Twenty-Three Silver Dragons

Gurgle, gurgle, rice bubbles in the pot.

A Spirit Storage Card was plugged into the control box by the pot, just like electricity on Earth, it could provide the Spirit Meal Pot with precious and stable Spirit Energy.

"Spirit Energy..."

"Spirituality..."

Duke withdrew his faraway gaze and scattered thoughts. The Spirit Meal Pot happened to trip its breaker, and a pot of fragrant rice was cooked, along with the sausages in the steamer.

Served with a side of pickled cabbage, this was Duke's breakfast.

Despite the meager meal, Duke still ate ravenously, finishing three large bowls of rice. It was because when his body failed to open the Blood Sea, the Blood Boiling Potion had drained all his energy.

Being from a poor family, he could only make up for it by eating.

"Hoo."

After finishing the rice, he finally felt a little bit of strength restored. Duke didn't bother to clean up the dishes, quickly locked the door, and walked onto the street. This area was lined with low, single-story houses.

The early risers were already busy.

Passing through a small alley, a screech came from under the eaves.

Then, with a creak, a family opened their window. A grayish-brown owl flapped its wings and landed on the windowsill, a small bundle clutched in its talons.

The homeowner took out a silver coin and placed it into a small cloth bag hanging around the owl's neck.

Only then did the owl release its talons, drop the bundle, and fly away with a flap of its wings.

"Post Owl, a 0-Ring Spirit Beast."

Duke glanced at it, and his memory provided the answer.

0-Ring Spirit Beasts were between wild beasts and spirit beasts, much more mystical and intelligent than wild beasts. They could handle many tasks, like this Post Owl, which had been domesticated for use as a courier.

Paying no mind to the Post Owl, he walked with slightly heavy steps through several alleys to a shop with a sign that read "Little Sam's Card Shop."

The shop door was already open, and someone was cleaning.

"Morning, Bob."

"Morning to you too, little Duke." Bob looked up. He was forty years old and a full-time employee at Little Sam's Card Shop. "You look a bit pale, what's wrong?"

"Uh, nothing." Duke gave a perfectly awkward smile.

"Oh, I remember, Bobby mentioned you bought a Blood Boiling Potion. Was that from trying to open the Blood Sea?" Bob asked with concern. "Did you succeed in opening the Blood Sea?"

"No."

Duke lowered his head.

Who could know that he was no longer the Duke familiar to those around him, but a soul from Earth who had transmigrated after the original Duke failed to open his Blood Sea and exhausted himself, a brand new Duke.

To avoid drawing attention, "Duke" had to play the part of Duke well.

Bob, clearly unaware of Duke's change, feigned regret and shook his head, patting Duke's shoulder. "Don't be discouraged. It just means we're all ordinary people. Go to work properly."

"Mm."

Duke walked to workstation number three in the shop's repair area.

He was an apprentice at Little Sam's Card Repair Shop, learning the art of card repair under the Card Master Best.

"Hey, Duke Duke!" From the adjacent workstation number two, Bob's son, Bobby, was wiping the table with a rag and poked his head over. "Did you buy a Blood Boiling Potion yesterday?"

Before Duke could answer, Bobby winked and chuckled, "You definitely didn't open the Blood Sea. Look how pale you are, hehe. If you had opened it, you wouldn't be coming back to work!"

From workstation number one further away, another apprentice, Thomas, also tilted his head and leaned over. "I told you, spending money on a Blood Boiling Potion is a waste. You should save it for when you want to get married."

Facing the apprentices' taunts, Duke distractedly mumbled a perfunctory reply, "I had to try."

He had too many things on his mind.

The human body contains three seas: the Qi Sea, the Blood Sea, and the Spirit Sea. Opening any one of them allows one to walk the path of transcendence. The previous occupant of this body had spent all his savings last night to buy a Blood Boiling Potion, hoping to open the Blood Sea before his fifteenth birthday.

If he was older than fifteen, it would be difficult to open it.

Alas.

The Blood Boiling Potion had not helped him open the Blood Sea. Furthermore, he had also bought a Qi Boosting Potion three months ago, which also failed to open the Qi Sea. This meant two of the three paths of cultivation were cut off.

"The only way forward is to open the Spirit Sea!"

Opening the Spirit Sea requires the aid of a Spirit Awakening Potion, which costs twenty-three Dragon Coins. He was currently broke and had no idea where to get the money.

