Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Hey, look at that.” Yeric suddenly stopped in his tracks. He gestured to Waldo with his elbow.
Waldo looked in the direction Yeric was signaling him to. He saw a plump mage teaching a youth mage apprentice in one of the empty fields in the campsite. The scene was hilarious to both men. They could not believe a man in his 20s would still be a mage apprentice. They thought it had to be either the young man’s lack of potential or the failure of that plump mage.
The fatso in the campsite of the Tower of Dusk would naturally be Gerian. Meanwhile, the youth mage apprentice who had been terribly reprimanded was Garso, the son of Old Salatt.
Despite all the lashings Gerian gave his student, it was a fact that he really treasured Garso. This was not only due to Gerian’s relationship with Old Salatt, but also his recognition of the bit of potential Garso had for learning magic.
The death of his father caused by the Syer Bandits motivated Garso to put in more effort into learning magic. He was driven to avenge his father. It was indeed ridiculous to still be a mage apprentice at this age, but it was a fact that Garso had progressed close to level-5 in just a few months of practice. He would be a real mage when he reached level-5.
However, although Garso had good potential in magic, he started too late. This would put a limit to what he could achieve in the future as well. After all, Old Salatt was just an old blacksmith in Black Clouds Town. He struggled to make ends meet with his business. How would he have the ability to let his son learn magic? Furthermore, mages were considered divine in the eyes of common men. Many people would never dare to wonder whether they could attain that seemingly unattainable status of a mage.
How would Yeric and Waldo know Garso’s background? To them, it was as if they were watching a lowly mentor educating a lowly student. They ridiculed the stark contrast in body size between the mentor and student.
“Ha! So this is the standard of the Tower of Dusk? It is no wonder that they had no ability to fight the Syer Bandits. I think that apprentice would be better off being a bandit,” ridiculed Yeric gloatingly. He made no effort in lowering his volume. To him, it would not matter if the other party could hear him. What could possibly happen if they did? Their President was in need of the Malfa Family—not the other way around.
“Moron,” Gerian muttered under his breath. As the President of his guild of magic, his hearing had been perfected from listening in on all the gossips of himself between his men. His sense of hearing was so sharp that even the sneezing of a mosquito would never escape Gerian’s ears. However, he was too lazy to care about Yeric. He treated Yeric’s gloating as a dog’s barking on the streets.
Unfortunately, the two men who Gerian did not feel like giving attention to had nowhere to vent their pent-up anger. How would they give up on any opportunity to ridicule the Tower of Dusk?
Yeric took a few steps forward. He waved his magic staff and sized Garso up with a belittling expression. Then, he turned to look at Waldo. “Some mage-apprentice-for-life just cannot understand the reality, and thinks that magic is for everyone. The worst part is not the student, but the deceitful mentor that sacrifices the future of his student for his personal interests.”
“Haha, that’s right. Isn’t that a really fantastic bandit material? To be able to continue to deceive a 20-odd years old person into learning magic. The Tower of Dusk really has all sorts of talents!” Waldo chimed in.
As somebody who had experience in living independently, even if Garso did not mind being made fun of, how would he be willing to let people mock his mentor? He glared at the two men and lashed out at them. “Who are you to talk bad about my mentor? Listen carefully. My mentor is the President of Jarrosus Guild of Magic.”
It had only been a few months since Garso started learning magic. As the priority for him was to focus on his study, Gerian would never bother telling him any other information unrelated to magic. Hence, it was not unusual for him to be unfamiliar with the happenings in the mage industry. To him, since magic guilds were organizations that mages attended, then guild Presidents would naturally be the people who led the mages. There wouldn’t be any other people who could be more capable than the President of a magic guild.
“Jarrosus? Where is that? Why have I not heard about that place? Waldo, do you know Jarrosus? This person is actually the President of the Jarrosus Guild of Magic!” Yeric jeered. He really had zero respect for the guild President of a countryside like Jarrosus.
