End of the Magic Era

In the distance, Layford just completed the cracking of a step of a truth rune and turned his head, only to notice Lin Yun buffing himself.

Layford instantly sneered.

‘What a stupid guy. I’m afraid that guy doesn’t know that the endless runes of this crystal can only be researched through real skill. It’s really stupid to buff oneself with Berserk Transformation.

‘Berserk Transformation’s side effects are terrible and unsuitable for the field of alchemy. How could an alchemist that cannot remain calm plan to conduct alchemy research? Does that idiot think that the faster the computing the better?

‘Truly an idiot from the countryside. These runes contain boundless secrets, efficiency and accuracy are key, no, accuracy is the most important part.

‘If there is just a little bit of deviation, the mysteries contained within these runes might be completely wrong and the original truth would be false.

‘That stupid guy looks like he never moved from there. He took down some notes at first, but it’s already been a few hours since he didn’t. He definitely reached a bottleneck in the research…’

Layford sneered and looked at Lin Yun with malice before continuing on with his own research. He had almost completed his research of his truth rune. And at that rate, he might be able to study the complete mystery of a truth rune on the first day.

This would be considered a pretty good achievement, and although the difficulty of comprehending truth runes would increase, and the time needed to be spent would keep on increasing, he would definitely be able to research a few dozen truth runes within half a year.

As the first day was about to end, Layford relaxed and let out a sigh. He then discarded his quill pen and cautiously collected his sheets of paper before looking at Lin Yun. He then discovered that Lin Yun was no longer researching, he had a somewhat pale face and was massaging his brows while frowning.

Lin Yun was massaging his forehead. He felt weary after Steel Heart fell off, it was a kind of mental exhaustion. He had used a dozen Berserk Transformation today, and even without the side effects, the pressure couldn’t be avoided.

After a dozen hours of research, his mind was already exhausted and strained, his efficiency would rapidly decrease if he kept on researching. There was no point in forcing himself, he had to take a break to recover.

As Lin Yun was about to leave, Layford walked over with a mocking smile.

“Mafa Merlin, let me give you a suggestion, roll back to the Andlusa Kingdom immediately. Really, you have to rely on Berserk Transformation to research more efficiently?

“And you have come up with so little after a long day of research? Are you really an Artisan? You must have used some despicable method to fool the Starry Sky College, didn’t you?

“I already researched a complete rune’s secrets, that’s the truth of the world. Do you even know what kind of feeling that is? Do you know what the truth about energy transmission and conversion is?”

Seeing Lin Yun frown and take out a Mind Recovery Potion with a pale complexion, Layford’s mocking and prideful smile became even more visible.

‘That foolish Mafa Merlin already can’t hold on after one day and has to rely on Mind Recovery Potion to recover. That stupid guy must not have comprehended a single rune of a formula. What could he understand? What Artisan? He must have earned the title by refining a certain kind of potion.

‘I really don’t know how that guy managed to deceive the Starry Sky College. But it doesn’t matter, I’ll expose him now. The Starry Sky College won’t let him off easy, they’ll expel him at the very least.

‘That damned guy will be screwed once the Starry Sky College expels him out of Neverwinter City. Those who offend our Jackson Family, who offend me, absolutely won’t have a good ending. Those great benefits in the Raging Flame Plane actually fell into the hands of a country bumpkin of the Andlusa Kingdom. This is outrageous.

‘Letting him come to our Odin Kingdom to research the runes containing alchemy truths is a waste, no, this is profaning alchemy.’

Layford smirked and took out a sheet of paper before proudly sneering and waving it in front of Lin Yun. A complicated formula was written on top of the sheet of paper.

“Mafa Merlin, take a look at this. Don’t worry, I’m a very generous person. This is the formula I researched, I’ll let you take a look at it, can you understand it?

“Listen, you should leave this place, this place really doesn’t suit someone like you. Don’t waste your time here, this is a blaspheme towards alchemy!”

Layford’s righteous mention of alchemy attracted the attention of a few Artisans that had finished their research for the day.

Seeing people looking over, Layford smirked and made his tone feel even more sincere.

“Mafa Merlin, look at you. In a day, you used a dozen Berserk Transformations to buff yourself. Even if you can resist the side effects, forcing yourself like that has no benefit. There is no point in continuing.

