by Zhuang Bifan
"Maybe he was scared into it…" Lin Li responded irresponsibly. In fact, he was puzzled as well. From Matthias' words and deeds, Lin Li could tell that he was not someone that easy to dismiss. Lin Li did not believe that Matthias was someone who would meet enmity and smile.
Had he really become neurotic from the scare, seeing how brilliantly he was smiling?
"I can't believe that you all are still alive…" Just as the three of them were wondering, Matthias limped towards them, the smile still on his slightly pale face.
But, in Lin Li's opinion, the smile was exceptionally uncomfortable to watch. It was like when Old Merlin was smiling at Gerian—he was obviously so furious that he could vomit blood, but he was still putting up a smile on his face. It was unbelievably fake.
"I say, Matthias, can you stop smiling so fakely? There are no outsiders here. Everyone knows I've broken your limbs. Take it easy; there's nothing to be ashamed of…" Lin Li was an honest man—he'd always say anything that was on his mind. But, being too honest often hurt other people…
"You…" Matthias almost couldn't catch his breath. The smile he had tried so hard to squeeze out was distorted immediately.
"Matthias, listen to my advice. It's better for a disabled man to cleanse his heart and limit his inner d.e.s.i.r.es. Don't worry too much about things like whether we could come back alive or not. It'll affect your recovery," Lin Li spoke with sincerity as if he was really concerned for an old friend.
"What did you say?" After all, Matthias was only in his twenties. How could he stand this kind of provocation? His hands were tightly held into fists, and fire seemed to be bursting from his eyes.
"Look, you're agitated again…" How could Matthias rival Lin Li in eloquence? Matthias had only spoken a few words, and he was already trembling in agitation.
But, then again, according to Lin Li's character, how could he possibly have said so much to Matthias? As early as when the latter came to incite them, Lin Li would have delivered a fireball straight to him. Would he be crapping so much with Matthias? What crap…
Half the reason for wasting so much saliva was for Orrin.
Lin Li actually couldn't wait for Matthias to pounce on him after provoking him with a sincere face. Then, he would run on him a few words and drive him into a fair duel with Orrin. It'd be considered fulfilling Orrin's wish.
However…
Matthias seemed to be behaving a little out of the ordinary today. This fellow had to have taken the wrong medicine. He was still glaring angrily with his fists clenched a moment ago, but he relaxed very quickly, and even put on a fake smile on his face. "Forget it. It doesn't make sense to be angry with a country bumpkin like you…"
Having said that, Matthias leaned close to Lin Li's ear and said in a low voice, "However, you must be careful not to make yourself become like me…"
"Ah… what?!" How could such a threat frighten Lin Li? He looked at Matthias in surprise, and raised his voice so much that half of the hall could hear him. "Mage Matthias, did you say you are impotent? Oh my God, that's terrible…"
Almost half of the guild hall was attracted by this exclamation. At least dozens of mages looked towards them at the same time…
"…" Under the sympathetic eyes of the mages, Matthias was flushed as he told himself, Endure, endure!
Chapter 156 - Scrapped Dragon's Eye?
Matthias' psychological endurance seemed to have improved a lot; was it because he had spent a few days lying down? Lin Li was treading all over his face with his provocations, but he had swallowed it all down. Apart from his increasingly unsightly face, he had no intention of doing anything at all.
Lin Li was more or less surprised by it. He wanted to continue provoking him, forcing him into a duel with Orrin…
However, he let it go at that. Such a trifle was not enough to affect Lin Li's mood. For the next few days, he was cooped up in the Omniscient Tower, reading with relish with a thick stack of books everyday.
But, unlike his two teammates, Lin Li had never gone above the third floor of the Omniscient Tower over the past few days. He had been cramming with a group of young mages, holding either books on basic skills or basic theories, perplexing his two teammates.
