by Zhuang Bifan
Arcane potions had the ability to promote mage apprentices to mages, while mysterious potions could promote mages to Magic Shooters, and rune potions could promote Magic Shooters to Archmages. Did that mean that there was a potion that could promote an Archmage to a Legendary-mage?
There was no answer to this question in the world of Anril, for everyone would think that it was a question that only lunatics would ask. However, as a master of pharmacy, Lin Li knew very well that although pharmacy was not invincible, it could make many impossibilities come true.
With Gerian's potential, he would at most remain an Archmage, and it would be impossible for him to reach the Legendary-realm. Although the lifespan of an Archmage had been greatly extended, it was far from that of a Legendary-mage. Hence, Lin Li hoped to help Gerian enter the Legendary-realm as far as possible. Whenever someone treated Lin Li genuinely well, he would do his best to treat them well too.
Of course, it was still too early to be talking about it. After all, Lin Li might not be able to concoct an extraordinary potion with his current abilities.
However, Gerian had never once complained about the hassle of having to travel around after he returned from the visit to the Malfa Family. Instead, he told Lin Li excitedly about the superior treatment that he received as well as how he made the Malfa Family abandon their pride and give in.
After the operation to annihilate the Syer Bandits ended, Hutton acquired plenty of loot. After all, the Syer Bandits were rather powerful and wealthy since they had seized the assets of plenty of tycoons in the Breezy Plains over the years. The elders of the Malfa Family did not object to the cooperation after seeing the loot that he had brought home, and also began to grow less hostile towards the newly established Tower of Dusk.
Gerian visited the Malfa Family as the messenger of the Tower of the Dusk. Hutton knew the importance of this fat man in Lin Li's heart. They could not afford to make any mistakes at all, especially during this cooperation which mattered greatly to the family. Hence, he informed his family not to act rashly right from the start. He even locked his younger brother Harvey up for a few days.
Gerian and the Malfa family held harmonious negotiations and successfully finalized all the details of the cooperation. The Malfa Family did not harp on a minor profit, and Gerian wasn't unreasonable and wouldn't compromise Lin Li's interests for the sake of his own joy.
Those business gains were enough to ensure that the Tower of Dusk would maintain a stable and big momentum of development in the future. However, Lin Li still had higher requirements for the Tower of Dusk, which seemed to involve a crazy design. He hoped that the completed Tower of Dusk would not be a simple shelter for the mages that would shield them from the wind and rain, but also a sanctuary that could stand strong even during the worst disaster in the world.
It was absolutely a crazy idea. Even Legendary-realm powerhouses might fall during the incoming calamity, and even the sacred Sanctuary-realm ones might not be able to fend for themselves easily. The Darkness Shrine which had once been as strong as the Brilliance Shrine was severely damaged by the magical beasts. This time, the imminent calamity was going to be far larger than the previous one, and it was very likely to destroy the entire Anril.
Hence, in order to create a sanctuary and place of refuge for the world, he had to be prepared to face the impact of the powerful magical beasts, something that perhaps only the High Elves with their Sky Castles could do. Everyone would probably think that Lin Li was being crazy and delusional, but he was well aware that it was possible for him to realize his plans with the resources he now had.
Although the pharmaceutical and weaponry business could continue to bring a lot of benefits, it could only help slowly complete the construction of the Tower of Dusk in a c.u.mulative manner. Even if it took a century to build the Tower of Dusk into what Lin Li wanted, it would seem like an absolutely short period of time to others. However, Lin Li knew that there was only two or three years left for him to prepare for the calamity. If construction could not be completed before the disaster, everything would be a waste of effort. Hence, it all seemed too slow to Lin Li, be it 100 years or five to 10.
Fortunately, the benefits that Lin Li had reaped recently were far beyond imagination, and he finally had the time to organize his loot.
