Chapter 163: The Hand of Mana
Lin Yun was momentarily stunned, then saw the carriage in front of William Merlin. Sure enough, it bore the Merlin Family crest—a burning staff...
"Are you going to greet them?" Lin Yun asked casually. After all, although William Merlin was currently staying at the Gilded Rose, he was still, in name, a member of the Merlin Family. Now that someone from the family had arrived, if William Merlin didn’t go to greet them, it might not look good to everyone.
"No, not at all..." As soon as the words left his mouth, William Merlin hurriedly shook his head.
What a joke. If it were before, William Merlin might have hesitated. After all, this cousin, the master craftsman, had a bright future, but the Gilded Rose still had a long way to go before it could rival the Merlin Family. Maintaining a good relationship with the Merlin Family would have been a sensible backup plan.
But now, William Merlin no longer thought that way...
As one of the most outstanding members of the younger generation of the Merlin Family, William Merlin was now qualified to participate in some of the family's secrets. He knew, at least in part, that the reason the Merlin Family had risen so rapidly over the past millennium—matching even the deeply rooted Watson Family—was because the family’s ancestors had conquered four different planes over the centuries.
The annual profits from those four planes were five times greater than the combined income of all the Merlin Family’s territories in the world of Northend!
And that’s just the money and resources...
Beyond that, the conquest and expansion of those four planes provided the Merlin Family with a steady stream of elite warriors each year. These fighters, baptized by blood and fire across the planes, were the family’s greatest asset. To put it in perspective, more than two-thirds of the Merlin Family’s titled archmages achieved their breakthroughs in those planes.
And that’s not even counting the hidden benefits. Just looking at these two points, it’s clear how crucial a private plane is to any faction.
Now William Merlin knew that his master craftsman cousin also possessed a private plane...
And that private plane was incredibly rich. Just a single Nether Iron Vein was enough to make any powerful faction in the kingdom covet it—not to mention the world beyond the Black Wasteland. In fact, William Merlin could barely imagine it anymore. If the Black Wasteland alone was so valuable, what kind of astonishing wealth must be hidden in the rest of the world?
Honestly, William Merlin couldn’t even begin to imagine...
But it didn’t matter if he couldn’t imagine it. At the very least, William Merlin knew that this outrageously prosperous private plane would push the Gilded Rose to incredible heights. Surpassing the Merlin Family was only a matter of time. Even top-tier powers like Cloudspire Tower and the Black Tower might one day have to bow their heads to the Gilded Rose.
With such a promising future ahead, how could William Merlin have the time to worry about fallback plans or the Merlin Family?
"Go greet them," Lin Yun repeated after thinking for a moment, this time using a command rather than a question.
Because Lin Yun suddenly remembered—he actually did have a use for the Merlin Family lately...
"Mm, alright." William Merlin had been in Seaview City long enough to know exactly what kind of person his master craftsman cousin was. As soon as he heard those words, he knew Lin Yun must have a plan. So he nodded and walked into the Gilded Rose’s main hall together with Lin Yun.
Today, business at the Gilded Rose seemed unusually good...
Almost all the major factions in Seaview City had sent representatives. Orders were piling up, and the queue stretched all the way to next year—yet not a single customer was willing to give up their spot. Logically, Twinmoon Radiance was just a street away from the Gilded Rose. While there was a slight difference in quality, their prices were more competitive. If competition were truly fair, they should be able to snatch a few orders away from the Gilded Rose.
But things were just that strange...
Twinmoon Radiance was practically deserted. Forget about next year’s orders—even today’s orders were up in the air. If you went over now, you could probably pick up your goods on the spot.
Still, none of the big factions were willing to go to Twinmoon Radiance...
That’s just the nature of the alchemy business—winner takes all, loser starves. The quality of alchemical goods directly affects combat strength. Even a slight improvement can mean the difference between life and death in battle. Unless absolutely forced, nobody would be foolish enough to choose subpar products.
Besides, compared to the Gilded Rose, Twinmoon Radiance’s alchemical goods weren’t just a little worse...
Weapons and armor forged from Nether Iron were only sold in bulk by the Gilded Rose in the entire eastern kingdom. In this situation, no matter how much Twinmoon Radiance slashed prices or rolled around begging, they simply couldn’t compete anymore.
After entering the Gilded Rose, Lin Yun headed straight for the Alchemist’s Lab.
William Merlin, meanwhile, was sent by Lin Yun to the reception room to greet the visitors from the Merlin Family...
