“So who do you think is qualified to do this, the deputy chairman? Well then, from today onwards, Felic will be the deputy chairman of the Supreme Council. If you have any objections, suck it up,” Apophis said nonchalantly, as if appointing a deputy chairman was as simple as drinking water.
Apophis’s words immediately made the people in the conference hall dumbfounded as no one dared to believe their ears. That was too rash of a decision as he casually gave the Supreme Council one more deputy chairman. However, they were clear that Apophis was definitely not joking. In fact, it really took just a few words from the arbitrators to appoint a deputy chairman or chairman. However, all along, the three arbitrators did not care much about the Supreme Council, and thus it was up to the council to choose their own chairman and deputy chairman.
In fact, although they found it incredible, they realized that it was actually very normal after thinking about it carefully. In their eyes, the Supreme Council was a big deal, but in the eyes of the three arbitrators, it was probably just like a toy. Apophis casually appointed a deputy chairman like he was playing a game and adding a random rule.
On the other hand, Rosen was even more dumbfounded at this juncture. He’d originally planned to kick Lin Li out of the Supreme Council so that he could pocket the Tower of Dusk. However, he did not expect to end up causing Lin Li to be appointed as deputy chairman, which was the same position as his. Besides, Rosen was a little confused as to what Apophis meant. Was Apophis making Lin Li the second deputy chairman of the Supreme Council, or did he mean for Lin Li to replace Rosen? If it was the latter, Rosen would suffer a double loss.
However, Rosen would never dare to ask that question. Apophis was clearly enraged now, and if he didn’t pop the question, he might even forget about it. However, if he did, Apophis might immediately denounce him as deputy chairman, and if that happened, he would be distraught.
Lin Li, the newly appointed deputy chairman, did not have much of an expression on his face now, and instead was glancing at Apophis with a meaningful gaze. Although he did not say anything, there was obviously no gratitude in his eyes.
What a joke. It’s just the position of deputy chairman, what is there to be grateful for!? Lin Li hadn’t forgotten the fact that he had been forced to become the fourth arbitrator during the deal he made with the three arbitrators back then. It just wasn’t announced to the public. Back then, Lin Li had reluctantly agreed to becoming the fourth arbitrator. How could he feel grateful to have been appointed as deputy chairman?
After seeing the look in Lin Li’s eyes, Apophis grinned embarrassedly with an awkward expression. “Okay, there’s nothing much left to do. Felic, you’d better tell us what you came here for. You’re not here to tease them out of boredom, right?”
“Of course not. I came here this time specifically to borrow one thing from the three arbitrators,” Lin Li said, following Apophis out of the conference hall. When he passed by Andoine and the others, he gave them a reassuring glance.
Watching as Apophis and Lin Li disappeared outside the main door, the people in the conference hall broke into a commotion, and each one of them was in disbelief about what had just happened. A new deputy chairman of the Supreme Council was actually appointed so hastily; it was a fact that the crowd could not quite accept quickly. If it was one or two additional members, it might not be a big deal, but the deputy chairman of the Supreme Council would enjoy authority that was on par with the chairman’s. He would definitely be one of the main decision-makers of the Supreme Council.
Now, the Supreme Council made an exception, and suddenly appointed a new deputy chairman, which was not in line with the rules that they had followed for 1,000 years. Hence, it would definitely have a great impact on the current dynamics of the Supreme Council. More importantly, the new Deputy Chairman Felic and Chairman Andoine shared a teacher-student relationship. Rosen would definitely have a hard time in the future.
Deputy Chairman Rosen is going to lose power! Thinking of this, the councilors who were present subconsciously looked at Andoine and Rosen differently. Some even felt regretful for getting involved in this matter. Not only had they failed to obtain any benefits, they even ended up offending the chairman and the newly promoted deputy chairman.
While the people in the conference hall were deep in thought, Lin Li and Apophis headed for the upper floors of the Eternal Tower after leaving. Apophis did not say anything more about what had just happened, and Lin Li actually didn’t take it to heart, either. Just like what he had said before, it was just an activity to kill time during his boredom.
Soon, Apophis brought Lin Li to the Eternal Library again, but the other two arbitrators, Megard and Chris, were not around. Apophis casually sat down on a chair, pointed to the chair next to him, and gestured for Lin Li to sit down before saying, “Felic, you’ve been back for so long. It’s not right for you to wait until now to visit us three old fogies.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, I’m not here specifically to see you guys, but to borrow something from you,” Lin Li answered straightforwardly with no intention to cajole Apophis at all. He immediately stated his intention. Of course, it was not that Lin Li really disrespected Apophis, but rather that Apophis was too casual of a person for him to be serious with.
As expected, Apophis was not surprised, and instead shook his head with a wry smile. He said, “Alright, I’ll stop my wishful thinking. Tell me exactly what you want to borrow, but first things first, if your wealthy Tower of Dusk doesn’t have it, we may not necessarily have it, either.”
“Don’t worry, you guys are really the only ones who have it.” Lin Li smiled and looked at the surrounding bookshelves that were filled with magic books. He then continued, “I’d like to borrow the blueprints of your Sky Garden. Is that okay?”
The blueprints of the Sky Garden were extremely important, and if they landed in the hands of a rival, the latter would be able to find the flaws of the Sky Garden and exploit them. After all, nothing in the world was perfect, and even the powerful Sky Castle would have unknown flaws.
