103. Transformation Earrings (4200)

“Knight?”

“All right, I understand.”

A hoarse female voice echoed from the rooftop, her low tone carrying a charm unlike that of a young girl—like grains of sand slowly falling through the air.

At the Golden Spiral organization’s headquarters, atop the tallest building on the roof terrace, a tall figure stood silently, gazing down and taking in the entire compound.

She wore a black wool coat draped over her shoulders and a white scarf around her neck. A gentle breeze brushed against her finely sculpted, sharp features. She wore almost no makeup, only thickly darkened eyebrows, which made her presence even more imposing.

With her arms crossed, she stared silently into the distance, like a lion surveying its territory.

“Do you know him?” she suddenly muttered to herself.

The rooftop remained silent, no one responded.

She continued as if speaking to herself, “I never thought there were still remnants of the Golden Spiral from back then. I thought they were all dead that year…”

Silence lingered, then she spoke again.

“Is that so? I see. In that case, by seniority, I should call him uncle. Should I treat him specially? After all, he’s an old member of the organization…”

It seemed she was conversing with someone only she could hear.

The breeze rippled again.

After a moment, she slowly nodded.

“I’ll put this matter aside for now and let personnel handle his assignment normally. We’ll deal with the current troubles first. The Holy Flame Society has been growing increasingly rampant lately; we must join forces with the other two factions to curb their arrogance! I’ve decided to launch the plan tomorrow night…”

“…”

“I understand, I’ll be careful.”

“…”

“With the Dead Man’s Space, unless three experts of the same level attack me simultaneously, I can retreat easily…”

“…”

“Don’t overwork yourself. Keep your mind clear. I don’t want to resurrect a fool…”

“…”

A wisp of white smoke slowly drifted from her nostrils, twisting like a small snake in the air.

She glanced at the smoke and smiled faintly, “Don’t smoke inside my body, dear…”

****************

The next day, the sun shone brightly; unlike yesterday, there was no sudden rain. White clouds drifted lazily across the blue sky, resembling fluffy cotton candy.

The sun was partly hidden, casting a gentle light—not too fierce, not too dim.

At the Golden Spiral organization’s southwestern side stood a modest four-story building, much shorter and more secluded than the surrounding structures.

On the fourth floor, beside a window of a room, Xiu Nan held a cup of tea, gazing into the distance.

Because this area was near the perimeter wall, his view extended beyond it to a stretch of rolling green hills, like a thick carpet dotted with colorful wildflowers.

A few butterflies danced lightly above.

Xiu Nan took a sip of tea and set down the cup.

He glanced at his right hand, where two rings adorned his fingers. One was an apprentice ring that increased his attention by five percent; the other was the Golden Spiral’s insignia, essentially a personal ID card.

A silver band engraved with the code “B122.”

This indicated a B-rank member, number one hundred twenty-two. It was unclear if this number represented rank or order of joining.

Yesterday, he had reported his name, but the higher-ups at Golden Spiral seemed indifferent, simply assigning him according to his reported skills and saying they would meet again in a few days.

Xiu Nan suspected the organization was gearing up for some major move. Combining system mission details and what Qiu Lin had said, it was clear: the Holy Flame Society and the three major forces of Nilodo were in a tense standoff, calm on the surface but turbulent underneath.

Like a volcano’s crater, ready to erupt at any moment.

Their ultimate goal was an ancient miraculous creature called the Nightshade Raven. Legend held that possessing it granted immense benefits—even glimpses into forbidden arts: immortality, resurrection, bending rules...

But the Nightshade Raven had yet to appear in the world. Hence, the four sides maintained an uneasy balance for now.

They infiltrated the Nilodo government extensively, casting nets everywhere, sending spies, buying informants.

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But these efforts were limited to mid- and low-level members.

This time, however, the Holy Flame Society was exposed as having a mole within Golden Spiral’s upper echelon, breaking the fragile truce of the past few months. Golden Spiral would inevitably retaliate.

Once Golden Spiral moved, the other two forces would respond, and the Holy Flame Society would have to counter.

Hopefully, it would only be a minor scuffle; otherwise, it could ignite full-scale war and throw Nilodo into chaos.

Through Qiu Lin, Xiu Nan learned that a high-ranking Golden Spiral member had apparently defected to the Holy Flame Society. Golden Spiral would surely punish this traitor—their hatred for betrayers ran deep.

He finished his tea, exhaling the steam.

“Knock knock knock…”

A sudden knock came at the door.

Xiu Nan opened it to find an elderly man with graying hair and a goatee. He was short and thin, about shoulder height to Xiu Nan, appearing to be in his seventies.

This was Valen, a rune master recruited into Golden Spiral two years ago.

“Ka Xiu, your lab equipment must still have many gaps, right? How about I and two other old fellows gather some backup gear for you to use temporarily? Ordering your own will take at least half a month…”

Valen looked kindly. The other two rune masters were equally gentle. Upon Xiu Nan’s arrival, all three immediately showed friendliness.

This was unexpected—he had anticipated some clichéd rivalry or sabotage.

Like Valen fearing his position threatened and trying to intimidate or undermine him to teach him respect for elders.

But the reality was quite the opposite.

Yesterday at noon, when Xiu Nan arrived at the rune lab building, the three old men had welcomed him warmly, asking questions, showing concern, inviting him to meals, helping clean.

They were as amiable as family elders.

Only this morning did Xiu Nan realize they were eager for newcomers. Although Golden Spiral was mostly psychics, there were also many rune masters—several hundred in total, given Nilodo was a city of millions.

