Chapter 211 - Secret of the Dark Alley.
Matthias started to panic. He could not understand what was going on…
Logically speaking, all of these should have gone smoothly.
Ever since he’d unintentionally heard somebody say that this Jarrosus country bumpkin was going to leave, Matthias had put in a lot of effort. First, he’d inquired about the time he was going to leave, and then he’d sent quite a few men to keep a lookout. That morning, when he’d discovered that he was going to leave the Guild of Magic, Matthias was elated. He immediately looked for his mage mentor and asked him to stalk this Jarrosus mage and finally to finish him off in a safe place…
From Matthias’ perspective, if a level-16 archmage were to take action, even ten Felics would be finished, not to mention just one Felic. He had been at ease while waiting at the Guild of Magic. He did not even go out once—he only thought of waiting for Argus to bring him good news.
Yet, in the end, he only waited for the most hated enemy to stand alive right in front of him.
Furthermore, he even drew with Macklin during a duel just now.
Matthias stood in front of the crystal ball and stared at that face for a minute or so before he was certain that he was not mistaken. This fella that drew with Macklin was indeed the Felic from Jarrosus.
“Follow me.”
Along the way, Argus always looked down as though he was afraid of being recognized. He brought Lin Li past a few corners before stopping outside a dark alley.
“It’s fine, Argus, this place is remote enough. If there’s anything, let’s talk here.” Lin Li saw the pitch-black alley and started to be on alert.
“Ok.” Argus hesitated for moment before continuing, “It’s like this, Mr. Felic. Matthias looked for me in the afternoon…”
“I know.” Lin LI nodded. He’d seen Matthias leaving the guild hall in the afternoon. How could he not know what was the reason for Matthias leaving in a hurry. Other than searching for his mage mentor to clarify things, it could not be anything else…
“You.. Did you say something to him?”
“Stop joking…” Lin Li rolled his eyes. He thought to himself, I am not so free to say anything to Matthias. Have you ever seen a cat tell anything to a mouse?
“But…”
“But what?”
“But I feel that Matthias is suspecting me…” Archmage shook his head and looked somewhat worried. “When Matthias returned this afternoon, he asked me if you had really broken through to the Archmage realm.”
“You’re saying that he knows we fought before?”
“Yes, so I wanted to ask if, while talking, accidentally…” Argus’ voice got softer. Although he did not say anything after “accidentally”, his surreptitious gaze clearly told Lin Li the following: I am suspecting you!
“Shut up…” Lin Li glared at him. “So what did you say?”
After being glared at by Lin Li, Argus resentfully retracted his gaze, and said in a soft voice, “I had no choice. I could only admit that I fought with you, but I was unlucky and got involved with the battle between the Salamander and the six great mercenary corps. You’ve escaped during the chaos. As for whether you really broke through the Archmage realm, I am not sure…”
“Ok.” Lin Li nodded; his expression seemed to be full of praise. “You’ve done well.”
“But I don’t know if Matthias believes it…”
“He can only believe it. Think about it yourself. What happened in the cave, only you, me, and Sean know. If the three of us don’t mention anything, who knows if I escaped during the chaos…”
“I hope so…” Argus still looked like he was full of worries.
“Oh, yes, Argus…” After the conversation ended and they were about to leave, Lin Li suddenly remembered about the newly opened weapon store. “Do you know why would the Marathon Family open a weapon store beside the Guild of Magic?”
“This, I am not too sure. Business matters have always been handled by Gaud…” After Argus said this, his expression was rather uncertain. “But there is something really weird. Recently, the Marathon smithy has been shipping out quite a lot of magical equipment. I am not sure if this has anything to do with this newly opened weapon store…”
“How many is quite a lot?”
Argus thought for a bit. “I reckon there’s hundreds of them…”
“Then that has definitely nothing to do with it. Hundreds of pieces of magical equipment would not be sold by next year…” Lin Li’s expression changed while speaking. “Wait, what did you just say? The Marathon smithy shipped out hundreds of pieces of magical equipment?”
“That’s… That’s right.”
“Good,” Lin Li spoke while gritting his teeth, and when he looked at Argus, his expression was rather frightening. “Argus, could you help me?”
“Ah?” Argus was stunned.
“Help me find out where was that batch of equipment from the Marathon smithy shipped to.”
“This…” Argus frowned, and his expression seemed to be rather awkward. “I am afraid it would not be easy. As you know, I am just a mage mentor for Matthias. I can’t say anything about business. Furthermore, now is such a sensitive period. If Matthias knows about my relationship with you, I’m afraid…”
Argus explained it in a long-winded manner, but Lin Li did not even listen. He just selfishly said, “If you can settle this, I’ll help you recover your mana.”
“Ok!” With this sentence, Argus immediately changed his tone. It was just that after he said that, he started to feel worried again. “But, can I really recover my mana?”
“Of course.” This time, Lin Li was not spouting nonsense. Even though Argus’ power had been sucked up the Vampire’s fang, in essence, this was part of normal power shifting. If Lin Li could use the Vampire’s fang to suck his mana, he could also return it back to him because that mana originally belonged to him. There was no clash of attributes during the shift. All Lin Li had to do was to make a minor change on the mageweath.
Of course…
Because the Vampire’s fang was plated with Divinity Metal, the mana stored inside would be depleted. Additionally, the depletion would get worse as time passed by. Within ten days, this level-16 archmage’s mana would be completely depleted by the Divinity Metal, and it would change into the power of the Vampire’s fang.
Therefore, Lin Li kindly reminded him, “But you need to be quick. If you can’t help me settle this issue within five days, then I can’t guarantee anything…”
“Ok!” Argus gritted his teeth, but in the end, he still chose to believe this young mage once more.
It was because as he thought about it, he could not find a reason as to why the other party would lie to him. If Lin Li only wanted him to help him, he could have used other methods, like violence or threats. Now, both parties’ powers had been totally reversed. This young mage was now an Archmage; as for him, he had fallen back to the Magic Shooter realm due to the loss of mana.
Most importantly, the temptation of regaining mana was too big.
For an archmage, it was more painful than death to remain in the magic shooter realm. It was like a multi-millionaire losing all of his wealth overnight. The great disparity between the beginning and end could even make a person completely break down.
“Yes, make the best of your time. As long as you settle this, the issue of regaining mana would be on me.” Lin Li only had a satisfied smile at this point.
For Lin Li, this was the important issue. For this issue, he could even let go of the immense mana that he had obtained. That was a level-16 archmage’s mana. Once it had been completely absorbed by the Divinity Metal on the Vampire’s fang, it could raise the power of the Vampire’s fang by several levels. However, this was no longer important. Lin Li needed to know where those hundreds of equipment pieces went to.
If it went to Shadow’s Nest, then don’t blame me for being rude…
“Oh, yes, Argus.” Before leaving, Lin Li instructed Argus, “If Matthias were to ask about the Fire Plume Ridge again, you must end this topic. Just say that I escaped during the chaos. I’ll see if I have a chance these few days to speak to him and make him believe what you said is true.”
“Okay.”
The two of them discussed the details again before going their separate ways, leaving this dark alley.
After coming out from the dark alley, Lin Li no longer had any interest in visiting the newly opened weapon store. He went straight back to the living quarters of the Guild of Magic.
Lin Li opened the door and saw that Mason, Orrin, and Kevin were sitting in the living room. Lin Li started feeling uncertain. Didn’t Macklin say that he would arrange a room for Kevin? Why was he still in his room? Could it be that after that old man failed, he got so angry he forgot about it?