Another World’s Versatile Crafting Master c1-1074

by Zhuang Bifan

  It seemed that this cooperation would be a loss for William, who would be earning less money. The problem was that he would not earn a single cent if there was no one to concoct the potions based on the formulas. Sometimes, he ought to be content with whatever he earned, even if it was just a small amount of profit. After all, it was at least better than nothing.

  William was not a greedy person, and he soon figured it all out.

  They left the underground vault, and William ushered them upstairs. Since they've already decided on cooperation, they had to discuss the details thoroughly.

  The Archmage Gavin had always been the one in charge of business-related matters for the Tower of Dusk, and this time was no exception. Lin Li, who had nothing to do, whipped out the formulas and scrutinized them carefully, scroll after scroll.

  Lin Li unfolded one of the scrolls slowly, and frowned as soon as he saw the content. He thought, This damn scroll is not a pharmaceutical formula at all. Although the formulas of advanced potions often included the assembling method of specialized equipment, the scrolls were clearly just design sketches of certain equipment.

  Initially, Lin Li was not that bothered by it. However, his face began to grow sullen as he continued to read the rest of the scroll. With his outstanding abilities as a forging Guru, he soon discovered the amazing aspect of the sketch. It turned out to be a Master-level forging design sketch that he was not confident of mastering.

  Besides, it was the sketch for an extremely rare manual crossbow…

  Chapter 569 - Enchantress's Howl

  Judging from the blueprint, Lin Li speculated that this rather delicate crossbow would be at most the size of a palm after it was made. This was good news to Lin Li. For a very long time, Lin Li had wanted to get a long-range weapon for self-defense. He had two reasons, one being the fact that he used to be a Hunter, and personally favored long-range weapons, and the other being that long-range weapons were more convenient and suitable for a mage's use.

  However, what annoyed Smithing Guru Lin Li was the fact that although he knew countless forging blueprints, there were few that truly suited him. Even if there was one or two that were suitable, Lin Li would give up on them due to his strict selection criteria.

  Up till now, Lin Li had only chosen this forging blueprint from the pile of potion formulas.

  Lin Li spent just 10 seconds to confirm that the crossbow on the blueprint was the defense weapon he had always wanted.

  According to the High Elves Print introduction of the blueprint, the crossbow was named Enchantress's Howl, and had been designed by a royal Smithing Guru in the Dark Age. It was said that when this High Elf Smithing Guru was designing this crossbow, he had wanted to give it to a mage friend for defense. Unfortunately, that mage friend had died during war when the blueprint had just been drawn and hadn't even been tested. Moreover, the materials needed to make this Enchantress's Howl were so outrageously expensive that even this Smithing Guru who got his salary from the royal family couldn't collect all of them which would reduce any powerhouse to extreme poverty at once. With these two reasons, the making of this crossbow was delayed. The Enchantress's Howl still remained in the blueprint stage till the death of this Smithing Guru.

  "Luckily, I have some savings…" Lin Li glanced at the materials listed on the blueprint, and drew a few cold breaths with much heartache.

  While Lin Li was examining this crossbow blueprint with much interest, Gavin and William's negotiation had come to consensus too. Gavin was undoubtedly very talented in the field of business. Once he had sat down in front of the negotiation table, he instantly forgot all his excitement during the earlier battle, and only thought about how to maximize the benefits of the Tower of Dusk.

  The aim of this negotiation wasn't about exploiting the other party. If the other side couldn't get any benefits from it, all the benefits he could get now were just short-term benefits. The aim of the negotiation was to achieve a win-win scenario and maximize his own benefits while making sure that the other side could also gain from the deal.

  Gavin knew on what he could compromise and on what he couldn't. He knew what the Tower of Dusk didn't really care about but the other side could gain from. Hence, both sides finally came to a consensus after the negotiation.

  The content of the agreement was briefly as such: the Tower of Dusk would provide technical support, while William would provide the funding and avenue. The revenue would be divided with the Tower of Dusk getting 70% and the Time Consignment Store getting 30%. This appeared to be the Tower of Dusk bullying William. Therefore, as compensation, the Tower of Dusk could send two pharmacists who were above the medium-level to the Time Consignment Store whenever possible.

