End of the Magic Era
chapter-21

After Lin Yun came out, he only did one thing, which was to hand out a few dozen bottles of compounded potions to the old butler, before returning to the alchemy laboratory.

As for the operation of the Gilded Rose, Lin Yun wasn't the least bit worried about it.

It was because the old butler was overseeing it. That person had followed Locke Merlin for a few dozens of years, and he was very talented at handling the business side of things. Despite being short on funds, he still managed to tidy up the Gilded Rose in such little time. This showed that there was nothing to worry about.

Besides, there were also those potions...

Indeed, those weren't ordinary alchemy potions. When Lin Yun analyzed the Dragon Blood Ink, he wrote down the recipe. Afterwards, he discovered that even though he had insufficient materials to craft the Mana Baptism, there would be no problems compounding some potions that had some of the desired effects of that potion.

Although these similar potions didn't have the effect of improving one's constitution as the Mana Baptism potion did, it would still be beneficial for helping Magic Apprentices that were attempting their first mana gathering. In other words, the customer base that this potion aimed at was just the apprentices. Even a subpar apprentice would be able to easily become a 9th Rank Magic Apprentice after using this potion.

Lin Yun felt that this kind of potion would have a lot of appeal to the huge numbers of Magic Apprentices that were still struggling to advance. At the very least, there would be no issue with the daily expenses of the Gilded Rose.

With no worries left in mind, Lin Yun returned to the alchemy laboratory and didn't come out for three months.

Lin Yun spent all his time on magic studies.

It might be very hard for the mages of this era to understand why a young, 20-year-old man who had just become a mage and was on the level of a 5th Rank Mage would be so demanding toward himself. After all, becoming a 5th Rank Mage was already an amazing achievement. As long as nothing unexpected happened, he would definitely be able to advance to become a Great Mage before the age of 30.

After that, he would still have time to try to break through to the High Mage realm. And if he became a High Mage, he would be on the same level as those three big shots of Sage Tower, one of the few at the top overlooking Thousand Sails City.

How could he not be satisfied with such an achievement?

But Lin Yun was different. He had personally experienced that mana exhausted era in the future. He had seen mage after mage leaving the cover of the Shelter Tower just to have the chance to gather a bit more mana from the void. Most of them never returned after leaving...

Lin Yun felt like this was heaven. Mana everywhere, abundant natural resources, it felt like the most beautiful dream.

The few days after his transmigration, Lin Yun didn't even dare to go to bed. He had been afraid of waking up and finding out that the dream had suddenly disappeared.

What Lin Yun felt when he was finally convinced that this wasn't just an ephemeral dream was something that couldn't be understood by the mages of this era, just as they couldn't understand why Lin Yun was being so hard on himself.

To Lin Yun, the freedom of being able to absorb mana, to be able to study magic at will, this was a huge joy in itself.

This demanding attitude that ordinary people couldn't comprehend, along with knowledge far surpassing his era, allowed Lin Yun to walk a path that would take most mages 10 years, in just a few months.

After three months, Lin Yun secretly reached the 9th Rank.

This was but a step away from the Great Mage realm.

To Lin Yun, only by becoming a Great Mage would he consider himself to have mastered his own power in this body. There was only a one-word difference between Mage and Great Mage, but they were two entirely different things.

Once a Mage crushed his mana whirlpool, he would tread on the path of growth as a Great Mage and would step into a completely new world. Even the amount of mana gathered and expelled during meditation would be a few dozen times higher than what a common mage would process. Not to mention the appearance of all kinds of metamagics following the breakthrough. Saying that a Great Mage could casually kill ten normal mages in a fight without even breaking a sweat… this was no exaggeration.

But Lin Yun couldn't take that step.

The flaw of Mafa Merlin's body was too serious. If he wanted to advance the last step to become a Great Mage he only had one realistic solution, which was the Mana Baptism.

He actually had the Dragon Blood, but he still was far from having all the other materials gathered up. Raymond had yet to return from his travels, so there might be no solution on that side.

"Seems like I have to find ways to get them from the Sage Tower…" Lin Yun sighed and kept the Dragon Blood preserved in ice.

It was the most plausible place to find them. If there was any place in the entire Thousand Sails City that could collect all the materials needed by Lin Yun, then it would definitely be the Sage Tower.

Three High Mages, a dozen Great Mages, hundreds of Mages, as well as countless Magic Apprentices… Heaps of magic materials were used every day. Only such a place could satisfy Lin Yun's needs.

