The Master of the Strange Realm

The boy opposite immediately showed an expression of "You're still like this" and pushed the box he brought in to Jenkins:

"This is a gift. When my eldest brother found a job with a professor at the university, everyone gave him gifts. This is what I gave to you."

"can I open this?"

Jenkins asked, but his hands were already tugging at the straps.

"Please, I managed to wrap it up with great difficulty."

Inside the box was a red velvet box with a button lid. Pressing the protruding button on the front, the box opened with a snap, revealing a silver pocket watch with a pattern of branches and leaves inside.

"oh."

Jenkins sighed in admiration, took out his pocket watch and opened the cover with a flick of his wrist.

"Didn't this cost a lot of money?"

"Yes, I originally bought it for myself. I saved up my pocket money for half a year, but since you are so lucky..."

He said nothing more and just shrugged.

Jenkins put the pocket watch back into the box, feeling a little moved for a moment.

After seeing John off, Jenkins stared at the pocket watch for a moment, then stood up and stuffed him into his coat pocket. After tidying up hastily, Jenkins was ready to go to sleep.

Before covering himself with quilt, he suddenly remembered something. He sat up from the bed and tapped his temples, but nothing in the room emitted unusual light, including the bishop's brooch and his brother's pocket watch.

"I'm just telling you, how could it be possible for someone like the protagonist in those novels to have a picked-up artifact at home?"

He smiled to himself, closed his eyes, and ushered in his first natural sleep since he came to this world.

The next morning the Williamt family was also very busy, because it was the second son's first day at work after he "reformed his evil ways". Mary Williams had been crying since the morning, constantly praying and thanking the [Heritage Sage], while John went to work after specially sending Jenkins to the carriage.

Privet Drive is to the east of Nolan City, and Dad's Antique Shop is near the dock area to the west. If he walked on two legs, Jenkins would probably have to walk for two hours.

"Are you going to work?"

After leaving Privet Drive, the coachman asked in a muffled voice.

"Yes sir, first day on the job."

"Go to work in a carriage..."

The coachman muttered quietly, and Jenkins could only smile awkwardly. He only agreed to this because of Mary's strong request, otherwise he would have gone out at half past six.

Section 20 Chapter 19 Daddy Oliver

Sitting in the carriage and looking at the newly awakened city of Nolan, the smell of soot in the air was very strong even in the morning. To people in this world, this smells of development and progress, to Jenkins it smells of cancer.

There is no Church of [Natural Spirit] in this city, so the nobles, factory owners and capitalists who collude with the city council can be so arrogant in this regard.

Dad's Antique Shop is located on the famous shopping street in Nolan City - [Fifth Queen's Avenue], which is the main road in downtown Nolan. Walking eastward for ten minutes along this road is the real dock area. The special location makes business on this street generally very good, but this does not include Dad's Antique Shop.

The antique shop is located on the east side of the shopping street. There is only an old signboard with the name of the store in front of the store. At the bottom of the signboard is a line of small words - [Selling antiques since 1821, Father Oliver's reputation is guaranteed].

"This year is 1865 in the universal calendar and 763 in the Kingdom [Golden Liyuan] calendar, so this is a 44-year-old store."

There was a brown cardboard sign saying "Open" hanging on the wooden door of the store. Jenkins hesitated and knocked on the door. When no one answered, he opened the door and walked in.

Amidst the crisp ringing of the bell, Jenkins saw the somewhat messy interior of the store. Perhaps the store owner’s original intention was to have rows and rows of shelves, but now it looks like the entire store is filled with clutter.

Fortunately, there is still room to walk.

"Is that Jenkins Willamette?"

In front of the wooden counter facing the door, a tall and thin old man wearing a pair of small eyes asked. His face is very healthy and his voice is strong, but he looks to be at least 60 years old.

"Yes sir, I am Jenkins Willamette, are you Father Oliver?"

The old man at the counter nodded.

"Yes. You look younger than in the photo. Okay, now turn around and turn the cardboard outside the door, then close the door and come over. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir."

He turned around as requested, adjusted [Opening] to [Closed], then closed the door and walked along the path among antiques on the floor towards Father Oliver.

Dad waved his hand, opened the folding plate on the counter and walked out, then carried a large bunch of keys threaded with black wire and walked towards the dark wooden door on the side of the room.

Jenkins followed immediately.

Behind the door is a small yard. In addition to the piled-up corrugated cardboard boxes, there is also a low tiled house. "I live there."

He pointed to the upper floor of the store he just walked out of. Two rusty red copper steam pipes extended upwards along the wall.

