The Cat Detective Agency was a small operation, but clearly, they dabbled in other businesses besides iigative work.Charlot memorized the address, casually activated Blood Glory, and crushed the wallet and paper slip into fine dust.

  The dagger, however, was quite a surprise. After iing it, Charlot firmed it was araordinary on. Even more impressive, the dagger was an anti-space item, possessing two attributes: Sharpness and Durability.

  Sharpness allowed the dagger to emit a short burst of energy bde when infused with battle energy, magic, or any other form of Extraordinary ability, making it sharper than steel.

  Durability ehe dagger was difficult to damage, allowing it to hold its own even against Blood Rose.

  If put up for au, this dagger could easily sell for over two hundred écus, ranking it as a top-tier Extraordinary on.

  The alchemical pistol, oher hand, was an ordinary on—not much different from Charlot's magical alchemical staff—but with superior craftsmanship pared to standard pistols, longer range, faster firing speed, and improved accuracy.

  Charlot already had two Magnum Maulers, so he decided to repe with this newly acquired firearm.

  Finally, his greatest gain: the thin, flesh-like mask.As he lightly touched it, a surge of awareness entered his mind:

  "Mask of the Cat! Capable of transf into six different lifeforms and randomly extrag one skill of the transformed target. Limited to beings the wearer has e into tact with. When worn, it grants a slight boost to agility and serves as proof of membership in the Orc Assassin Alliance."

  Charlot was slightly surprised. The Mask of the Cat couldract targets' Extraordinary abilities—only their skills. It was indeed a limitation, but if it could draw even foundatioraordinary abilities, this artifact would have been far too powerful. Even so, the value of this mask likely surpassed that of the assassin's dagger—though as a non-specialist, Charlot found it hard to estimate its worth.

  He did know about the Orc Assassin Alliahe Old ti had five major assassin anizations, and the Orc Assassin Alliance was one of them.

  Rumor had it that the alliance's members were desdants of the a Orgdom, iing numerous bloodline-based Extraordinary abilities. They primarily operated in the southern ti and rarely ventured into the Fars Empire.

  Charlot Meburg, as an ordinary gover employee, had never e into tact with any assassin anizations—he had only read about them in uy texts.

  Charlot wondered why Aubrey Tildon Atwood had sought an orc assassin from the south to kill him when the Blood Brotherhood was active within Fars itself.

  "I’ve heard the Orc Assassin Allianever fails to fulfill a tract. If an assassihey simply send another—and another—until the target is dead."

  "Aubrey Tildon Atwood knows this! If that bastard leaks information, I’ll never have peace."

  The thought sent a cold resolve through Charlot.If not for the difficulty of execution, he would have summoned an evil ght outside the Fierce Horse Detective Agency to hahe matter.

  Putting away the spoils, Charlot decided to stop dwelling on the issue. Thinking about it served no purpose.

  Silently activating Blood Glory, he began his daily training.

  Ever siurning to Strasb, Charlot had felt an urgency to cultivate.

  Fag evil gods twice had elevated his spirituality to araordinary level, accelerating his training progress tremendously.

  For most Extraordinary beings, increasing energy iy was straightforward, but improving spirituality was notoriously difficult. It required stant tempering of the mind, with only minuscule gains after much effort.

  Charlot, however, was the opposite. His spirituality had already reached a level parable to high-level Extraordinary beings, yet his energy iy gged behind.

  Practitioners of Blood Glory typically densed seven ht Blood Vortices before starting the Bloodfeast Meditation. Many spent their entire lives without successfully meditating even a single rune.

  Charlot, however, had nearly achieved both simultaneously. Whenever he opened a Blood Vortex, he also densed a corresponding Blood Ru present, only the Agility Rune on his left leg was slightly g. The Insight Ru his brow, the Bloodfire Qi rune on his chest, and the Angel’s Thorn Rune on his left hand had all been cultivated to impressive levels. As a result, his actual bat strength far exceeded that of a typical fourth-raraordinary.

  The reason Charlot repeatedly overcame stronger enemies in battle was due to this advantage.

  Blood Glory was known as the nemesis of vampires for two key reasons. The first was its versatility: it allowed practitioo transd s and master multiple secret teiques. The sed—and the most fual—was the Bloodfeast Meditation itself!

  Without the Protagoras Breathing Teique, Blood Glory would remain unremarkable, only minor improvements in speed. But bined with Bloodfeast Meditation, Blood Glory became incredibly domineering.

  Charlot, unaware of his true strength, always attributed his victories to ing and strategy.

  Charlot wasn’t sure how long he had been cultivating when suddenly, his heart began to pound wildly. Panic crept in—he had no idea if this world had something akin to Qi Deviation. Though anxious, he knew such emotions were dangerous and forced himself to remain calm.

  "What’s going on?"

  "It’s the Bloodfire Qi ruing up."

  "Could it be that I’ve been training incorrectly? But I’ve been following the Vampiric Scroll II. This shouldn’t be happening!"

  Charlot wasn’t a vampire. Blood Glory was already an obscure Extraordinary path, and even at Sheffield Uy, few schors specialized in it. Training alourally led to ued challenges.

  At this moment, Charlot could only steady himself, cirg Blood Glory repeatedly to suppress the ruurmoil.

  However, the tiny, heart-like Blood Rune grew increasingly restless. In a moment of distra, the rune exploded, its energy flowing through his bloodstream to every er of his body.

  Charlot felt as though his body was on the brink of mutation. Panic returned—should he suppress the energy or attempt to redirect it?

  The sed, his entire being burst into fmes...

  A mass of bloodfire repced Charlot’s body.

  After a dozehs, Charlained awareness, drifting around the room in his fiery form. He marveled at the ge.

  "I’m a mass of bloodfire now?"

  "Wait... This isn’t a problem at all. I’ve actually mastered Bloodfire Transfiguration?!"

  Reversing the Protagoras Breathing Teique, tless fragments of golden runes reassembled into a small golde, and Charlot reverted from his fiery state to his flesh-and-blood form.

  Raising his hands, he ied his body. It appeared no different from before. He couldn’t help but marvel at the profundity of this world’s magic.

  Charlot had long sought to open his fifth Blood Vortex or, at the very least, plete the Agility Rune. Uedly, his Bloodfire Qi had broken through first, allowing him to master the advaeique, Bloodfire Transfiguration.

  Once more cirg the Protagoras Breathing Teique, Charlot transformed into bloodfire, drifting zily around 58 Elysée Avehe sensation was utterly novel.

  Although he had possessed Extraordinary abilities before, this was the first time he truly felt that he was no longer an ordinary human being.