origin was far away, there would always be merchants selling them. This strange thing depended on the right time. In order to avoid attracting attention, Medea secretly contacted dozens of poor families in the city, all of whom had 12 or 13-year-old adolescent daughters, and bribed their parents with a lot of money – as for when their daughters’ menarche would come, only God knew.

Maybe tomorrow? Maybe next year? It was simply unpredictable.

“Nuo’s Life I, we already collected the formula and main materials last night.” Asker didn’t tell everyone about last night’s battle, but took out the Life I formula and showed it:

-Ingredient-

• Three Flowers of the Eden Tree

-Subsidiary-

• Two Seeds of the Fruit of Eden

• One spoon of Corfu Olive Oil

• 200ml of Fruit Brandy (Rakijas)

-Processing-
Take fruit brandy (the brewing ingredients must include the following 10 kinds of fruits: plum, pear, apricot, peach, raspberry, orange, apple, cherry, banana, red date, no honey is allowed), add one spoon of Corfu olive oil, crush two Seeds of the Fruit of Eden and add them. Finally, put in three Flowers of the Eden Tree, with the pistils facing up, and let them sink naturally. After the petals change color, the liquid can be drunk.

“We have both the Fruit of Eden and olive oil.” Nuo said in surprise.

“The main material, Flower of the Eden Tree, can be replaced by the extraordinary characteristic of Life I.” Asker thought for a moment and said, “Only the auxiliary material, fruit brandy, we have to go to the taverns in the lower city to find it.”

“And Peggy and Eleanor, you two have just been promoted to level 1, and the extraordinary power inside has not been fully digested.” Asker looked at the two of them, “You must practice through actual combat to transform it into corresponding physical and mental strength. Today I will go out with Nuo to collect auxiliary materials, you two go to the training ground under the hotel last time to spar. Medea, you watch over them and don’t let any accidents or injuries happen.”

“Oh, okay.” Medea replied absentmindedly.

So everyone went out and acted separately. Peggy, Eleanor, and Medea went to the training ground, while Asker and Nuo went to the wineries in the city to look for auxiliary materials. In the room opposite the ancestral home, the Church spy yawned as he watched these people go out.

“This young nobleman is very strong, he actually took in 4 girls for the night?” The spy muttered, writing down the recorded information on the document in his hand. But he knew in his heart that this was just routine.

Unless the other party blatantly used extraordinary power, or something strange happened in the house, even if his surveillance records were submitted, it was very likely that no one would pay attention to them, and they would probably be thrown into some wastepaper pile.

He twirled his pencil boredly, rested his hands on the windowsill of the surveillance, stared at the empty house and door, and narrowed his eyes lazily.

Chapter 18: A Contest in the Dark

At 11:30 p.m., Asker accompanied Nuo to Doroc Road in the slums.

“Will it be dangerous?” Nuo looked at the dark road on both sides and the homeless people sleeping in the alleys, covered with cardboard boxes. She whispered with some fear.

“Nuo, there is danger everywhere,” Asker said lightly. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have come with you.”

“Hmm.” Nuo nodded, still feeling a little uneasy.

Arriving at the door of house number 44, she reached out to knock, but Asker stopped her.

Asker raised the hilt of his sword and knocked on the door.

Is he worried that there are extraordinary traps on the door? Nuo immediately had the urge to take notes again.

The door opened, and inside was darkness, only a faint figure could be seen sitting on the bed. Asker sneered in his heart, it was indeed an enemy.

Nuo carefully glanced inside, and suddenly felt a chill, as if something had invaded her body and was fighting her for control. Her thinking became sluggish, her senses dulled, and Nuo felt it difficult to breathe. She wanted to scream, but found that the vocal cords in her throat were out of control and she couldn’t make any sound.

Asker encountered the same situation, but he was already level 1, and his spirituality was much stronger than Nuo’s, so he could barely move. As his body gradually became disobedient, he did not show any panic, but slowly turned his wrist, aiming the muzzle at the darkness on the left.

Bang!!! The roar of the Desert Eagle sounded, and Nuo only felt as if she had been hit in the face with a sledgehammer, blood almost oozing from her ears and nose… At the same time, her body quickly returned to normal. She stumbled and grabbed the door frame, just in time to see Asker light the flint, illuminating the scene in the room.

