"Mr. Sarich, no one but me will buy your parchment." Duran's face did not change, no matter how many crooked thoughts the middle-aged man in front of him had, his always poor life doomed him to have little knowledge.

If a clay pot maker can read the shadow characters, then the information that Duran has in his mind will be worthless, so he is very confident.

"I won't pay more for a silver dill - and even more so for others." Duran said lazily, already wondering if he would have chosen another way to get the parchment, such as stealing, if Saric stubbornly refused to sell it. Although stealing things is not an assassin's old job, as a black-clad man who is proficient in stealth, stealing something is really easy, but Duran is not very willing to do it in his heart. If he can buy it with money, he won't take the initiative to steal it.

Saric really showed a hesitant look, the old guy had never seen much money in his life, and the few hard-earned money earned from making clay pots had also been transferred into the pockets of the girls and tobacco dealers, and now such a large fortune was dangling in front of him, so he was naturally a little uncontrollable.

"I don't believe it, there must be someone who will pay a higher price!" Saric said greedily: "Two silver diels, let's make a deal." ”

"Excuse me, Mr. Sarich. I hope some fool will pay two silver diels for this thing of yours. Duran turned and left, he didn't like the feeling of being blackmailed, a silver dill was already the highest price Duran had assessed for this parchment scroll in his heart - there may be many people who know the existence of the Tower of Shadows, but only a handful of people know the words of the shadows.

Seeing Duran turn around and leave without hesitation, Saric panicked, no one had ever asked about this useless tablecloth in his house before today. Seeing that a silver dill was about to fly away, Saric didn't even have time to scold himself for being dizzy, and shouted directly: "Wait, Mr. Duran, maybe we can discuss it again." ”

Duran stopped and glanced back at him. Saric did not dare to slack off, and immediately showed a flattering look: "A silver dill, this tablecloth—oh no, this precious ancestral parchment is yours." ”

Duran happily completed the deal with Saric and ignored the latter's courteous invitation and went straight back to the [Hometown] hostel. Despite its remote location, the hostel at this part-time pub has a local flavor. Architecturally sixty or seventy years old, the narrow halls of the hostel are dotted with beautiful lily of the valley flowers, and willow or oak furniture can be found everywhere - thanks to the influence of chaos magic, many of the trees have become extremely large, resulting in a relative abundance of local wood, but due to the lack of transportation, this wood has not been transported to the important commercial cities for sale, and can only be used by the residents themselves.

The front desk of the hostel was a clever young man, and Kate had opened a room for Duran when she checked in before, so the young man took Duran directly up the crunchy stairs.

"Your room is at number 04 around the corner of the hallway, if you need anything, call me, my name is Jimmy. The head chef will ring the bell when the meal is served in the evening, so be sure to listen carefully, if you miss it, you won't have anything to eat. The young man smiled apologetically, "I'll have to go down and look at the front desk." ”

Duran clutched his newly arrived parchment roll and said to Jimmy, "I need some wine, some lily of the valley, and if I have goat's milk, that's the best." As he spoke, he took out two bronze orders and handed them to the other party. The bronze order is also one of the official currencies of Luha, and the exchange rate with the silver dir is also nineteen to one. The value of the two bronze orders was completely more than what Duran needed, and a happy smile immediately appeared on the young man's face.

Working in such a remote hotel, it is rare to see customers who are generous.

"Wait a minute, I'll bring it to you in a moment." Jimmy's voice was deformed with joy, and he ran down the stairs in high spirits.

……

"Forgive my eyes, this parchment is just an ordinary piece of paper." Kate straightened the parchment on the table, looked it up and down, and concluded, "Are you sure this piece of paper hides the secret of the Valley of Shadows?" ”

"Pretty sure." At the other end of the table, Duran is carefully introducing ground lily of the valley powder into a large glass of wine. Quantity and proportion were crucial, and Duran used visual inspection skills several times to analyze a large amount of data before he could barely determine the amount of lily of the valley powder.

"It's a pity that there is no goat's milk, otherwise the effect might be better." Duran thought with some regret.

"Maybe you should become an alchemist." Looking at Duran's cautious appearance, Kate couldn't help but smile and said, "Your movements are very steady. ”

"Thanks for the compliment, would you like a drink?" Duran stirred the wine mixed with lily of the valley powder with a wooden spoon, and poured it into a leather bag that Jimmy had also found for him, leaving only a small sip in the original cup.

"I'm not in the habit of drinking wine, Duran, did Mr. Autumn teach you these things? I've never heard him talk about it. Kate asked curiously.

Duran replied without blushing and without a beat, "That's because you are not his disciple." ”

This guy has already made all the preparations, and all the unusual performances are pushed to the teacher, so that he can reflect the mystery and greatness of Mr. Qiu, and secondly, he can also cover himself up.

Duran hung the cowhide bag around his waist, and all that was left in front of him was a pale fuchsia wine, which, unlike ordinary wine, had a faint fluorescent glow floating on the top of it. Duran quietly used a visual inspection:

[Coarse Focus Reagent]: Wisdom +5, Will +7 within 10 minutes after taking it (The effect is weakened after repeated use, and it will be ineffective after taking it three times a day.) Long-term use can lead to drug resistance, and it takes more than three times as long to regain drug sensitivity. ）

Duran put away the data stream with satisfaction, this kind of rudimentary focus reagent production method is not known to many people, in the Feinan continent, there are probably only a few alchemists who can deploy it. Wine and lily of the valley powder are two raw materials that can be found everywhere, but the key is the ratio of the two - fifteen to one, and the error must be very small to be successful.

Fortunately, although Duran was short of tools and poor conditions, his innate sensitivity to numbers and the help of the contract assistance system allowed him to succeed at one time. The concentration reagent can enhance a person's wisdom and spirit for a short time, although Duran is not a mage, but when it comes to deciphering the keys on the parchment, these two castes are crucial.

It was already dark, and after dinner, the people of Brie Village did not have the luxury of lighting candles at night. These peasants adhered to the ancient way of resting, saying that they came out and did and rested. And by the time the first rays of light were shed, most of them were already asleep.

Priest Delon's generosity saved Duran from the embarrassing situation of lack of money, so Duran lavishly lit three candles in his room. Abu was curiously wandering around Duran's room, like a mischievous cat, and the human house was so new and foreign to him that Duran had to drink again and again to prevent the guy from tearing down the few fragile pieces of furniture in the room.

"How long will we have to wait?" Kate seemed to be full of energy, she had slept all morning during the day, and most of her energy had already recovered. Hearing that Duran was going to decipher the ciphertext on the parchment, and she was also interested in ancient wisdom, she insisted on watching the process, but Duran naturally didn't mind.

"This knowledge is not very precious, it's just that in this dark age, most people can't even read and write, and they can't even speak the lingua franca, let alone the words of the lower planes like the shadow script." With a thought in his mind, Duran walked to the window with his glass in his hand, turned back to Kate, and said, "It depends on when our lady Adeth shows up." ”

Three hours later, a drowsy Kate hugged Abu, who had already fallen asleep, and heard Duran's voice: "It's time, let's start." ”

The silver-haired warlock was shocked to see Duran fully open the parchment roll, and the table was moved to the window.

He slammed down the concentration reagent from his glass, and the world in front of him suddenly became clearer and brighter, and his spirit was full of energy.

The first moon Vanya has long since disappeared, and the moonlight outside the window is faintly gray, and the blue moon Adeis hangs far away. The moonlight pierced through the window and fell on the parchment scroll on the table, and a tadpole-like shadow slowly emerged from the parchment under the cyan glow.

“s‘longcersa! (Rune: Key)"