Golden Spiral had only three rune masters; during calm times, they managed fine, but the past six months had been tense with endless conflicts and skirmishes. The three elders were overwhelmed, working from dawn till dusk.

Repairing damaged runes, adding temporary battle circuits, nurturing combat runes—all fell to them.

They were swamped.

Now with Xiu Nan joining, sharing the workload was a blessing. No time for petty scheming.

After a while, Valen was persuaded to leave.

Xiu Nan declined their backup equipment, instead commissioning someone responsible to purchase raw materials for instruments. He planned to build a simple ancient-style lab himself.

He wasn’t yet adept with modern rune devices; for efficiency and quality, he preferred those he knew. But he would gradually learn modern instruments.

He glanced around his lab.

The space was bare, with only the most basic experimental facilities—no expansions.

Currently, Xiu Nan couldn’t research his Pale Knight; he could only tinker with small projects.

Inside the lab:

*Clang clang clang*—the sound of a hammer striking metal.

*Buzz buzz buzz*—the rune workshop powered up.

*Swish swish swish*—a carving pen swiftly cut through the air.

*Huff*—a low-grade stabilizing gas nurtured the runes.

Then polishing, testing, re-melting, and finishing.

On a silver metal tray before the instruments lay a modest earring. It looked plain: a clip-on earring with a diamond-shaped metal plate beneath, matte in finish.

On the metal plate, a tiny black dot was visible.

Under a magnifying glass, the dot revealed itself as a rune—like a rune miniaturized by over ten times.

Its shape resembled a sturdy shield, ancient and heavy, edges smooth and rounded.

Xiu Nan picked it up, noting a faint residual warmth. After careful examination, he raised his hand and clipped the earring onto his right earlobe.

*Hum…* a gentle buzzing sounded inside his mind.

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Xiu Nan entered a meditative state.

The world slowed; birdcalls outside stretched unnaturally long. He looked at his palm.

A faint light membrane covered his skin, shimmering with a subtle ring energy.

The ring energy membrane—the mark of a rune master!

Yet Xiu Nan had not activated the ring energy within his sacred bone ring. He only used the superpower Meditative Time, but the defensive light membrane still appeared.

Awakened psychics differ from rune masters; psychics lack this protective membrane, while rune masters automatically generate it during energy conversion.

Each has pros and cons. Take Meditative Time, for example: an awakened psychic like Xiu Nan improves rapidly with almost no bottlenecks until reaching their limit, but their defense is weak and development unbalanced.

If one studies the Meditative Time power model and compresses it into a rune, they gain a protective shell that grows with their power, greatly enhancing survival chances.

But the drawback is that advancement depends on their own research depth, and the rune’s effect may be weaker than the original psychic power.

Overall, psychics are at a disadvantage. Few possess strong combat abilities; most are support types. Without the ring energy membrane’s protection, support psychics are almost useless in large-scale battles.

At best, they are only slightly stronger than fully armed ordinary people.

Bullets can kill psychics; a few shooters could take one down.

Rune masters, however, especially those adept in defense, can withstand hundreds of bullets without their ring energy membrane breaking through. The gap is enormous.

Of course, this assumes ordinary firearms; special cases differ.

Xiu Nan exited meditation, weighed the ancient earring in his hand, and pocketed it.

The earring, called the Conversion Earring, was a small device taught by Professor Stigma. The rune world in the dual-saint era was highly advanced, with the Milodan school leading in innovation. Their professors were research fanatics, even inventing life-sustaining runes.

The Conversion Earring acted as a bridge. Psychics’ powers communicate with the mysterious ring, but their superpower activation bypasses the gradual stimulation of ring energy circuits like runes, expressing only the final destructive force.

The Conversion Earring replaced this process, channeling ring energy through itself, generating a defensive light membrane scaled to the psychic’s power—similar to the protective membranes rune masters have.

Unfortunately, the Conversion Earring’s defense could not match that of rune masters of the same level.

Depending on craftsmanship, a qualified Conversion Earring could reach 30 to 70% of a ring master’s light membrane effect.

This refers to psychics with first-ring energy strength; second- and third-ring are different. Xiu Nan had never encountered above third-ring during his studies.

The Conversion Earring was invaluable to psychics—no similar device existed in this era. Likely, a break in knowledge transmission between eras.

It was perfect for Golden Spiral, where psychics were the majority.

Xiu Nan’s motivation was simple: gain points and merit. Repairing and upgrading the rune lab, searching for compatible second-ring mount runes, even exchanging star fragments required many points.

Indeed, Golden Spiral had star fragments!

In an organization rich with psychics, some gain power through unusual means—innate awakening, accidental awakening, or contact with star fragments. Some with limited talent still touched high-energy fragments, ending up with surplus power to hand over to the organization.

Xiu Nan hadn’t forgotten his shared abilities.

It would be a waste not to train more psychics.

***********

As the sun shifted, sunlight dimmed in the lab.

At dusk, Xiu Nan had successfully crafted five Conversion Earrings, all arranged on the metal tray.

He poured himself a cup of red tea, resting briefly.

*Knock knock knock…*

“Come in, the door’s not locked.”

With a creak, a beautiful girl entered.

Qiu Lin said with a serious expression, “Ka Xiu, there’s a mission tonight. The entire combat unit must deploy immediately…”

“The Invincible Grand Chieftain”

“Oh?” Xiu Nan set down his porcelain cup and asked, “Are you from the combat unit?”

“Mm.” Qiu Lin nodded uncertainly.

“Perfect, take these five earrings and try them out.”

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