The Call of the Ritual

Outside the Moonlight Cafe on Lubo Lane.

At this moment, Gallo had just seen off a university student from the foreign language department who was studying Southern Continent languages.

The student was nearing graduation and had sought out Gallo specifically to prepare for his graduation thesis.

Having heard rumors about Gallo within Lubo Lane from his classmates, the student had come today to test his luck, hoping to find materials helpful for his thesis through Gallo's consulting services.

"Books related to Southern Continent languages... I've only seen them on the shelves of a very few bookstores, and they are scarce. It's highly likely he intends to head to the Empire's colonies in the Southern Continent after graduation to develop his career." Gallo tucked away the two Fenso coins from the table; at the very least, he had completed this service.

The noon sun barely managed to shine through the thick layer of fog hanging over Xiting City. The clock tower within the campus of the Imperial Industrial University struck twelve.

As the noon bells rang, it signaled the end of Gallo's morning work. The customers sitting around him began to lower their heads to drink their coffee or chat in earnest. When there was nothing else to do, sitting here and listening to Gallo explain the contents of books to those seeking help was a rather pleasant way to pass the time.

Once, a man sitting quite close to Gallo even fell asleep right on the cafe table while listening to him analyze a text for a client. Most people here truly enjoyed the feeling of knowledge passing through their brains without leaving a single trace; if Gallo were to offer his services at night, it would surely be a great sleep aid.

Gallo rubbed his throbbing temples. The high-intensity retrieval and analysis of complex technical terminology, even with the assistance of Learning Lv3, was a drain on his Spirituality.

As he took out the buttered white bread he had brought from home to eat for lunch, the owner of the Aofan Bookstore, an old shopkeeper who was always smiling, carefully placed a small package wrapped in clean beeswax cloth on the table in front of Gallo.

"Mr. Gallo, this is some fresh local butter my friend just sent over from my hometown in Nankan County. I've divided it into several pieces for my friends to taste, and there's also a bit of homemade wild berry jam. It's not worth much, but please try it; it will taste even better with your bread."

The owner of the Aofan Bookstore said this with a beaming smile as he looked at Gallo.

Gallo felt a bit helpless, but he still politely accepted it.

"Mr. Aofan, you are too kind. I've said before, there's really no need..."

"Oh, it's just a small gesture, a small gesture, just some homemade things for Mr. Gallo." The owner of Aofan waved his hand and lowered his voice: "I can't stay here too long. If the other bookstore owners see me, they'll all crowd over, and then they'll say I'm being underhanded again, hahaha."

Gallo smiled. Just as the man was about to stand up and leave, Gallo called him back and lowered his voice to say: "Mr. Aofan, you might want to try stocking up on more books related to Southern Continent language families. Based on the needs of the clients who have come to me recently, I've noticed that most foreign language students are considering the Empire's colonies in the Southern Continent as their path for development.

Traditional diplomacy is no longer within the consideration of these foreign language students, after all, the Empire's relationship with the neighboring countries of the Northern Continent has never been very good.

Of course, you could also consider purchasing some language dictionaries for the Empire's colonies in the Southern Continent; you might want to look into the versions officially issued by the Empire."

Gallo paused for a moment before continuing: "You could also stock a batch of books on hydraulic engineering, construction engineering, and electrical engineering. I feel that the upper echelons of the Empire are increasing their investment in the Southern Continent colonies, and the students at the Imperial Industrial University are often the most sensitive to where they should develop their talents in the future."

He added with a smile at the end: "The university graduation season is almost here, and I feel that stocking the types of books mentioned above will very likely lead to a sell-out."

"Ah! Is that so! Then thank you very much for your advice, Mr. Gallo." After hearing this, the owner of Aofan kept his voice of surprise extremely low, as if he were afraid of being overheard by those nearby.

He hurried out of the Moonlight Cafe and carefully scanned his surroundings, just in case he ran into any other fellow shopkeepers. Ever since he had tried to recruit Gallo to be the manager of his own shop, he had been collectively attacked by his peers on this street.

Upon returning to his own Aofan Bookstore, Mr. Aofan finally felt smug: "I've been running a bookstore here since the Kingdom era, for several decades, through the Emperor and now to the current Chancellor. How could doing business be the same for everyone? You have to use your brain."

Watching the back of the Aofan owner as he left, Gallo took a deep breath.

These bookstore owners accepted his "impartial" cooperation model on the surface, but in private, they were always thinking of ways to curry favor with him, hoping to get a larger share of client resources.

From the initial coffee and snacks to the current local specialties from their hometowns, although they all claimed they were "worthless," this enthusiasm made Gallo feel a small amount of pressure.

He performed this consulting service on Lubo Lane, but he had to maintain a delicate balance on this street to avoid being completely tied down by any one party.

Yet, even though Gallo had long since firmly discouraged the bookstore owners' attempts to curry favor, they still did it secretly. After all, merchants who do business will never take others' attitudes at face value; if they did, they would be the ones to suffer.

He opened the beeswax cloth package on the table. This beeswax cloth felt particularly stiff, but it was a tool for food preservation in this current era.

Gallo also had a few pieces of beeswax cloth at home, which he used to wrap bread and a little butter.

This beeswax cloth actually served much the same purpose as the plastic wrap Gallo had used in his previous life.

Inside the beeswax cloth package was a piece of pale butter with an alluring color, exuding a rich milky fragrance, along with a small jar of deep purple jam.

He asked the cafe clerk for a butter knife, simply spread the butter and jam on the white bread he had brought, and prepared to enjoy this late lunch.

The soft texture of the white bread mixed with the smoothness of the butter and the sweet-and-sour taste of the jam temporarily comforted his hungry stomach.

As he ate, Gallo aimlessly observed the street scene.

Lubo Lane was much cleaner and more orderly than Valen Street; the air smelled of a mixture of coffee rather than the stench of coal ash and sewage.

If he could rent an apartment nearby and have his mother and Lily move over, that would be Gallo's top priority. Once he had the money in hand, he didn't want to stay on Valen Street for a second longer.

Just as he took his second bite of bread—Hum!

A faint tremor, not from the outside world but originating from his own Spirituality, caused his entire body to stiffen abruptly!

A familiar, pulling sensation of spiritual fluctuation acted upon his Spirituality through a connection to the Subspace that existed in the void, without any warning!

This feeling was as if someone were shouting his name in a nearly brutal manner, attempting to forcibly pull a portion of his Spirituality toward a certain direction!