The Master of the Strange Realm

Of course, what Jenkins had to do was to exaggerate the danger of the matter as much as possible. He had already understood that the Mirror World was not a place that ordinary people should explore. There were many creatures more terrifying than the [Chaos Contaminated Beast] in the depths of the Mirror World. It would be good for everyone to let the church realize the danger of the Mirror World and give up exploring there.

The conversation with Miss Befanna lasted until ten o'clock in the morning. After the matter of the skull sword came to a temporary end, she finally ushered in a relatively leisurely day. But Jenkins's relatively leisurely days were over, because the arrival of a peaceful daily life meant that he had to go to his father's antique shop to continue working.

When he pushed open the door of the antique shop, he was surprised to find that there were customers. He nodded calmly to the old man who was soliciting customers, put the cat on the cushion at one end of the counter, and then took the initiative to come forward and talk to the old man who was buying antiques.

Judging from his clothes, it is also okay to call him an old gentleman. His hat and coat are particularly exquisite, and the top of the cane in his hand is a suspected gilded metal ornament.

He wanted to buy a batch of antique vases and paintings for the exhibition, which was a big deal.

"Excuse me, is it the exhibition on the weekend? That's really great."

The old painter Grant, who had worked with Jenkins before, invited Jenkins to visit the exhibition. The exhibition was originally scheduled to open last month, but a series of major events happened in the city last month, so it was postponed to this weekend.

"Yes, have you heard about it?"

The guest did not know Jenkins' face.

"Yes, I saw the news in the newspaper, and it must sound good."

Jenkins praised loudly, using this method to gain the favor of the guest.

The old man did not look like a worker responsible for the decoration of the exhibition, so he should be the sponsor or organizer of the exhibition. Jenkins did not really care about the weekend exhibition, so he could not tell who he was for a while.

But if the business could be negotiated, this would undoubtedly be the biggest deal made by Daddy's Antique Shop this year, and Jenkins attached great importance to this matter.

It is now the third month of this year [the month of earth and flowers], but since the beginning of the year, Daddy's Antique Shop has not been in business properly. But now most of the things have come to an end. After sending away the son of the evil god, the strange creatures, the sealed evil creatures and the dangerous gift givers, Jenkins and his father can finally spend some peaceful days.

The customer called himself "Baron Tarak" and bargained with Jenkins for a long time. Finally, near noon, he signed a large purchase agreement with the antique shop.

He was very generous and directly paid 30% of the purchase price as a deposit, and asked to see the goods tomorrow, which is Thursday, and the antiques would be shipped to the exhibition venue on Friday.

Chapter 976 Chapter 958 New Promotion (3/10)

After sending away the customer, Jenkins tilted his head and continued to look at the purchase agreement, unconsciously thinking of the scene of talking about insurance salesmen with Miss Befanna this morning. Dad was wearing glasses and keeping accounts behind the counter. He seemed to be in a good mood:

"I plan to increase your weekly salary starting this month. It used to be 1 pound, so now it is... 1 pound 12 shillings."

He counted out the banknotes from the biscuit box under the counter and pushed them to Jenkins, who also smiled and accepted them.

Now that his family has a mine, he no longer cares about wealth as much as he did in the past, but a weekly salary increase means that his father recognizes him more, which is enough to make Jenkins happy for the whole day.

"Save half of the extra money, and the other half can be used to improve Chocolate's food."

Chocolate was also happy about this for the whole day.

When he was having lunch, he found that all the mirrors originally displayed in the store were gone. When he asked his father, he just looked at Jenkins meaningfully, as if he thought he should know why.

This was of course because Jenkins and the cat accidentally entered the mirror world. Before that happened, the owner of the antique shop and his apprentice were discussing how to improve the spirit after being promoted to level four.

"Speaking of which, how much of your [spiritual debris] is left?"

This refers to the gift that Jenkins received from the hot springs near Blizzard Mountain Villa.

"Less than one-fifth is left. I think it will disappear in the middle of this month."

"It seems that your body and soul are really suitable for accommodating spirits, which is a good thing."

As he said, the father handed the book in his hand to Jenkins. The name of the book was "The Legend of the Blacksmith: Ancient Cold Weapons". This book is not important, what is important is what is sandwiched in the book.

It was a black and white photo, showing a complete stone tablet with dense tadpole script and strange runes. The background was pitch black, and it was impossible to tell where the photo was taken, but the lower right corner of the stone tablet was obviously the part of the tadpole script that was originally copied at a low level.

"So the difference between high and low levels is that the copying is more comprehensive?"

Jenkins asked doubtfully, feeling very disappointed. He originally thought that after reaching a high level, the method of accumulating spirits provided by the church would be more mysterious or interesting.

"No, of course it's not that simple."

Dad stopped Jenkins from continuing to look at the photo and turned it over on the counter. Chocolate curiously stretched out his paw, but was immediately picked up by Jenkins.

"First of all, remember that you must never let all the contents of the stone tablet be seen at once. When using it, you need to find a piece of paper to cover part of the photo, understand?"

