He looked at Mother Airuna, who was staring at him with bulging eyes and a blank expression. "Crowley, a White Angel Knight from the Frostlands. The Bishop of Puley Town obtained his diary."
"Oh, a White Angel Knight," Linde shrugged. He had "memories" of the White Angel Knights.
Before he left Goliath, he had seen the Pontiff on tour. White angelic knights with wings sprouting from their backs descended from the sky, eliciting gasps of awe. Those were the White Angel Knights.
They were said to possess the power to destroy a city single-handedly.
They lived in a place called the "Frostlands," responsible for guarding the path from the mortal realm to the divine, and were the most well-known angels, representing holiness, power, fearlessness, and many other fine qualities.
The idea that a person could become an angel through cultivation intrigued Linde.
He opened the diary, the diary of that White Angel Knight named Crowley when he was still human.
"I have listened to hymns for three hundred days and nights, my heart cleansed and spotless, but the desire for a stronger heart grows in my mind like a rampant weed.
I know it is not allowed, to steal through potions instead of waiting for the Circle of Magic to bestow its gifts, but it's just a small trick, and everything exists for a reason."
"I have once again felt the Circle of Magic's blessing. The night makes me feel even stronger, but it never favors me. I can only watch my companions slowly become more powerful. I still need the potion, yes, the potion. Fortunately, I have obtained this."
Linde paused because what followed was a list, containing a detailed description of the potion-making process and techniques.
The ingredients were manageable. He'd seen many of the names of the herbs, but there were two crucial points.
One: Steal the power of the Circle of Magic.
Two: It must be consumed at the "dawn that never breaks." (亮不起来的黎明 literally means "dawn that can't light up")
"I know it won't be easy," Linde continued reading from the diary. "All life blessed by the Circle of Magic wields that power. They are born with the strength granted by the Circle of Magic. This is my attempt. I will not kill indiscriminately. I hold firm to my beliefs. Those magical monsters might be a good choice."
"..." Page turn.
"Damn it, the Circle of Magic's power within those creatures is too weak, yet they themselves are so strong. I must kill more, I'll find some eventually! I need more!"
"..." Page turn.
"Haha, I did it! I became a Grand Knight!"
"..." Page turn, then another.
The entries became erratic.
"The extraordinary power of the Grand Knight surges within me. I crave to unleash that power. I have begun researching and experimenting day and night."
"..." Page turn.
"I succeeded! I gathered that extraordinary power in my palm, imagining the sun, light, explosion, release, all the good and bad emotions, and then channeling them. I will never forget the brilliance when it erupted in my hand. I call it Bursting Flame, Crowley's Bursting Flame!"
"..." Page turn.
"I cannot obtain more blessings, so I must constantly hunt abyssal monsters to create the potion. The Pontiff praises my courage, but I only seek to collect greater cataclysmic power, to seize the Circle of Magic's power within them. It is said that becoming a Third-Order Grand Knight will bring about a qualitative change. I hope that day comes soon."
"..." Several pages skipped.
"The White Angel Knights of the Frostlands, I always thought their wings grew from their backs, but upon closer inspection, they actually grow from their necks. Strange, yet sacred."
The diary stopped there.
Perhaps the diary's owner suddenly gave up the bad habit of writing a diary and became a respectable person.
Or perhaps there were more secrets, and he felt that recording them in a diary was too unsafe.
Linde had gained a lot: a potion recipe for advancing to Grand Knight, and two techniques for using extraordinary abilities.
They were "Crowley's Bursting Flame" and "Crowley's Fury."
Closing the diary, Linde mused: "Crowley was definitely a genius. If those people in the church also tried to steal power in Crowley's way, instead of waiting for a blessing… then wouldn't that mean that accidentally failing would turn them into something like those people, becoming double-helix DNA monsters?"
Should he take the potion? Linde didn't dwell on it for too long. With more and more players coming to this world, if he didn't have considerable power, his ending wouldn't be a happy one.
Even if he ran over to the players right now and told them he wasn't an NPC, but a transmigrator, they'd probably just see him as an Easter egg from the game company. They might even kill him to see if he dropped any rare equipment.
"Next is gathering the ingredients and brewing the potion."
Linde definitely couldn't do it himself; he didn't know how to brew potions. But fortunately, he knew someone who did.
…
"You want to see Miss Mika?" Old Cheli looked at Linde, who had returned, with surprise.
"I hope she can help me with a small favor," Linde nodded. "Brew a potion for me. You can tell her I'll pay with Gold Seal notes."
"Then you need to buy this potion," Old Cheli once again produced that potion and explained, "Otherwise, I have no excuse to see her."
"Fine!"
It's just a potion, right? No problem. The players will reimburse me.
Old Cheli left in a hurry. Linde stayed in the temporary residence he rented with Gold Seal notes. There were many empty houses in the town, all nominally belonging to the mayor. If you wanted to live in one, you had to pay.
"Knock, knock," a soft knock came at the door.
Linde opened it to find Old Cheli standing next to a slender figure cloaked entirely in black.
"You two chat," Old Cheli winked at Linde and stepped to the side.
What was this feeling of being set up on a date?
Linde looked at the slender figure who stepped into the room. The figure removed their hood, revealing shoulder-length white hair.
Her cheeks were chubby and soft, with a hamster-like puffiness. Her skin was fair, and when she opened her mouth, you could just make out adorable little bunny teeth.
A rabbit-like beauty.
She had an air of charming innocence.
If only I could take her back to be the mascot.
He didn't dare stare at her handsome face for too long. "Miss Mika, I was hoping you could help me brew a potion."
She nodded, seemingly unimpressed by Linde's looks. "What kind of potion? I should tell you upfront, I only brew three kinds."
"Which three?" Linde asked, intrigued.
Miss Mika cleared her throat. "Healing potions, Stamina potions, and Buff potions."
So Puley Town really is a newbie village, no doubt about it! You're the quintessential newbie village NPC alchemist!
Why do I increasingly want to kidnap her?
"The one I need isn't one of those," Linde took out the potion ingredient list. Mika was the only alchemist he had access to, so he didn't have a choice.
Mika frowned as she studied the list for a long time, then looked up at Linde and said, "I can make it, but a Heart of Calamity is very rare. If you're willing to spend 100 Gold Seal notes, maybe I can help you get one."
"No problem," Linde nodded. He didn't know what kind of material it was, but since Miss Mika said she had it, that saved him a lot of trouble.
"Hehe!" Mika pulled a small pouch from her waist and held out her hand to Linde. "Hand over the Gold Seal notes."
"What?"
"The Heart of Calamity," she waved the pouch in her hand. "You're really lucky. I had some left over from the last time I brewed a potion. You're getting a deal."