Chapter 377: Recognition
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
As compared to the trembling mayor, Granger was relatively calm. According to Norfeller, the level-14 Warrior was not anxious at all. He even laughed when the mayor urged him to escape.
“What is there to be scared of? I’ve done well luring the Crimson Python away. Boss Gregory promised me that he would groom me as long as I did my part well. Hehe, now that my efforts were recognized by Boss Gregory, it really doesn’t matter whether you are the mayor of this town anymore. Why don’t you go to Aminya and live a luxurious life with me…?”
“He really said that?” Lin Li said as he frowned.
“Yes, Master.”
“Alright…” Lin Li nodded before closing his eyes slowly. Although it seemed as if he was resting his eyes, the smirk at the corner of his lips screamed that this young mage was planning to kill.
At the start, Lin Li had only thought that this Granger had attracted the Crimson Python to Black Clouds Town by accident. Initially, Lin Li had thought Granger could still be forgiven—although it was a dumb act, Granger had had no intention to harm anyone. Hence, when he sent Norfeller to spy on them, he was just expecting to find out what exactly attracted the python over. He did not have any intention of doing anything to Alexir’s family.
But now, it seemed that it was not like what he had thought. Since Granger had admitted himself that his act of luring the Crimson Python away from its nest was an achievement, it implied that he’d known about the deadliness of the python long before he did it. It meant that he had an ulterior motive in attracting it to Black Clouds Town!
Black Clouds Town was such an isolated town, with less than a thousand people living in it. There were even instances where the tax officials from Doland would forget to visit Black Clouds Town for taxes. A fool would know what would happen if an agitated Legendary beast were to dash into such a small town. It would not take more than half a day for the entire Black Clouds Town to turn into ashes under the python’s flames of rage.
And it was due to Granger’s selfish hope to get recognized by that darn Boss Gregory…?
Lin Li had never seen himself as a righteous man, but he was certain that he would not partake in something that would implicate a thousand lives like that…
“It seems like this Granger is a more promising man than his dad…”
“Master, do you want me to get rid of him?” Norfeller asked. After being with Lin Li for quite a while, Norfeller knew that every time Lin Li had that expression, it meant that he already had plans to kill…
“No, no…” Lin Li shook his head, and stood up from the rattan chair. He walked to the side of the balcony slowly, and looked at Black Clouds Town beneath him. “I have a sudden urge to know which boss’ recognition is more important than the lives of a thousand… Norfeller, call upon Ujfalusi. I have something for him to do.”
“Roger.”
Shortly after Norfeller left, there was knocking on Lin Li’s room door.
“Enter, Ujfalusi.” The magical wave of a Lich was quite special—it was always a suffocating death aura. Lin Li did not need to think much to conclude that it had to be Ujfalusi who was knocking on his door.
The door creaked open. It was indeed Ujfalusi who stepped into the room. He was in his usual torn and tattered black robe; his wide cape covered his head very nicely, leaving two b.a.l.l.s of green ghost-fire on his face that caused him to emit an extremely eerie vibe.
“Master, I heard from Norfeller that you wanted to see me?” Ujfalusi bowed and stood very ingratiatingly in front of Lin Li. Although he was standing before a very young master, he did not dare to show any sign of disrespect or arrogance. It was not only due to the fact that they had signed a soul contract, but also because of Ujfalusi’s knowledge that this young master had a terrifying strength within him.
The young master had used the same energy as the force in the bell tower in the ruins of Syer Town. He took little effort eliminating the Humerus Domain and destroying the powerful Humerus Wyrm.
That was a true Humerus Wyrm! Ujfalusi knew that it was impossible to defeat the Wyrm by himself. His ability to summon it was all due to a miraculous encounter a century ago, when he added his scent into the soul of the Wyrm. It was this very scent that allowed his level-20 ability of a Lich to summon the similarly level-20 Humerus Wyrm…
The Humerus Domain of a level-20 Lich, together with a level-20 Humerus Wyrm, was child’s play before this young master. He could remember how the young master had turned everything to dust with a ray of light. After becoming an Undead creature, Ujfalusi was afraid of very few things, yet he was really fearful of this young master.
