Twenty-Three Silver Dragons

Gurgle, gurgle—the rice boiled in the pot.

A Spirit Storage Card was quietly slotted into the control box beside the pot. Like electricity on Earth, the Spirit Storage Card provided the Spirit Meal Pot with precious, steady spiritual energy.

"Spiritual energy..."

"Spirituality..."

Duke withdrew his distant gaze and tangled thoughts. Just then, the Spirit Meal Pot tripped off, and a pot of fragrant rice finished cooking. The sausages in the steamer finished steaming as well.

With a plate of pickled cabbage, that made Duke's breakfast.

Although the meal was rather meager, Duke still ate ravenously, wolfing down three whole bowls of rice. After all, when this body had failed to open its Blood Sea, the Blood Boiling Potion had squeezed out every last bit of its energy.

His family was poor, so he could only replenish it through eating.

"Phew."

After finishing the rice, he finally felt a little strength returning. Duke could not be bothered to clean up the bowls and chopsticks. He quickly locked the door and headed into the street. The roads in this neighborhood were lined with low, single-story houses.

The early risers had already begun their busy day.

As he passed through an alley, a sharp cry came from the eaves.

A moment later, a creak sounded as a household opened its window. A gray-brown owl flapped down onto the windowsill, a small bundle clutched beneath its talons.

The homeowner took out a silver coin and placed it into the little cloth pouch hanging from the owl's neck.

Only then did the owl release its talons, drop the bundle, and flap away.

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

Duke glanced over, and his memory immediately supplied the answer.

A 0-Ring Spirit Beast stood somewhere between a beast and a spirit beast. It was far more uncanny and intelligent than an ordinary beast and could handle quite a few jobs. The Post Owl, for example, had been domesticated as a courier.

Without paying the Post Owl any more attention, he walked with slightly heavy steps through several alleys and arrived at a shop with a sign reading "Little Sam's Card Shop."

The shop door was already open, and someone was sweeping inside.

"Morning, Bob."

"Morning to you too, Little Duke." Bob looked up. He was already forty and was a full-time employee at Little Sam's Card Shop. "Your face is a little pale. What happened?"

"Uh, nothing." Duke put on a suitably awkward smile.

"Oh, I remember now. Bobby said you bought a Blood Boiling Potion. Is that what caused you to open your Blood Sea?" Bob asked with concern. "Did you succeed?"

"No."

Duke lowered his head.

Who could know that he was no longer the Duke familiar to everyone around him, but a transmigrator from Earth who had possessed Duke's corpse after the original Duke failed to open his Blood Sea and drained himself dry—a completely new Duke.

To avoid attracting attention, "Duke" had to play Duke well.

Bob was clearly unaware of the change in Duke. He shook his head in feigned regret and patted Duke on the shoulder. "Don't be discouraged. It only proves that we're all ordinary people. Go on and get to work."

"Mm."

Duke went to Workstation Three in the shop's repair area.

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

"Hey, Duke Duke!" At Workstation Two next to him, Bob's son Bobby was wiping the table with a rag. He craned his neck over. "Did you buy a Blood Boiling Potion yesterday?"

Without waiting for Duke to answer, Bobby waggled his eyebrows and snickered. "You definitely didn't open your Blood Sea. Look how pale you are. Heh heh, if you'd opened it, would you still have come back to work?"

At the farther Workstation One, the apprentice Thomas also leaned his head over. "I told you before, buying a Blood Boiling Potion is just a waste of money. You might as well save it to marry a wife someday."

Faced with the apprentices' mockery, Duke replied absentmindedly, "You have to try."

His mind was weighed down by far too many concerns.

The human body contained three seas: the Qi Sea, the Blood Sea, and the Spirit Sea. Opening any one of them allowed a person to embark on the path of transcendence. Last night, his predecessor had spent all his savings on a Blood Boiling Potion, hoping to open his Blood Sea before his fifteenth birthday.

If he waited until after fifteen, opening it later would become much harder.

Unfortunately.

The Blood Boiling Potion had failed to help him open his Blood Sea. Three months ago, he had also bought a Qi Boosting Potion and failed to open his Qi Sea. In other words, two of his three cultivation paths had already been severed.

"For now, the only option is to open the Spirit Sea!"

Opening the Spirit Sea required an assisting Spirit Awakening Potion. A single Spirit Awakening Potion cost twenty-three Silver Dragons. His pockets were cleaner than his face, and he had no idea where to get the money.