It was a simple shack of about twelve square meters. A young man in a yellow priest’s robe was sitting on the bed, his eyes rolled back and his face was blue and purple, obviously dead. Another body was in the shadows behind the left door, a middle-aged man in his thirties wearing a black robe, with a large hole blown open in his chest by the elephant hunting bullet. He was lying in a pool of blood, his face still showing an expression of disbelief.

“That’s a Spirit II extraordinary,” Asker stepped forward quickly and began to search the young man’s belongings on the bed. “Spirit II can freely manipulate nearby spirits and attach them to inanimate objects, such as a pistol, so they can shoot. Or invade living bodies and compete with the spirits inside for control.”

“Of course, it’s not foolproof.” He pointed to the body in the corner and added, “The higher the Sequence of the extraordinary, the lower the possibility of being successfully possessed by a spirit. From the moment I entered the door, I was holding the pistol in the arm armor of my cotton armor. Just turning my wrist and pulling the trigger, I could still do it in the state of resisting spiritual invasion.”

“So that’s how it is.” Nuo felt inexplicably ashamed. The moment the door opened, Asker had already assumed a posture ready to fight back with his gun, while her subconscious first reaction was to stick her head in to look. The gap in actual combat experience between the two was too big.

And even if she was on guard, her first reaction would definitely be to treat the corpse sitting on the bed as the enemy. How could she have imagined that the real enemy was hiding in the darkness behind the left door? By the way, how did Asker know?

“Two birds with one stone, you are lucky, Nuo.” Asker took out two formulas from the sleeve of the corpse on the bed. “Life I and Radiance I, this is a Life School extraordinary who tried to advance to level 2, but unfortunately he died here before he could put the formula into action.”

He finally pulled off the topaz signet ring from the corpse’s finger, glanced at it, turned around and went to search the body in the corner. Nuo looked at the corpse on the bed and bit her lip uneasily: “So… inviting me here was actually a trap?”

“Maybe.” Asker said, “Maybe the “Life School” learned at the party that someone was looking to buy the Life I formula, so they lured you here to join the organization, but were intercepted and killed by someone from the Spirit School. Or maybe the interception happened earlier, and it was the Spirit School people who attended the party. They suspected that you were a newcomer who wanted to join the Life School, so they deliberately lured you into this trap.”

“I think it’s the latter. If they were willing to let you join the organization just because they learned that you were looking to buy Life I, then the Life School would be too hasty.” Asker analyzed, and finally found his target: the Spirit I formula, the Life I extraordinary characteristic belonging to the corpse on the bed, and the Spirit II extraordinary characteristic of the murderer himself.

This time it was a real bargain! Asker thought with satisfaction. Three Sequence I formulas, two extraordinary characteristics (lv1 and lv2), and the ring of the Life School, the combined value was at least 600-700 pounds. The players on the game forum summarized that “murder and arson lead to a golden belt, while farming and development lead to elimination” was not a random joke. The price difference between the mysterious world and the secular world was really too big. The total price of his two shops in the imperial capital was only a little over 1200 pounds, and now he had recovered half of it by killing an extraordinary.

“Let’s go.” He took Nuo and left the scene.

“Are the Life School and the Spirit School mortal enemies?” Nuo asked curiously.

“The Life School is also called the Druid School, originating from the ancient Kate people. They master the ‘Shepherd of Trees’ bloodline path, whose main Sequences are ‘Life’ and ‘Radiance’.” Asker explained, “The Spirit School originated from the ancient Siris people. They master the ‘Spirit Witch’ bloodline path, whose main Sequences are ‘Spirit’ and ‘Undead’.”

“The two schools were once close allies in the Third Epoch. At that time, the military power of the ancient Republic of Solomon almost conquered the entire continent. Both the Siris and Kate people were forced to submit to the Solomon people, so they also had the intention of joining hands to resist the common enemy. The ‘Singer of Life’ bloodline path was the product of the honeymoon period between the two schools.” Asker explained in detail, “Later, in the Fourth Epoch, with the division of the Solomon Empire into East and West, the Siris people were completely integrated into the Eastern Solomon Empire and began to regard themselves as Solomon people, while the Kate people were annexed by the Germanic people. As their ideologies and cultures gradually diverged, the two schools eventually broke up.”

