End of the Magic Era - Chapter 1253

Chapter 1253: Family Meeting and Apology

Pabiete was completely overpowering his opponent thanks to his three ability runes, his melee abilities, his two casting weapons, and his recently regained battle awareness.

That huge puppet holding two swords couldn’t even catch Pabiete’s shadow.

Pabiete’s body was like a phantom. The laser sword he held kept revolving around the dual-wielding sword puppet, slashing seven or eight times every time it whirled. And with its terrifying cutting power, the laser sword left deep incisions at the most important parts of the energy transmission pathways.

After a few minutes, the dual-wielding sword puppet was no longer able to move, as its energy couldn’t flow to its legs.

Pabiete once again attacked from the front, but the two huge greatswords slashed together at him. He instantly halted his momentum and stopped right in front of the slashes, letting them fly past before he continued.

His slender body flexibly stepped on the dual-wielding sword puppet before jumping up to reach its head.

The laser sword in his hands instantly dissipated, replaced by the casting weapons on his arms. Firebolts, Frostbolts, and Lightbolts simultaneously burst out. The Elemental Strengthening ability rune also shone.

A terrifying power exploded under the effect of the ability rune, and it happened faster than the blink of an eye.

It looked like a mana crystal cannon opened fire right in front of the puppet’s face.

The explosion was extremely loud, and glaring rays of light blossomed. Pabiete used his opponent’s chest as a stepping stone and instantly disappeared.

A second later, the light dissipated, and more than half of the puppet’s head was missing. This was caused by the instantaneous reaction between the ice and the flames, along with the light’s fatal blow. This kind of fighting technique could be called an art.

After the fight was over, Lin Yun personally went and dissected that puppet. All of the components were dismantled, and the ability rune was also sealed and stored away. He also discovered a fist-sized lump of black substance in that puppet’s chest.

Xiuban’s fight was also over by the time Lin Yun finished his dismantling. But the eight-armed monkey puppet no longer had its original appearance… Its body was like a pile of scrap components carelessly mashed together. All of its components had been smashed to pieces by Xiuban.

The only thing remaining was the puppet’s low-level ability rune.

Dismantling was no longer necessary because it had already been forcibly dismantled.

After putting away the small piece of black substance, Lin Yun unhappily glared at Xiuban.

Xiuban was proudly pointing at the pile of scrap.

“Sir Merlin, how is it? Isn’t the great Xiuban very powerful? Aren’t I invincible? Look at this guy, not a single usable component is left! Everything has been smashed to pieces!”

After saying that, the exulting Xiuban glanced at Pabiete. Pabiete turned his head away, his crystal eyes flashing with light, while Reina was looking at Xiuban as if he was an idiot.

Reina’s magic was bound to crush everything, while Pabiete had focused on leaving as many intact components as possible. If he hadn’t been meticulous, he would have also turned that puppet into scraps and wouldn’t have taken as long.

But Xiuban clearly destroyed everything, and in his mind, forcibly turning the puppet into a pile of scrap was a way to display his strength.

Lin Yun had given up on Xiuban’s intelligence and didn’t even feel like scolding him. He spat out a rune and hung Xiuban in the air before whipping him with a dozen Mind Lashes.

Words were useless for that kind of guy. Whipping was the only language he understood.

Everything went smoothly after they conquered another steel city.

On the other side, the Gilded Rose’s influence in the Odin Kingdom was rapidly growing. After the exhibition, most of the clients had been low-rank mages, but now, even Heaven Rank Mages made their purchases at the Gilded Rose.

The Gilded Rose spread from the eighteen shops of Neverwinter City, using it as the core of its expansion towards the neighboring cities. In less than a week, Faleau opened 38 branches within a few hundred kilometers of Neverwinter City.

He recruited three hundred ordinary Alchemists from the Starry Sky College, and this was a strictly controlled number. Over a thousand ordinary Alchemists would apply within a week.

He also recruited over thirty Great Alchemists, three Master Alchemists, and one Artisan. The only condition the Artisan had put forward was for Lin Yun to take an hour every week to teach him alchemy theories.

That Artisan was one of the roaming Artisans who had studied truth runes during the gathering. He went crazy after accidentally learning that Lin Yun had researched 1,800 truth runes and signed a 1,000-year contract with the Gilded Rose with only one condition: For the first decade, Lin Yun had to instruct him for one hour per week, or teach him the mysteries behind three hundred truth runes.

Even the materials he needed for experiments didn’t have to be prepared by the Gilded Rose… This was no different from selling himself into slavery.

If he knew that 108,000 truth runes were carved in Lin Yun’s Demiplane, he might have cried out and directly requested a 10,000-year contract.

