End of the Magic Era

Neo bowed, and didn't seem as poised as before.

"Madam Emmy, Mafa Merlin is much stronger than those on his level. When he just came to the Odin Kingdom, I was unable to kill him, and he couldn't kill me, either.

"I'm one of the stronger rock mages. Few Heaven Rank mages on my level can compare to me. However, I was unable to kill Mafa Merlin.

"Besides, he once dueled against Wilder, leader of the Lodney Family. Many people didn't know about the duel, but Mafa Merlin was the winner. He's been growing fast, and is now at least in the fourth level of the Heaven Rank. If you want to kill him, you'd better take action together.

"However, it won't be easy to lure Mafa Merlin out. He hasn't shown up in public for months. He was last seen in the Gilded Rose, and has never left Neverwinter City ever since."

Before Neo finished, Sunny's expression had changed. She took out a magic beacon, and read the message from it. Then, she spoke in a hurry.

"Urgent business in the headquarters calls me. I have to leave Neverwinter City. Neo, ask your teacher to help. I don't think Madam Emmy can kill Mafa Merlin on her own!"

Frowning, Emmy watched Sunny leave in a rush, and didn't say anything.

"Neo, you must ask your teacher to help. I'll create an opportunity for you by letting Mafa Merlin leave Neverwinter City so that your teacher will have a chance to kill Mafa Merlin.

"We will let Mafa Merlin answer for what he did. Anyone who offends us must be punished with death!"

Neo nodded, and didn't say anything else. He simply looked at the direction in which Sunny left, puzzled.

Madam Sunny was a liaison officer from the headquarters and an important diplomat. Why did she leave in such a hurry? Did something happen to the headquarters?

Not a chance. How could anything happen to the headquarters? There had to be something important that needed her. The thing about Mafa Merlin was trivial. He'd better mind his own business.

The failed assassination when Mafa Merlin just arrived in the Odin Kingdom alarmed him. Although the Lodney Family and the Roosevelt Business Alliance were unable to kill Mafa Merlin, they were great distractions. He could take action again.

It was a shame that Mafa Merlin didn't die last time, or all this trouble would've been unnecessary. He had to ask his teacher to help…

Considering the questions, Neo quietly left. Emmy, who was enshrouded in gray dust, took out a magic beacon too. A few uncanny messages popped up on the magic beacon.

As time went by, Lin Yun had completely recovered. He seized the opportunity of the earthquake in the Natural Demiplane to sort through the laws in the Natural Demiplane, and gained much more understanding of the laws than he usually did.

As he recovered, he naturally rose to the fourth level of the Heaven Rank, without feeling anything uncomfortable or unnatural. It was as simple as eating or drinking. He didn't do anything special, and when he realized it, he was already at the fourth level of the Heaven Rank.

That was because his understanding of laws as well as his other aspects were all much higher than the third level of the Heaven Rank. Still, he stopped himself from crossing the obstacle. This setback turned out to be a good thing.

After the recovery, Lin Yun went to the hill where Agalon had been. He climbed on the hill, only to see no sign of Agalon. Everything was the same as when he left. It seemed that Agalon hadn't returned yet.

Lin Yun wasn't worried that anything might happen to Agalon. While the void beast was strong, it wasn't as strong as Agalon. The latter might be busy with something else.

Leaving a mark on the hilltop to inform Agalon of his safe return, Lin Yun turned around and left.

Although the breakthrough was natural and smooth, he had to conduct regular consolidation.

Lin Yun came back to the Gilded Rose, and returned to the Natural Demiplane again.

While everything was in peace, in a city in the northwestern corner of the Odin Kingdom on the border with the Sten Kingdom, one of the Gilded Rose's convoys that were transporting materials was attacked. When it passed a valley, the mountain on its sides crumbled, and rocks fell from the sky, filling up the entire valley like a rampant torrent.

The valley was filled up in no more than one minute. The convoy was almost entirely wiped out. The survivors managed to rush to the ends of the valley, only to discover that two enormous rock walls had risen and blocked their way.

The escorting human beings and puppets were all buried in this long, narrow valley.

In three days, five suppliers that provided materials for the Gilded Rose were assassinated. One family leader died, and the other four families had a lot of victims too.

In the northwest of the Odin Kingdom, the Gilded Rose's material convoys endured 13 attacks in three days, and lost almost half of the materials.