“To make matters worse, because the two schools were too closely related during the Third Epoch, they both knew and possessed a lot of confidential information about each other. Therefore, after the breakup, both sides wanted to put each other to death.” Asker said leisurely, “As the saying goes, the most bitter hatred comes from those closest to you, and this is probably the reason.”

“Is that so?” Nuo immediately began to imagine, her mind filled with the tragic story of the two schools’ entanglement of love, hate, and hatred over thousands of years.

…

The next day, Asker woke up from his bed in the study and saw that the window on the third floor was open. A bulging package was placed on the desk, with a note attached to it, written in delicate handwriting:

Cash on delivery

M.C. (short for Mia Cinquemani)

P.S. There is a Church spy at your door

“Asker! Asker!” Nuo rushed in and shouted in a panic, “Our house has been burglarized! I just checked our belongings and found that 210 pounds are missing! The thief also left a note saying that it was payment for the goods…”

She stared at the package on the desk in a daze. Asker covered his forehead and said helplessly:

“Yes, your spiritual materials have arrived. She took the money too.”

“The goods have arrived?” The other three girls came upon hearing the news.

The package on the desk was opened, revealing a dazzling array of spiritual materials. The Galya Canyon river water was contained in a mineral water bottle with the label torn off, about 400 ml; the Fruit of Eden was a light green apple-like fruit, wrapped in three layers of plastic film; the Corfu olive oil was filled in a glass jam jar.

The Vila eagle feathers were tied with hemp rope, there were six or seven of them; the Bosnia Bay geoduck was packed in a plastic bottle; the Golden-Striped Leech paste was packed in an empty makeup powder box, with a label on it, handwritten with a big word: Stinky.

The service of the Thieves Guild was really too thoughtful, they actually delivered more than the amount on the order, obviously they had taken on a lot of business from extraordinary people before, so they also took into account the material loss of potion preparation failure… Asker thought to himself, then said:

“Since the materials are all here, let’s start preparing the Justice X potion.”

“What about my Life Steal I?” Peggy protested, the materials for her potion formula had also been collected.

“You?” Asker glanced at her, “Have you digested all your Flesh I extraordinary characteristics?”

Medea echoed, “It is very dangerous to take a level 2 potion without digesting the level 1 potion completely. Because the original potion in your body has not been ‘tamed’, taking potions of other Sequences is prone to ‘runaway’, which greatly increases the risk of losing control of spirituality.”

Seeing that Peggy was too depressed to speak, Asker waved his hand helplessly: “Let’s do what we can first.”

Eleanor immediately set up the crucible excitedly and started to help Asker. First, she measured out 100 ml of Galya Canyon river water with a beaker, poured it into the crucible, and lit the fire. Four minutes later, the river water boiled, and Asker took out a pair of Shadow Worm Beast’s Eyes and carefully placed them in the center of the boiling water.

With a pop, the eyeballs of the Shadow Worm Beast burst in the boiling water, and ink-like black liquid flowed out from the cracks in the eyeballs, quickly dyeing all the water black. The originally boiling liquid surface also calmed down strangely, and there was no response no matter how the flame below heated it.

Asker took out the reagent bag containing the diamond powder and poured it in. The powder dispersed in the liquid and seemed to dissolve quickly. Finally, he took out the Vila eagle feathers and put them in one by one.

Dots of light appeared in the pitch-black liquid, like a galaxy in the night sky, giving people a feeling of depth just by looking at it. Asker sniffed the smell, and after confirming that there was no problem, he poured it into a beaker and handed it to Eleanor.

Eleanor took the beaker containing the potion, her throat twitched, closed her eyes, and drank it all in one gulp. Then her skin began to glow. Her golden curly hair suddenly turned silvery white, and her pink lips turned pale. She opened her eyes blankly and unconsciously, her pupils turned into golden crosses, with faint rotating patterns.

She opened her mouth and let out a long, meaningless sigh, and her whole body slowly returned to normal.

“How do you feel?” Nuo asked with concern.

“I’m fine.” Eleanor looked at her body. “It feels like I’ve had a sunbath, my whole body is warm.”

“Has your mentality changed?” Asker frowned and asked, “There are many records in history showing that after taking Justice X, extraordinary people will obviously feel that the dark side of human nature has been violently stripped away, resulting in temporary psychological discomfort.”

Chapter 17: Perfect Physique X

“Kill him!” The gunmen roared furiously, raising their guns and firing.

