Chapter 928 - We're All Friends
Chapter 928: We’re All Friends
In the depths of the ruins, they found a Teleportation Portal, and after some analysis of the information in their hands, they discovered that it was the passage connecting to the Sky Castle that was controlled by the Immortal King.
The Immortal King’s name was rather frightening. Even though he had disappeared countless years ago, the mere mention of things related to him would make everyone tense up and feel extremely cautious. Everyone knew that the Sky Castles were what the High Elves relied on to rule Anril for ages.
The Immortal King and the Sky Castle certainly meant a massive amount of wealth that was beyond imagination. However, the risks involved were definitely not to be belittled. That was precisely the reason that the team from the Brilliance Shrine and that of Rotterdam reached a consensus to cooperate and explore the Sky Castle.
After that conversation, Archbishop Martin finally realized that the Sky Castle that he and the others had set foot in was actually the one that Lin Li, the Malfa Family, and the elves had explored previously.
As for the expedition that Lin Li went on that time, it was no longer a secret, because the Dark Blade withdrew halfway and spread the word about it to the outside world. However, the teams from the Brilliance Shrine and Rotterdam did not enter from the Teleportation Portal in the Haiga Mountain Range. Hence, Archbishop Martin had never thought of associating this Sky Castle with the one that Lin Li explored.
When he first heard that piece of news, Archbishop Martin kept a straight face, but he was secretly filled with regret. Since the Sky Castle had already been explored, they reckoned that the truly valuable items had to have already been taken away by the Tower of Dusk and the other forces.
On the other hand, Prince Jeremiah was filled with displeasure. Not hesitating at all, he hostilely said, “What have you gotten from this place!?”
It was a little rude to ask that question. It was one thing to secretly find out about the matter, but another thing to question him directly. The Tower of Dusk and the Brilliance Shrine were merely cooperating with each other, and they did not actually share a superior-subordinate relationship. There was no reason for them to report all of the items they had gained.
Upon hearing Prince Jeremiah’s question, Archbishop Martin panicked before Lin Li could say anything. In fact, he did not bother about Prince Jeremiah’s identity, either. He simply said, “Jeremiah, enough. This is not the Ledin Kingdom. Master Felic is not obligated to answer your question!”
However, Lin Li waved his hand, and nonchalantly said, “Archbishop Martin, please don’t mind. To be honest with you, when we came here previously, we only explored the central tower of the Sky Castle due to time constraints. After we exited, we immediately faced the attacks of some powerful enemy. We had no choice but to cease exploring and hurriedly flee through the Teleportation Portal.”
Archbishop Martin, who was initially still feeling fortunate, immediately nervously asked, “Powerful enemy? Neither we nor the people from Rotterdam encountered any threatening attacks since we arrived other than the random attacks by some grievous spirits. I wonder what powerful enemy you’re referring to, Master Felic.”
Within just a few exchanges, Archbishop Martin seemed to have been on an emotional roller coaster. Firstly, he found it a pity that the Sky Castle had been explored by Lin Li, after which he felt thankful that Lin Li had merely explored the central tower. Now, he immediately tensed up again after hearing Lin Li mention the enemy.
“It was a Ghost. It should have been at the Legendary-realm at that time,” Lin Li said calmly.
“I thought it’d be some kind of powerful enemy, but it turns out it was just a Ghost that was at the peak of the Legendary-level. If I had been there, I would have been able to deal with it on my own,” Prince Jeremiah said proudly with disdain.
Prince Jeremiah was not lying. If he had to deal with other magical beasts that were at the peak Legendary-level, he would never dare to boast even if he was arrogant, but the Ghost was different. He originally already had strength that was at the peak of the Legendary-level. Although he was at the same level as the Ghost, Holy Light Magic had always been able to restrain Undead creatures.
Even Archbishop Martin had clearly heaved a sigh of relief after hearing that the enemy was a Ghost. He totally did not notice Lin Li saying “at that time”.
Of course, even if he had noticed it, Archbishop Martin probably would not have taken it seriously, and neither would Jeremiah. Ever since Lin Li explored the Sky Castle, only a few years[1] had passed. No one would have thought that there would be any significant change in the strength of the Ghost that was in the peak of the Legendary-realm after just a few years.
Archbishop Martin changed the topic, and asked Lin Li about other matters, such as the streets of the Sky Castle and the experiences they had during the expedition. Seeing that Archbishop Martin did not take the matter of the Ghost to heart, Lin Li did not specially remind him. Instead, he continued to have a friendly conversation with him. Anyway, he was just making guesses about the current condition of the Ghost. Besides, with the restraint that Holy Light Magic had on the Undead creatures, the team from the Brilliance Shrine would not be at a huge disadvantage.
As for Jeremiah, it seemed that he had regained some of his face during the conversation just now. There was less resentment in his expression as well. However, he was not satisfied yet. He had lost plenty of face previously, and he was merely getting back some interest now.
At this moment, a young mage from the team of the Tower of Dusk walked over. It was Alan, who was in charge of leading the mages.
Alan had an unnatural expression on his face. He walked towards Lin Li, and said in an awkward tone, “President, a few mages got injured during the battle just now.”
Damn it, they actually got injured under such circumstances. It seems like this bunch of greenhorns have not been training hard enough! Lin Li thought to himself.
Lin Li, who was initially full of smiles and chatting with Archbishop Martin, grew sullen after he heard the news from Alan. Although the mages deployed in this battle were all newly recruited, Lin Li felt that the battle was rather easy. Besides, they had the protection of the Death Knights.
He thought that they still had to go through actual combat sessions as studying magic all day in the Tower of Dusk would only create a batch of magic scholars. The essence of magic was still a type of battle too. It was the weapon that was essential for the survival of weak humans. Mages without combat power would be akin to garbage!
