End of the Magic Era

Wilder paced back and forth anxiously in the room. A few minutes later, he summoned his trusted subordinate, and stared at the man with bloodshot eyes.

"Go meet Mafa Merlin, and tell him everything you know. Make it clear to him that we have nothing to do with any of this. As for those idiots, they might think they can do anything they want because they are not within the bounds of Neverwinter City. They're in great trouble!"

Shocked, the subordinate turned around, and was about to leave. At this moment, Wilder gritted his teeth.

"In the name of the Lodney Family, send words that whoever killed the leader of a material supplier family has violated the rules of the game!"

The subordinate left the room in fright. Seeing how Wilder was gnashing his teeth, he didn't dare to say a word.

In no more than half an hour, Wilder's trusted subordinate had come to Neverwinter City with a teleportation array. The members of the family in town immediately directed him to Lin Yun before the latter found Dean Gandaph.

"Sir Merlin, please wait a moment. I'm a representative of the Lodney Family—"

Before he finished, Lin Yun frowned and interrupted him. "The Lodney Family? Are you following me?"

The subordinate hurriedly lowered his back with cold sweat.

"Sir Merlin, please make no mistake. I'm here at the request of Mr. Wilder to inform you of certain things. Mr. Wilder is very angry about what happened to the Gilded Rose, and which doesn't follow the rules of the game at all. It jeopardizes the interests of the Gilded Rose and those of the Lodney Family."

Lin Yun's eyes glittered. He looked at the subordinate without changing his expression.

"Oh? You may continue."

The subordinate was slightly relieved. He looked around vigilantly, and confirmed that nobody was around. Finally, he spoke in a low voice with mana.

"Sir Merlin, as a matter of fact, the Lodney Family was tricked too. An elder of our family was fooled by someone who claimed that the Gilded Rose didn't have any strength, and only had some relics. They also said that the Gilded Rose was the Lodney Family's competitor…

"That's why the Lodney Family's elder took action against the Gilded Rose. Then, we were unable to stop while things escalated. Mr. Wilder is very regretful. Due to the tricked elder, we've suffered a heavy loss, including the Gilded Rose and Sir Merlin's friendship.

"This time, the two b*tches came, and tried to deceive our family again, but Mr. Wilder wasn't tricked at all. He would've caught the two b*tches, but unfortunately, they were too strong. We could only drive them away.

"Afterwards, the Gilded Rose's convoys were attacked, and the leader of a material supplier family was killed, which is terrible. Mr. Wilder asked me to inform you that those two b*tches are both at least on level 3 of the Heaven Rank, and hail from the south of the Odin Kingdom. But we don't know which organization they're from. The spies we sent to follow them were all killed…"

Hearing that, Lin Yun considered it quietly. The south of the Odin Kingdom? When did he piss off anyone from the south of the Odin Kingdom? No wonder they didn't hesitate to cause such havoc. They had nothing to lose here. Besides, there were many conflicts between a lot of forces in the south of the Odin Kingdom and those in the north.

The subordinate waited patiently. A few minutes later, Lin Yun glanced at him.

"Alright. Got it. You may get back."

Hearing that, the subordinate was slightly relieved. He bowed and left.

It couldn't have been easy for the Lodney Family to behave so modestly to ease the tension between them. However, Lin Yun didn't need to say anything back. If the Lodney Family decided to submit, then he wouldn't suffer any loss if he made peace with them. After all, the Lodney Family had existed in the Odin Kingdom for years, and had a great network of connections.

Soon after the representative of the Lodney Family left, another person came.

"Sir Merlin, this is a small gift from Sir Reynolds. He hopes that you'll like it."

Reading the thick book in his hand, Lin Yun put on a smile of amusement. In the book was information about organizations large and small. Although the information wasn't detailed, it was still very valuable for the Gilded Rose. It would take the Gilded Rose a lot of time if it wanted to gather all the information on its own.

After the assault against the Gilded Rose, the Lodney Family became anxious, and so did the Roosevelt Business Alliance. The competition between the Roosevelt Business Alliance and the Lincoln Business Alliance was getting fiercer, so the former couldn't afford offending the Gilded Rose anymore.

If the Gilded Rose increased its supply of Universal Cores for the Lincoln Business Alliance, the Roosevelt Business Alliance would be in even greater trouble. Besides, the Gilded Rose had every reason to suspect them.

