"Improve your luck. Among countless possibilities, choose the one that is most beneficial to you. Yes, I think this relic should meet your requirements."
On Thursday morning, Father John sat behind the counter at Old John's Pawn Shop, and stuck his head out from behind the newspaper. The page in his hand was the news of Marguerite de Anjou's imminent arrival, which was the front page of most serious newspapers today:
"You're lucky, I really found it. However, those who play with fate will eventually be played by fate, so if it is not necessary, young man, I don't recommend you do this."
The old man said lazily as he flipped through the newspaper, "This is a kind reminder."
"Which relic did you find?"
Shad also knew that what Father John said was right. He had experienced it many times in the twenty-sided dice of fate and the puppeteer's notes.
"Or maybe it's not a relic? Is it a special ancient era luck-changing ritual? Or a so-called lucky potion?"
"Detective, please think carefully. If I had the lucky potion and the luck-changing ritual, wouldn't I have sold it to Schneider long ago? It's a relic, Secret Keeper-level, golden lucky rabbit's foot."
Xia De thought about it:
“Never heard of it.”
Dad continued to read the newspaper, introducing it lazily. In early winter, the smog in Tobysk was particularly severe. From the window, you could see the gray streets. Most people walked forward with their heads down, wearing hats and covering their mouths. However, the auction house was warm and comfortable:
“This is not a very famous relic, its properties are very simple:
Touch the relic to gain luck, and every choice you make afterwards will lead to the best option. When you feel that you don't need this extra luck, pour cold water on your head to terminate the feature. The negative feature is also quite simple. The more luck you borrow, the more rabbits you will dream of at night. Therefore, this feature is not completely controlled, because people often don't know how valuable the best one is among the choices they make. "
Xia De nodded, then asked suspiciously:
"The rabbit in the dream?"
He had only dreamed about cats.
"Yes, groups of rabbits will invade your dreams and drive you crazy in your dreams. This relic has the same effect on ordinary people and ring sorcerers. As long as you use luck, you can't escape the rabbits."
Old John nodded and continued reading the newspaper.
"Is that all? Then how did you get the Secret Keeper Level (Level 3)?"
Xia De had had many strange dreams before, and he didn't think that the groups of ordinary rabbits in the dream could be evaluated as so dangerous.
"Just borrowing a little bit of luck to complete a crucial choice will only make the mentally fragile guys who touch the rabbit's legs crazy for a few days and like eating carrots for a while. But if you are greedy and use your luck too many times during the period when the luck effect is in effect, then..."
Old John raised his eyes from behind the newspaper and looked at Shade:
"You may have heard that there are a large number of evil creatures sealed in the subspace adjacent to the material world. Among them is an evil creature born in the Fourth Era. Its image cannot be described. Even if it can be described, I cannot tell you. But in the eyes of mortals, it has a flesh and blood body like an ugly rabbit. It is good at drilling into dreams and manipulating fate. That thing is more terrifying than the undead aggregate that appeared in Middleburg last month.
If you borrow too much power from the Golden Rabbit's Foot, you might summon a projection of that horrible evil creature."
He sighed and finally closed the newspaper:
"So, the danger level of this relic is actually not low. It mainly depends on whether the user is greedy. Maybe the holder of the relic can always remain rational and resist temptation, but how can we ensure that everyone who touches the relic can remain rational? The containment conditions are not harsh. Just cut off a small piece of rabbit meat every few days and eat it. But what kind of determination does the person in charge of the care have to make to control himself and others?"
"A rabbit visiting in the dream and a change in the recipe? I think I can handle that."
It sounds like this relic is safest if it is kept in the Orthodox Church. But now, the owner of the relic is Old John's friend, Mr. Logan Rodriguez, a historian who is a visiting scholar of the Kingdom of Carsenrick.
Old Logan was also a member of the monastery. After confirming that Shad wanted to borrow the relic, Old John asked him to pay a usage fee of 10 pounds and asked him to help look after the pawn shop temporarily. Then he grabbed the coat and went to borrow it.
The Secret Keeper-level relic, the Golden Lucky Rabbit's Foot, was not the dried rabbit leg that was smaller than a palm as Xia De had imagined, but a sturdy fresh rabbit leg that was half the size of a pig. The fluffy white hair felt very textured, and there were even traces of fresh blood on the broken part of the rabbit leg.
Father John put it in a box and asked Shad to help him carry it from the carriage into the pawn shop.
As the old shopkeeper wiped his sweat and lamented that he was getting old, Xia De opened the box. For a moment, he saw a pair of eyes staring at him from the white rabbit fur, but when he looked again, there was nothing.
"The soul is too sensitive, the inspiration is too high."
Mumbling in his heart, Xia De sniffed the smell of flesh and blood, and reached out to touch the rabbit leg. The touch of the soft white rabbit fur was completely incomparable to the docile and lovely Mia's cat fur.
Stranger, you have achieved temporary luck.
"Is that all?"
Xia De quickly withdrew his hand. Apart from "her" reminder, he did not notice any changes in himself.