“Goddammit, scram if you have finished your piece. I don’t have the responsibility to educate you bastards. That is the duty of your parents,” Gerian snapped in disapproval.
Gerian’s words enraged Yeric. As a level-16 Archmage, he had not been scolded by such a country bumpkin before. “You darn fatso! Whom are you scolding?” Yeric shouted in agitation.
“Idiot…” Gerian remarked. His temperament had allowed him to filter out people of lowly moral standards. “I will be responsible for teaching my own student. It is not going to help if you continue with your crap at the side…” Gerian continued speaking after he rolled his eyes. He still did not give them any attention.
“Teaching your student? Haha! You are the one full of crap. I presume that this mage apprentice is in his 20s,” Yeric retorted, and sized Gerian up arrogantly. “It is no wonder that your President would be requesting help from the Malfa Family just to deal with those several bandits. You good for nothing!”
Garso felt extremely awkward. He felt that he had not only ruined the reputation of the Tower of Dusk, but also embarrassed Mentor Gerian. No matter what the reason was, the fact that he was a mage apprentice in his 20s was not something glorious to talk about.
“Is that so?” Gerian glanced at Yeric. He said nothing as he walked towards him emotionlessly. Then, down came a tight slap on Yeric’s face.
Yeric held his hand to his cheek in shock and exclaimed, “You… You!!” His gaze fixed on Gerian was filled with disbelief. How… How could this fatso slap him before the eyes of so many people?
“What do you want to say exactly?” Gerian rolled his eyes again. “Although I had told you that I did not wish to educate you on behalf of your parents, I did not tell you that it’d be the same if you were to trigger me…”
Yeric’s face flushed with color. He started to recite a spell hurriedly. The red magical crystal on his magic staff became unusually bright…
But, Yeric quickly noticed his failure to gather his mana. Then, he saw about 20 to 30 mages from the Tower of Dusk circling around him when he lifted his head again.
The mages of the Tower of Dusk were not devout people. They had done all sorts of malicious deeds ever since they had started to follow their wicked and ruthless President. Not to mention that their opponents were a group of mages from the Malfa Family, so what if they came from the Glittergold Trade Union? The mages from the Tower of Dusk would not care as much when it was time to act. They only knew to unleash all their spells before finding time for other matters.
Furthermore, who was Gerian? He was the most unique existence in the Tower of Dusk, a man whom even the President of the tower showed tremendous respect. It was said that Mr. President knew Gerian when he was still a low-level mage. Who would be able to deal with the rage of Mr. President if anything were to happen to Gerian?
The atmosphere in the campsite turned extremely tense. The two forces that were supposed to be battling side by side became like two bulls that were glaring at each other with their red eyes filled with enmity.
Fortunately, it was just tension…
Although both parties were filled with anger, they were not void of reason. Both of them knew that no one would benefit if they were to start a fight.
The people in the magic guild knew that although their President frequently smiled and was usually gentle, he would be more frightening than an enraged wyrm if he were to get angry…
It was the same for the Malfa Family. There was no guarantee that they would be able to defeat the dozen of Magic Shooters from the Tower of Dusk. Apart from that, before setting off, Hutton had made it clear that they were not to start any gunfire easily.
At the same time, the conversation in the tent was going on very pleasantly.
“We have six Archmages—two of them level-16 and four of them level-15. For Magic Shooters, six of them are level-14, while the other 26 of them are level-12 and level-13.” Hutton was telling Lin Li of the ability of the team he had brought along with him. He was trying his best to portray the sincerity of the family in the partnership.
“Yeah, sounds good. The Malfa Family is really powerful…” Lin Li commented, and nodded his head.
