Chapter 1308
"Why is everyone silent? The insignificant Parkinson Family dares defy the orders of our Rodney Family, dares to cut off our supply of materials? They're courting death."
Wipe them out. Make sure the Parkinson Family disappears from the Northend World completely. Toulse, before sunrise tomorrow, I don't want to see a single member of that family alive!
Wyatt Rodney roared in fury, but none of the elders below spoke up. Even the infamous necromancer Toulse Rodney kept his head down, neither replying nor obeying Wyatt’s command.
After a few seconds of silence, the Grand Elder finally forced a bitter smile and began to explain.
"Patriarch, we can’t touch the Parkinson Family anymore. They control more than ninety-five percent of the Platinumstone supply in the Odin Kingdom, and only they can acquire it in large quantities.
This incident has already stirred up dissatisfaction among other factions. In the past few days, five powers on par with our Rodney Family have come to warn us. If we destroy the Parkinson Family, we’ll be cutting off the financial lifelines of at least thirty different groups…
At this point, the Grand Elder stopped. Wyatt Rodney gritted his teeth and took a deep, shuddering breath. Half of his body involuntarily transformed into steel; after a few seconds, the steel faded, and he finally regained a measure of composure.
The Rodney Family has always been ruthless, and they've made plenty of enemies over the years—but that was mere competition. If they destroy the long-term profits of over thirty factions at once, those groups wouldn’t hesitate to unite and erase the Rodney Family from the Odin Kingdom’s map.
Wyatt Rodney remained silent for several minutes before finally speaking again.
"So, what should we do about the Gilded Rose now? Share your ideas. The Gilded Rose is expanding aggressively—our Rodney Family’s potion market has shrunk by ten percent this month alone, and even our bulk orders have dropped.
If this keeps up, we’ll lose our position as the largest potion supplier in northern Odin Kingdom."
Immediately, the elders below began offering their opinions, proposing various plans to attack the Gilded Rose's market, but none satisfied Wyatt.
After more than ten minutes, the Second Elder suddenly spoke up.
"The Gilded Rose recently launched a new antidote. It’s their best-selling and most well-reputed potion. Why don’t we target that?
If we attack the Gilded Rose’s antidote, their reputation will plummet. They’re not an old alchemy shop in the Odin Kingdom—if we strike them hard enough, they’ll never recover.
Besides, antidotes are easy to manipulate… there’s so much we could do with them."
At the Second Elder’s words, the conference room fell silent. Smiles appeared on everyone’s faces.
The Grand Elder let out a cold laugh.
"Antidotes can kill if mishandled. If someone dies, let’s see how the Gilded Rose handles it!"
Three days later, the entrance of the Gilded Rose suddenly became noisy. A Sword Saint, his face covered in pustules, stood in grief at the door, pointing to a pitch-black corpse lying beside him and roaring loudly with battle aura.
Everyone look, this is the Gilded Rose’s potion, supposedly able to neutralize over eight hundred types of advanced toxins and all low-level poisons—the Golden Crown Elixir.
Because of this damned potion, my brother—my childhood brother—just died like that!
We were only poisoned by a Level 30 Black-Ringed Serpent. Any ordinary potion could have neutralized it, but after taking the Gilded Rose’s Golden Crown Elixir, he died!
Look at me—after taking the potion, I was lucky not to die, but now I look like this, my strength has dropped three levels, and my battle aura keeps leaking away.
This isn’t an antidote—this is pure poison!
As he spoke, the Sword Saint smashed the potion bottle, which still contained a little of the elixir, hard onto the ground.
Instantly, the people inside the Gilded Rose who were buying potions came out—no one dared to buy anything anymore.
Especially those who came for the Golden Crown Elixir hesitated, then put down all the bottles. The Gilded Rose’s reputation was great, but now something had happened—especially with their newest potion…
This is a real problem. Every potion has been tested by the market for years, but every year there are new potions that run into trouble. It’s not so strange.
Pabette had already appeared when this man showed up, but since he claimed it was the Gilded Rose’s potion at fault, there was nothing Pabette could do.
As soon as Farrow got the news and appeared, seven or eight mages in Astral Academy robes emerged from the crowd.
Lord Farrow, we are the Potion Regulatory Board from Astral Academy.
We received a report that the Gilded Rose’s new antidote caused a death. Our verification shows that the victim was indeed poisoned by a Black-Ringed Serpent. But for a Level 5 Sword Saint, this venom shouldn’t be fatal.
