End of the Magic Era
chapter-5

As a result, this 5th Rank Mage waited for a long time. The twenty minutes were almost over, yet that scoundrel was still acting, walking at a steady pace with his head lowered and his hands clasped behind his back, a thoughtful look on his face the entire time.

'What's with that thoughtful look? You are just an apprentice, what kind of profound question could you even be thinking of...'

After waiting and waiting, as time passed, Raymond couldn't wait any longer and his mind had become filled with who knew how many curses. 'This scoundrel can really act! Hurry up and ask me for guidance, can't you see that I've been waiting for a long time? If you don't hurry up, we will reach the Gilded Rose, and by then, there will be no onlookers! What would be the point of me taunting you then?'

'This won't do, I have to think of a way to bring it up myself…'

"Oh right, Young Master Merlin, did your teacher tell you which specific few formulas you should master when preparing to form the mana whirlpool?" Raymond was extremely pleased with himself after asking this question. It was a perfect suggestion, and the arrogance of a senior from a magic school was plastered all over his face.

Then, Raymond waited for quite a long time...

He turned and saw that the youth beside him was still looking down at the ground with his hands behind his back, seeming to be thinking about something.

'Fuck… That's too much!'

Veins could be seen palpitating on Raymond's forehead. 'I'm a great mage, yet I took the initiative to speak with a mere apprentice like you. Even if you aren't overwhelmed with awe, you still shouldn't dare to ignore me! Do you wanna die?'

"Hey! Young Master Merlin!" Raymond restrained himself once again, restraining the urge to curse at him, and raised his voice to shout.

"Hmm? What?" Lin Yun finally snapped out of his reverie with great difficulty. He was at a loss first, before finally managing to react. "Oh, the formulas that need to be mastered before forming the mana whirlpool, that's simple. The Nossen formula can be used to form the foundation of the mana whirlpool, the Jide formula is used to calculate the direction of the mana, and hmm, if the conditions are met, it's best to master the Figaro formula, this way, you can save a lot of mana when building the mana whirlpool.

After saying that, he threw Raymond a strange look and asked, "In fact, isn't this knowledge that an apprentice should know about already?"

"I…" Raymond suddenly became angry, almost stomping the ground. 'What does he mean by that!? I'm a great mage, do I still need you to teach me knowledge of mere apprentices?'

'This won't do, I have to think of another way to shame that scoundrel!'

Raymond was fuming, but unfortunately for him, before he could think of a way, they reached the Gilded Rose...

The Gilded Rose was located in the Victorious Return main street. This was the most flourishing zone of Thousand Sails City. The most people, the most expensive goods, everything was concentrated on this lavish street. With the power of the Flashing Gold chamber of commerce at that time, Locke Merlin was able to let the Gilded Rose enter Victorious Return street after a few jokes and some compliments.

But with the decline of the Flashing Gold chamber of commerce, the originally bustling Gilded Rose was now deserted. The three peak alchemists of Thousand Sails City had left early on, and they had taken a lot of expensive alchemy materials with them. Their reasoning was that the Flashing Gold chamber of commerce was behind on paying their salary, so they took materials as replacements.

But in reality, what they took was worth ten times their salary. They only left behind the most inexpensive reagents.

Admittedly, the Flashing Gold chamber of commerce truly was unable to pay their salary at that point. Even Fario's eight thousand gold couldn't be repaid, so the salaries of those alchemists which amounted to tens of thousands didn't even need mentioning.

And after all that, if the clerks leaving one after the other were added to the mix, each taking this or that, the formerly highly respected Gilded Rose was now but an empty shell of what it had once been. In fact, if not for the old butler noticing the strange situation and hurriedly sealing the warehouse, even those remaining cheap reagents might have been filched away.

When Lin Yun opened the door and entered the Gilded Rose, he couldn't see anything. The previously dazzling shelves were now completely empty, and dust filled the air, which had a moldy smell.

"This is too much," Raymond sighed after entering, a look of pity appearing on his face.

But he was already inwardly gloating. 'Despair? Shock? Thinking of the time when you were a rich young master that didn't have to worry about food and clothing? Thinking of that formerly lucrative Gilded Rose? Don't joke with me, the Flashing Gold chamber of commerce already collapsed, the Gilded Rose already withered, and you are just a 9th Rank Magic Apprentice, one that has been stuck there for years. Nothing more!'

Raymond was ready, ready for despair to appear on that scoundrel's face so that he could jeer at him.

But after waiting for a long time, Raymond couldn't wait any longer. He realized that something was wrong... after that insufferable wretch entered, he didn't react at all. He was neither stunned nor losing hope. Even his own exaggerated sigh and head shake hadn't drawn a reaction. It was as if the youth didn't even look around and just passed straight through the empty lobby to go to the back of the Gilded Rose.

