Chapter 28: Chapter 28: Knight
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
0-ring Knight!
After forming a contract with the Long-haired Mongoose cub, Duke officially advanced to become a 0-ring Knight.
When practicing the "Universal Blood Refining Technique," the battle energy would connect him and the Long-haired Mongoose cub's meridians through the contract, undergoing blood refinement together.
"Chirp chirp!" The little cub liked this feeling.
Duke also found it wonderful. He stroked the cub's head and thought for a moment before saying, "As my knight companion, you should have a name... Let's call you Xiao Dou."
Naming the Long-haired Mongoose cub as Xiao Dou was a fitting choice.
"I hope that we can progress together. I want to become a Grand Knight as soon as possible, and you to become a Phantom Beast."
In knight cultivation, the most crucial aspect wasn't the Blood Refining Technique itself but the contracted partner.
The reason was simple. While the human body could open the Sea of Blood, the amount of spirituality within the body was limited. Even if one indulged in eating and drinking, the amount of spirituality obtained from food was quite limited.
Hence.
By harnessing the power of a contract and binding a spiritual beast, the spiritual beast would share the required spirituality with the knight. This undoubtedly greatly accelerated the progress of practicing the Blood Refining Technique.
Furthermore, the spiritual beasts didn't need to eat and drink excessively. Their bodies could naturally absorb spirituality from the air and water.
In essence, contracted spiritual beasts served as a transfer station for spirituality, allowing knights to also absorb external free-floating spirituality, thus rapidly strengthening their battle energy.
As for the spirituality within the Sea of Spirit, there were indeed arcane mages who had simultaneously opened both the Sea of Spirit and the Sea of Blood. However, there were no successful cases of using the Sea of Spirit to nourish the Sea of Blood.
Currently, the only supplementary method for knight cultivation was a contracted spiritual beast companion.
"And there's another crucial point—each spiritual beast only has one opportunity for a contract in its lifetime." Duke placed Xiao Dou on his lap, sat cross-legged, and began cultivating his battle energy. "By completing a contract with Xiao Dou, others won't be able to target him... This to some extent eliminates many troubles for both me and Xiao Dou."
Xiao Dou lay on Duke's lap and fell into a deep sleep. The act of cultivation was passive for it, requiring no active effort.
On its forehead was a faint red mark, as though it had surfaced from beneath the skin.
This was the contract imprint.
As battle energy cultivation deepened, this contract imprint would gradually take form, accompanying the spiritual beast throughout its life. As for Duke's contract imprint, it would appear on his chest over his heart. Once both Duke and Xiao Dou advanced to the 1-ring level, the imprint would develop into a special symbol, equivalent to a "ring."
Afterward, the outer perimeter of this 1-ring imprint would gradually grow a nested new ring through Duke and Xiao Dou's continued cultivation.
Once the two rings were completely nested, a 2-ring imprint would be formed.
The 2-ring imprint would alter Xiao Dou's original evolutionary direction, transforming it from a 2-ring spiritual beast into a 2-ring Phantom Beast. Duke, too, would advance from a 1-ring Grand Knight to a 2-ring Phantom Beast Knight.
And so forth.
When the outer perimeter of the 2-ring imprint generated another nested ring, forming a 3-ring imprint, it symbolized Xiao Dou's advancement to a 3-ring advanced Phantom Beast, and Duke's advancement to a 3-ring advanced Phantom Beast Knight.
"Responsibilities are heavy, and the road ahead is long, Xiao Dou."
After completing ten cycles of blood refinement, Duke felt he had exhausted his physical strength. He stopped cultivating and placed Xiao Dou back into the paper box. "Next, I should search for knowledge on how to open the Sea of Qi."
Cultivating all three Seas wasn't necessarily advantageous.
But Duke wanted to touch upon all forms of transcendent power, leaving no regrets.
"Oh, Xiaoyi."
"Please speak, Master."
"How is the progress on the Desert Eagle's improvements?"
