Chapter 424: Eternal Shrine

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Even if Sendros did not tell him, Lin Li also knew Hutton wanted to kill him. Things were obvious. Vanskore led a group of 300 and went undercover at the border of the Scar of Death. Even if the guards of the Malfa Family were blind and deaf, they would have known that something was wrong. Why didn’t they take any action?

All in all, it was just that Sir Hutton who did not want to take any responsibility for killing him. His plan of making use of somebody to do the deed was great, but that person being Vanskore… was just a bad idea…

Come to think of it, Sir Hutton was a really calm man. Despite the fact that the advance party returned to the camp quite some time ago already, Hutton never followed up with the team at all. It was as though Hutton had not dispatched any advance party in the first place.

When Adelo came over in the afternoon to speak for the Malfa Family, he tried to convince Lin Li that Vanskore had planned the attack all by himself. Of course, Adelo also promised that the Malfa Family would investigate into the situation as soon as possible.

Lin Li literally turned a deaf ear while Adelo was telling him all those things. He entertained him smilingly and sent him away smilingly. He did not care to wait for any evidence of the mastermind. Did one even need an evidence for something as serious as a murder or an arson?

Of course, Lin Li did not seek trouble with Hutton after sending Adelo off…

Lin Li stayed in Sendros’ tent for the entire afternoon. They chatted about magic, pharmacy, and many other things—everything but the sneak attack that had happened that afternoon. To both the old and the young man, that was a trouble that could be solved easily. It would be a waste of time to talk about that.

Knowing the mastermind would suffice.

It was only natural for the two pharmacy talents to discuss pharmacy when they were together. Sendros was not an amateur like Gerian. He’d spent a few decades studying pharmacy, and had become a master in his study. Lin Li secretly admired him for his insightful comments and perspectives. Furthermore, as someone in the Legendary-realm, Sendros could travel everywhere in Anril to broaden his horizons. He was like a living encyclopedia. The thrilling anecdotes and eccentric pharmaceutical formulas shared by him expanded Lin Li’s worldview as well.

Of course, Sendros gained much more knowledge as compared to Lin Li…

Despite having less experience than Sendros, as a real guru of pharmacy who mastered all pharmaceutical concepts and formulae, his practice had reached the point of near perfection.

The longer Sendros talked to Lin Li, the more shocked he grew…

Although he knew that the young man was a genius in pharmacy, it was only after the deep conversation that Sendros realized he had underestimated Lin Li. Not only did complex pharmaceutical information become like a simple math equation to Lin Li, the young man was also able to analyze the principle behind every underrated and uncommon formula and give substantial evidence to back it up.

In the beginning, Sendros only had intended to discuss knowledge with Lin Li. However, as they conversed, guilt grew within the esteemed pharmaceutical master. By the time the sun set, the casual chat between the old and young man turned into Sendros’ consultation with Lin Li…

With that, something scary happened in that tent…

Sendros, who was both a Legendary-mage and a master in pharmacy, became like a disciple who’d just entered the world of pharmacy. He sat upright, and wrote down notes while Lin Li told him about many case studies and used layman’s terms to describe the most complex pharmaceutical knowledge.

Unfortunately, Lin Li’s lack of patience made him a brute mentor. When Sendros expressed his doubts in an attempt to clarify things, Lin Li would flare up at that poor man with coarse words and vulgarities. Sendros was so very ashamed that he did not dare to lift his head despite having lived life for close to a hundred years.

The terrible thing was, Sendros seemed to have transformed into a masochist. The harsher Lin Li treated him, the more excited he grew. That pallid and corpse-like face actually turned pink due to his excitement. The whole afternoon was just Sendros bombing Lin Li with a lot of questions and frantically taking notes. His gaze resting on Lin Li was feverish beyond description.

It was good that Sendros’ tent was not a place anyone would have dared to enter…

Otherwise, the scene inside would have scared them insane.

Only Sendros knew how greatly he had benefited that afternoon. Not to exaggerate, the knowledge he’d gained from all the lashings from Lin Li was equivalent to 10-year-long research if he completely retreated from civilization!

