After getting dressed, he left his room and went down the wooden stairs. In that short time, Bonis had already prepared a parchment agreement. Holding a quill pen, she smiled brightly at him.
"You only need to sign a name here, whether it's your real name or a fake one. Of course, you'll also need to add a drop of blood. But first, I'd like to see whether Goldtooth is in your possession," Bonis said.
He casually felt around in his pocket, found the gold tooth among a pile of silver coins and gemstones, and spread it out in his palm. At the sight of Goldtooth, undisguised delight appeared on Bonis's face. She seemed extremely excited, but she ultimately restrained herself and gestured for Li Shaolin to sign the agreement.
So these contract agreements used blood as proof? No wonder it didn't matter whether the name was real. This was damn creepy. Li Shaolin glanced over it and saw no problems. It was written in Common, yet it looked as understandable to him as Chinese characters. Apparently, that was another transformation brought by transmigration. He took the quill without hesitation and, with the flair of a third-rate college student, intended to sketch out a perfect artistic signature. But his hand shook, and several large drops of ink splattered onto the parchment. The parchment rustled as he scratched out something that looked like chicken claws. He had used fountain pens at most in the past; how could he have ever handled a legendary item like a quill? With the wrong grip, naturally he couldn't write well.
Looking at those three crooked characters, Li Shaolin felt his face flush with embarrassment. Bonis giggled and took out a small knife. "Dear Lin, you only need to drip a little blood onto your name, and it will be flawless."
"Um... doesn't your family need someone else to witness this?"
"Of course not. At present, I can make all decisions for this family." Bonis handed him the knife.
Damn, looks like I'm going to have to cut myself today. Li Shaolin looked at the gleaming knife and felt a little nervous. But with a mature woman like Bonis watching beside him, he couldn't bring himself to look less manly. Gritting his teeth, he cut his fingertip. A bead of blood immediately formed and fell onto his signature below. The contract emitted bursts of white light, and its contents changed from gray to jet-black. It looked like the agreement had been completed. With a light motion, Bonis somehow divided one intact piece of parchment into three, as if drawing silk from a cocoon. It was truly amazing! She handed one to Li Shaolin and said with a smile, "We're family from now on. After breakfast, we'll deliver one copy to Sheriff Duhan. Then you can give Goldtooth to me."
Breakfast was pumpkin pie, soft and fluffy, sweet and fragrant in his mouth. With the beautiful mature Bonis accompanying him, while the old lady and that young girl from the family were nowhere to be seen, the meal was exceptionally pleasant. Just after they finished eating, the sound of a carriage whinnying came from outside. It seemed they were truly eager to obtain this gold tooth. What secret did it hold? Li Shaolin couldn't help feeling puzzled.
Hoofbeats clopped along as they set off for Goldshire. Sitting in the same carriage as Bonis, Li Shaolin caught waves of the mature woman's fragrance. Her soft, delicate body occasionally leaned against him, making him unbearably awkward. Last night's sensual dream immediately surfaced in his mind, and a certain physical reaction naturally followed. Bonis smiled at him, pretending not to notice, yet deliberately leaned even closer, making Li Shaolin groan inwardly.
You're deliberately teasing me. Careful, or I'll lose my temper and do something inappropriate. Though he thought about doing something, he didn't have the nerve. It was incredibly frustrating.
A horse neighed, and they finally arrived at Goldshire. Li Shaolin hurriedly jumped out of the carriage. It was practically torture. If he stayed any longer, he might really lose control.
Ahead, in the center of Goldshire, stood an enormous stone building that was impossible to miss. Bonis smiled and beckoned Li Shaolin inside, her eyes brimming with springtime warmth.
Inside, a knight in full silver-white armor was examining the agreement. Li Shaolin, however, was secretly shocked. He had just used Detection and discovered that this damn sheriff was actually a level 25 Paladin. That was terrifyingly powerful. The man could probably crush him to death with a casual move. Li Shaolin immediately behaved himself.
After reading it, Duhan said, "Mm, I'll report this truthfully to Stormwind City. Sir Li Shaolin, welcome to Goldshire. Now then, have the two of you brought the deed to Fargodeep Mine and Goldtooth?"
Li Shaolin and Bonis nodded and each took out their items. Duhan accepted the deed, took out a thick book from the filing cabinet behind him, wrote something in it, and then stamped the deed with a large seal, seemingly processing a new one. He handed it to Li Shaolin, while Goldtooth was given to Bonis.
Bonis accepted Goldtooth and said with a smile, "Sheriff, please get back to your work. Lin, do you need to come to the farm with me?"
Li Shaolin shook his head. Bonis seemed extremely anxious, so she offered a brief apology, took Goldtooth, and left at once. It looked like she was rushing back to the farm.