Asker rolled and dodged behind a nearby house. Countless bullets rained down like a storm, kicking up dust from the ground. Looking at the chaotic scene of random shooting, Asker sighed.

The most important thing for a gunman was positioning and movement, followed by tactical awareness, and finally their own control and reaction speed. These gunmen actually chose to charge head-on, their positioning and movement knowledge close to zero; they were still shooting at the empty ground when they had lost sight of the target, and their tactical awareness was also nonexistent. Dealing with these trash NPCs really felt like a strong man beating up a child.

The opponent was too weak, it was not even exciting!

The gunmen were still shooting at the empty ground, while the other part of the gunmen had quietly split up, taking advantage of the time when their companions were attracting the enemy’s attention with gunfire, they outflanked and tried to sneak attack from behind. As a result, when they went around to the back of the house, they saw no one.

Just as everyone was stunned, a burst of intensive gunfire rang out, and several of the outflanking gunmen fell down.

“Rooftop! He’s on the roof!” The gunmen reacted one after another, and just as they raised their muzzles, they saw a figure flash past from the roof and disappear behind the eaves.

“Intercept him with your men! Patrick, what are you doing over there!” The leader of the gunmen roared angrily. During the outflanking just now, he asked his confidant Patrick to take three or four people to stay on the other side of the house, for fear that the enemy would notice and run away. As a result, the enemy jumped off the roof in that direction, but there was no gunshot from Patrick’s side.

“Patrick and his men are all dead!” The gunman who rushed over there turned his head and shouted, “Just now, when he was on the roof!”

Before he finished speaking, another gunshot rang out, and the leader of the gunmen fell to the ground. The bullet went through his skull, leaving a black hole in his forehead.

“The boss is dead too!” The gunmen shouted in panic, continuing to charge in the direction of the gunshot with their guns. Although ferocity and bloodiness were still supporting them to continue fighting, they had lost their command after all, and the formation originally used for outflanking immediately fell apart.

“Left! The brothers on the left are down, he’s on the left!”

“No! The bullet came from the right!”

“Above! He’s on the roof again!”

“Suppressive fire! What are you all doing? Can’t even lock onto one person?”

As the gunmen continued to howl and get killed, the rest finally began to waver. From the beginning of the battle until now, more than twenty people on their side had been shot and killed, and the other side had not even lost a single hair. Even in many cases, they only caught a glimpse of a back, and then they could not find the target. Five or six seconds later, the gunshots rang out again, and as his companions fell one after another, everyone realized that the man had already moved to another direction.

This battle could not be fought anymore! It was completely like a mouse chasing a cat, a dead end! Soon the remaining people reached an agreement in horror, dispersed, and fled for their lives.

Asker hid in the shadows of the corner, quietly watching the gunmen flee, and did not pursue. These trash NPCs didn’t even have extraordinary characteristics, killing them was a waste of bullets. Did bullets not cost money?

He walked out of the corner, looked at the corpses all over the ground, and sighed helplessly again.

After this massacre, no one stopped him from leaving the slums, and the city guards didn’t even show up… Everyone knew that the slums were a chaotic area, and no one was willing to patrol there. So Asker returned to the ancestral home without any hindrance, only to see that everyone else had returned.

“The Shadow Worm Beast’s Eye and the Thick Scales have been purchased, and the diamond powder and iron oxide powder have also been bought. It cost a total of 130 pounds.” Medea handed over the banknotes. “In addition, I bought a set of alchemy equipment, which cost 1 pound… This is the remaining 419 pounds.”

Asker also did not refuse and took back the banknotes. A set of alchemy equipment cost 1 pound? God knows how much Medea had embezzled here, but it didn’t matter, anyway, banknotes were meant to be spent. Especially the money in the game, there was really no heartache in spending it.

Seeing that he didn’t say anything, Nuo couldn’t stand it anymore and said:

“Everyone, the potion to become an extraordinary being is our own business, it’s not good to use Asker’s own funds, right? I suggest that we pay for the materials and formulas ourselves. If we don’t have the money, we can ask Asker to advance it from our future salaries.”

“Hey, the idea of a salary advance is good.” Eleanor echoed, “I agree.”

“We have no problem with that.” Peggy and Medea both expressed their opinions.

