End of the Magic Era

Raven snorted and thought to himself, 'Sure enough, he doesn't dare to offend the Watson Family.'

Hearing this "hold on", a sneer appeared on Raven's face. His family was one of the five Families of Okland, the peak force of the Kingdom, and the only one able to use a magic staff and a sword as their crest. Setting oneself against the huge Watson Family with this small Gilded Rose in the small Thousand Sails City was simply courting death.

'You are regretting it now? You are afraid? But I don't plan on giving you a chance.'

Raven didn't turn back and kept walking towards the exit with a sneer on his face as he was counting in his head. Raven was sure that Mafa Merlin would take the initiative to hand over the Nether Iron Vein before he reached ten!

'One, two, three... nine, ten!'

When Raven reached ten, he stopped, but he didn't turn around. He was now waiting, waiting for this Mafa Merlin to hand over the Nether Iron Vein.

In the end, Raven had waited… for a Flame Imprint.

Lin Yun's Spiritual Magic Staff was already pointing at Raven when the latter stopped, causing a flame to swallow him from behind.

A miserable shriek echoed out on Victorious Return Street.

Even if he was a 9th Rank Great Mage, Raven couldn't withstand a Flame Imprint unguarded. The raging flames exploded with a bang, covering the young Great Mage. Besides crazily rolling around on the ground to extinguish the flames, Raven was also yelling his lungs out.

This Flame Imprint burnt for no less than ten seconds before Raven managed to extinguish it.

But he didn't look human anymore. There wasn't a single place that had escaped the flames, his hair burnt into a mess, his eyebrows different sizes. A burnt, black face as well as a robe that one would see on a beggar. His arms and chest were now covered with quite a few blisters, making anyone who could see his appearance shudder.

"I told you to hold on and you still thought of escaping, you thought you could run away?"

After Lin Yun cursed, he had William help Faleau to the laboratory to treat his injuries. As for the cooked Raven, Lin Yun simply ignored him.

"..." Raven lay down there on the ground, not understanding what had happened to him. 'What was that "hold on"... It's not like he wanted to kill me, or else he wouldn't have used a mere Flame Imprint.'

But here, Raven remembered something.

'... Flame Imprint…?'

Raven finally understood. Flame Imprint was the 3rd spell he had cast after entering the Gilded Rose. Two Tornado Impacts and one Flame Imprint.

When Mafa Merlin appeared, he had used a Tornado Impact to knock Raven away, but he hadn't had the opportunity to cast that Flame Imprint.

In other words, that "hold on" was only to let him know that he still needed to take a Flame Imprint back!

'Fuck, would you die if you said a bit more?'

At this moment, Raven truly felt like crying. 'Can't you be a bit clearer with your words? It's fine if you want to return the Flame Imprint, it's only a 3rd Tier Spell. Could I, a 9th Rank Mage, not understand getting back at someone? But that "hold on" caused me to think you were begging for forgiveness, I was still feeling satisfied, waiting for you to apologize…'

He wanted to howl at the injustice of it all.

'Fuck fuck fuck, this is bullying!'

Raven was inwardly crying and cursing as he limped away from Victorious Return Street...

...

At this time, Faleau was being treated inside the alchemy laboratory. It was determined that he would probably be fine after recuperating for a few days.

"Cousin William, how is it going with the fifty 5th Rank Mages?" After treating Faleau's injury, Lin Yun started inquiring about William's work.

"Not bad, they completed many team assignments for the Mercenary Guild and their combat strength increased a bit. I estimate that the talented ones will reach 6th or even 7th Rank in half a year."

"Half a year is too long…" Lin Yun shook his head. These 5th Rank Mages were his only troops. They would definitely be the core of the rebuilding of the Gilded Rose's mercenary group. 6th or 7th Rank Mages might be able to handle ordinary team assignments, but that was definitely too weak to protect the growing Gilded Rose...

Ideally, his mage regiment would have at least fifty Great Mages.

Moreover, that was without using alchemy potions to forcibly rank them up. Mason was a perfect example. He forcibly became a Mage thanks to Ryan coming back from the Black Tower, but what was the result? He wasn't any better than a Magic Apprentice when it came to fighting. He even had to eat some glass bottles in front of the newly transmigrated Lin Yun. Moreover, after the alchemy potion exhausted all his potential, Mason would never have any progress for the rest of his life. He would likely remain a 1st Rank Mage forever.

