Another World’s Versatile Crafting Master c1-1074

by Zhuang Bifan

  A young mage stood by the entrance of the potion laboratory, and looked at Lin Li who was walking out with inconcealable admiration. He said in a trembling voice, "President Felic, Hutton of the Malfa Family wants to see you."

  "Oh?" Lin Li was rather surprised, and couldn't think of a reason why Hutton would suddenly want to meet him. Though the Tower of Dusk and the Malfa Family had business connections, there were people in charge of the specific businesses. Since he had come back from wiping out the Syer Bandits, this was the first time Hutton came to the Tower of Dusk to meet him.

  This wasn't Hutton's fault, actually. From seeing Lin Li defeat the Lord of Darkness at the Abyss of Tharlen to witnessing him kill 10 Archmages with a single blow in the Dragon Mountains, Hutton feared Lin Li from the bottom of his heart. Even though the Malfa Family now collaborated with the Tower of Dusk, and the incident in the Blackstone Mountains had long ended, that uncontrollable, intrinsic fear made Hutton tremble involuntarily every time he thought of Lin Li.

  When Lin Li came to the reception room, other than Hutton, there was also a stern-looking middle-aged man in the room. Though they were talking about something, Hutton had to turn his body slight when he talked, and the middle-aged man just sat upright and still. When they saw Lin Li enter the room, both rose and walked towards Lin Li with smiles.

  "Master Felic, I am so sorry! I should have come for a visit officially after wiping out the Syer Bandits in the Dragon Mountains. However, I only came today." Hutton's face was all smiles, but he held complex feelings. This person standing in front of him was even younger than him, but he couldn't even call himself a genius when compared with Lin Li.

  Lin Li didn't respond to Hutton immediately, but looked at the middle-aged man. He smiled, and said, "I didn't expect Master Cheyenne to visit me personally. Please excuse me for my impropriety in making you wait so long."

  There were just two people Lin Li respected in the Malfa Family. One of them was the current patriarch and Hutton's father, Sorenson; the other was Hutton's teacher and the pillar of the entire Malfa Family—Legendary-mage Cheyenne. Although Cheyenne was a middle-aged man as old as Hutton's father, the aura of a Legendary powerhouse radiating from his body couldn't escape Lin Li's senses, as he was also a Legendary powerhouse.

  Chapter 571 - Haiga Mountain Range

  Cheyenne didn't show any signs of surprise when Lin Li saw through his identity. If Lin Li couldn't even do that, then he should probably doubt the authenticity of the hearsay. Cheyenne didn't explain much, and just replied, "Master Felic, you're too courteous. It's my lack of manners to visit you without telling you beforehand."

  Though Cheyenne and Lin Li had an age gap of almost 100 years, and Cheyenne might be even older than Lin Li's great, great-grandfather, the age gap was unimportant given that both were Legendary-mages. The reality of Anril was just like that. Ability was everything. Be it status or age, everything was nothing compared to power.

  Moreover, Lin Li had a greater chance of reaching Sanctuary-realm. Therefore, Cheyenne couldn't pull rank in front of Lin Li even though he had reached the Legendary-realm earlier.

  "Let's skip the pleasantries. Have a seat." Lin Li smiled and led the two of them back to their seats before sitting down himself. He asked, "Master Cheyenne, you're not just here to visit me, right?"

  "Haha, Hutton will tell you more. I haven't been settling family affairs for a long time," replied Cheyenne while sizing up this young Legendary-mage. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart. Was this the difference in talent? Cheyenne had experienced so much hardship, and reached the Legendary-realm with so much difficulty at every step he took. In contrast, this young Master Felic had successfully reached the Legendary-realm in the Blackstone Mountains, and just defeated the Legendary-mage of the Elven Kingdom. He was probably already level-22.

  Lin Li could feel Cheyenne's prying eyes, but he didn't care about it. He turned his eyes to Hutton, waiting for him to reveal the intention behind this visit. Lin Li was curious what matter would have brought Master Cheyenne here. After all, Cheyenne had never left the territory of the Malfa Family before.