“After all, the first day is the easiest day. As an Artisan, you should have finished researching a rune. Take a look at everyone, they all finished researching a rune while you haven’t even researched half a rune.

“Your presence here brings nothing. Do you see this formula? This a core formula regarding energy transformation and usage, do you understand any of it…?”

Many Artisans that had finished their research glanced over. Sure enough, today was the first day and, since the first truth rune was the easiest to crack, one day was more than enough.

All of the Artisans already researched the mysteries contained within a truth rune. Sensing the gazes of the Artisans focusing on this area, Lin Yun’s closed eyes slowly opened. The Mind Recovery Potion already took effect and his exhausted mind felt a lot better, but he still needed some rest.

Lin Yun casually swept a glance at the complicated formula Layford was showing him and casually said, “During the energy conversion process, what is the core parameter and the ratio of energy consumed by energy produced required for the most optimal conversion?”

Hearing Lin Yun’s question, Layford instantly froze.

He was also an Artisan, how could he not know the standards of this question? If it was outside, he could have wriggled his way out of it, but right now, there were a few Artisans that had finished their work looking at this side.

Even if he didn’t understand this difficult problem, he knew that this wasn’t something he could just casually answer to. It was a question directly targeting a technique’s content. More importantly, that question was linked to a formula he had just researched.

After throwing that question, Lin Yun started walking towards his own resting area. Today he had gone a bit too far. He completely hadn’t expected that Steel Heart would suppress the side effects of Berserk Transformation so well, and that they would only burst out after he exited the Steel Heart’s state.

As for Layford, he was standing at his original spot, his complexion continuously fluctuating. He didn’t care about the fact that Lin Yun walked away and immediately looked for a crystal table to rapidly do some calculations.

After thinking hard for a dozen minutes, Layford put down his quill on the crystal table with an unsightly expression, because he was unable to get a result after a dozen minutes of calculations. These calculations already exceeded the scope of his abilities, even a year might not be enough to find an answer to this problem.

After putting down the quill pen, Layford quietly glanced at the Artisans in the surroundings and noticed that no one was paying attention to him. He took the chance to quietly walk towards his room with an unsightly expression.

‘How could that idiot Mafa Merlin bring up this kind of question? Damn, he must have peeked at others’ data while they were immersed in research.

‘Could it be Gurrig? No, no one can understand Gurrig’s deduction method aside from himself. Was it the two Artisans of the Mosh Family then? Or that lunatic Albert?

‘It must have been the case, he must have peeked at the data of the rune the Mosh Family’s Artisans and Albert studied.

‘All of their attention had been placed on the Whisper Crystal, they definitely wouldn’t notice him peeping.

‘Damn, I was tricked by that damned Mafa Merlin. No wonder he ran after asking that question. Sh*t, he doesn’t even know the answer to that problem.

‘F*ck, everyone knows that he asked a difficult problem to baffle me. I won’t be able to expose his trick if I can’t find the answer to that problem. If I just try to expose him like that, others would say that I’m acting shamelessly because I don’t know the answer to that problem, while he can also say that this was the secret of his research and refuse to share it.’

Layford’s face was so dark that his sweat looked like black water. He fiercely glared towards Lin Yun’s resting area and gritted his teeth, wanting to use a spell to explode it. Unfortunately, he could only dream of doing that.

After returning to his resting quarters, Lin Yun raised his defenses and used a hypnotic spell to make himself fall asleep to recover quicker.

…

And on another side, a few Artisans of the Starry Sky College were gathered together.

This gathering wasn’t for the Artisans that didn’t belong to the Starry Sky College. The Starry Sky College’s Artisans had stayed behind to take care of things, they didn’t have the time limit of outsiders when studying. Relatively speaking, they had a lot more time than their guests.

In a seemingly ordinary building, a few Artisans were sitting around a round table. A crystal ball was sitting on the center of the round table, and the scene, and sound, reflected into it was Lin Yun and Layford’s dialogue.

After all, the consequences would be unimaginable if Heaven Mages fought there. And even if there were layers of defenses in that space, how could the Starry Sky College’s Artisans remain at ease by leaving these outsider Artisans be.

But when he heard Lin Yun’s question, amazement flashed on Zeith’s face.

