CHAPTER 133: JUDGEMENT (2)

A lightweight leather armor and tight-fitted black pants, an upper body shirt, along with other pieces of equipment that completed a full set of lightweight armor made of leather and another flexible material, appeared out of thin air from his inventory with a soft shimmer.

Floating in the air, the armor pieces slowly aligned themselves into a human shape. To the beggars watching, it looked like a divine gift descending from the heavens—silent, graceful, and filled with sacred purpose.

They were completely new—things he had collected from the armory of the noble houses. These were of the lowest quality, yet they were quite decent compared to the same type of armor sold in shops.

But the thing was—the size of the armor wasn’t something that would fit Rudy at all, and that wasn’t all. Through the distinctive features of the armor, it was clear that it was made for a woman.

Little Rudy was confused at first, but Leon waited for him to arrive at the conclusion himself, and he did.

"God, are these armor and clothes for my mama?"

Leon confirmed.

"Yes, this is for your mother. This full-body armor was your reward. If you want one for yourself, you have to work hard for it."

"I haven’t been rewarded with something because, despite your honesty, you made a mistake, but are you happy that you’ve earned clothes and even armor for your mother?"

"I am very happy, God. I will work hard so that I can earn one for myself too, just like mama."

Leon showed a faint smile, his smile captivating many, and ordered Rudy to go back as the full-body lightweight armor arrived in front of Rudy’s mother and dropped gently.

Rudy’s mother bowed her head, facing the direction of Leon. When Rudy arrived close to her, she made him do the same.

Those who witnessed what transpired in front of them were completely jealous of Rudy and his mother. They wanted clothes too, but what she got was much better than normal clothes, all because of her son Rudy.

Two more mothers in the crowd and a father whispered to their children to learn from Rudy’s honesty and courage to face punishment when they were wrong. And it worked like a charm, as the reward he had earned made others drool—even the adults, elders, and orphans alike.

Leon moved on to the next woman. Seeing Rudy’s example, she came clean and told him she had taken 10 gold coins. But unlike Rudy, instead of being rewarded, she got punished—which she accepted with a bow.

As his earlier reminder still rang in their minds about how they could earn luxuries for themselves if they earned enough merit—and that even getting a house was possible—

"You won’t be given the next two meals."

Not only that, but the punishment was so easy. They were quite used to not eating anything for a day, so skipping two meals was not even a light slap on the wrist—especially when they were completely full right now.

The next one, a girl who appeared to be in her teens, didn’t resist either and came clean herself.

With trembling hands, she slowly pulled a sleek dagger from beneath her ragged clothes. The sheath shimmered faintly under the light, silver and smooth, far too elegant for someone in rags. A few around her murmured, but she kept her gaze low, clutching it tightly as if afraid it might vanish.

Leon remained calm even after seeing the girl’s choice because he already knew—her greed wasn’t for treasure but for the dagger. Another interesting child.

Leon didn’t speak. He observed the quiet and cautious girl. There was a sharpness in her gaze. Not malice... but survival.

Let’s see what you have in store for me, he thought, and brought up her status.

He focused on her affinity, as, besides that, she had nothing worth looking at.

His eyebrows raised in surprise for the first time. Despite the low rank, her element was something he had seen for the first time.

[Poison Affinity (Rank 4)]

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It was a dangerous affinity, which was mentioned in Lin Fang’s journey. He even said that if the person he was facing had poison affinity, he would rather run than continue the fight.

It couldn’t be healed with normal healing potions, but if the person had high mastery and created unique poisons, no one could save you if it entered your bloodstream—other than the one who created the poison.

There were alternatives like natural treasures or finding a person with high mastery in the same element.

But there were clear weaknesses to this rare element, too. First, most people who had this affinity died young due to their own element. Also, elements like Light, Life, and Wood are direct counters to this element because of their ability to directly purify toxins.

Light, Life, and Wood—counters to poison—but rarer than gold dust in the slums. You’d sooner find a beast egg than someone with a Life affinity strong enough to purify high-tier venom.

There is the Water Element too—very common—but it can’t be considered a complete counter like the other three. Still, it can flush out and dilute poison even from the bloodstream. But completely flushing out the poison is too hard. Yet it can give you enough time to end the battle or escape so you can buy a higher-grade healing potion to completely neutralize the poison.

But why did he have so much information about poison elements specifically?

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The girl shifted on her feet, clearly unsure of what God’s silence meant. Am I going to be punished more than others? Did I mess up worse than everyone else? Her throat tightened as the silence stretched on. Please... I didn’t mean to. I just... wanted to feel safe. She didn’t dare speak, just held the dagger tighter.

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Lin Fang always ranted about a woman he called the "Poison Witch"—a lunatic with a smile that could drain your wallet faster than her toxins can ever kill because she never sold deadly poison. He’d curse her prices every day, even then risk interdimensional teleport fees just to see her again because of how good she was.

They wouldn’t harm anyone—but were just what he needed. Still, he had cursed the woman too many times in his novel, saying she was a scammer and her prices were exorbitant.

But Lin Fang was like a druggie—addicted to her goods, which could beat anything in the market, despite how expensive they were.

Still... her potions worked. Especially the ones meant to... ’soften resistance.’

She’s the reason he ever got close to that dragon girl, Leon mused.

Dragons having relationships with humans wasn’t weird, but it was still frowned upon in dragon heritage. Lin Fang had to escape from them for a while, but they were crazy enough to hunt him down across realms and planets—like the Dark Elven Princess.

It was only because he targeted the lowest dragon clan with thin bloodlines. Most dragons wouldn’t consider them equals, so they weren’t worth the effort.

Yet she was still stronger than Lin Fang himself.

He mentioned that those connected to dragons were mostly monsters compared to any other races.

Their numbers were small compared to trillions of humans in the cosmos—but they were the most feared despite that, and it wasn’t without reason.

Having learned this, Leon also wanted to meet dragons in the future and see how truly strong they were.

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Leon blinked, focusing back on the girl before him. She was gripping the dagger like it meant salvation.

"Why have you chosen a dagger out of everything?" he asked, voice calm.