'It has also been a long time since I've been to the library,' Lin Yun thought. He tidied up a bit, planning to check out the library once more and also ask Solon whether he could buy some materials from the Sage Tower on the way.

"Boss, Boss!"

But when he came out, he was greeted by Remy, gasping as he ran over.

"What?"

"Boss Pavey sent me to find you and ask you to return at once. He said, that Fario brought people to surround your house!"

"Eh?" Lin Yun was honestly quite astounded when he heard that. 'Do you think that bullying me is easy? I already gave you the money, but you still brought people over to surround my house? Looks like I need to leave a stronger impression on you…'

"In that case, Remy, go to the Sage Tower for me. Look for a mage named Solon and then give this to him…" Lin Yun fished out a slip of paper from his bag, and on it was the list of materials that he still needed to make the Mana Baptism. "Ask him if he is able to help me out by finding those materials."

"Yes, Boss!"

After sending Remy away, Lin Yun headed home.

Just outside the house, he saw many people surrounding the place, headed by that cheap uncle, Fario. Perhaps it was due to the fact that he was surrounded by a lot of people, but he seemed to be overwhelmingly confident. He had his hands on his hips as he stood outside, bellowing with his shockingly loud voice.

"The thief must be in that house, I saw him with my own eyes. So bold, he dared to steal things from the Viper Nest! Everyone, search carefully after going in. Make sure to find that damnable thief!"

That cheap uncle was getting greedier and greedier.

While getting down from the carriage, Lin Yun mumbled, 'Trying to use an escaped thief as an excuse… As if that would work. If this was really the case, everyone would go to the Sage Tower or the Monchi's manor to search for thieves… <No thief, you say? No way, I saw it with my own eyes! You must be an accomplice!>'

After getting down from the carriage, Lin Yun didn't feel too worried as he looked at Fario and his people from the distance. About thirty to forty people with pretty good strength, especially that middle-aged man wearing a grey gown. It seemed like there was actually a 9th Rank Mage!

That was rather excessive. Someone at the 9th Rank would already be a first-rate existence among most mages. Only one more step and he could reach the Great Mage realm. To invite someone of that level, a few thousand gold wouldn't be enough.

'How could Fario be brave enough to do something so bold?' Lin Yun frowned. This was very abnormal, why was Fario going so far?

At the start, he had come with an eight thousand gold debt. Lin Yun had thought that this cheap uncle was only taking advantage of Locke Merlin's promise to try to stake his claim on the house. Thus, after disabling Jimmy's right hand for his actions, he didn't make things too difficult for that cheap uncle and even paid him the debt after the sale of the Spectrum potion.

But now it seemed that it wasn't that simple...

At that time, he had demanded the money quite shamelessly, but he did indeed have the contract, which had its terms written in black and white. But now, trying to use the pretext of a thief to enter the place... Way too greedy. This was completely unreasonable, not to mention that he had invited a 9th Rank Mage. Lin Yun believed that if there wasn't a special reason, Fario would never be willing to part with so much money to hire someone like that.

'Is there something about the house?'

The more Lin Yun thought, the more he felt that it was possible.

Otherwise, why would Fario specifically bring up taking the house to repay the debt when he first came? And now, he also wanted to search the house… If it wasn't about the house, why would Fario come time and time again for the house?

"Let's go! Everyone follow me to look for the thief!"

Before Lin Yun could think further about what the issue with the house was, Fario shouted loudly and led everyone to force their way in.

"It's a bit too much…"

How could Lin Yun let them go ahead? It wasn't a tavern where everyone could enter.

"To dare steal the stuff of the Viper Nest, truly a bold and ambitious person. You thought I couldn't find you if you hide here?" Maybe it was because he had a 9th Rank Mage behind him, but Fario seemed especially excited today.

With such a powerful mage supporting him, Fario took the lead in an awe-inspiring way. This was a 9th Rank Mage! Not that many of them could be found in the entire Thousand Sails City. With such support, what could he be scared of?

'Aren't you very powerful Mafa? Instantly disabling Jimmy's right-hand and treating me like a fly. Now I have a 9th Rank Mage with me. What can you do if I force my way into your house to catch a thief?'

'Strange… Why is the soil so soft…'

'What's going on? Isn't this the entrance? Why does it feel like I'm trudging through a swamp?'

Fario looked down at the ground.