The official currency of the Seven Towers Federation was the Dragon Coin, divided into Gold Dragon, Silver Dragon, and Copper Dragon.

One Gold Dragon was equivalent to one hundred Silver Dragons, and one Silver Dragon was equivalent to one hundred Copper Dragons.

The purchasing power of one Copper Dragon was about the same as one dollar.

"Two thousand three hundred dollars... 'I' earn five and a half Silver Dragons a month as an apprentice, which is five hundred fifty. That would take over four months of saving without eating or drinking," Duke said as he skillfully disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled the instruments on his workstation, which had become muscle memory. "I still need to find other ways to raise this money."

Among the three seas, the Spirit Sea was the only one left to try.

But Duke was confident he could open it.

This was his golden finger as a transmigrator. What he lacked now was the catalyst to open the Spirit Sea, a Spirit Awakening Potion worth twenty-three Silver Dragons.

A quarter past nine.

A middle-aged man in a long-sleeved work uniform walked into the card repair shop, a small mustache on his face giving him a stylish air. He shouted as soon as he entered, "Little Duke, is my coffee ready yet!"

"It's ready, Teacher Best," Duke said, picking up the coffee cup.

Best took the coffee, took a sip, and then wiped his hand on the number three workbench. He frowned and reprimanded, "You can't even wipe a table clean, hurry up and wipe it again!"

In reality, the table was already very clean.

However, Duke didn't argue and picked up the rag to wipe it again.

The Teacher Best in front of him was one of the three external card masters hired by Little Sam's Card Shop. Duke was his apprentice, learning the craft of card repair under him.

Apprentices had a low status, and enduring insults and scoldings was common.

His previous self was only fifteen years old and had no means of livelihood. Getting an apprenticeship was already incredibly difficult.

After Duke finished wiping the table and neatly arranged the tools on it, Best had finished his coffee.

He handed the empty cup to Duke and unceremoniously cursed, "What are you standing there blankly for? Insert the card and turn on the machine, Teacher needs to start repairing cards. There are endless cards to fix every day!"

"Okay."

Duke didn't mind the tone and didn't show any difference from his usual behavior. He skillfully picked up a thick Spirit Storage Card and inserted it into the machine's card slot.

The lines on the Spirit Storage Card instantly lit up, indicating that it had begun supplying Spirit Energy.

He pressed the switch, and the machine immediately started up.

This was a semi-new spirit card detection instrument, capable of detecting the energy circuits in damaged spirit cards to assist card masters in repairing these broken energy circuits.

Best rolled up his sleeves, pulled a card from a stack of discarded ones, and placed it on the machine's detection platform.

Duke stood by and watched quietly.

His previous self had desperately wanted to learn how to repair spirit cards. This was the only benefit of being an apprentice: being able to learn some repair skills from a card master.

Of course, he could only learn a little.

Repairing energy circuits required a card master to mobilize Spiritual Power from their Spirit Sea to cooperate. Without the ability to open their Spirit Sea, one could only be responsible for sealing, polishing, and mounting spirit cards, doing the menial tasks that ordinary people could handle.

The card master Best had opened his Spirit Sea.

However, his talent and comprehension were limited. He had never managed to construct any closed energy circuit in his Spirit Sea in his entire life, so he remained stuck at the 0-Ring Spiritual Apprentice level—one closed energy circuit represented a 1-Ring. A non-closed energy line could not be called a Ring, but it was commonly referred to as 0-Ring.

With a whirring sound from the machine, a tangled mass of lines appeared on the damaged spirit card.

These were the energy circuits, which bound sufficient Spirit Energy within them.

Best quickly located the damaged points. Then, he picked up the damaged spirit card, carefully pried open the card's cover with tools, and began to repair the first damaged point with a special spiritual pen capable of drawing energy circuits.

This was delicate work.

Energy circuits were equivalent to highways in the microscopic world. Potholes or cracks on the road would affect the flow of energy, thereby damaging the spirit card's function.

Card masters needed to use their Spirit Sea to patch up these highways, ensuring they remained smooth at all times.

Seeing this, Duke quietly retreated.

As soon as he collected twenty-three silver dragons, he would be able to roam freely within the Spirit Sea, exploring the endless energy lines and assembling them into closed circuits, Ring by Ring.

A new book begins, aiming for greater glory!