"What else do you want? To have golden light all over your body, or to hear the sound of music in your ears?"
Old John asked with a smile, and then called on Shad to help lift the thing onto the carriage.
"After paying 10 pounds, I was expecting something to happen."
After leaving Old John's Auction House, he immediately returned home. He had already made preparations for the trip, but the relics he brought with him this time did not include the Night's Watch. This sword was a bit sensitive at the moment, so Shade had to determine the specific situation of the destination before making plans.
After saying hello to the cat that was napping on the sofa on the second floor, he put on his hat and went into the basement holding the white stone crystal.
"May the original rift protect me in infinite space."
As soon as he finished speaking, Xia De, who had touched the statue of the ancient god, successfully entered the space maze filled with white mist.
The space maze is different from most other spaces left by the ancient gods. You must not walk around randomly here, otherwise you may be drawn into a disordered space. The safe area in the white fog is the path in the fog. Now there are three old signposts corresponding to the basement of St. Teresa Square in Tobesk, the cliff cave of Coldwater Harbor, and the abandoned tower in the mountains of Midhill Castle.
Although it is not certain whether there are statues of the ancient god of space near the city of Huntington, this adventure for divinity cannot be delayed.
Holding white stone crystal in both hands:
"Sacrifice."
New information is available. New road signs can be searched for. Please select a general direction.
"south!"
The crystal melted silently into the fog, and the fog on the trail dissipated a little, revealing the fourth signpost.
The tattered wood was stuck diagonally in the fog. A wooden arrow was nailed on the wood, with the number four written crookedly on it.
Xia De walked over, adjusted his mood to face the new adventure, and then placed his hand on the new road sign:
"Now, let's go."
The Original Rift will show you the way.
The whispering sound in my ears faded away, and the white mist around me dissipated. What came into view was a circular space that was almost identical to the one hidden behind the wall in my basement.
But there was no debris piled by Shade against the wall here, only a human skeleton leaning against the wall with the clothes on it almost completely rotten.
The two-headed statue of the ancient god in the center of the space emitted light and illuminated the place as Shade gazed at it, while the skeleton just leaned quietly against the wall without any movement.
"If there are still undead spirits so close to the ancient god statue, then I should doubt whether I have not woken up yet."
The first thing Xia De did was not to investigate the skeleton or leave, but to take out a water bottle toy from his pocket, put it back in place, and then pour the full bottle of water on his hair.
The good luck brought by the lucky rabbit leg ended immediately, but Xia De still felt relieved. He wiped his hair with a towel while approaching the skeleton against the wall.
There were no texts or letters around the skeleton, and the severely damaged clothes made it impossible for Xia De to determine the identity of the body. There was nothing special about the skeleton itself. Based on his superficial knowledge, Xia De could only determine that it was a male. Although the exact time of death was completely uncertain, judging from the degree of decay, it was definitely not within the past 10 years.
Each circular hidden space where the ancient god statues were located was almost exactly the same, so Xia De left different marks at different locations as identification. The skeleton in front of him was obviously not a good landmark, but Xia De did not touch it. Instead, he wanted to explore where this place was first and make sure that this space was unknown to anyone like the other places before burying it.
"I have to start exploring again. I hope this place is not too far from civilized areas, and I don't need to dive or swim. Hiking is fine, but I remember that there are only plains near Huntington, and no mountains."
Xia De prayed quietly in his heart, drew the holy emblem of Mr. Dawn on his chest, then summoned his own life ring and used the light of the time and space spirit rune to illuminate the wall that the statue was pointing to.
Hiding the wall revealed a dark passage, and the good news was that it was pitch black outside and there was no sound.
"It's morning now, and there's no light, which means there aren't even any windows around. This time, is it still underground? Come to think of it, it seems that every hidden wall is below the ground."
He did not go out immediately, but sniffed a few times. The air outside the passage flowed behind the hidden wall, and Shade smelled the scent of red wine:
"Is there a drunkard drinking here recently? No, the air is very dry, and the aroma of this wine is very mellow."
It's not just the aroma of wine, but if you smell it carefully, you can also smell the scent of oak and hay.
After confirming that there was no one outside, Shad walked out of the wall carefully, but did not rashly call for moonlight. Instead, he relied on his dark vision to look around in the dark. What he saw were neatly arranged oak barrels.
The area of the space is about three times the size of the master bedroom of Shade. The floor is covered with hay, and oak barrels of the same standard are neatly arranged against the wall. Each barrel has a copper faucet installed, and the only shelf is filled with tools such as crowbars, measuring cylinders, flints, wine cups, and wooden spoons.
The room I was in was roughly divided into two floors, but the upper floor was just a circle of wooden boards around the wall. In addition to the wine barrels lined up on the wooden boards, there were only narrow walkways and railings. Although the space was expanded, it didn't look very safe.
There is no light around, the walls are unpainted, revealing the rough surface, and the wooden fence door is locked with hinges. The air is dry and dull, but this environment can better ferment these red wines.