Extraordinary Ring: Noble Red

After both sides tacitly displayed their abilities, goals, and intentions, Iver and the Shadow Demon temporarily reached an agreement.

As the Shadow Demon once again submerged into Iver's shadow, the darkness that had spread like sludge throughout the bar was drawn back into the shadow beneath Iver.

Like a pool with its drain opened, the shallow lake of shadows quickly became "dry."

The warm winter sunlight shone in once more, filling the room of the bar.

It was as if being covered by that damp shadow had merely been an illusion.

—Good.

Iver breathed a sigh of relief.

Now, the four most important things were done.

He had completed his revenge, killing the "friend" who betrayed him; successfully eliminated his incriminating evidence; obtained clues for the next step of his investigation; and awakened and appeased the Shadow Demon.

Now, it was time for some pleasant treasure chest opening! Iver carefully listened and found that Hai Na was still searching downstairs and had not come up.

—Looting time!

He rubbed his hands together impatiently and began to search for his spoils.

Iver quickly found a small, thumb-sized round box that looked like a menthol balm. Etched on it was a crescent moon with a human face, and below it was a line of small print: "1886-03-071, Living Silver Workshop."

He was very familiar with this item.

It was a Drunken Dream Tincture, a specialty of the Stibium Kingdom.

"Good stuff. A great start."

The corners of Iver's mouth turned up slightly as he casually pocketed it.

The Drunken Dream Tincture is a potion that can stabilize dreams and anesthetize the body, making it less likely to be startled awake. It is an alchemical product of the Equilibrium Path. It can also be used as an anesthetic for surgery, but its main purpose is to enhance the success rate during advancement.

In cultivation novels, it's roughly equivalent to a Foundation Establishment Pill. At low levels, it adds a considerable amount to the success rate of breakthroughs.

The Drunken Dream Tincture is known among players as the "Little Advancement Drug," and it can increase the success rate of advancement ceremonies. It's roughly similar to a potion that can increase the success rate of enhancement in classic MMORPGs that allow you to enhance and forge equipment.

In the setting, advancing a class level requires entering a dream to perform a complex and highly failure-prone dream ritual. However, in the game, it is determined by a cold percentage of advancement success. Preparing certain ritual or material properties can increase the success rate.

Success means advancing successfully after a burst of special effects, increasing the class level cap by ten levels, and then three entries pop up for you to choose one.

This is the Path characteristic obtained upon successful advancement.

Failure means being knocked back to level 19. For players, it just means the materials are gone, and they have to prepare the ritual again to advance. For NPCs, if they fail to advance, they have to wait for a cooldown that increases with level, lasting at least half a month.

Veronica is currently a level 19 Demon Scholar and will soon be advancing; or she may have failed several times, so she prepared a Drunken Dream Tincture for herself.

Judging from the number of ritual spells she has mastered, she should have been stuck at the Second Level for quite some time—with the level cap locked, the skill level can still be improved as usual, but it won't continue to add levels to the class.

Iver's current advancement from the First Level to the Second Level is not difficult and is basically guaranteed to succeed. He doesn't need it for the time being.

He can use it later when he advances from level 19 to level 20.

Moreover, because Iver is advancing on two Paths at the same time, he has to take two doses.

Drunken Dream Tincture itself isn't a particularly rare potion, so there's no need to be especially frugal with it. Its price in the Stibium Kingdom isn't high either, only forty-six White Crown Coins. It's just that it's purely handmade by alchemists, so the supply is insufficient, making it subject to reservation and limited purchase.

And most importantly, this medicine is currently more difficult to buy in Avalon.

Because since two years ago, the Stibium Kingdom has become an enemy of Avalon.

All alchemical products from the Stibium Kingdom are restricted from being exported to Avalon; correspondingly, Avalon also does not allow the import of alchemical products from the Stibium Kingdom, and also does not allow the export of its own minerals and timber to Stibium.

Currently, the Drunken Dream Tincture on the Avalon market, apart from a few remaining stocks... should only be available from scalpers hoarding goods at ten times the price.

Five hundred White Coins is just the starting price.

This is a price that Hai Na wouldn't even dare to imagine. It's about ten years' salary for an ordinary worker.

Iver can afford it, though.

He just doesn't want the scalpers to earn so much money so easily.

He also doesn't plan to leave this stuff to the Bureau of Supervision—even if the Bureau of Supervision gets it, they will only resell it at a high price. It's even highly likely that they'll sell it to the Moriarty Family.

Because everyone knows that young master Iver has recently embarked on the Path of Transcendence, becoming a Priest. He also needs to stock up on Drunken Dream Tincture in advance.

—Then there's no need to let the middleman make the difference.

But unfortunately, after finding the Drunken Dream Tincture, Iver couldn't find anything good.

He only found some ritual materials.

But those were all human materials, such as placentas or infant scalps. Not only were they worthless, but he couldn't use them either.

Iver had already sworn not to use materials from his own kind for rituals—and he really didn't like such cruel behavior. So he didn't take them away. Instead, he left them on Veronica as evidence of her crimes.

The red robe she was wearing was actually valuable.