In present-day Anril, there was indeed a batch of mages who were constantly clamoring about the de-violentization of magic as they felt that magic ought to be studied as a culture, and should not be used in fights. The proposals that had been solemnly raised by the councilors of the Supreme Council were aborted due to the opposition of the majority of the members.
Lin Li had always been contemptuous of such debates. He felt that magic was just magic. Just like a sword, magic was a weapon for mankind to survive in this world where life was about the survival of the fittest. Mages had to engage in combat and continuously use actual combat to train themselves. Studying a whole bunch of magic theories would be a waste even if they had strength of high level. If the mages forgot about that, the profession of mages would probably not be far from becoming obsolete.
An even more important point was that a mage’s comprehension of the power of magic was inseparable from actual combat. Only by continuously using the power of magic could one continuously familiarize themselves with magic, comprehend it, and master it completely. The reason that there were rarely any outstanding mages like those at the end of the Dark Age among the numerous ones that were currently existing in Anril was the lack of actual combat experience.
In Anril today, even the Legendary-realm had become the pinnacle of magic, and mages below the Legendary-realm could still engage in some training through expeditions and adventurers. However, stepping into the Legendary-realm seemed to have become an impressive achievement. Legendary-mages seemed to have become extremely precious, and were not to get into accidents.
Lin Li didn’t care what the other mages thought, but he would definitely not allow the mages under him to turn into pieces of garbage who only cared about flaunting their levels. This time, he brought the newly recruited mages along with him on such a dangerous operation precisely because he wanted them to increase their actual combat experience. However, to Lin Li’s infuriation, some of them had already gotten injured during the battle with the Paladins even before the actual dangerous battle.
However, Jeremiah interpreted Lin Li’s sullen expression differently. He felt that Lin Li was clearly worried about his subordinates. Generally speaking, if someone was injured, it would be fine to treat them, but to him, Lin Li’s expression seemed to suggest that the Tower of Dusk had no means of treatment.
Jeremiah actually didn’t feel surprised about that at all. Looking at the composition of the team of the Tower of Dusk, he felt that it was generally made up of mages and knights. Unlike them, the team from the Brilliance Shrine, which possessed a large number of Priests who were good at healing, could use the Power of Light to heal the wounded as and when they wanted.
Therefore, injuries were very troublesome for a team like the Tower of Dusk which could only use potions to heal their injured team members. However, the effects of Recovery Potions could not compare to the treatment theurgy of the Priests at all. The Recovery Potions would at most control the development of the injury, and then slightly increase the speed of recovery. Even common physical wounds would take at least a day or two to recover when treated with ordinary potions. Besides, if the injuries were more severe, they might not be able to recover for a few days, and the injured person would basically be out of the operation.
Of course, it wasn’t that there were no potions that could compare to the effects of the healing theurgy, but they would all have to be at least Master-level potions which cost more than 10,000 gold coins. Usually, they would only be equipped by important members of the expedition. No one would be willing to use them on their subordinates.
Although they had heard from others that the Tower of Dusk’s businesses were rather large in scale, and had been doing well in the Breezy Plains despite having only been established for a few years, Jeremiah did not think that the Tower of Dusk would be generous enough to use such precious and valuable Master-level potions on a few injured subordinates, even if they could afford to do so.
At the thought of it, Jeremiah was filled with joy, and he was thankful that he had not left immediately. After waiting for such a long time, he finally found a chance to salvage his pride.
Jeremiah suppressed the excitement in his heart, and tried to force a look of sympathy on his face. He said to Lin Li in a low voice, “President Felic, it’s such a pity. I did not expect that misunderstanding to bring such a loss to your team. However, you don’t have to worry too much. Since you and Archbishop Martin are friends, you are my friend too. If you need any help, feel free to say so.”
Jeremiah’s words could be considered sincere, and even Archbishop Martin was stunned. That was simply too surprising. Prince Jeremiah, who had always been arrogant, actually managed to say such polite words in such circumstances. Is he the same Jeremiah I know!?
Archbishop Martin had known Jeremiah for more than a day or two. Although the relationship between the two of them was not excellent, he was also quite familiar with Jeremiah’s temperament. Jeremiah might not be the type to take revenge for everything, he was also not generous. However, Prince Jeremiah actually still said those words despite having been shamed previously. Archbishop Martin wondered if his persuasion worked, or if Jeremiah had really come to his senses.
To be honest, at this moment, Archbishop Martin even felt somewhat relieved. He appeared much more enthusiastic and friendly than usual when he spoke to Lin Li precisely because he understood Jeremiah’s temperament. He hoped that Lin Li could be more tolerant of the prince’s rude behavior in their following cooperation.
After hearing Jeremiah’s words, Archbishop Martin even felt somewhat heartened, as if his own child had suddenly become sensible. At the same time, the change in Jeremiah’s attitude was also the reason Archbishop Martin was more confident and less worried about the following cooperation with the Tower of Dusk.
However, before Lin Li could even reply, and just as Archbishop Martin was about to feel gratified, Jeremiah raised his chin and smugly said, “There are only a few subordinates of yours who got injured, right? That’s not a big deal. Must you be so vexed? Since we’re friends, why don’t I take the initiative to supply you with a batch of potions? Take them to heal your careless subordinates. We have Priests and potions here.”
As soon as Jeremiah said those words, the surroundings instantly became silent. Everyone seemed to have become immobilized, and the atmosphere became extremely bizarre.
Archbishop Martin, who had originally been pleased with Jeremiah’s change in attitude, and was planning to continue from there, was dumbfounded as well. There was a look of shock, disappointment, agony, and disbelief in his eyes. His gaze was extremely peculiar.
[1] Should be months I think… Same for the next sentence.