Chapter 929: Holding The Sky Castle
Jeremiah also sensed that there was something amiss about the atmosphere. When he saw Archbishop Martin looking at him that way, he thought that the old fogy could not bear to part with the potions, so he smiled nonchalantly, and said, “Archbishop Martin, like you said, we are all friends! Now that a friend is in need, don’t be so stingy. It’s just a few potions. How much can they be worth?”
The moment he heard those words, Archbishop Martin almost vomited blood, and he wished he could dig a hole in the ground and jump right into it. He was filled with resentment. How could he think that there was a change in Jeremiah’s attitude? Had he remembered that rascal’s identity a step earlier, he probably would not have been in such an awkward position.
In order to prevent Jeremiah from saying anything else that was overbearing and would make Archbishop Martin want to kill himself, the latter grabbed his arm, and quickly said to Lin Li, “President Felic, let’s stop at this today. You have things to attend to as well. I will not waste any more of your time.”
After quickly bidding farewell to Lin Li, the archbishop ignored Jeremiah’s reaction. Although he had no idea how he had mustered the strength to pull away the knight that was at the peak of the Legendary-realm, he nonetheless did so and fled quickly to his team.
The two of them kept walking far away, but Jeremiah finally broke free from Archbishop Martin. Filled with displeasure, he said, “Archbishop Martin, what are you trying to do? Aren’t you very familiar with that Felic? I’m just giving them some potions. It’s not a big deal. Must you act so exaggeratedly!?”
After looking at Lin Li, who was already returning to his team in the distance, the sullen-faced Archbishop Martin finally lost his temper. Infuriated, he yelled at Jeremiah, “Give them some potions? Felic is the one who dissolved the Viper’s poison in the past. Do you think he lacks those potions!?”
He then stopped bothering with Jeremiah, and quickly strode towards the team in exasperation.
At this moment, it was Jeremiah’s turn to be dumbfounded. That piece of news was just like a thunderbolt that made him turn numb. The Viper’s poison could only be dissolved by a pharmaceutics Guru. A mere Master-level potion was considered nothing to a pharmaceutics Guru.
Recalling what he had just said, Jeremiah thought, I actually wanted to give a pharmaceutics Guru a few potions. Could there be anything more embarrassing than this!?
Jeremiah turned beet red, and his face almost looked like it was dripping blood. Even though he knew that not many people had heard about what happened in the past, he felt that there was still some contempt and sarcasm in the eyes of the people who looked over. He had no choice but to lower his head and hurriedly scurry back to his tent in a pathetic manner.
Damn it, Felic must have done it on purpose. Otherwise, why would he have put on such a sullen expression!? At the thought of the expression Lin Li had after hearing that his subordinates had gotten injured, Jeremiah, who had returned to his tent, considered it carefully. He was almost certain that Lin Li was out to embarrass him.
During the confrontation between the Tower of Dusk and the Brilliance Shrine just now, the Paladins had been almost completely defeated. Although no one was injured, their pride had suffered a lot. On the Tower of Dusk’s side, only a few mages were slightly injured, but the results achieved were enough to turn anyone’s head.
Given the stark contrast, there would probably be no one who would be dissatisfied with the combat power of their subordinates just because a few of them had gotten injured. At least in Jeremiah’s opinion, if he were in Lin Li’s position, he would find the victory to be joyous even if a few of his people had gotten injured or even killed.
That was also the reason that Jeremiah was increasingly certain that the damned Felic was pretending to look frustrated simply because he wanted to make Jeremiah take the bait and embarrass himself. However, even if that was the case, what could he do? He was the one who took the initiative to say those words; hence, he could only bear with it. He hoped that he would have a chance to salvage his pride in the future.
On the other hand, Lin Li and Alan also returned to the team of the Tower of Dusk. There was no need to worry about the injuries of the several mages, but they would definitely be taught a lesson by Lin Li.
However, the mages of the Tower of Dusk knew that their President had already entered the Sanctuary-realm, and was a noble and almost godlike existence. It was an honor for them to be reprimanded by him.
It was not Lin Li’s first time in the Sky Castle, but he did not choose to explore it alone now. Even though he had already stepped into the Sanctuary-realm, the strength of the Ghost was still rather scary to him. After all, it was the Ghost of the Highlord Osric. Since there were now the teams from the Brilliance Shrine and Rotterdam available, he would definitely make use of them to share the burden and pressure.
Hence, like the other two teams, the team from the Tower of Dusk also began to set up a temporary camp there on Lin Li’s command. Although there were plenty of houses surrounding them in the Sky Castle, they had already been vacant for thousands of years, and even if the magic gears and magic traps would no longer pose a threat, it would still be easier to put up a tent.
To the senior mages of the team, putting up a temporary camp was a piece of cake as they were familiar with it. On the other hand, the greenhorn mages who had just joined simply stood neatly in a row, and the Archmages were all listening carefully to the President’s lecture like obedient children.
Regardless of whether it was the Tower of Dusk’s Magic Net Array or other battle formations, the most important factor was their tacit cooperation. Hence, when someone got injured, the problem would not just lie with the victim, but also his companions who had a huge responsibility. Lin Li could tolerate many kinds of mistakes made by the mages under him, but that was an exception because that was not just being irresponsible to oneself, but also to the companions who trusted the said person.
Lin Li’s lecture was much more powerful than any magic storm as the greenhorn mages were all so ashamed and guilty that they wished they could be swallowed up by the ground. After having scolded them for more than 10 minutes, Lin Li finally stopped, and waved for Alan to take them away to resume training.
