Star Forge Titan

It is precisely because of this that the price of this type of ornamental fish remains high.

But besides their vibrant colors, what really makes them so popular is that the Emperor himself loves tropical fish.

After looking around, Alvin looked as if he was listening attentively to the lady next to him explaining how to play various gambling games, but in fact he had focused his attention on the security guards in the corner.

In order to avoid making guests feel uncomfortable, all security guards wear Lavonki jackets and breeches that are similar to formal wear and easy to move in. The protruding bulges under the clothes indicate that they also carry weapons that are easy to hide, such as daggers and short swords.

Not even a long sword? Alvin raised his eyebrows but didn't feel strange.

This is no different from the canary cage in his memory game. After all, guests come here to gamble and have fun. If there are a group of strong men with knives and swords standing around, who would have the mood to roll dice or play poker?

"Please help me exchange some chips." Alvin interrupted the lady next to him and introduced herself as a waitress, but these people were actually more like socialites who livened up the atmosphere, or in Eastern terms, prostitutes.

Each of them wears a revealing and gaudy dress, and if the customer needs it, they can always appear in front of each other in a more direct way, of course, that is the image that will appear in more private occasions.

'Canary Cage' will provide guests with comprehensive services, hence its suggestive name.

Of course, Alvin is not aware of this. Anyway, the game does not allow players to GHS at all, which is totally unrealistic!

As for the real Palladio, he is not that kind of person... probably.

"This one is a tip, and the others will be exchanged for chips."

The tall, black-haired boy took out dozens of gems from his pocket and casually handed a dull ruby ​​to the other party as a tip. The other gems used for exchange emitted flickering light as if breathing, exactly the same as the one that Alvin had thrown to the security guard at the gate before.

The waitress did not recognize the other faintly glowing gems, but she knew the gem that was used as a tip.

It was a beautiful andalusite, worth at least thirty or fifty great écuins in gold.

Because of the characteristics of gold, in today's era, the actual purchasing power of precious metal currencies such as the gold écue is even slightly higher than the marked face value.

A piece of andalusite, which was worth at least thirty gold ecu, was enough for a girl like her from the lower town to do anything, but the other party just threw it out as a tip.

Such a fat sheep, even she who has worked in the canary cage for many years rarely sees it!

So the waitress suppressed the excitement on her face, maintained her etiquette, and walked towards the place where chips were exchanged. She soon returned with an even more surprised expression. Behind her was a male waiter who was specifically responsible for taking the chips because there were so many chips.

"Sir, are those all magic gems? This is really surprising. It's the first time I've seen so many elemental crystals." The waitress giggled and put her arm around Ivan's arm in a familiar manner.

Different from the previous holding of the arm which could be considered as a courtesy, this method of half a person coming directly close to her was obviously an attempt to seduce her by relying on her youth.

"Yes, those are the freshest crystals of fire elements." Not paying attention to the surprise and undisguised flirtation on the other party's face, Ivan shrugged and said lightly.

"You are so humorous, sir. There is no such thing as fresh or stale gems." The waitress laughed so hard that she was shaking with laughter. She obviously didn't realize the other hidden meaning in her words.

In fact, Alvin really didn't care about the andalusite. At that time, the stolen money of the Vampire Count could only be used in informal places like casinos in the downtown area.

Moreover, his memories as a player also had a great influence on him. In the later stages of the game, in Palladia, precious metals had long lost their value as currency reserves. Only magic gems were the real hard currency, and ordinary gems that could only be used as low-level materials were just ordinary materials.

Of course, the most valuable hard currency among players at that time was not magic gems or other rare materials.

They usually use the big devil as the most valuable hard currency, or to be more precise, the 'big devil's head'.

In such a chaotic era, things that could be directly sacrificed to the gods in exchange for various rare materials and even gifts could be considered the most valuable hard currency.

After exchanging the chips, the two came to the gambling table where Gore House was. Not long after, they saw a man leave his seat angrily, obviously having lost too much.

"Hey, everyone, it looks like we have a new member joining us." Gore House said in surprise, but there was a glint of jealousy in his eyes.

In fact, as soon as Alvin came in, he had noticed this unfamiliar young man.

The other party obviously did nothing, but the most beautiful waitress in the VIP room took the initiative to greet him, while the two waitresses next to him had to pay a lot of money to come over reluctantly.

How could he not feel angry and jealous? Not to mention, this guy had already drunk too much liquor and his rational nerve had long since begun to relax.

Suddenly, Gore House's small eyes caught sight of the golden ring of truth on Ivan's finger. He was quite knowledgeable and immediately determined that the other party was an alchemist.

Most of those scholar-like people are not good at talking, and their own fighting skills are just so-so, so this guy immediately felt relieved.

"Ha, here comes an old alchemist, gurgle, bang." He picked up two glasses of wine and poured them back and forth with a strange smile, imitating the stereotypical image of an alchemist, while dubbing it in a very clumsy way.

Although the other people at the table wanted to laugh, they only twitched their lips due to their reserved status. They instinctively chose to watch the stranger who suddenly joined in coldly, but they were also curious about how the other party would deal with this kind of difficulty.