During the trip to the Abyss of Tharlen, Lin Li had not only broken into the Legendary-realm, he also directly encroached the home of the Lord of Darkness, and took the Throne of Darkness created by the Dragon of Destruction. However, what he had to sort out now was not the Darkness Domain, but the acc.u.mulation of resources collected by the Lord of Darkness over millions of years1.
The Lord of Darkness was the ruler of the Abyss of Tharlen, and naturally acc.u.mulated a ton of resources over millions of years, but they were also limited by the environment. Among the resources were various magic crystals as well as the medicinal materials and minerals produced by the Abyss. There were not too many magical weapons and other pieces of magical equipment, and most of them were in horrible condition. The medicinal materials and minerals produced by the abyss each had their own uses, and could not be immediately exchanged for large sums of money.
On the other hand, there was only a very small amount of gold and silver that were often present when it came to treasures. After all, in the endless abyss, there wasn't a complete economic system like that of Anril. Those demons had no choice but to resort to bartering for what they wanted.
A large number of magic crystals could be exchanged for money, but Lin Li needed the magical crystals desperately at this moment. The original Lord of Nightmares in the Summoning Lamp was like a vortex that s.u.c.k.e.d in endless amounts of magical crystals. Besides, he would require Legendary magical crystals in order to hatch the Dragon of Destruction's descendant. Moreover, the Tower of the Dusk would be equipped with magical crystal cannons in the future; hence, magical crystals were equivalent to ammunition reserves that couldn't be sold. A bit less than 1.50 USD.Probably just an exaggeration and should be thousands, but who knows what author's really meant... It ain't the first time millions appear in this context, either.
Chapter 519 - William’s Visit
Next, it would be the loot that he had obtained from the Syer Bandits. Unfortunately, Lin Li had not taken the gold coins and gemstones into consideration when splitting the loot with Hutton back then, and instead chose raw materials and various semi-finished products. If he wanted to convert the raw materials and semi-finished products into funds, they had to be processed into finished products and then sold through a proper sales channel. The entire process was rather slow.
However, that was not all that Lin Li had gained. Not to forget, he had also acquired a massive amount of treasures and gems from the underground palace, most of which could be exchanged for a large amount of money. In the era of the High Elves, there was already a complete currency system. In addition to the value of precious metals themselves, exquisite elven-style gold and silver coins were still artwork quite widely sought after.
Except for the coins from the elven era, all kinds of elven-style weapons and equipment, as well as elven-style furniture and accessories, were absolutely valuable, as with all other elf-related items. The elven-era items acquired in the underground palace, which were once considered to be useless by Lin Li, were actually enough to give him a large amount of money for the construction of the Tower of Dusk alone.
The construction of the Tower of Dusk would be a great improvement for the mages of the Guild of Magic in terms of abilities, on top of providing better facilities. Although Lin Li had a rune potion that could f.o.r.c.i.b.l.y help an Archmage advance, he still had to consider the interest of the Tower of Dusk when selecting someone to use the potion on.
The topic was inevitably related to the majordomo of the Tower of Dusk, Gavin. His management abilities were so superb that even Gerian, who had been a President for years, took his hat off to him.
As for ambition, Lin Li had never worried about
it ever since he delegated the management of the tower to Gavin. Only the useless and incompetent ones would worry about their subordinates posing a threat to their status and betraying them, thus resulting in irreparable damage to themselves. Those were the kind of people who would use various excuses to limit the performance of their subordinates.
Gavin's performance also gained him Lin Li's trust. He had efficiently used the massive amount of operating funds and turned them into a powerful driving force for the development of the Tower of Dusk. More and more mages, including those outside the Breezy Plains, were attracted to the Tower of Dusk which provided splendid accommodation and offered great benefits.
Of course, the generous treatment was not just for anyone who came. In order to tackle this issue, Gavin had initiated the contribution system where only the mages who had contributed significantly to the Tower of Dusk and the Breezy Plains' Guild of Magic could enjoy the treatment they deserved after acc.u.mulating a certain contribution value.