“Felic, why don’t you continue exploring the Sky Castle? Do you really plan to wait for those two useless teams?” As soon as Lin Li dismissed the greenhorn mages, Angelano, who was clad in colorful armor, scurried over excitedly. It was not exaggerating to say that those two teams were useless. The Paladins of the Brilliance Shrine were defeated by the Tower of Dusk in just one round, while the Alchemy Colossuses of the Rotterdam were despised by Angelano. His Titan-level Alchemy Colossus could easily step on and turn them into scrap metal.
As soon as he looked at Angelano’s outfit, Lin Li couldn’t help but cover his forehead with his hand, filled with regret for not forcing Angelano, who had no aesthetic sense, to change his colorful armor.
He’d initially thought that only the team of the Tower of Dusk was exploring the Sky Castle this time, but to their surprise, they ran into the people from the Brilliance Shrine and Rotterdam. This time, the image of himself and the Tower of Dusk was completely ruined by the atrocious shorty.
Of course, that was just a casual thought of Lin Li. He soon thought of the serious problem, and said, “By the way, Angelano, make a summary of the weaknesses of those Alchemy Colossuses of the Rotterdam Kingdom’s team and hand it to Alan for him to take a closer look.”
“Felic, you must be kidding. Every part of that garbage is a weakness. If you want me to write them down, how long is that going to take me!?” Angelano immediately retorted in displeasure upon hearing Lin Li’s words. Indeed, that was the case. As an alchemist, he could see numerous flaws in every part of the Alchemy Colossuses, and it would be torturous to make him note them all down.
“I want the weaknesses that are susceptible to attacks, like those that would paralyze them once they are struck by an offensive spell.” That was something that Lin Li himself was able to do, but firstly, he did not want to waste energy on it, and secondly, he didn’t want to see Angelano’s embarrassing armor.
Lin Li was more or less at ease about the team of the Brilliance Shrine. It was not just because of his friendship with Archbishop Martin; it was more importantly because of Pope Rosario’s attitude. As for the people of the Rotterdam, Lin Li did not trust them at all. If they really wanted to get up to some tricks, he would not mind leaving them there.
“Okay then, but after this, you must help me set up a Four-Element Chaotic Array for my armor.” Although Angelano did not think much, he did not forget reaping benefits from Lin Li.
Although he was also an alchemist, Angelano favored Alchemy Colossuses, and Alchemy Arrays were Lin Li’s forte. The Four-Element Chaotic Array was Guru-level Alchemy Array. After the alchemical elements were fused, there would be a huge weakening.
Damn it, after I get the armor, I must change its color first! With that idea in mind, Lin Li readily agreed to Angelano’s request.
Hmph, the color of my armor isn’t that easy to change, unless you mask it with something! Although Angelano acted innocent, he definitely was scheming since he could stay by Highlord Osric’s side for such a long time.
As night fell, Lin Li stood in the makeshift camp and looked at his surroundings that were slowly sinking into darkness, after which he somehow felt a sense of irritation. The Sky Castle actually changed from day to night. To Lin Li who had entered that place twice, it meant something different.
The Sky Castle was located in the chaos of time and space, where there was no sunrise and sunset. Hence, how could there be a cycle of day and night? The so-called change was actually a change of lighting in the Sky Castle. The people from the Brilliance Shrine and Rotterdam had set foot in the Sky Castle for the first time, and thus they might think that those changes were normal, but Lin Li remembered clearly that there had been no such changes the last time he had been there.
Thinking of the Ghost that had disappeared, Lin Li vaguely felt that the changes in the Sky Castle were probably related to it. When Osric was at the Sky Castle in the past, he left a note that was full of resentment in the Immortal King’s laboratory. He seemed to be looking for an item left behind by the Immortal King.
Lin Li had no clear answer as to what Osric was looking for, but he guessed that it could be the control crystal of the Sky Castle. If Osric was really seeking it, it could be that his final goal was to possess the Sky Castle.
Moreover, Lin Li had thought that if he hadn’t snatched that perfect body, the Ghost that Osric left in the Sky Castle might’ve returned to the abyss and merged with the perfect body once it grew. One way would naturally be to leave the place using the Teleportation Portal, and then go all the way to the abyss where the perfect body was placed, just like what they did during the exploration of the mausoleum previously. Another method would be to completely possess the Sky Castle, and then use its power to travel through the void to land directly in the abyss where the perfect body had been placed.
Now that the Sky Castle has suddenly undergone such a change, does it mean that Osric’s soul which was hidden in the Ghost has completely gained control of a portion of the Sky Castle through other means? Although the control crystal that Lin Li had theoretically had the highest level of control and authority, Osric had a better understanding of the Sky Castle; hence, that question was undoubtedly worrying for Lin Li.
In fact, if he hadn’t discovered the changes in the Sky Castle, Lin Li wouldn’t have needed to bother with the Brilliance Shrine and the people of the Rotterdam. Even if the Ghost had already reached the pinnacle of the Sanctuary-realm, Lin Li would’ve been confident in using the control crystal in his hands and the power of the Sky Castle to suppress it.
However, now that the Sky Castle had undergone a change that made Lin Li worried, the people from the Brilliance Shrine and Rotterdam could more or less be considered a force to be utilized. In particular, the Brilliance Shrine’s team itself had a technique that could suppress the Undead creatures. Besides, their overall strength was actually not as weak as it had been in the previous battle.
On that night, there were no further changes other than the random Vengeful Spirits that attacked. The Vengeful Spirits might have gained physical forms, but they did not cause any damage to the three teams, and were wiped out by various attacks almost as soon as they appeared around the camp.
On the following day, Archbishop Martin of the Brilliance Shrine and Prince Kanber of the Rotterdam Kingdom arrived outside of the camp of the Tower of Dusk early in the morning to look for Lin Li to discuss the exploration of the Sky Castle.
Obviously, after those events yesterday, both the Brilliance Shrine and Rotterdam had drastic changes in their attitude towards Lin Li.