Sitting in the carriage and observing the newly awakened city of Lutetia, the smell of soot lingered strongly in the morning air. While to many in this world, it signified development and progress, to Jasper, it reeked of cancer.
There is no Church of Nature in this city, allowing the nobles, factory owners, and capitalists colluding with the city council to be arrogant in this regard.
Heritage Vintage Shop resides on the renowned shopping street in Lutetia City - [Fifth Queen's Avenue], the main road in downtown Lutetia. Walking ten minutes east along this road leads to the genuine dock area. Despite its prime location, business on this street is generally thriving, excluding Heritage Vintage Shop.
The antique shop is situated on the east side of the shopping street, with only an aged signboard displaying the store's name. At the bottom of the signboard, a line of small words reads: [Selling antiques since 1821, Montfort reputation is guaranteed].
"This year is 1865 in the universal calendar and 763 in the Kingdom Golden Garden calendar, making this a 44-year-old store."
A brown cardboard sign with "Open" hangs on the wooden door of the store. Jasper hesitates, knocks on the door, and when no one answers, he opens it and enters.
Amidst the crisp ringing of the bell, Jasper encounters the somewhat disorderly interior. Perhaps the store owner's original intention was orderly rows of shelves, but now the entire store appears cluttered.
Fortunately, there is still space to walk.
"Are you Jasper Rhys?"
Facing the door at the wooden counter, a tall, thin old man with small eyes inquires. Despite his apparent age of at least 60, his face is healthy, and his voice is robust.
"Yes, sir, I am Jasper Rhys. Are you Mr. Montfort?"
The old man at the counter nods.
"Yes. You look younger than in the photo. Okay, now turn around, flip the cardboard outside the door to 'Closed,' then close the door and come over. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir."
He complies, adjusting [Open] to [Closed], then closes the door and walks through the antiques-laden path towards Mr. Montfort.
He waves his hand, opens the folding plate on the counter, and steps out, carrying a large bunch of keys threaded with black wire towards the dark wooden door on the room's side.
Jasper follows suit.
Behind the door lies a small yard. Alongside piled corrugated cardboard boxes is a low tiled house. "I live there."
He points to the upper floor of the store Jasper just exited, with two rusty red copper steam pipes extending upwards along the wall.
"This is a warehouse for the antique shop."
Then he points to the tiled house.
"I am Henry de Montfort, the owner of this place, your employer, and guide. Any questions?"
He looks at Jasper calmly.
"No."
"Very good. You are a smart guy."
He nodded and led Jasper back to the store.
He returned to the counter and fumbled with it for a moment. With a click, a downward passage was revealed on the ground on one side. Judging from the style, this should be a converted cellar.
"Why are there all these doors?"
Montfort certainly couldn't hear Jasper's complaints. He didn't allow Jasper to go down there alone and disappear. Five minutes later, he emerged with a roll of paper.
"Sit down."
Two chairs were casually pulled up, and the two of them sat in front of the counter.
"This is your apprenticeship contract."
He handed over a page of paper. Jasper looked at it twice and realized it was the one Ole had brought yesterday, so he signed his name.
"I need to make it clear. In the future, you will not only follow me here to learn the knowledge of the Gifter but also acquire knowledge of antique appraisal. Is that okay?"
"Yes."
Jasper nodded immediately.
A smile appeared on the old man's face, "That's good. In ancient times, the inheritance of the Gifter was based on master and apprentice. At that time, apprentices had many obligations, including but not limited to servants, sleeping attendants, and guards. But it's different now. Righteous Church generously shares knowledge with believers. I merely provide you with a learning place and guide you on the right path. But correspondingly, as a guide, I don't have to share my unique ability with you."
"Sir, I'm not very clear about abilities. What does a unique ability mean?"
Jenkins asked immediately.
"Young man, how much do you know about supernatural abilities?"
Montfort asked in return.
"Don't know at all."
Jasper answered honestly.
Montfort rubbed his eyes and nodded, "Okay, I'll start from the beginning, and listen carefully. Only gifted individuals in this world can use supernatural powers. This is because we can mobilize our own spirits. As for the spirit, everyone has their own answer to what it is, and you have to find it yourself. Correspondingly, by knowing ourselves and the world, we can enhance our own spirit, thereby improving the level of the gifter. There can only be three abilities Level 0 gifters. After upgrading, every odd number will increase by one, and every even number will increase by two. For example, I am now a Level 4 Gifter and can have nine abilities, but in fact, I have only selected seven abilities to learn so far."
He lied. After Jasper discreetly opened the [Eye of Truth], there were eight light spots in front of the old man.
"Ability is not only available through those light points. As long as any gifted person knows the corresponding method, they can also use abilities can also mastered through rituals. However, rituals not only require precious materials and specific locations but also involve the transformation of spirits and abilities. The efficiency is also far lower than using the gifter's ability directly. Let me give you an example. Church news indicates that your soul's essential ability is healing?"
"Yes."
Jasper admitted.
"There are many healing rituals preserved by the church. The simplest one requires silver-leaf grass, three-legged slugs, etc., arranged under the moonlight at the time of the full moon. Those within the ritual range can be healed within three days, expediting the healing of lacerated wounds. However, the spirits required for the ceremony demand at least two first-level gifters."
"That's why healing abilities are so precious."
Jasper suddenly understood.
"The gifter's light point ability can be obtained through learning, requiring corresponding rituals and extensive practice to truly condense the light point. The gifter's ability is the biggest secret of the individual. Besides the abilities obtained from the church, everyone has more or less other ways, and these abilities that only you can master are unique abilities."
Like a "legal" gathering.