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

One Gold Dragon could be exchanged for one hundred Silver Dragons, and one Silver Dragon for one hundred Copper Dragons.

A Copper Dragon had roughly the purchasing power of one yuan.

"Two thousand three hundred yuan... 'I' earn five and a half Silver Dragons a month as an apprentice, which is five hundred and fifty. I'd have to save for more than four months without eating or drinking." Duke skillfully dismantled, wiped, and reassembled the instrument on his workstation. It had all become muscle memory for this body. "I still need to find another way to scrape together this money."

Of the three seas, the Spirit Sea was the only one he had not yet tried to open.

But Duke was certain he could open it.

That was his golden finger as a transmigrator. All he lacked now was the medicinal catalyst for opening the Spirit Sea—a Spirit Awakening Potion worth twenty-three Silver Dragons.

Nine fifteen.

A middle-aged man in a long-sleeved work uniform entered the Card Repair Shop. His two little mustaches looked particularly dashing. The moment he came through the door, he bellowed, "Little Duke, is my coffee ready?"

"It's ready, Teacher Best." Duke lifted the coffee cup.

Best took the coffee and sipped it. Then he ran a hand across the long table at Workstation Three, frowned, and scolded, "You can't even wipe a table properly. Hurry up and wipe it again!"

In fact, the table was already spotless.

Duke did not argue. He picked up the rag and began wiping it again.

The Best before him was one of the three outside-hired Card Masters at Little Sam's Card Shop. Duke served as his apprentice, learning card repair from him.

An apprentice's status was low. Enduring humiliation and scolding was an everyday occurrence.

His predecessor was only fifteen and had no means of making a living. Getting an apprenticeship at all had truly been no easy feat.

Once Duke finished wiping the table, he arranged the tools on it neatly. Best also finished his coffee.

He handed the empty cup to Duke and cursed without ceremony, "Why are you still standing there like an idiot? Insert the card and start the machine. Your teacher is about to begin repairing cards—there are never enough cards to repair!"

"Understood."

Duke paid no attention to Best's tone and showed no difference from usual. He skillfully picked up a thick Spirit Storage Card and inserted it into the card slot on the machine.

The lines on the Spirit Storage Card suddenly lit up, showing that it had begun supplying spiritual energy.

He pressed the switch, and the machine started instantly.

It was a semi-new spirit card detection device. It could inspect the energy circuits in damaged spirit cards, assisting Card Masters in repairing those damaged circuits.

Best rolled up his sleeves and pulled a card from a stack of discarded cards, placing it on the machine's testing platform.

Duke stood to the side and watched quietly.

His predecessor had dearly wanted to learn the technique of repairing spirit cards. This was the sole benefit of being an apprentice: he could follow a Card Master and learn a bit of card repair.

Of course, only a little.

Repairing energy circuits required a Card Master to draw Spiritual Power from the Spirit Sea and use it in conjunction with the repair. Those unable to open the Spirit Sea could only handle cosmetic work on spirit cards—polishing, buffing, gluing, and other odd jobs ordinary people could do.

Card Master Best had opened his Spirit Sea.

However, his talent and comprehension were limited. In his entire life, he had never managed to construct a single energy circuit in his Spirit Sea that could form a closed loop. Thus, he had remained at the realm of a 0-Ring Spiritual Apprentice—one closed energy circuit represented one ring. A circuit that could not close could not be called a ring, though it could colloquially be called 0-Ring.

Amid the machine's clacking, a mass of interwoven lines appeared on the damaged spirit card.

This was an energy circuit, which bound ample spiritual energy within it.

Best quickly located the damaged points. Then he picked up the damaged spirit card, carefully pried open its casing with a tool, and used a special spirit pen capable of drawing energy circuits to begin repairing the first damaged point.

It was delicate work.

An energy circuit was like a highway through the microscopic world. Potholes or breaks in the road would affect the flow of energy and, in turn, damage the spirit card's function.

A Card Master had to use their Spirit Sea to patch and mend this highway, ensuring it remained unobstructed at all times.

Upon seeing this step, Duke quietly withdrew.

Once he gathered twenty-three Silver Dragons, he would be able to personally roam through the Spirit Sea, exploring its endless energy circuits and combining them into one closed loop after another.

A new book sets sail, destined for even greater glory!