After catching the not-too-heavy but weighted coin pouch, Aurelia showed a slightly surprised expression.
She didn’t expect the other party to pay in advance so directly.
Wasn’t he afraid she’d run away with the money?
Or was this shopkeeper already used to it?
“Thank you.”
She tucked the pouch away and nodded.
“I will definitely make the appointment on time.”
The shopkeeper didn’t say more, just picked up a glass and started wiping it, waving her off as if shooing her away in the eyes of others.
Aurelia turned and merged back into the noisy crowd of the tavern, exiting through a door on the other side.
The air outside still didn’t smell great, but compared to the stuffy, thick smell of smoke and alcohol inside, the fishy scent outside felt somewhat refreshing.
Aurelia weighed the pouch in her hand, hearing the crisp sound of copper coins rubbing together.
She didn’t rush to open it to check the exact amount, but secured it safely against her body.
This starting capital was more generous than she expected, which meant the shopkeeper might have seen through something.
Well… it would be stranger if he hadn’t.
A young, injured woman with outstanding looks who hadn’t been knocked out and taken away in a chaotic place like this—it was obvious there was something about her.
Aurelia didn’t waste time wandering aimlessly, heading straight for the streets in the outer regions that sold cheap daily necessities.
Relying on experience from online shopping in her predecessor life and the eye trained as professional logistics in this life, she quickly found a general store stall with goods piled like mountains and low surface prices, and a clothing store next door with many garments hanging.
At the clothing store, she quickly picked out a common dark brown coarse cloth long dress for herself.
The style was simple and loose, easy to move in, and the color was dirt-resistant and unremarkable.
Next, she went to the general store and bought a roll of clean new bandages, as well as a knife and a leg holster, hiding the knife on her thigh.
As for the little brother and the little priestess, she picked several sets of plain clothes in larger sizes.
Helen’s frame was thin but the skeletal structure was there, and Rena was taller than her, so these sizes should suffice.
Though she hadn’t asked for specific sizes, her long-term experience with team logistics gave her a knack for estimating others’ sizes.
At worst, she could pick up a needle and thread and alter them later.
‘You are the chosen vessel for the Fallen God destined to destroy the world, so why are you doing the work of a maid? Hurry up and run with the money! If you’re not embarrassed, I am!’
‘Why are you so annoying! Is it your business what I do?’
Hearing the words of the Disaster Source, Aurelia paused as she was about to leave the general store, suddenly remembering something.
She turned back and asked the shopkeeper, who was packing his goods, “Shopkeeper, do you have anything related to Manjusaka here? Or obsidian?”
The shopkeeper looked up, revealing a face carved with deep furrows by the sea breeze and time, quickly sizing Aurelia up.
“The things you mentioned are magic materials. I…”
He rummaged through his boxes for a long while before patting off the dust, standing up, and pulling a small box from his pocket, placing it on the counter.
“While I don’t have fresh or dried Manjusaka flowers, but…”
The shopkeeper opened the wooden box. Lined with faded velvet, a ring lay quietly inside.
The ring’s material looked like wood and copper at the same time.
Dark red patterns, fine as blood vessels, faintly emerged on the surface, looking like natural mineral textures or frozen plant veins.
The ring itself was lusterless, even a bit rough.
But those dark red patterns seemed to have a tiny throb in the dim light, like a living pulse.
“There’s this thing here, forged from Manjusaka flower mud mixed with some kind of magic crystal. An old sailor salvaged it from a shipwreck. It looks ominous, so it hasn’t sold. If you want it, I’ll give it to you cheap.”
‘You don’t think this thing is useful to me, do you? I said before it needs to be infused with virgin blood. This thing didn’t use virgin blood during manufacturing, so stop daydreaming.’
‘How will I know if I don’t try?’
Aurelia ignored it and asked the shopkeeper in a skeptical tone, “Salvaged from the sea? It doesn’t carry some kind of curse, does it?”
The shopkeeper shrugged.
“Who knows? That old sailor went out to sea the day after selling the ring and never came back. It looks a bit strange to me, but it’s been here for years. Other than the surroundings occasionally feeling cold, nothing’s happened.”