The Gilded Rose was expanding faster, and growing bigger. It sold an astronomical amount of potions every day, and hired countless alchemists. The amount would've been bigger without Lin Yun's rule about work hours. He knew that it was better to keep the products in demand.

Because of the store's expansion, it had a great demand for raw materials. Its potion sales in the Odin Kingdom had surpassed those in Andlusa.

In Andlusa, the Merlin Family was undoubtedly the most powerful mage organization. It was close to the other powerful forces in Andlusa, and nobody dared to cause trouble. The supply of raw materials was never a problem.

However, in the Odin Kingdom, due to the Gilded Rose's demand for raw materials, the Gilded Rose had to work with the Odin Kingdom's local material suppliers. It had been negotiating with some of the biggest plantations.

However, in light of recent events, none of the negotiations worked out.

The raw material supply was stuck, and the Gilded Rose didn't have much in stock. Even if it were to relocate resources from the Raging Flame Plane, it wouldn't work out in the long run.

Faleau's hair was almost turning white because of worry. The men he sent out fought the convoys' attackers several times, but they didn't catch anyone alive. Even the dead bodies dissolved and disappeared quickly.

The material suppliers who were attacked could all tell that someone was dealing with the Gilded Rose. However, that person didn't follow the rules of the game at all. It even assassinated the leader of an herb plantation family. In no more than three days, four of the Gilded Rose's material supplies terminated their cooperation, and voluntarily compensated with a large sum of purple gold.

"Sir Xiusi, this is truly an important matter that must be reported to Sir Merlin. Please deliver it first. After you come back, I'll give you three pieces of the latest pastries of Father Hans' Cottage!"

Faleau was quite anxious. The troublemaker this time didn't follow the rules at all, and was doing things that nobody could benefit from. It was understandable that they hated the Gilded Rose and attacked its convoys. However, assassinating the material suppliers, and even killing a family leader might raise public indignation.

Whoever did that couldn't benefit from it at all. They could unlikely ever cooperate with those material suppliers again. Or rather, they could unlikely find any partner in the future.

Xiusi swallowed the last piece of the pastry before it finally squinted at Faleau.

"You said it. I didn't force you to do anything. Five pieces of the latest noble pastries!"

Faleau was stunned. He was going to say that he offered three pieces, but he considered for a moment, and changed his words.

"Alright. Five pieces of the latest noble pastries. I guarantee that they'll be made by Father Hans himself!"

Xiusi was immediately delighted. It narrowed its eyes, and flew to the central part of the Gilded Rose before it disappeared.

Entering the Natural Demiplane, Xiusi flapped its wings, and flew towards Lin Yun's lab. It was used to traveling between spaces when it didn't have a body, but now that it had acquired a body, it felt great to have wings. It couldn't taste the delicious pastries if it weren't a corporeal owl.

Flying into Lin Yun's laboratory, Xiusi shouted at the loudest of his voice. "Sir Merlin, Sir Merlin, Faleau wanted to tell you that someone had come for trouble. They must all be taken down!"

Xiusi flew to the door of one of the rooms, and craned its head, peeping into the room with fear. It was bold and unafraid of any other creatures or dangers. However, it was terrified of Lin Yun…

Lin Yun quickly assembled an alchemy puppet. He was frowning, as if he wasn't satisfied.

Hearing Xiusi's cry, Lin Yun put aside the alchemy puppet he just made, and looked at Xiusi, who was standing on the shelf obediently.

"What happened?"

Xiusi lowered its head, and couldn't help but shrink its body. It seemed half as big as usual. That was the black-feathered owl's natural reaction when it encountered a formidable enemy…

"Sir Merlin, Faleau didn't really explain it to me. He simply asked me to report the matter to you. He must be seeking your help because he was too incapable to take care of the problem…"

Xiusi unconsciously mocked Faleau, but it stopped halfway.

Although Faleau was dumb, he had indeed offered plenty of delicious pastries. If Sir Merlin killed that dumbass, who would buy Xiusi delicious pastries in the future?

Fine, it probably should help him. After all, it had enjoyed plenty of delicious pastries that he offered…

"Sir Merlin, it's said that the troublemakers are very strong. They've killed many people, and destroyed many things. That's not Faleau's mistake…"

Lin Yun ignored Xiusi's sudden change in attitude. He vanished from the Natural Demiplane. Seeing Lin Yun leave, Xiusi seemed frightened. It turned its head, and left the lab as sneakily as a thief. It glanced at Lord Shawn, who was enjoying the sunlight on a rock, and then quit the Natural Demiplane in great relief.

