Chapter 515: Getting Poached
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Wilkinson waved behind and gestured to his peers that he had succeeded in getting Master Felic to answer their question. However, he ended up being despised by his peers who kept saying that the questions was impossible to solve. There were barely any pharmacists who could answer such a question.
However, Lin Li’s words gave everyone a great shock, including Wilkinson.
“Enough, this question is interesting. There happens to be some time now. I shall tell you guys about this.
Lin Li ignored their reactions and instead turned around to walk towards the rostrum. He then wrote down the solution while saying, “In order to solve this problem, we’d have to apply intermediate pharmaceutics knowledge. However, it’s good for you low-level pharmacists to take a look.”
Staring at Lin Li who was scribbling on the blackboard, Wilkinson and the rest fell speechless. They finally realized that the pharmaceutics Master Lin Li did not belong to the same world as them at all.
Ever since then, the young pharmacists were dumbfounded, and they began to see President Felic as Master Felic. No one felt awkward about addressing a junior using an honorific term. In fact, they genuinely began to admire him.
Three months flew by.
A young pharmacist was dripping some transparent liquid into a crystal cup using a pipette. All of a sudden, silvery fumes of smoke and glitter filled the air while the transparent liquid in the crystal cup turned silver, resembling mercury.
“We’ve succeeded!” The young pharmacist gently placed the crystal cup down and jumped for joy in excitement.
The successful concoction of an advanced potion meant that the young pharmacist was far more experienced than senior pharmacists. However, he was the 22nd pharmacist who had successfully advanced to a senior rank.
After three months of learning under Lin Li, the 35 pharmacists experienced major changes. The first were Wilkinson and five other intermediate pharmacists, who advanced within less than a month. The rest was not lagging behind, either. They advanced rapidly from low-level to senior pharmacists. Their speed was in fact unprecedented.
So far, 20 out of the 35 young pharmacists had already reached the level of senior pharmacists, while Wilkinson, Balbo’s proud disciple, had already internalized all of the advanced pharmaceutics knowledge. He would become a Master soon.
Although it’d only been more than three months since the Syer Bandits had been eradicated, the reconstruction of Black Clouds Town was the only thing that followed. However, the factions of the Breezy Plains did not stop paying attention to the Tower of Dusk. After all, the Tower of Dusk was an important faction related to the Malfa Family.
Hence, the news of there being a group of senior pharmacists at the Tower of Dusk began to spread. It was so astonishing that no one could accept it calmly.
An Archmage could still be affected by some factions, like the Adventurer Emendas, who got recruited by the Malfa Family. However, a senior pharmacist was rarely recruited, unless by an extraordinary and powerful authority like the Supreme Council. Similarly, a pharmaceutics Guru would rarely be recruited unless by the Pharmacist Guild.
Hence, to most of the powerful authorities, senior pharmacists could be said to be their limit when it came to recruitment. Every one of them was an invaluable treasure. There were more than 20 senior pharmacists in the Tower of Dusk, so everyone in the Breezy Plains was jealous and envious of the Tower of Dusk.
The mercenary corps were only a small group in the Breezy Plains, but their leader, Ona, was very ambitious. He was also famous for a period of time during the establishment of the Tower of Dusk. Although he was just the leader of less than 200 mercenaries, he still managed to instruct some of his subordinates to pay attention to the Tower of Dusk.
Actually, the mercenary corps did have some comments and opinions of their own about Ona wasting humanitarian and monetary resources. After all, there were less than 200 members in the corp, and they were perhaps only a little bit stronger than the Adventurers in the Breezy Plains. What would the situation of the Tower of Dusk have to do with such a small faction?
However, Ona had a different opinion. He felt that the Tower of Dusk had to be rather powerful since it could grow so rapidly within a short period of time. Even if Ona did not gain any benefits, it would be advantageous to his mercenary corps if he could find out the secrets behind their development.
It was the day of receiving the news, and just like in the past, Ona was in the middle of a swordsmanship routine in the backyard. Later on, he wiped his sweat and picked up an intel report that he had received just now. After examining the seal on it, he tore the envelope open and pulled out the letter inside. His wrist vibrated a little, and the letter was removed from the envelope. He then sat on the chair and picked up the cup of tea that he had prepared beforehand.
He then immediately snorted with laughter!
He spat his tea out at the same time, but, fortunately, he had taken the intel report away in time. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to read it anymore. After coughing a few times, he finally got a grip on himself and shifted his gaze onto the intel report.
“Damn it, do these two jerks think that their tasks are too easy? How dare they crack such a joke with me?” Ona stared at the intel report, which contained news of the Tower of Dusk recruiting 20-odd pharmacists. There were plenty of factions in the Breezy Plains which were looking to recruit a senior pharmacist. Although the Tower of Dusk had gotten associated with the Malfa Family, the Malfa Family did not have that many senior pharmacists.
“Leader, what’s wrong?” his subordinate asked upon seeing his leader spitting the tea out.
Ona threw the report onto the table with a wave. “Damn it, seems like those two rascals have to be dismissed. How dare they give me such absurd intel?”
The subordinate glanced at the report on the table, after which his expression turned a little peculiar.
Feeling a little displeased, Ona rebuked, “What’s wrong? If there’s something you have to say, say it. Stop acting so weird.”
“Leader, this… this intel is real,” said the subordinate.
