Even if the exact number of Pieces of Eden scattered around the world is not known, the tip of the iceberg of the legacy left by the First Civilization can be seen just from the map drawn in Codex 22.
Countless years have passed, and some of these Pieces of Eden buried around the world should have been unearthed by the Assassins and Templars, and changed hands many times during the battles between the two organizations.
The Holy Sword of Eden is one of them. Both the Templars and the Assassins once possessed this artifact, but now no one knows where the Holy Sword is, leaving only some vague clues.
The biggest obstacle to Lu Xiao's collection of Pieces of Eden is not the Templars, but the rejection of those who are not descendants of the Isu bloodline by the Pieces of Eden itself.
Now that he has decided to leave Florence, Lu Xiao plans to tentatively get in touch with one of the artifacts - the Shroud of Eden - before leaving.
Giovanni readily agreed to Lu Xiao's request to study the Shroud and specially sent someone to deliver it to the Auditore residence.
The Piece of Eden is the highest secret for both the Assassin and Templar organizations. Ezio and Claudia, who have not yet officially joined the Assassin organization, have no right to know its existence. Maria found it
I had an excuse to take him to the street for a stroll.
The shroud was placed in a wooden box with exquisite carvings, and it was placed on the desk in Lu Xiao's guest room.
Giovanni seemed to have suffered from the Shroud before. He stood a little far away from the desk, and reminded Lu Xiao with a twinkling look in his eyes: "Try to be vigilant when studying the Shroud, and don't let it whisper.
Temptation, guard your mind.”
"I have a little psychological shadow about this thing, so I won't accompany you to open the wooden box. You can do it yourself."
After saying these words, Giovanni turned around and ran away, not even giving Lu Xiao a chance to stay.
"Haha~" The corner of Lu Xiao's mouth twitched, "Don't worry, I won't open the box to death, I just want to use it as an experiment."
Even across the container, Lu Xiao could feel a strange spiritual wave affecting him, tempting him to open the lid and take the shroud for himself.
The past two years of formal assassin training not only tempered Lu Xiao's body and skills, but also tempered his will.
Barely resisting the attraction coming from the shroud, Lu Xiao slowly stretched out her fingers and touched the top of the wooden box.
"Congratulations to the host for obtaining the Piece of Eden - the Shroud. Do you want to put it into the system space now to complete the mission?"
'really……'
Lu Xiao breathed a long sigh of relief, his experiment was successful.
Before coming into contact with the Pieces of Eden in person, Lu Xiao had been worried. If he came into contact with the Pieces of Eden, would it be mandatory to complete the mission and the one-year stay time would begin to count down.
The experimental results proved that the system was not so overbearing and gave its host a choice, which added a lot of flexibility to Lu Xiao's follow-up plans.
Although he was very curious about the efficacy of the Shroud of Eden, Lu Xiao was self-aware. Without the blood of Eden, opening the box would cause him to be immediately controlled by the artifact and lose his mind.
'Let's talk about it later. Anyway, this artifact is kept in the hands of the Brotherhood, and there will definitely be a chance to officially get it in the future.'
…
After successfully completing the trial experiments on the Pieces of Eden and the world mission, Lu Xiao only had one thing left to do in Florence.
Standing in front of the door of Da Vinci's studio, Lu Xiao's expression was a little tangled.
Every time I met Leonardo da Vinci before, this all-around genius would enthusiastically propose to paint his portrait, and even though Lu Xiao refused many times, he still remained unyielding.
"Hey~"
Sighing, considering that he was now the one asking for help, Lu Xiao had no choice but to reach out and knock on the door.
"Come, come, who is it?"
Da Vinci's voice was, as always, full of enthusiasm for life and curiosity about the unknown, and he sounded very cheerful.
When he opened the door and saw Lu Xiao's reluctant smile, Da Vinci happily opened his arms and gave Lu Xiao a warm hug.
"Haha! Welcome, my friend, have you finally made up your mind to leave a portrait?"
"No way." Lu Xiao complained angrily: "I have something important that I need your help with."
Da Vinci was a little surprised, but he still took Lu Xiao's hand and led him into the studio.
"Let's talk about it. As long as I can help, I will never refuse."
"Before that." Lu Xiao's face became solemn: "I need to remind you that this matter may involve two secret organizations fighting for thousands of years of secrets. Are you sure you want to understand the truth behind this world?"
Lu Xiao could clearly see the desire for knowledge shining in Da Vinci's eyes. There was no fear on his face, but he was rubbing his hands in excitement.
"Hey! My friend, don't whet my appetite. You know my character. Unknown things are the most attractive."
"Say it, say it, I'll listen all the way."
Lu Xiao shrugged helplessly: "I knew you would say that, but we still have to go through the process for now."
Without getting into deep secrets, Lu Xiao told Da Vinci about the ideological dispute between the Assassins and the Templars, and placed the pair of leather boots with damaged blades in front of Da Vinci.
"interesting."
Leonardo da Vinci studied this pair of leather boots with hidden blades with great interest: "The mechanism hidden inside the leather boots is very exquisite, and it uses an innovative idea that has never been touched upon in Europe."
"Lu, give me some time. I need to study these leather boots carefully. If I can thoroughly understand the manufacturing principle of the boot blade, it will definitely give a huge boost to my research and creation."
Lu Xiao took care of himself and left the studio quietly, leaving Da Vinci alone to draw diagrams of the mechanism on paper.
"Regional suppression mission - Florence completed, rewarded with 1 free skill point, host please use it with caution."
Lu Xiao, who had just walked out of Da Vinci's workshop, paused, then murmured to himself in a very low voice: "I know it without you reminding me."
…
In the spring of 1477, a carriage drove out of the north gate of Florence, driven by an oriental man wearing a brown traveling cloak.
It has been more than two years since Lu Xiao came to the world of Assassin's Creed in 1474, and his age has also increased from the original 25 years old to 27 and close to 28.
This age is still within the category of young people, and for the time being, no big changes can be seen in appearance.
But Lu Xiao's temperament has undoubtedly undergone tremendous changes compared to when he first came to the world of Assassin's Creed.
As an ordinary white-collar worker, Lu Xiao gradually disappeared and was replaced by a sect elite with rich practical experience.
After Rodrigo Borgia was returned to Rome by the Brotherhood, his behavior changed somewhat, from being aggressive and proactive to being more pragmatic and low-key.
He gradually retracted his focus on the Assassin Brotherhood and began to pay more attention to the selection of the next pope.
The contemporary Pope Sixtus IV is getting older, and the Holy See has begun to prepare for the selection of the papal successor. Many cardinals are working on this, and undercurrents are beginning to surge in the Greater Rome area.
Without Rodrigo taking the lead in causing trouble, Florence was living a very peaceful time.
The momentum of the Renaissance intensified under the background of peace. This trend began to spread from the city of Florence and gradually affected neighboring places such as Siena and Pisa.
The cardinals of the Holy See are busy with internal strife and are somewhat unprepared for the rise of artists supported by private capital.
When the Holy See realized that the ideas of the Renaissance were shaking the foundation of the Holy See's rule, the whole of Italy joined this ideological emancipation movement, and even affected other neighboring European countries.
The class struggle between the Holy See and private capitalists has nothing to do with Lu Xiao. At this time, he was driving his carriage towards the Romagna region in northern Tuscany.