Knight

0-ring Knight!

After contracting with the Long-Haired Mongoose cub, Duke officially advanced to 0-ring Knight.

When cultivating the Universal Blood Refining Method, battle qi would pass through the connection of the contract, linking his meridians with those of the Long-Haired Mongoose cub so they could refine their blood together.

"Chirp, chirp!" The little cub liked this feeling.

Duke found it wonderful too. He stroked the cub's head, thought seriously for a moment, and said, "As my knight companion, you should have a name... I'll call you Little Dou."

There was nothing wrong with calling a Long-Haired Mongoose cub Little Dou.

"I hope we can advance together. I'll advance to Great Knight as soon as possible, and you'll advance to Phantom Beast as soon as possible."

In knight cultivation, the most important thing was not the blood-refining method itself, but the contracted companion.

The reason was simple. Although the human body could open a blood sea, the spirituality within the body was limited. Even if one gorged oneself, the amount of spirituality that could be absorbed from food was still extremely limited.

Thus.

With the power of the contract, binding a Spirit Beast and having it share the required spirituality would undoubtedly greatly accelerate the cultivation of the blood-refining method.

Moreover, Spirit Beasts did not need to gorge themselves. Their bodies could naturally absorb the spirituality drifting through the air and water.

In other words.

A Contracted Spirit Beast was a station for transferring spirituality, allowing a knight to absorb the Free-floating Spirituality of the outside world and rapidly strengthen their battle qi.

As for the spirituality in the spirit sea, there had indeed been Arcane Mages who had opened both a spirit sea and a blood sea at the same time and wanted to use the spirit sea to replenish the blood sea, but there had been no successful example.

At present, the only supplementary aid for knight cultivation was a Contracted Spirit Beast companion.

"There's one other crucial point: a Spirit Beast only has one chance to form a contract in its entire life." Duke placed Little Dou on his leg, sat cross-legged, and began cultivating battle qi. "Now that Little Dou and I have completed our contract, no one else can set their sights on Little Dou... This will save Little Dou and me a great deal of trouble."

Little Dou lay on Duke's leg and snored loudly. When it came to cultivation, it only needed to passively accept it; there was no need for it to take the initiative.

A dim little red spot had appeared on its forehead, as though it had emerged from beneath the skin.

This was the contract mark.

As battle qi cultivation deepened, this contract mark would gradually take shape and then accompany Little Dou throughout its life as a Spirit Beast. As for the contract mark on Duke, it would appear over the location of his heart in his chest. Once Duke and Little Dou both advanced to 1-Ring, the mark would grow into a special symbol, equivalent to a "ring."

After that.

Around the outside of this One-Ring mark, a new ring would gradually grow and interlock with it as Duke and Little Dou continued cultivating.

Once the two rings finished interlocking, it would become a Two-Ring mark.

The Two-Ring mark would change Little Dou's original evolutionary path, transforming it from a 2-Ring Spirit Beast into a 2-Ring Phantom Beast. Duke would also advance from 1-Ring Great Knight to 2-Ring Phantom Beast Knight.

And so on.

When another interlocking ring formed around the outside of the Two-Ring mark, becoming a Three-Ring mark, it would mean that Little Dou had advanced to 3-Ring High-level Phantom Beast, while Duke had advanced to 3-Ring High-level Phantom Beast Knight.

"The road ahead is long and arduous, Little Dou."

After circulating the blood refinement through ten cycles and feeling as though he had wrung his strength dry, Duke finally stopped cultivating. He returned Little Dou to the cardboard box and said, "Next, it's time to look for knowledge about opening the qi sea."

Cultivating all three seas at once did not offer any particular advantage.

But Duke hoped to touch every transcendent power and leave no regrets behind.

"By the way, Xiao Yi."

"Yes, Master?"

"How is the improvement of the Desert Eagle progressing?"

"At present, Xiao Yi already has the initial improvement steps. Once the subsequent application of materials is perfected, I'll be able to devise the first Arcane Weapon modification plan."