“That energy conversion question isn’t something an Artisan that just started studying crystal runes could come up with…”

Just as Zeith finished his sentence, another Artisan commented with a surprised expression, “Indeed, the energy production and consumption during the energy conversion process isn’t something ordinary Artisans would think of. Moreover, I saw the few pieces of data that Mafa Merlin wrote down, he absolutely started researching the crystal runes today!”

Another Artisan on Zeith’s right side was contemplating.

“According to the information from Sky City, this Mafa Merlin has a very high proficiency in the puppeteering and array fields, he even has a puppet army. His research of mana reactors must be very profound. He might have been able to ask this question due to his previous research…”

Zeith shook his head and attentively watched the crystal ball. He then adjusted the angle of the crystal ball’s line of sight and even rewound time to focus on those key pieces of data Lin Yun had written down.

“No, while he might have researched those things before, take a look at those pieces of data. They are all key to the process of energy conversion. His research is extremely precise and succinct.

“If he hadn’t researched here, he simply would have been unable to ask this difficult problem. The ratio of energy and the core parameter required for the highest energy conversion could only be figured out by those whose research was very deep. He wouldn’t have known if he hadn’t truly researched, the core parameter is fixed and won’t change with the changes.”

After Zeith finished his sentences, the few Artisans of the Starry Sky College froze. The core parameter was similar to Pi, it was a fixed number and wouldn’t change regardless of the situation, but few people knew that.

An Artisan was looking at Zeith with shock.

“Sir Zeith, this is impossible. To clearly understand that core parameter, one has to comprehend the 338th rune, the 408th rune, and the 506th rune. Only by comprehending these three crystal runes could one be able to deduce all that.

“Hold on… Sir Zeith, are you saying that this new Artisan from the Andlusa Kingdom already comprehended these three crystal runes?”

The other Artisans looked horrified.

“No way, he was able to comprehend three crystal runes on the first day? This must be a joke… We spent so many years, but our Starry Sky College only comprehended a bit over eight hundred crystal runes, yet he already comprehended three in one day?”

Crystal runes was the name the Starry Sky College gave to the truth runes, and this would be their name for a very long time. Naturally, the truth runes would have many names, truth rune being just one of them. There were even a few alchemists of the Starry Sky College that called these truth runes devil runes and refused to study them because of their “devilish” power.

Zeith attentively watched the crystal ball, his expression flickering as he sighed.

“It might even be more than that. It looked like a difficult problem, but it was actually a series of difficult problems. Even if he could have researched the energy conversion system, he couldn’t have immediately mastered those crucial parts right after comprehending the runes. I feel that the number of runes he researched today might not be limited to three.

“We might have been looking down on that new Artisan from the Andlusa Kingdom. His alchemy mastery might be more formidable than ordinary Artisans.

“You might be unaware, but Gurud, that Artisan from Sky City who is a born alchemist completely clueless about social interactions, has a very good attitude towards Mafa Merlin. They would even discuss things unrelated to alchemy.

“Gurud isn’t good with that kind of thing, so there is only one possibility, he had already gained Gurud’s approval.”

After Zeith finished his words, horror flashed on the faces of those few Artisans before they turned serious.

They all knew that Gurud was a youth that had put all of his wisdom into alchemy. Among Artisans, Gurud’s strength could be considered above average, but he was only an Archmage. This was unfathomable.

But Gurud was clueless about social interactions. Unless it concerned alchemy, Gurud was no different from an idiot. For him to discuss other matters with someone meant that he approved of that person.

The few Artisans had yet to recover from their shock. After all, the Starry Sky College’s research of truth runes could be said to be the most advanced. But even now, they still didn’t know that the truth runes weren’t endless but that there was 108,000 of them.

They had recorded the speed and amount of research of every Artisan over the course of the years. An Artisan that could complete the research of a rune in a day would be considered a qualified Artisan.

Those that could receive an invitation of the Starry Sky College could complete the research of a rune in one day. The record was two runes on the first day, but it could in fact barely count as two as the Artisan had to finish the research of the second rune on the second day…

Researching three truth runes on the first day never happened since they obtained the Whisper Crystal. Even the current three deans Saint Alchemists didn’t break that record on their first day.

In fact, the record of two truth runes was held by one of the deans…

The group of Artisans looked at each other in dismay, speechless. At this time, one of the Artisans pointed to the crystal ball with bulging eyes.

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