Another World’s Versatile Crafting Master c1-1074

by Zhuang Bifan

  "Okay."

  He had not even been back in the Tower of Dusk for an hour before Kaman had someone send over the boulder still covered in ice.

  Now, the scarily huge Lava adamantine was sitting in the bas.e.m.e.nt of the Tower of Dusk. Its high temperature was gradually melting the ice encapsulating it, and Lin Li stared at it as he was stuck in a dilemma.

  This huge boulder of Lava adamantine was rare indeed. Even back in the Endless World, where Lin Li had a lot of mineral veins, he had never seen such a huge amount of Lava adamantine. It was a rare magical metal, and even a portion the size of a fist held a shocking amount of fire magical element. Even adding a tiny bit of it when forging a magical weapon was enough to raise the quality of it to a whole new level. Meanwhile, the magical weapons crafted entirely from Lava adamantine held terrifying power—any of them would have sold for at least a million gold coins.

  The amount of Lava adamantine Lin Li had now could be used to craft 10 magical weapons. In other words, this boulder of Lava adamantine was worth at least 10 million gold coins…

  And because of that, Lin Li was stuck at a crossroad.

  Lava adamantine had many uses, and using it to craft weapons was undoubtedly the most wasteful of all. For example, he could use a mageweath to extract the fire magical element from it—using this incredibly pure fire magical element, he could even replace the Legendary magical crystal of the Salamander as a new source of power for the Tower of Dusk.

  Besides that, Lava adamantine powder was also a great ingredient to use when using magic. Level-18 magic like the Endless Flames would become scarily powerful with the help of Lava adamantine powder as it could prevent the bite of mana.

  Anyway, this was a treasure indeed…

  Lin Li pondered over it, yet he could not think of anything to do.

  "Hey, Lava adamantine!" At this time, a yell of surprise could be heard from behind. Lin Li looked around, only to see Apophis. God knew when the old fellow had arrived; he was now standing behind Lin Li and looking at the huge boulder of Lava adamantine. "Hey, kid, where did you get so much Lava adamantine? Bloody hell, this must be at least half a ton…"

  "Mined it, of course…" Lin Li looked at him before realizing that something was wrong. Damn it, he forgot about this old fellow—if he had known, he would have hidden the Lava adamantine better…

  "Bullsh*t!" Apophis did not buy it at all. "This costs a fortune! If you can dig it just from anywhere, then why doesn't a fortune drop on me when I walk on the streets?"

  "It's true…"

  "Nonsense, you little bastard, nothing true ever comes from that mouth of yours…" Apophis scolded angrily before he started smiling deviously. "Say, kid, why don't we make a deal?"

  "What deal?" Lin Li looked at the old man's smile, and suddenly became wary of him. He spread out his hands, and shielded the Lava adamantine behind him like a hen guarding her chicks. "Anything but this, you hear me, definitely not this!"

  "Damn it, you little bastard, why are you stingy? You're exactly like that bastard of a teacher you have. I am a Sanctuary Master, will I ask you for something without giving anything in return? Moreover, I only want a bit of it, at most the size of a fist…" The old man broke into a rage suddenly, and after complaining furiously, he sulkily said, "How about this: you give me a piece of that Lava adamantine, and I'll give you a blueprint so that you can make good use of this stuff unlike the morons who use such precious magical metal to make weapons and armor. What an utter waste!"

  "I don't need blueprints…" Lin Li rejected the offer without even considering it as he thought, I have plenty of blueprints, and each of them is at least of a divine level, why would I need your blueprint?

  "Don't regret this, kid, I have the blueprint of the Sky-breaker. Only I have it in the whole of Anril!"

  "Not even for the Sky-breaker's blueprint…" Lin Li finished his sentence, but he found it strange. Wait… Sky-breaker? Could this old man be talking about the Sky-breaker that was more powerful than the magical crystal cannons and had blown down a Sky Castle during the war back in the Dark Ages? Damn it, this was going too far—the Sky-breaker was a closely guarded secret of the Dwarf Kingdom! Back then, during the war, six Sky Castles had been blown down by the allies, and one of them was blown down by the Dwarf Kingdom using the miracle that was the Sky-breaker.