The system did not scare away the mages who were interested in joining, because the requirements were not an issue at all when compared to the huge benefits that were being offered. Some of them had calculated it carefully, and finally came to the conclusion that with the abilities of an average mage, they would enjoy better treatment than Archmages of other forces did—as long as they were not lazy in contributing and were serious about their work.
Magic equipment, magic accessories, and even expensive potions all had to be exchanged using contribution values in an open and fair manner so that no one had to worry about fairness and the issue of prejudice. They didn't have to push beyond their limits at all. Instead, they just had to perform their duties well, and they would enjoy generous treatment that they couldn't get elsewhere.
How enviable!
The magicians of the other forces were full of grief and indignation as they thought to themselves, Why wasn't the Tower of Dusk established sooner!? Although not all loyal retainers would serve just one master in this world, going back on one's word would give them a bad reputation and cause them to become outcasts.
In addition to providing members with generous treatment, the massive wealth that Lin Li had also enabled the construction of various magic facilities and continuous transport of various rare materials to the Tower of Dusk in large quantities. The plan was coming to fruition according to Lin Li's ideas, and Lin Li's intention to purchase magic crystal cannons had also been put on the agenda. The wealthy Tower of Dusk planned to purchase more than 20 of those expensive weapons which were not common even in the defense systems of some large cities. There were only 18 of them even in the Dwarf Kingdom.
In fact, with the current financial resources of the Tower of Dusk, it was not a problem for them to buy twice as many magical crystal cannons even though their price was exorbitant. The problem was that the magical crystal cannons were not swords, after all, and the Dwarf Kingdom's cannon production was limited, which was very much to Lin Li's dismay.
However, it didn't matter at all. It was a part of Lin Li's plan to go to the Dwarf Kingdom himself one day because he still held a long-lost blueprint of Sky-breaker, which used to belong to the Dwarf Kingdom. As long as he had the blueprint, he would be able to make the craftsmen of the Dwarf Kingdom create the magic weapon which once shot down a Sky Castle.
Yes, the design of the Tower of Dusk was now rather similar and close to Lin Li's ideal one, and it was no longer a simple tower for mages. It had 10 sides of defense, Legendary magical crystal powering it, and countless mageweath arrays. It was a magic fortress that'd definitely be daunting to enemies.
With such a defensive force alone, Lin Li was confident that he could easily defeat his foes and render them helpless even if he was to face attacks from the stronger ones at the Legendary-realm. However, once the 20 or so magical crystal cannons purchased from the Dwarf Kingdom were in place, it would be a piece of cake for them to deal with the enemies as long as there were less than 10 of them.
However, those were not the limits of the Tower of Dusk. Not to forget, Lin Li still had a trump card. Once the time was right, he would be able to summon the eternal furnace from the cracks in space, which had been combined with the Darkness Domain and the fire and ice elements. By then, the Tower of Dusk would truly be worthy of being deemed formidable.
The rapid and successful development of the Tower of Dusk had given Lin Li a lot of confidence in dealing with the impending calamity.
At the end of yet another lecture, Lin Li caught sight of Alan striding towards him from the other end of the corridor as soon as he exited the pharmaceutical lab.
Lin Li waved and gestured for the pharmacists who had walked him to the door to leave. He then turned around calmly, and asked Alan, "Alan, what's the matter? Why are you so anxious?"
"Master Felic." Alan bowed and stood up straight before continuing, "Master Felic, Mr. William from the Time Consignment Store would like to see you. He's waiting for you in the parlor now. Would you like to see him?"
Alan was now a level-16 Archmage. When he first arrived in the Tower of Dusk because of his teacher Basel's request, he did not take the Guild of Magic seriously. However, to his surprise, the young President Felic actually used a seemingly plain method to help him overcome the problem that had troubled him for many years, and gave him hope for promotion to an Archmage.
However, that incident only made Alan grateful to the young President Felic. What really convinced him was when he saw the young Felic exert his Legendary-realm power at the mere age of 20 in the Dragon Mountains with his own eyes.
