Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

"Temperatures below freezing point can better preserve liquids,"

the Priest said, shaking the test tube in his hand as he spoke to Shard. He then showed Shard his "cooling box" in the basement. It was a metal box wrapped in blankets, straw, and canvas, containing blocks of ice with large holes carved out to store potions or herbal medicines that needed to be kept cold.

Priest Augustus merely lifted the lid for Shard to take a glimpse, the cold air hadn't even escaped before he quickly covered it:

"Ice blocks in Tobesk's summer are quite expensive, I got this from..."

Old Cleric's face rarely turned red:

"from some losses at the church. Therefore, Saint Byrons's Chemistry Academy is quite costly; without money, you couldn't learn these things."

But Shard didn't need to worry about Magic Potion storage issues; his house was large, with plenty of spare space. After learning these things from the Priest, he planned to convert part of his basement into an ice room. Although he couldn't make ice, he could snow, and he could control the size of the snowfall.

He just had to be careful of curious cats intruding into the ice room; it might be timid outside, but it was very curious about things at home.

In addition to the Extract, Shard had also handed over several mineral stones and some labeled liquids he brought back from Coldwater Port City to Priest Augustus for identification (note).

Unfortunately, most of those items were not very valuable; the warehouse dispatcher had no means to identify materials for Ring Sorcerers. The most valuable piece was a fist-sized silver ore, worth about 12 pounds.

Shard only took 11 pounds and sold all the stuff to the Priest, as a thanks for helping to make the extract diluent for free.

In the future, he would definitely bother the Priest again, so the accounts had to be settled neatly but not too precisely; this was also a little know-how of an outsider in dealing with people.

Of course, Priest Augustus didn't want to take advantage of Shard, and after some demurring, he finally accepted. However, if he made a lot of money from selling this batch of materials, he planned to donate part of the surplus to the church:

"Mr. Dawn will bless us."

The Priest devoutly made the sign of the Holy Emblem across his chest and told Shard that repeating any oracle or words spoken by the divine, along with the gesture of drawing the Holy Emblem, could constitute the most basic "Prayer Ceremony" in Divine Rituals, a topic Academy Ring Sorcerers wouldn't touch.

After saying goodbye to the Priest, it was still just ten in the morning. Anticipating that the reply to his urgent letter hadn't arrived yet, he made a detour to Old Man John's Pawnshop.

Upon entering, there actually were customers in the shop, fortunately, just ordinary people. Shard pretended to be curious, wandering around the shop, closely inspecting those items on the shelves that looked like trash but seemed to hold some value.

They took almost anything here; if Shard wasn't planning to buy new furniture to fill up his empty rooms with time, he could have gotten old items here at a very low price.

He waited until the customers left before approaching the counter.

"The Relic you asked me to find requires more time, those kinds of requests are hard to fulfill,"

Old John said that as his opening line.

"No problem, you can also increase the price; I have money now, you can raise the purchase price to 200 pounds,"

Shard said, with Old John nodding to show he remembered, busy with account keeping. He had just spent 3 pounds buying a pipe from a down-and-out middle-aged man, purportedly an antique:

"I saw about you in the newspaper, 200 pounds is the reward Riddlevitch Field gave you? When did they become so generous? I thought they would give you at most 100 pounds. Oh, also, what was the personal thanks from the Royal Family?"
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He looked up and smiled at Shard:

"If you don't mind, how about showing me so I can see? I can help you appraise it."

"The Queen gave me a Ruby Ring, I'll bring it next time. This time, I have two things."

Shard raised two fingers:

"First, I want an ordinary item that can be used as a door pendant; it has to be made of metal, small, and the door itself must have a keyhole and be able to be pushed open."

"What are you planning to..."

Old John paused, suddenly putting down his pen and looking at Shard in surprise:

"You bought a Time Key last time... Oh, your idea is truly interesting, curious, hang on, I'll find it for you."

Shard sought such a pendant of course for the "Time Key." The next usable time for the key was Thursday at dawn, while his time for action with two ladies was Thursday night.

It would be good to gain strength before the battle by entering the second journey ahead. But if he retained the key, entering the past at a critical moment to give himself some breathing time, or even specifically gaining strength from the past, also seemed like a good idea.

Shard had pondered this issue while swimming under the sea yesterday and finally decided to save the use of the key until Thursday night. If he really encountered an insurmountable problem, he would at least have another chance to try his luck. Entering in advance, however, meant he didn't know what he needed to prepare for.

But if he wanted to use the "Time Key" in battle, it raised a new problem: he might not always have a door near him when fighting the Silver-Eyed One.