Hutton quickly replied, “President Felic, you are too kind to say that. I’ve met the mages in the Tower of Dusk. They are the real elites…”
“Hehe…” Lin Li smiled and waved his hands. He thought of the reason why he’d invited the Malfa Family. “Oh yes, Hutton. Other than inviting the Malfa Family to participate in our operation to eliminate the nest of the bandits this time, I have a question to ask as well—”
Lin Li’s speech was interrupted when Gavin pulled the entrance of the tent open and dashed in anxiously. “Mr. President, there is trouble outside! The two mages from the Malfa Family and Mage Gerian got in a fight.”
Gavin was an honest man…
But, there were instances that honest men would lie as well. There was no fight happening outside. It was just the old man Gerian giving people a tight slap…
Yet, this was a common sight. The mages in the Tower of Dusk had always been sickly biased toward their own people. It did not matter who was at fault. As long as their own people were involved, their first instinct was to fight it out with magic.
This could not be helped when their President was somebody who was the best in siding with his people.
Mr. President had the most ridiculous reaction. “What happened? Did the old man injure himself?” the concerned President asked. He had stood up the moment he heard Gavin speak.
“…” Despite being by the young President’s side for such a long time, and being used to seeing the President cover up for various faults, the President’s question gave Gavin an urge to puke blood at his obvious act of being partial to their guild of magic. Instead of asking about the reason behind the fight, his President was actually asking about that old man! And, the old man was the one let Malfa’s mage lose his teeth with a single slap…
Fortunately, Hutton did not have that much time to think about the problem with Lin Li’s attitude. Gavin’s words triggered him. Goddammit, didn’t I let the two morons return first? How did they start a fight?
I should not have brought the two idiots over! Damn it, do they know who our partner is? Is that someone we can offend? Our partner is somebody who could easily eliminate 300 men from the ruthless Syer Bandits in a single sneak attack!
Are the two fools here to dig a pit for the Malfa Family?
“Nope, they are in a deadlock now…”
Lin Li felt better after knowing that Gerian was not injured. “Mage Hutton, should you go and take a look with us?” He turned towards Hutton.
“Of course, of course. I’m terribly sorry. My people are not sensible enough. I’ll definitely punish them when I return…” Hutton replied in relief. He knew the alliance could be secure as long as his men did not injure Gerian. The two subordinates did not matter to him anymore.
“It’s a small matter…” Lin Li waved his arms. “A little punishment will do. Please do not use any tortures on them, for they are two living people, after all. It is not easy to have lived to this age,” he said casually.
“…” Gavin nearly choked on his saliva. He knew that the young President would win the award for being the most shameless mage of the Breezy Plains…
Lin Li took Hutton’s attempt to be polite for granted. It was as though it was the fault of the Malfa Family’s and no one else’s. My dear Mr. President, the cheeks of the two living men are already swollen from Gerian’s slap…
The three men got to the scene very quickly. They saw the mages of the Tower of Dusk in a circle, and inside the circle were Gerian, Garso, and the two mages from the Malfa Family.
“Wow, I didn’t know that the people of the Tower of Dusk are not only impolite, but also shameless villains… What do you guys want? To besiege your ally?” Yeric said as he laughed coldly.
“PAT!”
Yeric suddenly felt a hard kick on his back. He had to stumble a few steps forward to maintain his balance. After regaining his posture, Yeric turned back and glared behind him. He wanted to see who was the shameless man who’d dared to attack him from the back. But, his angry glare turned into a fearful gaze when he locked eyes with Sir Hutton. Sir Hutton had a glare so cold it could freeze even air.
“Y-Young Master… What brings you here…?” Waldo stuttered. He did not expect Hutton to be here.
“Did you forget what I just told you?” Hutton said coldly. He swept his gaze over the two men. Other than frustration, there was a sense of helplessness. He just realized the mages in the Tower of Dusk were really obedient as compared to the Malfa’s.
“Sir Hutton, they were too rude. How could they show such a strong attitude when they were the ones begging for our assistance? They are acting as if we owe it to them!” Yeric retorted defiantly.
What sh*t are you talking about? Since when did I tell you they begged for our aid? But, you are right to say that we owe it to them!