We also verified that he took the Gilded Rose’s new antidote. Please cooperate with our investigation.
Seeing this group suddenly appear and even having completed their verification, Farrow felt a headache coming on.
This is a conspiracy—definitely a conspiracy against the Gilded Rose!
Damn it, the Potion Regulatory Board is here. No matter the result, the Gilded Rose will be affected.
The Regulatory Board from Astral Academy is absolutely authoritative—whatever they say, no one will doubt. The Golden Crown Elixir is supposed to be an antidote, not a poison. Even a Level 40 Black-Ringed Serpent couldn’t kill a Sword Saint with the Golden Crown Elixir…
Go notify Lord Merlin.
Farrow knew this was beyond him. From his perspective, the corpse really did die from Black-Ringed Serpent venom—no doubt about it. But a Level 30 Black-Ringed Serpent, even if a Sword Saint didn’t resist, with natural battle aura and physical resistance, shouldn’t cause death…
The Regulatory Board members from Astral Academy kept their faces stern, watching Farrow.
Lord Farrow, according to protocol, we must immediately seal all Golden Crown Elixir in your shop. Please cooperate.
The Regulatory Board members were only human. For the Gilded Rose to open a shop in Neverwinter City, Astral Academy had to lend significant support. Rumor had it, even Dean Gandalf had personally intervened regarding the Gilded Rose.
The Board’s authority isn’t absolute, but it’s not insignificant either. They enforce the law impartially. Any scandal would tarnish Astral Academy’s reputation, and no one wants to face their punishment…
But facing the Gilded Rose, even the Board didn’t dare go too far. If the inspection result hadn’t matched the report, they wouldn’t have come at all.
Farrow nodded slightly. The Board members entered the Gilded Rose and sealed up all Golden Crown Elixir on the shelves.
Farrow watched the Board members prepare to leave with the Golden Crown Elixir. The Sword Saint who’d caused the commotion at the door was about to take the corpse and follow the Board.
Seeing this, Farrow panicked.
Damn it, this bastard was just shouting about compensation, now he’s ignoring that and trying to leave with the Board.
If I let this bastard leave today, it’s over. They’ll have plenty of time to perfect this conspiracy. Even if the Board doesn’t show favoritism, the final result will definitely point to the Gilded Rose’s Golden Crown Elixir as the problem!
The Sword Saint’s face was covered in pustules, his eyes so swollen his face was just a slit. Seeing Farrow’s anxious expression, he smiled slightly.
Idiot, this is way too easy. No one will recognize me today. After today, no one will ever find me again. They’ll just find a corpse that’s become an ordinary person. I made sure to tell everyone my battle aura was fading—turning into an ordinary person is easy to explain…
Once I leave here, my mission’s complete. The family’s reward will be enough for me to reach peak Sword Saint, and I’ll even get personal guidance from a Sky Rank Sword Saint. Heh, I’m so lucky—what a great deal.
Inside the Gilded Rose, no one was buying anything anymore—especially alchemical potions. Not a single person was left. Even a few who’d already bought potions returned them.
Even the displays for magical devices, alchemical puppets, and alchemical arrays were empty—everyone was at the door watching the commotion.
Just as the Board members prepared to leave with the Golden Crown Elixir, and the swollen, unrecognizable Sword Saint was about to leave with the corpse, Leon Merlin appeared.
Let’s verify it right here, in front of everyone. I’m sure there are plenty of alchemists here. Let’s confront the facts before everyone.
Leon Merlin appeared in person, with Farrow standing behind him. The Board members hesitated, but before they could speak, Leon continued.
Black-Ringed Serpent venom, no matter the level, never causes facial swelling or pustules.
Black-Ringed Serpent venom coagulates all blood in the body. Even if there are other symptoms, swelling and pustules never occur.
I’m sure many people here know this.
At Leon’s words, the Board members immediately stopped. They’d had doubts before, but their tests confirmed Black-Ringed Serpent venom—and only from a Level 30 serpent.
Anyone who can afford the Golden Crown Elixir—either has great strength, plenty of purple gold coins, or is a powerful alchemist.
The Gilded Rose’s alchemical potions are high-quality, but actually a bit cheaper than similar potions. Anyone with sense knows the Gilded Rose controls costs much better than other shops.
