Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
As the winner of the battle in the Harvest Square, there was indeed no need for the young Lin Li to negotiate with anyone. He only decided to come not because of William or the Time Consignment Store, but because he was interested purely in the formulas.
In fact, Lin Li could easily snatch the formulae from the Time Consignment Store if he really wanted to. There was nothing William could defend himself with, especially since Lin Li had the ability to defeat Vidas.
William scolded himself for being silly in his head. Why did he even pull his business tactics on the 20-year-old Lin Li? Wasn’t he just asking for death!?! He coughed awkwardly, and adjusted his mindset before respectfully saying, “Master Felic, why don’t I supply the formulas and herbs, while the Tower of Dusk carries out the formulation? You shall have 60% of the proceeds while I take 40%. Will that do?”
Lin Li smiled, and said, “Mr. William, I don’t think you understood what I meant. I’m not here to discuss a business deal with you. What I’m interested in are these formulas. As for the business deal, there’ll be someone else to discuss with you.”
Upon hearing his words, William immediately pointed at the box of recipes without hesitation, and said, “Please, these formulas are only going to go to waste if they’re left in my hands. Only you can realize their value.”
Norfeller placed the scrolls in the box and put the lid on as if it belonged to him.
After receiving the formulas, Lin Li nodded in satisfaction, and said, “Rest assured, Mr. William. I won’t take these formulae from you for nothing. From today onwards, the Time Consignment Store shall have the sole, exclusive right to auction these potions. Don’t underestimate this right, because a 10% commission will bring you massive wealth. Although it can’t be compared to the Glittergold Trade Union, you should have no problem surpassing Castellan Arathor.”
“Hehe, I hope so, I hope so…” William chuckled, though he felt different deep down.
He believed in the power of the pharmacists and the fact that several precious pharmaceutical formulas would bring any force a massive amount of wealth.
However, William did not think that the exclusive auction right alone would allow him to surpass Castellan Arathor, for the Arathor Family had already been the castellans for more than 100 years. Who could compare to the experience and wealth that they had accumulated for hundreds of years? Not to forget, they were in Roland City, the richest place in the entire Breezy Plains. The huge grain production of countless farms brought immeasurable wealth to Arathor.
“Hehe…” Lin Li smiled and shook his head, well aware of what William was thinking. He simply did not want to expose William. Hence, he smiled, and casually said, “By the way, Mr. William, if there’s not much for you to do lately, you may start preparing for the publicity and advertisement matters. As for the content… you may revolve it around the theme of Dragon’s Clout potion…”
“Alright…” William nodded. Just as he was about to confirm the publicity details, his face stiffened, and he gaped like a cat which had just gotten its tail stepped on. He screeched, “What… What!?! Dragon’s Clout Potion!?!”
“Yes, Dragon’s Clout Potion. One of the formulas that you had given me was used by the elves to create the Dragon’s Clout Potion for the nurturing of the Ghost Warriors.”
William swallowed his saliva forcefully and stood still as if he had been struck by a spell.
Dragon’s Clout Potion…
William had never expected one of the formulas which he had casually chucked in the vault to turn out to be that for the Dragon’s Clout Potion.
William had never seen a real Dragon’s Clout Potion in the flesh before, but it was a magical potion that was mentioned several times in legends of the Dark Age, together with the formidable Ghost Warriors. The High Elves had always been known for their magic. In fact, they even had a Magic Legion comprised of Archmages.
However, the High Elves did not rely on their mages to gain dictatorship over the world. The Ghost Warrior Army was their strongest asset.
Everyone knew that the High Elves ruled Anril, and that the Ghost Warriors were all selected from various races. They needed not have extraordinary magical talent or stunning looks, but they had to have powerful physical strength and great courage. After being selected to join the army, they would enjoy great respect and a high status that was worlds apart from their former identity, which was akin to slaves. If they could make a great contribution to the army, they would even have the opportunity to become low-level aristocrats, which was incredible in Anril at that time.
