"Thank you for your high estimation, but I am just a humble wild witch, not worth mentioning."
"Indeed, not worth mentioning."
Lin Suo was stunned. Hadn’t this old guy just agreed with his path? Why did he suddenly change his tune?
"What do you think is the most beautiful part of Miss Jones?"
"Hehe, you lad, I’ve been observing you for a while now. Every time you come to the theater, you specifically watch Miss Jones’ performance."
Lin Suo tentatively said,
"Her big, uh, personality?"
"Haha, good, I knew I wasn’t wrong about you, heroes think alike."
Saying this, the old man became indignant again.
"I’ve sent away Dan, Lily, and Grace... now it’s Miss Jones’ turn."
"Lad, you don’t know, Dan’s legs, Lily’s face, and Grace’s, um, behind—Oh!"
"These damned noble sons, they’ve set their sights on my Jones."
"What is that look in your eyes?!"
"Old man, you’re still vigorous and robust."
"I didn’t need you to tell me that, even at this age... nevermind, why am I even talking to you about this, it’s boring."
Lin Suo was confused.
Shameless old man, truly disrespectful of his age!
An old man and a young man, thus they met, and in no time, they got to know each other and rapidly hit it off.
The old one spoke, the young one listened; the old one’s face flushed with excitement, speaking freely.
The young one listened with great interest, occasionally joining the old man in critiquing the actresses on stage.
Comments like the dresses are too scant, tempting young men to crime.
Faces too flirtatious creating disasters.
This one won’t do, like a piece of paper.
That one’s not bad, her legs are splendid.
Time passed and two hours later, the performance ended, the theater emptied.
The two stood at the theater’s entrance.
The old man, stroking his beard, holding his cane, his face satisfied.
"You lad, I really was right about you, good! You suit my taste."
"I’m glad you’re happy."
"My name is Reynolds Augustus, and yours?"
"I’ll remember you. Right."
Reynolds, with shifty eyes, whisked Lin Suo to the side of the flowerbed and whispered,
"The antiques business is fine, but are you interested in something bigger?"
Lin Suo was startled and immediately felt chills.
Reynolds spoke so softly; it clearly wasn’t about his overt antique business but rather about the fake-for-real price business he had conducted three months prior.
At that time, he had only met Old John once and it was in disguise.
The rest was communicated through notes, specifying where to hide the money and goods, written in Ancient Elf Language.
At that time, he desperately needed the first sum of money to start his enlightenment, it made no sense for him to be targeted.
And he was confident he hadn’t left any evidence behind.
"Forget it kid, it was your first time, and you slipped up."
Reynolds’ voice echoed in Lin Suo’s mind, a First Rank witch’s spiritual transmission! Yet there still was no fluctuation of magic power.
At Reynolds’ age, as a court wizard, he must have reached the Official Level.
The dispersal of people at the theater entrance, with its multitude of nobles, was actually very safe.
Lin Suo couldn’t help but fall into contemplation.
To speak of the very first time, it was actually the forgery of an Ancient Elf Royal Sacrificial Artifact when he was a novice, his techniques not yet mature, and it was Old John who covered the flaws, eventually selling it at a high price at the Antique Association auction.
Old John had run the antique shop for many years, yet he never became wealthy, with average craftsmanship mainly due to Lin Suo’s better handling of details.
Therefore, at the time of the auction, the appraisers only thought the Star Dust had faded due to its age.
But to those who really knew their stuff, it was a joke.
Adding to that his translating of the Royal Secret Scripture for the Nature Association.
Check recent arrivals in Koster and filter out those proficient in linguistics.
Targeting him then, the possibility was indeed not low.
Lin Suo was somewhat disappointed in himself, not agile enough, and still lacking in knowledge accumulation.
Next time, definitely not!
Understanding the reasons and seeing the stealthy old man suddenly showing a "sincere" smile.
His strength not being enough, he dared not use witchcraft, or else he might be detected by the law-enforcing wizards in the noble district, leaving him in an indefensible position.
Reynolds Augustus had found him but hadn’t reported him; Lin Suo was 90% confident that this old fellow, having given gifts, surely had requests in mind.
Besides, he was a Court Wizard, almost representing the orthodoxy of the Royal Family.
Since he couldn’t resist, why not enjoy it?
Fate is like that thing, resisting that thing is less preferable than enjoying that thing, the truth!
Reynolds continued to transmit his voice.
"Tomorrow, come to this place, if things work out, we’ll split fifty-fifty, and if not, I won’t trouble you."
Taking the paper slip handed over by the old man, Lin Suo casually pocketed it.
"In that case, shall we meet tomorrow?"
Both left smiling, Lin Suo realizing as the old man took a different path that he was indeed a noble.
He had no choice but to silently leave the upper district and return to the Rhein Bookstore.
He collapsed onto the king-sized bed, feeling discontent.
To think he had washed his hands off but still got dragged in, quite outrageous.
Today’s matter, undeniably, Reynolds was interested in his forgery skills.
The problem was, his skills were attained through cheating using the Power of Synthesis.
That could not possibly be shown to others.
He had to think of a way to deceive the old man once more.
Also, the unexpected surveillance this time made him very uneasy; he had to find countermeasures, otherwise, he wouldn’t sleep in peace later.
He definitely couldn’t buy these.
Fortunately, the countermeasures were right in his hands.
Sensing and protecting the mind!
Normal sensing abilities, when developed to their limit, are somewhat like an emotionally driven machine translation.
They can pick up on what someone wants to express, so what they say isn’t as crucial as what they truly think.
When Lin Suo initially pushed it beyond its limits, this sensing ability became clearer, capable of forming complete sentences.
The protection of the mind was even more a permanent witchcraft, integrated into his bloodline.
The compatibility between these three base-level spiritual witchcrafts was very high.
Merging them, with mind protection taking the lead, integrating the sensing ability into the bloodline too, he could roughly sense other people’s malevolent thoughts.
It was more like an instinct, as simple as eating and drinking.
If not for prior preparation, he could discern most people’s feelings toward him, just by thinking, which was quite handy.
Using it to sense surveillance from others could become very sensitive as well.
After some thought, Lin Suo felt it was doable.
But first, he had to reach the +5 red level.
A long, tedious road awaits, seeking alone for progress!
Suddenly springing up from the bed, Lin Suo hurriedly ran to the basement, starting to intensely practice spiritual witchcraft.
The task of digging tunnels, for now, was put on hold.