Chapter 133: The Efficacy of the Ruby Necklace

"Tina!" Upon returning home, Jia Zhengjin found his young wife busy reviewing her Chinese vocabulary.

"Gene~~" Seeing him back, Tina immediately greeted him with a joyful smile, then said in a slightly more standard Chinese accent, "Welcome home!"

"Oh! Getting more standard, not bad!" Jia Zhengjin happily ruffled Tina's golden hair. "Here's a reward for you!"

"A reward?" Tina looked up at him with anticipation.

"Ta-da!" Jia Zhengjin took a ruby necklace from his virtual backpack and dangled it in front of her.

"Wow~~ So beautiful~~" Tina’s sapphire-like eyes sparkled. "Is this for me?"

"Of course!" Jia Zhengjin smiled and said, "Lift up your hair."

"Mm!" Tina reached up with eager hands and swept her long hair back.

Jia Zhengjin wrapped his arms around her delicate neck and carefully fastened the ruby necklace. After putting it on, he stepped back to admire it, quite satisfied. "So beautiful!"

Tina’s cheeks flushed slightly. "Really?"

"More real than pearls!" Jia Zhengjin lightly pinched her pointed chin and leaned down to kiss her fair, smooth cheek.

Tina felt filled with happiness, her eyes shimmering with emotion. She reached out and hugged his waist. "Gene, I’m so happy!"

"You should keep being this happy from now on!" Jia Zhengjin said to her with doting affection.

"Mm!"

"By the way! See if you notice anything special," Jia Zhengjin said to his wife in his arms. "They said this is a piece of jewelry with special effects for mages. Feel it, is there any increase in your mana? Or has your magic attack power grown?"

Tina closed her eyes and carefully sensed the changes, then shook her head gently. "I don't feel anything at all!"

"Could that shopkeeper be a swindler who cheated me out of my gold coins?" Jia Zhengjin was suddenly a bit angry. But on second thought, that shouldn't be the case! After a moment of contemplation, he said, "Tina, let's go to the town guard's training grounds!"

"Okay!"

The couple arrived at the training grounds together. Jia Zhengjin pointed to a wooden dummy and told Tina, "Try attacking it!"

"Hah!" Tina immediately cast a small fireball with practiced ease.

"Boom!" The wooden dummy exploded instantly, only to reform itself after a few seconds.

"The power hasn't changed; it's the same as before," Tina said.

"Then it probably doesn't add intelligence," Jia Zhengjin nodded. "Try to see if the number of times you can cast magic has increased."

"Mm!" Tina obediently fired successive fireballs at the dummy until her mana was completely depleted, then looked at him with effort. "It's the same, it didn't increase."

Jia Zhengjin was instantly frustrated. "So it really is a fake! It doesn't add intelligence, mana, or magic damage. I'm going straight to the general store shopkeeper to hold her accountable for selling fake goods!"

"Don't, right?" Tina said quickly. "Actually, this necklace is quite nice. At least it looks pretty on me!"

"No, I have to go!" Jia Zhengjin was angry because he hadn't expected the system shop to scam him.

"Gene!" Tina suddenly said in surprise, "Wait!"

"What's wrong?" Jia Zhengjin turned back to look at her, puzzled.

Tina stood up slowly and looked down at her hands. "I think I can feel my mana recovering!"

"Isn't that normal?" Jia Zhengjin said. "Mana is supposed to recover slowly when you're resting."

"No, I feel like the recovery speed is incredibly fast!" Tina raised her hand and surprisingly cast another small fireball.

"Huh!" Jia Zhengjin hurried over. "Try it again."

"Just a second!" Tina waited for a few seconds, and sure enough, she raised her hand and cast another one.

"How long does it usually take for your mana to recover enough for a small fireball?" Jia Zhengjin asked.

"Probably about an hour?" Tina blinked. "Now it only takes a few seconds."

"I see!" Jia Zhengjin became cheerful. "So it's not a fake, but a top-tier necklace with a hidden attribute that increases mana recovery speed! Good thing we found out, otherwise I would have really misunderstood the shopkeeper. I knew it! Anything produced by the system is a精品!"

"Mm!" Tina happily took his hand. "Gene, I've learned meditation, and now I have this necklace. From now on, I can fight alongside you!"

"Unless it's absolutely necessary, I still don't want you to participate in combat," Jia Zhengjin said. "Unless you become strong enough for me to be completely at ease. After all, if you get hurt, my heart will ache."

"Gene~~" Tina was moved and hugged him.

The two embraced affectionately in the camp for a while, but eventually had to flee because of the gathered gazes of the town guards. If they stayed any longer, it would seriously interfere with their training!

After leaving, Jia Zhengjin said to Tina, "By the way, I saw that female priest, Christina, acting crazy in the cell earlier. Do you know what's going on?"

"She’s not crazy!" Tina covered her mouth and giggled. "I heard from Christina herself that she belongs to the Ascetic order of the Church of Light. The Church of Light has two types of priests: ordinary ones and ascetic ones. Ordinary priests have relatively lax discipline; as long as they follow the doctrines and rules, there's no problem. Ascetic priests are different—they grow up under extremely harsh discipline from childhood. They must follow rules in everything they do and cannot deviate in the slightest. Furthermore, their training is a hundred times harder than other priests. That’s why the strength of ascetic priests is generally much higher than ordinary ones. For example, at her age, the light-based magic Christina has mastered is already at a level that ordinary priests would only reach at a high rank!"

"So, you mean her strength is equivalent to a high-ranking priest?"

"Mm!" Tina nodded. "As the name implies, ascetic priests must be able to endure hardship. From childhood to adulthood, they cannot have thoughts of enjoyment. In short, they must be pure and desireless! As long as they have thoughts of enjoyment—like eating our delicious food here—they consider it a 'demonic obstacle.' So, they find ways to overcome this obstacle to return to their original state..."

As they were talking, they happened to pass by the cell. The couple decided to go in and see how Christina was doing.

They were stunned to find that, with the bread and water confiscated from the city guards set aside, Christina was frantically stuffing honeyed ham into her mouth, then gulping down nectar. She looked like a starving ghost—where was the elegance she had shown at the beginning?

"Uh! Christina?" Jia Zhengjin called out tentatively.

"Woo woo~~" The female priest turned her head, her mouth full of meat and nectar, her cheeks bulging like a frog. She was teary-eyed, crying while eating. "The demonic obstacle is too strong!"

Jia Zhengjin: "..."

Tina: "..."