Hagia Sophia is the largest church in Constantinople and the headquarters of the Imperial Orthodox Church. There are many shops in the surrounding area, and most of them are Orthodox properties, which are run by the deacons of the church. Asker found a shop that specialized in alchemy items, walked in and knocked on the counter.

"Hello guests." Behind the counter, a deacon in a black robe bowed slightly, "What do you need to buy?" ”

"I have two shops that I want to sell to the church." Asker said.

"Well, you're Asker of House Achilles." The church deacon recognized his looks.

After all, the parents of the original owner of Aske raised a lot of money for the church every year before they disappeared. Therefore, the deacon is not unfamiliar with the young master of the Achilles family, "Are you planning to sell the two shops left by your parents to the church?" ”

"Yes." Aske said, "You make an offer. ”

"I know that the two shops in your house are both gold industries that are making money every day." The church deacon said, "The apothecary on Theosidor Avenue, I will give you an estimate of 700 pounds; As for the tavern near the Marina Tower, it has an estimate of 550 pounds because the restaurant industry has not been in a good mood lately......"

"But I would like to remind you, Mr. Achilles, that these two estates were left to you by your parents, and that a steady profit of about 10 pounds a month is made. If you are simply short of money, you can apply for a mortgage from the Imperial Bank, and there is no need to sell the two properties outright. ”

"I see what you mean." "But I'm going back to my hometown to get married, so I don't have time to collect rent on a regular basis for these two properties, so I still want to cash in directly." ”

The church deacon frowned. Returning to your hometown to get married? Ask, aren't you a native of Constantinople? However, looking at the other party's fully armed appearance, the marriage must be fake, and it is estimated that it is true to go out on an adventure.

After all, this is someone else's own career plan, so the deacon is not good to persuade again, turned around and took out the real estate transaction template contract from the box on the shelf, put it on the counter and said:

In that case, please also fill in the name of the shop you sold in the contract and sign your name at the bottom of the contract. Once we have verified the condition of your shop, we can complete the closing and pay you. ”

If you are a private buyer, you must ask a lawyer to review the contract before you do a real estate transaction, verify your identity, check the real estate title deed or something, and ask the Orthodox Church to be present for notarization throughout the process.

That's why Aske chose to sell directly to the Orthodox Church: to save trouble.

After signing the contract, the church deacon stuffed the two papers into the fax machine and beckoned Asker to sit down in the shop.

After about half an hour, the deacon of the church who answered the phone came up and said:

"The property you want to sell has been verified and the transfer of ownership has been completed. Do I need to pay directly into my bank card or in cash? ”

"Cash in on it." Asker said.

The deacon took out a stack of bills, counted them, and handed them to Asker.

The latter took the banknote, but did not rush to put it in his wallet, but asked the deacon:

"Do you have a blank soul contract template here? I buy two. ”

"Soul Pact?" The church deacon was a little stunned, "What do you want a soul contract for?" ”

"Go back to your hometown to get married and sign a loyalty agreement with your wife." Askehu is talking nonsense.

The church deacon sighed, thinking that you nobles would play.

The so-called soul contract is a kind of oath that is bound by supernatural forces and acts directly on the mind and body.

For example, before the husband and wife get married, they write on the soul contract that they will never cheat after marriage, so once they sign the soul contract, their psychological consciousness will be extremely resistant to cheating, and if they insist on forcing themselves to break the contract, the final outcome will inevitably be schizophrenia.

However, this soul contract is very expensive, the price is basically 100 pounds, and normal people can't afford it at all.

Even if they are really rich nobles, most of them will not waste money to buy this thing, but they will occasionally use it when they get married, which is what Asker calls the "loyalty agreement", which is essentially because they are worried that they will not be able to restrain each other after marriage, which will lead to the ruinization of their reputation, so they have to use the power of the soul contract.

Just got 1250 pounds, and in the blink of an eye, he paid another 200 pounds, Asker didn't have the slightest distress on his face, he just carefully put away the two soul contracts, and asked with a smile:

"We've all made such a big deal, can we add a pistol to the top?"