Through Montfort's explanation, Jasper understood that there are two ways for gifters to improve themselves. One is to expand the upper limit of their own spiritual storage, upgrading after reaching a certain limit. Spirits are akin to a combination of blue bars and experience bars. Rituals, abilities, and even the use of extraordinary items consume spirits, making upgrades challenging. The second is to learn new abilities, much like Jasper becoming a scribe now. According to the rules, he can go to the church and choose a white basic ability collected by the church.
If he completes an important task, achieves special honor, or makes a significant contribution, he will gain more opportunities.
There are numerous ways to accumulate spirit abilities, even with the twelve righteous churches having different methods. The Church of Knowledge and Books uses, involving copying a peculiar text. This method proves useful, at least below level 3. Montfort didn't elaborate on this, so Jasper naturally understood he wasn't qualified to know yet.
"Spirit, the meaning of this word is closer to the world consciousness claimed by the church that believes in [Spirit Of Nature]. Accumulating spirit, essentially, means bringing yourself close to the world or letting the world come close to you. In a very early period, gifters used methods such as visualizing all things in nature or traveling around the world on their own. However, this primitive method is very inefficient, though absolutely safe. In today's era, the Righteous Church provides believers with the most effective tools. The quick method is not very dangerous as long as it is done as required.
The simplest way to bring the world closer to you is to use the uncanny environment to prevent uncanny objects from forming. The church has already informed me about you, so remember that you seemed to have something extra when you left the strange realm."
"Yes, at that time, there was a stream of cold air entering my back. It turned out to be a spirit."
Montfort nodded, then suddenly thought of something, "Remember, don't use those methods of accumulating spirits from unknown sources. They may be effective, but they are also likely to be related to false gods. The methods of false gods are always flawed."
After speaking, he handed Jasper a black-and-white photo and a stack of white paper. The photo seemed to be part of a broken stone tablet, and the tadpole-like words on it made Jasper's temples throb.
"This is the text. From now on, you can copy it with me a hundred times a day. No more, otherwise it will cause irreversible damage to the body. Neither the photo nor the written blank paper can be taken away, or the church will severely punish you."
Jasper wouldn't even look at the photo if he didn't have to. He intended to rely on his memory to write down the tadpole essays silently, but he found he would forget them as soon as his eyes left them.
"The so-called righteous gods are not related to the indescribable gods in the previous life, right?"
He guessed fearfully.
"The gifters of this era are very different from those in the past. It is not the right approach to just accumulate spirits and acquire abilities. Therefore, you also need to spend a lot of time learning grammar, arithmetic, fighting, etiquette, noble knowledge, etc. Courses, of course, are arranged by the church, and you don't have to pay anything."
"But sir, I'm here to work."
In reality, Jasper is afraid of returning to campus. Although he is confident in arithmetic, other courses are quite perplexing.
"Yes."
Montfort looked at Jasper's troubled expression and laughed, "Relax, young man. This is not asking you to go to school. In the words of the Bishop last time, it is just to improve your overall ability. And we believe in [Mastermind], lifelong learning is inevitable. Don't worry, these courses are still far away for you. Now that you have just joined the job, you still need to get used to the life of a scribe. These won't start for about two months."
Jasper smiled wryly and nodded, very concerned about what the so-called grammar courses and noble etiquette courses would entail.
"That's all for today."
He clapped his hands to grab Jasper's attention.
"From now on, your daily schedule is to arrive here before 7:30 every day and clean up. There usually won't be many guests in the morning, so you just sit here and copy that text. Before lunch starts, I will select some necessary items. There are books for you to read, some about Gifters, and some about antique identification. I will provide lunch. If there are no guests after the lunch break, I will personally guide you about these old items. If there are guests, you don't have to speak. Be patient and learn business skills, and you can leave at half-past six in the evening. Is that okay?"
"Yes, sir."
Jasper nodded, a full day.
"By the way, where do you live now?"
Montfort asked again.
"Copper Lane, in Montrose Quater."
"Oh?" Montfort put down the papers in his hand, "Live with your parents?"
He asked this because at Jasper's age, it was absolutely impossible for him to rent or buy property there independently.
"Yes."
Jasper was a little ashamed.
"You are 20 years old this year, right? I'll give you a suggestion: move out and find a cheap apartment nearby. In the future, you will find that even scribes like us who prefer clerical work will face many unexpected situations. There are many tasks, some of which are very dangerous. If you don't want your family to be implicated and are willing to save the time of traveling across Lutetia City to come to my place every day, then live by yourself."
Jasper has also pondered this issue. While he does not want to relinquish his identity, spending extended periods with family members he knows well will inevitably reveal his flaws. Moving out seemed like a good idea, and it would be easy to stay in touch with everyone in the same city.
He considered the original owner's savings over the years but surprisingly found that he seemed to have squandered all his pocket money. Including the advance salary received yesterday, the cash at his disposal will not exceed 10 Flints. Although Mr. Montfort would give him 1 Flint a week as "pocket money" as an apprentice, this was not enough to improve Jasper's financial situation.
'Is this enough for me to live independently?'
He thought about it and said to Montfort, "What you said makes sense, but I may not have enough money. I need to discuss this matter with my family."
Montfort nodded understandingly and did not continue the topic.
In the following time, Montfort opened the side door of the room and went to the warehouse behind the yard to do something unknown, while Jasper took a rag and carefully wiped all the items in the store.
In Montfort's words, what was on display were all worthless junk, or in other words, modern crafts, so Jasper didn't have to be so careful.
Although he looked at the pile of things with a glimmer of hope in his spare time, he still didn't see any brilliance.