Chapter 1203: Apologize

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

At this point, Hegel and the others exchanged glances with each other, while Grand Elder Hayes looked at Harquess with a solemn expression. In an austere voice, he admonished, “Harquess, this time you should be thankful that things didn’t escalate to the point of being unmanageable, and that Master Felic didn’t intend to hold it against you. However, you can’t think that this matter is over just because he didn’t do anything to you. You should now find an opportunity to apologize to him and express your sincerity clearly.”

“What? You want me to apologize to him?!” Harquess exclaimed immediately with a look of reluctance after hearing his words. It wasn’t that he had a grudge against Lin Li, but rather that he felt that it was too embarrassing when he thought of the previous provocation.

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“Why? Are you not willing? You must know that as long as you can learn a single bit of knowledge in inscription from him, it will probably be useful for you for the rest of our life. This is a rare opportunity for you, and for us, the Octopus Clan, it’s also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” Hayes glowered at Harquess, making him lower his head. While seemingly recalling something, Hayes calmly said, “If I hadn’t had the opportunity to consult Heldanos about inscription back then, I’m afraid I wouldn’t have been able to reach the level that I’m at now. During that exchange of knowledge with Heldanos, I gained a fair bit of insight that even till now is like a bright lamp that’s showing me the way forward.”

Everyone was shocked to hear Grand Elder Hayes’ words as it could be considered a historical secret. In the legend that they had always been told, Hayes and Heldanos exchanged a fair amount of knowledge on inscriptions, which meant that their levels and profoundness were about the same. Even though there might be some disparity between them, it wasn’t a great difference. However, consulting meant an entirely different thing altogether. It meant that Heldanos’ attainment in inscription was high enough for him to be Hayes’ teacher.

Hayes sighed slightly. In a somewhat regretful tone, he said to Harquess, “Unfortunately, my talent is limited, and I’m not destined to make greater achievements. However, you’re different: you’re the most talented person in the history of our Octopus Clan apart from Heldanos. As long as you seize this opportunity, I believe you will go farther than us.”

Although Hayes had painted a beautiful picture, Harquess was actually very conflicted deep down. On the one hand, he had understood that there was a conflict between that human inscriber and his close friend Cantory. Hence, for the sake of achieving this somewhat unrealistic goal, he ought to keep a distance from Cantory. On the other hand, the human inscriber Felic was way too young as he was only in his early twenties, and it would be too embarrassing to bow down to such a young man.

However, even though he was stuck in a dilemma, Harquess dared not disobey Grand Elder Hayes. No matter what, he would just agree first. Hence, he hurriedly lowered his head, and said to Hayes, “Yes, Grand Elder, I know.”

“I hope you really do,” said Hayes, who also knew that he could not be too eager about urging Harquess, the genius of the clan, to suddenly bow down to a young human. Hence, he didn’t dwell on it, and simply said to Hegel and the other two elders, “Not only Harquess, but you guys as well. Try to poach Master Felic and get him to stand on our side as far as possible. You should at least let him know of our good intentions. Besides, you should also take in hand your disciples who love making trouble. The Gilded Kingdom’s loss is a lesson for us, don’t let our clan become a laughingstock as well.”

Be it the Great Monarch Hegel or the two elders, Quito and Kazar, none of them dared to disobey Grand Elder Hayes. Moreover, with their status, they could naturally figure out that roping in a powerful Master of Inscription like Lin Li would definitely be beneficial for the Octopus Clan. Hence, the three of them hurriedly bowed to Grand Elder Hayes, and solemnly said, “Please rest assured, Grand Elder!”

Grand Elder Hayes nodded, and then turned around to look at Harquess. He chided, “What are you still standing here for? Hurry up and go apologize to Master Felic.”

“Ah… Oh, okay!” Harquess was the most afraid of Grand Elder Hayes. If Hayes wanted to punish him, even his father, the Grand Monarch Hegel, would not dare to plead for him. With that thought in mind, he bowed and left the palace one step at a time reluctantly. He was completely different from his angsty and aggressive self when he first entered.

