The Master of the Strange Realm

At this moment, the inexplicable fear reached its peak, but instead of making Jenkins lose his mind, this fear made him completely sober in anger.

A bright green light burst out on the path of the cemetery. Along the gravel path, weeds emerged from the ground at a speed visible to the naked eye. At that moment, even the strange fog surrounding the cemetery dispersed, but in the blink of an eye, the fog came back up again, even thicker than before.

"This fog... seems to be caused by extraordinary abilities."

Jenkins thought to himself, then lowered his head and looked at the two bodies covered with grass. The influx of living spirits dispelled the necromantic spell that controlled them, and they could now rest in eternal peace.

He did not continue walking towards the depths of the cemetery, but looked into the depths of the thick white fog in front of him. A few seconds later, a hoarse man's voice came from that direction. That voice was obviously the benefactor who revived the undead:

"I have no intention of making things difficult for you, and please don't ruin my affairs. Please exit here now, and I can pretend that nothing happened."

"Do you think I'm really just passing by when I come to the cemetery so late?"

In a sense, Jenkins was indeed passing through.

"Did the Swann family hire you? No, I can't let you take these two corpses away. This is the most suitable corpse material that I found with great difficulty."

A chattering voice came from the direction of the speaking figure. After a while, a skeleton holding an old-fashioned musket walked into Jenkins' line of sight.

The matchlock gun in its hand can definitely be classified as an antique. The firearms that appeared in the early stages of the development of firearms were completely eliminated hundreds of years ago.

"Even if you look down on me, there is no need to use this weapon..."

After the gunfire exploded, the gun exploded as expected. Jenkins stood still and threw the Holy Bone Sword with his right hand. It flew into the thick fog with a whoosh. When Jenkins came to the landing point of the sword wearing a monocle that could help him see through the thick fog, the benefactor who controlled the undead had a sword in his heart and fell in front of the tombstone, broken. gas.

"He certainly didn't expect that such a remote town would have a benefactor like me passing by... This is a dream, I almost forgot this."

Although it is a dream, this dream is a bit too real. After searching the benefactor's belongings, Jenkins followed the footprints to the tomb where he was hiding, and found another matchlock gun and some bullets inside.

The bullets were wrapped in newspapers and neatly stacked in a box in the corner of the tomb. Jenkins didn't pay attention to the bullet, but flattened the newspaper and looked at it. Then he discovered that it was a small town newspaper in the autumn of 1508. Except for the news about the Hampavo royal family on the first page, the other contents were boring town news. news.

"If this is a dream, it would be a little too real. The details are so rich."

He turned around and looked around, his eyes skipping the cabinet containing the bottles of human organ slices and medicine, and caught the shining golden thing under the pillow of the low bed on the other side.

He walked over and picked up the book-sized thing that looked like gold foil. The gold color immediately faded away. It was three or four handwritten pages taken out of a thread-bound book. The above is a short story called "The Ghoul in the Cemetery".

The header of each page has the same small words written in black ink, and there is reason to believe that this is the name of the book:

"Blacktown Secrets".

The moment he read the title of the book, Jenkins sat up from the church bed, and the old book that was originally spread on his chest fell to the ground. There was no carpet in the simple room, and the corner of the book made a loud noise when it hit the ground. Chocolate was immediately woken up and screamed dissatisfied at Jenkins.

Jenkins took a deep breath and looked at the pages in his hand. It was absolutely impossible for someone to push this into his hand while he was sleeping. Even if he passed out, there was absolutely no way that the chocolate would not have noticed the arrival of the stranger.

"Interesting, dream..."

He murmured quietly and walked out of bed, placing the reluctant cat on his shoulder and walking out to the hallway in his pajamas. It's only 9 o'clock now, and there are still many people active in the church. Jenkins met the old bishop who was praying in the main hall, so he sat quietly on the bench next to him.

"There are not many young people as patient as you these days."

Ten minutes later, the old bishop said after praying, and then asked:

"What's matter?"

"Excuse me, around 1508, was there a benefactor who illegally manipulated the undead in a nearby cemetery?"

he asked bluntly.

"1508? Let me think about it?"

