From the Ship of Fools to Earl of Wugang

Silver-lead amalgam (a product of alchemy), a material made from pure silver, pewter, and other alloys. Refined by Harden Perry, it is of very high quality.

【Crystal-topped scallop (spiritual material): Contains faint deep-sea spiritual radiation, well-preserved.】

Edmund knocked on the glass of the display case and waved to Perry, who was standing not far away.

He had other plans for the agate mentioned in the recipe, so there was no need to buy all of this gemstone mineral here at once.

"Mr. Perry, name your price for these two items," Edmund said bluntly.

The shrewd alchemist quoted a hefty price, one that Edmund was quite familiar with. Just as they were haggling, a discordant voice broke in from the side.

"Young man, when you buy these two things, you should at least understand some basic rituals, right?"

A middle-aged man wearing a monocle and with an arrogant expression approached, his eyes filled with no kindness.

Walter Finch, a qualified "medium" with only a rudimentary grasp of the spiritual realm...

Almost at the same moment, Edmund felt a sense of euphoria.

[The psychic experiences I was currently experiencing through "mediumship"... have been exempted!]

The blissful feeling vanished instantly, Walter's smile froze, and a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.

Edmund sneered inwardly, but remained outwardly calm, instead displaying a perfectly timed expression of surprise.

"Ritual basis? Mr. Finch, I bought the materials for specimen preservation. Are you referring to a ritual that requires official reporting—a heretical practice?"

Upon hearing this, several bystanders' eyelids twitched, and people further away also turned their heads.

Walter's face grew increasingly grim, and Edmund was about to press his advantage when a voice rang out from the side, "Wait, gentlemen!"

He turned his head and saw a middle-aged man wearing a gorgeous purple silk vest and sporting a goatee striding towards him.

Kane Holloway, 46 years old, is a contract holder who has stepped into the first stage of the "Path of Contractors" and is also the "caretaker" arranged by the "Balance Alliance" for the Gulfstream City gathering...

The "caregiver" came directly between the two, gently pulled them apart, and then stood in the middle.

"Gentlemen, please do not tarnish the reputation that this small, secluded place has worked so hard to build. I hope to reach a suitable agreement with you both."

Finch's expression shifted to a fawning smile, though Edmund could tell he wasn't very good at it.

"Mr. Holloway, you've misunderstood, I just..."

"There's no misunderstanding, Mr. Finch." The caregiver twitched his mustache and wagged his index finger, decisively denying the claim. "We all know your purpose, so there's no need to say more. The club will have a hard time entertaining you for the next two weeks."

Walter chuckled twice and slunk back into the crowd.

The caregiver turned to Edmund: "This... stranger, please forgive the local assembly for not taking timely action to prevent this unfriendly guest from infringing on your rights. To help you forget this unpleasant experience, we would like to offer a small apology."

He pulled a few bills from his pocket and handed them to Perry, the materials merchant who was standing there dumbfounded: "The two items this gentleman bought will be paid for by the assembly."

Edmund raised an eyebrow; he hadn't expected this encounter to have such an unexpected gain.

Perry immediately packed up the silver lead salt and crystal-topped clams, while the caretaker held the package in his hand and looked at Edmund.

"There's one more small matter, Mr. Blake—please allow me to address you that way—the local club needs to conduct some member screenings over the next two weeks. Could you please postpone your visit for another two weeks?"

Edmund tilted his head indifferently: "Okay, I accept this condition."

Satisfied, the other party handed over the materials to him, allowing Edmund to leave the club with the materials and fake identification.

After leaving the club, Edmund was able to check into a respectable hotel using his "Evan Black" credentials.

At the hotel restaurant, Edmund ordered a lavish dinner: thick-cut steak, buttered lobster tail with truffle mashed potatoes, and a glass of fine vintage red wine.

Edmund sighed contentedly as the tender, juicy beef melted in his mouth.

He has finally returned to another stage from being a patient on the Fool's Ship, and memories of his most spirited period after his transmigration are slowly returning.

Back in his room, Edmund locked the door and drew the curtains, then began to draw a rather large symbol in ink on the bathroom tiles, as he remembered it.

Half an hour later, a somewhat simple pattern was drawn on the ground, but the flow of information pieced together a complete picture in my mind.

[The incomplete first tier of the advancement ceremony, belonging to the Traveler's Path, corresponding to the class: Traveler]

The further the climber is from the place where they were first recorded, acknowledged, and named, the easier it is for the ritual to be established.

[To use this ritual to connect with the spirit world, at least twenty birds must be released. These can be pigeons, crows, or hawks. Before releasing them, all birds must be coated with a mixture of silver, lead, and salt in silver-gray ink and kept for seven days.]

The ceremony requires wearing an amulet made of crystal-topped sea scallops and swallowing an agate cut into a regular 22-sided cube within 22 minutes of its release.

You are a perfect fit for it.

The traveler's journey, the traveler.

As a time traveler, he was indeed "a stranger in a strange land," and this so-called "path" was probably quite suitable for him.

But a problem arises: releasing twenty birds coated with special ink will definitely cause quite a commotion.

Doing this in a hotel in a densely populated metropolis like Gulfstream is simply a pipe dream.

He needs a secluded suburb, and he also needs time to keep the birds for seven days.

Edmund's mind raced, and soon a suitable candidate came to mind.

He decided to contact this "old friend" tomorrow. If everything went smoothly, the benefits would not only be a suitable venue and his hidden savings of 30,000 to 50,000 yuan, but a hundred times more, enough for him to comfortably build a business while crippling his arch-rival.

After figuring all this out, a wave of exhaustion washed over him. Edmund took a nice hot bath and fell into a deep sleep on the soft bed.

-----------------

Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away at the port of Liugang Town, the silent Audrey was shrouded in a heavy atmosphere under the cover of night.

In the captain's cabin, Sister Maria handed a cup of tea to the weary nun before her, offering gentle words of comfort:

"We've been at sea for a long time, and with today's fatigue, your joints must really need a rest."

The nun, showing early signs of aging, took the teacup, drank it all in one gulp, and let out a long sigh.

"I'm sorry, Madam, the town police haven't found Lane Hall in bed number 17. They seem to be suffering from some kind of mass insomnia, and their manpower is nearly paralyzed."

"The primary responsibility for the failure to take preventative measures that allowed the patient to escape lies with me... You mentioned a 'mass insomnia' outbreak in the town; is that also the reason the port refused to provide supplies?"

"Yes, they believe that local food and water cause this insomnia. The Julia sisters bought as many canned and bottled goods as possible, but they were more expensive."

"She did her best, and we will overcome all difficulties together."

Looking at the nanny with her eyes downcast, the nun hesitated for a moment, a gesture that was quickly noticed by the former: "Speak your mind, sister."

The nun explained, "It's like this, Mother... I met an investigator from the Republic's Ninth Bureau at the police station. He was sent to investigate local insomnia."

Seeing the nun listening intently, the nun's hesitation quickly vanished: "He seems to have sensed that we're looking for someone. I'm wondering if we could use him to entrust the Ninth Bureau with the tracking?"

The old woman was silent for a moment, then nodded: "Then, let's do it this way. I'll send a report to headquarters tonight explaining this, and you can give the investigator the information from the 17th tomorrow. I'm sure the Ninth Bureau won't overlook this situation."

"Yes, Granny."