  There was no blinding magic light, nor the Wyvern Army that covered the sky and land—only a hundred Sky-breakers firing at once. Then, the purportedly infallible Sky Castle fell just like that…

  However…

  The skill of crafting the Sky-breaker had been lost after the war. Even the Dwarf Kingdom did not have the blueprint, so where did this old fellow get it from?

  "How come you have the blueprint for the Sky-breaker?"

  "Of course it's from the dwarves…" The old man did not seem keen on telling him where he got it from, and only briefly explained, "Don't bother about where it came from. I'm just asking whether you want to exchange for it. If you do, I'll give you another gift…"

  The old man then retrieved a ring from an inner pocket. The ring looked nothing out of the ordinary, and was made from common silver. There was no magical wave coming from it, either. Besides being a little old, it looked just like rings that cost a few silver coins sold on the street. If he did not see it for himself, Lin Li would never believe that a common silver ring would be kept so carefully by the Sanctuary Master.

  "Take this ring to a dwarf named Gern, and pass him the blueprint. Tell him an old friend is asking a favor, and he will help you turn this Lava adamantine into a Sky-breaker…" After finishing, the old man did not care whether Lin Li agreed to it before shoving the ring in his hand. "I've held onto the blueprint for more than 1,300 years. It's time to return it to the dwarves. You're in luck kid, I'm taking a piece of Lava adamantine from you, but I'm doing you a huge favor…"

  "Heheh…" Lin Li knew that the favor the old man was referring to was the blueprint—it was more important compared to the Sky-breaker as it was something that the Dwarf Kingdom had lost for over 1,300 years. If he brought it back to them, they would probably agree to any of his requests given their straightforward attitude.

  Chapter 371 - Crimson Python

  A couple of weeks passed in the blink of an eye, but the Tower of Dusk remained as empty as ever. Occasionally, a few mages would come in to obtain their level certifications, but they were mostly level-5 or level-6. The most ridiculous thing was that a few days ago, they even got a mage apprentice in his thirties. Lin Li was utterly bewildered, and really wondered what was the driving force that led him to continue learning magic if he had not even become a mage by the age of 30.

  The only good news to Lin Li was that Apophis had finally left.

  After giving the blueprint and ring to Lin Li that day, Apophis took a piece of Lava adamantine. He did keep his word, however, only taking a piece the size of a fist, and even helped Lin Li by using an Eternal Snow Storm to freeze the Lava adamantine completely before he left.

  Frankly speaking, Lin Li was pretty grateful to him for it…

  The biggest issue with Lava adamantine was that it could not be exposed to air, or its fire magical elements would be completely depleted in at most five days. By then, the precious Lava adamantine would be no more than a piece of rock. The only thing they could do was to freeze it up.

  While the Thousand Miles of Ice was powerful, it was only a Level-16 magic spell, and given Lin Li's abilities now, he could only freeze it for up to a day. Once the time was up, he would have to use the Thousand Miles of Ice again. Lin Li was not worried about wasting his mana, but this was an annoying issue indeed. What happened if he needed to leave for an extended period of time? Surely he was not going to hire a couple of Archmages to use the Thousand Miles of Ice every now and then?

  It was different with the Eternal Snow Storm, however. It was a level-24 magic, and besides Apophis, not many in Anril were capable of using it. It had an incredibly complicated ele
mental structure and an insane level of mana use. The result? A nearly eternal state of frost that would not change unless someone forcefully tampered with it.

