Whispering Verse

"What is the containment method? What happens if the containment gets out of control?"

"The method of containment is to wrap it up when not in use, and do not point it at the outside world for a long time. Otherwise, it will spontaneously pull all nearby objects and even living people into the mirror world, and if it is pulled in like this, it will be difficult to find a way to return. Normal world.”

"Father John, can you give me an estimate of the price of this relic?"

Shade thought about it and found out.

"You want to sell?"

The old man glanced at Shade:

"Although it is only clerical grade, the containment method is simple and the effect is very practical. If you want to sell it to me, I will pay 1,200 pounds."

Old John can bargain here. Since he asked for 1,200 pounds, the upper limit should be around 1,400 pounds. From this point of view, this relic can really be regarded as one of the more valuable ones that Shade obtained.

"I don't want to sell for the time being..."

"You won't be of much use if you keep it, why don't you sell it to me and use the gold pound you get to exchange it for a practical thaumaturgy."

"Oh, Father John, I still have to think about it."

Shade put away the mirror, and the old man shook his head helplessly:

"Since I won't sell it, I will charge you for the appraisal fee."

"Of course, but before that, we can talk about the special blood."

Including the reward for the investigation mission that has not yet been settled with Granny Cassandra, Shade has now obtained two types of blood. Therefore, he no longer has an obsessive need for other blood, but if it is really valuable and the price is right, he will consider buying it.

"The bargain this time was bought by me myself."

Old John bent down and took out a tin-sealed Erlenmeyer glass bottle from the cabinet under the counter, which contained dark red liquid. This liquid is not completely still, and small bubbles are actually forming inside it.

"Dad, let's talk about the price first. I won't buy it if it's more than 1,000 pounds."

He only had the two thousand he earned from completing the work of transmitting Gray Eagle information, and he could not spend more.

"Don't worry, I said I will consider your financial strength. This is very cheap. First listen to me what kind of blood this is."

The old man reassured Shade:

"Borbo Brando, who was born in 1384 of the Sixth Era Universal Calendar, was struck by lightning 42 times in his life, about once a year on average, so that almost all his relatives and friends died. Until he was 43 years old."

"He was finally struck by lightning and died?"

"No, after being struck by lightning, he hit his head due to excessive surprise, and then died of excessive blood loss."

Dad said, shaking the small bottle in his hand:

"After his death, he was buried in the mountainous area southwest of Kasenlik. On the day of his burial, the cemetery was split open by lightning. From then on, whenever it rained, the coffin would be struck by lightning, and the frequency was getting higher and higher. So later, that cemetery was shrouded in thunderstorms all year round, so the church had to seal off that area, which is also the famous 'Brando Lightning Strike Cemetery' area."

"Who did this gentleman from five hundred years ago offend?"

Shade pointed to the sky cautiously, and Old John shook his head equally cautiously:

"Only God knows. However, I have his blood in my hand. He was struck by lightning every year during his lifetime, which attracted the interest of the ring magicians of that era, so I have this bottle of blood. Unfortunately, for the study of blood, It does not allow people to understand the reason why he was struck by lightning all the time, so this bottle of blood was passed down. But I want to remind you that even if it is carefully preserved, this bottle of blood will inevitably deteriorate for more than 500 years."

He handed out the small bottle in his hand and asked Shade to check:

"Although this blood is very interesting, it is actually of no use, and it is difficult to preserve as a collection, so I bought it."

"Just like chicken ribs, they have no taste when eaten, and it would be a pity to throw them away."

"No, I never feel sorry for throwing away a chicken rib."

Old John said.

"Well, your life seems really rich."

"Don't be sarcastic. I'm not wasting food. I often feed the stray animals in the alley with the discarded food. Why are we bringing this topic up again? Let's get down to business. The fixed price is 50 pounds. You know, this is Blood from five hundred years ago!”

He used a very exaggerated tone.

"At the same time, it can also be regarded as rubbish from five hundred years ago."

Shade looked at the bottle of blood under the gas lamp and was curious about how the bubbles inside appeared:

"Thirty pounds."

"Then you might as well grab it, 45."

Shade put the bottle on the counter, put his right arm on the counter, and tilted his body to look at Old John:

"If I really go to grab it, I won't just grab 20 pounds. 35."

"42."

"37."

"40."

"39."

"Thirty-nine pounds 10 shillings."

"Thirty-nine pounds 5 shillings."

"39"

Shade waved his hand hurriedly:

"Let's not negotiate the price over a few shillings. Including the appraisal fee just now, how about I give you a total of 42 pounds?"

"You really know how to bargain."

