Aldwin had been waiting outside the smithy for a long while by the time the two had come.
The President, who had always been calm and composed, was quite different today. There was anxiety all over his aged face; his moping disposition made it really hard for people to relate him with the strongest mage in Felan. At present, Alanna was pacing around anxiously with his hands behind his back. He did not look like the President of the Alanna Guild of Magic, but rather like an ant crawling on a hot pot.
It was not until Macklin and Lin Li’s figures appeared at the other end of the corridor that Aldwin finally showed a somewhat relieved expression on his face.
“Sorry to trouble you, Felic.” The President came forward with an apologetic smile on his face.
“It’s nothing.” Lin Li smiled. He was not unhappy; this concerned the future of the guild, after all. He’d most likely be like Aldwin if he were to be in the latter’s position.
Anyway, there were also two Vampire fangs that needed to be studied. It’d only take him a little more time to let the two of them completely rest assured, lest both should have to worry all day long even when they were getting old. In case something went wrong one day, wouldn’t he have committed a sin…?
“Uh… Felic…” Aldwin hesitated for a while, and took out something from his pocket.
It was a yellowish parchment that looked like it had been around for some years. There were still some burn marks on the corners and the edges—it looked like it was caused by spatters of sparks.
“Take a look at this and see if you have confidence in this?”
Lin Li was puzzled at first; when he took the parchment and looked at it, he realized that it was a blueprint of the Frost Shadowbane.
“Well, there should be no problem…” Lin Li scratched his head. He really didn’t know how to explain it to Aldwin at that moment.
The Frost Shadowbane was the lowest-level magical weapon. Any blacksmith who had reached the higher tier of mastery did not require any blueprint to forge the Frost Shadowbane. What was more, Lin Li was someone who was at the top of the forging profession.
However, it was impossible to explain such a thing.
Anyway, Lin Li had already received the blueprint. He had no option but to hold onto it for the time being.
Seeing the strange look on Lin Li’s face, Aldwin thought he was lacking in confidence, and hurriedly comforted him with a few words. “All you have to do is try your best. We still have time. Even if it’s not successful, it’s not a big deal…”
“I will…” Lin Li nodded, and said nothing more. He took the blueprint, and went into the smithy.
After closing the door behind him, Lin Li smoothly threw several pieces of refined iron into the furnace. Then, he opened the Ring of Endless Storm, and began to study the fangs of the two Vampires.
On the day he had obtained the fangs, Lin Li was going to set them on a dagger. After all, mages were not warriors; excessive use of metal weapons would affect the control of mana. After careful thought, the only weapon he could use for close combat was probably a dagger.
But, the battle with the Lich had changed Lin Li’s mind.
When the Sun’s Spike was fired, a sudden thought popped up in his mind—why not make a crossbow for himself?
Although the dagger was light and convenient, its power was really limited. He was a mage, above all, and had few opportunities to fight in close quarters. Even if the dagger was inlaid with Vampire fangs, it’d still be very difficult to exert its power. But, it would be different if it were a crossbow bolt—it was similarly light and convenient, but the power was much greater. It could be used both at a long range or a close range, and it could be used on a variety of powerful crossbows, such as the Sun and Hollow Spike that was stored in the Ring of Endless Storm…
Also…
Perhaps there were few people who were more proficient than Lin Li in shooting enemies from a long distance. Before he came to this world, he was a Super Hunter.
Lin Li threw the refined iron into the furnace; he had already outlined several designs in his mind. As a Smithing Guru, countless of crossbow blueprints had been installed in his mind. What he needed to do now was to choose a scheme from these blueprints that could give full play to the Vampire fangs.
Meanwhile, the two most important figures in the Alanna Guild of Magic were pacing back and forth restlessly like ants on a hot pan.
“Say, do you think the kid can do it?” Macklin frowned firmly such that his brows were almost coming together.
“I don’t know…” The President’s face was not much better than Macklin’s; since breaking through the Legendary Realm, he had probably never been as nervous as today.
The Adventurers Guild had already found an Inscriber who could chart high-level mageweaths as early as six months ago. In contrast, the Alanna Guild of Magic took a full year to find Felic, their only hope. The Alanna Guild of Magic today could be said to be pushed onto the edge of a cliff.
This was a big deal. Aldwin couldn’t help being nervous…
Perhaps not even Aldwin himself had imagined that, one day, he would hand over the fate of the guild to a young mage under the age of 20.
“Too young…” Aldwin shook his head in spite of himself at the thought of this.
This was the point Aldwin was worried about—Felic was simply too young.
Although Aldwin’s forging level was not much, he had nevertheless done some research on this profession. He knew that forging in general was not difficult. As long as one was strong enough to pull the bellows and lift the hammer, one could forge a decent piece of equipment; but, once it came down to the field of magical equipment, it was another matter altogether.
Aldwin had studied the blueprint of the Frost Shadowbane for at least a month.
He knew very well that the blueprint of magical weapons was no simpler than a Magic Shooter-level spell; it required too much expertise. If one didn’t spend a lot of time on it, one wouldn’t be able to figure out the ropes.