In fact, that 1,000-year slave contract was something that guy had begged for, and he wouldn’t let Faleau refuse.

In addition to the preparations for opening new branches, some forces of the Odin Kingdom dropped by to seek cooperation. Some families selling materials even dropped by to sell supplies.

After all, 95% of the Gilded Rose’s raw materials came from the Gilded Rose itself, and the transportation costs were quite significant. They could save quite a bit of money if they had local sources of materials, and it would also be a lot safer.

After all, transporting materials from the Andlusa Kingdom to the Odin Kingdom was a huge risk. Aside from dumb bandits, there would be all kinds of environmental hazards, dangerous lifeforms, and other dangers.

When they were planning to open a branch in the Odin Kingdom, they couldn’t find a single supplier. No matter the size, no one was willing to supply materials to the Gilded Rose, even when Faleau raised the price.

But now, big and small suppliers of raw materials started taking the initiative to drop by. Even if they lowered their prices, whether they could sell the materials or not still depended on Faleau’s mood.

With this rate of expansion, the Gilded Rose would be able to cover the entire northern part of the Odin Kingdom within a few years while slowly expanding towards the capital. With the Gilded Rose’s technology and strength, it might become the largest chain of stores in the Odin Kingdom.

Every aspect of the Gilded Rose was rapidly expanding, all employees and partners were happy, and this translated into a large number of purple golds.

But there was one cooperating family that wasn’t so happy…

The mood of the Jackson Patriarch was quite complex. As a partner of the expanding Gilded Rose, the Jackson Family was purchasing most of their things from the Gilded Rose at a price lower than the market price.

Thanks to the Gilded Rose’s potions, magic tools, puppets, and arrays, the Jackson Family had recently resumed the conquest of a plane that had been in a deadlock, and they were suffering very minimal losses. Their gains had also greatly increased.

Moreover, the superfluous alchemy items were discreetly sold to families they had a good relationship with, which was another source of income.

According to some rough calculations they did, the profits from cooperating with the Gilded Rose would soon amount to 60% of the Jackson Family’s income for a year. But that number couldn’t be confirmed, because of the hidden growth and hidden benefits they would receive from this cooperation.

It was reasonable to say that this was a good thing. But the Jackson Family was unhappy because they had recently wanted to extend the contract, only for the Gilded Rose to refuse.

Back then, they had only agreed to sign a 1-year contract in order to test the waters. Who would have thought that it would bring so many benefits? It was at least ten times what they had anticipated.

Based on their speculations, their Jackson Family might become dependent on the Gilded Rose, but if they kept up the growth trend, the Jackson Family would expand to five times their current size within five years.

This was a number that was difficult to refuse. Let alone an agreement where they depended on the other side, the members of the family might not be too much against directly serving the Gilded Rose.

Unfortunately, the Gilded Rose didn’t agree to extend the cooperation contract. They kept it at one year only because the Gilded Rose didn’t want their credibility to be affected by a breach of contract.

If not for the fact that they had just settled in the Odin Kingdom and that destroying their engagement would negatively affect the Gilded Rose, Faleau would have directly gone for a breach of contract even if Lin Yun didn’t say anything about it.

Recently, the Gilded Rose’s development was faster and faster. It was like a machine devouring gold coins, continuously consuming large amounts of wealth. The Jackson Patriarch could no longer sit still.

The Jackson Patriarch and all the powerhouses of the Jackson Family were in the meeting hall.

Fortmore and Layford arrived and were about to sit down, when an old man with grey hair and a beard sitting next to the Patriarch intervened.

“Who allowed the two of you to sit down!?”

Hearing that old man, Layford and Fortmore froze, but they didn’t dare to object, so they just obediently stood there.

Once everyone arrived, the Jackson Patriarch threw a couple documents onto the table.

“Take a look.”

These showed the benefits of the cooperation between the Jackson Family and the Gilded Rose, as well as a long-term assessment. Seeing these documents, everyone was startled. Although they knew that the benefits would be great, they hadn’t expected them to be so significant. A long-term cooperation might increase the strength of the Jackson Family by several times within five years.

There was also an assessment of how big of a blow it would be to the Jackson Family if the Gilded Rose stopped their cooperation after a year. The Jackson Family’s strength would drop, and the rate of development would sharply plummet to less than a tenth of what it currently was.

In other words, the Jackson Family’s actions depended on the Gilded Rose’s mood.

“Patriarch, why have you only signed a 1-year contract? Why haven’t you renewed the contract and signed for at least thirty years… No, fifty years!”

The patriarch slammed his hand on the table and fumingly pointed at Layford and Fortmore as he roared, “Why? Ask these two idiots! Ask what they did!

