Another World’s Versatile Crafting Master c1-1074

by Zhuang Bifan

  The two men quietly followed the six mercenary corps at a distance neither too far nor too close—just enough to see the battle ahead through the Warlock's Eyes.

  But, as soon as the Warlock's Eyes was released, Lin Li was dumbstruck by the sight in the distance…

  It was only three hours since Andre drove away in his carriage. It never occurred to Lin Li that the battle would be so intense.

  It was like a meteorite had struck Earth…

  Thousands of members of the six mercenary corps had taken up positions on the mountain plateau. At this time, they were like meat grinders running at full speed, twisting all the magical beasts that came at them into meat sauce violently.

  The Silver Storm, the strongest fighting force among the mercenary corps, had been transferred. A large number of armored warriors stood at the front of the teams. They held thick iron shields, firmly guarding their comrades behind them like a bastion of iron.

  On both sides of the Silver Storm were the berserkers of the Dragon Mercenary Corp. They bared their tangled muscles to the waist; their axes danced like windmills. Many magical beasts did not even have time to pounce on them before they were chopped into meat paste by the whirlwind of hammers. Blood spattered on the berserkers' b.a.r.e c.h.e.s.ts, drawing totems that were full of primitive savagery.

  A large number of mages was reciting spells; the surging magical waves—like the waves of the tide—constantly scoured the swarm of magical beasts coming from all directions.

  Lin Li did a count from a distance. This group of mages were perhaps no less than a hundred—this was probably the strongest magical power that the adventurers had ever been able to gather. The hundred mages were at least above level-eight, including at least 20 Archmages. The staves in their hands gleamed with dazzling splendor. In the deafening roar, endless magical elements surged wildly, and in a split second a bloody storm was brewing.

  The peak of the Fire Plume Ridge was like a pot of boiling water at this moment.

  Countless magical beasts poured in from all directions; each of them carried the scorching breath peculiar to the magical beasts of the Fire Plume Ridge. Innumerable Fire Crows flew by, forming a large red cloud that blotted out the sun. Archers from the six mercenary corps drew their bows and fired their arrows constantly. A dense rain of arrows shot into the sky, instantly tearing a gap in the center of the red cloud. However, it was filled up by even more Fire Crows in an instant…

  The burning Firewolves, like flowing blood, gushed from afar. The shrill howls of the Firewolves sent a tingling sensation down everyone's spines.

  The magma that used to flow slowly became turbulent at the moment. In the midst of the stormy waves, numerous Fire Salamandrids rushed out of the magma. With a flick of their long tails, a rain of fire started pouring from the sky…

  Howls, screams, explosions—several sounds reverberated together, wreaking chaos on the peak of the Fire Plume Ridge.

  However, all this had little to do with Lin Li.

  The six mercenary corps had completely angered the magical beasts on the Fire Plume Ridge—this was even a good thing for him. Now was the best time to pick the black lotus. If he missed this opportunity, who knew how long he'd have to wait for the next one…

  Lin Li recalled the Warlock's Eyes after taking a hurried glance at the situation in the battle ahead. Then, he turned around, and asked Sean, "Sean, where is the entrance to the cave?"

  "It's not far ahead. Please follow me, I'll show you." Sean, clutching the huge sword in both hands, led Lin Li through a rocky wasteland, and then along a rugged path to a dark entrance…

  "This is it, Mr. Felic. It was here that I fell last time."

  Lin Li looked at the hole in front of him. It was pitch-dark inside. When the two of them approached, they could clearly feel a wave of heat coming from within. Lin Li hesitated for a moment, and did not go straight down. Instead, he picked up a stone from the roadside and dropped it in. It took nearly ten seconds to hear a "plop" from the hole.

  "F*ck…" Lin Li was stunned. There was some suspicion in his eyes when he looked back at Sean. "Sean, you jumped in like that last time?"

  "Yes…" Sean nodded like it was a natural thing. "I was carrying a backpack, and when I fell, a rock caught the backpack while I was falling, so I didn't sustain any injuries…"

  "…" Lin Li broke out in a cold sweat as he listened. Fortunately, he did not jump in foolishly. Who could have his backpack accurately caught by a rock every time? It was better to count on money falling from the sky than to count on such luck.

