Chapter 169: Ink

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

The sun had just risen the next day when Sean was stopped by Lin Li.

This fella woke up early, planning to sneak out just like in the past few days. However, today he had just touched the door handle when he heard Lin Li’s voice coming from the back.

“Morning, Sean.”

“Morning, Mr Felic…” The greeting that came from behind almost made Sean die from shock. He turned around with a frightened look, and saw Lin Li stick his head out from the blanket, looking at him with a sleazy smile.

How could Sean have know that Lin Li had woken up early and even placed a Warlock’s Eye in the room for surveillance just to stop him? He would not have been able to leave even if he used Invisibility, much less moving around stealthily.

Just by looking at Sean’s panicstricken face, Lin Li knew that this fella tried to sneak out again…

If it was a few days ago, Lin Li would to turn a blind eye to it. After all, Sean’s strength had obviously risen in the last few days. Sometimes, Lin Li suspected if Sean would be able take over him in levels at this rate… Naturally, nobody would complain about having too much of such a good thing. Even if Sean remained silent, Lin Li would still continue to support him. In the end, he had a type of intrinsic trust in Sean.

However, not today. Today he had something else more important to do.

Lin Li coughed, and casually asked, “Going out to get food?”

Sean looked guilty after being questioned, and he could only ambiguously reply, “Erm… Erm… Mr Felic, what do you want to eat? I’ll help you buy it.”

“No need, we’ll go eat in a bit.” Lin Li wore the Robe of the Void as he spoke. After he had folded the blanket, he turned over to remind Sean as if he thought of something. ” Oh, yes, don’t wander around today. Go with me to Fire Plume Ridge later.”

“Fire Plume Ridge?” Sean was in a daze for a while before deciding that Lin Li was not pulling his leg. Instantly, Sean started stuttering. “Really… It really is Fire Plume Ridge?”

“What else did you think it was…” Lin Li wore the Robe of the Void and started to urge the dazed Sean without explaining further. “Why are you still in a daze? Hurry, pack up. Our trip this time will be for a few days.”

“Oh…”

There was nothing much for Sean to pack. There was only one double-edged sword and a Fire Salamandrid leather armor. These two pieces of equipment cost about twenty thousand gold coins. Usually, Sean could not bear to use them, and left them in his room. He even cleaned it properly three times a day. It made Lin Li question if those items that he bought were actually equipment… There was no need to be afraid that it would rust by taking such good care of it every day…

However, today was still alright. For the first time, Sean wore the Fire Salamandrid leather armor, and strapped the Abyss Fiendish Iron Greatsword to his back, looking magnificent and mighty. It was as if he had the aura of a high-level warrior.

When they left the Guild of Magic, the streets were still somewhat empty. There were only a few vendors that sold breakfast, pushing their carts around, serving steaming hot breakfast to customers. Lin Li was a person that disliked inconvenience. He gobbled down his food after he had bought breakfast for Sean and himself. It made a few of the customers look at him in disdain. They probably had not seen such an uncouth mage before…

Sean was nibbling on his food; he seemed to be somewhat absent-minded. There were a few times he struggled to speak, but every time the words came to him, he swallowed them down with hesitation.

“If there is anything you want to say, just hurry. Don’t keep turning around, it’s making me dizzy…” Lin Li saw his expression, and knew that this kid wanted to say something.

“Mr Felic, I was thinking…”

“Thinking about what? Just hurry, stop turning around. This trip is going to take a few days, you should notify the others. In any case, they taught you some martial arts.”

“You… You…” Sean was dumbfounded. He looked as if he had seen a ghost. He stuttered “you” for a while before he completed the sentence. “How did you know?”

“How could I not know…” Lin Li rolled his eyes. He thought to himself, You’re behaving like a thief every day, leaving in the morning and coming back at night with a secretive look. Your strength has improved tremendously, faster than anyone cultivating the Yin Yang Combo and Dual Cultivation Method. Even a blind person could see it. If not because of a master guiding you, how could you improve to this state?

Of course, Lin Li did not say it out loud. He just waved his hand impatiently. “Just hurry up. I’ll be at the store where I bought your equipment. Once you’re done, come look for me over there.”

“Oh…”

After chasing Sean away, Lin Li devoured his breakfast in a few bites before walking over to the equipment store at the corner.

“What is going on…” Lin Li realized something was wrong when he just entered the store. The store was in a mess. The weapons and armor were sprawled all over the floor like a hideous mess. It was as if there was a locust plague recently.

Buck was picking up the items, and one of his hands was covering his left cheek. It seemed to be swollen.