“Have a seat.” Lin Li smiled after seeing the two b.a.l.l.s of ghost-fire in the Lich’s eyes.
To be honest, after returning from the ruins of Syer where he signed a Soul Contract with Ujfalusi, Lin Li could still not trust Ujfalusi fully, at least not as much as he trusted Norfeller. Unlike Ujfalusi, the blood oath Norfeller had with Lin Li was initiated by Norfeller, without the presence of any threat. On this basis, Lin Li felt that Norfeller genuinely wanted to follow him.
As for the Soul Contract with Ujfalusi, it was not signed willingly. It was signed when they were at the ruins of Syer, where Lin Li threateningly held his sword at Ujfalusi’s neck. Now that his powers hadn’t yet recovered, Ujfalusi naturally would be very respectful to himself. But, what would happen after he regained the power he lost and his status as a Legendary Lich? Lin Li could not be certain that he would be as obedient as he was now…
Hence, Lin Li rarely let Ujfalusi do anything for him on normal days. He would hand most of the tasks to Norfeller on the days he really needed manpower. The reason behind Lin Li’s decision to let them stay at Black Clouds Town was not only to ensure that the two Undead creatures would not stir up trouble elsewhere, but also for Norfeller to watch Ujfalusi…
However, Lin Li was rather satisfied with Ujfalusi’s performance the night before.
It was Ujfalusi and Norfeller who’d worked together to hold back the Crimson Python before Lin Li arrived in Black Clouds Town. Due to that, Ujfalusi drained all of his mana, and required Lin Li’s help to cast a level-18 necromagic spell: Soul’s Cage. It would not be wrong to claim that Ujfalusi was a key contributor to at least half of the success that night.
“Oh, yes. Ujfalusi, after that Crimson Python died, it left this behind…” After asking Ujfalusi to take a seat, Lin Li took out the magical crystal of the Crimson Python from his pocket.
It was a magical crystal left behind by a mutated Crimson Python. Although it was a Legendary-level crystal itself, the natural ability of the python caused its crystal to be a little weaker as compared to the crystal of the Salamander. Despite that, this magical crystal was an exorbitant treasure. If it were discovered by others, it would drive numerous mages crazy.
“Legendary magical crystal!” exclaimed Ujfalusi. As a Lich who had once reached the Legendary-realm, he was aware of the ma.s.sive amount of mana contained within such a magical crystal. Ujfalusi also knew the miracles a mage could create with that crystal.
That was something every mage dreamt to own. It was similar for the Lich who’d once reached the Legendary-realm—when he saw the crystal in Lin Li’s hands, the two ghost-fires in his sockets lit up significantly…
Then, he saw the young master throw that crystal to him…
“I’m giving it to you.”
“Huh?”
The ghost-fire in Ujfalusi’s eyes froze. He did not even realize it when the Legendary magical crystal flew towards him. Ujfalusi watched as it landed on the ground and rolled to the side of his feet. It was lucky that the crystal fell on thick carpet…
“M-Master, do you really… want to give this to me?” Ujfalusi asked with much difficulty after a minute. His already rough voice became even more hoa.r.s.e. It was as though his throat was filled with sand. If one did not listen properly, one might not be able to listen to what he was exactly talking about.
Until now, Ujfalusi was still in disbelief. How could this young master give the Legendary magical crystal away so easily? Did he not know that a mage would be able to raise his ability by a grade despite being one himself?
“Yes.”
“Why?” The news was so shocking that Ujfalusi actually forgot to address Lin Li as his master.
“I’m not a stingy man. Since you helped me do things, I will not ill-treat you. Ujfalusi, your performance last night was worth rewarding with a Legendary magical crystal.”
