Chapter 2144: Chapter 2144

Their bout was brief, concluding when the nun conceded defeat. Neither had inflicted any noticeable wounds upon the other; it was as if they had merely been sparring.

Jenkins stood his ground, catching his breath, while the nun remained as placid as a spirit. She retracted her weapon, returned to her chair beside the altar, and offered him his reward.

He had entered the church with eighteen dice. He’d given up the exploration mission, completing only three tasks. Now, his total stood at 198 dice: 17 + 51 + 30 + 100.

Jenkins didn’t leave right away. He lingered, wondering if he could purchase something useful from the nun.

Of course, he hadn’t forgotten the reason he’d chosen this particular street. After stowing the dice, he asked:

“A moment ago, near the street corner, I saw someone in a blood-red robe. Is that person one of the residents?”

“Yes. That is a unique event exclusive to this street. If you can find that person before you leave this area, you will gain access to a special list of items for trade. If you fail, the townsfolk will despise you even more until you leave town, and all your future transactions will suffer a five percent penalty.”

In other words, he would have to pay more dice for purchases, and he would receive fewer dice from completing tasks.

“Do you know where that person is, then?”

The church offered a wide selection of items for trade, even more than the apothecary. Jenkins was flush with dice now, but he had no intention of spending them carelessly. He was focused on finding something that could either help him escape the town sooner or grant a significant boost to his power.

After much deliberation, he spent sixty dice on a dilapidated-looking wooden compass with a metal needle. The compass was plain, lacking any intricate patterns, and it didn’t have the weathered, time-worn feel of a true antique.

Despite its strong spiritual aura, the compass could only be used within the town; it couldn’t be taken out of the Mysterious Realm. At every intersection, it would roughly indicate the shortest route out of town.

However, because the compass was so worn, its directions weren't guaranteed to be accurate. Still, for Jenkins, it was better than nothing. Besides, he was already gambling on luck anyway.

“Come to think of it, I wonder if [The Unknown Path] could point the way out in a single go,” he mused.

The thought was still on his mind as he bid farewell to the nun, but once back on the street, he decided against using the ability. After all, every ability could only be used once, and this one was so valuable it might be crucial in the final confrontation with the Difference Engine.

This street was about as long as the one he’d started on, meaning Jenkins could probably leave in another three or four rolls. But he was genuinely curious about the list of items offered by the figure in the blood-red robe. So, as he threw the dice, he silently hoped for a low number, wanting a little more time to explore.

He rolled a ten, a perfectly average result. Jenkins waited for the stone tiles before him to turn completely blood-red, then set off once more. When he stopped, he found himself in front of another ordinary-looking building. He knocked, and an old woman’s head poked out:

“You despicable outlander.”

After the familiar greeting, nothing unexpected happened. The person in the blood-red robe was nowhere to be seen. He took the blood injection, earned four dice, and moved on.

Jenkins worried he would roll a twenty and shorten his time on this street. But this time, he rolled a one—something he never would have expected.

“I didn’t want to leave the street just yet, but isn’t a one a bit extreme?”

Shaking the small cloth bag in his hand, he took a single step forward, then turned to look at a dilapidated, doorless building.

He took a step to the side to widen his view, taking in the building’s full facade:

“A shop? This town really has all the essential buildings, doesn’t it.”

The building was two stories tall, but just inside, the staircase to the upper floor was broken off, its path blocked by a jumble of debris and old cabinets.

Inside, the only light came from a single, dim oil lamp on a counter directly opposite the entrance. Its flame was no bigger than a pea.

A young, expressionless man in a black robe stood behind it. Aside from the clean, yellow-wood counter, the rest of the shop was a mess of trash and skeletal remains. Here and there, the broken leg of a piece of furniture or part of a drawer was visible. Clearly, any cabinets and shelves that once stood here had long since vanished into the mists of time.

Jenkins approached the counter. When the man didn't react, he rapped his knuckles on the wooden surface. The expressionless youth glanced up at him, then pulled a piece of cardboard from under the counter and set it on top.

Just like at the apothecary’s, this shop only offered items for sale; there were no tasks for Jenkins to earn more dice. The selection of goods was varied and plentiful, but before inquiring about the crude drawings that represented each item, Jenkins was more interested in one thing: a map.

