"That kid named Ian is quite impressive."
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Leaving the Bravehearts Bar and walking into the streets gradually shrouded by the night, Loen said to Hugh Dilcha, who seemed to have appeared out of thin air beside him.
"You seem very confident in him." Hugh Dilcha's cool voice rang out, devoid of any discernible emotion.
"No, I trust your and Maric's judgment." Loen shrugged.
"Being able to pass your screening and gain a foothold in this place says a lot in itself. By the way, has Kaspars really retired?"
"Yes." Hugh Dilcha nodded.
"He went to a small town in the south and bought a house with a garden."
"That's not bad either." Loen smiled. "At least this new old man is much more polite and much smarter than that guy Kaspars."
"Do you intend to be his supplier?" Hugh Dilcha asked again.
"Yes, didn't you appear in person to bear witness for me?"
"However, letting the weapons from your factory circulate privately will cause problems, won't it? This is Backlund." Hugh Dilcha meant that Backlund was different from other places; the authorities oversight was much stricter.
"Don't worry, I've considered that. The demand for Ian's retail form is actually not high—"
"Besides, I won't directly use the weapons just produced in my factory. I recently bought a batch of inventory from bankrupt factories. Those weapons and ammunition are all untraceable accounts; even if the authorities wanted to investigate, it would be very difficult to find the source—"
"Moreover," Loen stopped, turned around, and fixed his gaze entirely on Hugh Dilcha's delicate, bloodless face, his tone carrying a hint of cunning, "aren't you and Maric still helping him watch over the scene?"
Today's brief contact made Loen realize that Ian was a very qualified intelligence merchant. His reach might be deeper into every corner of the East Borough than he had imagined. Some matters might not be convenient to handle directly using the James Scott identity, or by having Hugh Dilcha or Maric take action directly. Dealing with them through Ian, a relatively flexible channel that was also more "down-to-earth," might yield twice the result with half the effort.
Although theoretically, Maric and Hugh Dilcha were the ones helping the other party watch the scene, and he could go directly to them if he had needs, having an extra channel was always good. Moreover, Loen was not someone who liked to keep owing favors.
Hugh Dilcha was silent for a few seconds, seemingly accepting this explanation. Then, as if remembering something, her voice dropped slightly: "Recently, I have been dealing with the spoils brought out from the tomb, so I haven't paid much attention to the recent news in the East Borough." Her tone carried a hint of imperceptible apology. She knew about Loen distributing medicine to the workers.
"It's fine, I also only found out about this by chance today." Loen's tone was very casual.
"Then what do you plan to do?" Hugh Dilcha asked.
"For now, it's not a big problem."
"After all, the source of the medicine is me. The quantity and shelf life of the medicine outside are not much—as long as I control it better on my end, it won't take long for it to be naturally consumed, and then the supply will be cut off. The hype will naturally die down slowly."
"As for whether there will be gangsters using this name to swindle people—I plan to find a few gang leaders to 'have a heart-to-heart talk' when I have time."
"Do you need my help?" Hugh Dilcha stared at Loen's figure, seemingly moving a little closer to him.
In such matters, she and Maric were quite experienced.
"No need." Loen shook his head slightly.
"I can't—always owe you a favor, Teacher Hugh Dilcha."
"A favor—" Hugh Dilcha lowered her eyes and did not speak again.
Backlund, a certain hidden underground stronghold.
"Be careful! Those are very precious experimental instruments!"
"Be gentler with your movements! If even a trace of aura leaks from the Sealed Artifact in that box, it will turn all of you into Lunatics!"
"And that doll! That is a Grade 2 Sealed Artifact!"
"Idiots! Are your eyes growing on your butts?"
Heart 7 was commanding his staff with all his might, carrying out the tense relocation work. Because time was tight and the task was heavy, as a researcher who had always considered himself a gentle and elegant Gentleman, he couldn't help but curse quite a bit.
Carrying out such a large-scale relocation of a stronghold under the nose of the church was an extremely troublesome task. Not only did he have to coordinate every step, but he also had to be extremely careful not to let those "dog noses" from the church discover any clues.
