Majesty tore open a Town Portal scroll, and the two of them, carrying large bags and small bundles, returned reluctantly to the Rogue Encampment.
Leo immediately brought out a magical sandglass to keep time. This sandglass was quite miraculous; no matter how it was placed, the sand inside would only fall from one end to the other. Each hour would fill one notch on the lower scale. After 24 hours, the sand would fill the bottom space entirely, then instantly vanish and begin falling from the top again, repeating the cycle.
Leo set the sandglass to its timing mode. Not daring to be careless, he tightened his dried clothes, threw on a rain cloak, and climbed onto the roof to observe the surroundings.
This was his first time spending the night in the wild. The light rain fell for a while longer before gradually stopping. Unfortunately, the sky remained overcast; no moon or stars were visible.
For some reason, ever since arriving at this Rogue Encampment, sunlight was only visible for a very short duration during the day. The sky was gloomy in both the mornings and afternoons, and once night fell, visibility plummeted, allowing one to see only a few meters around.
Wait, that's not right. How can I see so far? Leo froze for a moment, carefully searching for the reason. Right—he was already Level 12, and Reinhardt's relic had begun to take effect.
Thinking of Reinhardt, a wave of sadness hit him. He couldn't help but pull out his wineskin and lean back against the chimney, accompanied by the occasional strange cries echoing from the distance. He slowly tasted the strong ale, letting the bitter liquid slide over his tongue. He then poured some onto the roof, hoping his equally alcohol-loving friend could rest in peace in the kingdom of heaven—though this world only had "the Heavens" and no "Kingdom of Heaven."
After a few sips, his body began to feel slightly warm. Feeling it was enough, Leo put away the wineskin and prepared to study the Small Charms.
Huh? The Small Charm is gone? Leo rubbed his eyes and searched his inventory carefully; it was indeed missing. Instead, a new icon had appeared to the left of his helmet, its pattern identical to the previous Small Charm. To hell with it—does this count as fusing with Reinhardt?
Leo's tipsiness vanished instantly. He cautiously clicked the icon to see if he could unequip the charm. To his surprise, clicking it opened a void space, pitch black and empty.
Having read many novels in his past life, Leo felt this thing was somewhat like a storage space. He rummaged through his inventory, found a Light Healing Potion, and tried to put it in. Unexpectedly, a prompt rang out directly in his mind:
{Current Charm Attribute: +5% Accuracy, +5 Light Radius. Analyze item? Item level is 1. Energy required: 1,000 Gold.}
That's expensive! Analyzing a potion worth 30 Gold required 1,000 Gold; it was practically a robbery. After some thought, he swapped it for a Rejuvenation Potion.
{Analyze item? Item level is 1. Energy required: 1,000 Gold.}
He then placed 1,000 Gold inside.
{Item level is 1. Analysis time: 1 hour.}
Time passed quickly, and an hour was gone in the blink of an eye.
{Analysis complete. Gained the ability to instantly restore 35% Life and Mana once. Can be used via thought.}
Not very useful... Taking a potion from the belt didn't take much time anyway. However, it could be a lifesaver during intense combat when there was no time to drink.
Leo tried several other things and discovered that only equipment and medicines could be analyzed.
Buzz.
The magical sandglass began to vibrate. Leo jumped down from the roof, went inside the house, closed the door, and opened a Town Portal.
A flash of white light erupted as the two women rushed out of the portal. Seeing Leo safe and sound, they finally let out sighs of relief.
Majesty sniffed the air, her expression changing as she reached out a hand toward Leo.
"Stupid brother, are you trying to leave me behind again? You actually dared to drink while alone in the wild! Hand over the alcohol. From now on, you can only drink in the wild with my permission."
Leo sheepishly pulled out a wineskin. Majesty tilted her chin, signaling him to be honest. Helpless, Leo continued to pull them out, producing a total of 20 bags of ale.
Looking at Leo's face, which was twisted in heartache, Majesty mercifully let him keep 10 bags of ale.
Leo's face instantly brightened. As expected, my sister is the best—she even left me 10 bags.
Majesty pulled back her lips in a cold smile—a smile that made Leo's scalp tingle.
"Miss Gerdie, my inventory is full. You take the remaining 10 bags. Remember, without my permission, you are not to secretly give my brother any to drink."
Leo looked at Gerdie piteously. Faced with Leo's puppy-dog eyes, Gerdie felt she couldn't take it and simply closed her eyes. She took the wineskins and, while putting them away, began to lecture Leo solemnly.
"Sister Majesty is right. Leo, you went too far. We were so worried about your safety back at the camp, and you were secretly drinking in the wild! If something had happened... Forget it, I won't say more. I'm going to take the watch."
With that, she dropped the large bag in her hand and ran out. Majesty looked at the fleeing Gerdie and burst out laughing. It seemed Sister Gerdie had feelings for her brother.
Leo stood there dumbfounded. Since when did these two women become comrades on the same front?
Picking up the bag Gerdie had dropped and taking the one Majesty handed him, he sighed. As the saying goes, life goes on. He decided to see what good things they had traded for.
Haha, a full 20,000 Gold! Gerdie was truly a lucky star. He checked the runes first, as identifying them one by one took more time. He opened the bag; there were 5 dull stones in total.
Picking up the first one, he recalled the pattern on the stone from his memory—it looked like an hourglass with a dot on top. It should be a Tal rune.
> Rune: Tal. Required Level: 17.
> Weapon: Adds 75 Poison Damage over 5 seconds.
> Armor/Helm: Poison Resist +30%.
> Shield: Poison Resist +35%.
>
Looking at the remaining runes, there was another Tal. Not bad; it seemed the two women had very good luck.
He then picked up the rest to identify them: Ral, Eth, and Tir.
> Rune: Ral. Required Level: 19.
> Weapon: Adds 5-30 Fire Damage.
> Armor/Helm: Fire Resist +30%.
> Shield: Fire Resist +35%.
> Rune: Eth. Required Level: 15.
> Weapon: -25% Target Defense.
> Armor/Helm/Shield: Regenerate Mana 15%.
> Rune: Tir. Required Level: 13.
> Effect: +2 Mana after each kill (Weapon/Armor/Shield).
>
Runes were all good things; he tucked them away happily.
After finishing with the runes, he took out the charms. They were all Small Charms, 40 in total. 13 of them had Strength as a main attribute, and 27 had Dexterity.
There were no more Small Charms with Poison Resistance as a secondary attribute; that resistance remained at 15%.
The charms with Fire Resistance numbered 7, bringing Fire Resist to 25%.
The charms with Lightning Resistance numbered 12, bringing Lightning Resist to 20%.
The charms with Cold Resistance numbered 11, bringing Cold Resist to 15%.
There were also 10 with no additional attributes.
His Strength and Dexterity should have reached a staggering 100 and 91. He tried to equip the Ancient Armor but suddenly found he couldn't. Confused, Leo opened his character panel and discovered that his attributes had not reached his expectations at all.
He opened his inventory and took out the Small Charms from the first page; his attributes dropped. He turned to the second page of the "Large Backpack" and put the charms in; the attributes did not increase.
Leo wanted to cry. As it turned out, the Large Backpack was like a stepchild—placing charms inside was useless.