by Zhuang Bifan
"Gryffindor. Don't you forget Felic is my student in the trial. Are you going to send him into the dungeon right in front of me?" Macklin asked furiously.
"Mr. Macklin, although I always respected you, I must still remind you that it is time to teach your student." Gryffindor's tone was stiff. His anger that had been acc.u.mulating from the start finally got unleashed.
Damn you country bumpkin! How dare you treat me with such indifference and spoil the reputation of the guild! If I'm going to let you go, I'm not Gryffindor!!
"Are you worrying too much? Master Hoffman has not even say a word. Why are you so agitated…" Lin Li pursed his lips. He did not care about the steward at all.
"Since you said so, why don't we let Master Hoffman decide…" This time, Gryffindor was more agreeable. He thought that since it was a domestic matter that concerned the guild, and Hoffman was not close to that fella, he would make no comments and allow Gryffindor to send Felic to the dungeons.
Honestly speaking, Gryffindor guessed it half right.
Although the two men had only met twice, Hoffman really hoped to forge a closer bond with this genius pharmacist…
"Mage Felic, I'm really interested in the batch of herbs you have. Why don't we discuss the details over some drinks? I know a good place near here," Hoffman offered passionately right after Gryffindor said that.
After hearing that, Gryffindor froze.
He'd never expected that the highly Master Pharmacist Hoffman would want to purchase herbs from a Jarrosus country bumpkin…!
Freak, what is this absurdity!?
How would a poor boy from Jarrosus be able to grow any herbs himself? Could it be that he had some special herbs that interested a Master Pharmacist like Hoffman? Goddammit, that fella was really lucky to be able to get close to a figure like Hoffman just because of a bunch of herbs…
If he knew it was so easy to get close to Hoffman, he would have patronized the black market for any rare herbs before coming back. Then, he would be the one getting close to Hoffman. What a miscalculation! After all, he only needed a few millions to get some rare herbs in exchange for a good relationship with Hoffman! He felt so dumb to have missed this opportunity that would bring him a thousand benefits…
Gryffindor stood there in a daze. He was filled with mixed feelings.
"I haven't eaten!" Lin Li exclaimed. No one would expect Lin Li to be so informal with Hoffman. Even Mason felt like kicking him because of that.
"…" Macklin was extremely speechless.
He was so done with Lin Li…
Only this fella would dare to ask for a meal that shamelessly when Hoffman offered to treat him to a drink. His student was such a glutton…!
"Alright, alright, alright. Let's go and eat…" Hoffman did not care whether Lin Li wanted to eat or drink. As long as he could sit down with this genius pharmacist and agree on the formula of the potion, he would find ways to give him anything he wanted—even if Lin Li wished to eat the moon.
"Alright," Lin Li said with a satisfied smile, and nodded his head strongly. Before leaving, he looked at Gryffindor challengingly. "What a busybody…" Lin Li remarked scornfully at a volume that Gryffindor could hear.
"You…" Gryffindor felt the veins on his forehead bulging. Just when he was ready to unleash all his fury, that fella and his foolish teammate had long left the guild hall with Hoffman.
After exiting the guild hall, Hoffman invited the two men up his luxurious coach ingratiatingly. He specially ordered his driver to send them to the highest-class restaurant in Alanna.
With the amount of wealth he had, he would not treat someone at the normal small restaurants. Moreover, Felic was no ordinary man. He was a genius pharmacist that shook the entire pharmacist community in Felan Kingdom. Spending more to treat this man would not be unacceptable.
"Oh, yes. Master Felic, how do you think of my request the other time?" Hoffman asked excitedly the moment they got onto the coach.
"Sure." This time, Lin Li was very direct.
Lin Li felt that it was a favor he owed Hoffman for going along with his acting earlier on in the guild hall. Furthermore, that Book of Ten Thousand Incantations was a good thing that even a legendary figure like Andoine would drool to get. If Lin Li could get that book, even if he was not going to use it, he could gift it to Andoine as an act of filial piety. After all, that old man taught him so many things, but Lin Li had not repaid his kindness yet.