Mason really couldn't figure out what this guy was really thinking. He was clearly at the peak of Magic Shooters, but he wouldn't go above the tenth floor to learn the more powerful spells. On the contrary, he was nestled on the first and second floor everyday, reading these apprentice-level books with great interest. What kind of mentality was it?
"Can apprenticeship be addictive?"
In the face of such question, Lin Li did not know how to explain for a while.
His situation was too special—it took him less than half a year to go from an apprentice to a Magic Shooter. Even if Lin Li was strongly gifted, it would inevitably leave some drawbacks. It was like travelling—if you were in a hurry, you would always miss some roadside scenery. That was the case for Lin Li now. Because his progress was so fast, he had missed a lot of things.
He knew the principle of spell-casting and its techniques, but when it came to the most detailed places, Lin Li would immediately expose his shortcomings. It had nothing to do with talent nor diligence, it was simply because he lacked adequate personal experience.
Such was magic—apart from talent and diligence, patience and time were also needed.
Even for the worst mage, as long as he was willing to try 10,000,000 times, he'd naturally grasp every detail of a spell.
What Lin Li lacked now was precisely this kind of details.
Fortunately, he had gained the right to enter and exit the Omniscient Tower freely. What the largest magic treasure house in the whole of Felan Kingdom had the most were reading notes describing such details.
Almost as soon as he got these reading notes, Lin Li realized that this was what he needed most…
For the next few days, he immersed himself in these reading notes almost every day. It took him nearly ten days to go through the first to the third floor of the Omniscient Tower. In the same time, Mason had copied ten high-level spells, and Orrin had broken through the limit to reach the rank of a level-12 Magic Shooter.
But, Lin Li didn't think he was wasting his time. On the contrary, he thought it meaningful, for he could clearly feel that he was making rapid progress every day.
He seemed to find the answers to a lot of questions he did not understand, and what gave him the answers was often a tittle-tattle on the reading notes. The person who wrote these reading notes might be a famous gifted mage in Anril, or a mage apprentice who could not break through level-five all his life. When they wrote these reading notes, they might not even think that it could provide an answer to some questions.
But, when Lin Li saw these reading notes, there was always a feeling of sudden enlightenment as if he had found a thread in a mess; with a light stroke, he had untangled numerous knots.
This feeling of being suddenly enlightened caused Lin Li to be immersed in pleasant reading all the time.
It wasn't until the tenth day that Lin Li suddenly remembered he still had a lot to do…
That morning, instead of going to the Omniscient Tower with his two teammates, he left the guild hall, and went to the equipment store on the corner.
"Good morning, Boss."
"Good morning, good morning. I didn't expect to see you again so soon, Mr Mage." The boss obviously remembered Lin Li. For any businessman, they'd perhaps not forget a big spender who once spent hundreds of thousands of gold coins in his store. Moreover, this big spender was such a unique one…
"Boss, can I ask, has the person who sold those two pieces of equipment been here recently?"
"Once." The middle-aged boss nodded his head. He remembered it very well. After all, the deal impressed him deeply. After carefully recalling, the middle-aged boss continued, "It seems like 15 days ago, when he came to collect the money. I've asked him to go to the Guild of Magic to look for you. Why did he not look for
you?"
"No wonder…" Lin Li counted the days; ten days ago, he was in the Shadowglen, completing his trial mission. It would be strange if the seller could find him at that time.
It was a pity—he had finally found a clue, but it was lost due to a coincidence.
Without the Fire Salamandrid skin, it would not be so easy to go to the Fire Plume Ridge to gather the black lotus.
Surely it couldn't be… that he really had to use the black dragon skin?
Fire immunity was not a problem at all if the black dragon skin was used. After all, it was what the Dragon of Destruction left behind. He could wear it to Fire Plume Ridge after a simple treatment process.
But, the problem was that Lin Li hated to use it. The black dragon skin was no less valuable than the black lotus; perhaps there was no one who could make the black dragon skin into an armor so casually. Lin Li wanted to never use that batch of black dragon skin before he came up with a perfect treatment process.
