The effect of the Celestial Beast meat was far beyond Bruno Hornes's expectations.
The nearly transparent piece of meat melted in his mouth like ice, with no special taste at all.
But the next second-
Boom!
A flood of Enchantment Element, ten times more concentrated than usual, burst into Bruno's body like a broken dam, crashing through his limbs and bones!
His whole body's blood and energy boiled instantly, like water at a rolling boil. The light on his bones shone brightly, greedily devouring the massive energy.
What shocked Bruno even more was that he clearly felt the dull contract in his forehead, which had been dark and unclear, now glowing like a drought-stricken land finally seeing rain!
The energy that usually took a whole month to gather was now filling his body at a visible speed, and the recovery rate was more than twice as fast!
Bruno was shocked.
So this was how to quickly power up the contract!
Kaiden watched Bruno, eyes closed slightly, body trembling a little, and smiled with pride. Who could resist a sugar-coated cannon?
He knew Bruno was on high alert, but under the pressure of money, even a god would kneel.
"Ahem," he fake-coughed, "How about it? The special-grade food supplement, is it worth the hype?"
Bruno's face was red from the powerful blood and energy, and sweat formed on his forehead. He said sincerely, "It's amazing."
Kaiden said, "This thing is great for building a solid foundation and breaking through bottlenecks. Brother Bruno, if you work with me, I promise you can eat this special-grade food supplement every day!"
"Really?" Bruno pretended to be interested.
Kaiden's eyes sparkled. He waved his hand and said, "Want more?" He was about to turn up the heat and really cook the deal.
"Can I have some more?" Bruno licked his lips, a little embarrassed.
"Come on, don't be polite," Kaiden said, acting like a soft target. "Waiter! Another special-grade food supplement over here!"
Barry nearby had his mouth watering, but then he thought of something and forced himself to look away.
Not long after, the special-grade food supplement arrived.
Bruno opened his mouth, swallowed it all, and his body let out a thick white mist. A white glow flashed on his skin.
Even more importantly, after eating this meal, the contract could be used again.
Bruno felt really good inside.
Who should he go trade with next?
Kaiden saw this and leaned in again, lowering his voice: "Brother Bruno, you've seen the effect of the special-grade food supplement. Do you want to eat it every day?"
He made an exaggerated face, just like a creepy uncle trying to trick kids.
Bruno blinked and said, "My father once told me that strong supplements should be eaten in small amounts. Eating them too often can make you resistant."
Before Kaiden could react, he wiped his mouth and ran away quickly, shouting, "Big Brother Kaiden, I'm going home for a bit. I'll bring you something good later."
Kaiden was completely frozen.
Fuck, that's really shameless.
Barry saw the scene and his lips curved, saying in a low voice, "I wish I was that brave back then."
Kaiden turned dark instantly and said coldly, "You think you can slip away like that? Two meals of food supplement, almost 120 gold coins. Don't you worry about getting a stomachache?"
He slowly stood up, patted Barry's shoulder, and smiled, "By the way, your cousin is working at the front desk of the martial arts hall, right? Have her get me Bruno's file."
It sounded like a suggestion, but it was really a command. Barry had no choice but to agree.
...
"Sir, you're back," Fabian said politely, standing by the door and bowing slightly.
Bruno was surprised. "How did you know I was coming back again?"
Fabian smiled, "Of course, it's because of the connection between the master and me..."
Bruno quickly cut him off, "Don't say that, it's giving me goosebumps." He rubbed his shoulders and walked into the castle.
The castle had a little bit of life back. Workers were coming in to work, fixing the vineyard, and renovating the castle.
Fabian explained, "The first step of the Hornes family's rise is to change its look."
Bruno didn't care much about the castle's business. He sat down casually, and Fabian brought him some snacks and tea.
"Anything happening recently?" Bruno asked while chewing on the snack.
Fabian thought for a moment, "Nothing." Then he paused and added, "Do you count that as something?"
"What did you hear?" Bruno took a sip of tea.
Fabian thought for a while and said, "A cult appeared in the slums. They're holding a meeting. They say it's not a big deal, but just to be safe, you shouldn't go to the slums for a while."
Bruno never went to the slums in the first place.
He didn't take it seriously and asked, "What's the group called?"
Fabian thought and said, "They're called 'the God-King Cult.' They worship a god named 'Zeus'... yeah, that Zeus, the evil god."
Bruno spit out his tea immediately.
"Sir, are you okay?" Fabian rushed forward and handed him a handkerchief.
"I'm fine, I just choked," Bruno took the handkerchief. His mind was only filled with Zeus.
What the hell, isn't Zeus from Greek mythology?
Why is he an evil god now?
It's like watching Spider-Man all your life, and suddenly he becomes the villain.
How can Zeus be an evil god?
Bruno returned to his room in a daze. No matter how he thought about it, he couldn't connect the cult with Zeus.
If you say they don't know anything, they still know to name themselves 'the God-King Cult' and know that Zeus is the king of gods. If you say they do know, they still use Zeus as a cult god.
That's not a joke.
Bruno thought and thought, and finally made up his mind: "Even if Zeus is an evil god, I still want to be a cult member."
He turned around immediately, went out the door, and was about to head to the Bloom City Library, where the most complete books in the world were kept. But as he reached the door, he stopped.
If the god was evil, the Federation would be watching it closely. Going to look up Zeus right now would be like walking straight into danger.
Bruno sighed and had no choice but to turn back to his room.
He paced back and forth in the room, trying to clear his mind. He forced himself to sit down, then pulled out a piece of paper and started writing and drawing.
He drew a circle in the center and wrote "Trade" inside.
Since the contract had a cooldown, it made sense to use it as early as possible.
"Hmm... people like Ignaz must not be rare. But the problem was, Ignaz was so desperate that he agreed to the deal so easily... Wait, desperate..."
"Who gets that desperate?"
Bruno's mind lit up. He wrote "Hospital" on the paper, and next to it he added "Serious illness, dying patients."
"People in suffering are more likely to make a deal."
Bloom City had decent medical resources. There were four hospitals. The First District Hospital was in the rich area, serving the rich. That was out of the question.
This world was an Arcane Power world. Medical technology was super advanced. Plus, there was the weird alchemy that helped the rich get better. There was no way the First District Hospital would be useful.
So that left only one cancer hospital in the Eighth District.
Most of the patients there had cancer.
"Okay, I'll start training first, then go to the hospital and see if I can find something good by chance," Bruno decided. He started to train.
"Contract, give me time."
Ignaz's 62 years of [Thunderclap Breathing Method] training time suddenly merged with Bruno.
[First year, thanks to my The Ten Thousand Hells, the Thunderclap Breathing Method progressed quickly.]
[Fourth year, I reached Low Rank. But at that time, my weak bone structure became obvious. I made no more progress.]
[Fifth year, I had a sudden idea, but I didn't catch it.]
[Nineteenth year, the faint thunder sounds inside my body grew louder. My bones and muscles were constantly being remade. My bone structure finally changed. The Thunderclap Breathing Method actually improved my constitution. It was truly amazing.]
[Twenty-second year, late winter. I saw a lightning bolt split the sky. Everything came back to life. Spring arrived. My understanding deepened.]
[Twenty-third year, during a training session, I blew out a thunderclap. The Thunderclap Breathing Method finally reached High Rank.]