Walking out of Town Hall and looking at the deed in his hand, Li Shaolin felt as if he were dreaming. He never imagined that he had become a landowner too. He nearly threw back his head and laughed. Only after reading the deed did he learn that Duhan held both the town mayor's and sheriff's positions. He was quite impressive. Still, he looked like an upright man who wouldn't make things difficult for him.
He found the Lion's Pride Inn, where cheerful music drifted from within. It reminded him of the distinctive Lion's Black Beer, and he hurried inside.
It was already noon. Adventurers of all kinds were drinking and talking inside, making the place extremely lively.
As he entered the inn and was about to find a server for something to eat, a deep voice called out, "Shaolin? You're alive?" Damn it, who the hell was cursing him to death? Turning around, he saw Jack, Moni, and Mogaban sitting at a table eating. Jack's face was filled with astonishment, as though he couldn't believe Li Shaolin had survived.
"Jack! When did you get back?" Li Shaolin was equally delighted. After the tragedy at Fargodeep Mine, no one had been spared. He had thought Jack and the others had died inside as well. Who would have expected to see them again? Jack was honest and kind, and had treated him well. Naturally, Li Shaolin was happy to see that he was safe.
"After we got separated from you, the party was besieged by a large number of Kobolds. Later, we withdrew from the mine, and our mission conditions happened to be fulfilled. Biter said he and the others were going back in to mine some ore veins, so the three of us returned first. What about you? How did you get out?" Jack pulled Li Shaolin over to sit down, poured him a drink, and asked.
"As for me, it's a long story." He took a sip of beer and was about to make up a vague explanation when shouts suddenly rang out through the inn. "This is bad! Fargodeep Mine is haunted! Fargodeep Mine is haunted!" A young man of seventeen or eighteen was shouting at the top of his lungs.
"Haunted my ass! Tell us what happened. Have a drink, it's on me." The bald William Pister, who had posted the candle bounty, casually handed him a cup of Lion's Black Beer.
The young man gulped it down, finally caught his breath, and said, "This morning, I followed an adventurer party to Fargodeep Mine to get some gold dust to sell. But when we reached the outside of the mine, we found not a single Kobold. I thought the Kobolds were all damn well asleep, but when we went inside, there wasn't even a ghost in sight. If that isn't haunting, then what is?"
William Pister asked, "What about the other adventurers?"
The young man scratched his head awkwardly. "They went in. I came back by myself."
"So he's just a coward." The crowd that had been listening intently immediately looked down on him. The young man was embarrassed, but he still shouted, "If you don't believe me, go see for yourselves! I wasn't lying!"
Jack pondered for a moment. "That's not right. There can't possibly be no Kobolds in the outer area. What happened?"
Li Shaolin was puzzled too. Weren't there Kobold corpses all over outside the mine? How could there be nothing at all? Could his eyes have been playing tricks on him yesterday? Impossible.
Jack continued, "Shaolin, we're about to head to Eastvale Logging Camp to help them deal with the Defias Brotherhood. Want to come with us?"
Li Shaolin shook his head. "I still have something to do. You go ahead. I'll come find you when I have time."
"Sure. Come find us then. Here, cheers." Jack raised his cup and clinked it against his.
After saying goodbye to Jack and the others, Li Shaolin went alone to the Blacksmith. He had obtained two green gemstones from Goldtooth's treasure chest. Though he suspected they were Malachite, he had never shown them to anyone, so he didn't know for certain. He decided to ask whether the Blacksmith wanted them and just sell them. They were only taking up space.
The blacksmith took the gemstones and examined them. "Malachite. If you want to sell them, you can go to the Jewelry Shop or Auction House in Stormwind City. They'll offer a better price there. Of course, we buy them too, but we can only offer one gold coin per gem."
"All right, deal!" He accepted the two gleaming gold coins and walked out of the Blacksmith.
By noon, a light rain had begun to fall, and everything was soon shrouded in mist. Seeing that he couldn't get anything done, he returned to the Lion's Pride Inn, intending to take a nap.
Lying on the bed, he opened the Book of the Dead and carefully studied its skills. Then his eyes swept over the text beneath Clay Golem and noticed that it had changed: a golden 1/1, with a white 0/1 beneath it. What was going on? Couldn't only one Clay Golem be summoned? Why were there two status bars? Meanwhile, beneath Skeleton Warrior, there were still two white 2/2 indicators. The two Skeleton Warriors were stored inside.
Could it be that the Clay Golem he had lost was still alive? No, that wasn't right. Even so, it shouldn't have turned gold. Unable to figure it out, he stopped thinking about it and fell asleep.
In his haze, he felt someone knocking on the door. When he opened his bleary eyes, a wave of mature fragrance rushed toward him. Auntie Bonis Stonefield stood in the doorway with a smile, saying in an incomparably aggrieved tone, "Lin, you really are lucky!"
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