The bard fantasized again.

Chapter 124 Sword Dance and Harvest (Please Subscribe!)

[August 6, 1000 of the Lost Calendar, Longjincheng, overcast.]

The second day after Golden Oak opened.

Last night's deterrent was very effective. By the middle of the night, the drunkards had become much more restrained, and no one even dared to whistle at Catherine anymore.

Based on this, I strongly suggest that the Academy of Poets offer an 'Assassination Course' to steal business from those wanderers and expand employment opportunities.

After all, when you're humming a tune and smiling as you walk toward your target, and then suddenly stab them in the neck while they're engrossed in the music, even a seasoned adventurer would have a hard time reacting.

If I hadn't used this clever method, I wouldn't have been able to surround all five of them by myself.

After throwing the Red Turban Gang corpses into the deep pit where the mushrooms were being cultivated, leaving them to decompose and process, I also managed to scavenge some unexpected treasures from the thugs' belongings—

In addition to more than two hundred gold coins, there were some spellcasting materials, two bottles each of minor healing potions and stress potions, and finally a 'non-common' level wand and a magic ring.

I bet they robbed a spellcaster in the dungeon, maybe even an apprentice from the mage academy.

No wonder he's called a 'fat sheep'; a naive, innocent, and easily deceived mage is a rare find.

Tang Qi, who kept a diary, finally put a period at the end.

Although it was just a simple conflict, it started with the 'opening of the tavern' and ended with the 'establishment of deterrence'.

And it seems that, without any external help, he achieved the feat of 'one person surrounding five people'.

This made the reward more useful than Tang Qi had imagined.

[Your superb scimitar skills, keen combat instincts, and precise control of the situation suggest you're no longer content with resolving issues with words. That's excellent.]

After all, for a poet, force is a minor matter.

You may not need it, but you can't be without it.

You have acquired the 'Combat Skill - Defensive Sword Dance':
You can use the 'Poet's Inspiration' to encourage yourself, instantly wielding your sharp blade to perfectly defend against any attack aimed at you.

Note: There is no absolute defense in this world, but often, even half a defense is enough to turn the tide.

"An attack that targets me... so it's impossible to defend against area-of-effect damage, like fireballs?"
But that seems enough, after all, it explicitly uses the word 'perfect'.

The only downside is that I can only use motivation three times before I can get a full rest.

It seems I'm destined never to be a true poet..."

Considering that this is, after all, a combat skill, using it not only requires consuming incentive attempts but also a lot of energy, and it cannot be used as a regular weapon.

Tang Qi wasn't overly surprised; he simply turned his attention to the two magical items identified in the logbook—

Exploring the Magic Wand (Non-Ordinary):

This wand has 3 charges, and it is fully charged every dawn.

While wielding this wand, you can consume 1 charge to detect secret doors or traps within a 15-meter radius. If a secret door or trap is within range, the wand will tap towards the nearest one.

Mind Shield Ring (Non-Common):

While wearing this ring, you are immune to all magic that allows other beings to read your thoughts, discern whether you are lying, know your good or evil, and determine your species type, such as 'mind detection'.

Furthermore, other beings can only communicate with you telepathically if you grant permission.

You can make it invisible. The ring will only become visible again when you remove it, take it off, or die.

If you die wearing a ring, your soul will enter the ring, provided no other soul resides within it.

"Is it equivalent to immune mind reading? I haven't encountered similar problems yet, but it will always be useful."

As Tang Qi spoke, he looked down at his fingers.
“The Heart Ring, the Ring of Glory, and this one… I guess I’m going to become a ring collector.”

Compared to the other two rings, the Mind Shield Ring appeared simpler, entirely black, somewhat detracting from the overall aesthetic of Tang Qi's finger. However, after attempting to communicate with the ring and confirming that it did not contain a soul, Tang Qi quickly learned how to conceal it—

Synchronization is a necessary condition for using certain special magical items.

The number of items that can be synchronized seems to be related to the upper limit of mental power, which means that most people can only synchronize three magical items at the same time.

The three rings now occupy all of Tang Qi's synchronization slots. If he encounters any magical items that need to be synchronized in the future, he will have to make some choices.

However, the [Mystery Wand] is the same as the [Demon-Searching Wand] in Kuru's hand, and does not require synchronization.

In other words, as long as it doesn't interfere with spellcasting, Kuru can detect traps and magic at the same time.

Going to the dungeon should be much easier in the future.

"What could have happened to someone with such a wealthy family to be robbed by a few Red Turban Gang members?"

Tang Qi shook his head, ultimately burying his confusion deep inside.

After packing his bags, he sealed the stack of manuscripts that were laid out on his desk and put them into his dimensional bag.

He then closed the leaky window, crossed the hallway, and knocked on Catherine's door:

"Ambi, it's time to go out."

Because of the special nature of the beastmen, Catherine needed to keep an eye on Ambi at all times, so she didn't set up a separate room for her.

This left several shared rooms on the second floor of the tavern vacant, except for Tang Qi and Kuru who each had their own. Catherine then rented these rooms out at low prices to refugees from Xingmei Town.

Most of these refugees now have their own jobs.

Some are waiting for the seemingly endless liberation of Xingmei Town so they can return to their hometown and continue their lives.

Out of humanitarian concern, Catherine would often hire them to do tasks such as moving goods or helping with cleaning the tavern and kitchen work, so that they wouldn't starve to death when they were not employed.

Some of the young men, being strong and healthy, have decided to go to the dock area to do some hard labor as porters.

As for the Hogg and David families, they decided to try planting star plum trees on the large plot of land rented by Catherine and moved into the seaside house that had been vacant due to the 'haunting' rumors.

Because Starp Town had not yet been liberated, Lord Mel was too lazy to discipline these fleeing 'lowly people' and was busy with something, never showing his face.

"Okay!"

As Tang Qi called out, the little girl ran quickly toward the door.

When she pushed open the door, Tang Qi immediately saw that the little girl, who was hiding herself completely, was no longer just the sleepy little dragon Yiwu on her head wearing a hood.

Even on a sweltering summer day, she wore heavy trousers, leather boots, gloves, and a mask. If she were crouching in some dark corner, people would probably mistake her for a thief with ill intentions.

Considering the little girl still had downy hair on her body, Tang Qi couldn't help but ask:

"Isn't it hot?"

“But Anbi can’t let anyone see it, lest she cause trouble for Brother Tang Qi.”

As Ambi spoke, she rolled up her sleeves.

Tang Qi frowned, then realized that her body hair seemed to be growing thicker.

This means that her bestial symptoms are also worsening.

This is not a good sign.

But he didn't say anything more, instead he patted the little girl's head and asked:
"Do you know what we're going to do today?"

Ambi nodded obediently:
"Buy things! And—publish 'The Guide to the Dawn and Dusk Forest'?"

(End of this chapter)