He looked at Aurelia, tapping his index finger on the counter, speaking lazily, “If you want it, just pay for the materials—five silver coins. If not, forget it.”
He quoted a price that wasn’t low for a bottom-tier general store but was practically a steal for a potential special magical item.
“Five silver coins…”
Aurelia rested her chin on her hand and shook her head.
“This thing isn’t exactly a lucky charm. Five silver coins is too expensive.”
She then raised one finger and smiled.
“Ten copper coins, and I’ll take this big trouble off your hands.”
The shopkeeper’s brow furrowed, his wrinkles deepening, and a hint of offense and suspicion appeared in his eyes.
“Hey? You can eat whatever you want, but you can’t say whatever you want! What trouble? This is just an old item no one recognizes! Five silver coins, not a penny less! If you’re not buying, don’t waste my time!”
“Ahem, shopkeeper, let’s speak plainly.”
She coughed twice, her index finger tapping the surface of the ring as she smiled mysteriously.
“To be honest with you, this thing is related to Disaster.”
The shopkeeper’s motion to close the wooden box froze.
He subconsciously looked at the ring again.
Those dark red patterns in the dim light… seemed more active than they were a moment ago?
Those patterns, throbbing slowly, carried a bone-chilling coldness.
He yanked his hand back as if shocked, his expression turning sour, but he still tried to stand his ground.
“You… don’t give me that! What Disaster? You make it sound so mysterious! If it were really something that dangerous, how could it sit in my shop for years without being detected by the Church? How could it stay here for so long?”
Aurelia had expected him to say this.
She calmly withdrew her finger, crossed her arms, and spoke indifferently.
“Good question. But shopkeeper, there are usually several prerequisites for the Church to discover and purify the power of calamity. Either a clear abnormal event is triggered, or there’s a specific report or lead.”
She paused and gave another mysterious smile.
“What if I went to the Church now and said you were hiding such dangerous goods…?”
The shopkeeper’s face turned completely dark. He glared at Aurelia, his eye twitching, clearly incensed by the blatant threat.
His hand instinctively felt under the counter, seemingly wanting to grab a rope hidden there to tie her up and sell her at the red-light district for a good price.
His gaze screamed “I’m going to do something.”
However, when his evaluating gaze finally met Aurelia’s eyes, he froze instantly.
The moment he made contact with that gaze, his pupils shrank.
The round human pupils seemed to eerily stretch and change in the moment his vision focused, transforming into a pair of cold, indifferent vertical slits.
Those vertical pupils were filled with an ancient and majestic aura.
In just a brief moment, it felt like he had been dropped into an ice cellar.
He stumbled back several steps, knocking over the shelf behind him.
His face instantly turned pale as paper, his forehead covered in cold sweat.
The look he gave Aurelia was full of unbelievable fear, as if he were seeing a terrifying creature crawling out of the abyss.
“Oh? Shopkeeper, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”
Aurelia stepped forward as if nothing happened, but was blocked by the shopkeeper’s suddenly raised right hand.
“Don’t come near me!”
He panted, his terrified gaze moving back and forth between Aurelia’s face and the wooden box containing the ring.
Finally, he made a sudden decision, grabbed the small wooden box, and without looking, shoved it toward Aurelia as if throwing it.
“Take it away! No charge! I’ll give it to you for free! Just get out of here! Leave my shop immediately! I didn’t hear anything just now, and you were never here!”
He now only wanted to get this ominous ring and this even more ominous girl out of his shop as quickly as possible, the further the better!
Financial loss no longer mattered; saving his life and staying away from trouble was the top priority.
“Huh? How can I do that? I came here to buy things legitimately, not to rob you.”
She smiled and took another step forward, preparing to pull money from her pouch.
“I’m begging you, miss, just go! I don’t want the money!”
The shopkeeper was practically pleading, his body pressed against the shelf as if wanting to get as far from her as possible.
“…Then, thank you for your kindness, shopkeeper.”
Aurelia tucked the wooden box into her clothes and gave him a gentle, harmless smile.
