Chapter 15: Private Discussion
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
For the next few days, Lin Li was up to his ears in work.
Gerian had arranged Kevin to run his errands, but he still had to do a lot of work by himself, for example copying spells in the library.
Looking at the mountainous pile of magic books in front of him, Lin Li finally understood why that old fellow Andoine always said that there was no end to the world of magic. With so many books, it would take him a few years just to read the table of contents, not to mention studying the spells that were recorded in them.
Lin Li had been sitting in the library for two days. There were about twenty or thirty spells recorded in the magic book, all of which he thought were useful.
He had only two criteria when it came to choosing the magic books. One, the spell had to be short; two, the magical elements had to be simple.
Most mages would have scoffed at these criteria.
Among the same level of magic, the longer the spell and the more complex the structure, the greater the power. Since it all consumed the same magical power, who wouldn’t choose the one with greater power? It was just like playing a game of mahjong—with a good set of tiles in hand, who wouldn’t want to give pure hands or something a shot?
But to Lin Li, the intensity of power was not important at all.
“I don’t wish for the best, but I wish for the most!” With the support of an enormous mental strength, Lin Li never had to worry about exhausting his magical powers, much less about his mental strength being unable to hold out.
Instead, the prolonged recitation of spells might put him in more danger. Since he couldn’t solve the problem of his recitation speed in a short time, Lin Li simply chose the easier magic to learn. His powers wouldn’t be exhausted anyway; if one didn’t work, he’d use several more. With dozens of magical powers blasting down, what wouldn’t be knocked down?
Gerian took time off in between to look at what Lin Li was doing. After witnessing his weird selection criteria, the fat old man couldn’t help feeling the jitters on his back…
Look at what the twenty or thirty spells were about.
Mind control, warlock’s eyes, arcane missile, fragility, paralysis, power shield, power amplification, hysteria, delirium, fossilizing…
Other than a few purely offensive spells like the arcane missiles, everything else was ruthless control spells.
Gerian said nothing, touched his nose, and slipped out. Once out, he muttered to himself, “Is the kid really the disciple of Andoine?” He didn’t know Andoine had a taste for such things…
Copying the spells was a burdensome thing to do, particularly for a dabbler like Lin Li who had a poor foundation in the local language. Other than the lingua franca of this world, all other languages were Greek to him. So, he had to go through different language guides as he wrote the spells down into the magic book.
He had spent almost two days on those twenty or thirty spells.
When he looked up from the pile of books the next day, it was already evening.
Lin Li did a long stretch and returned the books to their original positions. He was about to leave the library when he saw Kevin walking in.
“Felic, are you done with copying the spells?” Kevin saw Lin Li packing up the books just as he entered. “Right. President Gerian wanted me to tell you that he’s waiting for you in the hall on the ground floor and would like you to go to him once you’re done with copying the spells. He looked like he had something to tell you.”
“What’s so urgent?” Lin Li was all ears. The fat old man had just come to the library in the morning, why hadn’t he said anything then?
“He didn’t say why, just asked you to come.”
“Oh… Sorry to trouble you.”
Lin Li left the library. Very soon, he found Gerian in the hall on the ground floor.
The fat old man, who was in a good mood today, was instructing two young mages.
“Fools! Can’t you all be any dumber? You couldn’t even complete such an easy elemental sequencing, what is in your minds all day?” Of course, his approach was out of the ordinary as always.
The two young mages were bruised from all the lecturing, but they had not the courage to speak up for themselves. They could only lower their heads in grievance and listen earnestly to the lecture of the fat old man. They seemed to have found their savior when they saw Lin Li coming down, and quickly threw him glances that called for help.
“President Gerian, I heard you were looking for me?” Lin Li shook his head seeing those two poor fellows, but he began by greeting the fat old man.
“Felic, you’ve come.” It had indeed helped the two mages out of their predicament. Gerian had no time to lecture them seeing that Lin Li had come. “Come, come, I have something to discuss with you.”
“You two…” Halfway in his strides, Gerian seemed to recall something, but after a moment of hesitation, he waved at the two unlucky mages. “Forget it, scram as far as you can…”
For reasons unknown, Gerian seemed extra cautious along the way. He brought Lin Li to the reception room so that no one could interrupt them.
If one were to ask where the safest place in the whole of Jarrosus Guild of Magic was, it would undoubtedly be the reception room. There were seven Warlock’s Eyes at the door, providing an all-dimensional surveillance of each and every occurrence in the surrounding. Behind the tightly shut door was a magic probing mageweath, emitting a faint wave of magic. Under the influence of the mageweath, any magical spying activities would never go unnoticed by Gerian.
Lin Li knew it wasn’t a trivial matter upon seeing how serious Gerian was. He pulled a chair and took a seat, quietly waiting for Gerian to start.
Gerian was looking extremely cautious today; even in the reception room, which was the safest of all places, he couldn’t seem to be at ease. He cast another Life Sensor Spell, and after making sure that there were no living people around, he started whispering, “Tell me, when did you offend the Merlin Family?”
“The Merlin Family?” It was the second time Lin Li heard Gerian mentioning the name; the previous time was a few days ago, when he was going through the level certification. He remembered the fat old man throwing a huge tantrum, threatening to do something to the Merlin Family…
Lin Li was still in a daze when he suddenly recalled someone.
Cromwell! That’s right, it’s Cromwell!
When they had first reached Jarrosus City, the zealous mage had mentioned the very same name. If Lin Li had remembered correctly, his exact words were… “If you need help, do feel free to ask me. The Merlin Family does have a say in the Jarrosus’ Guild of Magic.”
“You mean… Cromwell?”
“That’s right, it’s him.” Gerian nodded. “Do you still remember the day you came?”
“Yes.”
“That day, after you went with Kevin to process the documents, someone working under Cromwell had come calling. Hmph, this fool had put in a request for me to kick you out of the guild. He must be blind!
“I didn’t have the time to care about it, and only sent Colin to warn them that they had better not find any trouble with you.” At this, Gerian let out a muffled groan. “But this idiot doesn’t know where to stop. This morning, he sent someone else here again, and this time, he dared to threaten me, saying that if I don’t do according to his wishes, he’ll convince his family to terminate all business contracts with the guild.”
Lin Li did not say anything. He watched Gerian with a grin on his face.
Gerian had been in charge of the Guild of Magic for decades; he was no ordinary character. He would probably have been devoured long time ago if he couldn’t even deal with someone like Cromwell.
Since he had brought this up voluntarily, he had to have a plan in mind.
From what Lin Li saw, the fat old man’s rage was merely just an attitude, an attitude of support for himself.
So, Lin Li did not utter a word, and waited for Gerian to speak.
“Hmph! He must be blind, not even looking at whom he’s threatening.” Sure enough, Gerian then announced in a towering rage, “Although Jarrosus Guild of Magic has been facing some difficulties these few years, we are not that down-and-out to be threatened by others! Since I was the one who got you into the guild, I will take responsibility for it. Whoever dares to touch you will have to ask for my permission!”
“Thank you, President!”