"It's getting more and more of a headache. Seeing the two church members leave, Pannis stretched: "It seems that there is no time for breakfast, so I'll go get some cookies for breakfast." What do you want to go with, milk, or white wine?"

"White wine bar, a small glass is enough. Catherine thought for a moment, "That's the best with cherry cookies." ”

"As you wish, my knight. Pannis slammed into his feet and headed towards the kitchen: "It'll be fine soon." ”

When Pannis returned to the living room with a tray, he saw Catherine sitting in a soft and comfortable chair, looking out the window at the morning sun, and her slightly furrowed eyebrows showed that her heart was not at peace.

"What are you thinking?" Pannis placed a tray on the coffee table, a plate containing a dozen cherry biscuits, two empty glasses, a bottle of newly opened white wine, and a glass of warm milk, which was Lina's accompaniment to the spellcaster. For spellcasting classes, it is very important to stay mentally focused, and alcohol tends to affect mental focus, as well as the stability and accuracy of spells, as well as the ability to judge the situation, so most spellcasting classes don't drink alcohol, at least not during work.

Catherine was awakened by Pannis's voice, smiled gratefully, poured herself a glass of white wine that still exuded coldness, picked up a biscuit, and said while shaking the glass a little distractedly to warm up the frozen wine: "I was thinking about what happened on the other side of Dilsalen, and I was guessing the purpose and intent of the murderer. ”

"Any ideas?" Pannis sat back down, poured himself a glass, and casually asked, "Or any suggestions?"

"Actually, Vivien should have gone with her. Catherine said, "The murderer is a mage, and he uses a magic array, so it would be very helpful to have Vivien there." Although Lina is also a spellcasting class, the difference between the casters of the priest and the mage is too great for them to have in common. ”

"There's no need. Pannis shook his head and said: "I don't think there will be any substantial progress on this trip, the murderer has been broken and has attracted the attention of the official." It is unlikely that they will continue to commit crimes there. ”

"Here's the key. Catherine said: "I was just wondering, what is the purpose of the murderer, and what is the basis for him to select the location of the crime? If it is to undermine the prestige of the local authorities, then maybe it is possible to stay there and continue to commit crimes." Remember, several incidents that have been discovered now. The locations are all within the Commonwealth of Neville. ”

"We only found out, and I think it's not just a few times, maybe there are more around the world. "Of course, there is no evidence yet, and we can only judge it when the results of the guild's investigation around the world come out," Pannis said. ”

"Forget it. There's no point in saying this now, it's just a guess, so let's wait until you investigate. Catherine smiled and shook her head: "Let's be happy, I'm going to break through, Golden High Rank, and the time should be after this period of weakness has passed." ”

"Congratulations. Pannis was stunned for a moment and exclaimed: "I didn't expect you to accumulate for so long, and you were actually hit by a cow to break through, hahahaha." ”

"Hey. Catherine glared at Pannis: "Although I am still in the weak stage, it is still no problem to swing a sword and cut people." ”

"I was wrong. Please forgive me. Pannis immediately admitted his mistake and did not hesitate.

"Too lazy to scold you. Catherine glanced at Pannis, and said with some hesitation: "After breaking through, you will have to face the biggest difficulty of the legendary level, and only by breaking through the legendary level can you be regarded as a real world-class powerhouse." I don't know if I have the possibility of being promoted to Legend, after all, there are only sixteen years left before the deadline for promotion at the age of forty. By the way, no one has ever explained to me why there is no hope for life if you don't become a legend at the age of forty? I asked a lot of people, but they couldn't answer why. ”

Actually, this rule only works for humans. Or rather, this rule itself is what humans have summed up for themselves. Pannis explains: "It has to do with the physical condition of the human being. Advancing to the Legend level often means breaking through the limits of the human body in some aspects, and if you want to break through the limit, you must first reach that limit. And this boundary, which represents the extreme of the normal human body, is actually very difficult to reach. It's hard to break through even if you arrive. The level of forty years old represents the best state of the human body, people reach the peak of their physical state at the age of twenty, last for more than ten years, and then begin to decline around the age of forty. Therefore, if you want to break through the limits of your body, you must need to be at the peak of your body, and if you can't even break through the peak state. When it begins to decline, there is even less chance. ”

"Well, actually, I didn't understand. Catherine stuck out her tongue like a little girl: "What limit, what peak?"

