Chapter 1224: The Shadow of The Battleship

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

However, during the period of time that Prince Monterey had been back, he already gained some understanding of Lin Li, so he wasn’t bothered by Lin Li’s attitude. He simply said with a smile, “I’ve actually wanted to get to know you a long time ago, President Felic. However, you weren’t free previously, so I chose not to disturb you. It’s a great honor that I got to see you today.”

“You’re being too polite, Prince Monterey. May I know why the two of you are here to see me?” asked Lin Li, who was about to go attend the auction. Although he guessed that Monterey and Elder Zumar had probably come to see him because of something related to the auction, he nevertheless asked that question.

“Hah, President Felic, you should be going to attend the auction, right? May I join you?” Prince Monterey asked, lowering his status. He didn’t put on airs and act all lofty like many princes would. That was actually quite difficult for a noble.

It would be rude to be hostile to a person who had a friendly attitude. Lin Li was not an unreasonable person, after all, and he didn’t show any hostility to Monterey. Besides, the previous two conflicts Lin Li had with the Gilded Kingdom arose because Lin Li humiliated them. There was no point in harping on it and being mean to Monterey. Besides, Lin Li also needed someone who was familiar with the various forces of the Endless Ocean. Hence, he nodded accommodatingly, and agreed, “Alright, I’ll have to trouble you then, Prince Monterey.”

Seeing that Lin Li and Prince Monterey had a rather pleasant conversation, Elder Zumar, who was at the side, secretly heaved a sigh of relief. “Okay, the auction is about to begin, why don’t we chat as we walk?”

Thus, they left the embassy and walked slowly towards the auction venue. Along the way, they exchanged many meaningless pleasantries.

Since the auction was the opening show of the Sea Market, the venue that they had chosen was naturally not a random place. It was held in a magnificent building near the palace, second only to the palace itself. It was the largest art exhibition hall of the Gilded Kingdom where many precious and exquisite artworks were usually put on display. At this moment, the art exhibition hall had already been redecorated as the venue of the grand auction.

The world was not purely about violence and war. After years of evolution, there were also countless people who were in an endless pursuit of art, and for that reason, countless artists created artistic treasures that shone brightly like stars. These dazzling treasures decorated the cruel Anril like wildflowers blooming in the brutal jungle where it was all about the survival of the fittest.

In this world, art served many other purposes besides providing an aesthetic visual pleasure to the people. In many myths of Anril, there were various stories of people who became powerful through art and also various legends about people who reached the level of the Divine Smith and became a deity of a certain field.

For example, the God of Painting in myths was said to be able to draw everything in the world with a single brush. Each painting created by the God of Painting would be a world, and he could change the real world with a single stroke of the brush by turning ordinary mountains into erupting volcanoes, making the sea hang upside down in the sky, and causing the land to collapse and crumble in an instant.

Of course, those who were in a real pursuit of art would not be bothered if art could give them powerful combat force, and they simply yearned to reach the pinnacle of the field of art. Perhaps it was this very pursuit that allowed them to have a clearer understanding of the world, but the artwork that they created usually contained a certain World Law, which wasn’t intentional. Hence, such artworks were often extremely sought after by people who hoped to experience the mystery of those artworks.

A true masterpiece was often more popular than powerful magical equipment in the auction house. After all, no matter how powerful magical equipment might be, it was still an external object of the world. Meanwhile, if one could comprehend the mystery of the Laws from an art masterpiece, it would allow them to improve their realm.

The Gilded Kingdom was founded in the early Dark Age, and thus they had hardly experienced destructive wars. As such, many pieces of precious artworks were perfectly preserved. Although this art exhibition hall was temporarily used as the auction venue, many precious artworks were still showcased in the exhibition hall for the visual enjoyment of the guests who were there to attend the auction.

Besides, it was said that the Gilded Kingdom had also put up several Master-level art pieces for auction this time. Of course, the Gilded Kingdom wasn’t in need of money, but rather they were just trying to promote the auction by doing so.

When Lin Li arrived at the auction venue, the auction had yet to officially begin, so he began admiring the artworks in the exhibition hall in the company of Prince Monterey, who explained the origins of the artwork. He even introduced each piece that was on display without any impatience.