Sendros could not help but ask, “Felic, have you… have you reached the Guru-realm already?”

“Hmm, I’m not sure…” Lin Li patronized Sendros’ query.

“It has to be the Guru-realm…” Sendros did not know Lin Li was so wicked, lying to him when he had been scolding him for the entire afternoon.

Of course, Sendros could not help believing him, either. It was an extremely honorable achievement to be able to break into the Guru-realm. Their names would be recorded in history and mentioned even after a thousand years. To Sendros, no Pharmacist in the world would reject such noble recognition. Hence, Sendros believed Lin Li when the latter said he was unsure about his progress. Sendros even tried to help that wicked man plan his career growth.

“Why don’t you visit the Darkness Shrine when you are free? I have a few rare Guru-level pharmacy formulae there. If you have the ability to create those potions, you are going to rock the entire Anril World…”

“A pharmaceutics guru is all it takes to rock the entire Anril World?”

“Don’t you know that a few centuries passed since a pharmaceutics guru appeared in Anril World…?” Sendros glanced at Lin Li suspiciously. “If you could really reach that realm, you would be the first pharmaceutics guru in several centuries. Wouldn’t that alarm the whole Anril?”

“That’s great. If I have the time, I’ll head to Darkness Shrine,” Lin Li agreed readily; this was indeed his first time knowing about the prestige of a pharmaceutics guru.

As he had not met any pharmaceutics guru previously, Lin Li used to think that it was because the Pharmacist Guild had a low standard. With Anril being a very huge piece of land, who would know where a Guru-level Pharmacist hid? Now that Sendros told him that, Lin Li finally knew that it was because a Guru had not appeared for a few centuries.

It was no wonder that those old men at the Pharmacist Guild treated him like a Buddha despite their high status.

It seemed that the pharmacy standard in Anril was lower than he had imagined.

Although he was not sure whether there were any Divine Smiths in the Dark Age, he knew the only way for him to progress to that level was to use the rare historic treatises from the Dark Age. As pharmaceutical concepts were created by the High Elves, Lin Li was sure that there were plenty of pharmaceutics gurus in the Dark Age. Out of the 10 Gurus mentioned the historical records, one was Osric…

“But…” Sendros paused and smiled. “If you really break into the Guru-realm, you can gain some benefits from the Brilliance Shrine…”

“Brilliance Shrine?” Lin Li was confused why Sendros would mention the Brilliance Shrine. Then, he remembered the matter Englos told him about during his presidential ceremony. “You mean the viper’s poison the Pope suffers from?”

“That’s right. It seems that Englos has told you about it long ago…”

“He only mentioned it briefly during the presidential ceremony. I’m not very sure what it is about.”

”The reality is actually very simple. Very long ago, this Pope accidentally got infected with the viper’s poison. He would have died if not for the constant support from the force of divine. The Brilliance Shrine has been searching for a pharmaceutics guru who has the ability to cure the viper’s poison. They even promised a huge reward…”

“What reward?”

“A request. A request that does not go against the teachings of the Holy Light…”

“…” Lin Li was speechless. He felt that the Brilliance Shrine had put too much importance on the matter. He could easily think of over 10 requests that would not go against the teachings of the shrine. He would be able to gain great benefits from any one of them…

“Felic, please remember what I am going to tell you now…” While saying that, Sendros’ expression became very grave and a little bit devout. “If you were to rid Pope of the viper’s poison one day, please request the Pope to hand the Helios’ Scepter to you.”

“Why?” asked Lin Li. He did not expect that.

“That’s because there is a secret within the Helios’ Scepter. It is a secret only known to the High Priests. Don’t you wonder why the High Priest of the Darkness Shrine would know the secret of the Brilliance Shrine?”

“Yeah, indeed…”

“The reason is very simple. That’s because there was no Darkness Shrine or Brilliance Shrine 1300 years ago. There was only the Eternal Shrine!”