So when the Gilded Rose releases a new potion with such great effects, people will pay to study it. Everyone pretty much knows the score. As the alchemy haven, Astral Academy has plenty of people who bought the Golden Crown Elixir to research it. Even if they can’t replicate it perfectly, making a slightly inferior version will still earn a fortune.
As Board members, they know the research results: the Golden Crown Elixir works extremely well, and contains new ingredients that strongly adsorb toxins.
Many people nodded, agreeing with Leon’s point. Some had already suspected something, but any decent alchemist could see someone was trying to cause trouble for the Gilded Rose.
The Board stopped. The swollen, unrecognizable Sword Saint panicked…
"What are you trying to do, Gilded Rose? Are you going to kill me too? Damn it, I knew your talk of integrity was all lies…"
Unfortunately, before he could finish, Leon glanced at him—and a terrifying pressure crushed him, making him lose control of his body. His battle aura was completely suppressed.
Feeling the terrifying aura Leon released for an instant, the crowd fell silent. Even the Sky Rank experts looked fearful. Though Leon’s power was focused only on the Sword Saint, it felt like an ancient god or demon had opened its eyes. For a moment, everyone felt as if they’d died and come back…
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Everything quieted down. Only then did Leon turn to the Board members.
"Let’s inspect it here, in front of everyone. Every potion sold by the Gilded Rose passes three rounds of testing before sale. Each bottle is traceable—where the ingredients came from, who made it, who tested it, who sold it.
So I’m absolutely confident there’s no quality issue.
The Board members stayed silent, faces grim. Leon’s dominance and confidence unsettled them, but even the onlookers—those unable to tell the difference—started to believe the Gilded Rose was being set up.
Leon pointed at the corpse on the ground.
"His skin is black, with faint ring-shaped markings—looks like Black-Ringed Serpent venom. But there’s another deadly poison whose symptoms, at first, are identical. After three hours, the difference becomes obvious. I’m sure you know what I mean."
At Leon’s words, the Board members’ expressions changed. Looking at the corpse, they were shocked.
"Derrin’s Three-Hour Curse!"
One Board member exclaimed. Another quickly cast a wind blade, slicing open the corpse’s arm. Only a little pale red blood, thin as water, flowed from the wound.
Seeing the blood as thin as water, the Board members’ faces darkened. This meant they’d made a mistake—or been used as pawns…
The Board members fell silent. There was no need for further testing—the corpse hadn’t died of Black-Ringed Serpent venom, but another deadly poison. Anyone below Sky Rank dies within three minutes if untreated, and the three-hour mark distinguishes Derrin’s Three-Hour Curse from Black-Ringed Serpent venom.
Dying from Derrin’s Three-Hour Curse has nothing to do with any potion—only antidotes taken within three minutes work. After that, even drinking antidotes like water is useless.
"Lord Merlin, this was our mistake. We’ll give you a satisfactory explanation. Anyone who tries to fool the Board will pay a heavy price."
The Board leader approached Leon, gave a mage’s salute, and prepared to leave. Without clear confirmation, coming to trouble an alchemy shop was a huge mistake for Astral Academy’s Board. Everyone involved would be punished.
Leon shook his head.
"It’s not your fault. Can anyone extract Derrin’s Three-Hour Curse from the corpse?"
The Board leader nodded and began the extraction. After poisoning, the blood is coagulated for three hours, then the toxin digests it, thinning the blood and dissolving the corpse. The poison remains in the blood.
Extracting poison from this thin blood requires at least master-level skill—otherwise, you risk poisoning yourself…
In ten minutes, under everyone’s gaze, the Board leader extracted half a glass bottle of poison. At that moment, Leon released his magical suppression of the disfigured Sword Saint.
"Damn it, the Gilded Rose killed someone—won’t you let anyone speak? You bloodsuckers, everyone will know your true faces…"
But before he could finish, Leon forcibly took control of his body, suppressing the Sword Saint’s own movements with terrifying power.
Leon then used magic to force the extracted poison—clear as water—down the Sword Saint’s throat.
Instantly, the Sword Saint’s swollen face twisted in terror.
After swallowing the poison, Leon released his suppression. The Sword Saint collapsed to his knees, trying to vomit the poison out with battle aura.
"Derrin’s Three-Hour Curse is instantly absorbed—once it enters your mouth, your body takes it in. You can’t spit it out."
You have three minutes to tell me who made you do this—tell me the truth. Oh, you’ve already wasted fifteen seconds. No, you have two minutes and thirty-three seconds left. If you go over, you’ll die horribly."