Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
At the thought of all that this spell might bring, Lin Li tightened his grip on it in spite of himself.
“How about that, kid? This is worth the help you’ve given us, right?”
Lin Li nodded profusely. “Worth it, worth it…”
Although Macklin’s iron forging skills were bad, he knew how to strike while the iron was hot. As soon as he saw how fascinated Lin Li was with the spell, the old fellow took advantage of the situation and added, “How about doing us another favor?”
“What is it?”
“Help us forge a magical weapon!”
“This…” There was some hesitation on Lin Li’s face. Magical weapons were not difficult to forge; anyway, these two old fellows didn’t have strict requirements. He could just make them any two weapons that carried magical attributes. But Lin Li constantly had the feeling that this matter was not something of the ordinary; there was an eerie feeling to it from the very start.
Think about it carefully…
Skip the part about the two powerhouses hiding in a room while forging iron—it could be a mere hobby or interest, after all. There were many wonders in the world. Anyway, even SM had many fans; it seemed to be not much of a big deal forging some iron…
However, an ordinary iron sword was exchanged for a level-15 spell—and it was such a powerful level-15 spell, no less. Lin Li was baffled. Macklin was not an idiot; would he be that silly not to be able to differentiate whether the ordinary sword or the spell was more precious? Lin Li never once felt that he had some kind of a kingly aura, and that when his body moved slightly, he could scare such figures like Macklin and Aldwin into bowing down.
One who is unaccountably solicitous is hiding evil intentions!
Lin Li had kept these words in mind.
“How’s that?” Macklin was a little anxious, seeing that Lin Li was silent for a long while. He continued to entice him. “Just a magical weapon. It doesn’t have to be very strong, just containing some magical attributes will do. You can consider it; as long as this thing is done, us two old fellows will be very grateful to you!”
Lin Li scratched his head, but kept mum. He wanted to hear what exactly was the gratitude the old fellow had mentioned…
“Let’s do it like this.” Macklin saw that empty promises were not enough, so he bit his teeth, and said, “Once you forge this magical weapon, you can ask us a favor. As long as it is within our power, the two of us will definitely help you!”
“…” As soon as Macklin’s words were uttered, Lin Li’s hair stood on ends in horror.
For the two old fellows—one a level-19 Archmage, and the other a level-21 legendary mage—to say such words in their capacity, it was evident that the weight of the matter was not ordinary.
This request held too many meanings. If Lin Li was willing, he could even ask them to sweep out the Shadow’s Nest so that the Jarrosus Guild of Magic would never have to worry about the enemies coveting the Demon Fall Valley again.
“By the way… I’ll start by saying, the request and the trial are two different matters. This trial is arranged by the Supreme Council. No matter how bold Aldwin and I are, we would not dare to poke our heads in it.”
Lin Li shook his head in denial of his assumption. “Of course I’ll have to depend on my own strength for the trial.”
“So, you agree to it?”
“This… Can you tell me the reason behind it?” Lin Li hesitated for a long time, and his tone finally relaxed. To be frank, he was filled with curiosity about this matter.
“Sure,” Macklin replied coolly. “Do you know of the Sword Sage of the Storm?”
“I don’t know…” Lin Li was telling the truth. Since the transmigration, the profession he had contact with the most was the mage—and it was all because of Andoine. He had always been concerned about stuff related to magic, and had not paid much attention to what a Sword Sage or a Shadow King was.
“You know Aldwin’s strength, right? Felan Kingdom’s most powerful level-21 mage.”
“Mhm, I know.”
“In the Felan Kingdom, those who can compete with Aldwin can be counted with one hand, and the Sword Sage of the Storm, Al’Akir, is one of them.”
“So formidable?” He had always thought that it was more than enough to have a demon above level-20. Unexpectedly, there was more than one such monster in the Felan Kingdom.
“That’s nothing…” Macklin pursed his lips, and went on to say, “This b*tch, besides being a level-21 powerhouse, is actually the one behind the Alanna Adventurers Guild!”