The old bishop thought for a while, then nodded:

"Have you seen the story in "Secrets of Black Town"? Most of the stories there are true. They are versions spread to the outside world in order to cover up the traces of some extraordinary existences. A few months ago It was recorded by a good writer, adapted and written... I have read the book, "Ghoul in the Cemetery" did happen, and there was an unknown benefactor passing by the local area. Killed the undead manipulator, no one knew who he was, and he didn’t take any trophies. It seemed that he came here just to kill the guy who broke into the cemetery..."

Chapter 1467 Chapter 1444 The Tragedy of Pinecone

Jenkins nodded. The old bishop's words basically confirmed that what he had just experienced was not a dream but a real return to the past.

After a moment of silence, he did not take out the yellow pages in his pocket, and asked again:

"What are the characteristics of the gifter that appeared that year? Since he took action, he must have left traces."

"I can't answer you on this point. This matter is too long ago. Maybe you can go to the reference room to take a look. Old Joseph, the gatekeeper, will let you in."

The church's database is very small. According to the time order, I found the records of the establishment of the town's Death Church in 1508. The record of this incident was found in the records of the autumn of that year. I don't know when this document was copied and maintained. The yellowed pages vaguely wrote the mysterious gifter of that year, and the desolate cemetery was overgrown with weeds overnight.

"It seems that I really went back to the past, and even my behavior reflected history... Can numbered items have such a powerful power?"

He put the file back after thinking for a moment, said hello to the gatekeeper of the database, and went back to his room. He picked up the "Secrets of Blacktown" that fell on the ground and lay back on the bed. He put the pages in his pocket on the bedside table, turned off the lights in the room, leaving only the candle on the bedside, and turned the pages to continue reading the second story.

The name of the second story is "The Tragedy of Pine Cone". This is a strange story that happened in the forest near Blacktown. Jenkins read it to the end in one breath, and then fell asleep again unconsciously.

Noticing Jenkins' abnormality, Chocolate, who was pretending to sleep, stood up. It walked to Jenkins' right hand, sniffed the open old book, and then froze.

The cat left the book, wagged its tail and walked to Jenkins' face, gently rubbed his face, and tears oozed out of the two beautiful cat eyes.

On the other side, Jenkins stood silently in the dimly lit forest. It was probably autumn now, but the scenery here was not beautiful at all. On the contrary, the ground was full of humus, and the leaves on the trees had completely fallen. It was already late autumn, and the perceived temperature was probably close to 10 degrees Celsius.

Hearing a sound not far away, Jenkins dodged and hid behind a nearby tree, and then saw a man dressed as a woodcutter, carrying a bundle of firewood on his back, coming from a distance.

Suddenly he tripped and fell to the ground. When he got up, he cursed in a way that was quite characteristic of the local language, and then stretched out his foot to kick the thing on the ground that tripped him.

Because of this action, he fell again. After getting up, he put down the firewood he was carrying in anger, picked up the axe and chopped the ground fiercely. This action soon stopped. He bent down to pick up something on the ground, suddenly raised his head and looked around furtively, and then even gave up the bundle of firewood and ran away quickly.

Jenkins came out after making sure he had run far away, and quickly came to the place where the woodcutter was picking up things. He used his walking stick to push away the rotten leaves and some soft mud-like things, and soon saw the stone box that was split by the woodcutter.

He tried to pick up the box, but it seemed to be fixed to the ground, which was why the woodcutter couldn't kick it.

"According to the story I saw, there is a pure gold pine cone in the box."

He waved his hand and threw out the flame while thinking. The flame quietly burned the complex forest fertilizer and soil on the ground. After more than ten minutes, it finally exposed the things under the ground.

Connected to the stone box was a long-rotten corpse. The corpse was in the soil and was lifted up. The hands that had become bones were raised high and tightly pinched the stone box, so Jenkins couldn't pick it up just now.

Neither the stone box nor the corpse had spiritual light. Jenkins checked and burned the bones, and then found symbols written in ancient dwarven language at the bottom of the stone box.

He reluctantly translated it, guessing that it meant [the fruit of gold will curse anyone who is greedy].

"It's like the beginning of a fairy tale."

He said so, then picked up the box and walked towards the direction where the woodcutter disappeared.

It was unknown what era it was at the moment, and the town was dilapidated like a village in the wilderness. Even though Jenkins had used the black robe to transform into a farmer in the mountains in advance, the arrival of the stranger still attracted the attention of the townspeople.

Although there was an almost abandoned inn in the town, Jenkins did not have the money of this era. So he could only deceive the owner with the power of lies, and by the way, he found out the location of the woodcutter's home.

