Another World’s Versatile Crafting Master c1-1074

by Zhuang Bifan

  "Master Felic is the President of the Tower of Dusk, as well as a pharmaceutics Guru. High Priest Sendros admires him for his standards in pharmaceutics. This time, Master Felic seems to be preparing a potion for High Priest Sendros; hence, the high priest asked me to be his assistant, and I was told to place his needs before everything else," Joan frantically explained again.

  "Oh… What a joke. What kind of potion would require so many herbs? The herbs you have taken the past few days would be enough for me to prepare 100 Shadow of Darkness potions!" Markelyle barked after hearing Joan's explanation and recalling who Lin Li was. However, his anger did not diminish. Instead, he walked towards Nark and snatched the list in his hand. After taking a look, he grew even more infuriated, and he admonished, "What kind of pharmaceutics Master is he? How can these herbs be used together? He even asked for such a large quantity. What does he want to do!?"

  Joan did have some understanding of pharmaceutics, but he was not an actual pharmacist. To be exact, he was just at the beginner's level, and could not tell based on observation what potion Lin Li was trying to concoct, much less since neither Lin Li nor Sendros mentioned what it was. Besides, Lin Li was merely conducting experiments in the past few days to verify some technical methods that he could use to prepare the Tribute of Darkness, and did not have any plans to prepare any complete potions.

  Hence, when Joan heard Markelyle's question, he remained silent and couldn't answer him at all. All he could do was mutter, "This is Master Sendros' instructions. Anyway, it must be very important…"

  "He is simply abusing the trust given to him by High Priest Sendros! I don't believe that he'd need so many herbs to prepare a potion. I bet he pocketed most of the herbs. These heathens indeed cannot be trusted!" Markelyle exclaimed, making a judgment that he believed to be the most reasonable based on his experience as a pharmaceutics Master.

  "No, no, Master Felic is not such a person," said Joan who, of course, knew that Lin Li was not such a person, because he had personally seen a large amount of herbs getting turned into waste. That seemed to be worse than pocketing the herbs, however.

  "Hmph, I bet you have something to do with this matter too. Take me to see Felic and see how I expose his tricks in person!" Markelyle said as he grabbed Joan without hesitation.

  In the quiet laboratory, Lin Li frowned slightly and took a seat at a random spot in front of the table, after which he began writing, and his pen made various noises on a piece of paper. Formulas were written all over sheets of paper which were then cast aside. Lin Li paused and the frown on his forehead eased up a little. Staring at the results of his calculations, a look of enlightenment formed on his face.

  Throwing the pen on the table, Lin Li suddenly stood up and walked towards the deck where he began to get busy again. After Lin Li handled the precious herbs using various methods, he turned them into glistening refined liquids that contained massive power, and arranged them neatly on the test tube rack.

  At this moment, the door of the laboratory suddenly opened, and Markelyle dragged Joan in from outside, only to see Lin Li getting busy in front of the deck. Joan struggled while explaining along the way in a bid to break free from Markelyle so that he could report to Sendros. However, when he was dragged into the laboratory, he finally knew that there was no way things could be salvaged, and thus fell silent.

  Joan thought that the hot-tempered Joan would definitely barge into the laboratory and kick up a big fuss as soon as he entered. After all, he was cursing along the way, and didn't stop for a moment. Clearly, he was infuriated. Hence, when he realized that he couldn't stop Markelyle from breaking into the laboratory, Joan had no choice but to cover his ears and eyes, deciding to let things be.

  However, Joan did not expect Markelyle to be quiet after opening the door of the laboratory and entering. Markelyle did not fly into a rage like Joan expected, and even his breathing seemed to have been deliberately slowed down. Joan moved his hands away from his eyes nervously and glanced at Markelyle cautiously, only to see that Markelyle, the pharmacist who was clamoring about wanting to expose the thief, gaping a little and staring at the figure in front of the deck with a peculiar light in his eyes.

  In fact, it was not uncommon for pharmacists to take advantage of their employers who didn't understand pharmacy by claiming to prepare some potions that the employers were clueless about, and then adding some herbs that they wanted for themselves to the formula. It should be regarded as an unspoken rule. When Markelyle was younger, he had also done such a thing, and was also aware that many of his colleagues were doing the same. Even when he was exposed, he would simply lie and claim that his actions were for the sake of keeping the potion's formula confidential. However, this time, Markelyle truly couldn't imagine how stupid one had to be to do something so brazen without hiding it.