Due to the special nature of some Sealed Artifacts, they could not use Beyonder means like "teleportation" and could only adopt the safest method of transporting them by train.
"Sigh—" Heart 7 sighed wearily and cast his gaze toward the deepest part of the stronghold. There, the terrifying dead infant possessing the divinity of the True Creator was sealed.
"This really is a troublesome thing—"
Returning to his office, Loen discovered that a small wooden box had appeared on his desk at some point.
The surface of the box was nothing special, without any markings or patterns.
But Loen could clearly feel a special spirituality sealed inside.
"Queen Mystic—"
His spiritual intuition told him that this was something sent to him by Queen Mystic.
"So—my Mystical Item has been crafted? Queen Mystic's efficiency this time is really unexpectedly high."
"That makes sense. Emperor Roselle was originally supported by the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery. It's reasonable that Queen Mystic would have excellent craftsman resources—"
Loen thought while reaching out to open the box.
"This is—a pocket watch?"
What came into view was a classically styled silver pocket watch. On the cover of the pocket watch was embedded a sapphire the size of a pigeon's egg, emitting a pale blue halo.
Opening the cover, the pure white dial did not have the usual numbers, but instead, twelve deep notches were distributed on it. Among them, three notches were the longest and wider/deeper. Between two long notches, there were two short notches that were only half the length of the former and also thinner/shallower. Besides that, there was only one motionless, pitch-black hand stopped in the center of the dial.
Under the pocket watch, there was also a folded piece of paper. Loen picked it up and discovered that this was the "instruction manual" for the pocket watch.
"Offset Timepiece"
"Usage Effect: Allows the user, while witnessing a certain Beyonder ability in person, to record it using the gem on the cover and use it once."
"The success rate of recording is related to the level of the ability. For Sequence 9 to Sequence 7 Beyonder abilities, the recording success rate is almost one hundred percent; for Sequence 6 abilities, the success rate is about seventy percent; for Sequence 5, it is fifty percent; for Sequence 4, it is only twenty percent—"
"The effect of the recorded ability is also related to its own level; the higher the Sequence of the original ability, the worse the recorded effect will be."
"The three longest notches represent that it can record three demigod-level abilities; the remaining nine long notches represent that it can record nine Sequence 6 to Sequence 5 abilities; while the twenty-four short notches represent that it can record twenty-four Sequence 9 to Sequence 7 abilities."
"When using it, simply adjust the hand to align with the corresponding notch to release it."
"Negative Effect: Carrying it for a long time will disrupt the user's own sense of time. In the absence of external references such as sunlight or stars, it will be impossible to accurately determine the current time."
"Secondly, after using a recorded ability, the holder's sense of position will become blurred for a short time. Specifically, it will be difficult to accurately judge the precise distance of objects, somewhat similar to the feeling of being drunk."
"Very practical, acceptable."
After reading the instructions, this was the evaluation Loen gave to this Mystical Item.
With the "machine" calculation ability and "Winner" luck, these negative effects were still within an acceptable range.
"If the feeling is off, use 'machine' to calculate; if that's still not enough, use 'Winner' to fine-tune—perfect." Loen stroked the warm watch case and the cold sapphire.
Moreover, the negative effects of this item would not cause direct harm to himself, so it could be carried on his person at all times. Something like a pocket watch was not at all obtrusive to wear and perfectly met his needs.
It's just that a pocket watch causing one's sense of time to be confused is a bit ironic, after all—
Fortunately, with the machine ability, even without external references, Loen could estimate a relatively accurate time.
"Queen Mystic is impressive." He first exclaimed, then thought of another point.
"A single Mystical Item is already this convenient. Then the original 'Scribe' must be heaven-defying."
Loen couldn't help but feel a hint of envy.
"Although the recorded abilities are all one-time use, a fully equipped 'Scribe' is equivalent to having more than thirty different Beyonder abilities simultaneously. If combined with some Mystical Items that can enhance spirituality, unleashing more than thirty abilities in turns—hiss, that scene is truly unimaginable—"
"This Pathway is just too convenient."