"At present, I've outlined the initial steps for improvement. Once the subsequent material applications are perfected, we can develop the first set of arcane artifact modification plans."
"Very well. For the Desert Eagle's continued improvements, let's unify them under the 'Desert Eagle R&D' series. The initial 1-ring Desert Eagle will be referred to as the 'Original Desert Eagle,' and the first development version will be 'Desert Eagle 1.0'..." Duke pondered for a moment and gave the Desert Eagle's improvement plan a scientifically rigorous naming convention, hoping this handgun would be perfected.
After all, like Xiaoyi, the Desert Eagle was also one of his "companion" arcane artifacts.
...
Time flew by.
June passed in the blink of an eye, and July was already more than half over.
Little Sam's Card Repair Shop prospered, unaffected by the competition from Bast Card Repair. Instead, due to the proxy purchase service and home delivery, it became increasingly profitable.
After all, card repair business was relatively fixed.
The scope of proxy purchase services was more flexible. Some customers needed not only proxy purchases of spiritual cards but also services for spiritual artifacts, daily items, and more.
In a town with just over a hundred thousand people like Snakehead Town, there wasn't a well-established market. Not everything could be bought here.
Many things required purchasing from Chenjiao City.
With Little Sam's Card Repair Shop offering proxy purchase services, everything became much more convenient.
Therefore, after launching the proxy purchase service for over a month, not only did neighbors from Second Vertical Street come for proxy purchases, but even First Vertical Street, First Horizontal Street, and Second Horizontal Street had people coming over, requesting Little Sam's Card Repair Shop to help them with proxy purchases.
"Boss, I'm ready." The apprentice, Leven, showed a simple smile.
This apprentice succeeded Duke during Old Sam's era. He was tall and sturdy but a bit simple-minded. He worked diligently and was willing to do any task. However, he struggled to understand even the basic work of beautifying and sealing.
Muraf the Card Maker had complained several times and wanted to replace him.
After considering, Duke decided to rehire a clever apprentice for Muraf and moved Leven to work alongside him, assisting with the proxy purchase business.
"Then let's go."
With Leven, the big and simple-minded apprentice, by his side, Duke found things much easier. He didn't have to carry all the big and small packages himself every time.
As they arrived at the station and just got on the Black Beetle Car, an acquaintance greeted them, "Boss Duke, heading to Chenjiao City for supplies again? Your shop must have been making a lot of money lately!"
"Making an honest living." Duke smiled, "The competition in the card repair business is fierce. Can't be helped."
"Is it that Bast Card Repair is competing against you? I passed by that shop last time and noticed there weren't many people there. I guess it won't be long before they go out of business." The acquaintance commented.
Duke replied, "I'm not quite sure about that, haven't paid much attention."
This was just a polite response.
In reality, he frequently observed Bast Card Repair's business situation. He practically knew every move they made. The card repair business on Second Vertical Street was the core of Little Sam's Card Repair Shop.
Of course.
He also wanted to see a joke at Bast Card Repair's expense, releasing some of the frustration from the betrayal he had experienced in the past.
Based on his observations, Bast Card Repair should collapse soon. Even though they copied the home delivery and proxy purchase services, they still weren't getting any business.
Firstly, they couldn't compete with the reputation of Little Sam's Card Repair Shop, and their actions weren't as quick as Duke's.
Secondly, people like to follow the trend. Once old customers recognized the reputation of Little Sam's Card Repair Shop, new customers would naturally go there as well, seeing everyone else doing the same.
Even if Bast Card Repair shouted at the entrance every day, they still couldn't attract many customers.
"To be honest, I didn't expect Old Sam to transfer the shop. Back in the day, I started shops here in the market at the same time as him..." The acquaintance sighed. His name was Winster, and he had a wholesale puppet parts shop on First Vertical Street, "Time flies. It's been twenty or thirty years, and Old Sam retired to enjoy life, while I still have to toil!"
"Snakehead Town will get better and better. By the way, Boss Winster, have you heard any news about the expansion war?"
-- Gift
received