Another World’s Versatile Crafting Master c1-1074

by Zhuang Bifan

  The Mithril Alliance's and Tower of Dusk's intentions were clear. The previous series of attacks and boycotts had caused an enmity between the two forces, regardless of who took advantage and who suffered. If it was Joseph, there would only be one result in the end. If it was Claus from the Caesar Family, he wouldn't be able to speak on behalf of the Mithril Alliance at all. Therefore, Elvis, who had retired many years ago, had become the most suitable candidate to facilitate the conversation between both parties.

  Soon, Hoffman and Lin Li arrived at the gate of the camp, and stood opposite Elvis, who seemed rickety.

  "Haha, it turns out to be Master Elvis. Aren't you supposed to be trying to break through to the Sanctuary-realm in the Bluestone Tower? Why have you suddenly decided to look for Master Felic and me here? Do you want to give us any advice?" Although their opponent was prestigious in the Mithril Alliance, Hoffman did not plan to save face for him.

  In fact, as a businessman, it would only be right to deal with things amicably. The Glittergold Trade Union had been established in the Breezy Plains for so many years. Apart from the people who tried to covet their force, there were basically no enemies. However, Hoffman spoke to Elvis in such a mocking tone because he believed that the latter had stolen his information, which made him rather upset. The other reason was to assure Lin Li.

  What would he think if his partner were to chat merrily with his arch-enemy at such a critical juncture? It was precisely because Hoffman was a businessman that he had a considerable understanding of human psychology. Naturally, he'd not cause a rift between him and the Tower of Dusk during such a critical juncture.

  Elvis rolled his eyelids, and his eyes turned murky. He said in a hoarse voice, "Exploring Prince Brahere's mausoleum is a rare opportunity. How can I miss it?"

  When Hoffman introduced Elvis previously, he did not mention his blindness. Obviously, that started when he was trying to reach the Sanctuary-realm. However, for a Legendary-mage, his strong mental strength would allow him to stay unaffected despite his loss of vision.

  "Oh, it's understandable, but you probably went the wrong way because of your bad eyesight. Your expedition team is opposite," Hoffman mocked in a hostile manner. After hearing him mention Brahere, he was even more convinced that he had to have stolen the information from him. However, he could not understand how the news got leaked.

  Hearing this, Elvis was not angry. Instead, there was a smile on his face. However, his cloudy eyes were terrifying. He said, "President Hoffman, surely you know the purpose of my visit? Prince Brahere's mausoleum is not simple, and it won't be easy for you or me to explore the mausoleum alone. I wonder if you, President Hoffman and President Felic, would be interested in a cooperation with us."

  Elvis didn't beat around the bush, and instead directly stated his purpose—to cooperate to explore Prince Brahere's mausoleum. Hoffman and Lin Li had already anticipated Elvis' agenda, but whether or not they accepted it was another thing.

  Although Elvis had come from the Mithril Alliance, that could only prevent them from falling out right at the beginning. It did not mean that they could avoid any conflicts, especially since the enmity between the Tower of Dusk and the Mithril Alliance could not be resolved in a few words. In order to resolve the enmity between the two forces, one would have to be destroyed.

  "Haha, Master Elvis, you must be joking. Do you think it is necessary for us to cooperate with you? Haven't you already entered the mausoleum alone with confidence and beat us to it? I reckon you must have gained a lot. We can't make it. We're timid and we still don't know what is in the mausoleum." As an ally of the Tower of Dusk, Hoffman did not hold back in mocking the Mithril Alliance.

  Faced with such blatant ridicule, Elvis shook his head slightly without showing any anger at all. He monotonously said, "In terms of exploring the ruins, we are indeed not as experienced as President Hoffman. You can probably tell that we've suffered losses during the operation because of a reckless action. Do you really think that you can deal with the dangers in the mausoleum alone with the strength of your team?"

  "This is not for you to worry about, we naturally have our own plan for exploring. However, you guys looked really pathetic after facing a setback. You should be thinking of packing up early and going back instead of cooperating with us. Your joke is overboard," Hoffman said with pursed lips in a disdainful tone.