“This is a warehouse for antique shops.”

Then point to the tile house.

"I am Clover Oliver, the owner of this place, your employer and guide. Any questions?"

He looked at Jenkins calmly.

"No."

"Very good. He's a smart guy."

Dad nodded and led Jenkins back to the store again.

He returned to the counter and fumbled with it for a moment. With a click, a downward passage was revealed on the ground on one side. Judging from the style, this should be a converted cellar.

"Why are there all these institutions?"

Dad definitely couldn't hear Jenkins' complaints. He didn't let Jenkins go down there and disappear there alone. Five minutes later, he came out with a roll of paper.

"Sit down."

Two chairs were pulled up casually, and the two of them sat in front of the counter.

"This is your apprenticeship contract."

He handed over a page of paper. Jenkins looked at it twice and found that it was the one Binxi had brought yesterday, so he signed his name.

"I need to make it clear. In the future, you will not only follow me here to learn the knowledge of the benefactor, but also learn the knowledge of antique appraisal. Is that okay?"

"Yes."

Jenkins nodded immediately.

A smile appeared on the old man's face, "That's good. In the ancient times, the inheritance of the Giver was based on master and apprentice. At that time, apprentices had many obligations, including but not limited to servants, sleeping attendants, and guards. . But it’s different now. Zhengshen Church generously shares knowledge with believers. I just provide you with a place to learn and guide you on the right path. But accordingly, as a guide, I don’t have to share it with you. My unique ability.”

"Sir, I'm not very clear about abilities. What does unique ability mean?"

Jenkins asked immediately.

"Young man, how much do you know about supernatural abilities?"

Dad asked back.

"Don't know at all."

Jenkins answered honestly.

Father Oliver helped his eyes and nodded, "Okay, I'll start from the beginning and listen carefully. Only gifted ones in this world can use supernatural powers. This is because we can mobilize our own spirits. As for the spirit Everyone has their own answer, you have to find it yourself. Correspondingly, by understanding ourselves and the world, we can increase our own spirit, thereby improving the level of gifters. There can only be three level 0 gifters. After upgrading, every odd number will be increased by one, and every even number will be increased by two. For example, I am now a level 4 bestower and can have 9 abilities, but in fact I have only selected 7 abilities to learn so far. "

He lied. After Jenkins secretly opened the [Eye of Truth], there were 8 light spots in front of the old man.

"Ability is not only available through those light spots. As long as any gifted person knows the corresponding method, he can also use abilities that he has not mastered through rituals. But rituals not only require precious materials and specific locations, but also the transformation of spirits and abilities. The efficiency is also far lower than using the gifter's ability directly. Let me give you an example. The news from the church says that your soul's essence ability is healing? "

"Yes."

Jenkins admitted.

"There are many healing rituals preserved by the church. The simplest one requires silver-leaf grass, three-legged slugs, etc., which are arranged under the moonlight at the time of the full moon. The wounded who stay within the ritual range can be cured within three days. It speeds up the healing of lacerated wounds, but the spirit needed to arrange the ceremony requires at least two first-level gifters.”

"That's why healing abilities are so precious."

Jenkins suddenly understood.

"The gifter's light point ability can be obtained through learning, which also requires corresponding rituals and a lot of practice to truly condense the light point. The gifter's ability is the biggest secret of the individual. In addition to the abilities obtained from the church, everyone There are more or less other ways, and these abilities that only you can master are unique abilities.”

Like a legal party.

Section 21 Chapter 20 Apprentice Life

Through his father's explanation, Jenkins understood that there are two ways for gifters to improve themselves. One is to expand the upper limit of their own spirit storage, and they can upgrade after reaching a certain limit. Spirits are like a combination of blue bars and experience bars. Ritual, abilities and even the use of extraordinary items will consume spirits, so it is very difficult to upgrade. The second is to learn new abilities. Just like now that Jenkins has become a scribe, according to the rules, he can go to the church and choose a white basic ability collected by the church.

If he can complete an important task, achieve some special honor or make a great contribution, he will get more opportunities.

There are many ways to accumulate souls, and even the twelve righteous churches have different methods. [Knowledge and Books] What the church uses is to copy a strange text. This method is useful at least below level 3. Father Oliver didn't say anything about this, so Jenkins naturally understood that he was not qualified to listen yet.