The town was small, and the townspeople knew each other very well, so Jenkins got a lot of interesting information. After finding a place to live, he came to the low door of the woodcutter's house, then stood by the window against the wall, closed his eyes and listened to the sound inside.

The sound insulation of the wall bricks was very poor, and Jenkins clearly heard the discussion of the woodcutter's family about the pure gold pine cone.

Most people who have such a lucky experience probably can't keep their minds calm, but the tone of the woodcutter's family's speech seems a little wrong.

He frowned and thought for a while, then reached out to knock on the door, but a huge force suddenly emerged from the simple wooden door and pushed Jenkins open.

"In the name of the wise!"

He shook his cane lightly to turn it into a scepter, and whispered again, stretching his hand towards the door. This time, scarlet blood flowed from the crack above the door, forming the familiar sentence [The fruit of gold will curse anyone who is greedy].

An evil force actually briefly formed a balance with the power of the sage Jenkins summoned. On the one hand, this was because the time at this time was not Jenkins' timeline, and the power of the Son of God he could summon was very weak. On the other hand, the body of the golden pine cone was in the house, and its power was extremely strong.

Last time in the cemetery, it was just a low-level undead manipulator, but this time the curse would be difficult even for Jenkins in his full state.

He frowned and slowly retracted his hand:

"Just like the development of the story... I have no way to stop this now, wait for the opportunity."

That night, a fire broke out in the woodcutter's family, but after dawn, no bodies were found in the ruins. Jenkins, standing in the crowd, flashed with purple light that mortals could not see. The black light in his eyes spread to the whole town with the woodcutter's house as the center.

Wait until the crowd dispersed, and Jenkins came to the ruins of the house again in the misty drizzle. He inserted his cane into the nearby mud with force, then knelt on one knee and dug in the ruins with his bare hands. Soon he found a crudely made box.

Chapter 1468 Chapter 1445 The Snake that Devours Pine Cones

The box had obvious signs of burning on its surface. With just a slight shake, the box disintegrated in Jenkins' hands, and the golden pine cones inside slipped into his hands.

The raindrops fell quietly on the surface of the pine cones. The unique color of gold and the heavy sense of wealth almost made Jenkins say something like "my—_precious".

He took a deep breath and held the pine cone tightly in his hand, closing his eyes for two or three seconds before standing up.

"Interesting weirdo."

The black aura of the pine cone held tightly in his palm was still faintly seeping out through his palm. But the long-silent [Hero (Black Sacred)] has silently played a role. Most of the dissipated aura of the weirdo escaped directly through the contact of the palm, and a few were transformed into spirits that Jenkins could absorb.

If it weren't for the ability of [Hero], Jenkins would never dare to touch such a cursed weirdo directly with his hands. But the current situation is still not optimistic. With the poor conversion efficiency, Jenkins could not eliminate it even after hundreds of years.

According to the content of "The Secrets of Blacktown" read on the bed in the bedroom, this cursed pine cone, which symbolizes wealth, caused a huge disturbance in the town. All those who accidentally possess it will soon suffer misfortune, and the bodies and souls of those unfortunate people will be transformed into nutrients for the pine cone, making it more powerful.

Until later, a kind-hearted and innocent boy, or a boy who knew nothing, picked it up, played with it, and threw it away in the woods outside the town. The curse was considered to have ended.

If it were just a fable, this story, which was intended to warn people not to covet unexpected wealth, would be qualified, but it would be too terrible if it were put into reality.

"I am not an innocent little boy, but you are unlucky to meet me."

He returned to the room of the inn holding the golden pine cone tightly, and then returned to the woods with it and the stone box that originally contained it. Put the pine cones back into the stone box and bury them in the deep pit where the woodcutter found them.

When digging the pit, he found a few pages of an old thread-bound book in the same place. Jenkins ignored them and put them in his pocket. Then he buried the box and the pine cones in it back into the depths of the earth.

When burying the last handful of soil, Jenkins seemed to hear a wail coming from under his feet. He shook his head and dreamed of sitting up from the bed. That "dream" was over.

"Since it is cursing the greedy humans who took the pine cones, then returning the objects to their original places will not end the curse?"

He sighed and wanted to see the pages of paper he harvested this time, but suddenly felt some wet marks on his face. He raised his hand and wiped it. There were indeed some water stains on the left cheek. He carefully put his finger in front of his nose and sniffed it, but he didn't smell anything.