"Oh, right." Just when Lin Li was vacillating, the middle-aged boss suddenly said, "He seemed to have said that he will come again in a few days, and then he will send two other pieces of equipment to me to be put up for sale."
"Oh?" Hearing this, Lin Li hurriedly asked, "When?"
The middle-aged boss thought for a moment before he replied affirmatively, "The day after tomorrow."
"Thank you so much…" Lin Li was relieved. After thanking the middle-aged boss, he asked, "Oh yes, boss, do you help in smelting ore here?"
What Lin Li wanted to smelt were precisely the Eternal Adamantine in the Ring of Endless Storm.
It was not because he couldn't smelt it himself. As a master of mineral veins, smelting ore was the most basic skill. But, it was unlike pharmaceutics, where he could make a few beakers or test tubes and could control his mana accurately such that he could concoct many potions even in the wild.
Smelting required some professional equipment, including blast furnace, hot air stoves, and so on, which was enough to make Lin Li's head pound. He was living in the Alanna Guild of Magic at present. If he really were to get a large number of professional equipment, then not to mention that it would frighten other mages, perhaps even Aldwin would be alarmed.
"Smelting ore? Surely not in the store, but I have a smelting workshop in the north of the city. If you can trust me, you can give me the ore. When I have finished the smelting, you can come back and get it."
"Okay, I'll bring you the ore later," Lin Li agreed very coolly. He had nothing to worry about with this regular businessman. Others could consign hundreds of thousands of worth in equipment here. To some extent, it could also prove the credibility of the middle-aged boss.
"By the way, Boss, the ore I want to smelt may be more troublesome. You can charge a higher price, but you must guarantee the quality of smelting."
"May I know what ore are you planning to smelt?"
"This is it…" Lin Li reached into his pocket and fumbled in it. He pulled out a piece of Eternal Adamantine that he had long prepared.
"This…" The middle-aged owner took the ore in his hand and looked at it carefully for a long time before he asked with great difficulty, "This… Isn't it Eternal Adamantine?
"Yes, it's Eternal Adamantine."
The middle-aged boss probably had never handled such expensive ore before. The hand that was holding the ore was trembling a little. After hesitation, he finally bit his teeth, and said, "Okay, you can bring the ore here in the afternoon. I'll start work this afternoon. You can pick it up tomorrow. As for the price …" The middle-aged boss said in one breath, and thought again.
"… I usually collect 1,000 gold coins for each time I run the furnace, but this is really… it's really too precious, so my risk is relatively high. I tell you what, I will collect 3,000 gold coins from you, okay?"
"No problem."
"By the way, Mr Mage, how many Eternal Adamantine do you have in your hands?"
"About two carriages."
"…"
Before leaving, Lin Li seemed to hear a clatter. It sounded as if someone had fallen down…
After coming out of the equipment store, Lin Li went directly to the Alanna Garage, where he hired two carriages, and then took them around the city of Alanna. Finally, he found a quiet place, opened the Ring of Endless Storm, and poured the Eternal Adamantine down on the ground.
After that, it was loaded and transported off. It took a whole morning for Lin Li to complete this trip.
He handed 3,000 gold coins to the middle-aged boss, and then watched him transport the two cars of Eternal Adamantine to the north of the city. Lin Li finally breathed a long sigh; this morning was really troublesome…
But, he couldn't stay idle because he had one more thing to do.
After returning to the Guild of Magic, Lin Li went directly to the Spell Testing Hall.
This was probably the difference between a small town and a big city. If it were the Jarrosus Guild of Magic, spell testing would probably be arranged in the level certification hall because there was also a Magical Shield Field and the Elements Annihilation Field, as well as a crystal ball to test the strength of the spell. In addition to certifying the level, it could also be used for spell testing. In Gerian's words, this was called thrifty housekeeping—spending as little as possible where you could…
But, this was the Alanna Guild of Magic—the heart of all magic in the Felan Kingdom.