Hutton stole a quick glance at Lin Li awkwardly. He only felt a little relieved when he saw that the young President did not display any sign of unhappiness. However, he could not allow his men to continue to speak any more nonsense.
“Alright, enough is enough! This matter had been approved by the elders of the family, and I know what I’m doing. Both of you just need to follow my instructions without any questions. I want you to apologize to Mage Gerian and his student right now,” chided Hutton affirmatively.
Yeric and Waldo stole a glance at each other and saw extreme disbelief and dismay in each other’s eyes. Their inferiority to Lin Li required them to follow Hutton’s orders. They apologized to Gerian and Garso unwillingly.
“Please do not let this happen again. Go back and remind the others about this, or else I will make you pay for it.” Hutton lashed at them angrily.
“Noted, Sir Hutton,” the two men replied with their heads down.
“Mage Felic, what do you think?” Hutton asked Lin Li cautiously.
Lin Li did not want to make things difficult for the men who had already lowered their status so greatly. “Mage Hutton, since you have dealt with this matter, I think we can continue our previous conversation.”Read more chapter on vi pnovel
To be honest, Hutton’s rage came from the trouble caused by the two men. However, he would not have dared to give the two level-16 Archmages any physical punishment. He looked at Gerian and Garso apologetically before following Lin Li back into the tent.
When they were back, it was as if nothing had happened. Lin Li let Hutton return to his seat and resumed the conversation on a serious note. “Mage Hutton, I have a question, and I need you to tell me the truth. I suspect that this matter is related to the Syer Bandits’ transformation.”
“Sure, please ask freely,” Hutton replied very sincerely. He was relieved that the two rascals did not waste his previous efforts of buttering up to the President.
“Mage Hutton, you might have thought that my plan of eliminating the Syer Bandits was only launched after my return,” said Lin Li. He did not raise his question immediately, but decided to tell Hutton of his reasons.
“Oh, is that not the case?” Hutton asked curiously.
Lin Li shook his head. “In fact, this operation against the Syer Bandits has started two months ago. It was led by the President of the Jarrosus Guild of Magic, Gerian. He brought the mages from the Tower of Dusk to the Dragon Mountains. That’s because we had allowed for the time we would need to locate their nest.”
Hutton felt even more curious. He had seen the abilities of the mages from the Tower of Dusk himself. If what President Felic said was true, why did the operation drag on for such a long time? Hutton frowned. “Could it be that there are still powerful people in the remains of Syer Bandits?”
“You have had interactions with the Syer Bandits. Do you know if they own any Alchemy Colossus?” Lin Li had been stunned when Gerian had broken the news to him. Hence, he was determined to surprise Hutton as well.
As expected, Hutton was stupefied by Lin Li’s words. He gaped, and Lin Li could see his lips trembling. “President Felic, what did you just say? Did I hear it wrongly? Did you just mention the Alchemy Colossus? Did you mean that the Syer Bandits own an Alchemy Colossus?”
“That’s right. They have four Alchemy Colossuses. I’m sure Mage Hutton understands what that means.” Lin Li smiled. He was satisfied with Hutton’s response.
Hutton was in extreme disbelief. While the ability of an Alchemy Colossus was comparable to an Archmage’s, their combat energy was actually more powerful. How would such treasures end up in the hands of the Syer Bandits? Vanskore did not tell him about the Alchemy Colossuses at all.
Hutton frowned even harder. He looked at Lin Li doubtfully. “President Felic, I’ve seen the strength of your team. Although I’m not sure how the Syer Bandits acquired the Alchemy Colossuses, I doubt you would take more than two months to wrestle with them…”
“What if there were 10 more level-18 Archmages?” Lin Li asked enviously. He knew that if the Tower of Dusk were to have a team of 10 level-18 Archmages, no other force in the Breezy Plains would dare to speak loudly in front of his tower.
