End of the Magic Era

"Just stop guessing. We encountered a terrifying fish on the seventh day of our trip. It must've come to the surface of the sea whilst chasing after a Deep Sea Crocodile. We were unfortunately near their battlefield. The level-40 Deep Sea Crocodile was eaten alive by the terrifying fish, which then swallowed our ship, and killed everyone.

"Only I, a tornado mage, survived. I ran for more than one day with the help of the tornado, and the fish never stopped chasing me. Bloody hell. How could that stupid fish be so persistent? There isn't a lot of meat in my body…

"I already ran out of my mana, and used up the replenishing potions. At the last moment, I remembered that I had a Blue Demon Potion that the Gilded Rose offered. That was the reason why I could escape."

"The Blue Demon Potion? I know that. It was recently released by the Gilded Rose in Neverwinter City, right? But it's not available on the market yet, is it? How did you get it? Is it really as effective as advertised?"

"Stop kidding. One bottle of replenishing potion has allowed you to escape from that terrifying monster?"

Hearing that his companions didn't trust him, Tom burst into fury and stood straight, raising the bottle in his hand that had little potion left.

"Why would I lie to you? Damn it, you have no idea. I forgot the potion too until the last moment when I was about to replenish my mana with healing potions.

"After taking half a bottle of the potion, I regained 80% of my mana in three seconds, and more mana came to me slowly. That half bottle of potion gave me more mana than my body could've contained.

"More importantly, I regained 30% of my mana in one second, and 80% in three seconds. It's truly a lifesaver. Had it not been for the Blue Demon Potion, I probably would've died half a week ago.

"I was truly lucky to get this Blue Demon Potion! It's truly a gift of fate!"

Hearing Tom saying that, everybody around was dumbfounded.

"30% in one second and 80% in three seconds? Oh my God, is such a potion really possible? Damn it, it's even more effective than advertised!"

"If half a bottle of the potion recovered all the mana of Tom, who is a level-9 Archmage, then doesn't it mean that it works for the Heaven Rank experts too? Is the Blue Demon Potion the best True Spirit Potion?"

Immediately, a lot of people were exclaiming in the port, and discussing the Blue Demon Potion. Many of them could testify that Tom shouldn't have been able to escape so far, because he didn't have enough mana to spend.

Besides, nobody believed that the strange fish was there to help Tom with his lie…

The bottle in Tom's hand was purchased for a high price because of the Blue Demon Potion residue in it.

Very soon, someone confirmed the accident. The broken pieces of the ship that was destroyed thousands of kilometers from the shore had spread out on the surface of the sea.

A few days before the release, the effect of the Blue Demon Potion was well spread. The Blue Demon Potion that was offered as a gift was gradually used. Then, everybody was amazed at it. The news of the accident on the Boundless Sea spread even further away. The level-9 Archmage was able to survive the attack of a level-42 sea beast thanks to the Blue Demon Potion. That was almost a legend.

Thanks to their trial, the Blue Demon Potion had become popular before it was released. Many organizations hoped to sign bulk purchase agreements with the Gilded Rose. They all knew that it would be one of the rarest and most strategic potions for its amazing effectiveness.

This age was still the beginning of planar colonization. To conquer other planes, the Archmages would be the main force. The Heaven Rank experts would only help at the most critical moments during the conquests. Under normal circumstances, the Archmages would be needed 95% of the time in a conquest. The Heaven Rank experts didn't even need to take part in certain planes' conquest.

The Blue Demon Potion was most effective on Archmages. Although it worked on Heaven Rank experts too, it was only useful to those below level-3. It was barely useful for the stronger ones.

Even if they didn't need the potion just yet, it wouldn't hurt to hoard them. No organizations would consider the storage a burden. They would only hope that they could have as many Blue Demon Potions as possible so that they could use the potions anytime they needed it.

Because the potion was unexpectedly popular, many people came up with evil plans days before the release. Some of them were sneaking around the Gilded Rose too.

A lot of such sneaky guys had been spotted around the branches of the stores. The scouts of other organizations appeared around the Gilded Rose too. The representatives of major organizations negotiated with Faleau, hoping to receive a stable supply. Some even started studying the Blue Demon Potion.

