City of Sin (Yanyu Jiangnan)

Unexpected Gift

The old man and the youth chatted casually like they were enjoying tea on a sunny afternoon, but they were in a gloomy, run-down tent that reeked of blood. The young man was watching his own organs being turned over, while the old was slicing off pieces of rotting flesh before pouring viscous fluids of all colours down the youth’s abdominal cavity.

Eventually, the surgery came to an end. Lawrence started stitching the wound together, but after the first few threads were in he suddenly palmed his forehead and squealed.

“What’s wrong, old man?” Richard asked in shock.

“Dammit, I almost forgot!” Lawrence yelled, running away immediately. Richard heard him ransacking through his chests, following which some weird squelching sounds rang out.

As someone with a breadth of knowledge in the field, Richard quickly surmised that the old man was concocting some sort of medicine. It left him both amused and worried; his open chest wasn’t even halfway stitched but he’d been left alone. Besides, what if he messed up the drug in a hurry?

Ten minutes passed before Lawrence finally returned, but Richard didn’t even have the strength of will to reprimand him anymore. It took all of his will just to stop himself from fainting at the sight of his exposed innards.

The former saint runemaster was smiling wickedly, smiling at the dirty vial in his hand as though he had just peeped at a bathing beauty. The vial was about half-filled with a murky liquid, minced pieces of flesh still floating on top. The grinding process clearly hadn’t been seen to completion.

Richard found the situation to be quite odd; from what he’d heard, the drug was created from nothing more than crudely chopping and grinding what sounded like a tough ingredient. However, Lawrence clearly valued this thing a lot. He was so excited that he was bouncing on his way back.

“You won’t believe how good this thing is!” the man laughed crazily, almost drooling from the mouth. Richard tried to object, but he pulled the stitches apart and poured the entire bottle of stinky liquid into his insides. Richard’s face turned pale; it was like acid was burning his lungs!

White mist started bubbling up from his wounds, containing a strange odour. The smell was nauseating, but it also seemed to be a stimulant; his blood circulation sped up immensely.

“What is this?” Richard asked in disgusted shock.

Lawrence beamed with satisfaction, keeping silent as he finished the stitches. He pulled out a bottle of thick, white liquid from his robes, pouring it over the wound.

“AARGH!” Richard immediately got up, wincing in pain as a whiff of white smoke floated up from the wound. The thick, milky liquid was filled with divine energy; feeling its power, he could tell that it was a concentrated dose of holy water called holy dew. The healing effects were stronger than most divine spells, with the only cost being the acute pain. Richard saw his own chest healing rapidly, not so much as a single scar being left behind.

However, he couldn’t bring himself to be happy. This old man had clearly wasted the holy dew just so he didn’t dig out that mysterious drug one he could move. The divine energy would also speed up his absorption of the drug, so even if he cut open his abdomen it would be of no use.

Thankfully, the pervert was at least trustworthy, especially since they were somewhat close to teacher and student. Although this fellow had a number of problems in the head, he genuinely cared. Richard forced a smile, “Old man, now can you tell me what the hell that was?”

“You’d better thank me, kid. That…” Lawrence drew closer, lowering his voice, “That was the essence of a sksar ursa warlord!”

“What?!” Richard cried out in surprise, jumping up from the table only to lose his footing for a moment, “It can’t be…”

“Hehehe, yes! It’s the refined essence of an ursa warlord’s penis! This one was actually from one of their chiefs and in perfect condition, the effect will last forever!” Lawrence was beaming with excitement as he patted Richard’s shoulder with pride, “Go, you are now a man among men! Use this power to turn those bitches upside down! Let them know Saint Lawrence doesn’t play tricks, even if I’m not on the frontlines they will still suffer a crushing defeat!”

“How could you...” Richard grew both angry and anxious. He quickly inspected his body, but things were as he feared; his body was almost completely healed. The ursa essence had been assimilated into him!

His expression immediately turned cold as he started a more careful inspection, but he couldn’t find anything abnormal. Outside of a light buzz of arousal, there was nothing different about him. However, he still couldn’t dismiss his worries.

Lawrence looked at his gloomy face and immediately understood his worry, smiling in assurance, “Don’t worry, you know my standards! I refined it using the best techniques, it won’t affect your offspring in the slightest. They’ll still be your children, through and through.”

Richard had many things to say, but eventually just sighed. At the very least, he did trust this pervert’s medical capabilities.

Lawrence put his arms around Richard’s shoulders, “Kid, you see… I’ve saved your life now, and done you multiple favours. I’ve made you a man amongst men, taught you the Mana Armament, given you—”

“Yes, yes. Now, what do you want me to do for you?”

“I knew it!” the old man tapped him on the shoulder, “You’re definitely not an ungrateful whelp! Wait one moment!”

Lawrence zipped out and back in, now holding a crumpled piece of paper in his hand that he shoved into Richard’s face. On it was a list of names, including the families they came from and some brief description. Everyone listed here was a woman, and some of the families mentioned were absolute hegemons in Norland. However, this piece of paper looked quite old; many years had obviously passed since they were listed.

“These women, I had to use some tricks to get them in those days. Some even just rejected me! Now, I need you to conquer them in bed! They should know that I, Saint Lawrence, am not someone who only lasts a few minutes… Wait… Erm… Anyway, just prove it to them!”

“Ookaayyy.” Richard had no idea how to respond to this old pervert, “This paper seems old…”

“Oh, it might be. How long ago was this? Let’s see… Was it 30 years? 40? No, maybe it was 50…”

“I…” Richard quietly folded the list. He wanted to say he would try, but looking at Lawrence eagerly waiting for his response he couldn’t bring himself to say those words. Eventually, he just sighed, “Why don’t you use this on yourself? Don’t you want to do it on your own?”

“Oh, right! MY BEYE!” Lawrence screamed with remorse and misery.

However, Richard ignored his poor acting, “Right, where is Beye?”

“His Majesty just recovered the Fort of Dawn, so everyone worth something went there to help out against the counterattack. She might come back in a few days.”

“His Majesty?” Richard’s eyes widened, “You mean…”

“Yes, that little fatty Philip of the Sacred Alliance. Wait… He’s already a big fatty now, I should give him more respect,” Lawrence said begrudgingly, but then he continued to chatter as Richard gathered his equipment, “Kid, why don’t you just be a royal runemaster and stay in Norland? Why did you suddenly come to this place, and it even looks like you’re staying here for a long time… Did a girl reject you? Don’t worry, it’s her loss…

“Wait, what’s that?!”