Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 102 - Ninety: Breakthrough (Part Two)

Chapter 102: Chapter Ninety: Breakthrough (Part Two)

Old Ferrero was called out from the laboratory upon hearing that his apprentice had tested his strength on the Testing Slab, and a crack had formed with a score jumping to 20.

To be honest, Old Ferrero was truly surprised, not by his apprentice’s strength, but by the fact that he hadn’t sensed anything amiss—as if the 20 points were so normal.

Upon arriving at the scene, Old Ferrero made Malin drink a potion and then activated his Spiritual Sight. He immediately discovered the issue—Malin had experienced a bloodline awakening.

If the liberation of a Transcendent is about unlocking power through training, then a bloodline awakening is about obtaining benefits from one’s own lineage.

Don’t talk about fairness; some are born with poor vision, some with a limp, and some don’t even get to be born. Life is unfair from the beginning.

That’s why every precious bloodline draws many followers, because compared to it, wealth and status are just trivial toys easily found by the wayside.

The ancestral human and dryad bloodlines in Malin’s lineage weren’t plentiful; obviously, it wasn’t them. Thus, it could only be the paternal bloodline or the maternal Frost Giant bloodline. With the paternal bloodline definitely dominating everything about Malin at the moment, then... "It must be the Frost Giant bloodline that has awakened," Old Ferrero concluded without further thought.

"What are the benefits and drawbacks of such an awakening?" Malin was curious.

"The advantage is that your strength will increase significantly, as will agility and constitution. As for disadvantages... You’re probably going to grow quite tall," Old Ferrero thought aloud. "Frost Giants fear flame; how do you feel when you look at this fire?" The old man opened his hand, and a flame made of spiritual energy burned within it.

"Nothing," Malin shook his head and then produced a flame in his own palm as well.

"Then it means you have no weaknesses in elemental resistance, and Frost Giants have extremely high resistance to ice. Kid, you could even wear a shirt in the coldest moments without feeling the chill," Old Ferrero added with a touch of envy—the sea winds made Carterburg especially cold in winter, and wearing more just restricted the old man’s movements, especially during surgeries. Most of his spiritual energy was used to maintain spells against the cold, and he envied the boy’s natural gift.

"Wait, is he going to participate in today’s competition?" the male investigator interjected—he was starting to worry about his own child.

"I’ll communicate with Lord Hoffman Sheringdall about this. Malin is an extraordinary presence that the entire Apprentice rank cannot contend with, let alone first-years. With 20 strength, even a Transcendent from a non-strength enhancing Sequence might not have 20 points of strength by Liberation Stage Five," Old Ferrero explained and glanced at his apprentice. "Kid, you need to learn more from me, so you won’t accidentally break a vase and bankrupt yourself."

"Right," for Malin, both Old Ferrero and Old Hoffman were his mentors, and listening to one’s teachers was always right. "By the way, about Maya—everything’s okay, right?"

"No issue, it’s a standard Orc awakening, just that the awakened ability is quite remarkable. The Great Forest Land might even want to take her away." Old Ferrero bent down to look at Maya in front of him: "Your father’s way of picking kids is formidable, no one on the entire continent can beat him at that."

"What if Maya and I are unwilling?" Malin asked.

"Then The Great Forest Land would have to wage a war against us to take you away, which won’t happen. Both The Great Forest Land and we are signatories of the Civilized Contract, and no one would be so crazy as to start a war with the human world just for an awakened bloodline. However, if she has children in the future, she might be expected to comply with a marriage pact from The Great Forest Land, at least marrying off two daughters. But that’s all in the future," Old Ferrero felt he had said too much, and stopped himself. "By the way, you two investigators, how did you come to test Malin’s strength?"

"About that... It’s a long story..." The two investigators told the whole matter.

Old Ferrero felt he’d encountered madmen: "You two really get into the weeds. I’m off... Oh, and Malin, tonight there are a few fresh Spirit bodies to dissect; come over and we’ll hook up, and I’ll teach you how to dissect for big money."

"Great!" Malin was naturally happy about making money. As for going to the morgue in the middle of the night to hook up and dissect Spirit bodies, does that matter? Anyone who got in the way of him learning to make money, even if it was a Spiritual Body, would end up with a broken leg.

After sending off Old Ferrero, Malin was left with nothing to do. The two investigators were obviously rattled by Malin, not bothering to check the decimals after the 20. They turned to investigate other bystanders.

Malin’s strength of 20 deterred some overconfident challengers—a huge gulf lay between 15 and 20 in strength; the former might not kill them even if they screwed up, but the latter could make one disappear with a single mistake, depending on which body part made contact first with whatever Malin held in his hand.

