868 Quarrel

“I’m not being unreasonable. If you don’t figure out those questions, you will be relying on nothing but experience, instincts, and luck when you modify your drug. It was already fortunate of you to have found out a beneficial change after several hundred tries, but what about later? Are you going to try every possibility and every combination? In such a case, you will never succeed without thousands of experiments…” Douglas replied very carefully.

Solemnly, the young sorcerer pointed at his product and said, “The magic book says that the Crimson Grass plus the Fish Eye Fruit plus the stem of the Soul Wood can stimulate one’s spiritual power. My product is a combination of their natural effects, a summary of the sorcerers’ generations of research, a law of nature, and a truth that is beyond any doubts! I won’t sell my drug to you. Please go somewhere else!”

Perhaps because he was just freed from teachers and magic books, the young sorcerer told him the mechanism of his recipe even though he hated the unreasonable guy. Of course, the specific ratio of the ingredients was his business secret.

Douglas nodded. Right when the young sorcerer held his head high again, he suddenly said, “I know that the Crimson Grass plus the Fish Eye Fruit plus the stem of the Soul Wood can stimulate the spiritual power. It’s an empirical law, but why?”

Fernando tried to hold back his smile and almost blew a whistle. It was very fun for him to watch other people be driven crazy by Douglas’ whys.

The young sorcerer’s face was the best example of “astounded”. Uttering some meaningless sounds, he turned around at the sorcerers nearby and murmured, “What a freak!”

Actually, the sorcerers had summarized the synergy among most materials and gave explanations of different schools. For example, some claimed that it was a representative of the four-element theory, and some said that it was because of the cycle of life.

The young sorcerer knew quite a lot, and he was more inclined to the four-element explanation. However, he did not want to talk to the weirdo at all, fearing that he would be faced with a bunch more whys. It reminded him of the feeling when he could not provide satisfactory answers to a rigorous teacher.

The sorcerers around watched in either gloom or amusement. None of them were interested in meddling with someone they were not familiar with.

Not caring at all that he was called a freak, Douglas said sincerely, “Have you ever read ‘Elemental Crown of Magic Potions’? It may explain part of the reasons, and it may be applied in practice, but there is still plenty of self-consistency. I don’t think it really answers the questions.”

Gritting his teeth, the young sorcerer murmured, “Ignore him! Ignore him!”

He had the feeling that he was surrounded by hundreds of mosquitoes, which made him rather agitated.

Douglas was quite a reasonable man when he didn’t ask whys. He shook his head with a smile and said, “I know a thing or two about this field. If you are interested in the question just now, you are free to communicate with me. I am Douglas, and I’m with the Union of Sorcerers. What about you?”

The young man was very handsome and scholarly. He did not intend to talk to Douglas, but something his teacher said to him popped up in his mind.

“You are the most gifted young sorcerer in our organization, but you’ve been too devoted to books to know how to communicate with other people. We represent the Shadow Singers in the meeting in Allyn. So, I must remind you that you must not be too weak or too arrogant. Courtesy is very important…”

Courtesy, courtesy… The young sorcerer struggled to reply. He said, “I am Owen, from the Shadow Singers.”

“I just took a look. Your potion must be very good.” Douglas knew better than continuing to pester Owen and left his stand. Owen was greatly relieved.

“You can totally develop a spell named ‘Douglas’ Whys’. It will definitely stun the enemy.” Fernando followed him and made fun of him.

Douglas smiled and did not say anything. He carefully observed the sorcerers who had been gathered in the square. They were from different organizations, and their strengths, genders, looks, and personalities varied. The only thing they had in common was that they were all slightly depressed and overwhelmed.

It was not because something bad was happening, but because their living conditions had brought irreversible psychological changes that had been reflected in their aura.

“Skin of the Blue Dragon! It contains the patterns of dozens of spells and can significantly improve the corresponding magic!” On their way, they suddenly heard a girl peddling “Skin of the Blue Dragon”.

The blue dragons were most famous for their supernatural abilities in lightning and water. Their skin was not only an alchemical material but an important focus of the sorcerers’ studies.

Therefore, when Douglas and Fernando looked over, the girl’s stand had been crowded by sorcerers, who were all observing the incomplete skin of the blue dragon in silence.

For Fernando who was good at lightning and storms, the skin of the blue dragon was most precious. So, he walked to the girl’s stand. After confirming the authenticity of the material, he asked, “What do you want in exchange for the skin of the blue dragon?”

The other sorcerers were angry about Fernando who squeezed through the crowd, but nobody said anything. They all wanted to hear the girl’s needs.

The girl had flaxen hair and pupils in a similar color. Both pretty and vigorous, she smiled and said, “I want to exchange for the destruction of the Church. Can you do that?”