“Really? How did you find out?” Ona asked with a frown.
“Leader, the news of there being 20-odd senior pharmacists in the Tower of Dusk has spread all around the Breezy Plains. I have a friend—”
Ona dismissed his subordinate angrily with a sullen expression, after which he gritted his teeth and turned around to leave. How infuriating. I sent people to keep an eye, and yet I received the news two days later than everyone else. Why should I even keep them around!?
However, after getting angry, Ona remembered the content of the intelligence report. How could he let the Tower of Dusk keep all 20 senior pharmacists? He worked hard for the development of the mercenary corps, but it turned out he still wasn’t as lucky as others.
Ona suddenly remembered that he had a childhood friend who was now the chairman of a business association. He recalled chatting with him a while ago and talking about his self-made fortune and success. The friend said that he sold one fruit for the price of two fruits, and then sold two fruits for the price of four fruits. However, he revealed in the end that he could achieve all he had because he inherited the legacy of an elder.
Luck had to be the trick for the rapid rise of the Tower of Twilight. Otherwise, how could they have gotten the favor of the Malfa Family with a small organization that they had just established? Ona suddenly felt a little discouraged, for he realized that there were many things that could not be achieved just by putting in effort. The development that he wanted for his team would be a huge leap for them; unfortunately, an insignificant organization like theirs could not afford to even hope for a senior pharmacist, not to mention 20 or so of them.
In fact, after the news broke, there were plenty of leaders of minor factions who had the same idea as Ona. They had worked hard to do everything they could for the development of their factions, but even after many years of hard work, they still could not be compared with others. No one would be able to stay calm under such circumstances. Plenty of people began cussing their hearts out and lamenting about their plight.
Ona vented his anger and thought about the 20 senior pharmacist, after which he couldn’t help but fantasize. If his team could get the support of 20 or so senior pharmacists, they would definitely be able to stand up to the Dark Blade and the Malfa Family—if they ever had to one day. He couldn’t help but shiver, because it was all just a fantasy of his, while the Tower of Dusk did have more than 20 senior pharmacists. Well, this newly established Tower of Dusk was not far from their rise in the Breezy Plains.
There were countless small forces like Ona’s corps in the Breezy Plains, and all of them could only dream about having as many senior pharmacists as there were at the Tower of Dusk. However, there were many others apart from them who had the audacity to covet the senior pharmacists in the Tower of Dusk and think that they had the capital to fight the battle.
How much could a newly established minor force offer to the senior pharmacists even if they were to get into the good books of the Malfa Family? Plenty of powerful forces thought that way. They felt that they could offer the same conditions and benefits that the Tower of Dusk had.
Gaget, the leader of the ambitious White Shadow, could acutely sense an opportunity to rise.
How had the Tower of Dusk attracted those senior pharmacists? Was it money? Although the White Shadow was not exactly a merchant organization, they owned many shops and businesses in cities of all sizes in the Breezy Plains. Hence, as far as money went, they might not be inferior to the Tower of Dusk at all.
Or was it because of some attractive promises that they’d made? That couldn’t be. The Tower of Dusk was just a small force that had been established less than a year ago. Regardless of how well it had been managed, it did not have a strong foundation, and was destined not to undergo any major development.
The only possibility could be that they had pulled the personal relations card and done the pharmacists a favor. Everyone knew how hard it was to return favors. However, it would be impossible for so many senior pharmacist to owe an insignificant mage huge favors.
Gaget analyzed the situation for a while, and was stunned by the results of his analysis. He was suddenly overwhelmed with euphoria. Yeah, in that case, those 20 or so senior pharmacists were basically prepared for others to take over. He smacked his hand against the armrest of his chair. Since the other forces might have thought of what he did too, he decided that he had to act fast.
For a moment, the word of this group of senior pharmacists seemed to have swept the Breezy Plains like a hurricane. The various forces were like sharks that had smelled blood. They wished they could dash into the Tower of Dusk to snatch the pharmacists away. Of course, they also had to be mindful. After all, the Tower of Dusk had the formidable Malfa Family to support them.
Compared to the past, the atmosphere in the Tower of Dusk was much livelier, and all forces had sent their people to try and approach the senior pharmacists in a bid to poach them. Although it was not as bustling as Mentingruo City, Black Clouds Town had indeed become much more prosperous.
The Tower of Dusk was becoming more and more lively. As the majordomo of the Tower of Dusk, Gavin was feeling extremely anxious, for he knew clearly what the senior pharmacists meant to Tower of Dusk. If any of them got poached, it would definitely be a huge loss that couldn’t be compensated for.
However, what was alarming was that the young President seemed to know nothing, and had yet to take any measures at all, let alone investigate who’d leaked the news. After seeing an outsider communicate with one of the senior pharmacists, Gavin finally couldn’t hold it back anymore, and barged into the President’s office in a hurry.
“President, this can’t go on. Those outsiders are absolutely dauntless. They actually had the guts to poach our people in our hall. They’re completely disrespecting us.” Gavin was feeling extremely anxious and displeased with the fact that others were trying to poach their pharmacists.
“Oh, what else do you want me to do? Those pharmacists are not our slaves. We can’t hide them from others,” Lin Li said nonchalantly, seemingly not worried at all. It was as if the ones being poached were not his pharmacists.