...But Iver felt that he probably couldn't take it off.

Not to mention that it's women's clothing, which Iver can't wear; and Veronica isn't wearing anything inside, so taking the clothes off directly would be a bit perverted...

Of course, he wouldn't have much use for the red robe anyway.

In the game, players have no identity, so they can infiltrate the society through the red robe. But he is now Iver Moriarty, and he simply cannot pass the Noble Red society's review.

If he really succeeded in joining, then he would be threatened by the society in turn. Because once things are exposed, Iver simply cannot survive in the Avalon Kingdom. Even his adoptive father, elder brother, and Yulia would suffer as a result.

"...Eh?"

Iver suddenly found a brass ring that flickered with a bright golden light.

It was engraved with a scarred fist, clenched tightly, with blood flowing from between the fingers and dripping down. And that glittering "blood" was actually crushed ruby powder. In the sunlight, it reflected a dark red, viscous luster, as if it were real blood.

The next moment, a light curtain popped up:

[Noble Red]

[Extraordinary Accessory (Light Purple)]

[Jewelry - Ring]

[Trait: Lesser Law Utterance Resistance (Limited to Path of Transcendence Activation)]

[Spell: Violent Choking Technique (Once per day, 1/1)]

[Necessary: Dark 2]

[Gesture, Medium Range, Instant Effect]

["—We are all bruised fists, bloodied hands, scaleless blades."]

Yes, got it! Iver's eyes lit up.

This is the best item Big Purple could drop! Weak Law Word Resistance, which can nullify the interference and control effects of Law Word spells and Law Tactics - Scolding, etc. from the Path of Authority at the First Level, and weaken control effects below the Third Level by one level.

The Path of Authority is the most common Path ability in Avalon. If Iver wears it, control skills released by transcendents below Level 10 won't be able to hold him; control skills below Level 30 will also have their intensity reduced by about ten levels. The only drawback is that this thing is too conspicuous, and wearing it usually can easily lead people who know their stuff to mistake him for a member of the Noble Red Society.

But its effect is really good, exceptionally practical in the early stages... and Iver is on the Path of Transcendence, which can trigger passive effects. It's suitable to carry around in his pocket, and put it on when needed.

As for the spell attached to the ring, "Violent Choking Technique", although it sounds a bit idiotic, it's actually quite a practical spell.

Just the fact that it requires two points of dark attribute mana to cast using the ring as a medium shows that it's not some low-end thing.

"Choking Technique" is a First Level Path of Transcendence spell, the effect of which is to make a person enter a state of choking on water. If Iver gets the corresponding occult book now, he can learn this spell.

"Violent Choking Technique" is its Second Level upgrade. Its effect is to immediately plunge a person into a state of intense choking. From the written description, it's like having a stimulating liquid like red oil or seawater poured into their nose, and they'd probably have to cough uncontrollably for several seconds before recovering.

If a person is constantly coughing violently, then it's actually difficult for them to exert force.

Because they can't breathe normally, their strength will weaken a bit. The effect in the game is "Damage -10%, Accuracy -10%, Attack and Movement Speed -10%, lasting for three seconds", but Iver thinks this value is definitely given conservatively.

If it were really in reality, being hit by this move unexpectedly could very likely expose a fatal flaw.

Similarly, a person in a state of violent choking is also unable to speak, let alone shout.

Even for a period of time after the effect ends, they may not be able to speak clearly. The mucous membrane has been damaged, and it's easy to accidentally continue coughing.

And the Law Word abilities of the Path of Authority all need to be shouted out loudly.

From this perspective, this piece of equipment is specifically designed to target the Bureau of Supervision's abilities. Once discovered, it can be used to stall the enemy and then escape immediately.

Iver couldn't help but feel fortunate.

—Fortunately, he sold a flaw, luring Veronica to choose Hai Na as a breakthrough point.

She must have felt that his shot was too weak to penetrate her defense. So it's better to take a shot head-on and immediately play dead, taking advantage of the moment Hai Na lowered her guard to cast a spell and kill her first.

So she didn't want to show too much threat—because what she needed was Hai Na's underestimation.

This kind of academic is very easy to show flaws in mentality.

But this point, Veronica knows... Iver certainly knows too.

He knew that Veronica must look down on Hai Na, so he deliberately set up a play, pretending to shoot at her, so that Veronica could have a chance to successfully carry out her plan. When Veronica watched her plan gradually approach success, she herself had also lowered her guard.

Fortunately, he dug a pit and chose a righteous ambush!

Otherwise, if they really fought openly, even if Veronica's continuously channeled spell didn't hit, she could turn around and use "Violent Choking Technique" to weaken Hai Na.

Moreover, this ring itself is proof of identity for the Noble Red Society. And only formal members can get it, like the "Villainous Bartender"-type peripheral members don't have it.

Although in the game it's just a piece of equipment...

But Iver thought.

In reality, it might have other uses.

Just like Iver usually doesn't dare to wear it, fearing that people will misunderstand his identity—using it in reverse might also work.

I didn't adjust in time, thinking of writing less, but these two chapters are over six thousand words again...

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