Chapter 18

Glimmerstone Town was built against the mountains, surrounded on three sides with only one road leading in and out. This road was not wide, barely accommodating two carriages side by side.

At this moment, an overturned carriage lay across the path, blocking a group of merchants who were scrambling in a chaotic attempt to right it. Pedestrians were also stuck, unable to move forward or backward. The scene was a mess of shouting, cursing, and arguing; some of the more hot-tempered individuals were already rolling up their sleeves, looking as if they were about to come to blows.

"What a nuisance!" Gerald frowned and pushed his way over. Although the crowd was rowdy, seeing such a massive figure approaching, they instinctively parted to make way for him.

He was unaware, however, that a pair of malicious eyes was watching him from within the crowd.

This "accident" on the road had actually been orchestrated by the vice-president of the Glimmerstone Town Thieves Guild to test the giant's strength and character. He was a cautious man by nature and refused to act until he had fully gauged his target's bottom line.

The overturned carriage was a freight wagon loaded with iron ore and similar goods. Although the cargo was scattered everywhere, the carriage frame remained intact, a testament to its sturdy construction. The horse pulling it, however, had fallen and was unable to rise.

Gerald frowned, walked over, grabbed the carriage frame with one hand, and with a slight exertion, flipped the wagon and half its cargo back over. The onlookers were left dumbstruck; some even pinched their own cheeks, thinking they were dreaming.

The carriage was built with heavy materials, its load-bearing parts like the shafts made of arm-thick hardwood, and the cargo consisted of notoriously heavy ore. The combined weight of the carriage and cargo was likely three or four thousand pounds. Yet, before this giant, it seemed as light as a feather, easily lifted with a single hand.

"What immense strength!" someone exclaimed.

"As expected of a giant!" another marveled.

Experienced adventurers, however, were even more shocked. The giant race was naturally strong, but even the elite among them—the so-called "Mountain Giants"—could typically only lift two or three thousand pounds. To flip a half-loaded carriage with such effortless grace was absolutely impossible!

In other words, this big guy was not just a giant; he was a high-level adventurer.

Veteran adventurers often possessed strength far exceeding that of ordinary people, but to have a thousand pounds of extra force was something only those who specifically focused on strength could achieve. If one considered that this extra thousand pounds was on top of a giant's natural strength, it was truly terrifying.

Because... the more gifted a race was by birth, the slower their growth would be...

Seeing Gerald's display, "Grey Eyes" trembled, his legs turning to jelly. He felt incredibly lucky that he had only brought a few petty thieves and not the muscle from the Thieves Guild. Otherwise, those brutes with muscles for brains might have tried to ambush Gerald the moment he approached the carriage.

That would have been no different from suicide!

Forget that this giant was a powerful adventurer; even for an ordinary race, that thousand pounds of extra strength alone was proof of his might. The Quick Blade brothers? Even if the entire Glimmerstone Town Thieves Guild went at him together, they might not win.

Gerald was unaware that someone was plotting against him, nor did he know the shock his monstrous strength had caused. His attention was entirely focused on the old horse lying on the ground.

The horse was a dull grey, covered in old and new scars, a testament to a life of hardship. It was struggling to stand, but to no avail. A closer look revealed a broken spine; its hind legs were paralyzed while its front legs continued to thrash. Its eyes were filled with such pain and misery that one couldn't help but feel pity.

Gerald sighed. With such an injury, neither man nor beast could be saved; all one could do was end its suffering.

Ever since his resurrection, he had become increasingly sensitive to the pain of others, his compassion growing day by day. Yet, no matter how much he sympathized, he could not help this poor creature.

"Do you want to save it?" Sui Xiong asked.

Gerald was startled. "Your Majesty, are you willing to save this poor creature?"

Sui Xiong laughed. "To be honest, I don't have much sympathy for animals, but if you want to save it, I'm willing to help."

"Your Majesty, your mercy is as warm as the sun!"

"Alright, enough flattery. Put your hand on the horse's injury. I will use the Bone Bracelet to channel your magic and help it heal." Sui Xiong said with a smile. "To be fair, this guy is badly hurt, and I'm not entirely sure it will work, but it's worth a try. It's better than letting it wait for death."

Under Sui Xiong's guidance, Gerald knelt and placed his right hand, adorned with the Bone Bracelet, onto the grey horse's spine. His blood began to surge, drawing magic from his core and seeping it into the horse's body. Under Sui Xiong's precise control, the magic acted like tiny, intricate machines, realigning the horse's shattered bones, reconnecting torn muscles, blood vessels, and nerves, and finally transforming into abundant life force to nourish its body and accelerate the healing of the damaged tissues.

After barely half a minute, the dying grey horse let out a joyful neigh and stood back up.