“You really are a good person, shopkeeper. I wish you a prosperous business.”
She then walked toward the door, tossing ten copper coins onto the counter with her right hand behind her.
Only after her figure completely disappeared did the shopkeeper’s legs give way.
He slid down the shelf to sit on the ground, gasping for breath, his heart still pounding wildly.
“Damn it… I must be too tired lately. Hallucinations, right! Hallucinations! A few days of rest will fix it!”
The shopkeeper looked at the ten copper coins, his expression shifting as if he had aged several years in an instant.
With trembling hands, he swept the copper coins into a drawer, deciding that from now on, anything salvaged from the sea or looking suspicious would never stay in his shop again, even if he had to pay to get rid of it.
As Aurelia walked down the street, she touched the small wooden box and rubbed her aching sun acupoint.
What the shopkeeper saw wasn’t a hallucination; it was the result of Aurelia calling upon the special force in her body.
Compared to turning her right hand into a dragon claw, the physical energy consumed by changing the dragon eye was much smaller.
Still, it placed a heavy burden on her.
‘A boring intimidation,’ the Disaster Source snorted in her mind, though its tone didn’t reveal whether it was praise or dissatisfaction — perhaps a mix of both.
‘Why go through so much trouble for such a person?’
‘I’m in a good mood right now and don’t want to argue with an old bastard like you. Go play somewhere else and leave me alone,’ Aurelia thought, pulling out the small wooden box and taking out the ring.
‘I told you, no virgin blood was infused when this was made, so don’t waste your energy.’
However, as Aurelia’s fingers traced the surface of the ring, a somewhat nonsensical yet strangely persuasive thought popped into her head.
The idea came from the countless cultivation and fantasy novels she had read in her predecessor life.
Don’t those protagonists always bite their finger, drip some blood on a mysterious treasure, and then have the treasure shine brightly and successfully bond with them?
Though it sounded ridiculous, in a world with magic and gods, who said it couldn’t be tried?
But… here was the problem.
Aurelia’s brow furrowed slightly.
Her current body was undoubtedly female, and according to the memories and feelings remaining in it, she was still a virgin.
Although the original owner had wandered outside for years, she had little contact with people, mostly staying around cities with excellent public security and spending her boring childhood reading books she picked up.
But were these memories truly reliable?
Aurelia suddenly felt a bit uncertain.
After all, this wasn’t her original body; she had transmigrated here.
Though she inherited most of the memories and instincts, some details were fuzzy or might have been subconsciously hidden, forgotten, or even distorted by the original owner.
Especially involving private matters that might bring shame or trauma.
What if the original owner had an experience in some corner she didn’t know about, something forgotten or unwanted to be remembered?
Forget it, there’s no use thinking about this.
Aurelia shook her head, tossing away those messy thoughts.
Whether it was true or not, wouldn’t she know just by trying?
She carefully pinched the ring with her fingertips.
It was cold to the touch, and the dark red patterns seemed to wiggle slightly under the temperature of her fingertips.
She picked up the knife she had just bought, pricked the pad of her index finger, and a few drops of bright red liquid surged out.
“Hiss…”
‘Hey, wouldn’t it be hilarious if you aren’t a virgin?’
‘Shut up!’
Aurelia immediately retorted.
‘I’m definitely a virgin, okay?! Whether in my predecessor life or this one!’
‘Then you were a little virgin boy for twenty years in your predecessor life, and you still want to be a virgin in this life? Aren’t you considering finding someone to produce offspring?’
‘None of your business! I’m happy this way! What’s wrong with being a little virgin boy for life?! If you chirp again, I’ll stab myself to death and let you stay sealed for another few thousand years, you old bastard!’
Aurelia cursed back fiercely in her heart, no longer hesitating as she pressed her bleeding index finger onto the ring.
The blood touched the ring instantly, but there was no brilliant light or sudden mutation like she had imagined.
‘Haha! See, I told you it was all usele —’
The Disaster Source’s words, filled with mockery and a “told-you-so” attitude, rang in Aurelia’s head.
But halfway through, it suddenly cut off as if a mute button had been pressed.
“Is this… working?”