  Thankfully, Lin Li was a mage…

  A hurried recitation of spell sounded, and two Feather Fall Spells were released.

  One for himself, and one for Sean.

  With the help of the Feather Fall Spell, they fell into the cave like two feathers. When they were in mid-air, Lin Li freely released an Illuminating Spell. It was completely dark inside; wouldn't they be in big trouble if the magma just happened to be under their feet when they fell?

  How fortunate…

  They were in good luck. As soon as Lin Li released the Illuminating Spell, he knew that the fall was most likely a safe one because the magma Sean mentioned was still a long way from where the two men landed.

  However, the scene in the cave surprised Lin Li slightly.

  Although he had heard about the cave dozens of times from Sean, Lin Li was still shocked when he saw it for himself. It was simply another world. The boiling lava flowed in the distance, and a thick smell of sulfur came with the heat wave. Under the blazing temperature, sparks burst in the air from time to time. Lin Li could even smell something charred when he landed.

  Under the Illuminating Spell, everything around was dark red—just like a world on fire.

  As Sean said, the cave was really spacious. At first glance, it was almost the size of two Guilds of Magic. The flowing lava was like a surging river. Walking in the cave would only give people the sense of majesty and magnificence, but it would not make anyone feel oppressed at all.

  "I fell here last time too…" Sean scratched his head, and pointed to a prominent rock in mid-air. "Look, it's the rock that caught the backpack."

  "…" Lin Li looked in the direction of Sean's finger, and felt a sudden wave of cold sweat. The lad's luck really surpassed the limits of humans.

  The rock he talked about was about a dozen meters away from the entrance of the cave. The tip of the rock was pointed and sharp. From a distance, it looked like a razor-sharp tusk.

  Falling from such a high place and coming across that rock was an oddity, not to mention that only the backpack was caught on it, and he hadn't had his back wounded by it. It'd be a pity not trying their luck on lottery tickets…

  "Unfortunately, my backpack doesn't seem to be there anymore. I picked a lot of herbs and put them in it…" Sean mentioned the matter with great enthusiasm. It didn't seem to occur to him that he had walked around the death's door back then. After reminiscing for a while, he suddenly remembered the business at hand. "Oh, yes, Mr. Felic, the herb you are looking for seems to be right ahead. Let me show you there."

  Sean was right. The black lotuses that Lin Li dreamed of were indeed not far ahead.

  In fact, even if Sean did not say so, Lin Li had already found them.

  For Lin Li, who was well-versed in knowledge on herbs, there was no need to look for such a thing as the black lotus, because it was just like what a famous movie line described: "It (He) was so bright and outstanding; its (his) melancholic eyes and sad beard had betrayed it (him)… 1 "

  Lin Li's long-cherished black lotus grew just by the flowing lava. From a distance, four black lotuses the size of a bowl were blooming in a wreath of fire.

  An unparalleled powerful fire magical element was emanating from the four black lotuses.

  "Four black lotuses…" Lin Li couldn't even control his limbs as he looked at the four black lotuses. This was what every pharmacist dreamed of. At least 90 percent of them could not o
btain a petal even after exhausting their whole life.

  But, at present, four blooming black lotuses were placed in front of him…

  Calm down, calm down, this is too undignified. I've seen the world! Lin Li desperately s.u.c.k.e.d in his breath, trying to calm himself down. But he had just s.u.c.k.e.d in the hot air into his lungs when the fellow who told himself to calm down had already plunged himself forward. One of his hand passed through the burning flames, grabbing the root of the black lotus, and tugged at it hard. In an instant, the black lotuses, along with the soil, were pulled from the ground…

  Harvesting black lotus did not require any skills. The only thing worth noting was that it was best to prepare a place with enough fire magical element when harvesting it; otherwise, the black lotus would likely wither without the nourishment of fire magical elements.

  The black lotus petals that Sean got at the beginning lost a large part of their efficacy because there was no place where the fire magical element was strong enough. Otherwise, with Lin Li's strength as a pharmaceutics guru, he could definitely concoct something more powerful than the Elixir of the Sages even with a few black lotus petals.