"Spirit, the meaning of this word is closer to the world consciousness claimed by the church that believes in [the spirit of all things]. Accumulating spirit, in essence, means bringing yourself close to the world, or letting the world close to you. In a very early period, gifts Their methods are to visualize all things in nature, or to travel around the world on their own. However, this primitive method is very inefficient, but it is absolutely safe. In today's era, what the True God Church provides is the best that believers can use. The quick method is not very dangerous as long as it is done as required.

The simplest way to bring the world closer to you is to use the uncanny environment to prevent uncanny objects from forming. The church has already told me about you, so you should remember that you seemed to have something extra when you left the strange realm. "

Yes, at that time there was a stream of cold air entering my back. It turned out to be a spirit.

Dad Oliver nodded, and then suddenly thought of something: "Remember, don't use those methods of accumulating spirits from unknown sources. They may be effective, but they are also likely to be related to false gods. The methods of false gods are always flawed."

After that, he handed Jenkins a black and white photo and a stack of white paper. The photo seemed to be a part of a broken stone tablet, and the tadpole-like words on it made Jenkins' temples jump.

"This is the text. From now on, you will copy it here a hundred times every day. Don't do it more, otherwise it will cause irreversible damage to your body. You can't take the photo and the white paper you have written with, otherwise the church will punish you severely."

If it wasn't necessary, Jenkins didn't even want to look at the photo. He wanted to rely on his memory to remember the tadpole text and then write it down, but he found that he would forget it immediately once his eyes left it.

"The so-called righteous god, wouldn't it be related to the indescribable foreign god in the previous life?"

He guessed terrified.

"The gift givers of this era are very different from those in the past. It is not the right approach to simply accumulate spirits and gain abilities. Therefore, you still need to spend a lot of time learning grammar, arithmetic, fighting, etiquette, noble knowledge and other courses. Of course, these are arranged by the church, and you don't need to pay any fees."

"But sir, I came here to work."

In fact, Jenkins was afraid to return to school again. Although he was confident that he was better in arithmetic, other courses were a headache.

"Yes."

The old man looked at Jenkins' distressed expression and laughed, "Relax, young man. This is not to ask you to take the college entrance examination. In the words of the priest last time, it is just to improve your comprehensive ability. And we believe in [Inherited Sages], and lifelong learning is inevitable. Don't worry, these courses are still a long way from you. Now you have just started working and need to get used to the life of a scribe. These will start in about two months."

Jenkins nodded with a wry smile, very worried about what the so-called grammar courses and noble etiquette courses would be.

"That's all for today."

He clapped his hands to get Jenkins' attention.

"From now on, your daily schedule is to arrive here before 7:30 every day and clean up the place. There are generally not many guests in the morning, so you can sit here and copy the text. Before lunch, I will select some necessary books for you to read, some of which are about the benefactors, and some are books on antique identification. I will provide lunch. If there are no guests after lunch, I will personally teach you about these old items. If there are guests, you don't have to say anything, just learn business skills patiently, and you can leave at 6:30 in the evening. Is that okay?"

"Yes, sir."

Jenkins nodded, a fulfilling day.

"By the way, where do you live now?"

Dad asked again.

"Privet Drive, in the Sabine District."

"Oh?" Dad put down the papers in his hand, "Live with your parents?"

He asked this because at Jenkins' age, it is absolutely impossible for him to rent or buy a property there independently.

"Yes."

Jenkins was a little ashamed.

"You are 20 years old this year, right? Here's a suggestion. Move out and find a cheap apartment nearby. You will find that even scribes like us who are more clerical will face more unexpected tasks, some of which are very dangerous. If you don't want your family to be implicated and are willing to save the time of crossing Nolan City to come to me every day, just live by yourself."

Jenkins has also thought about this problem. Although he is unwilling to give up his identity, it is inevitable that he will be exposed after spending a long time with familiar family members. Moving out seems to be a good idea, and it is convenient for everyone to contact each other in the same city.

He considered the original owner's savings over the years, but unexpectedly found that he seemed to have squandered all his pocket money. In addition to the advance salary he received yesterday, he can control no more than 10 gold pounds in cash. Although his father would give him 1 pound a week as an apprentice's "pocket money", this was not enough to improve Jenkins' financial situation.

"Is this enough for me to live independently?"

He thought about it for a while and said to his father: "What you said makes sense, but I may not have enough money. I need to discuss this with my family."

The father nodded in understanding and did not continue the topic.

In the following time, the father opened the side door of the room and went to the warehouse behind the yard to do something, while Jenkins took a rag and carefully wiped all the items in the store.

In the words of the father, what was displayed was worthless garbage, in other words, modern crafts, so Jenkins did not have to be so careful.