“Okay.” Asker said with a smile, “The materials I ordered should arrive tomorrow, a total of 230 pounds. Plus the 130 pounds you spent on procurement, and the 100 pounds already spent at the party, the total price is 460 pounds. According to our contract, the current monthly salary is 2 pounds. If calculated on an average basis, your salary for the next 5 years will be gone.”

Everyone: ???

“How about this.” Seeing everyone’s awkward silence, Asker said with a smile, “The potion formula materials are originally a large expenditure, even far exceeding your daily expenses. Why don’t we set up a ‘Team Extraordinary Fund’ and put all the team’s profits into this fund. We will not raise our salaries in the future, and everyone can receive 2 pounds from the fund every month to maintain daily living expenses. As for the potion material expenses, they will be paid from the team fund. In this regard, we need an accountant…”

“Then let Nuo be in charge.” He patted his head and appointed.

“Oh, okay.” Nuo also readily agreed. Everyone knew that she was very rich, although they didn’t know the specific amount of her wealth, anyway, they didn’t have to worry about her embezzling.

“As the founder and leader of the team, I personally invested 520 pounds.” Asker stated, “Except for the balance of the materials I ordered, this is all the funds I have left.”

“I can also invest 500 pounds.” Nuo said a little guilty. In fact, she could take out ten times the amount of funds, but after all, she couldn’t exceed Asker’s contribution, otherwise, if the investment ratio exceeded that of the founder, she would be suspected of seizing power.

“I’ll contribute 200 pounds.” Medea said readily. This was the intelligence fund allocated to her by the Seljuk Empire, which she had embezzled, so she didn’t feel bad about paying it out.

“I have no money.” Peggy said.

“I… I’ll contribute 5 pounds.” Eleanor was quite ashamed, this was all the property she had on her.

“That’s it then.” Asker clapped his hands and settled the matter.

Thus, the small team initially established its own small treasury, with a starting capital of 1225 pounds. In this era when the registered capital of a company only needed to be about 100 pounds, 1225 pounds was already a considerable amount of property, but it was a matter of minutes to throw it into the mysterious world – even the materials for Sequence I potions were sold for 100 pounds each.

However, everyone was not in a hurry to worry about the funds, because Asker was about to start refining his first potion.

“Please keep the alchemy rules in mind.” Asker said as he set up a small crucible on the desk and lit a fire under it with a portable alcohol can. At the same time, he tore open the packaging of a pair of disposable plastic gloves. “First, safety; second, cleanliness; third, secrecy.”

The girls all stared at his every move, even Medea – in the Seljuk Empire, her potions were all finished products delivered directly by the court. Since she made up her mind to betray the country, she had to prepare all these things herself.

Asker unscrewed the bottle cap and first poured in the Strength X potion, covering one-third of the height of the crucible.

“Note that the total volume of liquid cannot exceed half the height of the crucible, otherwise a larger crucible needs to be replaced.” As Asker said this, the potion quickly boiled, and bubbles began to gurgle out. As the water gradually evaporated, bright red crystals precipitated at the bottom of the pot.

“If there is an existing potion, evaporating the water by heating is a common method to obtain the extraordinary characteristics contained in the potion.” Asker carefully scraped off the crystals and placed them in a petri dish covered with filter paper. “However, some Sequences that are opposite to high temperature, such as frost, shadow, etc., cannot be heated, so they can only be left to stand and then blown with a fan to allow the solvent to evaporate naturally. Some solvents are oily and more troublesome, so more advanced methods need to be used.”

He replaced it with a new crucible and repeated the same procedure, obtaining the extraordinary characteristics of Intelligence X and Agility X – beautiful crystals of ocean blue and grass green respectively. Next, Asker added about 20 ml of absolute ethanol to the new crucible, and then added the three extraordinary characteristics at the same time.

The absolute ethanol immediately boiled at room temperature, but the water level did not drop at all. The color of the liquid suddenly changed from red to blue, from blue to green, and from green to red. It changed faster and faster, and finally gradually turned into an opaque milky white, calming down.

“If it is an existing high Sequence potion, you can tell whether it is successful or not with spiritual intuition.” Asker picked up the beaker and fanned the air above it with his hand. “Otherwise, you can smell it like this. If it fails, you will feel dizzy when you smell it. If it succeeds, you will have a desire to drink it when you smell it.”