"That's great!" Hoffman became very excited. He fished out a crystal card from his pocket, and said, "Master Felic, this is a VIP card from the Glittergold Bank with a million gold coins. You can withdraw the amount at any of our branches. Please accept it!"
"Hmm…" Lin Li thought for a moment. "Then, I'm going to accept it."
"That's what I should do…"Hoffman nearly teared with joy. He finally had a chance to solve that problem after a few months! With that potion, Glittergold Bank would be able to earn a hundred times in profit. How much would one million gold coins and the Book of Ten Thousand Incantations cost to exchange for that?
Chapter 248 - Orrin in Trouble
Lin Li had time for a break during the subsequent days. After settling the formula with Hoffman, he stayed in the Guild of Magic. Every day, he would visit the Omniscient Tower to read and go to the battling arena to practice with Mason and Orrin. He felt very carefree.
Of course, "carefree" only applied to Lin Li.
To Mason and Orrin, these few days were the most fulfilling ever since they came to Alanna. They reaped many benefits every time they practiced with Lin Li. Not everyone had an opportunity to train with an Archmage. What was more, this Archmage was their closest teammate. This allowed Lin Li to better analyze their strategies and suggest ways for them to improve.
The two men improved greatly after 10 days. That morning, Mason finally had a breakthrough and left behind his status of a rookie Magic Shooter. Although Orrin did not experience any breakthroughs, his abilities were much better than Mason's.
No one knew what Orrin went through these days. He became quieter than before. When Lin Li asked him things, he only replied by nodding or shaking his head. Replying with a "yeah" had become the furthest Orrin would go if he had no other choice. At the same time, the amount of effort he put into magic was abnormal. He would visit the Omniscient Tower before sunrise and only come back fatigued after his two teammates fell asleep.
Orrin got more and more serious after every practice session the trio had every other day. He would take a very long time to reflect on Lin Li's suggestions and drag Mason to test out his new strategy with him.
His extreme perseverance and hard work finally paid off when he improved every single day. After 10 days, he became just a step away from level-14.
Naturally, Mason felt his improvement the most.
Initially, Mason could still win in the practice sessions between both men. But, recently, he realized that he felt he was lagging behind. When he stood in front of Orrin, he had no strength to return his attacks. He was completely suppressed right from his first move, and received multiple explosive attacks—just like how an a.d.u.l.t beat up a child.
In the end, Mason decided to hide whenever he saw Orrin.
The pretty boy had become too freaky! Mason would rather get tortured by Felic and not let Orrin destroy his confidence. There was nothing to be ashamed if he were to lose to an Archmage. However, Mason could not take the blow if he were to lose to a Magic Shooter. What was more, he was a pretty boy Magic Shooter…
Furthermore, Felic did not have much free time. Unlike that pretty boy, Felic only had time to torture him occasionally. On the other hand, Orrin would not stop if he was not satisfied with beating Mason up.
Indeed, Lin Li did not have much time. He spent most of his time in the Omniscient Tower.
Lin Li learned a lot over the course of the 10 days in Cinder Woods, and wanted to consolidate his knowledge in preparation for the finals. But, this time, he was not at the first or second floo
r. He went straight to the 15th floor to rummage through all the spells rigorously.
Only Lin Li would do this type of thing…
Normal mages would climb one level every one or two years. Yet, when they reached level-15, it would be very difficult to advance anymore. Many mages who were less able would be stuck at their level until they died.
However, Lin Li was not like them. He had already prepared for spells that were above level-15, waiting to advance after breaking through the higher levels…
Lin Li's rapid improvement caused his level to advance far ahead of the level of the spells he knew. Now that he reached the Archmage-level, he had the liberty to learn all the spells he wanted to. When that fella was hungry for knowledge, he would just copy all of them down regardless of whether they were useful or not.
