79: Chapter 17 Apprenticeship Path

On the sixth day after the full moon, Lu Li officially moved out of his cramped single room in East Borough, which rented for two shillings a week.

His luggage was extremely simple: a tin suitcase, a canvas backpack, and the copy of outline of loens modern history with the title page of the counterfeit notebook tucked inside were his entire belongings.

When he returned the keys, the white-haired, slightly balding Landlady looked him up and down for a moment, her tone carrying a rare touch of gentleness: "You are the most well-behaved tenant I've ever seen in my life. You never owe rent and never make noise. If you ever return to East Borough in the future, I will keep this room for you."

"Thank you, ma'am."

Lu Li nodded slightly in thanks, picked up his suitcase, and slowly walked down the rust-spotted iron stairs.

As he passed the second floor, he happened to meet the textile factory girl who went to work at five o'clock every morning pushing her door open. Seeing the luggage in his hand, she merely nodded indifferently as a greeting, then lowered her head, tightly clutching the half loaf of white bread wrapped in old newspaper in her arms, and walked down in a hurry, her entire being filled with the day-in, day-out exhaustion and numbness of a bottom-tier laborer.

Bidding farewell to the crowded and noisy East Borough, Lu Li's new residence was located in River Bay District, in an apartment building adjacent to the Old Wharf.

The new room was much more spacious than his single room in East Borough, with an extra window facing the Hoi River that offered an open view, at the cost of an extra two shillings of rent per week.

This newly added expense came at just the right time.

After Old Kohler and his daughter moved to settle around the church on Mingde Street, they immediately cleared all their past outstanding accounts at the East Borough bread stall. The stall owner was a gray-haired elderly woman, who was also the bakery owner well-known to everyone in East Borough.

When she gathered all the pence Lu Li had previously advanced into her apron pocket, she flipped open her yellowed old ledger and lightly crossed out Old Kohler's name with a pencil, wiping away all the old debts.

She and Lu Li had long since reached a tacit understanding: this monthly settled debt was just enough to offset his rent difference for several months. The excess was converted into various scattered pieces of intelligence about East Borough and the Dock District that she collected year-round, serving as a disguised form of information compensation.

Before the old debts were settled and the dust settled, Lu Li had specially made a trip to Warehouse No. 4.

At that time, Old Kohler was squatting on the cold stone steps of the warehouse, carefully breaking the free white bread he received into two halves. He tucked the larger piece close to his body to save for his daughter who lived alone, while he slowly chewed the remaining small half against the cold wind.

Seeing Lu Li, Old Kohler had a reassuring smile on his face and softly informed him of his recent situation.

He had escaped his precarious status as a temporary porter and successfully joined a newly opened freight company in the Dock District, signing a formal labor contract. He could now receive a stable, fixed weekly salary, no longer needing to scrape by on odd jobs.

The boss of this company was a merchant from Tingen who had been deeply involved in dock trade for many years and was familiar with local rules. The salary and benefits he offered far exceeded those of other peers at the docks.

Lu Li did not say much upon hearing this, his expression remaining calm, only silently committing this piece of information to heart—

A new merchant from Tingen, a new employer at the docks—this was a brand-new clue for him regarding the client.

...

The new apartment in River Bay District was much quieter.

The window frame directly faced the winding Hoi River. Every evening, the setting sun's afterglow would spread across the river's surface, and the sparkling, gold-like ripples swayed with the waves, gently diluting the cold and depressing atmosphere of Backlund's lower depths.

Lu Li calmly put all his belongings in order, sorting and classifying his old items one by one.

As for the already flattened and disassembled jiaowei sealed box, all the useless outer casing was disposed of, leaving only the thick lead lining to continue sealing the copper bottle containing holy water, isolating spirituality from the outside atmosphere.

The remaining debris of the snake emblem token was properly sealed by him in a lead evidence bag and placed side by side with that Backlund counterfeit notebook in the same drawer, safely stored away.

Deep inside his waist pouch, the fragment of the worm of time still maintained a regular and faint pulsation, quiet and hidden. Since stripping away the Apprentice Pathway Sequence 9 characteristic fragment, the core abilities of his main Pathway—Sequence 7: Swindler—had not been affected in the slightest, remaining as stable as ever.

The next evening, twilight fell.

Lu Li walked slowly along the streets of River Bay District, heading in the direction of Water Pump Street.

As he passed the Old Wharf trestle bridge, his steps paused slightly.

In the once gloomy sea where wraiths used to entrench themselves, the dense fog that had shrouded it for many days had mostly dispersed. In this area he had previously used to complete his Marauder Sequence 9 promotion ritual, only a few thin strands of silver-white fog remained, gently floating and drifting in the hazy moonlight.

He took out his portable spirituality detection needle and made a light swipe in the air.

The value returned by the instrument was clear and intuitive: the residual spirituality concentration of the Sea of Wraith tide had already fallen below the minimum entry threshold for the Sequence 9 promotion ritual.

At this rate of dissipation, in at most a week, this temporary ritual site would be completely ruined, with no further value for use.

The time left for her to prepare was already short. He had to gather all the promotion materials before the last few strands of fog completely vanished.

...

The Underground Commercial Street of Water Pump Street in the twilight was far more bustling and prosperous than during the day.

The entire main street was brightly lit, with shops on both sides fully open. Deep blue phosphorescent stone wall lamps lit up one after another, illuminating the narrow passage with a mysterious and noisy atmosphere, mixed with the unique scent of spices, old wooden items, and Spirit World materials.

Lu Li walked through the bustling main passage, turned into a quiet side alley, and finally stopped in front of Abraham's shop.