Before Fernando roared out, she ended the joke in time. “I need all the middle-rank magic books on transformation, body modification, and bloodline melting. Do you have any?”

Her answer was rather vague. It was obvious that she intended to pick a favorite book from the sorcerers.

“I do!” Fernando had always been impatient. He immediately took out many books and floated them in the air, before he looked at the sorcerers around with a “This material is mine and bite me if you are not cool with that” look on his face.

The sorcerers were somewhat angry at first, but somebody said in a low voice, “He’s Fernando of the Union.”

“The Fernando who attacked the Inquisition?”

“The Fernando who took down the Predator?”

The sorcerers immediately whispered among themselves. Many people who planned to compete with Fernando backed off. That was a brutal and strong man!

Fernando did not realize that he was so famous. He wasn’t even as respected as now when he made it to the Cleansing List. He was rather puzzled.

“How about it? Are you satisfied with my books?” Fernando decided to ignore other people and simply asked the girl.

At this moment, another sorcerer stood out. “You may be Fernando, but so what? All the organizations are gathering today. Is he going to steal an item that is being regularly traded?”

Fernando was about to roar at the sorcerer when the girl suddenly said, “I would like to give it to Mr. Fernando! He’s my hero! Over the past century, he is the first sorcerer who has the courage to attack the Inquisition and kill the traitors!”

Fernando was stunned. Since when could “reputation” contribute to business-making? Was the girl still so innocent?

The competitive sorcerer dared not argue anymore and left in a hurry.

“As a matter of fact, it was Douglas, the ninth-circle archmage next to me, who killed the Predator.” Fernando would never steal other people’s credit.

An archmage?

The sorcerers around looked at Douglas, feeling even luckier that they did not conflict with Fernando.

“You’re both my heroes! I am Erica. I am a third-circle sorcerer from a small organization,” the girl said with a sweet smile, which was soon replaced by melancholy. “It’s a shame that there are fewer and fewer heroes like you. Everybody is too used to failure and hiding to dream for a victory.”

Her bluntness made all the sorcerers fall into silence. They thought of the immense pressure and the boundless darkness before their eyes.

“What can we do? The Church has so many legendary experts, and the pope is well beyond the peak of legendary. What can we do…” In the crowd, someone said angrily and desperately, “If only Mr. Viken, Mr. Maskelyne, and the rest of them hadn’t gone missing… With so many level-three legends, the Church wouldn’t have developed at all…”

“I hardly think so!” Somebody argued loudly, “The pope is as strong as a demigod. The Light of Stars was killed by him, and the Liege of Death was ‘reincarnated’ with a strength less than level three. Even the two top legends could not stop the pope. Why do you think Maskelyne and Viken could?”

The words that praised the Church immediately invoked curses. People of Red Eye cursed the Sylvanas Magic Empire for being too devoted to internal conflicts at the critical moment, which caused the destruction of the Asso Empire first. The Liege of Death only returned through the forbidden approach, but he was so weakened that he dared not even challenge the Sword of Truth.

The people of Shadow Singers also cursed other sorcerers for not being united. Otherwise, the Church wouldn’t have developed at all, and the pope wouldn’t have become so strong!

The necromancers of the Supreme Soul were not good at quarreling, but their gloomy eyes were nonetheless chilly. They seemed to believe that the main reason for their failure was that so many sorcerers were unwilling to offer their soul and body. Otherwise, they would’ve raised an enormous and tough army of servants that would sweep across the Church. The divine power of the Church was most effective on the necromancers, so they hated and were scared of the Church the most.

The elementalists of Tower of Destroyers joined the fight, maintaining that the three magic empires made too many mistakes at the beginning and gave too much room for the Church to develop. Otherwise, the situation today would have been different.

“Perhaps our magic has already fallen behind…” In the middle of their argument, a desperate sorcerer blurted out without thinking, “How many legendary experts have emerged in the Church in the past three hundred years? What about our side? Perhaps the divine power is the future…”

They all fell silent as the moment poked everyone’s wound. Then, curses broke out.

“Traitor! You are a traitor!”

“Our magic is much more abundant and mysterious than the divine power!”

“Does the divine power have so many ways to save your life?”

Erica, who was selling the skin of the blue dragon, did not say anything under the noises. She backed off and heaved a sigh before saying to Fernando and Douglas, “How devastating… It’s great that we have heroes like you.”

“Desperation calls for changes…” Looking at the remains of the magic towers at the center of Allyn, Douglas’ eyes were deep and thoughtful.

Clang!

A bell was knocked, appeasing the fight in the square, because the joint meeting of dozens of magic organizations was about to begin.