  Lin Li actually knew that the old man was good to him. The great Sanctuary Master had stayed for about half a month at the Tower of Dusk for the sole purpose of teaching him. While his methods were strange, they did let Lin Li's magic improve tremendously. Three days ago, Lin Li managed to securely reach level-18, and while the Soul Contract he'd made with Ujfalusi played a part, it was still mostly thanks to this old man…

  Nobody knew better than Lin Li how much he had learned in this half a month. While he was getting beaten up daily, he could clearly feel himself gaining a deeper understanding of magic with every beating. This improvement was absurd even to Lin Li; he was clearly being beaten up, but as he received more beatings, he was suddenly at level-18…

  Of course, the most important thing to Lin Li was the conversation they'd had in the library during the inauguration ceremony. That was something only Lin Li and Apophis knew about, and nobody would know that Apophis had been telling a story the whole afternoon…

  He was talking about his journey from being a mage apprentice to becoming a Sanctuary Master…

  This was a long story spanning 1,300 years, and some of its contents had actually been told as a legend. It had been painted with glory with the fairytale-like battle and weaved into folk songs by travelling poets. Now, it could be heard in every corner of Anril.

  But coming from Apophis himself, it took on another form. The old man was not particularly eloquent, and the content and emotions of the story sounded rather monotonous coming from him, just as though he was talking about how he'd won a few copper coins while gambling yesterday instead of participating in the war that changed the fate of Anril.

  That was how Lin Li spent the whole afternoon—listening to this old man who lived in a fairytale himself tell his story, occasionally adding in expletives the way he usually did.

  Apophis shared more than what had happened during the battle, including things nobody besides him knew of. He talked about how he'd completed his first meditation after being exposed to magic, how he'd cast his first spell, and what it'd felt like to become an Archmage as well as how he'd felt like as he became a Legendary-mage…

  All of this came from Apophis himself in its truest form with no distortion or whatsoever—everything was from his own point of view, and it was all the emotions he truly felt.

  Even though Lin Li was a poised person, he could not help getting breathless as he listened to the story as he knew that this was a great fortune in itself—a priceless treasure indeed.

  Lin Li had received many gifts on the day of the inauguration ceremony, like the potion bottle carved from Dream Crystal and a Fire Feather Gryphon egg; there was also a box of Starlight Herb and an oil lamp capable of summoning a Demon Lord. However, to Lin Li, the story he'd heard from Apophis was the most valuable gift of all…

  It contained the life experience of a Sanctuary Master, and would allow a mage to avoid many errors in their journey of magic. For the insanely talented Lin Li, knowing this alone would be sufficient for him to continue on smoothly and become a Sanctuary Master!

  Even though Lin Li refused to admit it, he was actually very grateful to Apophis…

  After Apophis left, Lin Li's days became long and boring once again. Besides making a few bottles of Arcana Potion every day, all he did was chat with Gerian and whatnot. It continued for half a month, until a certain evening…

  That evening, Lin Li was speaking to Alan.

  It was about a month after the inauguration ceremony. Alan had been feeling perplexed all this time as he realized that the crystal Felic had given him seemed to be an endless pit: no matter how much mana he channeled into it, it never seemed to fill up.

  If it'd only lasted a couple of days, it would not been an issue, but this had been going on for a month. Finally, Alan could not take it anymore.

  That afternoon, he brought the crystal to Lin Li, wanting to consult the young president about the crystal. Besides, what Alan wanted to know more was how he could change his bad habit of being stingy with his mana.

  "Not bad, Magic Shooter Alan, this crystal is almost full, keep it up."

  "Oh…" Alan nodded. He wanted to ask about how he could change his bad habit, but he did not know where to start.

  After being in the Tower of Dusk for a month, Alan realized that the more time went by, the less he understood this young president. At the start, he'd thought that the Supreme Council was playing a joke—how could they make a young mage in his twenties the president of a Guild of Magic?

  Slowly, however, Alan realized something was wrong. As he stood before this young president, he felt a deep and profound aura coming from him. It was as though he was trapped in fog, and could never decipher his true abilities no matter how he tried. He could only distinctly feel that this young president was very, very strong…

  Alan knew that only mages way more powerful than himself would give him such a feeling, and now that he was already a level-14 Magic Shooter, those who were way more powerful than him would have to be a level-15 or even level-16 Archmage. Alan felt his skin crawl when he thought of that; an Archmage in his twenties! No wonder he became the president of a Guild of Magic at such a young age.

  In the last few days especially, Alan could feel that there had been a sharp growth in the young president's abilities. If he'd felt like he'd been separated by fog when standing before him in the past, then now it felt like there was an insurmountable peak in front of him.