  However, when he really broke into the laboratory and saw Lin Li who was getting busy in front of the deck, Markelyle was immediately attracted. He temporarily put aside his intention to stir trouble and kept his eyes fixed on every movement of Lin Li's. He couldn't help but sigh and think to himself, This Felic is indeed rather capable, but unfortunately, he's doing such shameful things.

  Since Markelyle could become the chief pharmacist of the Darkness Shrine, he was naturally quite accomplished in pharmaceutics. Watching Lin Li's fluid movements that were full of finesse, he was suddenly unwilling to step forth and interrupt him.

  Of course, Lin Li knew that someone had entered. Conducting the experiments wouldn't make him slip into a trance, but he simply didn't bother to pay attention to Markelyle, because he thought that no one in the Darkness Shrine would make things hard for him. He didn't pause in his movements at all.

  "Stop… Stop, do you have a death wish!?"

  Just as Lin Li was about to finish his final step and pour the liquid from a test tube into the flask, Markelyle, who had been engrossed in watching Lin Li's fluid movements, suddenly sobered up and frantically summoned a magical shield at the same time that he hollered angrily.

  Markelyle was not just a master of pharmaceutics in name. Although he could only see the liquid in the test tube, he could tell with his rich experience which herb the essence in the liquid was from just from the color and attributes of the liquid. Now, he was completely sure that Lin Li had added the juice of Fire Berries into the flash. It was not that the juice of Fire Berries could not be used, but rather that he had also seen Lin Li adding other extremely powerful herbs like Wisteria and Black Flame Flowers into the flask. Adding the juice of Fire Berries at this moment would be akin to adding fire to a barrel of gunpowder.

  His movements were so fluid and full of finesse, and his techniques are superb. How can he make such a low-level theoretical mistake!? Markelyle thought to himself, finding it a pity. However, nothing he did would be of help at this moment. Once the small flask of potion exploded, its power would probably be close to Legendary-level. After giving the reminder, Markelyle had no choice but to prepare a magical shield and watch as the magma-like potion in the test tube was poured into the flask.

  A soft sizzling sound followed.

  The big explosion that Markelyle expected did not happen, and the originally colorful potion in the flask instantly turned into a clear orange liquid with the addition of the juice of Fire Berries. However, before Markelyle could relax a little, he saw Lin Li, who he felt was courting death, performing another horrible action. Lin Li actually picked up the flask and shook it in front of himself, after which he moved the flask towards his lips, raised his head, and chugged the potion. He even licked his lower lip with his tongue as if the potion was extremely delectable.

  "Tastes like orange," Lin Li remarked as he put the flask down and turned around to look at the duo at the entrance of the laboratory. He questioned, "Joan, where are the herbs I asked for? Why have you come back empty-handed?"

  With a look of dismay, Joan hurriedly opened his mouth to explain.

  "You want more herbs? What do you take phar
maceutics and potion-concoction for? Do you know what you have done just now? You…" Markelyle chided with his magical shield before Joan could even explain. Markelyle dashed towards Lin Li, and was about to teach the brazen young man a lesson.

  "This is?" Lin Li asked, glancing at Joan in bewilderment.

  "This is Master Markelyle, the chief pharmacist of the Darkness Shrine," Joan introduced while standing beside Markelyle nervously for fear that the old man would do something to anger Lin Li.

  "Kid, do you know how dangerous your actions were just now?" When Markelyle heard Joan's introduction, he had no choice but to hold his temper back a little, straighten his back to puff up his thin c.h.e.s.t, and speak with his chin slightly raised.

  To Markelyle's surprise, Lin Li was completely indifferent to his status as the chief pharmacist, and even ignored his presence. Lin Li simply nonchalantly said to Joan, "Oh, didn't I say that I don't want anyone to disturb me? Forget it, go get the herbs."

