"Stand up and move around a bit."
Ed tapped a tall guard on the knee, signaling him to get up and try on his new leg to see if it fit.
The guard immediately got up from the ground and carefully placed the newly reattached leg on the ground.
As he continued to exert force and shift his center of gravity, his upper body inevitably began to sway slightly.
After signaling to the two guards beside him that they didn't need to support him, he stretched out his arms and slowly walked forward. He quickly mastered the new balance technique and completed the evolution from jogging to jumping in just half a minute.
"Captain... this is truly amazing..."
The guard murmured incredulously, and Duolin, hearing his sentiment, gave Ed a grateful look.
Bishop Adrian is indeed quite capable, and his understanding of the subject differs from his own.
Duolin originally thought he could use Middle Tier divine spell to regrow the lost arms and legs of his team members, but he did not expect that the bishop would simply observe the location of the severed limbs of a few team members and then take out a pair of arms and legs that had been prepared in advance from a storeroom.
If it weren't for the fact that these limbs didn't retain any trace of evil, Duolin would almost have thought he was seeing those brutal monsters that only appeared in the documents of the Holy See.
After performing basic cleaning of the wound, Bishop Adrian used his miraculous abilities to quickly reattach the limbs of several team members. Apart from needing some time to adapt and adjust, the guards were almost indistinguishable from before.
Duolin excitedly grabbed Ed's hand:
"Thank you so much, Your Excellency..."
Ed subtly withdrew his hand and instead patted Duolin on the shoulder:
"I am not the only one who has discovered the problems of the Holy See, but only I have the ability to develop independently outside, and that is my strength."
So, are there any other questions?
"There is none left."
Duolin still looked excited.
"That's all? Then go cut down some trees. Don't forget our plan."
As Duolin and the others reached the castle gate, Ed's voice came from behind them again:
Oh, and bring this with you.
A tender, verdant leaf flew on the wind into Duolin's hand, then quickly merged into his flesh and blood. At the same time, Ed's voice grew ever more distant and majestic:
"In case of emergency, recite my name in your mind."
After seeing off several Holy See Guards who had been successfully manipulated into working, Ed couldn't help but feel overjoyed at the growth and expansion of his own faction.
Just a few days ago, he was all alone, possessing only a useless castle and being hunted and wanted. But in just three days, his situation had changed dramatically. Not only did he attract a reliable angel investor with his talent, but he also won over five subordinates of equal fighting strength by telling a few lies. Furthermore, nearly a hundred civilians, inspired by him, traveled a great distance (which was not true at all) to settle near the castle. If it weren't for the bizarre and unlucky nature of this world, Ed would almost be living a life of complacency as a lord.
Unfortunately, there are no "what ifs" in the real world.
Ed mentally listed his current to-do list and began to tackle them one by one...
"So you want to establish a deeper connection with me?"
Seraphina, the bank teller who had been dozing behind the counter, frowned and looked at Ed:
What's in it for me?
Well...
Ed ran his hand through his hair, not because it was pointless, but because he didn't know where to begin.
Under his tutelage over the past few days, Seraphina's economics knowledge has been improving rapidly. But precisely because of this, Ed needs to be extra careful with every word he says when communicating with her, lest this silly dragon figure out something extraordinary and start causing trouble.
After pondering for a moment, Ed finally sorted out his thoughts. He looked at the somewhat impatient Red Dragon and said:
"I possess a special ability to transmit partial information using myself as a relay station."
Seraphina nodded:
"I've heard similar things before, I understand."
"Those Soul Returner —of course, they sometimes call themselves 'players'—prefer to directly modify data rather than exchange material currency when they trade with each other. If you agree to my conditions, not only will your wealth not be embezzled, but your workload will also be greatly reduced."
Seraphina's mouth gaped open, clearly utterly astonished, but not because of the workload, but because of what Ed had mentioned earlier...
"How is this possible? They really believe my contract that much?"
Paperless transactions may have become a habit for people in the real world, but for Seraphina, whose thinking is still in the medieval era, it can only be described as a fantasy.
She had previously told Ed that the contracts she signed using precious metals as a medium were not unbreakable. As long as the other party was powerful enough, they could still invalidate the contracts by twisting the rules. That's why players' accounts were divided into three levels: gold, silver, and bronze.
Seraphina wasn't lying; premium accounts, made of more precious metals, were indeed more secure, while bronze accounts might encounter problems in unexpected situations.
But Ed said it wasn't a problem, and Seraphina just thought he was underestimating those truly strong people.
But now Ed's statement couldn't be clearer—even with such risks, those Soul Returner were still willing to change the numbers in their contract accounts simply by exchanging information, which Seraphina found somewhat incomprehensible.
"Well, just assume it's because they trust you a lot."
Ed kept revising his wording:
"Having a real Red Dragon as the signatory to the contract is enough to convince the vast majority of intelligent beings in the world, isn't it?"
Seraphina hesitated before nodding; that was indeed a reasonable reason.
Seeing that he had successfully fooled the silly dragon in front of him, Ed immediately felt relieved.
He only told part of the truth. The players certainly believed Seraphina, but not because of her identity, but because they trusted the game system.
As we all know, the game's economic system is designed to not collapse; this is the most basic requirement for a running online game.
Players would never imagine that their in-game account balance could turn out to be garbled one morning. This ingrained way of thinking, combined with real-world online trading habits, naturally leads to this situation.
"Okay, I understand."
Seraphina wore an expression of complete understanding:
So how do you want to deepen our connection?