End of the Magic Era

Gandaph turned around and left. Then, Lin Yun stared at the two men in front of his eyes with a smile. He planned to hire a few alchemists so that they could create a real magic battleship with his employees. His goal was the most rudimentary type of magic battleship.

He didn't expect to meet these two celebrities here. Both of them played critical roles in the history of magic battleships.

Pinocchio, the red-nosed man, proposed many sophisticated alchemy theories. Many crucial technologies that were applied to magic battleships were derived from Pinocchio's theories.

Fantexi was even more remarkable. His craziest record was that he independently created a horrifying warship that was 100 meters long, and could display the power of a Heaven Rank magic battleship. That one warship was already as strong as an expert at the peak of the Heaven Rank. It wasn't difficult for a person to conquer an entire plane with such a warship.

Also, the first magic battleship that was true to its name would be created by them 2,000 years later, although the battleship, named Little Boy, was only as strong as an Archmage…

Their accomplishments came about because they were pure alchemists who weren't interested in making money with alchemy at all. They were supported by the Starry Sky College at this moment. However, the Starry Sky College would be destroyed and reestablished. When it didn't have enough resources and purple gold, it wouldn't be able to sustain these two guys.

Therefore, they became the weirdos and the penniless among Artisans. Pinocchio was good at theoretical research, but he would be a laughingstock in the coming 1,000 years. Without the Starry Sky College's support, he would be mocked as a daydreamer…

Fantexi, on the other hand, could easily make a huge amount of money by working for others. Unfortunately, he was very picky, and only served customers who provided the best materials. However, he often used those materials for his own experiments. After his reputation was ruined, nobody came to him again.

Their life was quite miserable until the Starry Sky College rose again. Considering the time, this was probably the period when people started to get angry with them because they had consumed a lot of resources, but didn't produce anything.

The Artisans, deputy deans, and one of the three deans were already dissatisfied with them. After all, the Starry Sky College wasn't a charity. Those two guys had squandered a tremendous amount of wealth.

Gandaph had led Lin Yun to this place probably because he wanted to get Pinocchio and Fantexi out of here as quickly as possible too…

The Starry Sky College was a holy land of alchemy. It had to support top Artisans such as Pinocchio and Fantexi, whatever they were working on. As long as they stayed in the Starry Sky College, then the Starry Sky College would be partly credited for whatever achievements they made.

In alchemy studies, nobody could predict whether they would get something valuable. It was anything but unusual that a great amount of resources was spent on a research product that wasn't worth all the time and resources, if there was any research product at all.

All the alchemical products, both theoretical and practical ones, had been created at the cost of countless resources and time. At least 30 percent of alchemy theories and products had been accidentally discovered during the endless time that was wasted.

Still, people like Pinocchio and Fantexi were rare. They had weird tempers. Pinocchio was only interested in bleeding-edge theories, which couldn't bring him any substantial returns for now. Fantexi even swindled other people out of their materials for his own experiments.

The most important reason why they weren't killed after the disastrous destruction of the Starry Sky College was probably that they were quite strong, and they were top Artisans.

Without enough hate and confidence, nobody was willing to mess with them. They were simply rejected…

Lin Yun narrowed his eyes, and looked at the two weird old men with great satisfaction. If these two people were to supervise the magic battleship project, then he wouldn't need to do anything. One of them was good at turning theories into products, and the other was good at in-depth research. They would make a perfect team if they cooperated with each other.

However, the most important thing at this moment was to lure them to the Gilded Rose…

"Kid, what are you looking at? Get the f*ck out of here, and stop wasting our time!"

"Exactly. Don't presume that we'll respect you because you're Gandaph's relative. I'll give you five seconds. If you still don't leave, don't blame us for going rough…"

Pinocchio put on a cold smile, and was already emitting mana waves, which surged towards Lin Yun like a tide, as if he was planning to simply push Lin Yun out.

Fantexi gazed at Pinocchio with wide eyes, sneering.

"Old fart, you think you're the only one on level 5 of the Heaven Rank?"

While talking, Fantexi released his aura too. His mana waves turned into invisible gigantic hands that pushed Lin Yun, trying to push him faster than Pinocchio did.

Lin Yun heaved a sigh. Those two old bastards were truly competitive. No wonder they didn't create the prototype of a magic battleship until after 2,000 years of cooperation.

They were already on level 5 of the Heaven Rank. Considering their expertise in alchemy, their levels would only rise higher. No wonder they would be despised like rats on the street but never killed.

Lin Yun stood still. Pinocchio and Fantexi both tried to push Lin Yun out of the lab faster than their partner. They glared at each other and gnashed their teeth, as if they were sworn enemies. However, a dozen seconds later, both of them were stunned. They turned around and looked at Lin Yun, who stood still with a smile. The auras they released couldn't make him move at all.

Seeing that they failed to push him out, Pinocchio and Fantexi seemed frustrated, and ignored Lin Yun. They couldn't drive him away with their auras, but if they attacked Lin Yun and beat him out, they would be slapping Gandaph in the face. They had spent a long time in the Starry Sky College. They had the best alchemy labs, yet they hadn't accomplished anything after spending countless resources.