  Even Gavin had only one word to describe the young president: unfathomable!

  "Honestly, being too precise with your use of mana isn't too bad a habit. It's merely somewhat petty. Mana is just like money: of course you should use it sparingly when you're tight on it, but if you do that too when you have one million gold coins, then you'll never turn that one million gold coins into 10 million…"

  Lin Li was halfway through his words when he heard a growl from afar. Then, a strange magical wave filled up the space, and the magical wave became hotter and fiercer. Even though Lin Li was far away from it, he could detect its violent aura.

  "Sh*t!" The magical wave was coming from Black Clouds Town, and Lin Li felt his heart clench. He hurriedly uttered a spell, and the crystal ball in the guild hall lit up. They could see a red figure sweep past in the crystal ball—it had a slender figure and long wings, leaving a streak of red light in the skies above Black Clouds Town…

  Seeing the red streak of light, Lin Li lost all color on his face. That was an a.d.u.l.t Crimson Python without any doubt! Legend had it that it was a level-18 magical beast, and if it landed in Black Clouds Town, it would turn the whole place into a sea of fire in a second. This was not something Lin Li wished to see. Since the Tower of Dusk was located in Black Clouds Town, it was their responsibility to protect it—such was the rule agreed upon by the 25 Guilds of Magic in the Felan Kingdom.

  His only consolation was that Norfeller and Ujfalusi were still in Black Clouds Town. He only hoped that they would be able to stop the destructive flames of the Crimson Python.

  "Alan, call Gavin, we need to go take a look at Black Clouds Town!" After giving some instructions hurriedly, Lin Li grabbed his Aether Staff, quickly uttered a Levitation Spell, and flew like an arrow to Black Clouds Town without waiting for Alan to reply.

  Chapter 372 - A Mutant At That

  Alan felt his hair stand in shock as well when he looked into the crystal ball. The Crimson Python was at least a dozen meters in length, and when it spread its fleshy wings, it covered the whole sky. On top of its head was a pair of blood-red eyes, glowing icily, while a couple of fangs protruded from the corners of its mouth. As it opened and closed its jaws, thick puffs of smoke and flames spewed out…

  How could Alan not know about the infamous Crimson Python? It was one of the strongest magical beasts of the Blackstone Mountains; it was said that an a.d.u.l.
t Crimson Python was at least level-18, and some mutants could even surpass level-20 and become a truly Legendary magical beast!

  "Oh no, President Felic went alone, what if something happens?" The Crimson Python was at least level-18. No matter how optimistic Alan was, he would never think that President Felic alone could hold off the Crimson Python.

  Alan hurriedly told Gavin the news.

  "What?" Gavin jumped in shock. Even though he was aware that the young president was highly skilled, he knew that would not be sufficient to deal with the Crimson Python. It was a level-18 magical beast, after all; if it went berserk, it would well be near a Legendary-level.

  "Alan, gather everyone now, we need to go and help President Felic! Hurry up, or we might not make it!" Gavin was even more anxious than Alan. Mr Basel had instructed him to follow the young president, and if he allowed something to happen to the young president before his eyes, he could forget about ever returning to Doland.

  Moreover, he had had a great time in the Tower of Dusk for the past month. The young president trusted him very much, and entrusted most of the authority in the Guild of Magic to him. Hence, seeing as he had become second in power in the Guild of Magic, he did achieve the ambitions he'd come with on some levels. While his position did not look like much, as he was merely overseeing over 30 mages, Gavin had become very confident in the young president after the inauguration ceremony. The latter was fawned over by so many important figures, so how could he be a common man? Gavin was sure that it was only a matter of time before the young president would lead the Guild of Magic into such prosperity that even he would not dare imagine it!

  However, all of this would turn to naught if something happened to President Felic. Perhaps the Supreme Council would send another president over, and perhaps this new president would also lead the Guild of Magic to new heights, but who was to say whether or not the new president would trust Gavin the way President Felic did? Without that trust, none of this success would concern him.