Chapter 615: Cold Shoulder
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Cheyenne felt that things would be better if the elves had chosen to save Jacques by confronting the young Master Felic due to their strength. How could the elves be such easy creatures to communicate with? If they seemed to be admitting their weakness now, no one knew when they were going to launch their revenge.
Cheyenne was really regretful for inviting the Tower of Dusk for this mission. Not to mention that they had not been contributing meaningfully to this journey, they were also the black sheep that were going to damage the relationship between the humans and the elves. It was a fact that the Malfa Family was worse off than Dark Blade who had a good relationship it the elves. Now that Felic had created this mess, how was he supposed to proceed from here?
As they had been old enemies, it was not difficult for Borg to guess Cheyenne’s anxiety. Yet, that did not mean that he had a composed mind, either. He had long gotten past the mood of watching a show. Now, he was starting to think about how to deal with possible issues that might arise regarding their partnership with the elves.
Before this, Borg had thought of a lot of consequences this conflict would lead to. Yet, he did not expect that it’d end this way. He’d thought that it would be easy for the elves to deal with a Legendary-mage. He’d thought that since the higher-ups were in the Legendary-realm, the elder elf would not have to step in to get rid of one young Legendary-mage.
It would be false to romanticize the elves as peace-loving creatures. Even if they were not creatures that would take revenge over minute matters, they were certainly not pushovers in front of any enemies, especially after had been through the catastrophe.
Knowing the elves, Borg was extremely taken aback by such a closure to the conflict. It created uncertainty in him about the partnership with the elves. It did not matter what was on the elder’s mind. Borg only knew that such a closure would deepen the hatred for humans within the elves. He was worried that the Dark Blade would also be implicated.
Regardless of what the others were thinking, Lin Li was rather satisfied with this result. Although he did regret not getting to kill that elf named Jacques, he knew that the punishment to take away the Heart of Nature was an extremely harsh punishment to the elves. He gave no attention to the onlookers as he walked towards Norfeller. He took out a potion bottle and fed it to Norfeller.
Then, he plucked out the seven arrows in Norfeller’s body and threw them on the ground casually. Norfeller’s wounds started to close at a speed visible to the naked eye. Norfeller opened his eyes and stood up before some of the onlookers could take their leave.
Lin Li and the completely recovered Norfeller waddled back to the Malfa Family’s campsite under the hatred-filled glares of the elves and the astonishment of the other people.
Cheyenne gritted his teeth. He could not understand why Lin Li had to create such a commotion when he had such a powerful potion with him! Why did he do that when that Vampire had been in zero danger!? Cheyenne was really worried that this would prevent them from finding the Immortal King’s treasures.
The sight of Lin Li’s back view left a bitter smile on Borg’s face. Why on earth did he do that? Would he be this at ease if he knew the true ident.i.ty of that elder? Borg was filled with regret. If he had predicted such a conflict, he would have warned him before him. That was the eighth elder of the Emerald Council! How could a commoner dare to offend him? It was akin to waging war against the whole Elven Kingdom!
However, Borg wasn’t aware that Lin Li was not a man who would let this matter slide even if he knew who the elder was. Although Norfeller was a mere Undead servant, he had an important place in Lin Li’s heart. The few people who Lin Li genuinely treasured would be Andoine who led him into the field of magic, Gerian who supported him in Jarrosus, and Norfeller who had always been loyal to him.
In fact, if Lin Li had been the one being targeted today, he would not have been so harsh on the elves. All the problems the Malfa Family had planted for him when they were in the Blackstone Mountains did not stop Lin Li from forming an alliance with them. It was a wise decision made to help the Tower of Dusk make progress in the long term.
Yet, such a rational person actually led a group of followers up the Dragon Mountains to eradicate the Syer Bandits with all his might when Black Clouds Town was invaded and people he knew died. Lin Li did not need to do such things to win people over. Furthermore, the contract he had with Norfeller was a blood oath. It ensured total loyalty from Norfeller no matter what he had to face.
This was his personality. He would not give a d*mn about the elves or the elder. As long as the people around him were harmed, he would ensure that the enemies paid the price.
Borg did not expect Lin Li to be so eager to act for an Undead follower when he had been slacking his way through their journey here. If he’d known better, he would not have agreed to partner up with this young man, but it was too late for regrets. What he thought he should be doing was to think of solutions to deal with the looming consequences. He hoped that the secret agreement with the Queldana Family would make the elves not create too much of a problem for them. Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to locate the Immortal King’s treasures.
Borg’s and Cheyenne’s concerns were very quickly proven to be valid. It could be observed the very next day that the elves started to treat these human guests very differently.
Although the elves were innately arrogant and had been seeing themselves as the superior race, they did not delay in their response to any requests from the human beings. They displayed neither arrogance nor enmity.
But, ever since the confrontation happened, the att.i.tude of the elves changed.
The simplest and most crucial issue they created was to h.o.a.rd the only water source they had in the campsite. This created a lot of inconvenience for the human adventurers who were tasked to collect water. Although mages had the ability to use their spells to gather some water, it would be unrealistic for the few of them to be occupied with such a tedious ch.o.r.e.