"Pistol?" The church deacon really kind of believed that the other party was going to get married. How worried are you about your future wife?

It's not enough to sign a loyalty agreement, but also to buy a pistol to take with you? Are you going to use it to kill your adulterer or your wife?

"Of course." The deacon of the church considered the statement, "According to the above rules, I am entitled to give you a 5% rebate on transactions above 50 pounds. You can buy a semi-automatic rifle for 10 pounds, but you'll need to provide an automatic weapon license. ”

"I don't have a license, so I'll buy a pistol." Asker said, "Do you have any powerful pistols here?" It is better to have a large caliber and a powerful armor-piercing force.

"I must recommend the Imperial Eagle to you." The deacon of the church took out a black box from under the counter, "15.2mm caliber." If it is paired with a special super-heavy hunting elephant bullet, the muzzle kinetic energy is more than 10,000 joules, and even the Titan can blow it head-on. In fact, we basically only sell this thing to the Kalmar Empire in the Northlands, where they hunt frost giants. ”

He opened the black box, revealing a silver revolver and a row of metallic shiny 15.2mm bullets, each the length of an adult's palm.

"Good." Aske said, "I want this gun, but do you have any rapid-fire automatic pistols?" It is better to bring a silencer. ”

"You're talking about Aphrodite." The church deacon took out a box from the shelf next to him, "Listen to the name, you know that it is specially made by the province of Ciris, and it is a rapid-fire pistol that takes a small and flexible route. ”

"God, I must be honest with you, this pistol was originally designed for the female nobles of the Empire, but it was sought after by mages because of its low recoil and can be used even by women and children."

"If a pistol can do the trick of self-defense, why spend money to hire a mage to protect you? Of course, I suggest that you can also buy this pistol and use it as a secondary gun for the Imperial Eagle. ”

"Let's do these two." Asker said, "How much?" ”

"Eleven pounds." The church deacon replied, "Seven pounds for the Imperial Eagle and four pounds for Aphrodite, and I beg your pardon for not being able to give you a fraction of that one, because it was originally counted as a rebate." ”

"I'll give you 20 pounds." Asker pulled out a bill, "For the rest, help me exchange them all for the Identification Aura Scroll." ”

"Identification of the aura, yes?" The church deacon smiled and said, "Wise choice, after all, if the adulterer has extraordinary strength, even the Imperial Eagle can't be sure to kill it...... Ahem, I beg your pardon for taking the liberty of thinking about something else and slipping my tongue for a moment. ”

"Ah, don't worry." "There are no adulterers. ”

"Got it, it's your wife, isn't it? A partner with extraordinary strength is the main cause of domestic violence after marriage, and you are definitely worth the money by buying these two guns. The church deacon coughed and took two boxes from the shelf, "I will give you two more boxes of ammunition, one is a 15.2mm hunting bullet and the other is a 9mm standard bullet, as compensation for my slip of the tongue just now." ”

"You're so kind, I forgive you." Asker took two pistols, loaded the Identification Scroll and the bullets, made a gesture of God's blessing to the deacon, and turned away.

"Alas, love." Looking at Asker's departing back, the church deacon sighed with emotion. It was as if he had seen a young aristocratic man with a rich net worth and a bright future turned into a poor husband who trembled with a pistol and was abused and humiliated by his wife every day.

"Well, it's much more pleasing to the eye." Asker passed by a store and looked at his appearance in the window, wearing armor and swords, and two pistols at his waist, which can be described as fully armed, as if he had regained the feeling of a player with full combat power in the past.

At the beginning of the game, guns are much more powerful than swords; By the middle of the game, when the level of NPCs has steadily increased, the power of normal guns is not enough (note, it's normal guns!). ）。

After all, the power of the bullet depends on the explosion of the internal gunpowder, and its kinetic energy of the chamber is constant. As the enemy's physical resistance increases, the bullets will only become less and less effective.

