Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

After getting permission, Shard took the candle out of the wooden box and confirmed that it was indeed a relic.

He sniffed it lightly, and the candle had no scent; although its surface appeared unmarked, he could feel fine lines when he touched it. However, the candle had burned down to its last bit, and even if there had been any text originally, Shard was unable to discern what it was.

"Scribe Level (4) Relic [Bordeaux Candle], found in the year 201 of the Common Calendar of the Sixth Era by Zaras Literary Academy from the central part of the continent's 'Ghost Town' Bordeaux. Originally a total of twelve candles, they were placed in the mouths of corpses in the debris of a ritual.

Each of the twelve candles had the same function, making the person holding the ignited candle invisible. In this state of invisibility, one's body temperature, air disturbance, voice, and other factors completely disappear, and almost all conventional and unconventional detection means are unable to locate the person in an invisible state.

You can consider the invisibility provided by the candle almost undetectable.

However, note that you cannot use any supernatural powers during invisibility; otherwise, the candle will extinguish automatically. The effects of supernatural powers before lighting the candle will not disappear (note). Remember, this is invisibility, not entering an unknown space, thus you are still susceptible to attacks in this invisible state."

Many forms of Sorcery and Arcane Techniques can achieve so-called "invisibility," but the level of undetectability this candle offers seems almost impossible, which could be very useful for Shard:

"Can I carry objects while invisible, or do I have to take off my clothes?"

"Any substance that weighs less than twice your own body weight and is in contact with your skin before entering the invisible state, including living beings, can also become invisible due to the candle being lit. However, after becoming invisible, you cannot make any substance you touch turn invisible.

Once the candle is ignited, its burning speed cannot be affected by any means, hence the remaining length can be used to determine the remaining usage time. This one can be used for about 7 minutes and 23 seconds."

The old man, reminiscing about the past, couldn't help but sigh:

"It was a rainy night twenty-two years ago when a Six Rings correspondence student from Zaras Literary Academy left it with me as collateral. Since then, I have never seen him again, and this candle has been stored here all these years. I thought, rather than selling you a relic with heavy side effects, I'd better give you this one, at least it could save your life."

Shard could not verify the truthfulness of the story, and although a small part of him suspected this was a fabrication to increase the price, the story's authenticity seemed highly plausible:

"What about the negative traits then?"

He hadn't forgotten that.

"Every 47 seconds, the candle must be extinguished, or it will fall, and the user completely disappears from this world, a fact that Zaras Literary Academy has verified many times during containment. Additionally, during invisibility, you may experience auditory and visual hallucinations, but ignore them.

The most dangerous part is, during invisibility, you will hear someone calling your name; never respond to it, as doing so will also cause you to disappear. As for containment methods, keep it dry, and do not submerge it in water for more than 10 seconds. Zaras Literary Institute proved, using up a candle, that doing so results in an incident on the scale of the Tobesk Armory explosion."

Old John said, his ability to recall specific information about every relic he had was evident, as he never had to consult his notebook when selling things to Shard.

"The negative traits are that minor?"

Shard was quite surprised.

"Because the effect is minor, just invisibility. There are far too many ways to achieve that; this candle just does it more thoroughly. But if the enemy you encounter wields a wide-range Arcane Technique with lethal effects, thorough invisibility is less useful than being able to run fast enough."

The shop owner patiently explained, adding at the end:

"Of course, while its effect might not be huge, the price is not low. You have to understand, in situations of escape and covert assassination, this can be quite useful."

"How much?"

"43 pounds, no bargaining,"

He paused for a moment and immediately added: Enjoy more content from My Virtual Library Empire

"Don't mention the wand, this time it's really no bargaining."

The price was reasonable, excluding the Time Key, the only relic Shard actually bought from Old John was the Silvermoon Orb. The orb's function was lesser, yet it still cost Shard over 13 pounds. Comparatively, the remaining 7 minutes and 23 seconds of the candle was indeed worth the high price of 43 pounds.

Shard tested the waters again to make sure there was really no bargaining, then spent the money to buy the candle. Old John asked once more what exactly Shard wanted to do, and when he saw that he didn't want to respond, he suggested that Shard could ask for help from other members of his group.

"How much would it cost if I sought your help?"

Shard jokingly asked, and Old John, quite pleased with himself, said:

"Hire me? Oh, young man, gold pounds alone aren't enough, I'm quite an impressive Circle Sorcerer."

"How impressive?"

"Very impressive."

Leaving Old John's Pawnshop, he went straight home. After lunch with Mia, he patiently waited for a reply from Miss Galina.

At home, Shard also experimented with the newly acquired candle's effects and calculated using the length-time conversion formula provided by Old John, reducing the 7 minutes 23 seconds to 7 minutes 01 second.

But at least he managed to figure out most of the candle's traits, starting with the method of lighting; the Arcane Technique "Firestarter" was sufficient to light the candle. While in an invisible state, no matter how he shook the candle, it wouldn't extinguish, which meant that it was possible to perform a lot of extensive actions while being invisible.

The experiment involving invisibility with intelligent life was also successful. He stood in front of a mirror holding the cat, and the moment the candle's flame lit up, the man and cat in the mirror vanished instantly, a bizarre phenomenon that even frightened Shard.

Mia was quite a vigilant cat, so Shard used it to test the effectiveness of the candle's invisibility. He placed Mia on the floor, lit the candle himself, and while shouting and hopping around loudly, circled around the confused cat squatting on the floor.

It indeed did not notice Shard, otherwise, Shard's bizarre actions would have made the cat bristle.

Although it wasn't offensive, the function of "complete invisibility" was powerful enough. It wasn't just useful for escaping; the sudden disappearance during a direct battle, combined with the "Lalleg's Leap" for a stealth attack from behind, was also quite a good strategy.

Even lending the candle to the more powerful Miss Beyas and Miss Annette could play a significant role in battle.

"With this, I now have invisibility, healing, life extension, illusion technique, tracking, eavesdropping, spirit summoning, and other support abilities. Although the attack power of First Ring is not strong, at least my capabilities are quite comprehensive,"

His offensive capabilities in head-on battles were weak and could not be compensated for in the short term. After all, being just First Ring, the Ring Level was the current biggest limitation for Shard.