“Of course it wouldn’t be okay for others to see it, but you… Are you planning to modify the Sky Castle? Wait a moment while I go get it for you, but I have to remind you that some things may not be suitable for that Sky Castle of yours.” Apophis did not hesitate in the slightest, and readily agreed to Lin Li’s request. He then got up to go retrieve the blueprints of the Sky Garden for Lin Li.
Soon, Apophis walked over from the bookshelves with a box which was about a meter long and about half a meter wide and tall in his hand. It made a dull and muffled sound when he placed it on the table.
Although the Sky Garden was inferior to the Sky Castle that Lin had, it was also one of the seven Sky Castles, after all. Hence, the blueprints were definitely abundant. Lin Li removed the lid of the box, and as he had expected, he saw numerous scrolls of varying thickness in the box.
Apophis sat back on the chair and crossed his legs casually. Holding his beard, he generously said to Lin Li, “These are the blueprints that we have been using for the renovation of the Sky Garden over the years. You may take a look at them. They will belong to you in the future anyway.”
Apophis was generous, but Lin Li didn’t stand on ceremony, either, and he simply took out a scroll from the box before untying the ribbon on it. Only a very small part of the Sky Garden was illustrated on it, and there were also modifications to the magical weapons and Magic Arrays described on it.
Although the blueprint was not as intuitive as looking at the building directly, it involved something even more profound that could not be seen on the surface. After just simulating the contents of the blueprint in his head, Lin Li could already have a grasp of the essence of the transformations. It could be said that the transformation of the Sky Garden was worthy of being the one that turned the Sky Castle of the High Elves into that of humans. With those changes, the Sky Castle could already exert power that was comparable to that of the High Elves’s Sky Castles during their prime.
Of course, the modification of the Sky Castle was definitely not going to be a small project, as it was equivalent to almost rebuilding everything. The Sky Garden could be modified into its current state all thanks to the efforts of the people of the Supreme Council and the three arbitrators. It also took them hundreds of years to complete the transformation.
Putting aside the fact that Lin Li lacked hundreds of years to transform the Sky Castle, the Tower of Dusk also couldn’t afford the manpower and resources required for the transformation. Although Lin Li had obtained a massive amount of wealth through the various adventures, he still couldn’t be compared to the Supreme Council.
After the war at the end of the Dark Age, the Supreme Council, which was the leader of the entire rebellion alliance, acquired most of the wealth of the High Elves, and thus had a huge vault of treasures, unlike Lin Li who had to risk his life only to scavenge for remnant items.
Hence, Lin Li had a clear goal in mind right from the beginning. He didn’t expect to be able to transform the Sky Castle into an environment that would be suitable for humans all of a sudden, and merely wanted to allow it to exert greater power when operated by humans.
After taking a look at the modification blueprint, Lin Li rolled it up and put it back into the box. He then put the lid back on with a loud thud, and said to Apophis, “Thank you so much, this is going to save me a lot of time.”
“Good that it’s useful for you. I’m here this time to pick up a few things. Those two old guys are still waiting for me, so I won’t hold you back any longer.” Clearly, Apophis was rather anxious. Otherwise, he would definitely stay to chat with Lin Li. Seeing that Lin Li had no other requests, he hurriedly ended the conversation.
Lin Li did not care about Apophis’s hasty departure. In fact, he wanted to rush back to the Sky Castle immediately after obtaining the blueprints. However, he could not leave without a word like Apophis. After all, he had already made a trip there, and he ought to have a chat with his teacher and acquaintances. He could spare that much time.
He made his way down the high tower to see that Andoine, Aldwin, and a few other councilors were waiting in the main hall, while the conference hall was empty without a single soul in sight. Rosen had had his plan backfire this time, and was obviously too ashamed to stay behind. Actually, Rosen was extremely unlucky. The last time he’d schemed against Lin Li, he allowed Lin Li to become a high-ranking councilor who was like one of the 10 controllers. This time, he even caused Lin Li to become the deputy chairman, which was a huge blow to him.
As for those who’d originally supported Rosen, they began to develop other thoughts when they saw that Rosen had lost power again. However, they were not shameless to the extent of defecting to Andoine’s side immediately. However, they could imagine that Andoine would definitely get busy again, and the councilors would have plenty of excuses to visit him.
“Haha, not bad, kid, you became the deputy chairman all of a sudden. You should have seen how grim Rosen’s expression was.” As usual, Andoine did not have the self-awareness of the chairman of the Supreme Council. He patted Lin Li’s shoulder excitedly, which was exactly what he would do.
One reason for Andoine’s excitement was that he was happy for Lin Li, and another reason was, of course, that he had finally gotten the chance to vent his anger. Although he had never quite valued his position as the chairman, and he even wished that someone could take over his duties so that he could focus on the study of pharmacy, his proposals would be rejected every time he proposed something during a meeting, and that was definitely not a pleasant experience.
“Felic, Deputy Chairman Felic, you must pay more attention to the affairs of the Alanna Guild of Magic in the future.” Aldwin began to joke too. In fact, as the president of the Guild of Magic, his status was not inferior to that of the deputy chairman in the Supreme Council.
They entered a lounge nearby, put aside the unhappiness brought about by the matter of Rosen, and began chatting about some things. Of course, they mainly wanted to hear about Lin Li’s experiences in the Sky Castle. Aldwin and Andoine had nothing much worth talking about as they had been getting angered by Rosen most of the time.
Lin Li recounted the thrilling experience of exploring the Sky Castle, and the final battle against Highlord Osric in particular made everyone gasp in amazement. After a period of small talk, Lin Li bade farewell to Andoine and the others before inviting them to visit the Sky Castle in their free time. He then left the Sky Garden.