  Lin Li was very clear that one could have a strong stance, but certainly couldn't be tyrannical. Not to mention that he was a Legendary-mage now, and he couldn't make everyone work for him for free even after he reached the Sanctuary-realm. Since this was a collaboration, he had to make sure that the other side was profiting too and got its fair share.

  Upon hearing Gavin's report, Lin Li was quite satisfied with this deal. Although another condition was added in the end, it could be considered advantageous for the pharmacists in the Tower of Dusk. Lin Li couldn't teach them much more theoretical knowledge. What they needed now was practice. Since the Time Consignment Store was willing to take charge of the supply of herbs, Lin Li was naturally willing to let his subordinates have a try. This could also increase the Tower of Dusk's reputation.

  This was called everyone got what they wanted. Lin Li was glad that the pharmacists had a place to practice, while William hoped that these pharmacists could stay at his store forever. After all, why did all the factions abandon focusing on the bustling Breezy Plains and go to a small place like Doland? Wasn't it just to poach the pharmacists from the Tower of Dusk?

  Although he was on the lower end in terms of the splitting of revenue, William was secretly rejoicing over the fact that two high-level pharmacists were coming to his store, not at all feeling that he'd lost out. Hence, upon hearing that Lin Li was leaving soon after the negotiation, William sincerely urged him to stay.

  The next day, Castellan Arathor of Roland City visited Lin Li with much unease. Other than bringing expensive gifts, he had invited Lin Li and his companions to the Castellan Mansion as guests again.

  Actually, Lin Li was the biggest winner of this incident. Although he didn't need to thank Arathor, there was also no need for him to be petty with what had happened earlier. Doing that would also be unsuitable with his status as a Legendary powerhouse. So, when Arathor had shown enough sincerity and personally visited him, Lin Li didn't pick on Arathor on purpose.

  Honestly speaking, Arathor was quite proud of himself to have such foresight. How many 20-year-old Legendary-mages had there been till now? Even the God of Mages Geresco only reached the Legendary-realm at the age of 23. Even if this Master Felic couldn't reach Geresco's standards, his achievements now were already unreachable for the majority of the people. Everyone wanted to pull strings with this Legendary-mage after witnessing the Legendary battle in the Harvest Square. Arathor's foresight came from the fact that his children were already considered this Master Felic's students since a year ago.

  Although the biggest reason why Lin Li had agreed to it was to hide from that female knight who was a crazy devotee of the Brilliance Shrine, Lin Li still had to take up his responsibility as a teacher no matter why he'd agreed to teach Arathor's children. Moreover, Arathor's children were both quite talented in magic, and Lin Li didn't want to see their talents go to waste.

  Of course, Lin Li also asked about the Elven Legendary-mage Vidas while teaching the two students. After all, not only did Vidas not get the debris of the stars Rebirth, but also lost a Helios' Scepter. Probably nobody could accept such an outcome.

  However, Arathor seemed to be hiding something about this. He always avoided the question, and had a rather awkward expression. Lin Li thought it was funny, and didn't quest
ion him further. He knew that this castellan also had things beyond his control.

  Just when Lin Li had reached his house, that noble-looking and stern old housekeeper reported that close to 100 different factions had come to visit just today alone. Though these people didn't get to meet Lin Li, they still left precious gifts behind. In fact, they felt it was better not to meet Lin Li. Otherwise, even their gifts would be directly rejected.

  After the Legendary battle in the Harvest Square, the saddest ones were certainly those who had wanted to poach pharmacists from the Tower of Dusk. For them, every minute and every second was a torture. They feared that their painstakingly built faction would disappear from the Breezy Plains in the blink of an eye.

  What people could do when facing a Legendary powerhouse was just keep sending gifts. Obviously, the target of this gift-sending was changed to this young President of the Tower of Dusk and Legendary powerhouse, Master Felic, whom many had looked down on before. Not to mention these factions, even those who believed they had never offended the Tower of Dusk and Master Felic before also wanted to gain some connections with this young Legendary powerhouse.