“What happened, Boss Buck?”

“No…. Nothing…” Buck stood up with difficulty while covering his left cheek and squeezed out an awkward smile at Lin Li. “I can only blame it on my luck, running into troublemakers early in the morning…”

“Oh.” Lin Li nodded, and did not question further. Such incidents were very common in Alanna. Frankly speaking, equipment business was a firearms business. Which of those patronizing such stores was a law abiding citizen?

If you do not believe, you can ask the vendors outside selling breakfast and see if they would come here to buy weapons and armor.

Such places had always been full of troubles. Today’s situation could be considered minor. Blood splattering without a single word was as common as eating.

Furthermore, such incidents were of no concern for Lin Li.

Since Buck could open an equipment store and a smelting workshop at the same time, how could such a person have no background? The losses he suffered today could be recouped in a few days. There was no need for Lin Li to worry for him.

“Oh, yes, Boss Buck. Has my batch of magical beast leather been tanned?

“It has been tanned, Mage Felic. Sit here for a while, I’ll bring it over now.”

Buck took out bag from the storeroom. It contained 10 pieces of tanned Fire Salamandrid leather.

After Lin Li exchanged a few polite greetings, he asked for recommendations for a leatherworking shop. There was no special request, and Lin Li was too lazy to do it himself. He dealt with the ten pieces of Fire Salamandrid leather at the leatherworking store across the street. It was going to be a total of two pieces of leather armor, two pairs of leather boots and two leather pairs of leather gloves.

After returning to Buck’s store. Lin Li saw that Sean had not returned yet. He decided to borrow a room from Buck, and focused on dealing with these two sets of leather armor.

This was the most crucial step. Although Fire Salamandrid leather had high fire resistance, before it had been treated with inscriptions, it could hardly negate the temperatures of Fire Plume Ridge. This was one of the reasons why Lin Li had to get his hands on the raw leather, or he would have to rely on the set that Sean was wearing, and it would be barely enough to just test the waters at Fire Plume Ridge.

After Lin Li closed the door, he took out a Fire Resistance Potion first from the Ring of Endless Storm.

When he was at Endless World, the various potions were what Lin Li drank the most. There was no other way. Resistance potions were too important for a hunter battling at the Well of the Sun. Without these items, he would have died at any given time from various types of magic.

Yet, Lin Li hardly drank such things when he came to Anril.

This was the difference between a hunter and a mage.

Even though resistance potion could provide high magic resistance, it could severely diminish the sensitivity towards magical elements. For a mage, drinking potions and casting spells was like wearing dozens of condoms…

However, the Fire Resistance Potion in his hand was not meant for drinking.

Placing the Fire Resistance Potion aside, Lin Li continued to retrieve items from the Ring of Endless Storm. He took out a bottle of star sand, a glass beaker, and a crystal pen.

Lin Li only picked up the star sand after all the materials were all set, and he carefully poured it into beaker. This thing was not like the navy sand, which could be found in all magical material stores. The bottle in Lin Li’s hand was extorted from the Gilded Rose store while relying on Ysera’s connections.

A thin layer of star sand sat at the bottom of the cup, looking like a plain of stars. It seemed like it really was brilliant and as dazzling as a sky full of stars. After Lin Li admired it for a moment, he uncapped the bottle of Fire Resistance Potion, and gently poured some into the beaker.

After doing all those, Lin Li held the beaker with his hand, reciting a short spell at the same time. Flaming Hands lit up, and he carefully controlled his mana as he had to maintain the temperature of Flaming Hands within a small range. This was an essential process in concocting star sand ink. The magical elements contained within the star sand had to be heated up before they could be released.

The star sand and Fire Resistance Potion in the beaker started blending together as Lin Li released his mana bit by bit, permeating the room with a white mist. Lin Li carefully observed the changes in these two materials as he swirled the beaker gently, allowing the two to blend more uniformly.

“Poof, poof, poof…” With the heat from the Flaming Hands, the fire resistance potion started to bubble. The white mist that curled upwards had a trace of a pungent smell. This was the unique smell of the star sand. When this smell was produced, it was the sign that this bottle of star ink had been successfully concocted.

Lin Li dispersed the flames on his hands, and placed the star ink that had been concocted on the table. Then, he laid out the two sets of leather armor, and started to construct the outlines of two mageweaths in his head.

These two mageweaths had been designed by Lin Li for almost more than a month. When he picked up the crystal pen, he only had to recall for a bit, and he could set the outline of these two mageweaths.

The crystal was coated with a slightly thick red liquid after being dipped in the star ink lightly…