"I understand."

In fact, Jenkins had already glanced at the complete photo just now, which was only less than a second. He even saw it but didn't understand what he saw. But the headache came immediately, which was unimaginable for Jenkins now.

"Even if you are now a level 4 gifter, don't be careless. You may need to adapt for a few more months to gradually get used to copying those sentences, but the use of this photo is not just simple copying."

As he said, the old man reached out and took out a book as thick as two red bricks from under the counter. This is a translation dictionary of common languages ​​​​from all over the continent. Generally speaking, only bookstores or libraries have this thing.

"The slate on the photo cannot be copied continuously, otherwise it will permanently damage the spirit. Between every four copying symbols, at least one meaningful sentence written in contemporary language must be interspersed. Interspersing different sentences will have different increases in the acquisition of spirit, but everyone's situation is different. When I was as young as you, I was most efficient in copying knight novels between symbols. When I was a little older, I liked to copy newspaper news. Now I like dictionaries."

He pushed the dictionary to Jenkins with force. Jenkins' mouth trembled and decided to try something else first.

"You can explore the knowledge that suits you by yourself. This is a very interesting process. You can use this method to improve your spirit until you are promoted to level 7. The road after that will be more rugged and dangerous, but I think you can definitely keep going."

He smiled kindly at Jenkins, and then turned to the backyard without waiting for his response. Jenkins stood in front of the counter for a long time without moving. He blinked and turned his head to look at the bored cat lying on the side, then turned the black and white photo to the front again, and then covered it again.

"The gift of the Sage Church is called a scribe... Is it because of this?"

Perhaps because the morning customers brought too much business at once, no new customers entered the antique shop all afternoon. Outside the window is a foggy street, and the gloomy sky makes the whole day dark like night.

The carriage slowly travels on the street, and the tired coachman carrying the guests disappears on the other side of the window. Jenkins lay in front of the counter copying the photos sandwiched in the book, while the old man sat in a rocking chair in front of the fireplace, opening the newspaper and reading the news.

The cat lay beside Jenkins boredly, stretched out its claws to fiddle with the [Orb of Life] as usual, and then remembered sadly that the orb had been destroyed.

"Meow~"

It tilted its head and called out to attract Jenkins' attention, but Jenkins was concentrating on dealing with those complicated tadpole characters and runes and didn't notice the voice around him.

"Speaking of which..."

But he heard his father's voice.

"I heard that when you were in the mirror world, you met a gifter from outside."

"Yes, it was Miss Sigrid Capet from the [Church of All Things and Nature]. She is a very good healer. She claimed that she came to Nolan to deliver some important documents to the [Church of Ocean and Exploration]."

"Cape?"

The old man repeated the surname in a questioning tone:

"This is a rare surname."

"This is the surname she chose herself. Miss Capet's parents died when she was very young. She was adopted and raised by the church. This surname is said to be chosen by her from the religious books of the righteous gods."

"Cape..."

The old man didn't know what he thought of, and he didn't say anything for a long time. He was probably wondering about the documents sent by Miss Capet. After all, at such a sensitive time, the [Church of All Things and Nature] had no reason to send only one person to Nolan.

Chocolate has been showing a loss of appetite since the day after the battle of Evergreen Forest. To be more precise, his picky eating problem has become more serious.

Jenkins thought about going to a riverside restaurant for dinner after leaving the antique shop in the evening. Maybe the good scenery could make the cat more normal.

Chapter 977 Chapter 959 Suspicious Goods (4/10)

At 5 pm, when Jenkins was about to get off work, another customer walked into the store. He was a tall middle-aged man with a wide-brimmed hat and the collar of his windbreaker turned up to cover his side face.

His body was wrapped tightly in clothes, and even his hands were wearing white gloves. Even though the tail of winter was still in Nolan, this kind of dress was extremely inappropriate.

"Welcome to Dad's Antique Shop."

Jenkins said, but it was Dad who went to greet the customer. Generally speaking, customers dressed like this are here to sell stolen goods or resell goods that are not easy to sell.

But this kind of transaction usually takes place in the evening after the sun sets, which is Jenkins's off-duty time, not on Wednesday evening when the streets are crowded with people.

"What do you need?"

Seeing the customer approaching the counter, Dad asked softly. But the visitor did not answer directly, but lifted up his windbreaker to reveal the things hidden inside.

The lifted clothes just blocked Jenkins' sight, so he could not see what it was. But since this transaction method was adopted, the items he wanted to sell must not have come from a legitimate source.

Jenkins curled his lips and stood a little further away. Most stores like Dad's Antique Store would purchase some shady things within a reasonable range. Of course, the price would be correspondingly very low.

Dad doesn't let Jenkins get involved in such transactions now, because he is still just an apprentice. And when someone comes to resell illegal items, they usually don't choose Jenkins' working hours. This is the first time he has seen such a person this year.

Blinking his eyes, the red light surprised the young apprentice:

"Ordinary people, but those are numbered items. This is the first day I work after the Skull Sword... What a coincidence?"