The old man whispered, but that meant it was okay.

However, Xia De was not in a hurry to give money. He had another thing:

"Dad John, I want to ask you something."

"Ask me for advice? It's not cheap. You know, the Priory doesn't bargain."

This was the first time that he took the initiative to mention the "Guiding Light Hermitage" in front of Sha De.

Shade nodded:

"It's about the worship of the Twin Gods. I learned about a folk song or poem that may be a ritual. I want you to help me interpret it."

He repeated the strange ballad he had just heard from Professor Manning. Dad thought for a while:

"It doesn't sound like a ritual, it sounds like a method of making alchemical items."

"How did you hear this?"

"Different people have different interpretations of this kind of knowledge hidden in folk songs or legends. This is just my interpretation."

Although Shade still thinks this is a ritual, Old John’s idea can also be tried:

"If I entrust you to help make this alchemical item, how long will it take? How long will it take?"

"The information you gave is too little. I can only use the materials on hand to try to make a trial work. I'll charge you 1 pound for the craftsmanship fee. It's just some leftover materials. There is no need for material fees. But I can't guarantee that it will definitely work. After all, this is the only ballad you gave me.”

In other words, for these three transactions tonight, Shade spent a total of 43 pounds:

"Okay, when will I come to get it?"

"After finishing your business in two hours, I can close the business today."

Shade calculated the time:

"Okay, I'll pick it up at half past ten in the evening. Just in time, I'm going to buy some undead materials outside the city."

"Where's Copus?"

Old John asked with drooped eyelids.

"You know him too?"

"I've done a few businesses. I don't want to speak ill of people behind their backs, but that person really looks like a real corpse."

Mr. Copps' materials store is located in an unknown rural cemetery on the northern outskirts of Tobesk. Dorothy once brought Shad there once. This gentleman has a very weird temper. The shop is only open at night, and whether you are a stranger or a regular customer, you will definitely be "attacked" by him after entering the cemetery.

Take a carriage from Old John's Pawn Shop, get off at the edge of the city and walk out of the city. When he arrived at the suburban cemetery in the hazy night, it was already past nine o'clock in the evening. The autumn night in the suburbs seems to be colder than in the city. After putting on a mask and stepping on the dead branches on the ground to enter the cemetery shrouded in night fog, I saw a figure floating in the air in the fog swept by the night wind. The transparent figure floated over with a painful cry.

"Evil spirit?"

Shade put on the "Psychic Crystal Ring" unhurriedly, waited until the ferocious-looking soul approached, stretched out his hands towards his neck, and suddenly swung his right fist forward:

"Mind blast!"

The night fog swirled in front of the fist, and there seemed to be a soft bang~ in the air. The evil spirit retreated out of thin air, and disappeared into the fog amidst the increasingly faint howling sound, leaving only the ghost that still seemed to linger. The voice in my ears refused to leave.

Shade touched his fist and continued walking forward on the path of the cemetery, arriving in front of the tombkeeper's hut. Mr. Copps was already waiting there, with the glow of a kerosene lamp in the half-open cabin behind him.

This thin middle-aged man with a pale face who seemed to have overindulged in sexual activities glanced at Shade and did not ask who he was:

"what do you need?"

Shade handed him the list of materials for thaumaturgy [Guiding Death], and Mr. Copus lowered his head and looked at each one:

"The brown spiritual dust is gone. Can I replace it with black?"

"Yes, but the weight must be increased by one-third."

Shade nodded, and the priest marked the replacement materials on the list.

"It's 115 pounds and 5 shillings. The change of 5 shillings is the extra labor fee I charged for processing the intestines of the rotting corpse. That thing is really disgusting."

While Shade was taking money from his pocket, Mr. Copus turned back to his cabin to prepare materials for Shade. Although you don’t need much of each material, weighing it accurately on a scale takes time. Therefore, it took a full twenty minutes for Mr. Copus to put the bottles, cans and paper bags in a paper bag and bring them to Shade.

That paper bag looked like a bag used by bakeries in the city.

After handing over the money and delivering the goods, Shade didn't want to talk to this weird ring warlock anymore, so after getting what he wanted, he wanted to turn around and leave, but he was stopped by the other party:

"Sorry, please wait a moment."

Mr. Copps twitched his nose:

"Have you recently been to the borderland between life and death?"

Only the large enough boundary between life and death under Fort Midhill can be called the "Chasm of Life and Death." Other similar areas have different names, but it is definitely the kind of place Mr. Copps is talking about.

"Yes, I just came back from overseas. During my trip, there was some trouble on the third floor of the small hotel where I stayed."

