Chapter 97: An Invite from Alanna

To some extent, the black lotus had gone beyond the scope of herbal medicine. Where it grew, it had to have rich fire magical element and an extreme temperature enough to melt steel. In the process of growing, the black lotus would continuously absorb the fire magical element around it until it fully matured.

This was a long process. It might take ten years for a black lotus to fully mature. During this long period of time, the fire magical element it absorbed was exceedingly huge in amount; the strength of it was even close to the magic of an Archmage.

This was already the case with one black lotus, let alone as many as four or five.

Lin Li couldn’t believe that the Fire Plume Ridge could contain such amazing fire magical element.

“Sean, do you remember where you picked this herb?”

The big young man smiled and said, “It seemed to be in a cave, heh… I accidentally fell in.”

In Lin Li’s confused eyes, Sean began to talk about his experience.

The pair of father and son had gone to the Fire Plume Ridge to hunt for the Fire Crow, a level-five magical beast.

As a mage, Lin Li was no stranger to the Fire Crow. The difficulty of casting various fire spells could be reduced using the feathers of the Fire Crow. It was also a good-selling item in many magic stores.

This was a very interesting magical beast, with an innate advantage of being immune to fire spells. But its strength was not worthy of a mention; they were far inferior to the lions of the same level. Worst of all, they were voracious eaters. This weakness was extremely fatal. Even the lowest-level adventurers could trap them if they were aware of this weakness.

Sean and his father were such adventurers. That day, they went up to the Fire Plume Ridge and very quickly set up the traps, then began to wait patiently for the Fire Crow to take the bait.

For some reasons unknown, there were many Fire Crows on the hook that day. Initially, there was only a couple of them, but at noon, hundreds of Fire Crows poured out all at once, frightening Sean and his father badly. Even if they were the least impressive among the level-five magical beasts, it was by no means possible for humans to compete with hundreds of them. Seeing the huge piece of brilliant red in the sky, the two of them turned around and fled immediately…

The flight lasted for half a day; it was almost evening when Sean finally got rid of the Fire Crows’ pursuit.

Then, he found himself separated from his father.

It was getting dark by the time. It was so dark in the Fire Plume Ridge that he couldn’t even see the road in front of him. Sean was relying on a half-broken fire torch, groping with difficulty on the rugged mountain road. It wasn’t long before Sean felt his foot slip, and the next thing he knew, he had crashed into a cave.

The honest young man did not have much in terms of eloquence indeed. He went back and forth but still failed to describe the cave clearly.

Lin Li could only barely guess the general location of the cave from his description. It should be somewhere on the top of the Fire Plume Ridge, where there were many winding forks; and in the corner of these forks, there were clumps of silverleaf.

Lin Li memorized these characteristics one by one, then asked casually, “Is the temperature in that cave higher than anywhere else?”

The honest young man was surprised. “How do you know?”

“Heh, I guessed.”

Lin Li chuckled, but in his mind, he was confused. Where four black lotus flowers could be produced, the fire magical element should be intensely rich. That was a real extreme temperature. Even if a piece of cast iron was put in it, it would probably be melted into a puddle of molten iron.

Moreover, it was inside a cave. In the almost sealed environment, the temperature would be even more terrible. How could Sean walk into it and come out fine?

Could it be… that there was another source for the fire magical element?

This was not a good news…

Naturally formed extreme environments were terrifying but there were always ways to overcome them.

But if there was another source of the fire magical element, the force was probably something that human power could not contend with.

Nobody knew what was hidden in it. What if it was a mighty fire magical beast?

He should find a chance to see it… Lin Li quickly made up his mind. The temptation of the black lotus was too great; especially after having felt the power of the Elixir of the Sages intuitively, the temptation had grown even stronger. A black lotus petal could create such a miraculous realm; if it was replaced by the legendary Ephemeral Divinity Potion, perhaps he could even kill legendary-level characters at will.

Just as Lin Li was distracted, a sudden cough came from the bed.

“Father, are you awake?” Sean was pleasantly surprised hearing the coughing.

Although the venom of the Golden-Eyed Lizard had been cleared, the middle-aged man’s body had yet to fully recover. There was an unconcealable weakness in his voice. “Sean… Who is this mage?”

“Father, this is Mage Felic.” Sean put a pillow under his father to make him more comfortable. “Mage Felic is the one who treated the poison in your body.”

“Mage Felic…” Perhaps it was because he had just woken up, but the middle-aged man was still in a daze at first. Then, he remembered the name that had spread all over Jarrosus. The name was too loud and clear, so the middle-aged man was still in disbelief after he had recalled it. “You… You are Guild of Magic’s… Mage Felic?”

“Hello, Mr Poliro. I am Felic.” Lin Li’s head was pounding. Since the duel with Cromwell, almost all of Jarrosus knew his name, and that had caused him a lot of trouble. After all, he was only in his twenties and was not ready to become famous.

“Oh my God… You’re really the Magic Shooter, Felic?” The middle-aged man was agitated and there was an incredulous look in his eyes. Felic from the Guild of Magic—the genius pharmacist, the youngest Magic Shooter. With all the glory and fame, he was like a legend. Poliro had never dreamt that, one day, the legend would stand in front of him and even cure him of his toxic injury.

“Sean… Help me up.” The voice of the middle-aged man was still weak, but his tone was firm.

The honest young man hesitated at first. After all, his father had just recovered from a serious illness and should lie in bed to rest. However, under the persistence of the middle-aged man, he carefully helped his father up.