  To be frank, Lin Li was still unable to create a man-made space full of fire magical element with his current ability. This was a propriety of a legendary-mage. To some extent, this was tantamount to creating a magic field of one's own. In this field, the creator could even change the rules of magic operation, such as duration…

  However, it didn't matter. Without the magic field, there was still the Ring of Endless Storm.

  The Ring of Endless Storm was a true artifact. Although Lin Li still did not know what power it possessed, one thing was certain—in the space of the ring, time seemed to be stationary; Lin Li once tried to throw a pocket watch into the Ring of Endless Storm. After a month, he found that the hands were still in their original positions…

  That was probably the reason why a frog couldn't fit into the Ring of Endless Storm that possessed infinite space. Why? Because frogs were living things; putting them into a space where time stopped flowing violated the basic rules of the world.

  Until the four black lotuses were put into the Ring of Endless Storm, Lin Li still couldn't believe that all this was true…

  From the time when he discovered the few petals of black lotus in Jarrosus until he met Sean and learnt that the Fire Plume Ridge was where he could pick the black lotus, and then tried every means to get the Fire Salamandrid skin—all of this had taken up an uncountable amount of effort and attention from him. But, Lin Li never felt there was anything wrong with it.

  On the contrary, he thought that all of this went without saying. The black lotus was such a precious herb that it should take so much effort and attention.

  He was even prepared to spend more of them on it after coming to the Fire Plume Ridge…

  However, with the six mercenary corps coming to the peak of the Fire Plume Ridge, everything seemed to become easier all of a sudden.

  With a simple jump and a simple stretch of the hand, the black lotuses were in the Ring of Endless Storm. It was simply like a dream…

  The feeling of having struck at thin air 2 made Lin Li confused and uneasy.

  "Let's go, we'll leave first." Lin Li planned to leave with Sean after putting the four black lotuses into the Ring of Endless Storm. The uneasiness hovered in his mind, constantly making him feel that something was not right. With this subconscious sense of crisis, he did not hesitate to believe in his intuition.

  "I'm sorry, Mr. Felic, you can't go back." But, at this time, there was a sudden frivolous laughter behind him. A famous movie line from Stephen Chow's movie, "From Beijing with Love". Making great effort but succeeding easily

  Chapter 188 - Let Uncle Give You A Shot

  Lin Li turned around abruptly, and saw a figure in black robe floating over the cave like a ghost. His blood-red eyes were filled with devilish aura. They were so unique that Lin Li did not even need to look at his face. He knew that this person was one of the two men who'd scared him into hiding in his tent when they visited the Silver Hand camp that morning.

  Lin Li vaguely remembered Serena seemed to have said that this fellow was called Argus or something. It was said that he was a mysterious level-16 mage. The one with him was Wilhelm's nephew, a warrior who was also level-16.

  "Who are you?" Lin Li remained composed. While he asked something he knew the answer to, one of his hands quietly reached behind him and clutched the crossbow on his back.

  "My name is Argus, one of Master Matthias' magic instructors." Argus's voice was calm, sounding as if he were talking about weather with his old friend.

  But as he spoke, a powerful magical wave continued to emanate from him, making Lin Li feel greatly pressured. It was indeed the strength of a level-16 Archmage. Lin Li could clearly sense that purely in terms of strength, the fellow with ruby eyes might have already surpassed Gerian…

  "Mr Argus, is it? It's a p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e to meet you. I didn't expect you were Matthias' magic instructor. That is great, Mr Argus. Could you please tell Matthias something for me…" Lin Li smiled casually as if he had really met an old friend.

  "Oh?"

  As a trace of doubt flashed through Argus' eyes, the strong aura that emanated from him fluctuated like ripples as well. This slight fluctuation was very short and subtle, but with a keen and incomparable mental strength, Lin Li seized the slight fluctuation in an instant. At the same time as the doubt flashed through Argus' eyes, a shrill noise of something breaking the air sounded in his ear.

  "Swish!"

  There was only a soft noise. A dark red light ripped the gloom of the cave in a moment. It went straight at Argus' c.h.e.s.t like a venomous snake.