Although Lin Li had made his stand very clearly, Ujfalusi used around 10 minutes to digest what his master was talking about. Then, he slowly stood up from the rattan chair and bowed deeply before Lin Li.
“Thank you, Master.”
“Alright, have a seat…” Lin Li smiled. He knew that he had won the loyalty of this Lich entirely this time.
“Yes.” Ujfalusi picked up the magical crystal carefully and used his black robe to clean off the dust on it. The process was slow and delicate. It was as though he was not holding a magical crystal, but his own eyeball.
Lin Li smiled as he lay in the rattan chair and patiently waited for Ujfalusi. He only started speaking after Ujfalusi finished polis.h.i.+ng his crystal.
“I heard that there is a spell by the name of Haunted Spirit which can let evil spirits possess living people. Then, the Necromancer will be able to know what these spirits saw, and even sacrifice the evil spirits in order to control the possessed. Is that true, Ujfalusi?”
“Yes, Master. Haunted Spirit is a level-18 Necromagic. I have the ability to cast it, but require some time to prepare. Other than that, I need some magic ingredients to aid me too. Master, do you need to use this spell on someone?” Ujfalusi replied politely after putting away the Legendary magical crystal carefully.
“Yes.” Lin Li nodded. “The mayor of Black Clouds Town, Alexir, has a son named Granger. I’m interested to know whom Granger has been seeing recently.”
“Alright, I will prepare it immediately.”
“If you need any materials, you can approach Gavin. He will help you gather them.”
“Noted.”
The next day, Lin Li found an excuse to bring Ujfalusi and Norfeller out to visit the mayor and that level-14 Warrior.
Perhaps it was due to guilt, but Alexir was unusually polite to the three of them. Compared to him, his son who dreamt to gain recognition treated the guests coldly.
It was alright for Lin Li, though. Since Lin Li did not have any good intention to begin with, he might feel guilty if that fella was too friendly towards him…
After coming back from the mayor’s house, Lin Li stopped mentioning the Crimson Python. However, he called Ujfalusi over to discuss matters in private very frequently these days. Even Gavin was clueless about the topic of their discussion.
After a few days, the Tower of Dusk returned to its normal peace. Like usual, Lin Li locked himself in the pharmaceutical lab every day to create a potion that n.o.body knew. When he had time, Lin Li would have short conversations with Gerian, or give the low-level mages in his guild some advice. On the whole, his days were rather comfortable.
This situation continued for around a week. Kaman visited once to report about the progress of their purchase of magical equipment. During this period of time, Kaman bought a total of three weaponry shops, and used around 30,000 gold coins. To him, it was an extremely large sum of money. When the profiteer came over to the guild, his expression screamed solemnity and grief. But, after chatting with Lin Li in the meeting room for a few minutes, that profiteer exited the room full of glee. A few mages who had seen the profiteer’s transformation even thought that their President cast a Mental Spell on him…
The second evening after Kaman was sent off, Ujfalusi entered Lin Li’s room again.
“Master, Granger is going to leave home tomorrow.”
“Very good…”
On the morning of the next day, Lin Li gathered all mages in his guild who were at least above level-10, and gave them a bottle of Awakening Potion each.
The distribution of the potion immediately created a commotion within the Tower of Dusk!
How would the mages not know what the Awakening Potion was? That was a high-grade potion that could let any Archmage recover most of his mana. If one were to sell it in the market, he would surely earn more than a million gold coins.
The young President was too generous to offer over 20 bottles to these people! That was over a million gold coins! The wealthiest Glittergold Trade Union in the Breezy Plains would not have dared to do that. Furthermore, even though it was worth a million gold coins, there had to be a place to buy the Awakening Potion first. Being a necessity to every mage, once the potion entered the market, there would be countless mages who would be dying to purchase it.
One had to be a Pharmacist to have over 20 Awakening Potions with him…
Wait, Pharmacist?