He tilted his neck and drank the potion in the beaker in one gulp, then immediately opened his mouth and gasped, “This alcohol is too strong, I can’t stand it.”

“Asker, your eyes!” Nuo exclaimed. In the eyes of the girls, Asker’s iris began to turn white. The muscles all over his body began to swell, faintly tightening the collar and cuffs of his cotton armor. His lips turned bright red, the pores all over his body seemed to open, his hair stood on end, and the blood vessels in the whites of his eyes almost bulged. Large bumps bulged from his neck, as if something was surging under his skin.

Gradually, the abnormality subsided. As an ordinary person who had never drunk a potion before, Asker’s body had excellent tolerance for Perfect Physique X, so there were no signs of conflict or loss of control.

It was a success. Asker slowly felt the abundant spirituality welling up in his body. Perfect Physique X brought him a lot of extraordinary power and also accelerated the conversion speed of extraordinary power into physical and mental strength. His explosive power, muscle control, endurance, reaction speed, as well as thinking ability and willpower concentration, were all significantly improved. There were no longer any shortcomings in all aspects of his body, and he was no longer prone to illness, poisoning, or aging.

He was now a real level 1.

Chapter 16: The Swindler

“Let Mia get the Vila eagle feathers for you,” Maestro wrote on the paper. “And the Golden-Striped Leeches…”

“I know where to find the Golden-Striped Leeches,” Asker said. “Inside the seventh mountain, there’s an abandoned ‘Sunken Palace’ called Mocius, right?”

“Yes,” Maestro nodded. “That reservoir has long been abandoned by the Empire. They say it’s haunted. The water drawn from it is red, with a faint smell of blood, undrinkable. Our people have explored it before, but most never returned… Are you saying there are Golden-Striped Leeches there?”

“Leeches are found all over the continent, and Golden-Striped Leeches must live where there are many people because they need to consume a large amount of blood,” Asker explained. “Usually, the Golden Leeches in the city are quickly discovered and eliminated by the Church because they prey on victims. However, the underground reservoir in Constantinople is an exception because someone is raising fish there… Have you never counted the number of fish?”

“We did notice that the number of fish each year doesn’t match the number of fry we put in,” Maestro said awkwardly. “But we thought it was because the reservoir was connected to the outside, and some fish escaped through the waterways.”

“So it was actually the Golden-Striped Leeches stealing our fish?” Mia said angrily. “I’m going to kill them all!”

“Then you’ll lose a fortune,” Asker said leisurely. “The spirituality of dead extraordinary creatures dissipates quickly, losing its original value.”

“Ahem, Mia,” Maestro winked. “We can seal off that pool and go in regularly to hunt Golden-Striped Leeches and sell them to rich people like Master Achilles.”

“Good idea.” Mia’s eyes lit up. “Esteemed Master Achilles, since you want Golden-Striped Leeches, you must have collected ways to deal with them, right?”

This girl… As soon as money is mentioned, she changes her tune to “esteemed.” Asker slandered in his heart but smiled on the surface:

“Of course. Golden-Striped Leeches like warm, humid, and dark places. After they are full of blood, they will attach themselves to walls or ceilings, emitting a faint striped golden light, hence their name. Dealing with them is even simpler. A stun grenade and a flashbang can stun their bodies and disrupt their spirituality, then you can just drag them back with a large net.”

“So that’s how it is.” Mia began to rub her fists together. Obviously, military supplies such as stun grenades and flashbangs were not impossible for the Thieves Guild to obtain.

“Then all the items on the list are complete,” Maestro said. “10 pounds of Galya Canyon river water, 30 pounds of Fruit of Eden, and we’ll charge you 70 pounds for the geoduck. These spiritual materials all involve overseas smuggling channels, so the price will be 50%-70% higher than buying locally. Vila eagle feathers, Golden extraordinary leeches, the market price is originally 120 pounds each, but in return for your clues, we will only charge you half the price for each, a total of 230 pounds.”

“I’ll pay a 30% deposit first, which is 69 pounds,” Asker replied readily. At this time, what he needed most was to collect the potion ingredients as soon as possible. For this reason, whether it was providing information on spiritual materials to the other party for free or bearing a little insignificant price premium, it didn’t matter at all. “But it must be delivered tomorrow.”

