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Though the process had some twists and turns, overall, Lin Ruo still had a pleasant birthday.
He received ideal gifts, obtained the intelligence he needed, resolved his biggest disagreement with Medici, and even freeloaded off Medici after dinner, getting him to help destroy The Ocean Songster characteristic for The Hanged Man. Aside from giving Adam PTSD, it was practically perfect.
If there were any remaining issues, it would probably be that Lin Ruo had a dream that night about a silly-looking Snake of Mercury, and when he woke up, he found a picture album on his desk.
"Ouroboros was here?"
Lin Ruo placed his hand on the picture album on the desk. On the cover, several words were outlined in golden ink— "Travel Album."
Lin Ruo raised an eyebrow and opened the album to find a landscape painting on the first page, depicting the view of the sea from a ship's deck at sunset.
It had to be said, Ouroboros's painting skills were excellent; the entire painting exuded a beautiful aesthetic.
Lin Ruo continued to flip through. He saw forests, valleys, plains, and snow-capped mountains. Ouroboros seemed to have recorded every kind of scenery he had ever seen, presenting their respective beauty with a paintbrush.
Lin Ruo originally thought the subsequent paintings would be similar, but after turning another page, the content of the paintings suddenly became bizarre and fantastic. This startled Lin Ruo, and then he recognized what was being depicted.
"Scenery of the Spirit World…" Lin Ruo sighed and continued to flip through. One strange yet breathtakingly beautiful scene after another formed the latter half of the album. On the very last page of the album, on the blank paper where nothing was drawn, there was a line of words:
"Happy Birthday."
"Lin Ruo."
"Truly… a special gift." Lin Ruo closed the album, and Ouroboros's dazed appearance came to mind. For a moment, he didn't know what to say.
He naturally liked the gift, even if it seemed like just an ordinary picture album with no extraordinary abilities. But the landscapes recorded in the album alone were enough to satisfy Lin Ruo.
He was originally a person who loved traveling and different sceneries.
But Ouroboros… To be honest, Lin Ruo didn't know what attitude to take towards him.
He could actually feel that his past self harbored more of a frustrated disappointment towards this silly great serpent, along with a bit of despondency and a reluctance to face him.
And the current Lin Ruo didn't feel these emotions as deeply, as there were too few related memories. But if you truly asked Lin Ruo to pretend nothing had happened and reconcile with Ouroboros directly, Lin Ruo himself would feel a bit awkward.
"Forget it, let's just let nature take its course." After much thought, Lin Ruo decided to let nature take its course. However, he found a pen and added two sentences to the blank page that said "Happy Birthday":
—I really like the gift.
—But you have to say your wishes in person!
After writing, Lin Ruo closed the album again and put it in the drawer, placing it next to another book—the book was a birthday gift from Klein after dinner, a handwritten limited edition of "No Longer Human."
That's right, Klein copied it by hand.
Lin Ruo had once mentioned "No Longer Human" when chatting with Klein. It was a book he hadn't had time to read before his Transmigration, and after experiencing the Bungo Stray Dogs and meeting a certain mackerel, Lin Ruo regretted even more that he hadn't read this book. Unfortunately, Roselle hadn't copied this book either, so Lin Ruo had no chance to catch up and read it.
And Klein had clearly remembered this matter and happened to have read "No Longer Human." He actually used the dream divination method to replicate the content of the book and secretly kept it under wraps until Lin Ruo's birthday, intending to give him a surprise.
It could be said that it was a very thoughtful gift, and Lin Ruo liked it a lot.
Carefully locking the cabinet, Lin Ruo stretched and his gaze fell on another item on the table.
It was a miniature scepter, about 20 centimeters long, which was Medici's birthday gift to him, corresponding to the Sequence 4 Imperative Mage of the Justiciar pathway. Lin Ruo had currently named it the inhibiting magic scepter.
Its main effect, as its name suggests, is to temporarily strip others of their extraordinary abilities within a certain range, achieving a certain degree of silent magic inhibition. It can even have some effect on Sequence 3, and for mid-to-low Sequence, it can basically reduce the opponent's abilities by 80-90% or even prevent them from being used at all.
When not inhibiting magic, the inhibiting magic scepter can use rules within a certain range to magnify effects, forcing people to comply, and imposing certain penalties if they violate them.
Its negative effect is that after each use, it will randomly temporarily strip the user of one extraordinary ability for 24 hours. However, after the stripping, even if used multiple times within the next 24 hours, this effect will not be triggered again.
It could be said that this was a very luck-dependent negative effect. If one was lucky, perhaps only an unimportant minor ability would be stripped. If one was unlucky, a core ability might be directly Seal.
However, for Lin Ruo, the impact was not significant. Firstly, the stripping effect of the inhibiting magic scepter did not affect his supernatural ability—strictly speaking, the extraordinary abilities of this world basically had no direct effect on his supernatural ability.
For example, although the inhibiting magic effect of the inhibiting magic scepter could inhibit Lin Ruo's Judge extraordinary abilities, it would not have even the slightest impact on his supernatural ability. Of course, if he simulated a certain extraordinary ability, that would be another matter, as it would cause an impact.
Secondly, Lin Ruo actually had no need to use the inhibiting magic scepter.
After all, Lin Ruo himself could simulate the abilities of a Imperative Mage. In fact, considering the huge spiritual consumption of using mystical items, it was even more cost-effective for Lin Ruo to directly simulate the abilities of a Imperative Mage.
The inhibiting magic scepter's greatest use for Lin Ruo was as the main ingredients for future Sequence 4 potions, and for lending to Klein or others when needed.
"Hmm, I'll just leave this with Klein for now, along with the other stuff. I don't need it at the moment anyway." Lin Ruo pinched his chin, having made a decision.
He didn't have a personal space after all, so it was inconvenient to carry these things. Compared to leaving them at home, it was far more worry-free to leave them at Sefirah Castle.
Having made his decision, Lin Ruo immediately finished washing up and planned to go have breakfast, while also thinking about his plans for the near future.
"Good morning, Klein." Arriving in the living room, Lin Ruo cheerfully greeted Klein. He sniffed and said, "Hmm, this smell. Did you cook porridge?"
"In the kitchen, it should still be warm," Klein, who had already eaten breakfast and was reading the newspaper, replied casually.
Lin Ruo immediately went to the kitchen to scoop porridge, and incidentally found the special chili sauce and added two large spoonfuls before bringing the porridge to sit opposite Klein.
As he ate his porridge, he glanced at his own newspaper on the table and saw that the headline reported an accidental fire at a certain ballroom last night, resulting in several deaths and injuries.
Just then, Lin Ruo heard Klein's voice beside him:
"There seem to be quite a few accidents in Backlund lately…"
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