“…” Lin Li was confounded. The fellow’s status was probably stronger than that of Aldwin’s. What was the idea of the Alanna Adventurers Guild? It had the most deformed monsters in the Felan Kingdom, and an astronomical amount of money in addition to millions of adventurers. It was horrifying just to think about such a force.
“There’s more…” Macklin shook his head, looking somewhat depressed. “This b*tch is also a Master of Forging!”
“Very impressive!” Lin Li still didn’t get it. “But… What’s that got to do with me?”
“Be patient; listen to me.”
Macklin rocked softly in a rattan chair, recounting to Lin Li about a bizarre bet.
It happened more than a year ago, when the Guild of Magic discovered a High Elf relic.
For any mage, the legacy of that era was full of fatal temptation at all times.
Nobody, including President Aldwin, was willing to pass up on this opportunity.
So, the work of exploring the relics began to proceed in an orderly way.
They begun with a search of all the information related to this relic from the mountainous pile of books on the Dark Ages, and the Magic Shooters inside the guild worked day and night to extract silk from the vast amount of information.
At last, the Guild of Magic found it.
The remains turned out to be the mausoleum of Highlord Osric!
The key to opening the tomb was buried at the highest peak of the Nightmare Mountains, and it was guarded by a level-22 magical beast, the Lord of Inferno.
That morning, under the leadership of President Aldwin, the Guild of Magic dispatched all the members beyond the level of an Archmage. Their goal was the Lord of Inferno on the peak of the Nightmare Mountains and the key it guarded.
But as they climbed up the Nightmare Mountains, they suddenly found that there was a group of people who were also eyeing the Lord of Inferno—it was a group of adventurers led by the Sword Sage of the Storm, Al’Akir.
At the moment, even Aldwin’s temper was triggered. He had studied so hard, but the result was stolen by others. Was there anything more annoying in the world than this?
However, he soon realized that the Adventurers Guild was even more enraged than Aldwin himself—especially the Sword Sage of the Storm, who was so angry that he had demanded a duel with the latter on the spot.
Fortunately, both sides had some self-restraint in the end.
Through the personal mediation of His Majesty the King, the conflict that had shaken the whole Felan Kingdom did not occur, but was replaced by an arduous negotiation.
Even Macklin himself was unaware until he had participated in the negotiations.
All of this… was merely a coincidence!
It was just too much of a coincidence…
The two guilds found the relic almost concurrently. They had both looked for clues from books, and discovered where the key was buried at the same time.
The leaders of the two guilds were both wise men. After the misunderstanding was cleared, things became much simpler. The two guilds soon reached an agreement to kill the Lord of Inferno together, and everything would wait until the key was dug out.
Although the Lord of Inferno was at a powerful rank of level-22, were Alanna’s two major guilds an ordinary force? Together, there was more than a dozen people who had broken through level-18 in the two guilds. After battling for a whole day and night, even a power like the Lord of Inferno did not manage to escape the fate of losing its life…
With the fall of the Lord of Inferno, the ownership of the key was naturally to be put on the agenda.
There was immediately a huge rift between the two forces who had once fought side by side.
In order to get the other half of the key in the other party’s hand, the two guilds had each offered an earth-shaking price without any prior consultation.
At the end of the negotiation, the Adventurers Guild even suggested that half of its revenue would be allocated to the Guild of Magic in the next ten years!
But in front of Osric’s mausoleum, the power of money was insignificant.
Thus, the negotiation entered a stalemate.
Finally, the Sword Sage of the Storm, who believed in force, made a suggestion.
The leaders of the two guilds would fight a fair duel, and the one who won the duel would have the right to use the key, while the one who failed would receive a small portion of the benefits from the High Elf relic as compensation.
To be honest, this was a perfect solution.
However, a bizarre scene unfolded before them when it was implemented.
The two fellows, both level-21, completely tied with each other. They had fought for two days and two nights. In the end, one ran out of mana, and the other one ran out of stamina; both fainted on the ring at the same time…
It was like walking into a dead end when things got to this point.
Fortunately… someone had reminded them.
Besides being level-21 powerhouses, one was a Master of Inscription, and the other was a Master of Forging.