But a quick scan from top to bottom revealed nothing that even remotely resembled a map.

“You don’t have a map?”

he asked, unwilling to give up.

“But you’re a shop, aren’t you?”

“This isn’t the only shop in town, outlander. Respect the local customs.”

The most expensive item was a ‘Purification Potion’ priced at two hundred blood-red dice—something not even the apothecary had offered. This potion could reset an outlander’s condition to the moment they first entered the town. In other words, it could even reverse the subtle, creeping changes caused by the repeated blood injections. Dıscover more novels at novelFirｅ.net

But Jenkins, quite clearly, couldn’t afford it.

The shop’s most peculiar offering—a service, really—was the option to exchange dice for another currency: Sin Coins, specifically [Blood Currency]. The exchange rate, however, was a steep one hundred dice for a single coin. This was ten times worse than the rate the bell ringer had quoted, where one Blasphemy Seed could be traded for ten dice.

This suggested two things: first, that the [Blood Currency] was far more valued by the townsfolk than [Blasphemy Seeds], and second, that while the bell ringer might have been friendlier, he was an unscrupulous merchant all the same.

Jenkins had enough dice to exchange for a single coin, but he still needed them to get around town, so he decided against it. He didn’t leave empty-handed, however. After reluctantly passing on a spatial storage item called the [Ancient Town Backpack], worth sixty-seven dice, Jenkins opted for an old compass needle priced at forty.

This needle could repair the dilapidated compass he’d just purchased at the church for sixty dice. Not only would it fix the compass and make its directional guidance more accurate, but it would also allow the item to be taken out of the town and used in the material world.

With the new needle, the compass would gain a new ability: ‘to locate any object the holder seeks within a small area.’ The term ‘small area,’ however, only covered a space about the size of the shop—not even as large as the living room back at his house.

Still, it would be convenient for finding misplaced keys or a wallet before leaving the house.

Jenkins tried to get some information from the shopkeeper about the person in the blood-red robe, but the man was clearly not as approachable as the nun. He remained tight-lipped, refusing to answer any of Jenkins's questions.

Next, Jenkins tried asking if the man bought items, only to receive a curt reply: “An outlander’s possessions are filthy. I couldn’t sell them even if I bought them.”

After a moment’s thought, he pulled out the bottle of blood wine he’d bought from the cellar for a single die. Since it was a local product, the shopkeeper actually agreed to buy it—for five dice. It wasn’t much, but it was a fivefold return on his investment.

“‘The value of some items clearly changes depending on where you are,’ he mused. ‘Perhaps I should buy some extra goods to carry around... I’ll think about it when I have more dice to spare. Now’s not the time to overthink things.’”

Jenkins filed away this important piece of information, sold the wine, and left the shop, weighing the small cloth bag in his hand.

He rolled the dice again. Perhaps rolling a one had used up all his bad luck, because this time he got a twenty. But since Jenkins was still hoping to find the special merchant in the blood-red robe, such a high number wasn’t entirely good news.

This roll took him quite a distance down the street. When he stopped, he was surprised to find himself in front of yet another unusual building. This one also lacked a door, so Jenkins walked right in.

The house was lit by a single candle. Jenkins followed the light and found a child wrapped in a bundle of tattered blankets, huddled on the floor in a corner near the flame. At the sound of footsteps, the child looked up. For an instant, Jenkins thought he saw a blood-red beast reflected in the child’s murky eyes.

But just as Jenkins, startled, tried to get a better look, the boy quickly lowered his gaze, grabbed a piece of cardboard, and tossed it to him.

The boy’s role was apparently that of the town beggar. Accordingly, none of the items for trade were very valuable, but there was no shortage of bizarre curiosities.

The most expensive items were a pair of shoes, part of a ‘Townsfolk Disguise.’ Further down the list was a special item worth ten dice: a stone cup that could transform any creature’s urine into clear, pure water.

The corner of Jenkins’s mouth twitched. He had no intention of buying that. Scanning further down the list, he saw more items that were strange, but ultimately useless to him.

He decided against buying anything from the beggar. Instead, he took out a single die and placed it in front of the boy:

“Have you seen anyone in a blood-red robe?”