Chapter 850: Cooperative Exploration
Magic spells were essentially descriptions of Laws, like theoretical formulas that had been summed up by people. The mages below the Legendary-realm were still unable to really comprehend the mystery of the Laws, and could only use magic spells to activate and mobilize the nomological power in order to cast magic. Putting aside the Sanctuary powerhouses that were almost godly, even the ones in the Legendary-realm were almost free from relying on magic spells.
The Immortal King was a powerful existence that was probably not at all inferior to actual gods. The Immortal King’s mastery of the Laws was already beyond just comprehension and simple control. In fact, he had already reached the level of being able to change existing Laws and create new ones. Given the Immortal King’s level, how could he solemnly write the Book of Ten Thousand Incantations? Surely he couldn’t have been thinking of using it as teaching material for the High Elves who were beginners in magic?
That was not an exaggeration at all. Stepping into the Legendary-realm was not a difficult task for the High Elves, who compared themselves to the gods, at all. The Book of Ten Thousand Incantations, which was considered priceless in Anril today, was only regarded as a book about the introduction to magic during the era of the High Elves.
The Immortal King had indeed played a vital role in the rise of the High Elves. He could be considered the one who single-handedly pushed the High Elves to the top and built seven Sky Castles to guard the High Elves’ Dynasty. However, the Immortal King was not the High Elves’ nanny. If the Immortal King had had to worry about things like them getting started with practicing magic, what rights would they have had to establish the unprecedented dynasty in Anril back then?
On the other hand, Lin Li looked at the journal left behind by the Immortal King, and felt that the content was reasonably more profound and in line with what a godlike powerhouse should be like. Although the soul creation technique that Lin Li had expected previously was not mentioned in the journal, there was an in-depth analysis of the creation of the body, which was far more perfect than Osric’s notes.
In the Immortal King’s journal, the techniques involved in the creation of the perfect body belonged to different fields, such as Alchemy, pharmaceutics, Inscription, and many others, and were all at the peak of Guru-level. They were probably just a small step away from reaching the level of the Divine Smith. In the entire Anril, there was probably no one except the Immortal King who could possess such profound knowledge.
Looking at the Book of Ten Thousand Incantations and the Immortal King’s journal which were in front of him, Lin Li felt like his mind was in a whirlwind. Regardless of how he tried to sort them out, he couldn’t figure anything out at all. The Immortal King’s journal was definitely genuine, and the handwriting in it was similar to that in the Book of Ten Thousand Incantations. The similarity seemed to prove that it was also written by the Immortal King. However, the slightly superficial content in the Book of Ten Thousand Incantations made Lin Li feel like it could not be associated with the Immortal King. However, if it didn’t belong to the Immortal King, Lin Li couldn’t think of a reason for the similarity between the handwriting…
Lin Li thought a lot about the two books, but he could only put them away in the end and forget about his doubts for now. No matter what, the Book of Ten Thousand Incantations was definitely valuable for the Tower of Dusk, and it would at least be able to help the mages equip themselves with more offensive and defensive means.
On the second day, Hoffman and Lin Li sat together for a casual chat again while the others went on to discuss the cooperation between the two parties.
“What’s the matter? Master Hoffman, you probably gained a lot this night, didn’t you?” Lin Li asked when he noticed that Hoffman had a look of excitement on his face. He knew that Hoffman had spent the entire night in the laboratory, and reckoned that he should have made plenty of gains.
“Amazing, this is really amazing,” Hoffman exclaimed as he shook his head. Every potion formula was deduced and confirmed only after tens of thousands of experiments had been made, during which the amount of every single herb had to be precise and accurate. However, there were 15 herbs in the formula that formed a lock, which was rather impressive.
“I don’t know how you got hold of the Book of Ten Thousand Incantations, Master Hoffman. Do you know any more information about its origins?” Lin Li asked. He had not figured out the relationship between the Book of Ten Thousand Incantations and the Immortal King last night. Hence, he wanted to find out more from Hoffman.