As for the Mana Baptism...

It simply wasn't feasible to reproduce it, and not everyone had such poor body quality like Mafa Merlin, and not everyone had Lin Yun's frightening mana control.

Even if all of these 5th Rank Mages had a bottle of Mana Baptism, it would at most improve the quality of their bodies and give them a chance to accumulate mana. As for becoming Great Mages, it would depend on their own talents.

What's more, Lin Yun didn't have fifty bottles of Mana Baptism.

Thus, he needed another way for this batch of Mages to grow and improve.

In fact, he had already thought of a method, but he lacked the crucial True Spirit Magic Tool. If Lin Yun didn't misremember, that Magic Tool was currently in the Cloud Tower...

This was something relatively difficult to resolve. Borrowing a True Spirit Magic Tool could be hard, or easy. The easy part was due to the existence of the Magic Tool Incarnation. A True Spirit Magic Tool wouldn't easily change owners, so there would be no problem with borrowing it as it could be returned anytime.

However, it could also be difficult, as a True Spirit Magic Tool usually was the foundation of a force. Making a deal to borrow a True Spirit Magic Tool could easily be misunderstood as wanting to destabilize a force's foundations by causing trouble.

But Lin Yun wasn't worried. That True Spirit Magic Tool wouldn't run off. Before then, Lin Yun still had to spend some time to turn this batch of 5th Rank Mages into his own loyal subordinates.

Otherwise, Lin Yun wouldn't dare to use them.

After making up his mind, Lin Yun chatted a bit with William, mostly about how to use that batch of Mages. Once William left, Lin Yun called Faleau and fished out a few mana crystals from his pocket.

"Take these mana crystals and have the bunch at the alchemy workshop make some alchemy puppets for me."

Faleau reached out to take the mana crystals. "Okay, I'll immedi-" He wanted to say that he would be taking care of it immediately, but he suddenly felt a surge of mana coming out from those mana crystals. Shocked, Faleau almost dropped the mana crystals. He looked at Lin Yun with disbelief, "1-1-1…. 18? Level 18 mana crystals?"

"Yes, they are all level 18, six in total."

"My god…" Faleau's heart skipped a beat. A level 18 mana crystal would sell for about 3,000,000 golds on the market, and maybe more. He was now holding close to 20,000,000 golds.

He suddenly felt that following such a boss gave too much pressure.

It had only been a bit over a month, yet the Boss had killed six magic beasts close to the Monarch level. If the Boss disappeared for another few months, wouldn't he get rid of a few Monarch magic beasts?

'Forget it, don't think about it or you'll get nightmares…' he thought, before continuing out loud. "Understood, Boss Merlin. I'll immediately take care of this." Faleau held the six mana crystals and started limping towards the alchemy workshop...

Fortunately, he left without looking back.

Had he turned around, he might have truly gotten nightmares, because Lin Yun had pulled a dozen more level 18 mana crystals as Faleau took his leave.

"Hey, Lord Shawn, isn't your mana crystal requirement a bit too high…" Lin Yun had forcibly taken six mana crystals from Shawn's claws to give to Faleau, but Shawn had resolutely insisted on keeping those last dozen mana crystals.

Although both sides already reached an agreement, thinking of the dozen level 18 mana crystals left in Shawn's hands, Lin Yun couldn't feel happy. Those were worth glistening golds, in his hands, it could all transform into two Augments for his Spirit Devouring Magic Staff.

"It seems like you don't want to help Lord Shawn regain his power," Shawn snorted. "Don't forget who helped you survive in front of those three High Mage alchemy puppets. Do you think that you, a Great Mage, would have been able to withstand three High Mages? Do you think the alchemy puppets left behind by Barov are foes you could easily confront? If it weren't for Lord Shawn pitying you and using a part of his power to help you deal with the three High Mages, would you still have the chance to stand here…"

"Yes, yes, yes, I know my wrongs. Lord Shawn, you can enjoy the mana crystals, here, enjoy them…" Hearing Lord Shawn's machine gun-like nagging, Lin Yun suddenly got a headache.

This was something Shawn kept repeating on the way back...

Moreover, it would take at least an hour before he would shut up. Lin Yun had been suffering from this tiring bombardment on the way back from the prince tomb, making him feel extremely irritated, and thus, that young Great Mage from the Watson Family had been the perfect victim to vent on.

Who knew what Raven Watson would think if he learnt about that...