by Unknown
“Relax. I have full confidence.”
Linley was rather confident in himself. As a magus of the fifth rank and a warrior of the fourth rank, he possessed great speed as a warrior which could be further supported by the wind-style spell, ‘Supersonic’. Based on his current speed, when combining his speed with this spell, Linley could reach the speed of a warrior of the sixth rank.
And even more importantly…
Linley could utilize the high-level wind spell, “Floating Technique.”
*
Book 3, Mountain Range of Magical Beasts – Chapter 3, A Night at the Jade Water Paradise
Time flowed on, and in the blink of an eye, it was now the end of May.
During the past two months, every day, Linley spent part of his free time in the meditative state, and the rest either practicing stonecarving or reading. The Ernst Institute’s library held an enormous amount of books within it, and through reading these books, Linley was able to increase the breadth of his knowledge.
May 29th. Morning.
Linley, Yale, George, and Reynolds stood in the square in front of the Proulx Gallery. A nearby carriage contained within it three wooden crates. During these past two months, Linley had actually managed to produce nine new sculptures, but since this was his first time delivering art to the gallery, Linley just wanted to get a taste of how it all worked and thus only brought three.
“Carry those three boxes,” Yale directed.
Some servants from Yale’s clan began to lift and move the crates.
“Third bro, come with me.” Yale clearly was quite familiar with this road, and he headed directly towards the side of the Proulx Gallery. The Proulx Gallery took up a very large amount of space, and off to the side of the main entrance, a few hundred meters away, there was an unremarkable door, with a middle-aged man dressed in warrior attire standing in front of it.
When the middle-aged man saw Yale stride towards him, his eyes lit up and he immediately hurried over. Smiling, he paid his respects and said, “Young master Yale, welcome!”
Yale smiled and nodded. “I imagine you already know why I am here. This is my good friend, Linley. These three sculptures are his. Where are your servants? Have them carry the sculptures inside.”
“Please wait.” The middle aged man smiled and nodded.
Very soon, several movers emerged from the corridor, and the middle aged man smiled towards Linley. “Young master Linley, per the rules of our Proulx Gallery, you need to leave behind your proof of identification. All you need to do is let us take down the details of your Ernst Institute student identification.”
The student identification of the Ernst Institute was more than enough proof.
Linley withdrew his student identification.
Accepting the identification papers from Linley, the middle aged man glanced through them, and his eyes immediately lit up. Shocked, he raised his gaze back to Linley. “Fifth grade?” Linley’s grade was very visible on the identification papers. For someone so young to reach the rank of a magus of the fifth rank was quite surprising indeed.
Yale couldn’t help but say proudly, “This brother of mine is one of the two ultimate geniuses of the Ernst Institute. Last year, when he was only fourteen years old, at the end-of-year exams, he reached the title of magus of the fifth rank.”
One of the two ultimate geniuses of the Ernst Institute?
In his heart, the middle-aged man knew quite clearly that the future prospects for this young man standing in front of him, Linley, were boundless. His attitude immediately became much more obsequious. After recording down Linley’s biographical details, he made a mark on each of the three crates.
“Young master Linley, everything is handled. All you have to do, young master, is to come back in a month and collect your renumeration.” The middle aged man smiled.
“In a month? I don’t have any time next month. Can we delay it to three months hence?” Linley asked. Linley was planning to head to the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts in a week or two, and on this trip, he was planning on spending two months or so there.
“No rush. As long as your sculptures find buyers, you can come back at any time to collect your fee.” The middle aged man nodded.
Yale frowned. “Hrm? What’s going on. I remember that in the past, before accepting sculptures, you would first inspect the contents of the crate. Why aren’t you doing an inspection this time?”
The middle aged man said, “The reason we inspect the insides of the crates is to prevent unscrupulous people from sending us some already-damaged sculptures. If we are unable to detect the damage, they might claim that the damage was caused by the gallery and try to extort us. But since these three particular sculptures have been delivered by young master Linley and you, young master Yale, I have no concerns. I am confident that someone like you, young master Yale, would not stoop to such actions.”
The middle aged man knew exactly what he was doing.
What sort of person was Yale?
Extort the Proulx Gallery? The amount of money that he might be able to extort probably wouldn’t even be enough to count as pocket change for him. And the creator of these sculptures, Linley, was known as one of the two ultimate geniuses of the Ernst Institute. How could people like them lower themselves to such base actions?
… ..
Day turned to night. On East Fenlai City’s main road, the Fragrant Pavilion Avenue. The third floor of the Jade Water Paradise. Linley and the other three had a room of their own.
The nights at Fenlai City were always quite busy.
But the nights within the Jade Water Paradise were even more bustling, having reached a peak of busy-ness. The coquettish laughs of women could be heard nonstop, while the roaring, heroic laughter of men also constantly sounded out. Within the private room, the four bros drank while making idle conversation, and by each of their sides was a delicate and pretty girl.
“Second bro, third bro, I’m going to go to bed, and fourth bro is as well. The two of you… ” His arm draped around a girl with long, green hair, Yale’s breath smelled strongly of liquor.