After Harquess left, Great Monarch Hegel and the other three elders again began to carefully study the mageweath on the stone slab. However, they did not dare to devote all their attention to studying it, because they were well aware that it was not something that they could study and figure out entirely with their own efforts. The four of them had to study it together.

On the other hand, Lin Li didn’t take the matter seriously at all. Compared to the Divine-Smith-level mageweath that he was studying now, that matter was far less important, and wasn’t worth his effort at all. Carrying the magic materials that he had bought from the market with him, he locked himself in a room as soon as he returned to the embassy of the Tower of Dusk.

However, Lin Li did not immediately begin to study that Divine-Smith-level mageweath, and instead summoned Demon Gordon that had been left out in the cold for a long time. Gordon had devoured the Divinity Metal, and even if he did not continue devouring other metals, he would still continue to advance, though the speed was too slow. God knew when he would reach the Sanctuary-realm.

This time, Lin Li bought the Blood of the Sea God with the intention of feeding it to Gordon and testing its effects. The Blood of the Sea God was an extremely active substance; when added to weapons and equipment, it would give them the ability to repair themselves. In that case, he wondered what kind of effects there would be after feeding it to Gordon.

In fact, Demon Gordon’s body was made of metal, so it already had the power of self-recovery in the first place. As long as its magical crystal was not destroyed, the entire body would be pieced together again even if it was blown into pieces. However, the recovery speed was extremely slow, and the greater the trauma, the slower the recovery. It would take a long time before its combat power could be recovered enough for it to be ready for battle again.

Lin Li still did not know how to let Demon Gordon reach the Sanctuary-realm, and could only find a way to squeeze its power. In fact, if Demon Gordon could recover immediately, it would still give the enemy a huge headache no matter how much damage it suffered. Anyway, Lin Li himself absolutely detested demons who could not be killed no matter what.

After summoning Demon Gordon, Lin Li didn’t waste any time at all as he directly took out the box of the Blood of the Sea God without delay, and ordered Demon Gordon to devour it. Given Demon Gordon’s nature, it definitely wouldn’t devour this metal, but with Lin Li’s order, he would have no choice but to swallow it obediently even if it was mud. Hence, Demon Gordon took the crystal box, and poured the several million gold coins into his mouth in one go.

After swallowing the Blood of the Sea God, Gordon’s body reacted immediately, while the metal seemed to have turned into a soft ball of dough. On the other hand, there seemed to be something wrapped in it that was struggling to emerge. As a result, Demon Gordon’s body began bloating on one side, while a pit was formed on the other. It was changing continuously, as if it was about to explode.

Seeing this situation, Lin Li also got a great shock, and he wondered if the Blood of the Sea God was a lethal poison for Gordon! Initially, Lin Li thought that even if Demon Gordon couldn’t swallow the Blood of the Sea God, he could just spit it out again without suffering any substantial harm. Hence, he ordered Gordon to just devour it. However, Lin Li had no choice but to admit that it seemed he had been too careless.

Of course, there was another reason that was perhaps a little cruel, and that was that Gordon was no longer of much value to Lin Li. Hence, he felt that it wouldn’t be a waste to let Gordon devour the Blood of the Sea God which was almost worthless to Lin Li. Thus, even if it failed, there was nothing to be frustrated about.

If it were the two Undead servants, Lin Li definitely wouldn’t bear to do that. For example, when Norfeller consumed the blood of the Iceblast Wyrm, Lin Li spent plenty of effort and energy on concocting it carefully. Only when he confirmed that it would not cause any negative impact on Norfeller did he let him consume it.

Lin Li was much less meticulous and conscientious when it came to Gordon. After all, his Undead servants were far more important to him than Gordon.

At this juncture, Gordon’s body no longer looked the same as it used to, because it now looked like a giant golden porcupine with countless spikes emerging from his body. In the end, it suddenly froze, and Gordon’s body seemed to have been frozen by ice, but he could still be seen trembling slightly.