"Chocolate, you won't spit on my face while I'm asleep, right?"

He asked his cat, but found that the cat curled up into a ball and buried its head deeply in its belly. It had never used such a sleeping position, and because he couldn't see the cat's face, Jenkins was not sure if it was really asleep.

"Chocolate is a little strange."

He muttered softly, and then looked at the yellow pages in his hand. Just like the "Ghoul in the Cemetery" just now, these pages still have the same name as the old book story, but different stories, and there is also a handwritten header of "The Secrets of Blacktown" at the header.

He stacked the pages of the two stories together, waited for a while and saw that nothing happened, so he put on his coat and prepared to go out. Before going out, he called his cat, but Chocolate didn't respond. Jenkins thought it didn't want to go out, so he shrugged and slipped out of the window.

He left the church alone and followed the route in his memory into the clearing in the woods. It has been more than a long time, but the forest has memories, especially for Jenkins, he will never get lost in the forest.

He squatted down and used the tip of the sword to pry open the soil, and soon he saw the ancient stone box. Carefully he took it out, wiped off the dust on the surface, and opened the lid. The golden pine cone was still inside.

"It's really beautiful."

After being buried deep underground for so many years, its power has weakened a lot compared to when Jenkins saw it in his "dream". Holding it in his palm, it no longer felt the biting cold, but he could still feel the temptation of the pine cone itself.

He chuckled and summoned his Ouroboros gold ring. As expected, the ring vibrated by itself as soon as it appeared, and it was longing for the pine cone.

He didn't devour it with the ring in his "dream" because the fruit was still very powerful at that time. But now it is Jenkins' own timeline, and the pine cone has been "starved" underground for so many years, and it no longer has the power to affect the gift ring.

Under the effect of the same kind of devouring, the Ouroboros that constitutes the golden ring seemed to be alive, wandering from Jenkins' fingers and clinging to the pine cone. The two kinds of gold that look the same blended with each other, and soon, as the spirit that destroyed the weird flowed into Jenkins' body, the small golden Ouroboros wandered back to Jenkins' fingers again, biting its tail and returning to the shape of a ring.

It could have attracted wealth for Jenkins, allowing him to accumulate wealth that others could not complete in a lifetime in just half a year. Now that it has swallowed the pine cone, it has not shown any other functions.

But Jenkins is not greedy. As long as he destroys the weird thing, he will be successful.

With a satisfied mood, he returned to the bedroom of the church and looked at his lady's pocket watch. It was only about ten o'clock. Wearing pajamas, he got back into the warm bed and picked up the old book again in the light of the candle at the head of the bed.

"Should I continue to read the third story? Although everything that happened is very interesting at present, it is definitely not normal."

He wanted his cat to express some opinions, but the cat still huddled up. The chocolate tonight was a little too well-behaved. Jenkins reached out and touched its back. He was relieved when he heard the cat's cry.

His eyes returned to the cover of the old book in the dim light. He shrugged his shoulders, leaned back on the soft pillow, turned the pages and opened the third story.

The third story is called "The Girl in the Lake", which is quite similar to some stories Jenkins had read in his hometown. This also takes place in the forest near Black Town. To be more precise, the first scene of the story takes place in the lake where the church's steam floating airship made an emergency landing.

Section 1469 Chapter 1446 The Girl in the Lake

Realizing that he was in a "dream", what he saw was the scene of the forest in early spring. Although Black Town belongs to the Kingdom of Hampavo, it is already the southern border of the kingdom. The spring in Black Town is as prosperous as Nolan.

In front of Jenkins is the somewhat unfamiliar lake. Compared with the real time point, the area of ​​the lake is now smaller. But this does not prevent the young people in the town from going on a spring outing or outing here. The laid napkins indicate that it is already noon. Men and women wearing clothes that are obviously not contemporary style are sitting on the grass in front of the lake, enjoying the rare spring scenery.

Jenkins stood in the shade of the forest outside the lake. He looked up and saw a big-tailed squirrel holding a pine cone in its paws, standing on a branch and looking at the lake. He asked;

"That lake is really nice, very beautiful."

With the help of empathy, he clearly understood the squirrel's answer:

"It's nice, but unfortunately there is a scary thing under the water. It's best not to get close to it."

"Strange thing? What is that? Also, what time is it in the universal calendar now? Is it the 18th era now?"