A few brighter ones immediately recalled that their young President had been locking himself in the pharmaceutical lab these days. Could it be that he was not doing any research, but actually creating potions?
This moment, the mages in the Tower of Dusk were really excited.
The young President whom they were following was actually a true Pharmacist, and a high-ranking one at that! Otherwise, how could he create over 20 bottles of Awakening Potion in such a short time frame?
At the beginning, although they were silent about it, the mages in the guild were actually disapproving of their young President. After all, they came to the Tower of Dusk not only because of Basel’s orders, but also for their own ambitions. Since they were mages with legitimate abilities, they felt that it was too unfair to stay in the Doland library every day. Now that they got support from Mr. Basel to enter a new guild of magic, they could finally find a way to learn from the President and have a chance to obtain greater achievements with the President.
But, they did not expect there to be such a lazy President. As they saw it, if Felic was not in the pharmaceutical lab the entire day, he would be chatting with that fat Gerian. Not only that, their darn President even left all the paperwork and guild matters for Gavin to handle. Almost all mages who came from Doland’s Library felt that they followed a useless President.
However, this flippant President had prepared a huge surprise for them.
A bottle of Awakening Potion for each of the 26 Magic Shooters!
It was a most generous act that’d never happened before in the Breezy Plains. No leader of any force would distribute potions worth more than a million. This act of generosity was enough to convince all of the mages present that regardless of his ability, they would definitely not suffer under the leaders.h.i.+p of this young mage!
“Alright, guys, calm down first. I have to go out to settle some matters, and require help from some of you. If you are interested in joining me, you can go tell Gavin.”
Lin Li’s request gained enthusiastic response from the people.
“I’ll go, I’ll go…!”
“You must count me in. I’m deeply honored to be able to help President Felic with his work!”
“Yes, yes! Count me in as well!”
“Me too, me too!”
This bunch of morons. Do you really think it is so easy for Felic to give you such benefits? Be careful not to get a diarrhea from the 26 bottles of Awakening Potion… Gerian could not resist his urge of dissing them internally under the smiley facade he had while he stood beside the crystal ball. If these fellas knew the matter they had to help out with was to get rid of a Crimson Python, would they still be so excited?
But, Gerian did not expect there to be more surprises afterwards.
After the 26 bottles of Awakening Potion, Lin Li had people carry out another two boxes of things from the storage.
“What are these?” asked Gavin doubtfully. The two boxes that were delivered by Kaman had been in the storage room since they arrived here. Since President Felic did not ask him to open them, he had no idea what was inside. Yet, the situation now caused him to feel that the content of the boxes was not the usual gifts. Could they be more valuable as compared to the 26 bottles of Awakening Potion?
“Since everybody is still rather new to the Tower of Dusk, and I’m not familiar with your abilities, I’ve prepared some magical equipment for you inside these two boxes. Although it might not suit your respective specializations in magic, I hope it could raise some combat energy within you…” After addressing the team, Lin Li turned to look at the skeptical Gavin. “Gavin, distribute the magical equipment to everybody. There are 26 Magic Shooters, and each of them will get one staff and one robe.”
“Noted, President Felic…” Gavin nodded, and opened one of the boxes.
Then, he was stunned.
He saw many Sky Robes stacked neatly on top of each other, and each of them emitted a vigorous magical wave. Gavin could not tear his gaze away from the things inside the box. Sky Robes were high-quality robes bought from Gilded Rose! Each of them was worth at least 100,000 gold coins. Even a wealthy Archmage would not be able to understand why President Felic could distribute these treasures to a bunch of Magic Shooters…
The scariest thing was, the mageweaths on these Sky Robes had all undergone intricate treatment. As compared to the others sold in the Gilded Rose, they were much more powerful.
“P-President Felic, aren’t these… aren’t these too valuable?” Gavin asked in surprise. He wanted to appear calmer than he actually was, but it was in vain. Gavin just could not relax after seeing so many Sky Robes in front of him.