Inside the shop, Abraham was looking down, checking last week's inventory accounts. Hearing the movement, he didn't even raise his head, merely tilting his chin slightly, his voice flat and without ripples:

"The Apprentice Pathway Sequence 9 characteristic fragment you wanted has arrived. The supply turnover from the Southern Continent went smoothly, arriving two days earlier than estimated."

With that, he took a small dark cloth pouch out of a drawer and gently pushed it to the center of the table.

Lu Li reached out to pick up the pouch and untied the string.

Lying quietly in his palm was a fingernail-sized crystal fragment, crystal clear all over, with an extremely faint, lustrous white glow lingering on its surface. Its aura was pure and clean, almost identical in spiritual texture to when he had obtained the Marauder Sequence 9 characteristic in Tingen.

Materials for unpopular, low-sequence Pathways had always been scarce in the strictly controlled Backlund underground market, and only an intermediary like Abraham, who held secret channels to the Southern Continent, could easily gather them.

"It has been thoroughly verified." Abraham's pen tip lightly tapped the ledger, his tone certain. "There is no residual spirituality from any previous owner. It is clean and pure, and can be directly used to concoct potions and complete the promotion."

Lu Li raised his eyes: "The price."

"One pound and five shillings," Abraham casually quoted the price, his fingertip sliding across the ledger page. "Unpopular Pathways have very few takers. The price is less than half of the same-tier materials for Marauder, so the cost-effectiveness is high enough."

He wrote down the transaction, then lightly tapped the thick cover of the ledger with his fingertip, supplementing with the latest intelligence:

"The remnant forces of the Aurora Order have shown no unusual movements recently. The black sail ship of Storm Cape is still lurking deep in the reef area, with no signs of approaching the Backlund coastline."

"But the Secret Order's movements have become much more frequent. In recent days, their people have been wandering around the Water Pump Street and Old Wharf areas, visiting secondhand shops one by one, buying fourth epoch imitations of the snake emblem at high prices."

"The style and patterns all match the batch of counterfeit notebooks you previously acquired at Old Eye's shop, and they are offering prices far above the market rate."

Lu Li's fingertips caressed the crystal fragment inside the cloth pouch, his expression showing no waves, his tone indifferent:

"Let them search. The genuine article and the complete token have long since ceased to exist."

He did not reveal to Abraham the fact that he still retained the debris of the token. After a simple word of thanks, he put away the characteristic fragment and turned to walk out of the shop.

Instead of returning to the River Bay District apartment immediately, he changed direction and walked slowly toward Old Eye's secondhand bookstore not far away.

In front of the old bookstore, Old Eye was holding a feather duster, slowly sweeping away the thin dust accumulated on the bookshelves. Hearing the approaching footsteps, he still kept his back to the visitor, as if he had already foreseen his arrival.

"I just replaced and reinforced all the sealing runes of the storage locker last week. There is no issue with safety."

"The people of the Aurora Order have never come to scan and probe again, but the spies of the Secret Order have visited several times. They don't know what is hidden in my storage locker; they are just obsessively searching for all fourth epoch antiques and counterfeit classics with the snake emblem, which naturally includes the two notebooks you took away."

Having said that, Old Eye put down the duster in his hand, bent down to fish out a small, exquisite copper compass from the bottom of the counter, and pushed it in front of Lu Li.

"I received the compass you had the detective send back last time. This one is a newly modified low-level model. It can be driven without the spirituality of the Apprentice Pathway, and its effective range is only a few meters—just enough for you to precisely lock onto the position where the wraith fog strands are densest at the Old Wharf trestle bridge."

"No need to pay," Old Eye said casually. "Just consider it interest on the favor you accumulated when you advanced the bread money for Old Kohler back then."

Lu Li reached out to take the compass and put it into his pocket.

He understood in his heart but did not point it out—Old Eye had clearly already investigated Old Kohler's background and figured out his connection with him.

It was just that the two shared a tacit understanding in their hearts, unspoken.

...

Returning to the River Bay apartment, the night was already deep.

Lu Li spread the newly acquired Apprentice Pathway Sequence 9 characteristic fragment flat on the table, arranging it neatly alongside the already prepared Spirit World dust and remnants of the specter candle.

At this point, all the core advancement materials were fully gathered.

As for the auxiliary consumables such as the rainwater collected on the Night of the Lunar Eclipse and black cat whisker ashes, they were all stock he had brought out from Tingen. With ample reserves, they were fully sufficient for one promotion ritual.

He checked the copper bottle of holy water and the spirituality detection needle he carried with him one by one, confirming they were in perfect condition. Then, he tightly closed the doors and windows, secured the latches, and sat quietly on the edge of the bed.

The promotion ritual of the Apprentice Pathway was not picky about the venue; the sole requirement was to complete the consumption of the potion at the intersecting boundary between reality and the Spirit World.

The residual wraith fog strands at the Old Wharf trestle bridge were currently the most suitable ritual environment in Backlund. Even though the fog was already thin, it was enough to support him in completing his final promotion.

Lu Li flipped open his portable notebook, found the page recording the preparations for the Apprentice promotion, and solemnly drew a checkmark in the column for [Characteristic Fragment in Place].

Outside the window, the night on the Hoi River was quiet and gentle, the night breeze carrying the slight chill of the river water as it blew in through the window.

Leaning back against the chair, he closed his eyes and concentrated, settling his mind, quietly waiting for midnight—the moment when the spirituality of the fog strands was at its densest—silently awaiting the start of a brand-new advancement.

A new journey officially set sail from here.