The key to a potion was the technology to make it. By analyzing a potion, it was quite possible to decompose it. The more skilled an alchemist was, the more likely they could decompose a potion.

However, Lin Yun wasn't worried at all this time. Therefore, he simply left them aside, and entered the library of the Starry Sky College, looking for information.

As he grew stronger and stronger, Lin Yun realized that the records in the decaying library might not be entirely correct, especially those on historical events instead of knowledge about magic and alchemy. After all, they had been buried underground for countless years. It might not have been possible for the crazy mages to infer what happened precisely.

A tiny difference from the perspective of tens of thousands of years later might mean a very huge one in this age. The result of a bit of deviation could be entirely different.

In particular, the information he was looking for would only be briefly recorded tens of thousands of years later. To find out the truth, he had to search in this era.

The information about where and how the 73rd God was reincarnated could have only been written down in this era. In 1,000 years, all the insignificant clues would be lost.

Besides, where should the Shelter Tower be built? Where could he find the materials to build it? Where were the special races that were needed for the construction? Who controlled the planes where some of the materials were located?

He needed to seek answers to those questions. He had to find the answers immediately in order to speed up Noscent's development. Furthermore, he didn't have a lot of time for planning.

After all, in real history, when the Shelter Tower started to be built, there wouldn't be enough time. By then, the Shelter Tower that cost all of Noscent's power was only an incomplete product.

Lin Yun didn't think building the Shelter Tower 10,000 years sooner was too early. Besides, as the magic civilization of Noscent developed faster, the doomsday would arrive sooner too. There wasn't much time at all.

Therefore, Lin Yun simply left the Gilded Rose aside, and left everything to Faleau. Faleau wasn't worried that anyone might decompose and duplicate the Blue Demon Potion, either.

Even if a skilled alchemist found out how to make the Blue Demon Potion, it would be alright. After all, it wasn't very technically sophisticated. None of the potions that could be manufactured was.

Faleau wasn't worried at all, because unlike ordinary potions, to which the technique was the key, the most important thing about the Blue Demon Potion was its materials.

Without the materials from the monster plane, even a Saint Alchemist wouldn't be able to make it.

The night before the Blue Demon Potion's release, someone had figured out most of the techniques that were applied to the Blue Demon Potion. Only some of them had been taught by Lin Yun. But it was useless. After figuring out the techniques, the people found that the materials were the key. Without the mana in the materials, the Blue Demon Potion wouldn't be even half as effective.

At night, there were fewer people on the streets in Neverwinter City, but it was still lively. Many intended to sneak into the Gilded Rose, and find out secrets of the Blue Demon Potion.

The Blue Demon Potions had been delivered to the Gilded Rose's branches for the official release the next day. However, two of the branches were robbed at night, and the Blue Demon Potions were stolen. The burglars were Heaven Rank experts!

The robberies happened the night before the release, and were done by Heaven Rank experts. Naturally, it was impossible to keep them a secret. The second day, many other people were thinking. Why couldn't they rob too?

One bottle of Blue Demon Potion was sold for 180,000 purple gold! And it was expendable. It would be gone after being used—unlike magic tools, which were expensive, but could be used for a long time.

This one bottle of True Spirit Potion cost 180,000 purple gold, which wasn't affordable for every mage. Only those stronger than level-5 Archmages could possibly afford them, and they could only use the potion at the most critical moments as a lifesaver.

Only the mages from major organizations, or the top Archmages, would be able to buy such an expensive potion for daily usage.

If they were to rob a branch and steal 1,000 Blue Demon Potions, they would earn 180,000,000 purple gold. Also, if they were to resell the potions, they could earn even more money. If they were to explore relics and dangerous places with the potions, the returns could be even huger…

At dawn, Faleau received reports that many people who shouldn't be there had come to a lot of branches, and that they were obviously malicious.

It was impossible for the Gilded Rose's 38 branches to defend against shameless Heaven Rank experts. Now that the first person had succeeded, the others had fewer things to worry about. If they all robbed, the Gilded Rose wouldn't dare to get back at them, and offend so many Heaven Rank experts at once.