Actually, Alan was not alone in that. From then on, everyone in the Tower of Dusk changed their opinion of the young Legendary-mage of a President, whom they genuinely admired now.
"Time Consignment Store?" Lin Li asked with a frown, finding the name very familiar.
However, Alan misunderstood his frown, and quickly said, "Master, if you don't want to see him, I'll send him away." Although Alan had a high status in the Breezy Plains, he was second to the Legendary-mage President Felic.
"Wait, I remember it now." Lin Li suddenly stopped Alan. He finally remembered that he had once bought a pair of daggers which were said to be weapons used by the legendary Assassin Holler for Norfeller at the Time Consignment Store. As for that Mr. William, he also remembered that the two of them had had a brief conversation at the banquet held by the castellan of Roland City.
Although they had only met each other once, Lin Li had a good impression of the old man. William did not speak to him condescendingly just because he was older, unlike some other elderly men.
"I'll go see him. I don't have anything on anyway," said Lin Li.
Since William didn't come to give a gift to the pharmacists, he was allowed to enter the formal parlor. He was awestruck by the beautiful and exquisite elven furnishings around him, and sat on an elven-style wooden chair.
William got to where he was today all thanks to his eyes and his knowledge regarding authentication and appraisal. However, he began to doubt his eyes now that he was staring at the beautiful elven-style furniture. Such complete elven-style furniture was almost nonexistent nowadays, and was something that money could not buy. How could it be so casually placed in the living room? Well, unless it was all just replicas. However, even perfect replicas could not fool him.
William obviously had no idea that Lin Li had looted a lot of elven-era furniture from Osric's underground palace. To him, those flashy and fancy items were nothing too precious, so the beautiful elven-style furniture that normally was a rare find had all become ornaments and furniture that could be seen everywhere in the Tower of Dusk.
"Mr. William, is our furniture easy on the eyes for you?"
William finally snapped out of his trance after hearing a young mage's voice. He stood up and got a great shock because he found the young mage rather familiar. He thought, Isn't he that young chap who spoke to me about Adamantine of Bad Luck at the banquet held by the castellan of Rola
nd City previously?
"Mr. William, didn't you ask to see our president?" Alan prompted.
"Oh, oh, yes, you… I'm really sorry, but I didn't expect that you'd be the President of this place. I've heard that the President of the Tower of Dusk was a young and powerful mage, but I never expected that we've met before." William recovered from his shock and quickly apologized for his rudeness.
"Haha, young and promising, is that what they say about me? Mr. William, please have a seat." Lin Li smiled and stretched his hand out to gesture for William to sit while he walked towards the host's main seat together with Alan. "Mr. William, did you return from Roland City?"
"I've long heard that the Breezy Plains Guild of Magic was established in Doland City, but I haven't had the time to come and pay you a visit. Please don't hold it against me, President Felic," William said with a calm expression, though he felt rather fortunate deep down. He was thankful that he had not disrespected the young Mage Felic during the banquet held by the leader of the Doland City back then. Otherwise, he might not be able to achieve his goals this time.
"You're being too polite, Mr. William. It was my fault for failing to consider it properly. After all, the guild has just been established. I didn't send any invitations, because I didn't want to disturb anyone." Of course, Lin Li was just making a casual remark. Even if he were to send out invitations, there would barely be anyone willing to turn up.
"Well, there hasn't been a Guild of Magic here for many years. The establishment of the Tower of Dusk is something worth celebrating for the mages here too, I believe." Although William sounded polite on the surface, he was trying to figure out how he could ask about something that he wanted to know. He didn't come to have a chat with President Felic. However, it'd be inappropriate for him to make his intentions clear before finding out what he wanted to know.
"The guild has just been established. It's not as influential as you make it out to be. If it weren't for Mr. Basel's help, I'm afraid I'd be the only one here now," Lin Li said modestly.