The Dragon’s Clout Potion was one of the enviable privileges enjoyed by the Ghost Warrior army back then. The large amounts of Dragon’s Clout Potion would allow Ghost Warrior Army to enjoy immeasurable strength and power on the battlefield.
Unfortunately, the Dragon’s Clout Potion was lost as the Dark Age passed and the High Elves got buried by time.
William had never expected to hear a young mage tell him in the vault of the Time Consignment Store that the formula he had just given him was for the Dragon’s Clout Potion…
William absolutely regretted it…
That was the formula of the Dragon’s Clout Potion. In today’s world, where most formulae had already gone missing, it could be considered a priceless treasure.
Wilkinson seemed to have seen through William’s thoughts. He coldly said, “Mr. William, are you thinking that you should have sold these formulas to the Pharmacists Guild if you’d known how impressive they were from the start?”
“H-how could that be?” William denied, turning as red as a tomato.
“Is that so?” Wilkinson sneered in contempt, and continued, “Actually, Mr. William, if you’d like to back out, you still have time to do so. We’ve never liked forcing others against their will. If you think that you’d prefer to sell these formulas to the Pharmacists Guild, you may change your mind now. However, I have to remind you that no other pharmacist in Anril, apart from President Felic, can formulate the potion perfectly… By the way, my name is Wilkinson, and I’m the apprentice of Mr. Balbo, the President of the Anril Pharmacists Guild. When I said that no other pharmacist can formulate that potion, I meant that even my teacher Balbo can’t do so.”
“No, no, not at all!” William said frantically with an awkward expression upon hearing Wilkinson’s harsh sarcastic remark. At the start, he’d indeed been patronizing them, but when he heard Wilkinson’s words, he began to feel terrified.
Even though Lin Li’s potion was auctioned off at a sky-high price of more than 10,000,000 gold coins, William still did not pin any hopes on him. William had always thought that there was an independent pharmaceutical team behind the Tower of Dusk because he could not figure out where the senior pharmacists had come from.
Senior pharmacists were destined to be the brightest shining stars who couldn’t be overshadowed by anything else in this world. That was also the reason William had not thought about the Pharmacist Guild. No one would believe that a bunch of low-level and intermediate pharmacists would be able to advance to senior pharmacists after just a few months of training. That was a crazy and absurd idea.
However, William knew that Wilkinson was a true senior pharmacist who was going to become a Master of pharmaceutics. Hence, he was definitely not insane, and his words ought not be doubted. Actually, William also knew that the formulae would just end up going to waste in his hands. It was not that he had not inquired about them from the Pharmacist Guild before. The Master of pharmaceutics from the guild told him that there might not be a single pharmacist in the entire world of Anril who could formulate the potions.
It seemed that this cooperation would be a loss for William, who would be earning less money. The problem was that he would not earn a single cent if there was no one to concoct the potions based on the formulae. Sometimes, he ought to be content with whatever he earned, even if it was just a small amount of profit. After all, it was at least better than nothing.
William was not a greedy person, and he soon figured it all out.
They left the underground vault, and William ushered them upstairs. Since they’ve already decided on cooperation, they had to discuss the details thoroughly.
The Archmage Gavin had always been the one in charge of business-related matters for the Tower of Dusk, and this time was no exception. Lin Li, who had nothing to do, whipped out the formulas and scrutinized them carefully, scroll after scroll.
Lin Li unfolded one of the scrolls slowly, and frowned as soon as he saw the content. He thought, This damn scroll is not a pharmaceutical formula at all. Although the formulas of advanced potions often included the assembling method of specialized equipment, the scrolls were clearly just design sketches of certain equipment.
Initially, Lin Li was not that bothered by it. However, his face began to grow sullen as he continued to read the rest of the scroll. With his outstanding abilities as a forging Guru, he soon discovered the amazing aspect of the sketch. It turned out to be a Master-level forging design sketch that he was not confident of mastering.
Besides, it was the sketch for an extremely rare manual crossbow…