Shade said half-truthfully.

Mr. Copps did not ask where Shade lived:

"Are you interested in making some money? I buy a large amount of corpse grass, Hades orchids and black witch flowers from the borderlands. The price is negotiable, 1 pound of corpse grass, 3 pounds, 7 shillings and 10 pence, one pound The orchid is 13 pounds, 15 shillings and 5 pence, and I can give you 20 pounds for a resentment flower. But it must be carefully preserved and kept fresh during transportation."

Corpse grass is a plant that can be found everywhere in the Gap of Life and Death, and it is also a common undead material in the material world; Mingduolan is often used as a powerful hallucinogen and only grows in places like cemeteries or ancient battlefields. De remembered that when he defeated the Undead Knight in the narrow room, he saw a large one nearby; as for the Resentment Flower, Shade had not even seen it in his second-grade textbook, he had only seen it in Miss Feliana's notebook. From the description, I know that this is a plant related to the dying soul.

Mr. Copus's price was about 50% higher than that of plants that normally grow in the material world, but Shade did not agree:

"Mr. Copus, you also know how dangerous the borderland is. I am very excited about this business, but I don't want to go there again."

"It doesn't matter, just remember this business. If you have the opportunity in the future, you can collect some materials and sell them to me. For the time being, I will weigh the corpse grass and Mingduolan at 200 pounds (approximately 90.72kg) and 130 pounds (approximately 58.97kg). The upper limit of the purchase, the black resentful girl flower is unlimited."

Shade was curious about what the other party wanted so much material for, but he didn't ask any more questions:

"Okay, if I have the chance, I wouldn't mind making the money."

After leaving the cemetery, Shade used stones to carve the ritual array on the ground in a nearby cemetery. He used the environment close to the cemetery and learned the thaumaturgy [Guiding Death] using the purchased materials.

When he returned to Old John's pawn shop, it was already eleven o'clock in the evening, but Father John was still waiting for him. However, as soon as Shade entered the shop, the old man covered his nose and complained:

"Detective, what does it smell like on you? If you step on animal excrement outside the city, please don't go any further."

"I just soaked my hands in corpse water and the soaking liquid of the roots of the rotten three-eyed witch tree, but before I entered the city, I had already washed my hands by the river outside the city."

"The three-eyed witch tree is notoriously smelly. The smell can't be washed away at all. I have a bottle of deodorant here. Pour it into a basin of warm water and scrub it carefully. Give me two shillings and take it away. "

"You really know how to make money."

Shade said, but still gave the money.

The most likely useless alchemical items that Old John made based on the ballads provided by Shade have also been completed. They were two red butterfly pendants with half wings each, about the size of a quarter of Shade's hand. The material seemed to be made of red copper, but after special treatment, it showed a red color.

The wings are double-sided, while the bodies of the two pendant butterflies are single-sided. The other side of the butterfly's body is a flat surface with runes about "Twins" written in red paint. Because of the magnets placed inside, the planes of the butterfly bodies of the two pendants can fit together to form a red butterfly with complete wings.

"If it doesn't work, remember to tell me. I can improve it and make the production cost cheaper for you next time. If it works, let me know and I can continue to improve it to make the finished product better."

"No problem, oh, the commission to acquire the special blood is over, and this matter can be cancelled."

Shade waved his hands and prepared to say goodbye, but when he reached the door, he turned around and asked:

"Dad John, do you know the [Spiritual Order]?"

"Of course I do. Those blind nuns are famous."

The old man who was throwing the change given by Shade into the cookie box nodded:

"Why are you asking this?"

"Do you know the origin of the Order? Is it related to the ancient gods?"

Old John raised his eyebrows:

"It's so late to ask this kind of question. Since you have done so much business with me today, I won't charge you for the information - there is a probability of more than 60%, but I don't know which one it is related to. Bit."

"Thank you, I won't be polite then."

Shade smiled and thanked:

"Next time I can grab a nice bottle of wine to thank you for."

"You, a stingier guy than me, can you have any good wine?"

The old man muttered and told Shade to leave quickly, he was going to close the shop and rest.

When I got home, it was close to midnight. As soon as the door was opened, Mia the cat rushed over from the stairs and almost knocked Shade down. But Luvia had already left. She was really busy today, so she ended her evening stargazing work and went home to rest after ten o'clock.

However, she boiled a pot of hot water for Shade in advance so that he could make tea when he got home. She also left a letter informing him of her and Iluna's recent action plan in Tobesk. As for the last time Shade asked her to investigate the Spiritual Cult from the Prophet Association, it has not been settled yet.