  It was not a small matter for Master Cheyenne to leave the territory of the Malfa Family, since the Malfa Family and Dark Blade were always on opposite sides. The survival of the Malfa Family till now depended on Master Cheyenne. If not for him, the entire Malfa Family would have been destroyed by the Dark Blade. The Malfa Family was put in a dangerous situation after Cheyenne left its territory. If the Dark Blade were to know of this news, the Malfa Family would probably be wiped out.

  Hutton knew that Master Felic was a Legendary-mage comparable to his teacher. Hence, he lowered his attitude very much, and chose his words carefully before saying, "Master Felic, I have to express my gratitude for sharing the treasure map that you've got at the Scar of Death with us. From then, our family concentrated all our resources on uncovering the mysteries hidden in the map, and finally saw some results not long ago. As the Malfa Family and the Tower of Dusk are allies, and we have also benefited because of your generosity, we should share our findings with you on our part, no matter what they are."

  "Oh?" Lin Li raised his eyebrows. This news was indeed quite a surprise. Lin Li had known from the start that the treasure map was a blueprint of a Sky Castle. It was the strongest Sky Castle out of the Seven Sky Castles of the High Elves—the Seventh Sky Castle which possessed Conquering Mageweaths. Legends said that the Immortal King's treasures were hidden on top of this Seventh Sky Castle.

  Lin Li had obtained three items left behind by the God of Mages Geresco after visiting the Abyss of Tharlen—the Book of Eternity, a magical crystal of the Evil Eye Tyrant, and a key to the Seventh Sky Castle. From his inference, the reason why the Seventh Sky Castle didn't participate in the war at the end of the dark age was most likely because Geresco had stolen and hidden it in a crack between time and space.

  On the treasure map, there was not only the blueprint of the Sky Castle, but also thousands of words in High Elves Print. This writing was extremely difficult for humans to understand. Even those mages who specialized in researching High Elves' magic only investigated magical-spell-related words, and few would investigate unrelated narratives.

  Lin Li had been reading the Book of Eternity for a while. Other than learning about profound magic, he had also gained a much better understanding of the language of the High Elves. Hence, he had been examining the High Elves Print on that treasure map as well. Though he couldn't understand every word, he got the gist of the passage by inferring and guessing some words. From the passage, Lin Li could approximately infer the position of the crack between time and space as well as some other things, although the picture on the treasure map was the blueprint of the Sky Castle.

  "Do you mean the Immortal King's treasure?" asked Lin Li without a change in expression.

  Speaking of the research findings, Hutton couldn't help being pleased with himself, and nodded. "Yes. After putting in great effort in examining the High Elves' language, we've finally come to a rather credible conclusion. The Immortal King's treasure is likely to be hidden in—"

  Just as Hutton was about to reveal the location they had discovered through their research, Lin Li suddenly cut in and said something incomprehensible in a peculiar tone as if reciting a spell.

  Hutton was slightly confused, and had no idea what Lin Li was talking about. He only felt that his tone sounded like he was reciting a magical spell. However, why did he even need to use magic when they were just chatting here so peacefully?

  Unlike the baffled Hutton, Cheyenne, who was observing Lin Li quietly, looked rather shocked after hearing the strange words that Lin Li had muttered. He replied, "Indeed, the location that we've found is the Haiga Mountain Range…"

  A Legendary-mage would certainly have some knowledge of the High Elves' language. However, most Legendary-mages only researched parts of the language related to magical spells. Cheyenne had flipped through countless doc.u.ments, and inferred the loca
tion written on the treasure map after much analysis. He then found the corresponding name of the location in High Elves' language.

  As long as he knew the location, whether he knew what it was called in the High Elves' language or not wouldn't matter. However, the fact that Lin Li could spontaneously give the location's name in the High Elves' language showed that this 20-year-old mage had much higher expertise in the High Elves' language than typical Legendary-mages.

  Upon hearing his teacher's words, Hutton finally realized what Lin Li meant when he said those strange words. He felt a sense of despair at the same time. He had originally thought that he could get the upper hand in the negotiation by knowing the location in the map. After all, the Malfa Family had invested so much effort into analyzing this treasure map. However, judging from the current situation, Lin Li had already known the location in the map even without Hutton's help.