  Nobody could ignore a Legendary powerhouse, not to mention a young Legendary powerhouse who had just turned 20. Almost everyone who William had invited for the auction stayed after the auction. Outside Lin Li's house, it was crowded beyond words. Everyone brought along gifts, all hoping to meet Lin Li with sincerity no matter how high their status was in the Breezy Plains was.

  Of course, they didn't want to discuss the weather when meeting Lin Li. Lin Li wasn't so free. He also didn't meet some of these people because of the expensive gifts they had brought along. In fact, these people wouldn't possess any gifts that were truly precious to a Legendary powerhouse. Other than miracles like the debris of the stars, what could entice Lin Li was only things that could benefit the Tower of Dusk's development.

  One week later, Lin Li returned from Roland City full of prizes.

  Even Lin Li was surprised that he had gained so much from this trip to Roland City. Although he had spent all the gold coins that he had earned from the auction of potion on the debris of the stars Rebirth, he felt it was totally worth it. Rebirth was the one and only in the whole of Anril, and was a piece of debris of the stars. Not to mention 15,000,000 gold coins, he could have paid 30,000,000 or even 60,000,000 gold coins to get it.

  Moreover, Lin Li had also unexpectedly gained a Helios' Scepter that was worth the same as the debris of the stars as well as experienced fighting with a level-22 Legendary-mage. Just talking about the Helios' Scepter's power, it was even stronger than the debris of the stars, and on a totally different level compared to the Aether Staff that he'd used so far. Not only had he gained precious fighting experience from the battle with Legendary-mage Vidas, he had also used this opportunity to gain more control over the Lord of Nightmares.

  Chapter 570 - A Friend's Visit

  These were just personal gains for Lin Li. The trip to Roland City was also very rewarding to the Tower of Dusk. Lin Li and his companions brought back many contracts of every type. There was the herb supply contract, potion sales contract, mage training contract, and magical items purchase priority contract. These contracts were all negotiated by Gavin personally. Lin Li was quite trusting of Gavin's negotiation skills. Evidence had shown that Gavin had done a great job and had maximized the interests of the Tower of Dusk in every negotiation.

  These contracts would bring consistent flow of cash into the Tower of Dusk for its future development and sustainability. It was right to say that the Tower of Dusk had stepped into a positive developmental path from today. Before this, Lin Li had been supporting the Tower of Dusk all by himself. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that the Tower of Dusk would have disappeared from the Breezy Plains within days if not for Lin Li.

  Lin Li had obtained the Throne of Darkness, discovered the underground palace, and wiped out the Syer Bandits. These, however, were only one-off events. Nobody could rely on just discovering ruins to ensure the survival and development of a faction. In addition, Lin Li would be so lucky to always find treasures and ruins. Once all ruins were discovered, how would the Tower of Dusk survive?

  However, everything was different starting from today. The Tower of Dusk could now touch on every single area of the Breezy Plains through these contracts. A third of all the notable factions in the Breezy Plains now had some kind of business connection with the Tower of Dusk. This meant that the Tower of Dusk had truly integrated into the Breezy Plains now.

  After coming back to the Tower of Dusk, Lin Li didn't waste any time, and got busy with the matters in Tower of Dusk in an orderly manner. First, he had to send 10 Archmages to protect the Seven Leaf Grass's caravan like he had told its boss Charles before. With the current abilities of the Tower of Dusk, sending out 10 Archmages was a piece of cake. With Lich Ujfalusi going as well, the caravan of the Seven Leaf Grass would come back from the Elven Kingdom unharmed even if they faced the second-ranked Bandit clan on the way.

  Fortunately, Gavin, who was a mage talented in business, could help out so that Lin Li didn't have to waste precious time on all those complicated business contracts. Be it the business with Glittergold Trade Union, Gilded Rose, and the Malfa Family, or the collaboration with the Time Consignment Store and the business contracts with various factions, Gavin managed all of them meticulously.