  He did have the right to do so. The Glittergold Trade Union started by exploring the ruins. Regardless of experience, the important thing when exploring was to be cautious. If they had been as reckless as the Mithril Alliance, they would have long been buried somewhere.

  Although he couldn't see, Elvis turned to face Lin Li and said, "What do you think about the cooperation, President Felic?"

  It was obvious that he knew that there was an enmity between the Mithril Alliance and the Tower of Dusk. He also understood that the reason for Hoffman's attitude was the Tower of Dusk. Hence, he didn't say anything to Hoffman, but turned to ask Lin Li's opinion. If Lin Li agreed, Hoffman would too.

  "Cooperation is not impossible," Lin Li said as he touched his chin. His tone was not full of sarcasm like Hoffman's, making Elvis get a shock. Even Hoffman was a little surprised and turned around.

  Hoffman had repeatedly ridiculed Elvis just now because he felt that the latter had stolen his information, and—more importantly—he believed that Lin Li would never agree to cooperate with the Mithril Alliance. After all, Prince Brahere's mausoleum was not a trivial matter. If it were him, he would never cooperate with his enemy, as it would be courting death. Instead of being careful about the danger in the mausoleum and guarding against the enemy, he would rather take his time to explore.

  However, what Lin Li said next made Hoffman's expression ease up a little while Elvis smiled wryly. Lin Li shot Hoffman a reassuring glance, and said to Elvis, "Master Elvis, what do you think of this? Since your team has already entered the mausoleum, you must know more than us. Why don't you let your team explore the path in front while we follow behind?"

  During cooperation, there always had to be a team ahead. Although the expedition team of the Mithril Alliance and the Caesar Family had been forced to retreat before, they had to have more experience than Lin Li and co. Hence, they were naturally more suitable to take the lead, and thus Lin Li's proposal did make sense, but it was difficult for them to accept it because of the relationship between the Mithril Alliance and the Tower of Dusk.

  Chapter 864 - Iceblast Wyrm

  "Maser Felic, you don't seem very sincere about this cooperation," said Elvis. He was not angry about being ridiculed by Herman. However, when he faced the harsh conditions put forward by Lin Li, his face grew a little sullen.

  "Hehe, Master Elvis, you must be very clear about the matters between the Tower of Dusk and the Mithril Alliance. Do you think I will rest assured having people who don't ever stop wanting to kill us follow us around? Actually, you can rest assured. The Mithril Alliance has always been targeting the Tower of Dusk, and we were merely retaliating. Hence, if you encounter any danger during the exploration, we will not stand by and watch." Lin Li's tone was rather polite, but his attitude was also very clear. He meant that they could have a cooperation, but they definitely wouldn't feel safe about having the Mithril Alliance stay at the back. Hence, the Mithril Alliance had to be the pathfinders. Otherwise, there would be no need to talk about any cooperation.

  Regardless of whether Lin Li was sincere or not, his words were rather worrying. The Tower of Dusk and Mithril Alliance refused to be the pathfinder. Standing at the side and doing nothing didn't mean that they would give a helping hand during a crisis. Likewise, kicking them into the rut during a crisis didn't mean that they were standing at the side and doing nothing. Clearly, it was already time to put an end to the conversation about cooperation at this juncture.

  However, the sorrow on Elvis's face was fleeting, and he did not mean to end the conversation. Instead, he calmly said to Hoffman, "President Hoffman, President Fe
lic, are you guys that confident about exploring the mausoleum by yourselves because of the blueprint of the mausoleum?"

  Upon hearing Elvis mention the blueprint of the mausoleum, Hoffman and Lin Li were shocked, and their expressions changed a little. They wondered if the other party had really planted a snitch in their team! The Mithril Alliance's appearance in the mausoleum could be considered a coincidence, but they'd only found the blueprint a few days ago. Apart from the senior executives who had participated in the discussion of the plan for exploration, no one else knew about it. How did Elvis find out!?

  "Master Elvis, you really know us so well. You even know this." A sudden gloominess flashed in Hoffman's eyes. If there was really a snitch in their team, they would rather give up on the expedition temporarily. They had to figure out the matter first.