Upon hearing Lin Li ask about the Book of Ten Thousand Incantations, Hoffman snapped out of his trance, and thought for a while before saying, “I actually obtained the Book of Ten Thousand Incantations by chance. As for its origins, I only know that Osric looted it from the Endless Abyss. Although it doesn’t seem believable, I haven’t heard of other rumors.”
Upon hearing this, Lin Li kept a straight face, but he could not help but be disappointed deep down. He said, “I’ve seen the content of the book last night, and the magic spells listed in it are very precious. However, with Osric’s abilities, he probably didn’t value the Book of Ten Thousand Incantations very much.”
Hoffman had owned the Book of Ten Thousand Incantations for years; hence, he was naturally very clear about it. He nodded, and said, “However, it was said that Osric had looted more than just the Book of Ten Thousand Incantations from the Endless Abyss. He had also snatched another book called the Book of Ten Thousand Spells. I’ve been searching for it for years, but sadly to no avail. I don’t know how the two books are related, either.”
“Book of Ten Thousand Spells?” Lin Li asked as he suddenly got reminded of something that had long been forgotten. Had Hoffman not mentioned it, Lin Li would probably never have thought of it again.
Back in the Alanna Pharmacist Guild, Lin Li had managed to attract the attention of many people because of his superb abilities in formulating potions. At that time, Hoffman had talked to Lin Li about the formula, and promised to give him the Book of Ten Thousand Incantations in exchange for his help.
When Hoffman had left back then, Lin Li had received another esteemed and distinguished guest, Balbo, the President of the Pharmacist Guild. Balbo suggested that Lin Li join the Pharmacist Guild, and offered to give him a place in the guild and the Book of Ten Thousand Spells.
Although Lin Li did not know what the Book of Ten Thousand Spells was like, he was well aware of its value. The Book of Ten Thousand Spells was indeed a precious magic book, but even for Lin Li, it wasn’t of much use now. Osric was at the peak of the Sanctuary-realm; hence, the Book of Ten Thousand Spells meant even less to him.
Do the Book of Ten Thousand Incantations and the Book of Ten Thousand Spells simply have similar names? Or is there a deeper relationship between them? At the thought of this, Lin Li secretly noted it in his mind, and thought that he would find a time to talk to Balbo about it. Perhaps he might be able to get the Book of Ten Thousand Spells.
With that idea in mind, Lin Li stopped mentioning the Book of Ten Thousand Incantations, and instead talked to Hoffman about other things. They chatted about everything, from the development of the Tower of Dusk in the past two years to the history of the Glittergold Trade Union; from the events that happened since Lin Li left the rural Jarrosus to how Hoffman helmed the Glittergold Trade Union; and so on.
After chatting for a while, Hoffman stopped all of a sudden, and remained silent for a while before saying, “President Felic, I invited you over this time to talk about another partnership opportunity in addition to the business cooperation and the potion formula.”
“Oh? Please go ahead,” said Lin Li, who could not help but be interested after seeing Hoffman’s solemn expression.
“Master Felic, you’ve also found out just now that we might be famous in the Breezy Plains because of our businesses, but the capital that we got started with came from the ancient treasures that were found exploring those ancient ruins, which continues even until now.” The conversation just now was not a meaningless one. Hoffman managed to find out more about Lin Li and the Tower of Dusk through the conversation just now, and thus decided to talk about that matter.
Hoffman did bring up that matter when he introduced the history of the Glittergold Trade Union to Lin Li. Nicely put, it was archeology, but to put it crudely, it was just raiding tombs. At the end of the High Elves Dynasty, many valuable tombs and ruins were left in Anril, and nearly half of them were excavated by the Glittergold Trade Union. Lin Li nodded without interjecting, but deep down, he could vaguely guess what Hoffman wanted to talk about. He reckoned that it had something to do with the ancient ruins.
“In terms of the exploration of ancient ruins, especially those of the High Elves, we can proudly say that the Glittergold Trade Union has the most authority in the entire Anril,” Hoffman said smugly after his mention of the excavation of ruins.
