All the “stifiowledge” Charlot had acquired throughout his life failed to expin such a bizarre bodily transformation; he could only attribute it to the “magic” of this world.

  He tried seven ht times, shifting from flesh to Bloodfire Qi and back again. The repeated attempts improved his proficy, allowing him to swits within seds. In the Bloodfire Qi state, he was immuo most physical attacks and could float around, which was barely a form of flight.

  However, limited by the fact that Charlot was still only “Fourth Tier”, the speed of his Bloodfire flight was unimpressive—just slightly faster than a human sprint. He also couldn’t gain much altitude; floating up to the ceiling already required siderable effort.

  On the bright side, his body could morph into different shapes, enabling him to pass through areas inaccessible to ordinary people. At the very least, he no longer had to worry about being locked up in a prison cell.

  “This isn’t quite the free-spirited elegance of those vilinous swordsmen in Tales of Mount Shu, flying wildly as streaks of fire,” Charlot ented wryly.

  Resuming his human form, Charlot smiled, despite his grumbling. To his surprise, his first real breakthrough in this magical world was mastering the Bloodfire Transfiguration.

  The Bloodfire Transfiguration was a secret art that Blood Glory did not possess.

  After all, Protagoras was not a vampire. Though he had fought vampires and stolen many of their teiques, he had only grasped the basics of various bloodlis and was uo pee their deepest mysteries.

  Charlot took out his Diary and flipped to the third page of the Vampiric Scroll II-III.

  The first page of the scroll described Bloodfire Qi, the sed Bloodfire Transfiguration, and ohird was recorded a secret art of the Adonis —The Fme Dragon’s Hand!

  The Fme Dragon’s Hand densed Bloodfire Qi into hands that could vary in size, up to a maximum of eighteen hands. Each Fme Dragon’s Hand possessed the ability to drain life force.

  Typically, members of the Adonis did not use the Fme Dragon’s Hand to directly attaemies.

  Instead, they would wield ons with the hands. While using melee ons was impressive on its own, bining the Fme Dragon’s Hand with firearms could unleash the destructive power of a small army.

  As Charlot carefully studied the Fme Dragon’s Hand, he noticed that the tdown for the vampire evil god Karnstein’s dest had beeeo 71 days, 8 hours, 20 minutes, and 17 seds! This gave him a slight sense of relief.

  Suddenly, the kerosene mp went out. Charlot snapped his fingers, igniting a small fme of Bloodfire Qi at his fiip. Upon cheg the mp, he realized it was out of kerosene. He added more, relit the mp, and sat back down.

  By now, the window outside was growing faintly bright. Deg not to tiraining, Charlot put away his Diary. He fed his three lively kitten cubs some goat milk and pyed with them for a while, improving his mood siderably. Grabbing a few pieces of bread and the coffee brewed the previous night, he settled for a simple breakfast.

  Walking to the window, he g the sky.

  The weather seemed promising—an expanse of brilliant blue. When he opehe window, the fresh air rushed in, apanied by a pleasant, cool temperature.

  “Looks like I’ll skip work today. I should probably get myself a carriage,” Charlot mused to himself.

  As the chief of the Lukavaro District city patrol guards, Charlot teically reported to a superior who was merely nominal and never interfered in daily affairs. If Charlot didn’t feel like w, he didn’t eveo request leave. The “supreme authority” for approving vacation in the Lukavaro District rested in his own hands.

  Charlot brewed another pot of coffee and perused the day’s neers. The inal Charlot Meburg had a habit of subscribing to three neers. After Huang Haisheng’s transmigration, he hadn’t celed the subscriptions, merely ging the delivery address from the Savings Union apartments to 58 Elysée Avenue.

  After reading for a while, the sounds of life began to fill Elysée Avenue as the neighborhood woke up. Estimating that the carriage shop would now be open, Charlot grabbed his e and headed out with a leisurely stride.

  When Charlot left home, he always carried a few essential items: his alchemical battlefield e, his Savings Union deposit slips, a wallet, his keys, the Diary, a military pistol, a Magnum Mauler, the Blood Rose cealed in his left hand, and the vampiric axe tucked behind his waist.

  Today, he added yet another on—the assassin’s dagger, which he stashed into the vampiric axe.

  The alchemical battlefield e, carried in hand as a gentleman’s accessory, attracted no attention. The wallet, keys, and deposit slips were simirly unremarkable. The Blood Rose weighed nothing, but the Diary, two pistols, and the vampiric axe made his load a bit cumbersome.

  Charlot had sidered purchasing a spatial artifact to lighten the load. Unfortunately, such items were even more expehan anti-space extraordinary ons, often costing over a thousand écus. With his current fortune of barely over ohousand écus, buying one was simply not worth it.

  Charlot made a quick stop at the Gate of Radiance. By ce, when he emerged, he found himself fag the rgest carriage shop on Elysée Avenue. Without hesitatiorode directly towards it.

  The shop was enormous, with dozens of well-trained draft horses avaible for purchase at any time. They sold both new and sed-hand carriages and even provided experienced en for hire.

  As soon as Charlot stepped into the shop, a senior carriage brreeted him with a smile. “Good day, sir! Are you looking to rent a carriage, or would you like to purchase one?”

  “I want to purchase a carriage. o show me anything new—just reend a sed-hand one,” Charlot replied.

  Sed-hand carriages were signifitly cheaper than new ones, usually priced at about seventy pert of the inal cost. Moreover, many sed-hand carriages were already decorated with seats, nterns, reins, and ors, unlike new ones, which required additional purchases.

  The broker’s smile widened. “You’re in luck. A noblemaly upgraded to a newer model and sold his previous carriage to us.”

  “This sed-hand carriage was inally purchased new from our shop just six months ago. It’s practically as good as new.”

  Nodding, Charlot followed the broker and soon id eyes on the “almost new” sed-hand carriage.

  It was a Fars Empire standard noble-css four-wheeled carriage.

  The Fars Empire, along with the reat empires of the Old ti, adhered to eight carriage types: single-person, double-person, practical, fortable, elegant, luxurious, grand, and noble-css.

  Oh, these categories could roughly be pared to scooters, pact cars, small sedans, midsize cars, and full-sized vehicles, ranging from small bikes to off-road motorcycles.

  The noble-css carriages typically featured 1.5-pimi-diameter wheels. The front included a shaded an’s seat, while the back had a luggage rack. The itself measured 2x6 or 2x8 pimi, providing ample space.

  Charlot carefully ied the carriage, even activating his Eye of Insight to ehere were no hiddes. Satisfied, he asked casually, “How much for this carriage?”

  The broker responded with a bright smile, “This carriage inally sold for 5 écus and 3 flor. You take it now for just 4 écus!”

  Charlot shook his head decisively. “Find me another one.”