“That’s enough, Big bro Yale. Stop talking, alright?” Linley interrupted Yale’s words.
Yale and Reynolds exchanged glances, then looked at Linley and George with contemptuous gazes. And then Yale and Reynolds, each of them with an arm around the waist of their respective companions, left the private room. For two years now, Linley and the gang had often come here.
Generally, Yale and Reynolds would go off to have fun, while Linley and George would at most drink a little and chat with the girls.
“Young master Linley, we’ve known each other for two years now, but you… .” The green-haired girl seated next to Linley said in an unhappy voice.
Linley couldn’t help but feel a headache coming.
“Ira [Ai’la], if you are tired, you can go back and get some rest. I guarantee that when the time comes, you won’t receive a single copper coin less than you deserve.” Linley had no choice but to say coldly, causing the girl named Ira to no longer dare speak. It really was quite rare to see someone come to the Jade Water Paradise but only drink.
A white light shone forth from the Coiling Dragon Ring, and transformed itself into Doehring Cowart.
Doehring Cowart, face wreathed in smiles, looked at Linley. Jestingly, he said, ‘Hey, Linley. Why do you have such a foul look on your face with such a girl in front of you? Alas, I, a venerable Saint-level Grand Magus, am now just a bodiless spirit. I can’t touch a woman, even if I want to. And you, you punk, act in such a way?”
“Grandpa Doehring.” Linley frowned unhappily as he said mentally to Doehring Cowart.
Doehring Cowart pursed his lips. “You’ve never gotten a taste of a woman. If you had, you wouldn’t be acting in such a way.”
Linley raised his head and stared outside the window, no longer paying any attention to that lecherous old Doehring Cowart. The cold outside air blew on his face, helping Linley to calm dow
n.
“The Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. What is it like, inside it?”
In one or two weeks, Linley was going to head off on his journey. Within the Ernst Institute, Linley had heard many legends regarding the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, and had also heard much from Doehring Cowart. However, Linley had never gone himself. Thus, Linley had only his own imagination to rely on when trying to picture the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts.
“In a week, let’s go.”
Staring outside the window, seeing the boundless night sky, Linley made up his mind.
*
Book 3, Mountain Range of Magical Beasts – Chapter 4, The Price (part 1)
Within the Proulx Gallery. Elegant music wafted over everyone present, as all of the visitors silently inspected one sculpture after another.
The gallery was divided into the main gallery, the expert’s gallery, and the master’s gallery.
The main gallery took up an enormous amount of space, and also contained the most works of art. Towards the northeast corner of the gallery, there were three works of art, all of which emanated a very unique aura. Anyone who had spent time studying the art of sculpting would immediately sense the aura.
But there were more than ten thousand works of art in the gallery, and these three sculptures were thus like needles hidden within an ocean. It was quite difficult for anyone to pay them any mind.
“Most of these sculptures feel hollow. They have a shape but no soul.”
The 180-year old Count Juneau [Zhunuo] was slowly making his way through the main hall, his gaze flickering past one work of art after another. Count Juneau didn’t have any other hobbies; the only thing he liked was sculptures. Every day, he would spent his morning strolling through the Proulx Gallery.
But within the main gallery, there were very few sculptures capable of attracting Count Juneau’s interest.
“Milord Count, have any sculptures struck your fancy?” A beautiful attendant by his side said to him. Because Count Juneau came here every morning, all of the attendants working at the Proulx Gallery had become quite familiar with him.
Count Juneau shook his head and laughed. “Haven’t found any yet.”
“Milord Count, the quality of the sculptures here is much inferior than that of the sculptures in the hall of experts and the hall of the masters. Why do you spend every morning here?” The female attendant said curiously.
Count Juneau intentionally let out a mysterious laugh. “You don’t understand. There are countless sculptures within this main hall. Perhaps hidden within there are some good works. The feeling of panning for gold by sifting through mud is quite marvelous.”
“Oh?” The attendant looked at Count Juneau questioningly.
Count Juneau didn’t explain any further. He continued to appraise one sculpture after another without stopping, but when he reached those three works of art sculpted by Linley, his eyes lit up. Having appraised sculptures for over a century, he could immediately discern that these three sculptures were special.
“Cool, natural, proud and aloof… “
Count Juneau couldn’t help but praise.
The word was ‘essence’. For a work of art to be termed a ‘good’ work of art, it had to have that certain special essence to it. At a single glance, Count Juneau could tell that these three works of art emanated a cool, proud, and aloof aura. It was this unique aura which had stopped Count Juneau in his tracks.
“Come over here and help me place a bid. For these three sculptures, I am willing to bid a hundred gold coins each.” Count Juneau said to the female attendant.
The female attendant beamed and immediately pulled out a records book. After recording down the registration number of each sculpture, she took out three pieces of paper and placed them next to the sculptures, with each piece of paper bearing the words ‘hundred gold coins’ on them.
While the female attendant was doing her administrative work, Count Juneau continued to savor these three sculptures.