“No problem.” Before Maestro could speak, Mia had already agreed and then stretched out her hands confidently. Asker twitched the corner of his mouth, counted out 69 pounds of banknotes, and stuffed them into her hand.

“This 69 pounds is my income from the feathers and leeches!” Mia shouted at Maestro. “Consider it an advance!”

Maestro ignored her and just clapped his hands and called another thief over to row Asker out.

Sailing in the waterway corridor, Asker looked at the dark water in the distance and asked casually:

“What is Maestro’s position in the Thieves Guild?”

“He is our Shadow Mentor,” the rowing thief replied respectfully.

…

Leaving the Aspa reservoir, Asker continued to the next location.

There were five people in the team. The bloodline paths and potion formulas of the other four had been determined, but his own had not been revealed at all. No one asked for the time being because everyone subconsciously felt that with Asker’s knowledge, he must have already prepared the most suitable bloodline path and potion combination for himself.

And that was indeed the case.

The bloodline path Asker planned to choose was the same as the one he chose when he played the game in his previous life, called “Weapon Master,” an extraordinary path that was extremely good at combat. Weapon Masters could master the use of sharp weapons, blunt weapons, bows and crossbows, firearms, and shields. They were good at attacking, blocking, and dodging, could observe the surrounding environment and enemy information, design corresponding tactical plans, and also possessed strong combat intuition, able to anticipate upcoming dangers.

The first Sequence of this bloodline path was the cornerstone Sequence, Perfect Physique X. This Sequence potion would greatly improve the conversion efficiency of the extraordinary’s physical strength and mental strength. At the same time, all attributes, including explosive power, endurance, control, reaction speed, intelligence, and willpower, could be developed in a balanced and comprehensive manner.

For extraordinary beings, there were three most troublesome problems: first, figuring out the sequence combination order of the bloodline; second, obtaining the corresponding potion formula; and third, collecting the ingredients in the formula. If one was a member of an extraordinary family or organization, the first two were basically not a problem, and the third could also be exchanged and purchased within the family/organization. If one was a player, then none of that was a problem, as any problem that could be solved with RMB was not a problem.

Asker was not an RMB warrior in his previous life and could not smash through the entire bloodline path by waving red bills. Therefore, he could forget about other potion formulas, but he had to memorize all the Sequences of Weapon Master. The formula for the first potion, “Perfect Physique X,” was:

-Ingredient-

• One Humerus of a Gaul Orge

• One Tendon of Fenrisulfr Wolf’s Hind leg

• One Remnant of Phantom

-Subsidiary-

• 20ml ethanol

-Processing-
Thoroughly corrode the Humerus of the Gaul Orge and the Tendon of the Fenrisulfr Wolf’s Hind leg with the Remnant of Phantom, add anhydrous ethanol and stir well, let stand for 24 hours before drinking.

The ingredients in this formula were more troublesome. Gaul Orges lived in Inner Gaul and Outer Gaul, Fenrisulfr Wolves were on the northernmost tip of the Scandinavian peninsula in Navia, and Phantoms roamed the northern coast of the Southern Continent (from Cairo to Tunis). If he were to collect them all by himself, he would have to travel all over the world.

However, Asker knew of a shortcut.

The three most common cornerstone potions in the cornerstone Sequence were Strength X (increased explosive power and endurance), Agility X (increased control and reaction speed), and Intelligence X (increased intelligence and willpower). The corresponding main materials were exactly the Humerus of a Gaul Orge, the Tendon of a Fenrisulfr Wolf’s Hind leg, and the Remnant of a Phantom. Therefore, in theory, as long as one could obtain the potions or extraordinary characteristics of Strength X, Agility X, and Intelligence X, they could replace the main materials of Perfect Physique X.

So where could one find the three cornerstone potions? Constantinople. As the Queen of Cities, Constantinople’s advantage lay here – it was the intersection of East and West trade, and it was also located in the intersection of the Northern, Eastern, and Southern Continents. Coupled with its developed commerce and trade, almost everything in the world could be found here.

Asker slowly came to the slums of Constantinople, where most of the residents were poor migrants, such as Anatolians or Thracians, as well as Saxons and Jutes. Of course, there were also local gangs, which was a common problem in all cities with slums.

At the intersection of two nameless streets, Asker stopped in front of a stall, stared at the vendor’s goods for a long time, and suddenly sneered:

“Heh, gene serum?”