It was the purpose of the Alanna Guild of Magic to seek not the best, but the most expensive, regardless of the kind of money that was spent.
The Spell Testing Hall was on the fourth floor. Lin Li easily obtained a private room with his identity as a trial mage.
The room was empty, with only one crystal ball, four mageweaths, a Magical Shield Field, and an Elements Annihilation Field inside. Each of them had two channels, which were used to protect the structure of the room and crystal ball used for the test, respectively.
Lin Li looked at the structure of these two mageweaths to ensure that they could withstand the bombardment of a Magic Shooter-level spell. Then, he opened the Ring of Endless Storm in relief, and pulled out the fist-sized Dragon's Eye from it.
This was the first time Lin Li had taken it out since he came back from the Nightmare Mountains.
When he came out of the cave that night, he had witnessed the battle between the mercenary corp and a Shapeshifter, followed by the appearance of the strange crystal. After returning to Alanna, he had to go for the trial in the Shadowglen arranged by the Supreme Council. He had finally completed the trial mission, but had been immersing himself in the Omniscient Tower everyday.
He had gotten the Dragon's Eye for more than half a month, but he still did not know the spell it contained…
This was simply unthinkable for a researcher such as Lin Li.
Anyway, he didn't have to go to the Omniscient Tower today, so he took out the Dragon's Eye and studied it…
In order to ensure his own safety, Lin Li had deliberately took a few steps back. After all, no one knew what kind of spell this Dragon's Eye contained; in case it was a powerful spell that could cover a large area, he might get injured if he stood too close to it.
Lin Li did not stop until he retreated to the door. He tightened his grip on the Dragon's Eye in his hand, and began a slow and steady mana input.
With a trace of mana pouring into the Dragon's Eye, Lin Li could clearly see that the unique orange glow of the Dragon's Eye was gradually becoming brighter and brighter; especially when Lin Li's mana input was about to break through the limit, this orange light seemed to become golden in a flash. At a glance, it looked as if the room was covered in gold foil. The room was filled with a golden light, so resplendent that it made one dizzy.
When the golden light reached its peak, the room suddenly set off a surge of magical wave. The massive mana seemed to solidify all of a sudden. Even Lin Li could not help feeling a huge pressure.
But, after that, it was dead silent.
Nothing had happened…
"…" Lin Li rubbed his eyes and looked at the Dragon's Eye in his hand. He thought it had to be an illusion.
A long time later, there was a loud cry in the room. "F*ck! How could this be possible?"
Lin Li almost went mad on the spot. How could that be possible? Earlier on, he had clearly felt the mana that was concealed in Dragon's Eye had been activated by his own mana. Even a fool could feel the turbulent magical wave and that enormous pressure. However, after that, there was not even any reaction from the crystal ball at all. What was this situation?
Lin Li refused to give up, and circled around the crystal ball again. Yes… there was no response at all.
"What is this?"
The Dragon's Eye in his hand was blasted out of the Eternal Adamantine vein, and it was a piece as big as a fist. Even if it was dead, it should at least contain a spell. How could it be that there was no movement at all, like this? It was all too fake…
Back in the Endless World, Lin Li did see some discarded Dragon's Eyes before. It didn't seem to look any different, but after inputting mana into it, it couldn't even release a wind blade, which was the lowest level of spell.
However, those Dragon's Eyes were either too small to contain a spell, or mistakes were made during mining, dealing considerable damage to the internal structure of the Dragon's Eye and directly causing the spell concealed in them to disappear.
There was no doubt that neither of these two situations had something to do with the one in his hand.
There was no need to mention it being too small—it was the size of a fist, and could even crush someone to death, much less contain a spell in it.
As for damaging the internal structure, it was equally impossible. A thoroughly destroyed Dragon's Eye would not react to mana at all; it was essentially a stone. How could it emit that gorgeous golden light under the drive of mana?