The sword, on the other hand, can gradually increase its lethality as its own strength grows.

The body of the original owner NPC seems to be a bit similar to the self before the crossing? Asker carefully examined the appearance of the reflection in the window, and found that except for the eye sockets that were a little deep, the cheekbones were a little high, and the whole face was slightly more Western, the general facial features were really very similar to his real self.

After all, the Solomon people in the game are also black-haired, brown-eyed, and dark-skinned (compared to blonde whites), at least in terms of tone, they are no different from the Chinese.

Maybe it was the soul and the flesh that caused the original body and the NPC body to merge, and finally became this half-blood appearance?

Or was he just kidnapped and intubated in the back of his head, soaking in a jar of nutrient solution to play games, like the Matrix or Sword Art Online?

Because the programmer was lazy, he directly copied his appearance and changed it casually and pasted it into his own character?

Asker shook his head, pushing the conjectures out of his mind, as they were basically unanswered.

Looking at his gear again, Asker pondered. Although this body is still level 0 and has been bloodied by vampires for a long time, in terms of strength, agility and endurance, it is unexpectedly much higher than that of ordinary adult males, and I don't know why. Now because of the time travel, the hypnosis of this body by the vampire has been broken, and "Iron and Fire" is not just a game that only looks at the level attributes, tactical awareness and combat skills are equally important.

With the current situation, Asker can be 100% sure that he can kill all the dozen vampires in the family who don't know about it.

But now is not the time, it's time to go to Peggy.

At dusk, near the cemetery.

“…… The fire consumes her body, but her soul will find peace in the heavenly kingdom of the Lord, Amen. The priest concluded.

“…… Amen. Everyone present recited in unison. The funeral was attended by neighbors who lived in the same neighborhood.

Asker swung his shovel and buried the last handful of dirt on the coffin. According to imperial custom, the deceased's closest relatives were supposed to be buried, but Peggy's entire family was burned to death in the fire, so Aske offered to take on the task.

The neighbors who came to mourn were also relieved. In fact, with your fierce appearance in armor, sword, and gun, no one dares to fight you for a shovel!

The priest and his neighbors were gone, while Aske sat on the newly erected tombstone and yawned lazily.

"It looks like it's going to rain." He sniffed the moist smell in the air and looked at the dark sky that was overcast.

In the world of Fire and Iron, levels and attributes are two separate lines. Attributes come from supernatural powers, which can be obtained by killing monsters, ingesting spiritual substances, and performing rituals. By the way, the scientific name of Extraordinary Strength is "Ethereal_Xeno_Power", and the abbreviation is EXP, which is actually equivalent to experience points in the game.

Once you have acquired supernatural strength, you can convert it into two attributes through training or actual combat.

The first is physical strength, known as Stamina, which increases the explosiveness, control, endurance, and reaction speed of the body's muscles.

The second is the psychic power, or Magicka, which is used to improve the intelligence and willpower of the human brain. These two determine the "hardware" level of a character's combat effectiveness.

In addition to attributes, hierarchy is another system. All players and human NPCs are level 0 at birth and must be leveled up by ingesting specific drugs.

In the Eastern Solomonic Empire, where magical technology was developed, this medicine was a bloodline potion; In the Western Solomonic Empire (now extinction), which adhered to the original scientific and technological system of mankind, in the current Solomonic Holy See, this drug is a genetic agent.

Essentially, it is the fusion of spiritual matter into the human body, which leads to extraordinary transformations and the acquisition of certain special abilities.

If the increase in attributes and the increase in combat effectiveness is a quantitative change, then the increase in level is a qualitative change.

Peggy, who was turned into a vampire, naturally has her first transcendent trait - Flesh I.

At this point, her level has been increased to 1, and she has a lot of bonuses to explosiveness, control, stamina, and reaction speed, and at the same time gains the ability to heal wounds quickly, and no longer has lethal parts except for the heart and brain.

In the open beta story stage, having such a companion will not help Asker himself, which is not as simple as 1+1.