The book of intelligence that the Roosevelt Business Alliance delivered was a declaration that it had nothing to do with the attacks. Also, although it wasn't openly stated, Lin Yun knew that the suspects who attacked the Gilded Rose had to be in the book. He only needed to find useful information, and then narrow down the most suspicious suspects.

The book contained a great amount of information, including the looks, strength, and characteristics of the most famous people in every organization. There were even paintings of some strong experts.

Soon, Lin Yun found an important suspect in the book. It was the Ring of Roses from the south of the Odin Kingdom. That organization was exclusively made of women, and had some powerful female mages and Sword Saints. However, there were no paintings, only vague descriptions.

The Ring of Roses' main businesses were intelligence and assassination. A lot of brothels, casinos, and taverns were its property. Anyone who needed intelligence could make exchanges with the Ring of Roses. Also, the Ring of Roses adopted a new method in every assassination. Its members had one thing in common: they were crazy, and would do anything to achieve their goal.

Once, in order to assassinate a Heaven Rank expert, a Heaven Rank assassin of the Ring of Roses pretended to be an Archmage, and worked for the target for three years before she found the perfect opportunity to kill the mage.

The Ring of Roses was brutal, but not bloody. Sometimes, its target didn't even know that the Ring of Roses was after them. So, it was under a lot less pressure than the Shadow Tower. At least, it wasn't as notorious as the Shadow Tower. When people needed intelligence, they would go to the Ring of Roses.

Lin Yun put away the book. He almost confirmed that the two visitors who went to the Lodney Family were from the Ring of Roses. The fact that they had been attracting enemies to the Gilded Rose and the desperate behavior suggested that they were from the Ring of Roses.

More importantly, very few organizations could've easily sent two level-3 Heaven Rank mages to instigate trouble except the Ring of Roses.

After all, there were much fewer female mages than male ones, especially among Heaven Rank ones. The female Heaven Rank mages only took up 10 percent of the total.

Most female Heaven Rank mages wouldn't do such a thing. Having accomplished the extraordinary evolution, they were the ideal targets of many evil mages.

3,000 years later, a level-5 Heaven Rank evil mage, after running out of potential, and failing to make any progress in 3,000 years, would catch a few Heaven Rank female mages and impregnate them. With evil power, he forced the female mages to conceive with all their power.

Their children, as descendants of an extraordinary creature, were all talented. However, the evil mage was unsatisfied. He let the most talented child swallow the less talented ones. Then, he made use of his bloodline power, and swallowed the soul of the last kid, occupying his kid.

Unfortunately, soon after he acquired this unimaginably talented body, he was involved in the battle of two Heaven Rank experts, and died in the most miserable way…

Lin Yun shook his head, and decided to leave it alone. Whether or not the Ring of Roses was behind this, the people who attacked the Gilded Rose couldn't cause any greater damage. They wouldn't be able to kill anyone who was under the protection of the level-40 alchemy puppets, unless the Heaven Rank experts participated.

However, the Heaven Rank experts' participation meant exposure. It might be difficult to find Archmages or Sword Saints, but it was easy to track down a Heaven Rank expert who had unique features.

The news that the Gilded Rose spread out recently had already raised public indignation. After all, this was not business competition, but a complete violation of the game rules. The Gilded Rose's interests weren't the only things at stake.

Reaching the Starry Sky College, Lin Yun found Gandaph. Agalon hadn't returned yet. Lin Yun was not worried that the other might be in danger. After all, Agalon was getting strong enough to ignite his God Fire, and he had a Natural Demiplane. He should be able to return to Noscent even if he got lost.

When Lin Yun found Gandaph, the latter was devoted to the study of an alchemy theory. A lot of law runes were floating around him. Lin Yun waited for half an hour before Gandaph finally ended the study.

"It's you, Merlin. What brought you here? Has Sir Agalon been well?"

Gandaph wore a warm smile. Clearly, he had learned a lot of things from Agalon.

Lin Yun bowed at him with a smile.

"Sir Agalon went to the space battlefield recently. I don't know when he'll come back, but I think it won't be long. I've come here because I want to ask for your help."

Gandaph shook his head.

"There's no need to be so courteous. Just tell me what you need. I will do my best as long as I can help."

Gandaph was quite friendly, but Lin Yun still thought that his manners were necessary. After all, he had come to the Starry Sky College for poaching…

"I'm hoping to hire some alchemists from the Starry Sky College as core researchers, preferably Artisans or Masters. Their assistants can be the graduates of the Starry Sky College, preferably those who have studied large alchemy machines, engine cores, and alchemy arrays."