  Also, Hutton saw this as Lin Li probing if the Malfa Family had the capability to collaborate with him. Why hadn't Lin Li just told them that the location was the Haiga Mountain Range? If the Malfa Family wasn't able to find the real location of the treasure, they naturally would have no right to do business with Lin Li anymore.

  Hutton felt quite dejected. After looking towards his teacher, he turned to Lin Li, and said, "Yes, Master Felic. Judging from our analysis and research, the Immortal King's treasure is in the Haiga Mountain Range."

  The Haiga Mountain Range lay on the border between the Breezy Plains and the Emerald Forest. It spread across thousands of miles throughout the Breezy Plains, forming a natural border between the humans and the elves.

  The Haiga Mountain Range was also a unique existence. In the recent centuries, Felan Kingdom, Ledin Kingdom, and the Elven Kingdom all claimed that they were the true owner of the Haiga Mountain Range. However, none of the three kingdoms also sent any soldiers to the Haiga Mountain Range.

  The most eligible and suitable candidate should be the Felan Kingdom. After all, the Haiga Mountain Range bordered the Felan Kingdom. However, the Felan Kingdom was powerless over this issue even if they wanted to get involved in it. It was already quite difficult for the royal family to control the Breezy Plains in the recent several hundreds years, let alone the distant Haiga Mountain Range at the border of the Breezy Plains. This wasn't Jarrosus or Alanna; the sovereignty of royal family couldn't reach this land. The Felan royal family couldn't even control the appointment of castellans for Aminya, which was the Malfa Family's territory, not to mention sending the military over to the Haiga Mountain Range.

  Compared to the Felan Kingdom, the Ledin Kingdom just wanted to mess up the situation. These two human kingdoms were foes since more than 1000 years ago. They would even fight for a pack of tissues, not to mention a vast piece of land like the Haiga Mountain Range.

  Of course, the Ledin Kingdom faced the same problem as the Felan Kingdom. They couldn't do anything about it even if they wanted to occupy the Haiga Mountain Range. For starters, how could its army even enter the Breezy Plains? How could they get away from all the different factions? How could they climb up the Haiga Mountain Range? The Ledin Kingdom also had to figure out what to do if the Felan Kingdom suddenly attacked when all the defensive armies on the borders were gone…

  In conclusion, the two human kingdoms were like two sulking kids over the last centuries.

  "You dare to attack me?"

  "Why should I attack you? Do you even dare to attack me?"

  "I'm going to attack you today! You wait for me! I'm going to call more people!"

  The Elven Kingdom on the other side of the Haiga Mountain Range, however, not only had the intention of controlling the Haiga Mountain Range, but had actually taken action. It'd attempted to assert control over the Haiga Mountain Range thrice in the last centuries. Unfortunately, they also had problems they couldn't solve. No matter how well they planned, their efforts in controlling the area had all gone to waste.

  Chapter 572 - Thunderbolt

  To understand why the Elven Kingdom wanted to gain control over the Haiga Mountain Range, one had to start from the Great Escape after the Dark Age. Back then, the Goddess of Forest Monferra created a miracle—she made the Haiga Mountain Range to help the elves escape from human troops1. Hence, the Haiga Mountain Range was a sacred mountain range to the elves starting several hundred years ago.

  Every elf wanted to get back the sacred mountain range, but the Elven Kingdom was weaker than the two human kingdoms in every aspect. These two human kingdoms didn't give it their all, but the Elven Kingdom failed terribly even after doing so.

  The reason why they failed was rather funny.

  Who would imagine that a place deemed the sacred mountain range by the elves would repel all forms of Nature Magic? The thousands-miles-long of Haiga Mountain Range was like a naturally occurring Magical Domain, and was completely immune to all Nature Magic. Once any Monferra devotee entered the Haiga Mountain Range, he would change from a powerful mage to a totally defenseless person.

  This could be said to have reduced the power of the elves by half. Although there were many archers in the Elven Kingdom too, it was impossible to control the entire Haiga Mountain Range without mages. The Haiga Mountain Range was one of the oldest places in Anril, and had existed since the prehistoric times. There were many powerful magical beasts residing in it. Thus, it was even more dangerous than the Blackstone Mountains. There were even news circulating inside the Elven Kingdom that a few true prehistoric magical beasts were hidden deep in the Haiga Mountains.