Before Faleau figured out a way to deter them, he had received another report. A Heaven Rank Sword Saint, who had been famous for a long time, lost his hands in a city where the Gilded Rose's branch had been robbed. Also, the special power on the wounds prevented them from being healed, and kept them bleeding.

The stolen Blue Demon Potions returned to the branch in perfect condition. The staff in the branch didn't even know how they came back…

In another city where a branch was robbed, an Archmage's hands were cut off too. Also, he was even more unlucky. Someone cast a silence curse upon him in a special way that it couldn't be lifted.

A mage who had lost his hands and the ability to chant spells was practically crippled…

As for the stolen Blue Demon Potions, they were somehow sent back too.

The two unlucky Heaven Rank experts who had lost their hands were both unaffiliated mages. It wasn't easy for them to advance into the Heaven Rank. However, they didn't have the support of big organizations or a good foundation. Their prospects didn't look well. That was why they took the risk of stealing the Blue Demon Potions, hoping that they could look for opportunities in relics they hadn't been able to explore.

However, they had been caught before they left the city, and they couldn't resist when their hands were cut off. They didn't even know who did it.

The two unlucky guys didn't admit that they robbed the Gilded Rose. They simply said that they were attacked and crippled without being able to defend themselves.

At the same time, all of the Gilded Rose's stores began to sell the Blue Demon Potions. The robbed ones had enough Blue Demon Potions to sell too, as if the robberies were just rumors…

However, all the organizations that weren't too uninformed could tell that the two unlucky Heaven Rank experts had robbed the Gilded Rose's branches, but were maimed before they could escape. Also, they didn't even know who their enemy was.

With those two people as examples, all the potential robbers became obedient. No more Blue Demon Potions were stolen again.

The two robbers were quite miserable. One of them had constantly bleeding wounds. As a Heaven Rank Sword Saint, he was almost dying of massive hemorrhage. None of the healers could cure him. As for the other one, his wounds had stopped bleeding, but he couldn't regain his hands, not even with the level-9 Limb Regeneration spell. It was impossible to lift the silence curse, either. He was basically handicapped.

Everybody knew that the Gilded Rose did it, but they didn't say anything, and pretended they didn't know. They dropped all their malicious plans. Some people investigated who crippled the robbers, but didn't find anything. They lost the courage to pursue the matter.

Nobody was willing to mess with someone who had crippled two Heaven Rank experts without even showing their face…

The release of the Gilded Rose's Blue Demon Potions was quite successful. The fastest branch sold out the Blue Demon Potions in 10 minutes, and the slowest did in 15 minutes.

The headquarters in Neverwinter City had the biggest storage of Blue Demon Potions, but they were sold out in half an hour. Those were just for retail. The major partners had all asked for more than 10,000 bottles.

That was what the Gilded Rose needed. It could exchange the Blue Demon Potions for necessary resources that usually weren't available on the market from those partners. Such resources, especially materials from other worlds, were held by the major organizations, and wouldn't be sold easily.

They could only be bartered for things that were equally precious. It was impossible to buy them with purple gold.

With the Blue Demon Potion, negotiations would be possible. Nobody thought that they didn't need the Blue Demon Potion at all…

The release of the Blue Demon Potion went well, but Faleau was absolutely befuddled.

Inside the Gilded Rose, many people thought that some of them did the punishment. Faleau, however, knew that it wasn't anyone of the Gilded Rose who crippled the two unlucky Heaven Rank experts.

Damn it, who did it? Xiuban? No. If it were Xiuban, the two idiots would've been smashed into pulps of meat.

Then was it Reina? Unlikely. The special silence curse and the constant bleeding aren't Reina's abilities. Then who was it?

Pabiete? That's not possible, either. While Pabiete is strong, it doesn't know the first thing about curses. It was, after all, just an alchemy puppet…

Sir Merlin might have done it. But he probably wasn't interested in the matter, and wouldn't have taken action in person. Obviously, it was two experts who did the punishment.

Does Sir Merlin have other strong subordinates? That doesn't look right. Whoever did it can't belong to the Gilded Rose. Then who did it?