Chapter 83 - Hawkins
In fact, Faleau didn’t know that Lin Yun was already aware of the presence of the Twin Moons Splendor’s Alchemist.
While researching the stone tablet, Lin Yun had a stroke of inspiration and wanted the old butler to recall Raymond. But when the old butler came, Lin Yun didn’t have the time to mention Raymond before the old butler told him about the Alchemist dispatched by the Twin Moons Splendor for “interaction”.
The old butler relayed this news to Lin Yun with a look of worry plastered all over his face.
After being at Locke Merlin’s side for so many years and seeing so many matters, how could the old butler not know what this meant? It was an attempt to suppress them. They wanted to seize the market by showing that they had superior skill.
An exchange of skill sounded nice, but its true purpose was to make a competing business lose its reputation.
“Haha, it really came.” Lin Yun wasn’t surprised at all. He knew that something like this skill exchange would have come sooner or later when the Monchi Family organized that alchemy exhibition.
The Monchi Family couldn’t get involved in the alchemy market without fighting the Gilded Rose. The appearance of the Hope Potion made the Gilded Rose one of the best alchemy shops of Thousand Sails City. By the time the shop expanded, the “one of” part could be removed. Although the Twin Moons Splendor had been quite famous, they had still been lacking a signature potion like the Hope Potion.
But now that they held the alchemy exhibition and announced the Nothingness and Berserk Blood potions, they had the confidence to pressure the Gilded Rose in term of skill.
Lin Yun would have doubted Monchi’s intelligence if he hadn’t taken that opportunity.
But Lin Yun wasn’t anxious at all.
Lin Yun guessed that the Nothingness and Berserk Blood potions were knockoffs of his Ghost potion and his Volcano potion.
Monchi had spent 4,000,000 golds to buy the two potions in the Black Horn Auction, after all. Lin Yun knew that they had bought them to try to learn what techniques had been used to create them.
But so what if they researched them?
Alchemy skills couldn’t be learnt so easily.
A decently skilled Great Alchemist might be able to analyze some of the skills used if he spent enough time, perhaps regarding the processing of magic materials, the theoretical planning, or the usage of manipulation skills.
But in Noscent’s long history, there has never been a Great Alchemist able to copy the work of a Master Alchemist!
Let alone a Master Alchemist, a Great Alchemist has never been able to copy the work of another Great Alchemist solely through potion analysis.
Only the most superficial skills would be obtained through analysis, as some of the core content would never be able to be analyzed.
Thus, alchemy knowledge would only be spread through master-disciple inheritance.
Some things could only be understood from the mouth of one’s teacher.
Those things were the core of alchemy.
Only if one was an Artisan Alchemist would one be able to easily analyze an Apprentice Alchemist’s work and instantly understand it.
What the analysis of the Ghost and Volcano potions brought were only inferior knockoffs like the Nothingness and Berserk Blood potions.
One second of physical immunity and a short Berserk effect.
Lin Yun didn’t even bother to look at that kind of stuff.
…
Faleau had already taken Hauss to the Gilded Rose’s lobby. It was completely filled with people. They had all heard that the Twin Moons Splendor and the Gilded Rose were going to have an exchange of skills. Some came from the neighboring Sage Tower, some from the nearby Mercenary Guild, and some were even bosses and alchemists from other alchemy shops.
In any case, Faleau was surrounded by over a hundred people when he entered the lobby!
‘How could there be so many people,’ Faleau inwardly cursed. These guys came to rejoice in others’ misfortunes. They ran over one after the other when they heard that there was something interesting going on. ‘Fuck, why aren’t you checking on the Silver Moon Mercenary Group’s Edge Rift expedition? Scared of being hurt?’
After having these harsh thoughts, Faleau took another glance at the crowd and couldn’t help frowning.
‘It’s actually Hawkins?’ A middle-aged person was standing in the middle of the crowd. Hawkins was in his forties. He looked ordinary and was wearing a shabby black robe.
But Faleau knew that this was a Great Alchemist.
A Great Alchemist from the Black Tower!
Faleau had been studying alchemy at Oakland before he joined the Black Horn Auction House. That place was within the Black Tower’s area of influence, and Hawkins had already been quite famous at the time as a Great Alchemist in his thirties. Hawkins was once invited to teach them a class.
It didn’t take long before he was recruited by the Black Tower. Faleau also knew that besides being a Great Alchemist, he was also a very powerful Great Mage. When Faleau left for Thousand Sails City, Hawkins had already become a 5th Rank Great Mage. His current strength should be between the 6th and 7th ranks.
‘Troublesome…’ Faleau worried.
“Let me introduce myself. My name is Hawkins, Twin Moons Splendor’s Great Alchemist. I believe everyone should have heard of our recent alchemy exhibition. Of the two potions presented, the Berserk Blood Potion is my work.” Hawkins’ eyes swept around the crowd as he talked, but they didn’t stop on anyone. This was because Hawkins felt that no one here was worthy of his attention.
As a Great Alchemist from the Black Tower, Hawkins was full of pride.
Even if he looked at the entire Thousand Sails City, only three alchemists living there were worthy of his attention. One was one of the big three of the Sage Tower, Thorpe. Another one was the leader of the Alchemist Guild, Lys. And the last one was Black Horn Auction House’s Cadgar. The first two because they were close to the Master Alchemist rank, and the last one because he was backed by the Black Horn chamber of commerce. Besides them, no other Great Alchemist was worthy of his attention in Thousand Sails City.
Because he was a Great Alchemist of the Black Tower!
As for the Gilded Rose, there was no need to even mention it…
Even the Gilded Rose’s Hope Potion wasn’t worth mentioning. Apart from the production cost, the Hope Potion wasn’t a particularly amazing potion. In the end, the Hope Potion only targeted Magic Apprentices. The alchemy knowledge required was only at the Alchemist level. As long as they had the recipe, any ordinary Alchemist would be able to complete it.
If not for the Monchi Patriarch asking over and over again, even promising all kinds of precious magic materials, he wouldn’t have been willing to come to the Gilded Rose.
‘What skill exchange… How could a bunch of ordinary Alchemists be good enough to exchange skills with me?’