Lin Li and the rest were not the only ones in the art exhibition hall. There were also many guests who had arrived in advance to wait for the auction to begin, and were now appreciating the exquisite and fine pieces of art in the hall. Fortunately, the exhibition hall was large enough, with a floor area of tens of thousands of square meters. Thus, even though there were many guests, it still made the place look quiet and spacious.

Lin Li didn’t quite appreciate the so-called art in the beginning, as art was purely aesthetic and useless to him. However, as a Sanctuary powerhouse whose mastery of the World Laws had reached a very high level, the artworks were now a combination of various laws to him. The more intricate and ingenious the structure of those laws, the more perfect and beautiful they tended to be.

In fact, in some ways, those artworks shared many similarities to the mageweaths that Lin Li drew. Perfect mageweaths could also be called artworks. However, those artworks presented the laws in ways that were more easily accepted by the public, while mageweaths were a straightforward and the simplest presentation of the laws.

Although Lin Li was already a high-level Sanctuary powerhouse and a Guru of Inscription who was near the level of the Divine Smith, and whose mastery of the World Laws was probably far greater than that of the masters who created these artworks, there were still lots of things that Lin Li could learn from the artworks. In particular, the amazing structure of the laws contained the wonderful thoughts of countless masters of art that gave Lin Li a lot of inspiration.

In addition to accompanying Lin Li to appreciate the art pieces and explaining their origins along with the legends that revolved around each of them, Monterey also introduced Lin Li to some guests they met along the way. The guests in this exhibition hall were all invited to the auction, so that meant that their status and identities were naturally extraordinary. They were all bigwigs of various forces.

“President Felic, let me introduce, this is Prince Falth, and this is Grand Elder Lanrick, both of whom are from the Sea Serpent Clan. The Sea Serpent Clan is one of the seven overlords of the Endless Ocean, and Prince Falth is the most outstanding genius of the Sea Serpent Clan in the past thousands of years. He will definitely lead the Sea Serpent Clan to a prosperous development in the future.” Standing in front of a painting of the sunrise at sea, Monterey introduced the few Sea Serpent clansmen who had long necks to Lin Li.

The most distinct feature of the Sea Serpent clansmen was their long necks and gaunt bodies. When they walked, they looked like they didn’t have any bones at all, and their faces were covered in dense scales, while their eyes were emitting cold and sinister rays of light. The warriors of the Sea Serpent clan did not have the strength of the Giant Shark Knights, and their forte was their agility. The most impressive trait about them was the deadly toxins that their bodies produced. When applied to weapons, the toxins would cause their weapons to become more lethal. When they were sprayed like poisonous fog, anyone that came into contact with the fog would suffer from skin erosion and eventually die. It was extremely deadly and vicious.

However, although the Sea Serpent Clan was one of the seven overlords of the Endless Ocean, their strength was actually ranked at the bottom. Their deadly toxins may be insidious, but they would be effective only when it came into contact with the bodies of the enemies. The Thunder Eel Clan could be considered their nemesis. Also, although the Giant Shark Knights mainly engaged in close combat, their massive power and strength usually prevented the Sea Serpent warriors from getting close to them.

Of course, even so, the Sea Serpent Clan could be considered a massive force in the Endless Ocean. They dominated the Desolate Sea, which was the sea region with the most complex terrain in the entire Endless Ocean. There were lots of trenches of various sizes and depths all over the seabed. Although it was impossible for them to develop and expand outwards due to their terrain, they had a great advantage in defense, so no one was willing to harbor any ill intentions towards them.

The Desolate Sea was a neighboring sea of the Gilded Kingdom, and the Sea Serpent Clan didn’t have the ability to expand outwards. Thus, the Gilded Kingdom and the Sea Serpent Clan got along quite well.

Falth, the prince of the Sea Serpent Clan whom Monterey introduced to Lin Li, had actually begun to gradually gain more power, and probably would become the Great Monarch soon. However, Monterey was purely just trying to flatter Falth by calling him the clan’s greatest genius to appear in the past thousands of years. In fact, Falth’s strength was only about level-24.

