"Low temperatures below freezing preserve liquids better."
The priest was shaking the test tube while talking to Shade. He then showed Shade his "cold box" in the basement. It was a metal box wrapped with quilts, straw, and canvas. There was ice inside the box. There were big holes in the ice to store medicines or herbs that had to be kept at low temperatures.
Father Augustus only opened it to let Shade take a look. Before the cold air could even escape, the priest immediately covered it up:
"Ice is very expensive in Tobesk in the summer, I'm from..."
The old priest blushed, which was rare:
"Some of it was taken from the church's losses. So the Chemistry School at St. Byron's is very expensive. You can't learn it without money."
But Shade didn't have to worry about potion storage, as his house was large and there was plenty of free space. After learning about these things from the priest, he planned to transform part of the basement into an ice room. Although he couldn't make ice, he could make it snow, and he could control the size of the snow.
Just be careful of curious cats breaking into the ice house. Although they are timid outside, they are very curious about things at home.
In addition to the extract, Shade also gave several pieces of ore and some labeled liquids that he brought back from Coldwater Port to Priest Augustus for identification (Note).
Unfortunately, most of those things were worthless, and the warehouse dispatcher had no means to identify the materials of the ring warlock. The most valuable was a fist-sized silver ore, which was worth about 12 pounds.
Shad sold all the stuff to the priest for only 11 pounds, as a way of thanking the priest for helping him make the extract diluent for free.
He will definitely come to trouble the priest again in the future, so the accounts must be settled clearly, but not too clearly. This can be regarded as a little experience of a foreigner in dealing with people.
After saying goodbye to the priest, it was only ten o'clock in the morning. Expecting that the reply to the expedited letter might not come back yet, I stopped by Old John's pawn shop.
There were actually customers in the store when he entered, but fortunately they were just ordinary people. Xia De pretended to be curious and wandered around the store, carefully observing the pawned goods on the shelves that looked like garbage but seemed to have some value.
Almost everything is sold here. If Xia De didn't have time to buy some new furniture to fill the empty rooms, he could just buy second-hand goods here at a very low price and bring them home.
Wait until the customer leaves before going to the counter.
"The relic you asked me to help find will take some time. It's not easy to find that kind of thing."
This was Old John's first sentence.
"It doesn't matter. You can raise the price. Now that you have money, you can raise the purchase price to 200 pounds."
Shade said, and Old John nodded to indicate that he had remembered it, and was busy keeping accounts. He just spent 3 pounds to buy a pipe from a poor middle-aged man. It was said that it was an antique:
"I saw you in the newspaper. The 200 pounds is the reward from the Redwich Court? When did they become so generous? I thought they would give you 100 pounds at most. Oh, and what is the personal thank you from the royal family?"
He raised his head and smiled at Xia De:
"If you don't mind, how about you take it out and let me see it? I can help you estimate the price."
"The queen gave me a ruby ring. Bring it to me next time. I came here for two things this time."
Xia De held up two fingers:
"First, I want a common object. Is there a door that can be used as a decoration? It should be made of metal and small. The door itself must have a keyhole and can be pushed open."
"what are you up to... ... "
Old John was stunned, then put down the pen in his hand and looked at Xia De in surprise:
"Last time you bought a time key... Oh, your idea is really interesting. Wait, I'll go find it for you."
Of course, Shad is looking for this pendant for the time key. The next key can be used in the early morning of Thursday, and the time to take action with the two ladies is Thursday night.
It would be nice to enter the second journey in advance and gain strength before the battle, but it would also be nice to keep the key and enter the past at a critical moment, giving yourself some breathing time and even gaining strength from the past in a targeted manner.
When Shade was swimming under the sea yesterday, he was thinking about this problem. In the end, he decided to save the opportunity to use the key until Thursday night. If he really encountered a problem that he couldn't solve, he would at least have another chance to try his luck. But if he entered early, he had no idea what he had to prepare.
But if you want to use the time key in battle, a new problem arises, that is, there may not be a door nearby when fighting with the Silver Eyed Person.
The time key is very lenient in judging doors. As long as it is a door with a keyhole and can be pushed open, it is fine. There is no limit on the style and size of the door. The key can automatically match the keyhole. That's why Xia De thought of getting a door-shaped pendant.