Lin Yun arrived at the Gilded Rose. Soon, Faleau reported everything that happened recently to him. Hearing Faleau's report, Lin Yun put on an awful expression.

"Is someone attacking the Gilded Rose's material suppliers again? Have you found out who they are?"

Faleau shook his head miserably.

"Sir Merlin, things seem to be different this time. Our enemy just killed the convoys, but didn't loot anything. The lost goods were all picked up by passers-by after the convoys died.

"I wonder who did that. After all, they didn't just attack the convoys; they also assassinated a few families that had been cooperating with us. They're all the Gilded Rose's most important suppliers.

"The leader of one of the families was killed, which is truly terrible. Whoever did that cannot benefit from it at all. Those material supplies have offered a high reward for anyone who can provide any information on the culprit.

"In the coming days, anyone that they've been in touch with might be considered a suspect. Two of the suppliers even believe that the Gilded Rose did it, or even if we didn't, we must be related to the matter.

"Therefore, they have terminated their partnership with the Gilded Rose…"

Lin Yun frowned, and didn't think that it was right. This didn't seem to be a method that his business competitor would adopt, as nobody could benefit at all even though the Gilded Rose's material supply was cut off.

After all, whoever benefited from a crime was likely the suspect. Although it was impossible to tell who the assassins were, they could've only been sent by those who would benefit from the targets' death.

The reasoning was so simple that only the brainless would do that. Earlier, the Lodney Family threatened the Bojinsen Family not to provide raw materials for the Gilded Rose too, but it didn't resort to such violence. Whoever killed the leader of a material supplier family had broken the rules of the game, and would raise indignation.

Every material supplier had more than one partner, especially those who provided rare materials. They might have a dozen partners. Now that the leader of the family had been killed, everybody would suffer a huge loss. This was truly terrible.

Lin Yun considered for a moment with his eyes closed. He suddenly opened his mouth.

"Have the convoys and the Gilded Rose's supplier partners all been assassinated? Are you sure they're more like assassins than bandits?"

Faleau was dazed for a moment, and realized something.

"Sir Merlin, are you suggesting that someone paid for the assassins to do that? Are they from the Shadow Tower?"

Lin Yun shook his head.

"I don't think so. The assassins of the Shadow Tower never fight head-on battles. They kill their targets with minimal cost every time. None of the attackers could make use of the power of shadows, right?"

Faleau shook his head. "No. It's said that the family leader who was killed in the assassination died not far away from his house. It seems that someone set up traps and illusions in advance.

"After the illusions were canceled, the family leader's body appeared out of nowhere, with battle traces in a range of hundreds of meters. His opponent seemed to be a rock mage who was at least on level two of the Heaven Rank…"

At the mention of rock mage, Lin Yun's eyes glittered.

"A rock mage? There were illusions?"

Slightly puzzled, Faleau nodded.

"Indeed. After the illusions disappeared, the family leader's dead body was found penetrated by a thick rock pillar from the ground. The other battle traces suggested that his opponent was a rock mage too."

Lin Yun's eyes glowed. He remembered the assassination he endured outside Neverwinter City when he just came to the Odin Kingdom.

Illusions, a rock mage, and the habit of killing the target in front of their house. Unsurprisingly, that assassination had surely been conducted by the very same rock mage who attacked him.

The assassination also suggested that the rock mage was not anyone important. If he had been a powerful big shot, he wouldn't have assassinated the leader of a material supplier family in person. It had to be noted that the victim was only at level one of the Heaven Rank.

In the Odin Kingdom, such families would've been destroyed countless times for their wealth that was disproportionate to their strength if they hadn't been crucial in providing the necessary raw materials that many people needed.

Lin Yun would've forgotten the attack if it hadn't been for the recent assassination, because at lease 80 percent of the members of the Lodney Family were earth mages.

After they advanced into the Heaven Rank, they would likely choose a branch of the earth laws, and embark on the path they chose. There were a lot of rock mages in the Lodney Family. They were only second to the steel mages in the family.

Lin Yin had thought that the rock mage came from the Lodney Family. Ever since the Lodney Family's submission, the rock mage had never shown up again, which previously confirmed his speculation. However, it now seemed that the rock mage was from another organization…