Lin Li also knew that Hoffman was sounding as modest as he could. At the end of the Dark Age, the High Elves were eradicated in Anril, and the Glittergold Trade Union was not the only force that coveted their remaining assets and treasures.
The High Elves had ruled Anril for countless years. In addition to enslaving and exploiting several races on Anril, they had also dispatched various Magic Legions to excavate the ruins. Even the terrifying Endless Abyss was emptied out. One could only imagine how much wealth had been excavated. However, there was still a massive amount of wealth left in Anril, even though a lot of it had been divided amongst the forces that had formed the rebellion army.
During that period of time, almost the entire Anril was plunged into the upsurge of exploring the ruins of the High Elves, and countless adventurers went mad for it. However, there were definitely not many who could truly reap the attractive amount of wealth from the ruins of the High Elves. To the adventurers, the massive wealth buried everywhere was more like countless traps buried all around the place.
However, the Glittergold Trade Union seemed to have treated the High Elves’ ruins like their personal treasure vault, which they harvested plenty of wealth from time and time again. Simply based on that, the Glittergold Trade Union could definitely be regarded as a respectable and authoritative force in the entire Anril.
“Master Felic, you’ve probably already guessed what I’m going to say. Yes, we managed to discover a ruin that seems to be related to the High Elves. It’s in the Lockdamer area near the Dwarf Kingdom.” Although the cooperation had yet to be confirmed, Hoffman was still very confident in Lin Li, and did not hide anything.
“Lockdamer?” Lin Li asked. He was initially just listening quietly, but when he heard the name of that place, he couldn’t help but interrupt Hoffman. He apprehensively continued to ask, “Master Hoffman, pardon me for being blunt, but if I remember correctly, Lockdamer has always been a freezing snowfield since the Dark Age. The High Elves have always detested cold environments since they were born. Hence, there isn’t any information to prove that they’ve been in the Lockdamer area.”
Hoffman was not angry about Lin Li’s doubting him. Instead, he nodded with a smile, and said, “You’re right, Master Felic. We’re also rather skeptical of the clues that we’ve gotten. After all, everyone knows that the High Elves have never sent any elven army to the Dwarf Kingdom even during their heyday. That is also the reason why the Dwarf Kingdom wasn’t ruled harshly even though the Highlord Osric had nabbed the Dark Iron Dwarves.”
In Anril, the dwarves were famous for their forging techniques, and the Dark Iron Dwarves were the pioneers of the dwarves. Legend had it that the Highlord Osric sent his Magic Legion to capture all the outstanding blacksmiths amongst the Dark Iron Dwarves because of his interest in forging. He then made the Dark Iron Dwarves stay in his palace and demonstrate the forging techniques every day and night.
When the war between the rebellion alliance and the High Elves broke out, Osric annihilated the Dark Iron Dwarves in order to prevent the rebels from obtaining better equipment. In that war, the rebels wouldn’t have lost as much if the Dark Iron Dwarves had still been around. The fall of the High Elves would have happened much earlier too.
It was because the Sky-breaker that was used in the attack against the Sky Castles in the later part of the war was actually developed by the Dark Iron Dwarves. Had the Dark Iron Dwarves been the ones to create the Sky-breaker, their power would have been maximized within a short period of time.
However, throughout the Dark Age, the Dwarf Kingdom had never suffered much damage or harm inflicted by the High Elves, because the Dwarf Kingdom was situated in a cold place.
Hoffman first admitted that he didn’t believe it in the beginning, either. He then continued, “Although we don’t have high hopes for these clues, we’ve still sent a team of explorers to Lockdamer and carried out a simple search according to the clues.”
Hoffman’s words made Lin Li stunned for a moment, after which he asked in shock, “Did you find something?”
Lin Li initially thought that Hoffman had merely obtained the clues, but he did not expect to hear that Hoffman had already sent a team of adventurers to explore and verify the facts. Actually, it did make sense. Even though the leads were a little hard to believe, it was still related to the High Elves, after all. Even if there was only a minute possibility, it was indeed worth exploring.