Chapter 18: Suppression
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Lin Li was in a bright mood when he walked out from the so-called Jarrosus Exchange. Back when he was in the Sunset Mountains, forced by Andoine to kill magical beasts, it had never occurred to him that he could sell the magical crystals for money. He thought it was a waste to just leave them there, so he picked them up each time he killed a magical beast. Who would have thought that, two months later, he could earn his first income from these magical crystals.
Because of his different experiences, Lin Li probably understood the power of money better than most mages in this world.
Initially, he did not have the time to think about it. But after a reminder from Kevin, he recalled his experiences in the Endless World. Had he not had that near-infinite amount of money, he wouldn’t have possessed so many top-grade materials, much less trained all his life skills to the highest level.
10,000 gold coins might seem like an enormous amount in the eyes of others. But to Lin Li, it was just a beginning.
That afternoon, Lin Li raided over 20 herb stores. When he had hired a horse wagon to bring the herbs back to the Emerald Tower, Gerian almost cried in excitement.
He had waited for decades, and at last Emerald Tower had its own potion master. d.a.m.n the Pharmacist a.s.sociation, go to h.e.l.l!
And then, both of them went into the reception room again; this time, the content of their conversation was kept secret even from Kevin.
Kevin only knew that Gerian was beaming with satisfaction as he emerged from the reception room and announced on the spot that, from the day onwards, everything within the Emerald Tower would be open to Felic unconditionally. He was free to go anywhere and look up anything he wanted.
This was probably the most exclusive privilege in the Emerald Tower apart from Gerian’s, particularly for a mage who had just joined a few days ago—it was absolutely a miracle.
Almost none of the mages in the Emerald Tower could understand why Gerian made such a decision. To them, it was a joke. Even the pride of Jarrosus Guild, legendary mage Andoine, had never enjoyed such generous treatment before. What right did this young mage, who had just joined the guild for a mere few days, have to deserve such favorable terms from Gerian?
For a moment, Emerald Tower was in chaos, and all kinds of rumors were in full swing. There were speculations whether the relationship between them was normal or not, and questions whether Gerian was being fair. There were even a few petulant ones who threatened to pull out from the guild if Gerian did not rescind his decision.
Jarrosus’ Guild of Magic had been lacking in talent, and the withdrawal of a few mages who were of at least level-nine would be a devastating disaster. Almost everyone thought Gerian would compromise—otherwise, the Jarrosus Guild of Magic would completely disappear from Anril before the Supreme Council’s a.s.sessment in three months’ time.
However, they were all wrong. Gerian was not only unwilling to compromise this time, he had also taken an unusually tough approach.
Within three days, rumors in the guild were forcibly suppressed. The mages who threatened to quit were kicked out of the Guild of Magic that afternoon.
The tumult had come and gone; it was almost over before it began, and everything seemed to be back on the original track. Lin Li still spent his days in the library, occasionally hanging out with Kevin outside of the emerald tower to see if there was anything good in the magic stores. The fat old man was still keen on instructing young mages in his own unique way as ever…
The only issue was probably the mages who were kicked out of the guild.
Not to mention Gerian, even Lin Li heard it several times.
These guys had been coming together lately, but no one knew exactly what they were discussing.
Everything looked the same except for this.
Under Gerian’s tough approach, the small ruckus was crushed. But everyone knew that, in fact, these suppressed voices never really disappeared. They were merely waiting patiently.
Once there was a slip-up from Lin Li, or if Gerian could not come up with a convincing reason, these voices would come out from the shadows again, louder than before.
But to Lin Li, this was not a big deal.
He had been so busy since he’d returned from the Jarrosus Exchange that he did not have the time to care about such matters.
Every morning, Lin Li would head straight to the library. He had too much knowledge he needed to catch up with. Sitting in the quiet library, Lin Li felt as if he was back to the time before his college entrance examination. When he had finally looked up from the pile of books, he’d often go back to the potion lab without having his meals. There, herbs worth thousands of gold coins were waiting for him.
What Lin Li had to do was to turn the thousands of gold coins’ worth of herbs into potions.
Even Lin Li, a potion master, could not help but have a headache when faced with so many herbs.
Moreover, there was that old fellow Gerian, who ran to the potion lab in the name of concern more diligently than anyone. In particular, the way he drooled when he looked at the bottles of finished potions made Lin Li want to drive him out of the lab.
That day, the two of them had reached an agreement in the reception room.
Lin Li would have the next highest privileges second to the President in the Jarrosus Guild of Magic. Correspondingly, the guild would have the priority rights to purchase the potions he produced. That was the reason behind the fat old man running to the potion lab everyday.
As a matter of fact, the two men—young and old—did not differ much in their core personality traits. Both were philistine—only that one was arrogantly philistine, while the other had kept it low-key.
The agreement was, of course, full of the spirit of utilitarianism.
One wished to maximize the benefits of pharmacists, while the other wished to maximize the use of guild resources for his own work. Neither of the two jerks was good.
Lin Li was satisfied with the agreement. Being a transmigrator, he knew the power of publicity more than anyone else. Especially in a world of swords and magic, if you had a giant like the Jarrosus Guild of Magic standing behind you, you could sell the medicine more readily than others.
A large amount of herbs was placed into their different categories, and the empty pharmacy was once more filled with the fragrance of herbs. According to Lin Li’s plan, the first batch of herbs would be used in low-level potions as much as possible. After all, this was just the beginning; it was far from the point of showing off all of his skills.
But with his ability as the potion master, even if it were some low-level potions, it’d be enough to make Andoine’s eyes lit up. Heaven knew how many years had pa.s.sed since the mages in the Emerald Tower had a smell of the Calming Potion…