As soon as Lin Yun stepped into the Alchemist’s Lab, he saw the huge crystal ball flickering nonstop. That was a sign that Cloudspire Tower was attempting to transmit a signal. Only then did Lin Yun realize he’d spent an entire week holed up in his underground chamber at home—and had completely forgotten about Star Sage Joey...
With that in mind, Lin Yun hurriedly accepted the image transmission request from Cloudspire Tower.
Sure enough, the figure that appeared in the crystal ball was Joey.
"Uh... Hello, Lord Joey." Lin Yun could tell from Joey’s expression that the transmission request had probably been active for quite a while...
(This chapter isn’t finished yet~.~ Click next page to continue reading!)
"Merlin, you really are busy, aren’t you..."
Joey’s insincere smile made Lin Yun feel a bit guilty. There was no way to explain, so he just thickened his skin and chuckled awkwardly.
Joey was instantly out of words. That’s the advantage of age—the young mage across from him was barely twenty, and now, acting like a junior, Joey couldn’t really say much. All he could do was sigh and shake his head. "About that thing I asked you to consider last time—have you thought it over?"
"Oh, that..." Lin Yun scratched his head. Last time, he’d asked Joey if he could borrow the Black Death Rune for a while. The Star Sage had agreed without hesitation, but immediately followed up with a condition—or rather, a request.
Joey wanted Lin Yun to join an organization called the Order of the Arcane Hand.
Lin Yun was startled at first, thinking it was some kind of cult.
After Joey explained, Lin Yun realized that the so-called Order of the Arcane Hand was actually an academic organization. It had started out as a way for the kingdom’s top mages to exchange magical knowledge, but over the past few centuries, it had grown to include almost every elite mage in the realm.
This meant that whether it was Cloudspire Tower or Ashen Tower, Sage’s Spire or Gray Tower, as long as you had the qualifications, you could join the Order of the Arcane Hand—regardless of any rivalries between the factions.
Joey really did mean well...
After thinking it over, Lin Yun found himself genuinely interested.
It was only natural. Even though Lin Yun possessed magical knowledge far beyond his era, that didn’t make him omniscient—far from it. The world of magic was vast as the ocean. All he’d had in the apocalypse was a single library. No matter how vast or refined that library was, it couldn’t possibly contain all magical knowledge. Joining the Order of the Arcane Hand and exchanging insights with other top mages would be a huge benefit for him.
"Since Lord Joey himself is asking, how could I refuse...?"
"Good, good..." Joey smiled from inside the crystal ball when he heard Lin Yun’s answer.
Joey had always openly admired the young mage in distant Seaview City. In fact, if Lin Yun were willing, Joey wouldn’t hesitate to make him his true successor—and even hand over Cloudspire Tower to him someday.
Joey knew that Lin Yun was a true genius—one destined to reach the pinnacle of magic sooner or later.
Joey’s vision was on a completely different level from people like Salomon.
Salomon might be able to see that the young mage had an eighty or ninety percent chance of becoming a Title Archmage, but beyond that, his vision was limited.
Joey could see much more...
Joey could see not just the Title Archmage, but even higher and farther places...
That place wasn’t just the Heaven Rank...
Unfortunately, the young mage had his own ideas. Not only was he unwilling to join Cloudspire Tower, he didn’t even want to go to Auckland right now. So Joey had to settle for second best—bringing him into the Order of the Arcane Hand first...
Thinking of this, Joey shook his head regretfully. After a moment of silence, he reminded Lin Yun, "By the way, Merlin—on the fifteenth of next month, the Order of the Arcane Hand will hold its annual gathering in Rockridge. You must come, so I can formally introduce you into the Order."
"Rockridge?" Lin Yun suddenly remembered—that was Ashen Tower’s territory...
Wouldn’t that be a little risky...?
He’d just taken down an Ashen Tower Grand Mage not long ago—and even snatched their Lord of Lava. Wouldn’t showing up in Rockridge be like walking into a trap?
But then again, at the Order of the Arcane Hand’s gathering, Ashen Tower probably wouldn’t dare do anything. So Lin Yun nodded and agreed, "Alright, I’ll be there."
Once he received Lin Yun’s confirmation, Joey ended the transmission, satisfied.
As the crystal ball’s glow faded, Lin Yun took out the Death Tome, spread a sheet of draft paper on the alchemy table, and continued the work he hadn’t finished in his underground chamber.
*****
(Let’s hope my stomach doesn’t hurt again tonight. These past few days have been torture.)
(Especially when I think about how my hard-earned update schedule got ruined—I just want to die!)