"It's hard to explain, you'll know when you reach the Golden Rank, or if you ask Vivien, she'll definitely have touched the line. Pannis said: "To put it in layman's terms, that is, after you reach the golden high level, you will find that there is no road in front of you, only a wall, break that wall, you can go on, and if you can't break it, you can only stay in the same place for the rest of your life." If you want to break, you need to be in the best state of the body, and after the age of forty, it will slowly decline, and you will never be in the best condition. I guess it's easier to understand. ”

"Pretty much understood. Catherine suddenly smiled, stared at Pannis, and said, "However, you really ......"

"Hey. Pannis glared.

"Well, I don't say anything, I don't ~know~ anything. Catherine shrunk back in her chair, squinting and smiling like a little fox.

"Lina is back. Pannis suddenly put down his wine glass and tidied up his sitting posture: "I also brought a guest in, and today is really inexplicably busy." ”

"Please come in. The living room door was pushed open, and Lina was heard to say in a lukewarm tone, "Catherine is inside." ”

Entering the door was a man who looked very status, slightly fat but well-proportioned, with brown hair combed back, a thick beard neatly trimmed, wearing a well-cut black dress, with a certain black top hat, and a calm gaze in his blue pupils. Seeing this person, Pannis, felt a little familiar, and after recalling it for a while, he finally remembered that he had seen him before.

"Mr. Merair. Catherine was familiar with this person, and recognized it at a glance: "Why do you have time to come to us today? ”

Pannis remembered that a few months earlier, when Catherine's elder, the Marquis of Snape, had visited her in the City of Knowledge, he had met John Merrell at a dinner party hosted by the Marquis. He is the operator of one of the three major auction houses in the Holy Capital, the Merrell and Jones Auction House, the contemporary head of the Merrell family, and one of the standing committee members of the Knowledge Capital Business Federation, and has a great deal of power in the business circles of the Holy Capital.

"Of course not. John smiled reluctantly: "There is something I want to entrust to you, something that needs to be kept secret." ”

"Huh? Let me think about it. Catherine's eyes rolled: "I see, the Heart of Time is the goods handled by your auction house, and there are clues, right?" ”

"You all understand me as soon as you see me. John smiled wryly and sighed: "It's about the heart of time." ”

"You talk, I'll get Vivien up. Lina was obviously not interested, and turned around and headed upstairs.

"By the way, go to the basement and talk to Anne. Catherine instructed, "Play down there for a while, don't come up." ”

"Okay, let's talk about it. Catherine saw that Lina waved her hand to signal that she had heard, and turned her attention to John Merair: "What do you want to entrust us with?

"I'll go into more detail. John groaned for a while: "At the beginning of last year, an old customer of ours who has been working together for many years approached me, hoping to hand over the heart of the years to us for auction. He has taken a fancy to several mines in the Neville Federation and the Farrar Empire, and wants to buy them slowly in recent years, but he lacks liquidity, hoping to auction this legendary gem in exchange for liquidity. After many discussions, we decided to auction at the Faith Auction at the end of the year, so that the highest price could be reached, and the customer was very satisfied with our proposal. ”

"Everything was fine, but something went wrong on the day of the auction. John subconsciously loosened his tie, and Pannis took a new glass and handed over a glass of white wine in time. John was drunk in one gulp, and then wiped the sweat from his forehead and continued: "The night before the auction, at eleven o'clock in the morning, I checked all the valuable auction items one last time, especially the gem, and after confirming that there was nothing wrong, I put it in the safe, and it was guarded all night by three Legendary-level masters hired from the Adventurer's Guild with high salaries. Originally, the tradition was that only one Legendary-level master was guarded, but that day, because of this gem, two more masters were specially invited. ”

"Two hours before the auction began, I opened the safe as usual, and the seal of the safe was still intact, the box was still there, and there was no sign of the spell seal on the box. John said with some confusion: "But when I opened the box, the gem was gone." ”

"Huh?" Catherine said in surprise, "everything is intact, it's amazing, how did they do it? Could it be that the gems were transferred by magic?"

"No way. Vivien walked slowly down the stairs with her staff: "Unless the box is engraved with a teleportation circle, it can't be done." Moreover, the auction house's safe should have spatial interference, and it is difficult for teleportation magic to work accurately. ”

"Yes, that's what we think about. John agreed, "It's unlikely that the spell effect, but with three Legendary Masters guarding it, I don't think anyone will be able to steal the gem directly through the safe." So we secretly searched the whole city, and at the same time changed the auction catalogue and replaced the gems. (To be continued.) )

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