  Although Elvis was blind, he could still hear Hoffman's tone. He immediately understood that the latter had misunderstood him. If he didn't explain it clearly, the cooperation would really fall through. Hence, he quickly shook his head, and explained, "President Hoffman, don't get me wrong. This is actually just a coincidence. You can think of going out to look for information, but so can we. However, we're obviously slower compared to you. We reached the Dwarves' tribe a step later than you guys, and by the time we did, your people had taken away the blueprint of the mausoleum. However, we didn't leave with nothing. We managed to discover another thing about this mausoleum through the clues we had."

  Although Elvis' words could not fully get rid of the suspicion in the hearts of Hoffman and Lin Li, after hearing what he said about finding out something about the mausoleum, the two of them immediately understood that Elvis was merely revealing what he had to offer in exchange for the cooperation.

  "Master Elvis, you said just now that you found something else. What did you find? Can you show it to us now?" Hearing that Hoffman was not asking for a cooperation without offering anything in exchange, Hoffman became a little less hostile, and his eyes narrowed as he looked at Elvis. He decided to temporarily put aside the issue of the spy.

  Elvis smiled faintly, seemingly confident in his own item. He explained, "After finding out that the blueprint of the mausoleum was taken away by your people, our people continued to explore and search the Dwarf Kingdom according to the clue regarding Prince Brahere. After a careful search, I finally found a diary from a tribe of dwarves, and it was said that the diary belonged to Prince Brahere who is resting here."

  "Diary! The diary of Prince Brahere!?" The fat on Hoffman's cheeks trembled when he heard about it. He cussed in his heart, How did my subordinates who were responsible for collecting information miss that out? I must teach them a huge lesson!

  Lin Li was also taken aback by the news. He did not expect Elvis's trump card in bargaining to be Prince Brahere's diary. What else could be better than a diary for understanding Brahere's life?

  Hence, almost immediately, the attitude of the two of them changed drastically, and their faces that were as sullen and cold as ice were immediately graced by enthusiastic smiles.

  "Haha, why didn't you mention this earlier, Master Elvis? Please come in. Let's sit down and talk slowly. I know, I know, it's all about cooperation. We can discuss it." Hoffman seemed to have become a completely different person as he warmly invited Elvis to the camp, and even tried to hold him. He was so enthusiastic that it seemed like he had completely forgotten that he had blatantly ridiculed him just now.

  Hoffman vividly expressed the characteristics of a typical businessman who prioritized profits over everything else. Although Lin Li was not a real businessman, he was probably better than one. He wouldn't bother talking to someone about something that wasn't profitable. Now that they had heard that it was a lucrative deal, Lin Li's attitude changed even more drastically than Hoffman's.

  "I might have only come to the Breezy Plains a short while ago, but I've heard of your name a long time ago, Master Elvis…" Lin Li followed Elvis, and showered him with compliments while speaking to him courteously. With such a sincere tone, no one could tell that he had only just heard about Elvis.

  Elvis was blind, but his heart was not. He naturally knew the reason for the change in their attitude. Regardless of their current enthusiasm, they would immediately turn the tables and chase Elvis out of the camp if the thing that he showed them did not satisfy them. However, in order to facilitate the cooperation of the two expedition teams, Elvis had no choice but to cuss in his heart about how immoral the two of them were while pretending and speaking to them courteously on the surface.

  Hence, the three of them entered the tent in the center of the camp like old friends who hadn't seen each other for many years. They only calmed down a little after taking a seat.

  However, at this moment, Lin Li seemed to have calmed down a little, and thought of a key question. He said, "Master Elvis, please forgive me for being blunt. We're going to discuss Prince Brahere's mausoleum now. According to various data that we have, we are basically certain that the dwarven craftsmen started to build the mausoleum for Brahere after his death. Prince Brahere probably didn't know why the dwarves built the mausoleum for him after his death. Since the diary was left behind by him when he was still alive, could there be any information about the mausoleum?"

  The reason that the Highlord Osric put so much effort into his own mausoleum was because he pursued immortality, and wanted his perfect body in the crystal coffin to be better. Hence, the construction of the mausoleum was almost entirely up to him. Most of it was designed by him personally.

