Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Upon hearing Lin Li’s words, everyone’s faces remained silent. In their opinion, he was just spouting nonsense and making excuses. They knew without a doubt that President Balbo would definitely not spare them.
Lin Li obviously wouldn’t be bothered whatever they thought. He came up with the training plan because he didn’t want to owe Balbo a favor. Hence, it did not matter who the training candidates were. Even if they were middle-aged pharmacists who were not advanced in level, he would still be confident in helping them improve as long as they were not fools.
However, Lin Li was not obliged to shield them and allow them to use him to explain their premature return to Balbo, either. Hence, he said, “Didn’t you guys say that I was making a fool out of you guys with a fake formula? Didn’t you say that this was impossible? Watch carefully what happens next.”
Geniuses of the Pharmacist Guild? They’re all so ignorant! Lin Li’s method was simple, and he decided not to talk much. Since they’d decided to bring in some pharmaceutics jargon and theories, and insisted that his formula was not feasible, he decided to give them an eyeopener.
Wilkinson and others had witnessed the young mage skillfully formulate the antidote with his own hands. However, they could tell from the process that it was just a basic, low-level potion. It could only mean that he had a certain foundation in pharmaceutics. However, it seemed now that Lin Li was really going to begin preparing the potion that they, the geniuses of the Pharmacist Guild, could not.
Wilkinson and the rest found it to be extremely incredible. Could this young President of the Guild of Magic really be a pharmacist? However, Wilkinson quickly snapped out of his thoughts, thinking that Lin Li and his teacher Balbo had some relations, after all. Even if he disliked his personality, he couldn’t let Lin Li suffer an accident.
“President Felic, according to the Paparog’s theorem, your formula is really impossible. If you don’t believe it, we can get you a book on pharmacy theory.” Wilkinson hurried forward in a bid to persuade him.
Someone pulled Wilkinson away, and softly told him, “Wilkinson, just ignore him and let him go ahead. We’ll see what he can come up with.” None of the pharmacists liked Lin Li, and everyone wanted to see him suffer the effects of the potion. Well, it wouldn’t kill anyway.
Wilkinson stopped talking, and the young pharmacists looked at the stage with anticipation, watching as Lin Li prepared the potion step by step. They were waiting to cheer and vent their frustration once he made a fool out of himself.
However, reality disappointed everyone and took them by shock. What seemed to be a trap at first was actually completed easily. There was no accident, and Lin Li mixed the liquids together according to the instructions of the formula. Of course, it came as a great shock to the pharmacists.
After recovering from the shock, Wilkinson immediately sensed that something was amiss. He could not understand why the pharmaceutical theorem that he was extremely familiar with turned out to be wrong. After giving it some careful thought, he tried to recall what Lin Li did during the most crucial step.
Thick white vapor wafted up into the air, and soon, some earthy yellow powder appeared in Lin Li’s cup—it was the modified Bone Erosion Powder. He raised the glass in his hand, and said, “This is the potion I want you to formulate. Who else here still thinks that the formula is fake?”
Silence filled the room. The young pharmacists could not believe their eyes at all, because the theories that they had been familiar with were defied at this moment.
“Impossible! This is a clear violation of the Paparog’s theorem. How can it really be possible to realize this formula?!” Everyone felt the same.
“Fine, I’ve already proved the feasibility of the formula. I won’t force you to leave or stay, but don’t act like I bullied you lest President Balbo gets the wrong idea.” Lin Li placed the cup on the table and looked at everyone in disdain.
Although the pharmacists were young and full of vigor, the truth was still clear as day. The so-called trap was there just because of their own incompetence. After being despised, they were obviously too ashamed to air their displeasure again.
Wilkinson knew that it was time for him to stand up and make his stand. He coughed awkwardly, and said, “President Felic, I’m sorry. We misunderstood you. However, can you explain to us why the Paparog’s theorem is not applicable in this formula? Otherwise, we really can’t successfully formulate this potion.”
Since Wilkinson had already swallowed his pride and admitted to their mistake, Lin Li decided to forgive them after seeing how sincere Wilkinson was. After all, Lin Li was not an unreasonable person. He nodded, and said, “The so-called theorem is the summation of previous experience of others who had been testing it through generations. In the process of this verification, some of these theories have been passed down, and some have been overturned because of some new discoveries. Therefore, the theorem is not the definite truth, and it may not necessarily be absolutely correct or wrong. Perhaps the discoveries necessary to prove it wrong just haven’t been published yet.
“As for why the Paparog’s theorem you know is invalid for this formula, it’s because of the change in medicinal properties,” Lin Li said while pointing at Wilkinson and the rest, who were now awestruck. They returned to their seats quietly and listened like they usually would during Teacher Balbo’s lessons, afraid that they would miss a single word.
However, it was all just elementary knowledge, after all. Just like magic that became worthless after it was cracked, there was nothing too strange about the Paparog’s theorem being untrue after Lin Li explained it. Well, at least that was the case for the mages.
“Turns out it’s so simple. I thought that there was something miraculous and unfathomable about it. So I just didn’t expect it.”
They were unwilling to believe that the President of the Guild of Magic, who was younger than them, would surpass them in pharmacy. It was actually a normal mentality. Whenever humans encountered something that they couldn’t believe, they would always try to explain it using their own concepts until they could finally accept it, just like those who liked to crack magic tricks.