Lin Li smiled, and did not reply to Gavin’s question. “Gavin, open the other box too,” ordered Lin Li.
“Okay…” Gavin nodded mechanically. He was totally stunned by the 26 bottles of Awakening Potion as well as a box full of Sky Robes.
But, when he opened the other box, he could not help but gasp due to its contents again.
“My G.o.d… ”
There were dozens of Storm Staffs s.h.i.+ning radiantly, and on top of every staff was a blue magical crystal. A blind man would be able to tell that those magical crystals belonged to level-15 Frost Wolves. Staffs with the crystals of the Frost Wolves could not only supply ma.s.sive amount of mana to mages, but also greatly raise the impact of ice element spells. If a level-14 Magic Shooter had such a staff, the ice element spells he cast would be dangerously near the level of an Archmage!
F*ck, did our President Felic just rob the Gilded Rose? Gavin thought as he stared at the box of Storm Staffs. These staffs were also from the Gilded Rose, but were even more precious in comparison to the Sky Robes. The Gilded Rose would not have that many Storm Staffs in their inventory, especially those with the magical crystals on them. Even an Archmage would have to place a deposit and order those staffs in advance…
To think of it carefully, there is really such a possibility…
When he’d first come to the Tower of Dusk, Gavin saw himself how President Felic managed to kill dozens of people from the Syer Bandits with a wave of his hand. This Felic was not a law-abiding citizen. If he set his eyes on Gilded Rose’s magical equipment, he might really dash over to threaten them with a hostage.
“Gavin, what are you waiting for? Please distribute these things quickly. We are setting off soon,” urged Lin Li.
“Oh…” Lin Li’s impatience brought Gavin back to reality. Trembling, he distributed the staffs and robes to the mages who had been salivating to get them.
“Hey fella, you are too mean to Ysera…” Gerian commented. How could Gerian not know where the magical equipment came from?
“I’m mean?” Lin Li glared at that darn fatso in annoyance. “I used my own money to buy these 50 sets of Storm Staffs and Sky Robes!”
“How much did you spend?” Gerian asked in suspicion. He just could not believe Lin Li.
“A hundred gold coins… Erm, and another two bottles of Arcana Potion for his younger sister, although I’m not sure if she’s his biological sister…” Lin Li replied and scratched his head in embarra.s.sment.
“b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l!”
The team that was traveling to the Blackstone Mountains was unprecedentedly powerful, including Lin Li, Gerian, Norfeller, Ujfalusi, and Gavin. Even Rina, the Paladin who despised Undead creatures to the core, was riding on her unicorn too. Behind them was the group of 26 fully equipped Magic Shooters, each of them donned in a Sky Robe and holding a Storm Staff.
Not only that, they had the Awakening Potion in their pockets as well. This improved outfit boosted the confidence and morale of the Magic Shooters to a level never seen before. They were all shouting in enthusiasm as though Lin Li had made them consume an aphrodisiac. Now, they would not frown even if President Felic were to ask them to kill a Wyrm!
“It’s another bunch of idiots…” Gerian commented under his breath as he shook his head disapprovingly. When he was at Jarrosus, the group of Magic Shooters under him got themselves a tragic ending after being tempted by trivial benefits. In fact, they were n.o.ble Magic Shooters who turned into Felic’s henchmen…
The distance between Black Clouds Town and the Blackstone Mountains was at least a hundred kilometers. The group of people bought a few carriages from Doland before traveling in the direction of the Blackstone Mountains.
Ujfalusi was on the same carriage as Lin Li. Throughout the journey, Ujfalusi was using the Haunted Spirit to spy on Granger, who was on his way towards the Blackstone Mountains.
“Master, Granger alighted at a spot not far from the Blackstone Mountains. It seems like he was greeted by a mage of around level-15 or level-16.”