  Actually, Lin Li wasn't very interested in the Immortal King's treasure. It wasn't that he didn't regard the Sky Castle as important. After all, the Seventh Sky Castle was the strongest out of all Sky Castles. He wasn't too interested, because he knew more information about it than the Malfa Family, and in greater detail.

  Back when he had just gotten the treasure map, Lin Li had already known that the so-called map to the Immortal King's treasure was actually the blueprint of the Seventh Sky Castle. After his research of the High Elves' language these days, Lin Li also realized that the map recorded the fact that the Seventh Sky Castle used to be in the Haiga Mountain Range.

  However, since Geresco had the key to the Seventh Sky Castle before, it meant that Geresco had likely possessed the Seventh Sky Castle, and nobody could guarantee that the Sky Castle was still in the same spot. The Immortal King's treasure was likely hidden on top of the Seventh Sky Castle. However, if the Seventh Sky Castle had been shifted to another location, would the treasure still be in the original place?

  Just talking about the Immortal King's treasure, there wasn't much significance to the location shown on the treasure map. However, Lin Li had already added the trip to the Haiga Mountain Range into his calendar despite all that. Even if Hutton and Cheyenne hadn't visited today, Lin Li intended to tell the Malfa Family about this news and persuade them to go to the Haiga Mountain Range with him.

  The reason why he still decided to go was because Lin Li could faintly sense the location of the other pieces of the debris of the stars after he had acquired three pieces of them, including Rebirth which he had just gotten.

  After coming back from Roland City, Lin Li now possessed Holy Light, Gloomy Dark, and Rebirth. When these three pieces of the debris of the stars were put together, other than Raging Flames and Polar Snow which were hidden in the underground palace, Lin Li could faintly sense another piece of the debris of the stars located around the Haiga Mountain Range. Moreover, with his memories from the Endless World, Lin Li guessed that piece of the debris of the stars was likely to be Thunderbolt, which contained the intrinsic rules of wind.

  Lin Li clearly remembered that Thunderbolt was the most destructive out of all seven pieces of the debris of the stars. Given that he could only sense it with the help of three pieces of debris of the stars, the only possibility was that it was sealed by something.

  Whatever could seal Thunderbolt was certainly not easy to deal with. Lin Li was confident, but not arrogant. Alt
hough the Legendary-realm was powerful, it wasn't invincible in the whole world. If he were to go there unprepared, he might come back with nothing but injuries. Cheyenne had come at the right time. Since the Malfa Family was so interested in the Immortal King's treasure, it wasn't impossible to collaborate with them.

  One should not think that the Malfa Family had come really because they valued the alliance with the Tower of Dusk, and wanted to share their findings altruistically. Although the Malfa Family didn't know about Thunderbolt or the debris of the stars, Cheyenne was still wary of the dangers lying in the Haiga Mountain Range. If the Immortal King's treasures were hidden in another place, like the Blackstone Mountains or Scar of Death, for example, the Malfa Family wouldn't be polite at all, and would get the treasure all for themselves.

  "Since we've already confirmed the location of the treasure, does the Malfa Family have any plans?" Lin Li asked calmly, not taking the Immortal King's treasure to heart.

  Cheyenne, who was observing everything quietly from the side, was shocked at Lin Li's reaction. If this Legendary-mage was a 100-year-old elder, the composure he had during a time like this wouldn't be surprising. However, this Master Felic was only 20 years old. He showed no signs of arrogance despite all his achievements, and was calm facing a temptation like the Immortal King's treasure. This kind of temperament was too terrifying. Even Cheyenne himself had spent a long while to suppress the excitement in his heart upon finding out that the Immortal King's treasure was hidden in the Haiga Mountain Range. Even now, he still felt a tinge of excitement whenever he thought about it.

  Hutton had no idea what his teacher was thinking. After hearing Lin Li's question, he immediately politely replied, "Yes, Master Felic. We already have a plan." In fact, the so-called plan wasn't complicated. The focus was still organizing a team of adventurers. It was impossible to use trickery in the Haiga Mountain Range. They needed to rely on powerful strength.