The "Time Key" was lenient in its definition of doors; as long as it was a door, had a keyhole, and could be pushed, it would suffice. The key could automatically match the keyhole. So, Shard thought of getting a door-shaped pendant.

But the book hadn't mentioned whether such a door would work, so he still needed to experiment.

Old John, also very interested in Shard's outlandish ideas, quickly found what he needed from the assorted items he had collected.

The pendant was made of pure metal, and the piece itself was a door. The skilled craftsman used bearings and nuts to allow the small door to be pushed open, and magnets held the door frame and door together, preventing it from swinging open.

The keyhole was only the size of a pinhole; looking against the light, one could see the keyhole pierced right through both sides of the door, an open-ended structure.

"Come try it out."

Old John urged him on, as he liked such fresh ideas.

Shard held the door in the palm of his left hand and then took out the Time Key he had bought last time from his pocket. He pressed the key against the door and then realized the key itself was almost bigger than the door.

But with a gentle push, the key indeed "entered" a keyhole the size of a pinhole. The part that did not enter maintained its normal size.

Shard continued pushing the key inward until only the handle was sticking out.

Old John raised his eyebrows with a smile, while Shard softly said:

"May the Father of the Infinite Tree protect me through time."

After chanting, he gently turned it. As expected, he couldn't turn it due to the timing, but this in itself meant Shard's attempt had been successful.

"Interesting, really interesting, I had never thought before that the 'Time Key' could also be used this way."

Old John said with a smile on his face, then had Shard try from the other side of the door, and the key still fit.

This novel idea was actually not complex. People in the past had not thought of it, probably because those who had traveled back in time had never considered treating their journey into the past as a rest stop.

If it wasn't for the pressure of reality forcing him, Shard too would wish to enter time past in a secure environment.

"I'll take this pendant. How much is it?"

Shard didn't even let the other party wrap the pendant, but after confirming there were no signs of rust, he hung it directly around his neck.

"No charge, I'm giving it to you for free."

Old John shook his head.

"Why so generous this time?"

Shard skeptically said, uncharacteristic of the other party.

"First off, what do you take me for?"

The old man slightly tilted his head up, not giving Shard a chance to answer the question:

"The idea you came up with just now has already paid for it."

"And what else?"

Shard asked again.

The Pawnshop owner looked at him and chuckled:

"Don't you still have one more thing? So, what else would you like to buy? I can give you a good price."

He waved his fingers at Shard, this was the kind of behavior fitting of Old Man John.

Standing at the counter, Shard sighed:

"Alright, this time you probably have a chance to thoroughly fleece me. I want to buy an offensive 'Relic' that a Low Ring Sorcerer can use, one with weaker negative traits. I can put down three hundred fifty Gold Pounds in cash."

Apart from money reserved for emergencies, he was emptying most of his savings. But since he was heading for a decisive battle with the Silver-Eyed One, there was no reason to hold onto a large sum of money and not use it.

Shard, although miserly, knew that some expenses couldn't be spared.

"What are you going to do?"

Old John asked in surprise, as older people, more experienced and direct, saw things more clearly:

"Given my knowledge of your finances, even if you had made a profit, you shouldn't be spending money like this... are you trying to get into a duel?"

"Sort of, so I need a reliable weapon. I know that real powerful Relics can't be bought for 300 pounds, but I also have a few Roder Cards that I can temporarily mortgage to you. The authenticity certificates are all intact, no need to worry about them being forgeries."

He was about to take out the cards but was immediately stopped by Old John, who shook his head and said:

"Do you think Relics with small negative traits and strong positive traits are common? Even if I had one, you wouldn't be able to afford it. You'd better tell me what the person you are up against is good at, I can find you some cheaper targeted Relics."

After hesitating for a moment, Old John further advised:

"Young man, you should still learn to be patient, don't always think about dueling with others. You are only a First Ring, you shouldn't get involved in dangerous matters lightly."

"But this time I must make the trip. As for the opponent... sorry, I can't say much, but the other party has suffered serious injuries, I think it should be fine."

"Young people these days..."

The old man sighed, then walked out from behind the counter and left the antique store through the back door.

Shard waited for a full twenty minutes before Old John came back, carrying a dusty wooden box. The box looked quite old. Old John asked Shard to step back a bit, then he blew on the box and the dust immediately scattered.

Once the dust had settled, he opened the box and pushed it toward Shard. Inside was a golden candle, more precisely, a candle stub. It was as thick as a fountain pen, and though it might have been very long originally, now what was left was less than the length of a thumb.