Of course, Lin Li didn’t care about the other party’s strength when it came to making friends. As long as he could hit it off well with them, he would be willing to become good friends with ordinary people too. However, if he couldn’t get along with them, Lin Li wouldn’t bother paying any attention to them even if they were a Sanctuary powerhouse or even a so-called deity.

When Monterey was introducing Falth to Lin Li, Falth also seemed a little interested at first. After all, with Prince Monterey’s status in the Gilded Kingdom, those who were worthy enough to be introduced by him to others should be people of an equal status as Monterey. However, after he heard Monterey’s introduction that Lin Li was just the president of a small and nameless force in the Breezy Plains, Falth’s expression became much more aloof and indifferent.

After having a brief conversation with them out of courtesy, Falth left together with that grand elder. He seemed to be completely uninterested in talking to Lin Li. Falth’s behavior made Prince Monterey more or less embarrassed, but Lin Li did not care in the slightest. Instead, he turned around and continued to admire the painting of the sun hanging above the sea during sunrise.

After Lin Li looked at the artworks for a few more minutes, there was suddenly a small commotion in the initially quiet exhibition hall. Lin Li couldn’t help but turn to look in the direction of the noise, only to see that a bunch of people seemed to have gotten into a dispute. One of the parties involved was someone Lin Li knew—Harquess of the Octopus Clan—while the other was someone from the Sea Clan who was wearing a magic robe.

Seeing that Lin Li was looking over there, Prince Monterey immediately walked over and took a look too. He then introduced, “Those with tentacles on their necks are the people of the Octopus Clan who are led by their prince, Harquess. The Octopus Clan are natural-born inscribers, and rumor has it that Harquess has already become a Master of Inscription. Those who are arguing with them look similar to the Sea Serpent Clan, but they’re actually from the Thunder Eel Clan. Their leader is Manson, the prince of the Thunder Eel Clan. The Thunder Eel Clan are Thunder mages of the Sea Clan who are born with the power to manipulate lightning, and their strength is second only to the Giant Shark Clan’s among the seven overlords of the sea.”

The appearance of the Thunder Eel people was indeed somewhat similar to the Sea Serpents as their necks were much longer than that of humans. However, there were gills on both sides of the neck of the Thunder Eels that seemed to be opening and closing slightly. They were also emitting lightning fluctuations from their bodies. The prince of the Thunder Eel Clan, Manson, was about the same age as Harquess. However, he had already reached the Sanctuary-realm.

The Mage Legion of the Thunder Eel Clan could be considered the only force in the Endless Ocean that could compete head-on with the Giant Shark Knights. The Siren Clan might not be weak, but they were constrained by their lack of manpower. However, the Thunder Eel Clan was different because they had tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of Thunder Eel mages. If all of them were casting lightning magic spells at the same time, the entire sea would probably become a pool of lightning. Not to mention the Sea Clan’s troops, even Sanctuary powerhouses would end up getting battered badly by the Thunder Eel Clan.

The Thunder Eel Clan actually shared a good relationship with the Octopus Clan, but Manson and Harquess would fight whenever they met. Both of them were geniuses of their respective clans. Having reached the Sanctuary-realm a long time ago, Manson naturally didn’t care much about the Legendary-level Harquess. On the other hand, Harquess was proud of his attainments in inscription, so he was naturally extremely dissatisfied with Manson’s contemptuous attitude.

Monterey suggested that he bring Lin Li over and introduce him to Manson and Harquess, but Lin Li wasn’t interested at all. The reason for the dispute between Manson and Harquess was their arrogant personalities. Hence, Lin Li didn’t want to waste his time on doing something that wouldn’t bring him any benefits.

Seeing Lin Li’s lack of interest, Monterey did not say anything further, and instead continued to accompany Lin Li to appreciate the artworks. After looking at a few, Lin Li suddenly stopped in front of a painting which was nearly 10 meters long and five or six meters wide. It should be considered a relatively large painting in this hall. It was a painting of the shadow of a battleship that was sailing into the distance under the setting sun.

Perhaps the painting would be ordinary and nothing more than a visual pleasure for most people, but Lin Li had a different feeling about it because the blurry shadow of the battleship actually shared some resemblance with The Star that Geresco’s incarnation had left behind. Of course, it was just a blurry shadow of a battleship, after all, and Lin Li couldn’t be certain that it was the real The Star.