Chapter 549 - Debris of Rebirth
Although pharmaceutics Masters stood at the top of the pyramid that was the profession of pharmacist in Anril now, one must not forget the existence of pharmaceutics Guru and even Divine Smiths, who were above the pharmaceutics Masters. Actually, a pharmaceutics Master was just a beginner in pharmaceutics as that was when one had the right to start truly researching. Though there was a big difference in social status from a disciple to a high-level pharmacist, it was still only a stage of foundation building.
Precisely because of this reason, pharmaceutics Masters usually owned a private farm. They didn’t grow crops or vegetables, but rather all kinds of rare herbs. For example, President Balbo of the Pharmacist Guild, chief pharmaceutics Master Burnside, and some other pharmaceutics Masters all had their personal farms which grew precious herbs for their research.
Wilkinson could be considered half a pharmaceutics Master now. He absolutely had the right to own his own herb farm like his teacher Balbo. It was also necessary for him to own a personal herb farm as a pharmaceutics Master.
And this was why Wilkinson and his companions were so interested in the branch on stage. Although they didn’t know what the branch was, or what it was fundamentally used for, they already had an idea what to do with it.
Merely judging from the natural fragrance of the branch, Wilkinson could see that this treasure would be hugely beneficial to the growth of his herbs just by putting into his future farm. Especially for those herbs that were hard to grow, such fragrance filled with vitality would certainly largely increase the chances of these herbs’ survival, and might even increase the effects of potions made from them. Just this alone was enough to entice a pharmacist, not to mention that if the branch possessed immense vitality, maybe it possessed some powerful effects?
While the discussion downstairs continued, Wilkinson unwillingly turned his eyes away from the branch, and respectfully asked Lin Li, “Master, what is this branch exactly? I have never heard anything about it before, but just from its fragrance, could it really be an Elven treasure like William said?”
Wilkinson started by asking Lin Li what the branch was, and not if he knew what the branch was, because Lin Li had left an impression of being very knowledgeable in Wilkinson’s mind after this period of interaction. Not just in the field of pharmaceutics, either—Wilkinson thought that this young mage about the same age as he knew about everything.
Master Felic could answer any question that Wilkinson could think of—from any domain and any aspect. Sometimes, Wilkinson even wondered if there was anything in this world that Master Felic didn’t know. Perhaps the feeling of childbirth was the only thing Master Felic didn’t know.
Of course, if Wilkinson had really asked, Lin Li would immediately tell him that the pain of childbirth was about level-12, the threshold of human pain tolerance, etcetera…
1However, Lin Li didn’t answer Wilkinson immediately this time. He just stared at the branch and its young leaves. Pure and powerful magical elements radiated from the branch, and every young leaf seemed to contain vitality. He could even smell the slight tinge of mud. This smell was so familiar Lin Li felt he had gone back to the Endless World.
Indeed, this was another piece of debris of the stars—Rebirth, which contained the Rules of earth and nature.
Legends said that when the world was first formed, one of the two saplings which sprouted first was made into the Stars of Fury bolt by the gods, and it contained the purest vitality in the world. The other sapling grew into an enormous tree—the Tree of Eternity, which the High Elves identified as their parent.
When talking about magic that applied the seven elemental Rules, people usually thought of heftiness when mentioning Earth magic. They would then think of the attack techniques in the form of boulders. Very few people would think of the earth beneath their feet which bred all lives in the world. In traditional magic classifications, Earth magic was more often characterized by Earth-moving skill, Wall-building skill, Earth-breaking skill, etcetera. Out of all types of Earth magic, the usage of vitality was known as Nature Magic, and the Elves were the true masters of this type of magic.
This piece of debris of the stars known as Rebirth contained the complete Rules of earth element and nature which bred all lives. If Lin Li were to choose only one from the seven pieces of debris of the stars, other than Origin which contained the power of chaos, he would definitely choose Rebirth.