There was no doubt that Felic was a real genius; otherwise, he would not have reached the rank of a level-13 Magic Shooter at the age of only 20.
But, even the most talented person couldn’t stop the flow of time. Becoming a Blacksmith required a large amount of time. How could he have enough experience when he was in his twenties?
The President paced back and forth with his hands behind his back outside the smithy.
Felic had been inside for almost half an hour, and there wasn’t any sound of hammering yet; Aldwin was really worried. Could something be wrong, seeing that there hadn’t been any movement inside for such a long time…?
It happened that, at this time, Macklin had to ask with a face of apprehension, ” Say, if it doesn’t work…”
“…” Aldwin shot him a threatening look. This fellow just had to rub his nose in it; was he trying to make him anxious by saying such discouraging words at this point in time…?
“Dding, ddang, dding, ddang…”
At this moment, there was finally the sound of clanking coming from the forging workshop.
When the sound of iron being hit came, the two top figures in magic rushed forward almost at the same time, desperately sticking their ears to the door, hoping to recognize the forging progress through this crisp sound of clanking…
The two of them could be regarded as the top mages even in the entire Felan Kingdom. However, they were two real rookies in the field of forging. As they put their ears to the door, it was merely to console themselves, for they could not even make a thing out of it at all.
Before they could make out something, the loud clanking noise ceased, and then there was a soft sizzling…
“That’s all?” Macklin remembered the sound; drawing from his half-baked forging experience, it seemed to be quenching.
“No way…” Aldwin did not believe it; he stuck his ear to the door to listen once more.
But, before he could lean his head over, the door opened with a creak.
Then, they saw Lin Li walk out of the smithy with a smile on his face.
“D-done?” Macklin opened his mouth. His wretched face was full of incredulity.
“Done.” Lin Li nodded. He stretched out his hand, pointing to the anvil in the workshop.
The two men looked along the direction of Lin Li’s finger, and saw a single-handed sword lying quietly on the anvil. A faint magical wave slowly passed from the polished sword.
“Wrong…” Macklin was about to enter the door when he suddenly noticed a slight abnormality. The magical wave on the one-handed sword seemed different from what he imagined. Theoretically, ice magical element should pervade the Frost Shadowbane; how could he sense a scorching aura on this sword?
“How come… how come it’s of fire magical element?”
Aldwin was confused as well. After carefully taking in the magical aura on the one-handed sword, he shook his head again. “No, no, it’s not only fire magical element, but also ice magic element. Felic… what is going on? How can there be two kinds of magical elements?”
“Haha…” Lin Li scratched his head, and smiled, embarrassed. “I just suddenly remembered that I seem to have forgotten how to forge the Frost Shadowbane, and seeing that the materials were just right, I conveniently made a Frostfire Sword…”
“…’ Macklin nearly banged his head on the wall upon hearing it. What did the kid just say? He seemed to say, conveniently made a Frostfire Sword?
Bloody hell… The Frostfire Sword could also be conveniently forged?
Macklin almost had a heart attack at those words.
The old man was an Archmage, at any rate. How could he not know what the Frostfire Sword was?
This was a weapon with two magical attributes—and they were fire and ice, no less. To integrate these two completely conflicting attributes into a weapon was not something as easy as one plus one equalling two. Even if they were to look all over Alanna, they might not be able to find several Blacksmiths who could forge the Frostfire Sword…
Macklin knew very well that a Blacksmith who could forge a Frostfire Sword had at least an advanced forging level, and might even approach the legendary Master of Forging!
“High-level Blacksmith…” Macklin had the sense he was going crazy just at the thought of it.
A mage with an advanced forging level—what was the difference between this and a herbivorous dragon? Oh, no… it was something rarer than a herbivore dragon. After all, the dragon could be forced into being a herbivore, but there might only be a mage with advanced forging skills in the whole of Anril, and that was Felic…
“F*ck, pervert…” Macklin held back for long before finally choking these two words out.
He really understood now that this kid could not be measured by human standards. Age, experience, and genius were of no significance to this kid at all. He was a living dinosaur—there’d only be things you couldn’t think of, but there’d never be things that he couldn’t do.
Lin Li waited there for a long time, but there was nothing that followed from Macklin. So, he had to remind him conscientiously, “Mr Macklin, if there’s nothing else, can I go back to my room first? You know, the mission this time was really somewhat…”
After being asked by Lin Li, Macklin came to his senses, and hurriedly stepped aside to make way for Lin Li. Before leaving, Macklin reminded him with a simper, “Oh, yes yes yes. Go back and take a rest. Do, do take a good rest; don’t tire yourself out…”
“Then, goodbye…”
“Goodbye.”
When returning to the guild hall, Lin Li reached into his pocket and touched the two crossbow bolts, which still had some lingering warmth. His biggest harvest going to the smithy today was those two. He was itching to find a place to try them now. How powerful would these two crossbow bolts forged with the Vampire fangs be?
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