  Still, Argus was a level-16 Archmage. The unexpected strike did not fl.u.s.ter him at all. Argus raised his staff almost at the moment when the dark red light cut through the gloom. A colorful halo flashed past him, and a Frost Shield and a Flame Shield had been propped up at the same time…

  "Funny!" Argus showed slight contempt on his face as he faced the dark-red light as it tore through the air. What was a mere crossbow to an Archmage above level-16? What was the point of attacking like this besides provoking him? He didn't imagine Felic to be this stupid; how dare such a person challenge the Marathon Family? It was ridiculous!

  But in the next moment, Argus could no longer laugh…

  The bolt tore the Frost Shield almost instantly without any hindrance—just like a burning knife cutting through butter. There was a tearing sound, and the solid Frost Shield was split open; the Flame Shield was exposed in the next instant.

  Argus's expression suddenly changed. He couldn't comprehend at all—why was this bolt so sharp?

  How could he possibly have thought that the bolt Lin Li had fired was actually one made from the fang of a high-level Vampire? With just one blow, it had a great chance of penetrating even a legendary-mage's magic field, let alone a small Frost Shield.

  When the Frost Shield was split open, Lin Li seemed to have seen the vampire fang tear open the thin layer of Flame Shield in the next moment, and then plunging deeply into Argus' body, s.u.c.k.i.n.g up the last power of the level-16 Archmage.

  "Clack!"

  But then, Lin Li heard a soft crackle.

  Almost immediately after the vampire fang pierced through the Flame Shield, the magic staff on Argus' hand was raised at once. Then, a Frost Spear was formed in Argus's hands. At that instant, it impartially collided into the oncoming vampire fang…

  "F*ck!" Lin Li's face immediately darkened; the ruby-eyed mage's response far exceeded Lin Li's estimation.

  Under the circ.u.mstances earlier on, even Lin Li had to admit that he wouldn't be able to do it better than the ruby-eyed mage. As the vampire fang pierced through the Frost Shield, what was left for the ruby-eyed mage was only a split second; but, in that split second, he had made the utmostly correct choice. The Frost Spear blocked what Lin Li thought would be the deciding strik
e.

  "Master Matthias is right. You are very cunning, but, unfortunately…" The vampire fang dropped to the ground amidst the splashing ice debris.

  Argus smirked, and slowly lifted the magic staff in his hand. With a long and complicated recitation of spell, a bitter chill filled the air in an instant; large snowflakes circled around the tip of the staff. The bitter chill even overwhelmed the natural heat in the cave.

  "Sh*t!" The look on Lin Li's face changed the moment that the chill diffused. With his present strength, he wouldn't be able to withstand the full blow of a level-16 Archmage.

  Argus recited at an amazing speed; it was only in the blink of an eye that he had already finished his spell recitation. Endless chills poured in from the sky, and the magical elements were so immense that Lin Li could hardly breathe. At this point. Lin Li simply had no time to dwell on it. He could only rely on his instinctive response and channel a trace of mana into the Torrent of Elements Ring…

  However, the expression on Lin Li's face suddenly froze.

  For he clearly saw that it was only a thin icicle after the endless wave of chill…

  "It's over…" The icicle was swallowed up by the Torrent of Elements in an instant, but what it brought to Lin Li was a feeling of almost despair. The massive magical elements and the long recitation of spell turned out to be all an illusion; the real purpose of it was to make him show the Torrent of Elements Ring. This was a conspiracy through and through!

  As the last chill faded into the channel of elements, Argus' near-devilish, handsome face revealed a triumphant smile. "It seems that Master Matthias is right, you have a good magic equipment, but, unfortunately, you've used it at the wrong time…"

  Now that things had come to this point, it was no longer meaningful to play any more tricks. Lin Li took out his Winter Staff from the Ring of Endless Storm as he scolded angrily, "Damn it, did Matthias ever tell you how he was beaten into a moron by me?!"

  "…" Argus smiled, and slowly descended from the air. It was absolutely unnecessary to use the Levitation Spell in a battle between two mages. Apart from the psychological advantage of a commanding position, overlooking the opponent on the ground, the magic at this Archmage level had no significance at all. Unless you could fly faster than spells, the Levitation Spell would only make you a flying target.