"..." The smile on Ivan's face remained unchanged. He just sat in the chair and looked at the other person playfully, as if watching a clown performing a farce.

As a result, the provocative smile on the face of Gore House, who was performing on his own, gradually froze.

"Hey, everyone, let's get started." Completely ignoring the clown, Ivan raised his hand to signal the waiter who was holding a large number of chips on a tray to come forward and place the mountain of chips heavily on the table.

"What are you playing? I'm going all in." The boy's words made everyone else look stunned.

Even the other people in the casino turned their attention to this table.

He put all his chips on the line at once. Is he here to have fun or just to spend money and see what happens?

"Aha, interesting young man." In the more luxurious box on the second floor of the VIP room, a young man with blond hair parted in a 3:7 ratio leaned against the iron railing in front of the window without any attitude, with a playful smile on his face.

"What's wrong?" Catherine frowned and walked up to the young man. She never liked this kind of occasion, but she couldn't resist her brother's strong request to go to the casino in the downtown area to see the world.

Thinking that the other party had little chance to leave Neuschwanstein Castle since childhood, the Duchess with a strange drill hairstyle finally compromised.

"I just saw an interesting young man." said His Majesty King Conrad, who now felt very happy.

"Remember that fairy tale you read when you were a child?"

"Which one are you talking about?" Catherine asked in confusion.

"Starry Eyes." Conrad mentioned a name with a smile.

The Eyes of the Stars, a fairy tale popular among the people of Linde, tells the story of a kind-hearted giant who came to a human village and, at the request of the children, plucked the stars from the sky and gave them to them.

The children treated these precious stars as beautiful stones and bounced them to each other, but when the adults saw this, they were shocked. What beautiful stones were they? They were clearly beautiful, gorgeous and priceless gems!

So, greed prompted the adults in the village to snatch the stars from the children and carry them with them. Then they surrounded the giant with pitchforks and sickles, and chained the kind-hearted giant, forcing him to pick stars.

Finally, the night was completely dark, and the demons that were originally afraid of light no longer had any worries. They rushed to the ground and first ate all the adults who were holding gems and whose bodies were glowing.

When the demons began to capture children, the kind-hearted giant finally couldn't bear it anymore.

He gouged out one of his eyes and threw it into the pitch-black night sky, then crushed the other eye and threw it back into the sky. The former became the moon, while the latter transformed into new stars. The moonlight and starlight instantly illuminated the dark night, causing the demons to scream and flee back into the underground.

In the end, the children survived and told this story to their own children when they grew up, reminding them to remember not to be too greedy.

Conrad had heard this story as a child, but now he thought the giants mentioned in the story were most likely Titans. People couldn't tell the difference between the two, but he knew that a giant couldn't do something as outrageous as plucking stars.

Meanwhile, Alvin had no idea that the two most senior people in Linde were looking at him.

Tick, tick, tick, tick...

He just quietly calculated the time, the countdown to the explosion of the unstable element crystal...

Chapter 54: Breathing is wrong

"Throwing the gem to others casually is just like the giant in the story." Conrad said with a smile.

"It's a pity that there are not many people as kind as the giant in the story. However, being polite to ladies is very similar to me." His Majesty Emperor Linde, who was out fishing, said shamelessly while rubbing his chin.

"What do you mean?" Catherine frowned. Being familiar with her brother, she could naturally hear the hidden meaning in his words.

"I mean, there's going to be some fun." Connor spread his hands and gave orders to the guards outside:

"Prepare to open the barrier. There's likely going to be something very interesting happening here soon."

The guards nodded silently, having no intention of trying to persuade His Majesty. They had long since given up on such futile attempts. Rather than wasting time trying to persuade His Majesty, they should spend their time cultivating and strengthening their own abilities. At least, they could forcibly escape with the tropical fish if necessary.

"..." Miss Catherine on the side also held her forehead. She was more familiar with her cousin's character than the guards.

When I was a kid, I could change this guy's mind by crying loudly and being more willful than him.

But now, is the great Duchess of Loire, Catherine Martha Quinnelli Carolingian, going to burst into tears in public and roll on the ground?

Her fists clenched tighter and tighter, and the smile on Catherine's face became stiffer and stiffer.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't worry. It's just a gang fight at most. It won't be dangerous, it won't be dangerous!" Seeing his cousin's expression, Conrad hurriedly explained, a drop of cold sweat sliding down the back of his head.

This little sister, when she's really angry, will beat people up without caring about anything.

Just saying...

boom!

A loud noise came from outside the door, accompanied by a muffled sound that was covered up.

The former came from the vault deep inside the casino, while the latter occurred in the trouser pocket of the gangster at the door.

The gold coins neatly stacked in the safe were completely devoured by the exploding flames. The two gang members sent by Black-billed Sparrow to guard the door of the vault were blown more than ten meters away at the moment of the explosion. Only after the flames in the vault spread wildly did other people who realized that something was wrong rush to put out the fire.

In comparison, a gang member whose leg was blown off seems completely insignificant. Well, no one cares which leg was blown off.