  What? What!? This young man is too arrogant! What does he mean he doesn't want anyone to disturb him? I'm the mighty chief pharmacist of the Darkness Shrine, and even Sendros is extremely polite to me. Yet, I've become an insignificant person here! Markelyle thought to himself in exasperation. He initially wanted to support Lin Li and guide him along, but he couldn't help but lose his temper again.

  "Who is your teacher? You're too rude. I'd love to find out who your teacher is…" Markelyle was just about to yell at Lin Li, but to his surprise, the latter turned around and returned to the deck, seemingly still wanting to conduct a pharmaceutical experiment. He chased after Lin Li, only to see the paper on the table next to him. He glanced at it casually, but as soon as he looked away, he suddenly seemed to have realized something as he immediately turned his head back and dashed towards the table.

  "This, this is…" Markelyle looked at the paper which was filled with various pharmaceutics formulas, and couldn't help but breathe faster. He seemed to have also forgotten the purpose of his visit.

  Chapter 818 - Touching That Door

  Markelyle grabbed the pieces of paper on which the formulas were written with shaky hands. Despite having Master-level attainments, he still did not understand many of the formulas and calculations on the paper well. He also found the answers to many of the questions that he had in the formulas and calculations. He could tell that the ink on the paper was still very fresh, and it was obvious that they had all just been written not long ago. The only person who could have written them in the laboratory was Lin Li.

  Lin Li ignored Markelyle's actions since he had already memorized the results of his calculations. The papers would be useless to him, then. It would be alright if Markelyle could stay there quietly, but if he were to continue making a fuss, Lin Li wouldn't mind throwing him out of the laboratory.

  Realizing that a fight wasn't going to happen, Joan felt a sense of relief, and frantically walked towards Markelyle who was already immersed in the various formulas. He then carefully pulled out the crumpled list of herbs from Markelyle's hand and quickly fled the laboratory.

  "Mas… Master Felic," Markelyle muttered. After reading the formulas and calculations on the pieces of paper, Markelyle already understood that the young pharmacist, Lin Li, had long surpassed him in terms of pharmaceutical attainments. At the thought of his behavior just now, he felt incredibly ashamed, and he wished that he could immediately cover his face and escape. However, he couldn't bear to leave the formulas and workings written on the pieces of paper.

  The calculations written on the pieces of paper were done by Lin Li for the sake of concocting the Tribute of Darkness, which was a potion that was of the peak-Guru-level and required the best pharmaceutical preparation techniques.

  "Yeah." Lin Li expressed assent, but did not turn around or pause in his actions.

  "Master Felic, could you let me copy your notes?" Markelyle asked, appearing rather embarrassed. He had just been chiding Lin Li and saying that Lin Li had a death wish, yet he asked to copy Lin Li notes now. It was truly a slap in his own face. However, he knew very well that he ought to swallow his pride without hesitation at times. With those notes, he would definitely see a huge improvement in his level of pharmaceutics. What was pride compared to that?

  "Take them away, don't bother me," Lin Li said impatiently. To him, those were just wastepaper which he would throw away sooner or later.

  Lin Li's unfriendly reply seemed like music to Markelyle's ears as he immediately started picking up the pieces like a vacuum cleaner with excitement written all over his face. The notes on the table and ground, as well as those in the waste paper pile, were like treasures to Markelyle who felt like he had entered a huge treasure vault. The more notes he found, the more excited he got.

  In the next few days, there was a new cleaner in the laboratory who worked hard and meticulously picked up every piece of paper in the laboratory, not missing a single one at all. He was more serious than any other cleaner.

  A few days later, Lin Li completed all the calculations and experiments. Feeling that he was confident enough, he immediately began to concoct the Tribute of Darkness. At this point, Markelyle finally discovered that the young pharmacist, Lin Li, was already a pharmaceutics Guru, and was going to take on the challenge of creating the Tribute of Darkness which was said to have made pharmaceutics Gurus helpless.

  Due to the fact that he had already made preparations beforehand, there were no accidents or slip-ups. Sendros and Markelyle watched the entire concoction process, which they had gained a lot of knowledge from.

  Seven days had passed in the blink of an eye. Sendros had been living each day in fear until he saw Lin Li adding the last herb that caused the potion in the flask to slowly change into the appearance of the legendary potion.

