110 Fear (1/2)

”Why?” William Merlin was a bit worried. Sauss was his last hope in Thousand Sails City! If even Sauss couldn't help him, then his only remaining option would be to force himself to face Mafa Merlin directly.

”William, I still have something to do. I won't be able to keep you company. Say hello to your father when you return.” Sauss' voice was a bit apologetic. He truly felt sorry that he couldn't help William. He couldn't repay his friendship and wouldn't be able to take advantage of this chance to get closer to the Merlin Family.

But Sauss would rather be sorry than become Mafa Merlin's enemy.

Sauss awkwardly chuckled and then left the wooden house.

”Gr-Great Mage Bell, wha… What is going on?” William was stunned for a while. After recovering, he asked Bell, still at a loss.

”Less than a month ago, Mafa Merlin came to the Poison Fog Canyon, killed dozens of people, exploded two sentry towers, and then had Leader Sauss open up a trade route for him.”

Once he was done explaining, Bell also left.

Only William was left in the spacious wooden house. Firewood was cracking in the fireplace and the cold of winter couldn't be felt in the room, but at this moment, William Merlin felt an intense chill.

He had been looking down on his younger cousin all along, but it turned out that he was actually someone that could make Sauss shrink away in fear.

That was Sauss.

The leader of the number one underground power of Thousand Sails City, which was said to have several thousand subordinates ready to give up their lives for him, jumped up from fear at the mere mention of Mafa Merlin's name!

William felt that the world was becoming crazy...

After returning to Thousand Sails City, he felt that he didn't have enough information concerning his cousin.

Since Sauss had refused to help, he would have to rely on his own ability to figure things out.

He had no confidence to face his younger cousin.

But whether or not he had any confidence didn't matter at this point. He could only try to get a better understanding of his cousin.

Thus, William Merlin spent the entire afternoon outside, walking around half of Thousand Sails City, asking everywhere about his younger cousin.

...

While William wandered through Thousand Sails City, Lin Yun was working hard in the Gilded Rose.

The test tube of Obsidian Flower Sap was placed in front of Lin Yun, along with a huge pile of discarded draft papers. A lot of alchemy arrays were drawn on these discarded pieces of paper. Some were completed while some only had a few lines.

'It's no good, the addition of the gloom array would destroy the cycle of mana…” Another draft paper was crumpled and thrown on the refining table.

This was already the 30th design that Lin Yun had discarded.

Lin Yun spent a whole day in the alchemy laboratory, repeating this process, designing, drafting, and discarding.

In fact, these designs were all just short of perfection. If they spread about and were seen by others, they would make many Great Alchemists go crazy with fervor.

But Lin Yun was still dissatisfied.

Because he wanted to use the Obsidian Flower Sap this time!

Lin Yun had extracted some sap by taking advantage of the fact that the Obsidian Flower had just been planted so its toxicity hadn't reached its peak yet. Lin Yun thought that he could use it to compound some potions. If a potion was successfully compounded from that, it would inevitably be a Master Alchemist Rank Masterpiece.

But Lin Yun quickly found out...

He didn't have materials formidable enough to pair with it. The Obsidian Flower's toxicity was truly too frightening. Lin Yun had rummaged through his collection, but he hadn't been able to find one that would work.

In the end, Lin Yun had no choice but to give up on compounding a potion and started working on a Magic Tool.

But ultimately, after over twenty designs, he still hadn't been able to come up with one that satisfied him.

It was troublesome because the Obsidian Flower Sap's toxicity was truly too fierce. If that Magic Tool could be crafted, it would definitely have the power of a High Mage, but at the same time, there couldn't be a single mistake during the crafting process. The design would also have to be perfect, as even a negligible flaw could create a huge accident.