  On the other hand, Prince Brahere pursued the highest level of art, and rumor had it that even during his last moments, he was still composing a beautiful piece of music. In addition, given the status of Prince Brahere, he did not have to worry about what his mausoleum would be like in the future. As the younger brother of the High Elven queen, he would definitely be able to get the High Elves to do everything for him, so even if the tomb had been built before his death, he probably would not have paid it the slightest attention.

  Of course, that did not mean that Prince Brahere's diary was worthless. Perhaps it contained plenty of important information, but the help that it could provide for the expedition was probably limited.

  "I am seeking cooperation on behalf of the Mithril Alliance and the Caesar Family. Hence, I'd definitely be sincere about it," said Elvis, smiling indifferently in response to Lin Li's doubts. He tore out a few pages of the diary and put them on the table. "This is a copy of some of the pages in the diary. You two can take a look at the contents."

  "This is?" Hoffman reached out and grabbed the pieces of paper before giving Lin Li two of them.

  The pages contained a lot of contents, but they were rather simple. It was merely five days' worth of content about Brahere's life, and the matters mentioned were trivial. However, it had to have something to do with the mausoleum since Elvis took it out at this moment. Hence, Hoffman and Lin Li took a careful look at it.

  The five-day-section of the diary recorded five ordinary days in Brahere's life. Based on the degree of detailedness of the diary, Lin Li could imagine that the diary in the hands of the Mithril Alliance probably contained some unknown secrets of Prince Brahere. However, the people of the Mithril Alliance and the Caesar Family were not fools, and obviously would not share the diary parts that could bring them huge benefits, but had nothing to do with the expedition.

  Lin Li didn't care about them, since the key problem was the exploration of the tomb. Brahere's diary was written in High Elves Print, and although the content was brief and vague, the lines sounded like beautiful poems, and were not boring at all.

  After reading the five-day-long diary section, Lin Li also found some problems. It contained descriptions of the environment and landscape of the Arctic snowfield. Besides, he could also tell from the words that Brahere had spent more than five days there. He seemed to have stayed there for a long time, and it was revealed that he would continue to stay.

  As for why Bra
here stayed in the Arctic snowfield for such a long time, there was no clear answer in the diary, but Lin Li vaguely felt that Brahere seemed to have been waiting for an important person because the same sentence was written in the diary for at least three days: "That bastard has not come yet, my patience is wearing thin!".

  Whom was Breshir waiting for? Lin Li and Hoffman had no way of finding out from the diary parts they got. However, that was clearly not the focus of Elvis's diary. The key was that in the third day in the diary, Lin Li and Hoffman saw a brief description of an Iceblast Wyrm which was sent to Gargas.

  Seeing this, Lin Li and Hoffman couldn't help but gasp. The Iceblast Wyrm was a true ancient wyrm, and it was said that Iceblast Wyrms had the strongest combat power in the entire tribe, much like Flame Dragons. Each one had at least Sanctuary-realm power, and was beyond comparable to the Crimson Dragons and Green Dragons.

  Of course, they wouldn't be too surprised if they had only captured one Iceblast Wyrm. After all, the High Elves were like lunatics who would do all kinds of crazy things. The most terrible thing was that the Iceblast Wyrm was said to have been sent to Gargas.

  Indeed, it had been sent to Gargas. Lin Li and Hoffman repeatedly studied the High Elves Print, but they didn't find any other possible interpretations. Although the huge canyon of Gargas was thousands of miles in length, they didn't think that Brahere sent the Iceblast Wyrm to the canyon to set it free. It clearly had an important purpose.

  Hoffman might not have a deep understanding of the strength of the ancient wyrms. After all, the ancient wyrms had been expelled from Anril by the High Elves a long time ago. However, Lin Li had really experienced it firsthand. In the great rift of the Night Canyon, the Flame Dragon Lothar who claimed to be the king of Flame Dragons and possessed Sanctuary-realm power beat the two Sanctuary powerhouses Nefa and Rogge, leaving them with almost no power to fight back. That terrifying and overpowering power made them feel rather terrified. The Iceblast Wyrm, which was also an ancient wyrm, was definitely not easy to deal with, even though it had yet to reach the level of the Flame Dragon Lothar.