  "Master Sendros and dear High Priests, thank you for the hospitality for the past few days!" Lin Li said to Sendros and the rest who were seeing him off in the obsidian square outside the Darkness Shrine.

  "Master Felic, you deserve the most credit this time. Not only did you help the Darkness Shrine survive this catastrophe, you even concocted the Tribute of Darkness. Regardless of whether you're willing to acknowledge that identity or not, you'll always be the closest friend of the Darkness Shrine, and we'll welcome you as a guest at any time," Sendros said with some inconcealable agitation. At this moment, the Tribute of Darkness was about his body, and it was the key to the Sanctuary-realm.

  Lin Li waved his hand and did not say anything. Instead, he used Power of Flight to fly towards the Night Canyon. Although he had given the Darkness Shrine great help this time, he had also made plenty of gains for himself. He'd managed to revive the Seed of Eternity and advance to level-24. He had also received some guidance from Rogge, and gained some enlightenment about the power of the Sanctuary-realm. During the process of preparing the Tribute of Darkness, he had also improved significantly in terms of pharmaceutics. In fact, he had gained a lot from the trip this time.

  After leaving the Night Canyon, Lin Li did not immediately return to the Tower of Dusk, but headed to Sparta, the capital of the Ledin Kingdom, instead. The Tower of Dusk was developing well and going strong. Hence, he didn't have to worry about it. His main focus now was on improving his personal strength and preparing for the future.

  The city of Sparta, which was the capital of the Ledin Kingdom, was helmed by Archbishop Englos, who was the leader of the four archbishops, in order to protect the Ledin Kingdom. He was tasked with it by the Brilliance Shrine, but of course, whether it was protection or surveillance would depend on one's perspective.

  After the Pope of the Brilliance Shrine issued that decree, the businesses of the Tower of Dusk in the Ledin Kingdom developed rather smoothly, and they managed to dominate a large portion of the market for potions and magical equipment during the time that Lin Li was in the Darkness Shrine. Currently, the Tower of Dusk was operating several large-scale shops which sold the potions and magic equipment produced by the Tower of Dusk.

&nbs
p; After Lin Li arrived in Sparta, the first thing he did was to visit a few shops and check on the business situation. Although he couldn't give them any guidance—he was self-aware enough not to—he also informed the Tower of Dusk of his whereabouts, which was more important, and told them to refrain from looking for him at the Darkness Shrine.

  After leaving the businesses of the Tower of Dusk, Lin Li walked along the clean and wide streets like a leisurely stroll, and made his way to the Dawn Cathedral which was the center of Sparta. Due to the massive size of Sparta, there were dozens of Churches of Dawn in the Brilliance Shrine. The Dawn Cathedral, which was in the middle of the city, was the place where Archbishop Englos managed the teaching affairs.

  Lin Li did not attract much attention when he arrived in front of the Dawn Cathedral. After all, there were too many believers of the Holy Light who visited the church every day. However, before Lin Li asked the pastor of the church to inform Englos of his arrival, Englos had already come out to welcome him smilingly. This time, it caught the attention of everyone, and they began guessing the identity of Lin Li, the young man who was dressed as a mage and actually managed to get Archbishop Englos to welcome him personally.

  "Felic, I knew you were here. It's only been a while since we met, and yet you've already…" When Lin Li was approaching the Dawn Cathedral, Englos had long felt the strong mana fluctuations when he arrived, and he had also speculated that it was Lin Li. However, when he really met Lin Li, he was shocked by the aura that was exuded by him. He looked around, and said to Lin Li, "Let's go, let's go in and talk."

  Lin Li followed Englos to the back of the cathedral, where Englos introduced the two people beside him. One of them was Cardinal Sodorma who was in charge of the diocese in Sparta and was Archbishop Englos' assistant. The other was Brilliance Knight Havalon, who was in charge of the armed forces of the Brilliance Shrine in the diocese of Sparta.

  Sodorma and Havalon, both less than 40 years old, should be considered the promising role models for youths because they managed to rise to their current positions at such a young age. According to the rules of the Brilliance Shrine, those positions had to be taken up by those with Legendary-level abilities. The two of them were naturally no exception. Having Legendary-level abilities at this age was an incredible feat, and they must have grown up with the clout of being geniuses.