Knowing that they were in the elves’ territory and lacked power to go against them, the adventurers decided to collect their water outside the boundaries of the campsite. Yet, they did not expect the elves to be meticulous and diligent in their retaliation. They made it difficult for them to leave the campsite, and even harder for them to return. In fact, they even contaminated the nearby water source after knowing that the humans went around them.
The elves a.s.signed many geographical restrictions on the boundaries the human adventurers could travel to. Any trespa.s.sing would instantly result in warnings from the elves. It did not mean safety when they stayed within the campsite, either. As they were based in the territory of the elves, they were frequently hara.s.sed by elven warriors for irrelevant reasons.
Borg shook his head helplessly as he heard the commotion outside his tent. What could he do? Could he complain to the elder of the elves over such a trivial matter? Or could he learn from Mage Felic in confronting the elves and damage their relationship further? He could only ask his people to be patient and tolerating towards the elves.
As compared to the campsite of the Dark Blade, the situation at the Malfa Family was even more lively. Knowing that the relationship between Lin Li and Malfa Family had to be friendly for Lin Li to stay with them, how could the elves let Malfa Family off in their plans of retaliation? The Malfa Family faced never-ending problems that were caused by the elves throughout the day. There was no peaceful moment there. Similar to the Dark Blade, Cheyenne did not want to implicate their relationship with the elves. Hence, he only ordered his men to remain tolerant of the elves, and treat their unhappiness as a way to strengthen their ability to manage their temper.
The elves did not miss any human being out in their retaliation. No respect was shown to the human Legendary-mages, either. Only a single man was left out of the entire matter—the culprit behind all these mess, Lin Li.
Lin Li’s tent and its surroundings transformed into a restricted region for the elves. None of them dared to bring their havoc past that boundary. Norfeller, who had recovered completely long ago, perched outside his tent with utmost loyalty, and gave no attention to the glares of disgust and hatred.
That was not all. As usual, Norfeller would leave the campsite to gather information about their surroundings, but he did not see the need to transform into a bat to leave the campsite discretely from high up in the air anymore. Instead, he swaggered past the elves proudly as though they could not see him as an Undead creature.
The elves had prior disdain for Undead creatures. It was these creatures that’d brought such a harsh punishment to their peers. Hence, the hatred of the elves was expected. However, with the matter that happened before, none of them dared to make things difficult for this Undead creature.
In fact, the people from the Dark Blade and the Malfa Family who were suffering the effects of Lin Li’s ways were actually envious of how Lin Li treated his men. Despite complaining that he was the source of all the trouble, they knew very well that he was a good master who cared tremendously for even his Undead servant, being daring enough to offend the elder of the elves. This was in stark contrast to their superiors, who ordered them to be submissive to the elves.
Lin Li shook his head gently at all the commotion outside. He directed his attention back onto the Book of Eternity in his hands. He heard Cheyenne and Borg complain about the problems the elves were causing them during their meetings for the past two days. He felt that the elves were just too immature.
Lin Li was totally unaffected by the amount of trouble the elves tried to cause to the humans. He continued to live alone every day. Apart from having meetings with Cheyenne and Borg to discuss the treasure’s matter, Lin Li would be in his tent reading the Book of Eternity.
As he learnt more and more in-depth knowledge from the Book of Eternity, it was not just different techniques and spells, but mainly things that required him to reflect upon. Obviously, Geresco’s intention of leaving behind the Book of Eternity was not to create another version of himself, but out of hope that the next person could ride on his foundation and advance further.
It was impossible for the Book of Eternity to be able to record the vast knowledge of magic despite it being heavy and thick. Geresco was indeed the G.o.d of Mages. Every sentence and every word he wrote down carried great meanings. Lin Li could only take Geresco’s writings as a starting point as he figured out a path that would belong to himself.
COMMENT
Every statement in the Book of Eternity deserved Lin Li’s effort to dwell on it repeatedly. The deepening of his understanding each time gave him great benefits. As he read on, the world of magic became clearer and clearer to him. He had a better comprehension of nomological power. Lin Li had been making obvious improvement in his practice of magic every day.
Being in the Legendary-realm for so many years, Cheyenne and Borg were very clear what it would take to make progress in the realm. Yet, for every meeting they had with the young Legendary-mage, he never failed to astonish them. They could tell that the ability of the young Legendary-mage was not hindered by his young age. They felt that it was as though the young mage was a completely different man every time they met him.
After all, hard work and practice would be too little to help people in the Legendary-realm improve. What they needed was enlightenment on the power of the different rules of magic. However, such enlightenment was hard to encounter. Hence, every tiny bit of it seemed like a dream to mages in the Legendary-realm.
Cheyenne remembered how Lin Li was when he first approached to invite him. The stark contrast between then and now made it seem like they were two different people. He noticed Lin Li’s drastic improvement each day as well.
Although both Cheyenne and Borg knew that Geresco’s Book of Eternity was in the hands of the young mage, they could not help but be fascinated with his changes. They might not have seen the Book of Eternity, but they were certain that there were not only detailed information about the fundamentals of magic. They knew that possessing the Book of Eternity did not mean that one would become the second G.o.d of Mages.