“Mr Poliro, with your current condition, it’s not suitable for you to get out of bed…”

Before Lin Li could finish his sentence, he saw the middle-aged man break away from Sean’s support then kneel down on one knee, scaring Lin Li into helping him up promptly. “Mr Poliro, what are you doing?”

“You saved my life, but I have nothing to repay you with.” It was unknown where the strength to move had come from in the middle-aged man who had just recovered from a serious illness. Lin Li tried to pull him up twice in succession but he remained motionless. One of his knees was firmly nailed to the ground and his tone was extremely stubborn. “I can only express my gratitude in this way.”

“Alright, alright… Please quickly get up. The venom of the Golden-Eyed Lizard has just been removed. You’d better stay in bed these few days and not walk around at will.” After helping the middle-aged man up, Lin Li left them some advice in a hurry and was prepared to say goodbye to the simple father and son. Kneeling down to convey one’s gratitude was touching, but Lin Li still could not adapt to it.

When Lin Li left, it was Sean who sent him out.

As they approached the Emerald Tower, the honest young man suddenly showed a look of desire to speak, but he did not do so on the second thought.

“Sean, is anything the matter?”

At Lin Li’s urging, Sean bit his teeth and seemed to have mustered his courage. “Mage Felic… I would like to ask you for something.”

“What is it?”

“Would you consider making me your attendant?”

“Making you my attendant?” Lin Li didn’t expect Sean would ask for such a thing. He couldn’t help feeling curious. “Why?”

“Because… Because I’d like to repay you.”

“Haha…” Lin Li laughed, but did not reject him. He merely patted Sean on the shoulder. “Go back and discuss with your father. This is not a small matter.”

“Mm.” Sean nodded heavily and sent Lin Li all the way to the gates of the Guild of Magic. He stopped in front of the Emerald Tower. “Can I come to the Guild of Magic to see you after I’ve discussed it with Father?”

“Yes.”

“Then, goodbye, Mage Felic.”

“Goodbye.”

After watching the honest young man leave, Lin Li turned around and entered the guild hall.

Then, he saw a plump figure. Gerian was pacing restlessly in the hall; his plump face was strained; his expression was as if he was constipated. Knowing that the President was in a bad mood, the guild mages tried to shun him, escaping far away. Nobody dared to stay too close to him at this time.

“What happened, Mr President?” Lin Li was probably the only one in the whole Guild of Magic who dared to approach Gerian at this point in time.

“Little bastard, you’re finally back…” When Gerian saw that Lin Li had returned, the constipated expression on his face relaxed at once, but his nagging continued. “Are you a rabbit, you little bastard? You were out of sight as soon as you went out. I was about to go crazy trying to look for you!”

“Something happened?”

“A big one!” Gerian’s expression was exaggerated. “But it’s a good one!”

“What’s the good thing?”

“When I came back at noon today, I received an official letter from the Alanna Council,” Gerian spoke cheerfully. “They are providing a three-month study opportunity for each of the 30 magic guilds in the Felan Kingdom, and they require mages above level-seven and under the age of 25. The Alanna Council will arrange a trial after three months of study, and the guilds that win the top three positions will automatically receive the highest level of appraisal in this year’s Supreme Council evaluation…”

“So… you’re counting on me? I say, Mr President, can you be a little more humane? I just finished my duel with Cromwell. Can’t you let me rest for two more days?”

“You kid don’t know what’s good or bad. I’m doing it for you!” Gerian was furious, and gently slapped Lin Li on the head. “This is a learning opportunity arranged by the Supreme Council. The mentor assigned to you is at least of the legendary level; it may even be one of the seven arbitrators. Your magic gift is so perverted. If you can spend three months with an arbitrator, you may even break through to the Archmage realm directly… Do you think such opportunity comes by every day? You don’t wish to go, but a lot of people have sharpened their heads as they tried to drill into a spot. If Kevin wasn’t too old for this, I would send him for it…”

“Is it that impressive?” Lin Li still had some suspicion. It was not that he didn’t want to go to Alanna. It was just his innate laziness acting up; he could not change it in a short while.

“It IS that impressive!” Gerian’s eyes were wide open as he came to a firm conclusion.

Gerian was so determined. Lin Li thought over it; he had to find Andoine to interpret the High Elves Print anyway, and he also had to go to the Fire Plume Ridge to search for the black lotus. The Alanna Council was on the way, so he agreed half-heartedly. “Then… When do I set off?”

“Three days later. It will take about two days from Jarrosus to Alanna. I’ll arrange a carriage to take you there. Kid, you’d better not let me down. Get the first place for me at the trial. I’ll see who dares to laugh at the Jarrosus Guild of Magic for not being able to foster talent then!”

“…”

“Oh, right…” After hesitating for a moment, Gerian lowered his voice and asked, “Do you have a potion that can hide your magic level?”

“F*ck!” Lin Li gave a start. “You want me to cheat?”

“What cheat? Don’t make it sound so bad…” Even if Gerian was thick-skinned, he couldn’t help but blush when he was exposed on the spot. But he was still stubborn with his words. “I was afraid your magic level would scare the other fools… Well, is there any?”

“Yes, there is. But how many levels do I have to suppress?”

“The standard on the official letter is level-ten. Why don’t you be more resolute and suppress it to level-seven? Anyway, you’re a freak. Even if you really did something out of the ordinary then, you could stretch the truth using your sick mental strength as an excuse.”