"Very good. From now on, all subsequent improvements to the Desert Eagle will be classified under the 'Desert Eagle Development' series. The initial One-Ring Desert Eagle will be called the 'Desert Eagle Original Version,' and the first development version will be called the 'Desert Eagle 1.0 Version'..." Duke thought for a moment and gave the Desert Eagle improvement plan a scientifically rigorous naming system, hoping to perfect the handgun.

After all, like Xiao Yi, the Desert Eagle was also his "companion" Arcane Weapon.

Time flowed on.

June passed in a flash, and July was already more than halfway gone.

Little Sam's Card Shop was doing brisk business and had not been affected by Best's Card Repair Shop. On the contrary, thanks to the purchasing-agent service and home visits, it was earning more and more money.

After all, card repair was a very fixed business.

The scope of the purchasing-agent service, however, was quite flexible. Some customers needed more than just Spirit Cards purchased for them; they also wanted Spirit Artifacts, daily necessities, and other goods handled through the service.

Snakehead Town had only a little over a hundred thousand residents and lacked a well-developed market. Not everything could be bought there.

Many things had to be purchased in Chen Jiao City.

With Little Sam's Card Shop offering purchasing-agent services, things became much more convenient.

Thus, in the month or so since the service had launched, not only had the neighbors near Second Vertical Street come for purchases, but people from First Vertical Street, First Horizontal Street, and Second Horizontal Street had also come calling, hoping Little Sam's Card Shop could purchase things for them.

"Boss, I'm ready." The apprentice Levin revealed a simple, honest smile.

This apprentice had taken Duke's place during Old Sam's time. He was tall and solidly built, with an honest appearance. He worked hard at the shop and never complained, but his mind was not very sharp. He could not even properly learn the most basic seam filling and cover-binding work.

Murav had complained about him several times and wanted to replace him.

After thinking it over, Little Duke chose to have Murav recruit a clever new apprentice, then transferred Levin to his side as an assistant to accompany him in handling the purchasing-agent business.

"Then let's go."

With the big, dumb fellow Levin following him, Duke found things much easier. He no longer had to carry large and small bundles himself every time.

The two arrived at the station. Just after boarding the Black Beetle Car, an acquaintance greeted them. "Boss Little Duke, going to Chen Jiao City to stock up again? Your shop must have made quite a bit of money lately!"

"Just earning some hard-won money." Duke smiled. "There's too much competition in card repair. I can't help it."

"Is Best's Card Repair Shop the one competing with you? I passed by last time and noticed there were barely any people in that shop. I reckon it'll go under before long," the acquaintance said.

Duke replied, "I wouldn't know. I haven't paid much attention."

It was merely polite conversation.

In reality, he often kept an eye on Best's Card Repair Shop's business. He was practically one step away from figuring out Best's every move. The card-repair business on Second Vertical Street was the core of Little Sam's Card Shop.

Of course.

He also wanted to watch Best make a fool of himself and vent the resentment from being stabbed in the back back then.

Based on his observations, Best's Card Repair Shop should soon be unable to hold on. Even after Best copied the home-visit and purchasing-agent services, the shop still had no business.

First, it could not compete with Little Sam's Card Shop's reputation, and its actions were not as swift as Duke's.

Second, people liked to follow the crowd. The old customers trusted Little Sam's Card Shop's reputation, and when new customers saw everyone else going there, they naturally went there as well.

Even though Best shouted at the entrance every day, he still could not draw away more than a few customers.

"To be honest, I never expected Old Sam to transfer the shop. Back then, he and I came to the market district and opened shops at the same time..." The acquaintance sighed. His name was Winston, and he ran a wholesale shop for puppet components over on First Vertical Street. "Two or three decades have passed in the blink of an eye. Old Sam retired to enjoy his life, while I still have to toil away!"

"Snakehead Town will keep getting better. By the way, Boss Winston, have you heard any news about the Pioneer War?"