Lin Li stood on the stage, where he could clearly see that the young pharmacists under the stage were experiencing variations in their expressions while they listened to his explanation. However, he didn’t pay much attention, for these pharmacists were not his actual students, anyway.
Lin Li stopped after talking about what he ought to, not planning to say anything more. He knew that if he spoke too much and if there was something that contradicted the theory that they were familiar with, he would not have the patience to persuade them.
The main problem was that Lin Li had no idea what the pharmacists didn’t know. Since he was in Anril, he had not actually studied pharmacy, and his own pharmaceutical knowledge was obtained through the Scroll of Wishes. The incident happened this time because he hadn’t considered the fact that the Paparog’s theorem was still regarded as true by these people, though it had long been overthrown—for as long as he could remember.
Wilkinson and other pharmacists did not mention the matter of going back to Alanna anymore, and Lin Li left the room. Instead, they obediently began to prepare the potion using the skills that they had newly learned. They didn’t have another choice. Since the formula was real, they didn’t have an excuse to report to President Balbo.
During the preparation of the potion, the topic of their discussion was undoubtedly Lin Li, the young President who took them by surprise, especially with his knowledge in pharmaceutics. Unfortunately, Lin Li’s performance was not an indicative factor of his level in pharmaceutics. After all, the Bone Erosion Powder was just a low-level potion.
“Even if he knows techniques that defy the laws of the Paparog’s theorem, that can’t show what his level is. I’m sure you know that the technique is not complicated. It just didn’t come to mind at first.”
“But, even we, the geniuses of the Pharmaceutics Guild, didn’t think of it.”
“Yeah, the Masters didn’t think of it, either, but that can’t prove that he’s superior to them. I bet he’s just a low-level pharmacist.”
“I can tell that he has a strong foundation. Perhaps he might already be an intermediate pharmacist. Wilkinson, what do you think?”
After hearing his peers’ question, Wilkinson calmly answered, “Has none of you thought about the reason we’re here?”
“Does he actually want us to learn about pharmaceutics from him? What a joke,” a low-level pharmacist said in disbelief.
Wilkinson shook his head gently, and said, “Although this technique is inconspicuous, it can overthrow Paparog’s theorem, and no one in our guild knew about this. How did this President Felic even find out? Clearly, there must be a knowledgeable pharmacist behind President Felic.”
After hearing Wilkinson’s speculation, the crowd suddenly felt enlightened, and everything seemed to make sense. It turned out that Master Balbo did not actually banish them, and instead just wanted to let them learn from pharmacists outside the guild. Obviously, President Felic was the disciple of the unknown master, but he was more inclined towards learning magic, and so his master had to have asked him to find some disciples…
Humans had unlimited imagination, and the pharmacists began to speculate after receiving Wilkinson’s prompts. However, none of them mentioned returning to Alanna again. They decided to stay of their own accord, and not because of Balbo’s pressurizing them. Even if someone wanted to drive them away now, they would not leave.
For the next two days, they continuously tried to guess the identity of the mysterious man behind Lin Li. However, the mysterious pharmaceutics Guru had never appeared before, and they were all just making wild guesses. Hence, they were all actively discussing Lin Li.
However, they no longer felt so resentful towards him after finding out that they had not been exiled and were not there for an unethical transaction.
Even an untalented person would improve greatly with the guidance of a pharmaceutics Guru. They could tell from the two demonstrations that Lin Li had performed that he had a good foundation in pharmaceutics.
However, the young President Felic had only turned 20 years old, and although they were all young people, the true pharmacists were mostly in their thirties and older than him. Besides, they also knew that he was extremely talented in magic. Although he was only 20 years old, he had already reached the Legendary-realm.
No one was invincible, and even talented individuals had their limits. Since he had made such a remarkable achievement, it meant that he had put in plenty of effort into learning magic. Since he was a genius in magic and pharmaceutics, he was one of a kind. Even the powerhouses who had stepped into the Legendary-realm would only have time to learn pharmaceutics after their lifespan increased with that breakthrough.
The pharmacists felt that he was an absolute genius, for he was an expert in both pharmaceutics and magic at the age of 20.
Lin Li had no idea that he had given the pharmacists something to talk about. He thought they should be honored that he was helping them.
With so many pharmacists working together, they should soon be able to prepare a sufficient amount of weakened Bone Erosion Powder. Although most of the 35 pharmacists were low-level ones, they were all excellent talents of the Pharmacist Guild, after all. It should be a piece of cake for them to prepare low-level potions.
Over the next two days, the pharmacists who had gotten familiar with the preparation of the potion worked extremely hard, which was much to Lin Li’s pleasure. The medicinal materials that he had prepared beforehand were depleted rapidly, and the room was soon filled with the finished product.
Lin Li was not intending to sell the Bone Erosion Powder, so he just had to make enough for the magic gears in Black Clouds Town. He had also prepared to use a few other poisons in the magic gears. Thus, he got ready to provide a new formula for pharmacists to prepare now that they had already gotten enough Bone Erosion Powder. He decided to proceed with teaching them after all the potions required for Black Clouds Town were ready.