“You are right, esteemed sir,” said the vendor, a Jute who looked like a profiteer, with a short mustache and his hands clasped together in a fawning smile. “This is the gene serum from the Solomon Church. Physique I can increase your strength and endurance, Physique II can increase your agility and reaction speed, and Mind I can increase your intelligence and willpower. What’s even more amazing is that after the scientific modulation of the priests of the Solomon Church, all gene serums do not have the risk of losing control that is characteristic of potions, so they can be taken repeatedly. The more you take, the stronger you will become.”

“Hehe.” Asker picked up a small bottle and shook the liquid inside.

He knew that it was not a gene serum at all. This profiteer named Herosoth had somehow obtained the potions of Strength X, Agility X, and Intelligence X. Instead of selling them properly, this guy was selling them by diluting the three cornerstone potions with water, under the guise of “gene serum,” and he didn’t know how many novice players he had deceived.

During the open beta, game guides were relatively scarce. A bottle of “gene serum” probably only contained a drop of potion, and the rest was tap water. After taking such a thing, one could only increase a little bit of extraordinary power and could not cause a qualitative change in extraordinary characteristics. However, novice players didn’t know this, so a large amount of players’ hard-earned money flowed into the pockets of this profiteer.

It wasn’t until a certain player guild killed this guy that the truth of the scam came to light.

“How much?” Asker asked.

“10 pounds a bottle,” the profiteer said.

“Give me a bottle of Physique I.” Asker took out a banknote and gave it to him, then took a bottle of “Physique I” and drank it.

“No reaction.” He asked knowingly.

“The gene serum doesn’t work that fast,” the profiteer said with a chuckle. “It needs to be digested by your stomach…”

Before he finished speaking, Asker had already drawn Aphrodite and pointed it at the profiteer’s forehead:

“Ten times the price if it’s fake, understand?” Asker said coldly. “100 pounds.”

“This…” The profiteer’s eyes rolled. He knew that the other party was not being fooled at all, but deliberately finding fault knowing that there was a problem with the potion. “I keep all my money at home, I didn’t bring it with me…”

Just waiting for you to say that! Asker thought to himself, and said, “Don’t even think about running away, I’ll go back with you to get it.”

Just waiting for you to say that! The profiteer also thought fiercely in his heart, and agreed repeatedly.

There were no police patrols in the slums, so Asker held the profiteer hostage with his gun against his lower back all the way to the profiteer’s house.

Asker opened the door with the key and saw five or six burly tattooed men sitting inside, looking at him with unkind eyes. At this time, the profiteer who was being held hostage skillfully rolled on the spot and shouted:

“Someone’s looking for trouble! Kill him…”

Before he could finish speaking, a blood flower bloomed on his body. Asker actually shot him accurately while he was rolling at high speed. The gangsters in the room immediately erupted, scrambling to draw their guns, but Asker shot and killed two of them first.

The remaining three gangsters finally pulled out their submachine guns and fired a volley of shots towards the door, only to realize that Asker had already flashed out of the door.

“After him!”

A gangster with a gun rushed out of the door first, quickly scanning left and right, but did not find Asker. At this time, another scream came from behind him – it turned out that Asker had gone around to the side of the house and killed two more people through the window. The only remaining gangster was finally terrified and lost all courage to continue fighting, crawling and rolling towards the distant street.

Just as he was about to rush around the corner, a bullet pierced his back of the head.

These gangsters were used to bullying the poor, so Asker had no psychological burden in killing them. He entered the profiteer’s house leisurely, skillfully rummaged through boxes and cabinets, and soon found a hidden compartment behind an oil painting on the wall of the study on the second floor.

There were three bottles of potion inside, the crimson one was Strength X, the dark blue one was Intelligence X, and the light green one was Agility X. Each bottle of potion seemed to have been used up by about one-third.

After the spiritual materials were made into potions, the extraordinary characteristics, once formed, could not be separated again. If a portion of the potion was poured out, as long as it did not exceed one-half, the extraordinary characteristics would remain in the original potion, but the extraordinary power would flow out.

In other words, there was no problem in using these three bottles of potion as the main materials for Perfect Physique X. However, the extraordinary power was estimated to be only two-thirds.

Asker put away the three bottles of potion and left the house, only to see a large group of armed thugs rushing over.