Immediately afterwards, he heard the sounds of the flowing sand, and Gordon’s body began to disintegrate like a sand sculpture that had suddenly collapsed. In the blink of an eye, all that was left on the spot that Gordon was standing on was some glistening sand and metallic particles, which continued to disintegrate further into even smaller particles. A moment later, it turned into a metallic fluid.

Lin Li was shocked by the change, but after sensing it carefully for a while, he realized that although Gordon seemed to have been destroyed, he still had some soul contact with him. In other words, even though Gordon had turned into fluid metal and the magic crystals had disintegrated, he hadn’t died yet.

While Lin Li was amazed by the change in Gordon, he suddenly sensed a message from Demon Gordon through the soul contact. The content of the message was very simple. It was a type of hunger and an extreme thirst for mana. Lin Li did not lack any magical crystals, so he took out a few magical crystals, and added them to the fluid metal.

In the beginning, Lin Li tossed a few level-15 and level-16 magical crystals into it, but the message from Demon Gordon remained the same. Hence, he grabbed a Legendary magical crystal and tossed it over. After he tossed 10 of them in total, there were finally some changes in the puddle of liquid metal.

Watching the changes of the liquid metal, Lin Li felt like he was watching the Terminator. Gordon was just like the liquid cyborg in the Terminator as he moved up from the ground, and quickly condensed into a two-meter-tall humanoid figure. However, compared to its original appearance, Gordon now looked a lot less bulky and much more streamlined, just like a beautiful metal statue.

There was only a large amount of metal residue left of the liquid metal that had spread apart on the ground. During the changes, Gordon had clearly finally expelled the metal of inferior quality that was accumulated in his body. It was just akin to the improvement of one’s personal aptitude. After the changes, Gordon’s body was strengthened several times.

At the same time, the mana fluctuation on Gordon’s body was also gradually increasing towards the peak, and it stopped only when it reached the point of approaching the Sanctuary-realm. After all, it wasn’t that easy to reach the Sanctuary-realm, and even with the help of Divinity Metal and the Blood of the Sea God, he could only let Gordon be close to the Sanctuary-realm. Whether or not Gordon could reach the Sanctuary-realm would still have to depend on his own abilities.

After his body was condensed, Gordon knelt on one knee, bowed respectfully to Lin Li, and said in a muffled voice, “Noble Master, thank you for giving me a new life!”

Hearing this, Lin Li was really a bit surprised as he didn’t expect Gordon’s IQ to have increased when Gordon’s body changed. Gordon was actually a relatively normal kind of demon in the Endless Abyss, and his intelligence was far below that of the Demon Lords. They were basically still closer to the beasts. However, Gordon had now clearly advanced beyond the category of beasts, and become an intelligent being.

Even if Gordon’s power wasn’t improved, the improvement of his intelligence alone was enough to strengthen him. Besides, during the transformation, Gordon’s power had already almost reached the Sanctuary-realm. Hence, he was truly worthy of being a trump card.

Seeing that Gordon had finally transformed completely, Lin Li waved his hand and moved Gordon back to the contract space. In fact, Lin Li was well aware that the changes in Gordon were partly due to the fact that he had devoured the Blood of the Sea God, but more importantly, it was because of the Divinity Metal. Without the Divinity Metal that Gordon had previously swallowed, Gordon would have probably collapsed completely after swallowing the Blood of the Sea God.

However, there was one thing that Lin Li found to be a pity—although Gordon’s strength had increased a lot, it had yet to reach the point of unlimited rebirth. If he didn’t have enough mana, he would still die eventually.

Lin Li put away Gordon, and was in quite a good mood since he now more or less had a powerful underling. Even an ordinary Sanctuary powerhouse would probably have a hard time when facing Gordon. Of course, he wouldn’t let Gordon fight a Sanctuary powerhouse head-on. After all, the difference in realm could not be closed so easily.