End of the Magic Era

Faleau’s talent wasn’t worth mentioning when compared to Master Alchemists in their early twenties and peak Master Alchemists in their late twenties, but Lin Yun believed that as long as Faleau had enough time, he would catch up to them sooner or later, and eventually leave them in the dust.

Because Faleau had qualities that they might not necessarily have, such as diligence and eagerness.

Perhaps it hadn’t been obvious when Faleau followed Cadgar, but these two qualities gradually emerged when he entered the Gilded Rose and worked as Lin Yun’s assistant.

The current Faleau had an unimaginable thirst for knowledge. He was like a sponge absorbing all the information presented to him. He would usually ask for every last detail when Lin Yun gave him a task until he clearly understood it.

Lin Yun even felt impatient sometimes, but he couldn’t withstand Faleau’s frightening desire to learn more.

Over time, Lin Yun got used to it and ended up explaining everything to Faleau as he worked, each and every detail, the purpose behind what he was doing and why it was done like that, as well as the advantages and the downsides.

Naturally, Lin Yun would be lazy sometimes…

When that happened, he would give Faleau exercises to practice on. They might be some troublesome experiments or some complicated tasks. In any case, he wasn’t expecting Faleau to solve these in a short time, but he would learn from the experience.

Like today…

“Boss, it didn’t go so well…” Hearing Lin Yun inquire, a hint of awkwardness appeared on Faleau’s face. He also lowered his voice and spoke in a quieter tone. “I only completed one of the three formulas you gave me…”

“Haha, it’s fine…” Lin Yun shook his head. The three formulas he had given him last time touched upon the Master Alchemist realm, so it was quite good for Faleau to have completed one. Lin Yun estimated that Faleau was currently at least at the level of a peak Great Alchemist.

‘It looks like I can help Faleau make his preparations to reach the Master Alchemist realm when I return from Okland…’

“Boss, I’ve been computing these two formulas for the past two days, but I can’t find any clues,” Faleau said while fishing a stack of paper out from his pocket. The papers were filled with numerous characters and formulas. It could be seen with one look that Faleau had spent a lot of time working on the two formulas.

“Let me see…” Lin Yun took the stack of paper and started sifting through it when he heard someone knocking on the door.

“…” Faleau sighed before helplessly walking towards the door.

Faleau knew that people would rarely disturb Lin Yun once he entered his laboratory.

“It doesn’t matter if the Gilded Rose is on fire, as long as the fire doesn’t reach the 2nd floor, you are not to disturb Young Master when he is there!”

These were Pave’s words…

This meant that people would knock on the door only when something very important happened… In other words, Faleau couldn’t delay.

And sure enough, William awaited Faleau on the other side of the door.

“Already back?” Faleau said dispiritedly. He was just about to get pointers from Lin Yun, yet that guy interrupted them. How could Faleau remain in a good mood?

“Hmm…” William nodded before eagerly walking up to Lin Yun.

Faleau ground his teeth at William’s rude attitude.

“Already back?” Lin Yun nodded at William from the refining table.

“Yes, yes, I just returned. I asked Pave and learnt that you were here so I rushed over with all due haste,” he said with a smile. It was the same question, but William’s answer was completely different this time.

‘Such a boot-licker…’

Faleau kept stewing in dissatisfaction behind him.

“How is it? Did the Merlin Family agree to my conditions?”

“The Merlin Family…” William started to reply before suddenly stopping and glancing at Faleau.

Lin Yun guessed that William was most likely going to talk about some important secrets.

“It’s fine, Faleau is one of us.” In this era, the ones Lin Yun trusted the most besides the old butler were William and Faleau. He wouldn’t hide those kinds of matters from them.

“Okay…”

William nodded unwillingly before looking at Faleau again, feeling vexed, only to see him smiling back at him.

Lin Yun knew of the rivalry between them. They had been competing with each other in private for a long time, but never in the open, so that they wouldn’t affect Lin Yun’s business. Thus, Lin Yun would mostly ignore it.

Even now.

He didn’t say much more about it, he only nodded and signaled William that he could speak.

“The conditions that you raised are being widely disputed within the family. Many people feel that you shouldn’t have the qualifications to enter the Ancestral Land when you return and that there is no need to even talk about it…”

“Oh?” Lin Yun frowned as he heard that.