In these 10 days, the Archmages around him always saw Lin Li coming with a pen in the morning and leaving with a huge pile of scrolls at night. It was fortunate that the Omniscient Tower provided blank scrolls for readers, or else Lin Li would need to spend a huge amount of money to fund his quest of copying…
Of course, none of the level-15 Archmages would think that this young man had no qualifications to visit the 15th floor. Everyone knew who he was. He was the youngest Archmage from Alanna Guild of Magic, the one who defeated Macklin a few days ago. If he did not have the right to visit the 15th level, who else had the right to do so?
"Good morning, Felic." Two familiar Archmages would always greet Lin Li whenever he went to the 15th floor. Since all of them frequented the library, they naturally knew each other. Not only that, Lin Li was well-liked by them too. He always had a humble smile and treated people with extreme politeness. Even though they were on good terms with the Marathon Family, they could not find any faults with Lin Li. Gradually, they grew to accept the young man.
"Good morning!" Lin Li greeted the Archmages warmly. After exchanging greetings, he found a seat and took out the magic book from the day before. That book had insights and notes from a Legendary-mage living 300 years ago. It focused on helping one improve on the technique of unleashing spells.
Although Lin Li was fast in casting spells, he relied heavily on his natural abilities. His strong mental strength allowed him to compress the time he took to cast spells by a large extent. He did not have to worry about facing the bite of mana at all.
In fact, it did not require much technique from him. He was like a man with invincible strength, allowing him to have the natural ability to lift a huge rock. Furthermore, Lin Li always had the mentality to make use of this natural talent and not delve into techniques.
His experience in the Cinder Woods gave him a new perspective.
The environment there not only suppressed his strength, but also weakened his entire body. Regardless of mana or mental strength, the battles that happened during those 10 days became the most awkward battles Lin Li had ever fought in the World of Anril. Having a weakened mental strength and mana, as well as abilities capped at level-15, he had missed many magical beasts which he could have easily killed in usual settings.
The feeling was so unnatural that Lin Li had no choice but to cease many crucial attacks in fear of the bite of mana when he was able to unleash them with ease on normal days. Then, Lin Li had to pick up his weapon and physically fight the beasts which were above level-10. He really regretted not learning more methods to unleash his spells…
After transferring all the level-15 spells, he went on to search for books that could teach him more techniques related to casting spells.
In fact, Lin Li found one that was written by a Legendary-mage. He spent two days to figure out the gist of the concepts, but could only try them out slowly in his subsequent battles.
Even though it was like that, the extent of Lin Li's improvements across those 10 days was not what normal people could imagine.
He had no choice too. He had too much room for improvement. Before learning about those techniques, he was like a blank piece of paper. He had been relying on his powerful mental strength all this while. Now that he had mastered different types of insights pertaining to the various methods, it was natural for him to have unbelievable improvement straight from the start.
Although the improvements were not obvious at a glance, they were definitely there. One could only see them during a real battle.
"Ugh, if I came early by a few hundred years, I would have asked this Legendary-mage personally. Maybe my improvement would be even greater…" Lin Li mumbled as he put down the book, thinking if he should go out to eat lunch.
At this moment, there was a din outside the door.
"Get off, let me in!" A frustrated voice could be heard at the door.
However, the people on patrol were all Magic Shooters on the 15th floor of the Omniscient Tower. How would they allow outsiders to trespass the area? The two Magic Shooters gave no room for negotiation and rejected Mason straight away. "No, without the member pass, you are not allowed to the 15th floor."
"I beg you to let me enter. I have something really important to find my teammate for…"
As the noise got louder and more anxious, Lin Li finally realized whom the voice belonged to.
"Damn, that's Mason!"
Lin Li had no time to care about order. He threw the magic book aside and stood up. His big actions shocked the fellow Archmages around him. Fortunately, Lin Li had good relationsh.i.p.s with them. When they saw it was Lin Li, they smiled tolerantly and continued to read their materials.
Lin Li dashed out of the door and saw Mason and a middle-aged Magic Shooter having a conflict. The face that was usually filled with smiles and laughter was all anxiety. If there weren't the two Magic Shooters stopping him, he would have dashed into the room.