However, his envy did not last. The thought that he could create the Rune Potion from the Dragon’s Tongue he acquired in the Blackstone Mountains reaffirmed Lin Li of the potential of his tower. The effects of the potion would be absolute. Who knew if he was going to have 10 more Archmages from it?
The side effect of the Rune Potion was very obvious. The consumption of it would end all possibilities of further advancement in the field of magic. Yet, how many mages had the confidence that they had the ability to become an Archmage in the course of their lives? There were too many Magic Shooters stuck at the gate of level-14 for life. Lin Li was certain that no one would reject the potion. But, he would have one condition: loyalty to the Tower of Dusk.
“What are you saying?!” Hutton gasped. He knew that his family would never have the ability to gather 10 level-18 Archmages. He was also certain that the team would not be the remains of Syer Bandits.
“Yes. Although I don’t know which force the 10 level-18 Archmages belong to, I’m sure they are not under the Syer Bandits. But, why would there still be forces behind the Syer Bandits? What are they plotting?” Lin Li verbalized his thoughts to Hutton, his fingers tapping on the table gently.
“That’s true… What are they plotting?” Hutton was in a daze. The fact that there were 10 level-18 Archmages shocked him. Although the Malfa Family had their personal Legendary powerhouse, but Legendary powerhouses were like nuclear weapons. They were meant to incite fear in their enemies. Unlike them, Archmages were like conventional missiles. They really could be used to attack people.
“This brings me back to the reason behind my decision to raid them. They attacked Black Clouds Town. I presume Mage Hutton is not unfamiliar with this place? I heard that the Syer Bandits dug something out from the underground of the church in Black Clouds Town.” Lin Li knocked his fingers against the table twice. He noticed Hutton shivering in fear.
“I-is that so… W-what was it?” Hutton asked with fleeting glances.
Lin Li locked his gaze with Hutton’s persistently. “You should tell me what was hiding beneath the church in Black Clouds Town!”
“Erm…” Hutton was hesitating. Since there was no hope for him to acquire Geresco’s three relics, it made it even more important for him to protect the information on that item. However, if he were to hide it from President Felic, the relationship between the Malfa Family and Tower of Dusk would really be damaged.
“Mage Hutton, no matter what hid beneath the church of Black Clouds Town, it is a fact that it had been dug out by the Syer Bandits or a mysterious force. What’s the use of hiding it from me?” Lin Li spoke cynically in a flat voice, raising his eyebrows.
Hutton shook his head helplessly. He could not help but admit the truth. Since the item had been acquired by other forces, and there was the alliance between his family and the Tower of Dusk, what was the use of concealing the information?
“It was one of the arms of the Immortal King,” Hutton replied bitterly.
“What?!” Lin Li was prepared to remain composed no matter how extraordinary the item was. However, he did not expect it to be so fantastical. Hutton had to be joking. How could someone throw the arm of the Immortal King in such a random place?
Hutton coughed gently. “In the battle between the Immortal King and the Dragon of Destruction, although the Immortal King eventually killed his enemy, he lost one of his arms in the process. He could very well reattach his arm with the power he had. However, no one knows why, but the Immortal King did not choose to do so. He ditched that arm on the battlefield—the Breezy Plains of today.”
“There have to be many people fighting over the arm of the Immortal King,” Lin Li said as he rubbed his chin.
Hutton shook his head. “No one knew of this at first. It wasn’t until an unforgettable catastrophe happened in the Breezy Plains that people knew the Immortal King had left his arm here. A Death Knight acquired that arm.”
Lin Li’s brows twitched. He thought of the dozen Death Knights under him. They were really troublesome to train.
Hutton was oblivious to what was on Lin Li’s mind. “With the help from the Immortal King’s arm, that Death Knight became the first Retribution Knight in the whole Anril. He gathered a group of powerful Death Knights under him very quickly and started a raid on the Breezy Plains. All living creatures on the land became their enemies. The population of the Breezy Plains was reduced by more than one-third in a mere decade. Even a few cities, including Roland, were turned into ruins.”