When Lin Yun returned from the Four Seasons Canyon, he sent William to the Merlin Family and had him inform the Elder Council that there was no issue with him returning to the family, but the Merlin Family had to agree to a few of his conditions, the most important one being that he wanted the right to freely enter and exit the Ancestral Land.

In Lin Yun’s eyes, the other conditions could be discussed, but that one definitely couldn’t be negotiated.

Lin Yun had merged with the Silver Dragon Blood in the Heaven Enlightening Plane before receiving the help of the Crystal Scales’ Incarnation, Enderfa, to create a 10th Magic Array, using this trick to enter the High Mage realm.

It could be said that Lin Yun was the most peculiar High Mage in Noscent’s history.

When Great Mages advanced to the High Mage realm, their greatest hurdle was merging the nine Magic Conducting Runes together into one. From that point on, they would truly be able to control their Magic Conducting Rune as they pleased, and whether it was their power or abilities, they would show extraordinary progress.

But Lin Yun…

Even if he had stepped into the High Mage realm, his Magic Arrays had yet to merge.

This also meant that the power and ability of the Magic Arrays had yet to undergo that abnormal progress.

This might even influence Lin Yun’s future magic path.

The Magic Arrays not being fused meant that Lin Yun couldn’t yet progress in the High Mage realm. If becoming a 1st Rank High Mage was his natural limit, then even if he had extraordinary fortuitous encounters, he would at most be able to reach the level of a 4th Rank High Mage. The 5th Rank would forever be out of his sight.

What was more frightening was that because of the might and complexity of the Magic Array, this Magic Conducting Rune was one of the hardest to fuse. Lin Yun’s only clue was that member of the Merlin Family from a few hundred years in the future.

That person also had the Magic Array and managed to solve the difficult problem most people couldn’t solve. He went to the Ancestral Land and came out with the Magic Arrays fused, instantly becoming a High Mage. Twenty years later, he reached the Archmage realm.

Lin Yun felt that the key was in the Ancestral Land.

Thus, it could be said that the Ancestral Land was a must to Lin Yun.

“Nothing can be done about it. Those old men from the Elder Council are like that, each of them greedier and more stubborn than the other. They insist that you haven’t made any contributions to the family and aren’t qualified to enter the Ancestral Land. Haha, they think I don’t know that they are eyeing that Nether Iron Vein…”

“The Nether Iron Vein is impossible, but I can give them some benefits,” Lin Yun said after thinking for a bit.

The Nether Iron vein was in the Bone Plane. Giving it to a force like the Merlin Family was akin to giving them the entire Bone Plane. Lin Yun wouldn’t agree to such a condition.

But it was fine to give them some benefits to gain access to what he needed.

After all, the secrets within the Merlin Family’s Ancestral Land were too crucial to Lin Yun, possibly even determining his future magic path. In comparison, what were a few concessions?

But William shook his head when he heard Lin Yun’s words…

“It’s useless, Cousin, I already told these old geezers that as long as they let you freely enter the Merlin Family’s Ancestral Land, you can transfer some of the Gilded Rose’s shares and give each of them a decent amount as thanks, but guess what they said?”

“What?”

“Haha, these old geezers were very interested in the money, but they said that they weren’t very interested in the shares. In their eyes, an alchemy shop from Thousand Sails City isn’t enough to tempt the Merlin Family. There were even a few hateful old fossils that contemptuously said that if you can’t take out that Nether Iron Vein, then let alone entering the Ancestral Land, they will even stop you from returning to the Merlin Family…”

“Oh?” Lin Yun smiled and didn’t show any hint of anger. “And what about my Great-Uncle?”

The Great-Uncle Lin Yun mentioned was this generation’s Patriarch. He was the younger brother of Mafa Merlin’s grandfather, Locke Merlin’s uncle.

It was that Patriarch who told William to make it so that Lin Yun would return to the Merlin Family. To make Lin Yun agree, he even made a lot of promises.

To Lin Yun, these promises weren’t very important, and the only crucial thing was actually running into issues.

This was something Lin Yun couldn’t accept no matter what.