Chapter 53: [Miss Artisan] · Cloak of Invisibility

Early morning!

The food on the dining table was exceptionally lavish.

Croissants, bacon, sausages, eggs, hash browns, baked beans, a vegetable salad, clear soup, and a mixture of deep-fried meatballs—enough food to feed three people.

Meanwhile, Zorn was eating a light meal quickly while reading the Ogran Steam Daily.

The news in the Ogran Steam Daily was filled with triumphant reports of the war against the "Rat Calamity."

Every page featured numerous photographs of dead rodents.

Among them were many giant plague rats and "Plague-Night Rat-Men" with human characteristics.

At the same time, some pages began to vaguely mention mysterious supernatural powers.

During this period, the "Rat Calamity" and mysterious forces had become subjects of terror and heated discussion among the people of Ogran City.

Not only that.

The "Rat Calamity" in Ogran City had also become a hot-button issue capturing the attention of humans across the entire continent lately.

"Young Master Zorn, your appetite lately... is astonishingly good!"

Vanessa, the maid serving Zorn, said softly with a smile in her eyes.

The old butler, Frank, had warned them that anyone who leaked the secret that the young master had mastered mysterious powers would be directly driven out of the manor.

Although she knew Young Master Zorn had mastered unfathomable mysterious powers, this startling appetite still gave Vanessa quite a shock.

"This is a mysterious, transcendent power, Vanessa. You have considerable aptitude in this area and might be able to master it yourself in the future."

Zorn glanced at Vanessa and said.

"Ah! Really?"

Vanessa was startled, a light of envy and curiosity welling up in her eyes.

"Of course it's true."

According to the original setting, Vanessa indeed possessed a remarkably high transcendent aptitude, coupled with a nearly fanatical loyalty.

Once nurtured, she could entirely serve as Zorn's capable right-hand woman.

As his operations gradually expanded—especially with the gradual construction of the magical "Wizard Castle"—someone always needed to guard the home when Zorn was away.

Vanessa was clearly the perfect candidate for such a role.

Therefore, Zorn naturally would not forget to cultivate his own people.

Although at this stage Zorn could also help her acquire a decent Sequence, those were not what Zorn wanted.

If Vanessa wished to obtain a powerful Sequence, she would still need to wait a little longer.

After finishing breakfast and returning to the study to continue digesting the food and offerings, Zorn changed into a plain set of clothes before heading out.

Dressing too well in the Old Town not only made one a target for thieves, but also drew unwanted attention.

A neatly laundered but clearly somewhat worn black coat, a pair of simple coarse-linen trousers, a pair of well-fitting grey canvas shoes, and a wide-brimmed black-and-white woven hat.

Summer had arrived, and even gentlemen would widen their hat brims to shield themselves from the sunlight.

It was said this was a trending fashion blowing over from Saint Sman.

Zorn liked this very much!

Entering mid-June, the sun grew increasingly blazing.

***

A little past ten o'clock in the morning.

Old Town, Belan Long Street.

A café on the fifth floor of a building leaning against the mountain.

Using the Witch Mask, Zorn once again transformed into a listless, indifferent young man.

This was the delivery location agreed upon between him and the "Artisan" Lydia Daniel.

Soon, Zorn sensed that the "Artisan" had entered the café.

Zorn opened the door of the small private booth, exposed half his body in the hallway, and waved at the incoming Lydia.

"Good afternoon!... Sir!"

Entering the small private booth, Lydia greeted Zorn very politely, though she did not know his name or alias.

"You may call me 'Mr. Giant.'"

Zorn had long since prepared a secretive alias for himself.

After all, he himself was standing on the shoulders of giants (players).

His achievements and trajectory were all thanks to the selfless dedication of those "giants."

This alias referred not only to himself, but also represented a whole group of people.

"Mr. Giant?"

Silently noting the title "Mr. Giant," Lydia quickly produced the crafted "spiritual statue" and the cloak-like stealth item.

The "spiritual statue" was a cute and charming beckoning cat.

Placed in an office as an ornament, it was completely reasonable.

As for the stealth-type item, following Lydia's suggestion, it was made into a more concealed cloak.

Players often preferred their equipment and decorative items to be more exaggerated and abstract; capes were undoubtedly the better choice.

However, Zorn's current identity was clearly not suited for a "cape."

A well-fitted "stealth robe" was much more practical.

"After putting it on, you only need to..."

While Lydia was still explaining, Zorn had already put on and draped himself in the brown stealth robe.

As it connected with the stealth property of the stealth robe, Zorn's entire physique rapidly dimmed in the air and vanished.

A slight shock rippled through Lydia's heart.

"This gentleman's spirituality is so powerful."

With magical transcendent items of this nature, the stronger the spirituality, the better the effect tended to be.

In her perception, this gentleman should be a brawler.

Yet brawlers did not seem to be known for "spirituality."

"Perhaps his level is very high. He is a knowledgeable and extremely wealthy noble gentleman, so a higher level is quite normal."

"Very good!"

After removing the stealth effect of the robe, Zorn praised with deep satisfaction.

Although some details had not yet been polished to perfection, that was only because Lydia's level was not high enough.

The overall properties of this magical robe were exceptionally balanced and stable, more than enough for Zorn to use for a very long time.

After receiving the final payment from Zorn, Lydia let out a long breath with a slight tremor in her heart.

Though she had made small earnings previously, most of the time her expenses outweighed her gains.

After all, she constantly had to train her transcendent abilities and deal with those magical resources.

That required a considerable amount of money.

This remuneration of a full 240 gold pounds—after deducting the majority of the material costs—still left her with a profit of at least 40 to 60 gold pounds.

This was by far her biggest harvest since becoming an Artisan.

This time, she had truly and personally experienced the earning power of an "Artisan."

Stowing the two transcendent items into her small brown monster handbag, Zorn slowly spoke.

"If possible, you can leave me a specific contact method. I might be able to introduce you to some commissions for crafting transcendent items."

In the future, Zorn would need a substantial number of transcendent items crafted.

Giving the future Legendary Artisan more commissions would allow her to grow better and faster.

Hearing that he would introduce commissions to her, how could Lydia possibly refuse?

She immediately wrote her contact information on a piece of paper. Of course, she also kept her guard up.

She wrote down her landlady's contact information.

Although that fierce old woman rushed tenants for rent on the first day of every month, she was still very responsible.

After putting away the contact information, Zorn glanced out the window, then looked at the "Artisan" Lydia and asked cordially,

"Miss Lydia, you live around here. Do you know the specific locations of any charitable organizations nearby that distribute food to the poor?"

The Artisan young lady thought for a moment before replying,

"There are several similar charitable organizations nearby. Every winter, they distribute food to the homeless. Without them, I'm afraid quite a few homeless people would starve to death on the streets every winter."

For the sake of municipal appearance, Ogran City distributed food in the Old Town, keeping the homeless confined to the Old Town.

This ensured the cleanliness and neatness of the Bay Area and the New Town.

As for the Fog District—not even a dog would go there, let alone homeless people.

During their conversation, the kind Artisan young lady clearly wrote down the specific locations of several charitable organizations for Zorn. It was evident she was very familiar with the area.

"Thank you very much for letting me know."

Zorn stood up and thanked the Artisan young lady.

Having acquired good equipment and knowing the specific locations, the next step was to go and probe the bottom line of these charitable organizations.

To see which one belonged to the evil cult organization "Taboo Bloodline."