Gandaph shook his head with a bitter smile.

"You're truly bold to ask. There aren't many Artisans who work in that aspect. The technology is so cutting-edge that most research on it is just theoretical. Few people meet your demand. There is one particular person that suits your needs perfectly. However, I'm not sure he'll go with you. You'll have to invite him yourself.

"Whoever you're interested in, feel free to invite them to go with you. We cannot command those Artisans. They have been staying in the Starry Sky College for research after their graduation. They're specialists in their own field. It's just that they haven't become Saints yet…"

Gandaph personally led Lin Yun to an underground lab, where there were a lot of bizarre and exquisite alchemy devices. The people on their way all greeted Gandaph, but none stopped what they were doing.

As they walked to the end of the lab, they heard a fight behind the gate. Angry roars were coming from behind the gate.

Gandaph seemed already used to it, and he opened the gate peacefully. There was a space that was at least 1,000 square meters big behind the gate. All sorts of alchemy devices were on the ground. Near a crystal table that was a dozen meters long, two alchemists, who had unkempt hair and seemed to be in their fifties, were arguing with bloodshot eyes. There were a bunch of manuscripts and the illusion of what appeared to be a reaction furnace on the crystal table.

"Idiot, this theory is absolutely useless without the necessary material. It's pointless even if you say you can build an object whose mana is as great as that of a God or Demon, because you don't have the materials. Your research is worthless…"

"Moron, theoretical research is the only path to the truth. You can never find the truth if you only study with the materials that you can find…"

The two old men yelled at each other, flushed with excitement. They also displayed all sorts of data with their runes. Their mana was surging out, as if they were about to fight each other.

It had been a minute since Gandaph came with Lin Yun, but the two old men didn't see them at all. They were still staring at each other with bloodshot eyes, as if they were going to kill each other.

Gandaph was slightly embarrassed. He coughed and spread out a mana wave. Finally, the two flushing old men noticed the visitors, and turned around angrily at the same time.

However, when they saw Gandaph, the anger on their faces was immediately replaced by respect.

Although Gandaph's field of expertise was different from theirs, he deserved anyone's respect as a Saint Alchemist. He was better than them in terms of alchemy.

"Dean Gandaph, what brought you here?"

"Those idiots didn't tell me that you were coming…"

One of the two old men was so slim that he looked like a skeleton wearing human skin. However, his hands were agile, and seemed to be born to control alchemy devices. The other was fat with a red nose. Judging from the presentation he made, he was the one who was good at theoretic research.

One of them realistically believed that only applicable theories were useful, and the other looked into the future, and believed that new theories were the truth. It was easy to understand that they wanted to kill each other.

"Alright, stop fighting. Let me introduce you. This is Sir Mafa Merlin, a very strong Artisan who has many fields of expertise. He's a genius in alchemy. In terms of potions, magic tools, alchemy puppets, and alchemy arrays, he is an Artisan. The Gilded Rose was opened by him.

"We've come here because Sir Mafa Merlin hopes to invite you to join a research team."

Before Gandaph finished, the red-nosed man, named Pinocchio, glared at Lin Yun.

"You want to hire us? Get the hell out of here, and stop wasting our time. We're too busy for your nonsense…"

Fantexi, who had hollow eyes and messy hair, also sneered.

"Just go back wherever you come from. We don't have time for anyone who has strayed off the path of truth. Genius? We've seen too many geniuses. Not all Artisans are as good as each other. Kid, just f*ck off…"

Gandaph felt a strong headache.

Those two jerks really didn't have any courtesy. Should he tell them about the relation between Sir Agalon and Merlin?

Never mind. It should be kept a secret for now. Nobody knew what Sir Agalon was really planning. Those two unfriendly jerks were truly bold to say such things…

Did they think that Merlin was Gandaph's student, and the dean came to support him? Did they think that he was exaggerating? Damn it. He shouldn't have said the truth. Those two idiots couldn't have been convinced. It was very unlikely that they would accept the existence of a genius such as Merlin.

Lin Yun looked at Pinocchio and Fantexi, who were both angry with him, with a smile. He wasn't infuriated at all. He simply turned around and looked at Gandaph.

"Dean Gandaph, thank you for leading me here. As we agreed upon, if I talk either of them into leaving with me, you will let them go, right?"

Gandaph looked at Lin Yun in amusement, and knew exactly what he meant. He heaved a sigh.

"I always honor my promise. Alright, I'm leaving. Do whatever you must."