  Of course, Wilkinson and his companions became busier as the amount of business increased. Lin Li was also stricter with them. Be it high- or medium-level pharmacists, all the pharmacists didn't slack at all. They spent every day in the potion laboratory. However, none of them had any complaints despite being so busy, as the large amount of practice had brought about great improvements in their pharmaceutics capability…

  Beckley, who had sent letters to the Malfa Family as the messenger of the Tower of Dusk, received a secret mission from the President again. He had to go further for this mission than the last, to the land of blacksmiths and wheat wine—the Dwarf Kingdom. He had to go there to discuss the purchase of Crystal Cannons.

  Lin Li wanted to build the Tower of Dusk into an indestructible combat fortress. Hence, the highly destructive Crystal Cannons were an indispensable item in this plan. Nobody could imagine how a Magical Tower equipped with 20-plus Crystal Cannons would look like. After all, even the royal palace of the Dwarf Kingdom only had over 10 Crystal Cannons.

  However, although the Crystal Cannons were very powerful, they weren't easy to construct. Even the Dwarf Kingdom which possessed the greatest number of blacksmiths couldn't construct 20-odd Crystal Cannons in a short time. Beckley was going to the Dwarf Kingdom this time mainly to negotiate the price of these Crystal Cannons as well as to push the production forward. He couldn't just disassemble the Crystal Cannons on the walls of the Dwarf Kingdom's city walls, after all.

  With the end of the auction, the leaders of each invited faction all left Roland City and returned to their respective areas. What happened during the auction also spread like fire throughout the Breezy Plains. If it weren't these reputable people telling the tale, nobody would believe that it was true.

  A potion auctioned at 10,000,000 gold coins and a Legendary-mage only 20? Those had exceeded the limit of people's imagination. Countless people especially yearned to see the Legendary battle in the Harvest Square with their own eyes. Nowadays, it was very hard to see a true Legendary powerhouse, not to mention witnessing a battle between two Legendary powerhouses.

  Everyone in the Breezy Plains changed their attitude towards the Tower of Dusk radically almost overnight. Before this, everyone was just very scornful and jealous that some lucky lad who had established a small Guild of Magic for less than a year had garnered the support of a batch of high-level pharmacists. However, no one dared to show any disdain for the Tower of Dusk now, as that would make themselves appear to be extremely stupid.

  Moreover, nobody felt any jealousy, as they were clear that it was totally natural for this young M
aster Felic to achieve everything he had with his abilities. The reason why people had got jealous was because they had felt that they were better than Lin Li in some aspects, but didn't get the same kind of results as Lin Li. This had made them feel very wronged and get green with envy. However, nobody dared to compare themselves to this young Master Felic now. Just his current Legendary-realm power was unattainable for many people, not mentioning the fact that he was only 20, and it was only a matter of time before he reached Sanctuary-realm.

  Before this, people knew about the Tower of Dusk only because of the high-level pharmacists in it. However, anyone who didn't know who the owner of the Tower of Dusk was by now would be mocked by everyone. Almost everyone in the Breezy Plains knew about Master Felic and the Legendary battle in the Harvest Square. There were even bards who wrote epic poems about this battle. The whole Breezy Plains got into a frenzy over the deeds of Master Felic like a pot of boiling water for the moment.

  A month passed just like this. Much to the relief of various factions, the Tower of Dusk didn't seem to have any intention of settling old scores with them. It still accepted their gifts and did business with them as usual. Thinking about it, Master Felic didn't just become a Legendary-mage. If he had really wanted to settle the old scores, he wouldn't have had to wait until now.

  Lin Li had just been a homebody who gamed at home every day before he came to Anril. Thus, he didn't like the feeling of being known by everyone now. It was his personality to amass wealth while keeping a low profile. However, he also knew that he was the current owner of the Tower of Dusk and President of the Guild of Magic in the Breezy Plains, so it was hard to keep a low profile even if he wanted to.

  In fact, Lin Li reputation in the Breezy Plains skyrocketed after the incident, and this was a great pushing force for the development of the Tower of Dusk. The most direct evidence of this was that many mages requested to join. It was a stark contrast to the desolate scene when the Tower of Dusk had just been established.