But the book doesn't mention whether this type of door is possible, so we still have to try it out.
Old John was also very interested in Shad's wild ideas and quickly found what he wanted among the sundries he recycled.
The pendant is made of pure metal, and the pendant itself is a door. The skilled maker uses bearings and nuts to make the small door able to be pushed open, and the door frame and door body are attached together with magnets, so there is no need to worry about the door being opened due to shaking.
The keyhole is only the size of a pinhole. When looking into the light, one can see that the keyhole goes directly through both sides of the door, forming a transparent structure.
"Come and try it."
Old John urged, he liked this fresh idea.
Xia De held the door in his left hand, then took out the time key he bought last time from his pocket. He put the key against the door and found that the key itself was almost bigger than the door.
But with a gentle poke, the key actually "entered" the pinhole-sized keyhole. The part that did not enter remained at its normal size.
Shad continued to push the key inward until only the key handle was exposed.
Old John raised his eyebrows and smiled, while Shade whispered:
"May the Father of Infinite Trees protect me in time."
After reciting the mantra, he gently turned it. Sure enough, it couldn't turn because the time was not up. But this in itself meant that Xia De's attempt was successful.
"Interesting, really interesting. I never thought that the time key could be used in this way."
Old John said with a smile on his face, and asked Shad to try from the other side of the door, and the key still fit in.
This novel idea is actually not complicated. People in the past have never thought of it, probably because those who have entered the past have never thought of using the journey to the past as a resting point.
If Xia De was not forced into a corner by the pressure of reality, he would also want to enter the past in a stable environment.
"I want this pendant. How much is it?"
Xia De didn't even ask the other party to wrap up the pendant. Instead, after confirming that there was no rust on the surface, he hung it directly around his neck.
"No money, I'll give it to you for free."
Old John shook his head.
"Why are you so generous this time?"
Xia De said suspiciously, this was not like the other party's behavior.
"First of all, who do you take me for?"
The old man raised his head slightly, not giving Xia De a chance to answer the question:
"The idea you just proposed is enough to pay the price."
"What else?"
Xia De asked again.
The pawnshop owner looked at him and smiled:
"Don't you have another thing? So, what else do you want to buy? I can give you a good price."
He twirled his fingers at Shad. This was the way Father John was behaving.
Xia De, who was standing in front of the counter, sighed:
"Well, this time you'll probably have a chance to rip me off. I want to buy an offensive relic that can be used by low-level warlocks and has weaker negative effects. I have three hundred and fifty pounds in cash."
Apart from the money reserved for emergency situations, he spent most of his savings. But since he was going to fight the Silver Eyed One, there was no reason to keep a large sum of money unused.
Although Xia De is stingy, he knows that some money cannot be saved.
"What are you going to do?"
Old John asked in surprise. Old people have more experience and see things more directly:
"Based on my understanding of your finances, even if you made some money you shouldn't spend it like this... Are you going to pick a fight with someone?"
"Almost. That's why I lack a suitable weapon. I know that a truly powerful relic cannot be bought with 300 pounds. I have a few Rhodes cards here that I can mortgage to you temporarily. The appraisal certificates are all there, so you don't have to worry about it being a counterfeit."
He was about to take out his cards, but was stopped by Old John, who shook his head and said:
"Do you think relics with small negative properties and strong positive properties are everywhere? I can't give them to you right away if you want them. Even if I could, you certainly can't afford them. Why don't you tell me what the person you want to deal with is good at, and I can find you some cheaper, targeted relics."
After hesitating for a moment, Old John advised again:
"Young people should learn to be patient and not always think about dueling with others. You are only one ring, and you should not get involved in dangerous things casually."
"But this time I have to go. As for the opponent... Sorry, I can't say much, but the opponent is seriously injured, so I think he should be fine."
"Young people nowadays are really..."
The old man sighed, then walked away from the counter and left the antique shop through the back door.
Xia De waited for 20 minutes before Old John came back with a dusty wooden box. The box looked quite old, so Old John asked Xia De to move away from it. He blew on the box and the dust immediately flew away.
After the dust settled, he opened the box and pushed it to Xia De. Inside was a golden candle, or more precisely, a candle stub. It was the thickness of a fountain pen, and perhaps it was originally very long, but now it was only less than the length of a thumb.