Though every piece of debris of the stars except for Origin was similar in strength, their different properties meant that they would hold different places in Lin Li’s heart.
Speaking of healing, most people would think of light and water out of the seven elements. However, the healing abilities of magic from these two elements were actually very limited. Light possessed strong dispelling properties. The so-called healing was actually a dispelling spell which would dispel the effects of harmful magic and some illnesses. Meanwhile, water’s healing ability was more limited than light’s as it could only speed up the healing of wounds, or rather, stop bleeding by freezing the wound.
People commonly knew about the healing effects of light and water magic because these two kinds of low-level healing magic were well liked by explorers, especially water healing magic. Hence, people from other professions and even some low- or medium-level mages wouldn’t associate healing with the hefty earth magic. Only people who had touched the essence of earth magic would know that the healing ability of earth magic was incomparably superior to that of light or water magic.
Rebirth, which possessed the Rules of earth and nature, represented the purest form of life and vitality. Holding onto Rebirth was equivalent to having an undying body. No matter how serious one’s injury was, he would recover under Rebirth’s light. Even people suffering from incurable diseases could recover after bathing in the light of Rebirth.
The powerful healing ability didn’t mean that Rebirth didn’t possess any offensive properties. For opponents, the life-control Rebirth was undoubtedly a deadly weapon. A single strike from Rebirth could immediately take vitality away from any ferocious Legendary beast. Even the High Elves known for their longevity would age rapidly under the power of Rebirth.
Rebirth not only possessed the ability of giving, but also forceful exploitation. How could Lin Li let anyone else get this powerful life-maneuvering ability?
“The base price of this Elven treasure is 1,000,000 gold coins. The auction begins now!”
William again didn’t give much of an introduction. After all, the more he said, the more mistakes he would make under the circumstances. It was better to let the guests estimate the value of this item themselves.
Just like the Myth Potion auctioned earlier, William had wanted to set the base price for this branch higher. However, since the Myth Potion had been auctioned at a whopping 10,000,000 gold coins, it was enough to show the rich and powerful families’ interest in President Felic’s potion. William didn’t want to displease this young mage because of such a trivial matter.
“5,000,000 gold coins!”
Immediately after William announced the start of this auction, a loud and clear voice rang in the rather noisy hall. Everyone couldn’t react at the moment, but the hall was completely silenced after two to three seconds. However, the crowd erupted into chatter just seconds after the silence.
Everyone had the same thoughts in their mind. This auction was too damn fake! How could the much reputed William do something like that? With William’s reputation and esteem accumulated from managing the Time Consignment Store for so many years, did he even need to do such lowly things to increase his influence?
It couldn’t be helped that people thought this way. After all, the things that happened during this auction were too ridiculous to be true. It was still acceptable that the Origin Potion had fetched a price of 3,000,000 gold coins, since everyone knew that a potion that could allow a mage to learn five magic powers would be worth this price. However, what about the others? Who could imagine that a potion whose name and effects nobody knew could fetch a sky-high price of 10,000,000 gold coins?
Now, William had played the same trick for a branch of unknown origin and properties. Without any introduction, he had set the base price at 1,000,000 gold coins. Even the Twilight Dragon Armor of Duke Hedrick which could increase a person’s power by one level was sold at 500,000 gold coins.
What about this branch? Even if it contained pure magical energy, even if it’d once belonged to the Elven Legendary-mage Legolas, and even if a Legendary-mage was more powerful than a Legendary-realm Sword Sage, it was probably only worth 1,000,000 gold coins. How daring did William have to be to start the auction at 1,000,000 gold coins? How much did William want it to be sold at? Another 10,000,000 gold coins?
The most fake thing about it was that somebody answered and directly raised the price to 5,000,000 gold coins. Could this capper have some professional integrity? Did he think the audience were all fools? How arrogant to start with 5,000,000 gold coins! Let’s see how William will deal with him if nobody else places a bid!