“Wait a second!” Juneau’s shadowy eyes suddenly lit up again as he stared fixedly at the sculpture of the ‘Velocidragon’. “How is it possible that the scaly armor on the back of the Velocidragon shares the same outline and line with the leg, as though it were all done as part of one series? Logically speaking, the scaly carapace should have been carved by a butterfly chisel, while the leg should have been carved using the straight chisel. No matter how careful one is, a sculptor can’t possibly make the lines flow together 100% perfectly!”
Count Juneau had studied sculpture for over a century.
Originally, he wasn’t a particularly wealthy noble, but based on his keen sight, he had collected many sculptures at a low price which he would later sell at a much higher price. This was how Count Juneau had become one of the wealthy nobles of Fenlai City.
“Can it be that it was carved using a single tool? Impossible, aside from the butterfly chisel, what tool could possibly have been used to carve out such perfect, exquisite details in each protruding scale?” Count Juneau frowned, concentrating fiercely. He had never seen something so queer.
“Milord Count?” Seeing him in a daze, the female attendant couldn’t help but call out to him softly.
Count Juneau’s eyes flickered. He said to himself, “I didn’t expect that I would encounter such a unique work of art in the main hall of the Proulx Gallery. I can’t let others notice it. If I bid a hundred gold coins, some people will take special notice of it. It might cause the price to dramatically increase.”
Count Juneau immediately made his decision.
He would leave these sculptures alone for a few days, and come back later to bid on it during the final two days.
“Help assist me in cancelling my offer.” Count Juneau directly said to the woman next to him.
“Cancel?” The female attendant was startled. Based on their normal rules, once a bid was made, it could not be retracted. But Count Juneau was a very old, longstanding customer of the Proulx Gallery, and so the female attendant very matter-of-factly removed the three bidding stickers.
“Might I ask milord Count why you have retracted your bid?” The female attendant asked.
Count Juneau smiled mysteriously. “No need for you to ask. Oh, right, I want to ask you, how many days have these three sculptures been on display?”
The female attendant flipped through her records, then smiled. “These three sculptures will be on display until June 30th. They were just brought here to the main hall yesterday.”
Count Juneau nodded fractionally.
“Alright, I’ll wander around a bit. You can go ahead and do what you need to do.” Count Juneau smiled.
But in his heart, Count Juneau secretly rejoiced. In his appraisal, the true valuation of these three sculptures should be in the range of three thousand gold pieces. An ordinary sculpture by an expert was worth around a thousand gold pieces, and these three sculptures were all carved in a very unique manner. Just based on that alone, the actual valuation would be doubled.
… …
Count Juneau continued to visit the gallery every day. Indeed, just as he had expected, because the Proulx Gallery had so many sculptures, nobody else had managed to discover these three sculptures. Even if someone had, they only felt that the sculptures looked nice, and couldn’t see the true value of these sculptures.
June 10th.
Count Juneau once more arrived at the Proulx Gallery. Casually strolling about the main hall, he browsed through the selections. But once he reached the three sculptures, his face tightened. Next to each of the sculptures, there was a bidding slip.
Three stone sculptures, each one with a bid for three hundred gold coins.
Seeing this bid, Count Juneau inwardly seethed. “Fool! Even if you saw the true value of the sculptures, why would you bid such a high price right off the bat? This will just draw more attention to it.” Count Juneau’s heart was filled with rage, but there was nothing he could do. He didn’t have the authority to retra
ct someone else’s bid.
Everything unfolded just as he predicted and feared.
June 12th. Count Juneau once again reached the three sculptures. By now, the price had changed once again.
“Five hundred gold coins?” Count Juneau’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Seems like there’s quite a few people who know quality when they see it.”
*
Book 3, Mountain Range of Magical Beasts – Chapter 5, The Price (part 2)
Count Juneau still refused to make a bid. He planned to make his bid on June 30th. As time flowed past, the valuation of the three sculptures continued to rise, but because even an expert crafter’s work was valued at around a thousand gold, the price rose rather slowly.
500 gold coins. 510 gold coins. 515 gold coins.
The bids continued to rise slowly. By June 29th, they had only risen to 625 gold coins.
June 30th.
Count Juneau actually did not appear this morning, which was quite a rare occasion. He waited until nightfall, because the Proulx Gallery did not close until midnight. Linley’s three sculptures would also be removed from the gallery at midnight.
“The price yesterday was 625 gold coins. I’ll make my bid at the end.” Count Juneau smiled as he walked towards the three sculptures.
“900 gold coins? What idiot made this bid?” Upon seeing the highest bid, Count Juneau’s heart exploded with fury.
The price yesterday was just 625 gold coins, but in a day, the price had risen so dramatically. Although Count Juneau was furious, there was nothing he could do. He decided to wait patiently, and after a long period of time, he finally looked up to see the clock up above.
“It’s already 11 PM. In an hour, the place will close.” Count Juneau revealed a hint of a smile.
In Fenlai City, Count Juneau could be considered a middle-class noble. When he was young, Count Juneau was actually quite poor. Later, it was due to his shrewd investment in and collecting of sculptures that helped him slowly gain wealth. His current net worth was in the hundreds of thousands of gold coins. He could be considered a rather well off noble.