[Store lv2]
[Swift Blade Technique: Originating from a powerful swordsman who battled through countless wars, he eventually crafted this Swift Blade Technique. Though it's only 1-tier, mastering it to perfection can unleash astonishing power. Price: 2000 gold coins.]
[1-tier Life Blessing Potion Recipe: The formula for a Life Blessing Potion, after purchasing, you will learn how to craft the 1-tier Life Blessing Potion. Price: 1000 gold coins.]
[Maiden's Veil: A finely crafted veil with no special properties, it might be collected by those with particular inclinations. Price: 3 gold coins each.]
[Current permanent goods (do not disappear upon refresh)]
[Inferior Perfume: A pungent perfume, despised even by gnomes. Price: 10 gold coins per bottle.]
[Refresh status: Refreshed, cost 200 gold coins to refresh, refresh count: 3/3]
Ranch was initially thrilled by the items that appeared with the free refresh, but his joy faded when he saw his remaining gold coins.
[gold coins: 283]
Gold coins come quickly and disappear even faster.
After spending a thousand gold coins to upgrade the Store, he was left with less than three hundred gold coins.
He couldn't afford the valuable Swift Blade Technique and the Life Blessing Potion recipe in the Store; the only items he could afford were those without any resale value.
Moreover, now refreshing the goods required two hundred gold coins, adding insult to injury.
He must retrieve the dragon's treasure quickly and then deal with that necromancer.
So, upon waking the next day, Ranch and Sophia decided to return to the City of Crimson.
Meanwhile, seizing a moment when the old man was unobservant, the cute girl who had approached Ranch the previous night disclosed her name to him—Vera Marlo.
"Marlo?"
On the way back, Ranch kept pondering the surname.
Sophia, riding beside him, asked curiously, "Is there something wrong with that surname?"
Ranch frowned and replied, "I seem to have heard this surname somewhere before. Wait, I remember now! Marlo, I heard about it from my father, it seems to be related to the Dark Empire's royal family."
"Your father, you mean Mr. Carlin Muir?" Sophia was somewhat surprised.
Carlin Muir, Ranch's biological father, was indifferent towards Ranch.
He was a man who prioritized family interests above all, recognizing only those who could bring benefits to the family, which led him to cast the first approving vote when Hawk decided to expel Ranch.
"Yes, I didn't expect her to have such a background." Ranch was also surprised but didn't dwell on it.
Before long, they returned to the City of Crimson and sensed the surge of two magical auras.
Ranch's expression changed, recognizing the source of the auras: "At Rock Manor!"
He and Sophia immediately set off, and upon arrival, they found the once dilapidated Rock Manor now completely turned into a field of shattered wood planks.
The manor's wooden houses and other structures were destroyed by magical forces, and a frustrated voice echoed, "Damn Tribunal!"
"Charles, give up resisting!" Xina Bella's voice echoed, sounding somewhat weakened.
Ranch and Sophia entered the manor and found the two injured individuals on one side of the estate.
Seeing Ranch arrive, a surge of anger flared up in Xina, mixed with a trace of relief.
She shouted to Ranch, "Ranch, help me quickly! Charles is running low on magical power! If you capture him, you'll be a great hero to the Tribunal!"
Hearing this, Charles's complexion shifted.
He had not anticipated Xina, this stellar magus, to be so troublesome, especially since he had been weakened from a prior injury while vying for an artifact of the Tribunal, rendering him unable to unleash his full might.
And now, two knights had appeared, seemingly acquainted with Xina.
Such misfortune!
Mr. Charles couldn't help but want to curse the goddess of luck when he suddenly heard the young man named Ranch addressing him, "Mister magus, you've been battling in my estate, destroying meticulously crafted buildings here. Don't you think you owe me compensation?"
Compensation?
Does this kid not know who he, Charles, is?
The notorious necromancer, and this brazen youth dares to demand recompense from him!
However, the situation seemed not all bad. Charles replied with a smile, "Mr. Ranch, you are absolutely right. I should offer compensation. Here are twenty thousand gold coins as reparation, to express my most sincere apologies. Of course, if you could assist me, I am willing to give an additional thirty thousand gold coins as a token of gratitude."
With that, he pulled a heap of gold coins from his storage ring and tossed them onto the ground.
"Another thirty thousand gold coins?!" Ranch couldn't help but exclaim, genuinely thrilled.
He had struggled for days to scrape together ten thousand gold coins to buy Rock Manor, yet Charles could casually produce tens of thousands of gold coins.
Was this the wealth of a necromancer? Ranch was tempted.
So, he gathered the scattered pile of gold coins from the ground, his previously three-digit coin count soaring to five digits, a sight immensely satisfying.
With money at hand, it was naturally time to indulge.
Ranch immediately purchased the Swift Blade Technique and the 1-tier Life Blessing Potion formula from the system Store, his mind instantly filling with complex knowledge.
In an instant, Ranch mastered the Swift Blade Technique and learned how to concoct the 1-tier Life Blessing Potion.
Taking a longsword from Sophia, he addressed Charles, "Mr. Charles, I truly appreciate your generosity. To repay the favor of sending a corpse puppet to assassinate me, I'll grant you a swift end!"
"You're that pharmacist!" Charles shrieked in horror, realization dawning too late.
Ranch, wielding the longsword, seemed to attach a breeze to the blade, deceptively gentle yet explosively forceful as it pierced Charles's body, killing him instantly before he could resort to his final life-saving trick.
Sophia watched, eyes shining with admiration.
This was an exceptionally advanced sword technique; when had Ranch mastered it?
On the other side, Xina's gaze was complex, but eventually, she set aside her grudge against Ranch, stepping forward to say, "Ranch, thank you."
"You're welcome. But, Miss Xina, I would like to ask for your help."
Ranch said with a smile, then pointed at Charles's corpse, specifically at a black ring on the corpse's finger – another storage ring.
Xina understood Ranch's intent and reluctantly agreed.
A storage ring requires a specific incantation to open, but upon the owner's death, another magus, leveraging their potent mental energy, can erase the spell.
Xina was capable of doing this.
Ten minutes later, Xina handed the storage ring to Ranch. "It's done," she said.
Ranch took the storage ring, his expression darkening instantly; it contained only a few hundred gold coins, nowhere near the thirty thousand promised. That damned necromancer, such a trickster!
Suppressing the urge to stab Charles's corpse a few more times, Ranch transferred the valuable items from Charles's storage ring, discarded the trivial items, and then tossed the ring to Sophia, saying, "Sophia, this is yours now."
"For me?!" Sophia was incredibly surprised; a storage ring was quite expensive. Xina and Charles could own one because of their unique statuses and formidable powers, with the latter being a necromancer.
"You are with me; who else would I give it to?" Ranch stated.
Hearing this, Sophia's voice softened, rare for her, "Thank you, Lord Ranch!"
Then, Xina spoke up again, "Ranch, could you please hand over the item Charles stole? It's a disc-shaped object, a treasure of the Tribunal."
"Isn't this my spoils of war?" Ranch retorted, not eager to hand it over so readily.
Xina's expression soured as she corrected, "You merely helped with the final blow."
"Is that so?" Ranch said with a smile, then asked, "Then, Miss Xina, may I inquire who provided you with Charles's dagger, and how did you manage to locate Charles so smoothly?"
Xina was immediately startled.
During her pursuit of Charles, she had indeed overlooked this question.
Charles, a man who had managed to escape the Tribunal's pursuit numerous times, was exceedingly cautious.
However, when she used Charles's dagger to track him, it seemed as though Charles was completely unaware of it.
There must be some unknown reason behind this...
Could it have been Ranch's doing?