The sudden accident caused the VIP room to be quiet for a moment, and then it broke out into an extremely loud commotion. Most of the guests were caught off guard for such a thing, and the subconscious screams of the socialites and waitresses increased their tension.

Everyone rushed to the VIP room door. No matter how the casino staff tried to persuade them, it was useless and the situation soon turned into complete chaos.

Those well-dressed gentlemen in the upper town were now like rats fleeing in panic from a sinking ship, either stepping on others to squeeze out or jumping out of the windows.

At this moment, at the large gambling table in the middle, Ivan was still sitting calmly on the chair, and sitting opposite him was Gore House, who was sweating all over.

It’s not that the short racer didn’t want to escape. In fact, as a lucky guy who made it in the downtown area, he was much more sensitive to danger than those wealthy gentlemen and his reactions were much faster.

But a powerful magical pressure directed at Gore House was like an invisible hand, pinning him firmly to the chair. The source of this pressure came from the indifferent young man before him.

His slightly curly black hair cascaded down his back, like the shaggy mane of a lion. His languid demeanor betrayed an undeniable sense of authority. The light shone on the high back of the chair, casting a shadow that made his expression unpredictable. Only his eyes, like molten gold, shone brightly and piercingly like two sparks in the darkness.

Alvin fiddled with the small coin-shaped chip in his hand with an expressionless face. The metal disc was painted with marks of different colors, which meant that it could be exchanged for different amounts of gold Écu.

The male candidate holding the chips had already dropped the tray and fled, but the waitress in bright clothes was unable to leave because her legs were weak. She could only slump in the high-backed chair and shiver, still holding the andalusite worth thirty to fifty gold ecu tightly in her hand.

In the silence, the tension continued to ferment, and Gore House's upper and lower rows of teeth collided with each other, making a slight sound.

He didn't know why he felt so nervous. Even when he was blocked in an alley with a dagger while running away from a debt, the tension and pressure he felt were not even half as great as he felt now.

It was like a deep ocean, silent and quiet, yet omnipresent and boundless. The psychological pressure even affected the body. The air seemed to be solidified, and even if Gore opened his mouth wide, he couldn't breathe in any air.

This is the pressure of magic. A powerful extraordinary person can cause invisible interference to the surrounding environment with his own will and magic power alone. The influence of will that spreads from this is a kind of pressure that comes from the spiritual level.

"I have a question." After an unknown amount of time, Alvin suddenly spoke.

When this sound reached Gore House's ears, he took a deep breath as if he was suffocating, and finally regained his normal breathing ability.

"..."The pair of small eyes embedded on both sides of the hooked nose moved to look at the door blocked by the crowd and the open window next to it.

"Ahaha, of course." Gore House laughed dryly and did nothing. He knew that it was not the right time yet and the casino would not allow this chaos to continue.

Just wait, those thugs from the Black-billed Sparrow will not let go of anyone who dares to disturb their business!

Goyle muttered viciously in his heart.

"Who asked you to tamper with the game?" Alvin asked the first question in a calm tone.

"As for who the banker of the underground gambling game is, I don't think I need to say much." Gore House cunningly gave a vague answer, but did not lie directly.

"It seems... you are still a little dishonest." Alvin shook his head.

"The following scene is not suitable for ladies to watch. So, miss, please leave first. By the way, please consider this as my apology."

The young man smiled and placed the chip with the largest denomination along with another gem into the hands of the waitress who was slumped on the ground beside him.

For some reason, the man exuded an aura countless times more powerful than the gangsters she feared the most. But looking at that smile, the waitress suddenly felt no fear or nervousness at all, and even her face flushed slightly.

Without paying attention to the other party's reaction, Alvin walked step by step towards the other side along the large gambling table.

"Wait, what are you going to do!" Gore House stood up in a panic and wanted to escape, but because he was too scared, he knocked over the chair while standing up, and he fell to the ground along with the chair.

This despicable man who committed a foul during the game was now like an ugly caterpillar, twisting his body and crawling backwards.

Having said that, he was quite good at climbing. He jumped three or four meters in a few steps until he was blocked by a large aquarium.

"No, don't come over here! Security! Where is the security!?"

"It's so ugly." Ivan said coldly.

He raised his hands and grabbed Gore House's head from behind, lifting the man into the air like a small goblin.

"I don't know who gave you the courage, but that kind of thing isn't for vile offenders."

After saying that, the black-haired boy pushed Goyle's head into the aquarium!

The sudden intruder caused the colorful tropical fish to swim to the edge of the aquarium in fear.

Gurgling, gurgling.

A large amount of bubbles gushed out of Gore House's mouth. The guy struggled with all his might, but the hand behind his head pressed him into the water like an iron clamp.

Because of fear and tension, the air in the lungs was quickly exhaled. Although the warm water flowing into the mouth and nose made the tropical fish feel as warm as the sea where they were born, it could not provide humans, a land animal, with any oxygen needed to survive.

Gore House's face began to turn blue and purple, and his whole body twitched violently as if it was electrified, with the shadow of death hanging over his head.