But there was still something to do. Once Faye had caught up with her two older brothers and the mother who rushed over, she returned to Malin’s side.

"How about chess?"

"Chess? Chess is no fun," said Logan, who had just finished school, looking at Malin and Faye. The young man reached behind him and pulled out a box: "You know, this is a new game from Thanan, very fun to play."

"What?" Faye was curious.

"What?" Malin looked at the box and had a foreboding concern.

"Thainan City War!" Logan opened the box.

Looking at the neatly arranged tiles, dice, and sticks in the box, and the unfamiliar yet unmistakably traditional symbols on the cards, Malin suddenly felt like crying.

...the sorrows of mankind are varied, but seeking joy seems to be uniform.

Little rascals, how I’ve missed you.

......

Logan stared at the tiles in front of him, his expression serious. He glanced at Faye sitting across from him—this girl was definitely a novice, her recent plays could have easily formed a half flush with pairs.

Then he turned his gaze to Miriam, his upper seat and girlfriend. He knew well that despite appearing shrewd, she was actually quite scatterbrained; she still hadn’t grasped the difference between a pair and a sequence.

Lastly, he looked to his lower seat, Malin... What was up with this guy? How could he play Mahjong that well? Where did he learn all those tile patterns? That previous hand with a Thirteen Orphans wait had nearly made a fool out of Logan!

With that thought, Logan discarded his tile: "Red Dragon."

Malin drew a tile: "Green Dragon, kong."

Malin spread out his hand, his expression neither sad nor happy, drew a tile from the end of the wall, and placed it in front of him: "Self-pick, ready hand, after a kong, fully concealed hand, Green Dragon value tiles, straight flush, half flush, three dora tiles, two hidden dora tiles, cumulative yakuman, thirty-two thousand points."

Behind him, Maya, holding a notebook, was busy calculating how much they’d earn from that hand, completely unaware of her brother calling out the score.

Logan felt as if the sky had fallen—how could Malin rattle off the hand like the Thainan people listing their menu items? And were those really enough for a cumulative yakuman?

Colin patted him on the shoulder at that moment: "Pretty interesting, I want to give it a try."

"Aren’t you supposed to be working?" Malin asked curiously.

"I injured my leg, they said there were plenty of people and they didn’t need an injured person taking up space, so I came over here to the side hall," said Malin as he sat down, while Margaret comforted Logan and guided him to sit down on the sofa beside them.

"Speaking of which, Malin, you’re really impressive. Have you really never played this game before?" Colin asked with some curiosity.

"The literal meaning of ’genius’ is that some aspects come with a natural advantage." Malin finished saying that, set up the tiles with his friends, and rolled the dice: "South four, last round, I’m the dealer."

After the tiles were distributed, Colin confirmed he had three sequences, eight characters, and five circles.

Malin had already started to play.

After 15 turns, Colin felt he could declare ready hand, so he checked his tiles, then placed down his betting stick: "Ready hand."

Malin smiled, drew a tile, then placed it down, pushing over his hand: "Fully concealed hand, double run, all simples, flush, three dora tiles, red dora tile, cumulative yakuman, forty-eight thousand points."

Colin tilted his head—what deals did you make with the Goddess of Fortune, you little rascal!

"Alright, bullying you all isn’t fun, I won’t take any money today," Malin said, slapping his butt as he stood up. "But Logan, you have to treat us to a meal."

Relieved to not be laden with debt, Logan immediately snapped out of his slump on the couch: "No problem, the place opposite the church, run by Thainan people, best sweet and sour pork, the Half-human culinary master here said it’s excellent."

So Colin got into his wheelchair, pushed by Margaret, and followed everyone out of the church, just as they ran into Clovis. The girl’s appearance surprised Malin, but thinking one more mouth to feed wasn’t a problem, he simply invited her along as well.

Upon entering the Thainan’s restaurant, the first thing Malin saw was a big sign filled with names of dishes. Although the writing was different, it still brought a sense of home to Malin.

Looking further down... "Boss, give me a bowl of braised spicy rabbit head," a customer in front said.

When he heard that name, Malin was stunned for a moment, then he saw the same name on the sign, which led him to ponder—should he try it?

Meanwhile, Bunny Girl next to him had already placed her hand on the handle of her revolver, looking at the Thainan owner as if he were a poacher.

The owner, with an innocent face, was trembling slightly as he held a rabbit by the ears.

Maya grasped Clovis’s hand tightly to prevent her from actually drawing her weapon.

Malin decided in the end not to bother with it.

He stroked Clovis’s head to calm her down, then led her to follow Logan into a private room.

After all, it was just a meal.