What if Dida La personally goes to negotiate with Matthew Merlin? If they succeed, I'm out of the picture.
A whole drop of Beast God's Blood wasted for nothing—I can't let it go. I have to get my hands on Matthew Merlin's technique!
Lord Stongge, don't be impulsive! If you go back and report to Master Dida La now, you'll ruin everything.
Master Dida La definitely won't listen to your explanations. Think about it: you went to discuss cooperation, but failed. No matter what you say, Master Dida La will think you're just making excuses and won't believe you.
But if you can get your hands on Matthew Merlin's technique, then when you go back, no matter what you say, Master Dida La won't blame you—because the real goal is the alchemical technique Matthew Merlin controls!
Stongge was instantly alarmed. Right now, his only fear was punishment from Master Dida La—nothing else mattered.
Lord Diras, do you have any good ideas?
Diras gave a cold laugh.
Lord Stongge, since Matthew Merlin started the trouble, not only did we lose several strong mages, but we were humiliated in front of everyone. We're probably the laughingstock now.
Once we leave the Blazeforge Battlefield, especially you folks from the Burning Tower, you'll be the butt of everyone's jokes for a long time. You won't be able to hold your heads up in front of other factions...
We can't be principled with Matthew Merlin now. Since he used his alchemical technique to sabotage us, we should just steal his technique back.
Once we master this technique, the previous failure will just be a necessary price paid for success. After all, who ever gets an alchemical experiment right the first time?
Besides, once you succeed, who cares how many times you failed before?
Stongge was a bit surprised, but then gritted his teeth fiercely.
You're right. That despicable, selfish Matthew Merlin started this scheme, nearly got me punished by Master Dida La, and now he's humiliated me again.
Don't blame me—since cooperation failed, I'll just steal his alchemical technique. As long as I have the technique, Master Dida La won't care how I got it.
Diras beckoned to a mage behind him.
Lord Stongge, this is Byron, the mage I value most. His mastery of shadow stealth magic is nearly at the limit, and with my Shadow Cloak, no mage below the Sky Rank could possibly detect him.
As long as he leads a team into Matthew Merlin's camp and spies on his research, he'll surely uncover Matthew Merlin's secrets.
It's just a pity my Shadow Cloak was damaged in the last accident, so it can't function at full capacity. Otherwise, success would be guaranteed...
Diras produced the Shadow Cloak—a pitch-black cloak with a long, narrow tear, and over a dozen runes on it had been severed.
Hearing this, Stongge hurriedly patted his chest.
Lord Diras, why didn't you say so earlier? I may not be able to forge such a powerful True Spirit artifact, but I can certainly repair it. Just wait—give me three days, and I'll have your artifact fixed.
Then Byron, with the Shadow Cloak and his team, can infiltrate Matthew Merlin's camp and surely uncover his secrets.
Stongge's specialty was artifacts, so he personally oversaw the creation of the alchemical device this time. Repairing a True Spirit artifact with self-repair capabilities wasn't a big problem—just required some materials...
Stongge didn't even ask Diras for materials—he paid out of pocket, taking out a pile of materials to start repairing Diras's Shadow Cloak.
A trace of pride flashed in Diras's eyes.
He'd gotten plenty of information out of Stongge, and having him repair the Shadow Cloak was another goal.
Except for alchemists who specialize in artifacts, few mages carry the tools and materials to repair them—especially True Spirit artifacts. Those materials are rare and expensive, with unpredictable prices, so most mages don't bother preparing them.
Stongge spent three days repairing Diras's Shadow Cloak, and then Byron led a dozen Shadow Tower mages to Lin Yun's camp...
Byron wasn't known for combat in the Shadow Tower, but he was famous for stealing things.
He was the Shadow Tower's foremost expert in shadow stealth magic—not just the best, but far beyond any other shadow mage.
His shadow stealth magic was nearly at the limit spell level. It's worth noting that improving support spells like these is extremely difficult.
Most Title Archmages can push spells like Fireball or Ice Spike to the limit, but for higher-level spells, at most they'll master one or two at the third or fourth tier.