"Hey..." Raymond started speaking, wanting to needle some sort of reaction out, but he trailed off because that guy was walking too fast. By the time Raymond had thought of something to say, he could only see his back.

'Damn! Just wait until I teach you a lesson!' Raymond inwardly cursed while sullenly chasing after Mafa Merlin.

They turned left after heading out the back door and then down a narrow street that led to the warehouse of the Gilded Rose.

When Raymond caught up, Lin Yun had already unlocked the entrance of the warehouse with his keys. He had entered and was standing in a daze among all kinds of cheap materials.

"You ran off so fast…" Raymond started, intending to grumble a bit after catching up, but after seeing Lin Yun's appearance, he cut himself short. There was no need to grumble. The lad had run into his misfortune so quickly that Raymond hadn't even had time to celebrate it yet, so how could he complain about that?

As he observed the lifeless look on that scoundrel's face, Raymond felt a lot better. It seemed that he was finally dumbstruck by the discovery of the cheap materials that were left behind. Altogether, they wouldn't even be worth a thousand gold, so how could he use them to settle his debt? His fatty uncle wasn't a philanthropist!

It actually took Raymond great effort to restrain himself from bursting out into maniacal laughter.

But Raymond definitely wasn't aware of Lin Yun's actual thoughts...

Lin Yun was also making great efforts to restrain himself from letting out maniacal laughter.

...

Based on the memories left behind by Mafa Merlin, Lin Yun had been aware that the current era was rich in resources. Despite this, after seeing the materials piled around, Lin Yun was stunned! He hadn't thought that this era would be flourishing to such an extent...

Let alone the other stuff, just those three full boxes of red coral… What kind of concept was that? In his later era, just a few pieces would have been enough to trigger an intense conflict in the relatively monotonous land of Heiss. Oh, and that bag of moonlight sand too, it might not have been possible to dig out that much even after hundreds of years of digging in the deserts!

'Hold on, that thing over there…'

After forcing his stare away from the moonlight sand, he was quickly attracted by a bright light.

'This wouldn't be… the rumored magic iron?'

Lin Yun subconsciously gulped, focusing his gaze on that glimmer in the corner of the warehouse carrying a fierce magic fluctuation. 'This can't magic iron, right?'

This was the first time Lin Yun had ever seen real magic iron. That exceptional magic metal simply didn't exist at the end of the magic era. A few millennia before Lin Yun transmigrated, the last piece of magic metal had already been extracted, and in the endless years that followed, people could only look at the descriptions of their incredible properties by poring over books...

All the magic metals were gifts of the earth. They naturally had unique magic power, and with some special handling, they could become powerful alchemy items. If they fell into the hands of a powerful alchemist, they might even have the chance to become a magic tool, such as the Shelter Tower in the middle of Heiss. That was the greatest magic tool in all of Noscent's history. It was able to stall for time in a world that should have already been destroyed, delaying the final days for thousands of years. This power already couldn't be described as just a miracle.

After circling the warehouse, Lin Yun couldn't help cursing inwardly, 'This really is an utterly heartless era filled with an abundance resources! Magic iron thrown in a corner, three boxes of red coral, a whole pouch of moonlight sand, and they all are given the same description, cheap magic material…'

'Too extravagant, too wasteful!'

Lin Yun gulped and then forced himself to not look at those treasures any longer. He was like a starving man that had just seen a table filled with delicious food. The fact that he wasn't shrieking and pouncing at the materials could already be considered an incredible show of self-restraint, but even Lin Yun's self-restraint couldn't stop him from falling into a daze.

Afterwards, Lin Yun finally recovered and got on the move. The three boxes of red coral were quickly emptied, followed by the full bag of moonlight sand, and naturally, the few pieces of magic iron weren't let off either. After five trips, everything in the warehouse was moved to the Gilded Rose's alchemy laboratory.

Raymond seemed rather confused about these actions. What kind of stimulus had that young master felt to make him suddenly act so strangely? Did he crack from the pressure and lose his mind?

Could it be that he didn't notice that after taking five trips back and forth, becoming drenched in sweat, he had only moved less than five hundred gold worth of stuff? Would Fario's debt claim a second victim in the family? Aside from the three boxes full of red corals, there was also a bag full of moonlight sand… But these things were all the most common magic materials in Noscent. One only needed to throw out a few coins to buy a large pile. Those pieces of magic iron were still worth a bit, but the problem was that there was no alchemist. All he had was himself… Did he plan to use his teeth to magically transform it?

'He's finished, finished, he truly lost his mind.'

Raymond got a headache. He didn't care if that scoundrel suffered, but did he have to involve those around him too? The old man who worked for the family for decades treated that insufferable fool as his own son. If he learnt that this pompous brat had lost his mind shortly after Raymond's arrival, Raymond would definitely have bad days ahead of him.

The problem was that… he really was innocent...