"Brother Mason, what happened?"
"Felic, it's bad! Something terrible happened to the pretty boy!" Mason exclaimed when he saw Lin Li coming out. He pushed away the two Magic Shooters who were trying to stop him.
"What happened to Orrin? Calm down and tell me slowly."
Chapter 249 - The Curse
After comforting Mason, Lin Li turned to look at the two Magic Shooters. "Sorry, guys, this is my friend. He broke the guild rules as he had some urgent matters."
"Oh, so he is a friend of Mage Felic…"
How would the two Magic Shooters not know who Felic was? He was the man who'd won against Macklin in the arena, and the youngest Archmage of Alanna Guild of Magic. They even heard how a few Archmages commented that Felic was going to rise above Gryffindor eventually.
How could the two men continue to stop Mason when Felic started to apologize to them? They gathered all their smiles and explained to Lin Li apologetically, "We're sorry, Mage Felic, we did not know he was your friend. You know we are stickers to the guild rules. As we did not mean to do it on purpose, please do not mind us…"
"I understand…" Lin Li assured the two Magic Shooters. He knew what they were thinking about, yet could not help but feel amused by their actions. He was not Matthias, so how would he take such minor things to heart? He laughed it off and brought Mason to the side.
"Brother Mason, tell me clearly. What exactly happened to Orrin?"
"It is terrible!!!" Mason gasped, and started explaining, "When we woke up this morning, we realized you were at the Omniscient Tower already. Hence, me and that pretty boy were discussing going to the arena to train. To be honest, I've learned a powerful spell recently, so I was hoping to try it with him. Who'd expect that we'd met Gryffindor and his friend at the arena too…"
"Gryffindor?" Lin Li repeated the name nervously. He clearly remembered how the two men had a conflict the first time they met in Alanna. If not for the eyes of the public in the guild hall, they would have fought each other on the spot.
He knew nothing good would happen should they meet each other in the arena.
"Yeah, it's that Gryffindor." Mason confirmed Lin Li's concerns. Gritting his teeth, he continued, "That bastard owed a beating when he showered that
pretty boy with sarcastic remarks straight away. He said that the pretty boy was still trash as the pretty boy was still a Magic Shooter despite the years that passed. Gryffindor jeered that it was a shame for him to treat Orrin as his sole enemy too. F*CK! He could just insult that pretty boy. Why must he insult me too? What's wrong with being a Magic Shooter? Magic Shooters are still humans, aren't they?"
"…" Lin Li could not help but roll his eyes. He still could not adapt to Mason's childish way of non-linear thinking. "So, what happened after that?"
"Then, the pretty boy got agitated…" Mason continued. He could not help but feel shocked at what he'd witnessed. "Frankly speaking, it was really strange. You know that pretty boy—he is not really an agreeable man, treating people as though they owed him a huge amount of money every day. But when did you ever see him being agitated? His eyes turned red at that instant, and gave bastard Gryffindor a deadly stare as though he was going to bite him into pieces…"
"That serious?" Lin Li asked in a daze.
Lin Li had long known there was enmity between the two men. Yet, why was Orrin so easily disturbed? Orrin met Gryffindor quite a few times in the past month. Although they were indifferent towards each other, they had never gotten physical like how they did today. Could there be other things that happened in these few days that he missed out on?
"He was just that agitated…" Mason said as he sighed. "At first, I thought I could stop that pretty boy. But, afterwards, I did not know what Gryffindor told him. That pretty boy went berserk immediately and unleashed a Chilling Touch…"
"Oh my God…"
Lin Li never felt that vexed. Did Orrin eat wrong medicine? Why was he so foolish to attack Gryffindor first? Lin Li knew his abilities were unfathomable when he met him at the guild hall a few days ago.
How could he challenge him with a mere level-14 ability when Lin Li himself had no confidence to win facing Gryffindor?
This is really bad…
"How is Orrin now?"