"My god! What did I just see?!" someone cried out.

"Is this big guy a priest? Are there priests among the giants?" a veteran adventurer couldn't help but doubt his own eyes.

"And... a priest's healing spells come from the gods. Which deity is so benevolent as to spend divine power on healing a horse? Could it be the god of centaurs?"

"Bah! The god of centaurs is a demon! He only demands his followers capture people for blood sacrifices..."

"Could he be a druid?"

"I've never heard of giants being druids..."

"But I've never heard of giants being priests either."

"Druids wouldn't use magic to save an old horse; they'd only help it find release. Have you people ever even met a druid?"

In the crowd, Grey Eyes' eyes were wide as pigeon eggs, staring fixedly at the Bone Bracelet on Gerald's wrist.

Because he had been assisting Gerald in casting the spell, Sui Xiong's power had leaked from the bracelet, revealing a glimpse of the truth to him.

That bracelet houses an incredibly powerful consciousness, powerful enough to cast healing spells! No, that wasn't a common healing spell; that was Restoration—a divine art capable of healing broken bones, torn muscles, and even reattaching severed limbs! That horse's spine was definitely broken, yet it healed so quickly... This giant isn't some damn priest; he's a divine chosen! The god he worships acted personally! That bracelet is a holy relic of their sect! God, I actually wanted to steal a relic housing the consciousness of a true god! Thank goodness I didn't act... It must be the Golden Finger (God of Thieves) protecting me from making a fatal mistake...

He realized the danger, hurriedly closed his eyes, not daring to look at the bracelet again, and turned to leave. Before departing, he didn't forget to send a message to his subordinates to withdraw as well.

A while later, he returned to the Thieves Guild in Glimmerstone Town, his face deathly pale as he reported the incident to the president.

"What?! A relic housing the consciousness of a true god?!" The usually composed old man felt his heart skip a beat. "Are you sure you didn't misread it?"

"I am absolutely certain!" the vice-president insisted firmly. "Think about it, President. What kind of spell can heal a broken spine in the time it takes to say a few words?"

Without waiting for the president to speak, he continued, "Restoration! That is a divine art even more advanced than Cure or Heal. Ordinary priests can't cast it, and even powerful ones must hold a holy symbol and pray for a time to manifest it. And druids? They take even longer—yet that giant skipped the process entirely... It makes no sense. The only explanation is that it wasn't him casting the spell, but the consciousness inside that bracelet."

"Perhaps... the bracelet is a powerful magical item capable of producing a healing effect equivalent to Restoration..." the president mused. "Though I've never heard of such a divine item, perhaps druids could craft something like that..."

Grey Eyes shook his head repeatedly. "President, no matter how powerful a magical item is, the number of times it can be used per day is limited. For Restoration, maybe once or twice a day. If you had such a treasure, would you waste one of your few daily uses to heal a horse?"

"Of course not!"

"Exactly. No one would. Even the most benevolent person, about to leave town and head into the wilderness, wouldn't dare waste it like that." The vice-president sighed. "Only those great beings with infinite divine power could be so indifferent to such waste."

The small room fell into silence. The top two leaders of the Glimmerstone Town Thieves Guild stared at each other, speechless.

After a while, the president gave a dry laugh and said, "It's a good thing... we didn't make a move."

"Indeed! It's a good thing we didn't make a move in time," the vice-guildmaster said, looking relieved. "Thank heavens!"

"Wait... I've just had another thought." The wily guildmaster's eyes darted around as a new, wicked scheme took shape. "Tell me... what would happen if we leaked a portion of this information to our old rivals?"

The grey-eyed man's eyes gradually brightened, and the corners of his mouth curled into a smile.

"Guildmaster, that is a brilliant idea! Given how greedy and ruthless those bastards are, they will definitely make a move against this lone giant..."

"And that is exactly why I am the guildmaster and you are merely the vice-guildmaster!" The guildmaster laughed as well. "I can't wait to see those scoundrels smash their heads against a rock and end up bloodied and broken!"

Inside the small room, the two cunning foxes burst into laughter together.

On the road outside the town, Sui Xiong was warning Gerald: "Be careful. Someone was spying on you earlier, likely intending to ambush you. They only backed off once they realized your strength was extraordinary."

His sensory perception was far superior to Gerald's; he had detected the hostility from the Thieves Guild members almost immediately. Since they hadn't turned that hostility into killing intent or taken any actual action, he hadn't bothered to intervene.

However, not intervening was one thing, but a necessary warning was still essential.

He was finding this bald guy (no, he wasn't actually bald anymore) more and more agreeable, and naturally, he didn't want this capable subordinate to meet with any accidents.

In fact, he had already discovered that it seemed, perhaps, maybe... Gerald was actually quite formidable!