Dad has taken out his monocle and asked Jenkins to bring the portable gas lamp that provides light to the counter. After connecting the gas lamp to the protruding gas pipe interface on the wall with a special gas pipe, dazzling light radiates from the lamp.

Dad put on gloves and then lowered his head to examine it carefully.

It was a rusty silver-white nut. The rust didn't look like the traces of the nut itself being corroded, but like foreign objects clinging to the nut itself. Although Jenkins stood farther away, he could also see the patterns engraved on the nut.

Considering that this is obviously a product from the steam industry, and the text engraved on it is ancient, once it is identified as an antique, its value is immeasurable.

After obtaining permission from the mysterious guest, Dad simply cleaned the surface of the nut with clean water and a small brush. Then he asked Jenkins to go to the back of the warehouse and bring back a heavy ancient text translation dictionary, and tried to translate the tiny text on the nut by comparing it with the dictionary.

This inspection lasted for nearly half an hour, during which the three people in the store did not speak. Dad and the guest stared at the nut, while Jenkins took a rag and wiped it on the shelf unconsciously, while looking at the crowd in the mist outside the window with melancholy.

"Should I find time to ask Hathaway or Britney out on a date?"

He couldn't make up his mind. Since the two girls had expressed their feelings, he couldn't say nothing. But Hathaway and Britney both asked to keep their relationship with Jenkins a secret from each other, which made Jenkins very embarrassed about his position.

"Guest, can you explain the origin of this item?"

The old man's voice came from behind, and Jenkins pretended to move closer with a rag.

"When sorting out my father's relics, I dug up some old things buried in the basement of his house. Those antiques were sent to the auction house after identification. I dug this up when I checked the basement again yesterday."

This sentence is a lie, but it's normal. After all, a customer who comes to sell things like this will never tell the true origin of the goods, but this lie is too perfunctory.

In fact, the old man didn't care what he said. He handed the nut back to the customer and then took off his gloves slowly.

"The nut is modern and worthless. The ancient text on it is worth studying. I don't know who carved it so casually. It's not easy... 4 shillings."

Jenkins paused for a moment while wiping the dust with his right hand, but soon continued to wipe the shelf meaninglessly.

"4 pounds."

"Are you kidding? Jenkins, don't be lazy. I noticed that you have been stopping there. The wood is about to be polished to a shine!"

The old man put away the tools he had just used for identification while speaking. He showed an attitude of not caring. This is one of the means of negotiating prices.

"3 pounds, it can't be any lower."

The customer's voice was particularly dull, a disguised false voice.

"3 shillings."

"..."

Jenkins continued to clean the shelves while holding back his laughter. Although it had not been open for business for a long time, the shelves were still very clean, and he had wiped them once after lunch.

"Sir, let's not play the bargaining game anymore. 12 shillings, if you want to sell it to me, we will make a deal; if you are not satisfied with this price, you can go to another store. Dad can assure you that this is definitely the best price you can get within the Norland range."

When closing the counter drawer, he deliberately used a lot of force to make the collision sound just right.

The customer was silent for a few seconds, and then decisively threw the nut onto the counter. Dad shook his head helplessly, opened the drawer again and started counting the money.

Jenkins didn't come back to the counter until the door bell rang and the customer who was selling the nut left. Dad had already taken a red velvet box and placed the nut in it, then searched for documents to write a report.

"I remember today is Wednesday, and you have to go to the church to give a twilight class. Wait a little while before leaving, and help me deliver this thing and the report to the church's special item management center."

"No problem."

Jenkins was not surprised that Dad knew that this was a special item. He was actually more curious about the purpose of the nut.

But if there is no number that matches the characteristics in the information, then the church's identification process will be very long. Every new item that is given a number needs to go through a rigorous identification, experiment and proofreading process, which is complicated but really important.

It was already 5:40 when Dad finished writing the report. He put the flat box containing the nuts and the report in a file bag and handed it to Jenkins.

Chapter 978 Chapter 960 Unlucky (5/10)

Before leaving the antique shop, Jenkins originally planned to invite his father to have dinner together, but his father said that he had something else to do and told Jenkins not to wander around and to hurry to church after dinner.

According to the original plan, he took Chocolate to the restaurant on the river bank. Probably due to the plague, it was clearly dinner time, but there were few customers here.

Jenkins took the menu from the servant, first glanced at the average price, and then calculated the amount of consumption, and then began to order dishes with confidence.

Chocolate was illiterate, so Jenkins never showed it the menu. According to the cat's appetite, he chose a few dishes that both humans and cats could eat, asked not to fry the steak too well, and asked for a glass of lemonade, and then put the menu back on the table.

Jenkins' general habit is to give a 15% tip, but very rarely when he eats with girls, he will give a 20% tip. When he first came to this world, he was very unaccustomed to this extra expense, especially the embarrassing days when he just moved out of Privet Drive.

But gradually he got used to it. After all, he could never go back to his original hometown, and he had to integrate himself into this era.