Chapter 91 - The Truth Behind the Rag
Then, Gerian saw the kid taking out an identical rag from somewhere. What was slightly different was that the rag he took out looked even dirtier and torn; it was also colorful, but it was unknown what was painted on it.
“What is this?” Gerian leaned over curiously.
Lin Li did not answer, but placed the two rags on the table and slowly pieced them together…
“As expected…” The originally jagged corners coincided and the adjacent symbols became an integrated whole at once.
“High Elves Print?” Gerian was an Archmage, after all; he knew the ropes once the two rags were pieced together.
“You recognize it?”
“No, I don’t…” Gerian belonged to a very different kind of mage. Besides magic, he did not care about the other kinds of general skills and knowledge. He only took the entry level even for inscription, which every mage was required to learn. Now that Lin Li had questioned him, the old fellow could not help but feel embarrassed. After thinking about it, he probably felt he had made himself look bad with the answer, so he added shamelessly, “Actually, I recognize some of them, for example these symbols. Looking at the way they are spelled, I know that this should be a person’s name. Let me see what this guy’s name is…”
Gerian lay his overstuffed body on the table and carefully made out those peculiar symbols. “Osric Griffith… Damn! Highlord Osric!”
He was talking to himself in amazement, but the more Lin Li listened, the less he understood. “What Highlord?”
“You’ve never even heard of Highlord Osric?” Gerian looked unbelievingly at Lin Li as if he were looking at a visitor from Mars.
“Is this strange?”
“I really don’t know what Andoine has taught you…” Gerian took the opportunity to denigrate Andoine, then explained with a face full of ostentation, “In the Dark Ages, the Felan Kingdom was ruled by six High Elves Highlords, of whom Osric was the most powerful. His territory stretched from Alanna in the west to Star Lake in the east, including Jarrosus City, and all this land belonged to him alone.
“Then, isn’t he mightier than Isaac?”
“Isaac is peanuts…” Gerian sniffed at it and impolitely threw dirt on the Castellan. “In Jarrosus City, Isaac is at most a middleman. Not to mention the Merlin Family or the Guild of Magic, even if Ysera from the Mannes Family were to cough twice, Isaac has to worry whether the grocery prices would increase the next day. Try Osric instead. Ysera didn’t even have to cough; even when he is exhaling, he’d have to cover his nose with his hands. Reuben is cruel for killing his own brother and parents, right? But that can’t even compare to Osric. He’s a real butcher. He hanged 30,000 rebels overnight without even even panting…”
“…”
Gerian finally had a chance to show off, and there was no reason why he wouldn’t do it. “Go to the library more often, there are many books that record the stories of the great Highlord… Generally speaking, this was a ruthless and powerful ruler. He killed many people but did a lot of great things in his lifetime. The only pity was that he had lost his mind in his later years. It is said that in his old age, he was always afraid that his treasures would be stolen, so he built a huge mausoleum and buried the looted treasures with himself… Unfortunately, no one knows exactly where the mausoleum is…”
Lin Li listened as the old fellow pulled further off topic, and knew that the latter certainly did not recognize the other symbols. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have dug these groundless stories up in order to divert the topic. “Does anyone in the guild recognize the High Elves Print?”
“You’re counting on that bunch of junk? You could as well…” Gerian scolded in disdain, but hesitated halfway. “You don’t say… There’s really someone in the guild who recognizes the High Elves Print…”
“There’s someone who knows?”
“Andoine, that old fella, knows. He is authoritative on the High Elves relics. Let alone Jarrosus, even in the whole Felan Kingdom, no one can match up to him in this respect. Too bad the old fellow never shows up all year round. It’s not that easy to find him… The last time I saw him, he was picking herbs in the Demon Fall Valley…”
“From what I heard from Old Grimm, he was in Alanna recently. We’ll talk about it again when we see him someday…” Lin Li was not in a hurry for this matter; anyway, the rag had been in the Ring of Endless Storm for almost a month. Having to wait a little longer was not a big deal. Instead, he was reminded of something when Gerian mentioned the Demon Fall Valley. “Oh right, any news from Kevin?”
“We’ve gotten our people back.” Gerian knew he meant the hostages. The old fellow was somewhat discontented at the mention of it. “I say, what on earth were you thinking? The Shadow’s Nest is asking for a thunderingly high price, we could just sit back and pay them off with money. You’re giving off 40 bottles of Wild Elixir; since when have you become that generous?”
“If it hadn’t been for fear of their vigilance, I would have given them 100 bottles at once.”
“Those elixirs are fake?” Looking at Lin Li’s determined expression, Gerian had understood a little of what was going on.
“How can it be? Pharmacists also have to uphold the integrity of pharmacists. It is too crude to cheat people with fake potions.” Lin Li looked around and lowered his voice a little. “And it’s too easy to see through it…”
Gerian, who had just gotten a grasp of the situation, was confused again. “Then what did you do?”
“I’ve increased the concentration of that batch of elixirs slightly.”
If Old Grimm had heard this, he would have begun to sympathize with the people from the Shadow’s Nest.
However, Gerian was a total potion-idiot; how would he know there were so many bends to increase the concentration of a potion…
“This is too complicated to explain in a short time. But rest assured, in three days at most, you can go to the Demon Fall Valley to collect the bodies of the Shadow’s Nest.”
Lin Li had 100 percent confidence in these 40 bottles of Wild Elixir.
Unless the people from the Shadow’s Nest didn’t drink it—but this was almost impossible; why did they specify the Elixir of Empowerment instead of the better-selling magic potions?
The increased concentration of the Wild Elixir was much more powerful than the Sobriety Potion. When you first drank it, it did enhance the strength and agility. But over time, the side effects of the netherbloom would gradually erode the body, starting from sluggish actions to feeling weak and powerless in the end; even Lin Li was in fear of the various frightening side effects.
It was no exaggeration to say that if a bottle of concentrated Wild Elixir was taken, a person would become a complete waste in a week at most.
40 bottles of Wild Elixir were sent out to destroy 40 members of the Shadow’s Nest. This was a worthwhile business. And it was also 40 members with no low status. Lin Li did not believe that the Shadow’s Nest would be so generous to distribute such an item as the Wild Elixir to their low-level members.