“That idiotic Layford dared to act on his own inside the Starry Sky College and try to snatch the research of a guest of the Starry Sky College! Not only did he fail, harming the reputation of our family, but we even lost five Heaven Rank powerhouses! Five!

“More importantly, that idiot’s target was the true owner of the Gilded Rose!

“As for that other idiot, he recklessly mocked the owner of the Gilded Rose inside his own shop and tried to snatch the materials that had been gathered for him.

“Take a look at what they did! Sh*t, the Gilded Rose not going for a breach of contract was already very kind. Layford, Fortmore, how come you didn’t just die?

“Especially you, Layford! If you had been killed, our Family wouldn’t have offended Sir Mafa Merlin like that, nor would we have offended the Starry Sky College! Our family wouldn’t have been dragged into this.

“Morons! Idiots! Incurable fools!”

The roar of the patriarch terrified the pale Layford and Fortmore. They already knew how serious the problem was…

This no longer just affected the Jackson Family’s business, but instead influenced the roots of the Family. The difference between cooperating with the Gilded Rose and not cooperating with them was huge. They would be many times weaker.

If this continued for a few years, the families they had enmity with might end up becoming a dozen times stronger than them, and the territories, planes, and wealth held by the Jackson Family might end up being snatched. To make matters even worse, the Jackson Family might be reduced to a 3rd rate force within a decade.

At that time, no one would rise from the younger generation, and if more Heaven Rank powerhouses died in battle, the Jackson Family would completely decline.

Hearing the roar of the Jackson Family’s patriarch, the expressions of every person at this meeting changed. The way they looked at Layford and Fortmore was quite bad, especially that old man sitting in the central position… It felt as if his eyes were spouting flames.

The Jackson Patriarch had stopped speaking, and the old man took over.

“Layford, Fortmore, you are expelled from the Jackson Family from now on.”

The old man’s words made Layford and Fortmore thoroughly despair. That old man was the strongest person in the Jackson Family. He had lived for close to 2,000 years and developed the Jackson Family to reach its current state with his own hands. No one could object to his words.

And this time, it wasn’t just for show. He was really expelling them.

After the old man finished his sentence, the Heaven Rank powerhouses with unpleasant expressions immediately joined in.

“I second that motion.”

“I support it.”

…

Everyone was in agreement. That conclusion could no longer be altered. The Jackson Patriarch coldly looked at Layford and Fortmore before telling them, “You two idiots, listen carefully. I’ll immediately announce this matter, and you’ll have nothing to do with the Jackson Family from now on.

“But you know what price you’ll have to pay if you are unable to obtain the forgiveness of the Gilded Rose and Sir Mafa Merlin, if the Jackson Family falls because of your stupidity.

“Every Heaven Rank powerhouse is very important to the family, but that doesn’t mean that the family will be buried alongside you because of your stupidity.

“F*ck off! Get the f*ck out of here! Leave now!”

Layford and Fortmore raised their heads while feeling desperate, but their hearts turned cold after seeing that old man’s dark expression.

They would really die if they couldn’t seek forgiveness and couldn’t allow the Jackson Family’s cooperation to continue. The Jackson Family would definitely cut their heads off and offer them to the Gilded Rose to ask for forgiveness.

In the fiercely competitive Odin Kingdom, reputation and dignity couldn’t let the family continue its development, or even just survive.

After leaving the Jackson Family, Layford and Fortmore were truly despairing, especially Fortmore. He was itching to choke Layford to death.

‘That moron is hopeless, how could he have not died yet?! He wouldn’t have implicated me if he had died.’

“Layford, what’s the plan now?”

Layford was dispirited and desperate. He didn’t have the bearing of a Heaven Mage at all, and he was at a loss as he stiffly walked towards the Gilded Rose’s street.

The two stood at the corner of the street for over an hour, not knowing what to do, when they suddenly saw an Archmage being driven out of the store by a group of puppets. They listened in and heard people saying that he had been causing trouble. This immediately made Layford’s eyes shine.

After half an hour, Layford and Fortmore were sitting in a meeting room. They couldn’t help feeling nervous as they looked at Faleau sitting on the other side.

“You want to apply to become our Gilded Rose’s… Guards?”

Faleau had a strange expression as he looked at the two Heaven Rank powerhouses sitting before him. ‘Guards… Are in charge of public security…’

Layford and Fortmore hastily nodded and Layford promptly explained, afraid that Faleau would reject them.

“We have already been expelled from our family due to our mistake, but I feel that what I did to Sir Merlin back then was really wrong. I don’t feel like an apology is enough, so I want to use my actions to apologize for what I did.”