There was already dissatisfaction with them inside the Starry Sky College. They knew that if they kicked out the person that Gandaph brought here, their career in the Starry Sky College would be over.

When one of the three deans proposed to cut off their resource supply, it was Gandaph who disapproved of the proposal. Those two old bastards knew gratitude.

Seeing that there was nothing he could do, Pinocchio snorted. The fat on his face shivered, and his small eyes glittered. He walked to the crystal table.

Fantexi gazed at Lin Yun with his hollow eyes like a skeleton. Then, he left in frustration, and simply considered Lin Yun nonexistent.

The two of them returned to the crystal table. A lot of runes were flowing and circulating, and they continued their argument.

Lin Yun simply watched them argue. All of a sudden, he interjected.

"The warships made of the Abyssal Magic Iron instead of current materials will be 10 times harder than they are right now. We build new warships because we want them to be more powerful. To save on the cost of materials is pointless. Developing new technologies and materials is the real solution. It's not right to conduct research based on the existing cheap materials."

After Lin Yun said that, they stopped arguing. Pinocchio was greatly delighted, and burst into laughter.

"Not bad, not bad. Kid, your eyes are keen. There's always new technology. The only path to the real truth is to study theories and technologies that are ahead of the current age!"

Pinocchio was happy, but Fantexi looked so awful as if Lin Yun had just taken liberties with his daughter. He glared at Lin Yun.

"That's bullsh*t! What do you know? Do you have any idea how much Abyssal Magic Iron is required if you want to make a warship out of it? You need at least 5,000 tons of refined Abyssal Magic Iron as raw materials, in addition to a lot of other resources. To purchase and apply all those materials, you need billions of purple gold, and the warship wouldn't even be as powerful as the Heaven Rank. It's completely useless…"

Lin Yun was smiling.

"Oh, 5,000 tons of Abyssal Magic Iron. It seems that you don't know the Gilded Rose very well, Mr. Fantexi. There's such a huge stock of refined Abyssal Magic Iron in the Gilded Rose's warehouses that we actually build the foundations of our houses with it. I thought you'd say 50,000,000 tons, which would've been a problem.

"As for the other materials needed, take a look at this. This is the special iron that the Gilded Rose has developed for the weapon system of alchemy puppets…"

Fantexi was quite suspicious. 5,000 tons of refined Abyssal Magic Iron? That's definitely a bluff. No more than 5,000 tons of Abyssal Magic Iron ores were traded in Noscent in an entire year…

He didn't know that there were no Abyssal Magic Iron ores at all in Lin Yun's Demiplane, because they would take up too much space. All of them had been maximally refined, and there were enough of them to lay a foundation for Neverwinter City.

Fantexi didn't consider the Abyssal Magic Iron any further, because he had been distracted by the piece of steel full of black patterns that Lin Yun took out. The metal was not reflecting any light, and the black patterns on it looked like water stains.

Surprised, Fantexi grabbed the metal piece, and his expression immediately changed. He ran to a machine without looking back, and quickly performed a bunch of tests. He shrieked while doing the tests.

"Damn it, it's 60 times harder than regular iron! Mana transmission speed, 189 times higher. Mana capacity, 800 times greater…

"The warships made with such a material would be 30 times more powerful…"

Fantexi mused for a moment. Then, he suddenly turned around and sneered at Lin Yun.

"Kid, you almost got me. This is the new material that's just been developed in an alchemy lab, right? You're trying to fool me with an experimental material. That's really—"

Fantexi was unable to continue.

Lin Yun waved his hand, and a metal hill appeared on the ground. It was exclusively steel pieces with black patterns. They had exactly the same size and look, which suggested that they were manufactured, and not some experimental material created in a lab…

Looking at the huge amount of materials on the ground, Fantexi wore a complicated expression in silence.

"Mr. Fantexi, can you present the best research design with those materials? Will it take a long time for you to make the best use of those materials? How long will it take for you to combine those materials and change all the details in current designs accordingly?

"Maybe it will only take a couple of months. But if I bring a new material a couple of months later, will you have to disapprove of all your conclusions, and restart your research?"

Fantexi looked awful and remained silent. The truth was obvious. Also, Lin Yun was right. If new materials kept arising, then Fantexi would have to research over and over, and couldn't make anything.

Nearby, Pinocchio was quite delighted at Fantexi's frustration. He grinned without stopping, and mocked Fantexi too. "Idiot, do you know that you're on the wrong path now? You should've studied the bleeding-edge theories and technologies in advance like I do. That's the only right way…"

Pinocchio's eyes were almost narrowed into a gap. He grinned and approached Fantexi. Ignoring Fantexi's grim face, he kept mumbling.

While Pinocchio was feeling great about himself, Lin Yun started to cool him down.

"Pinocchio, what do you think of the energy channel made of a mana reaction furnace that has two-layer chain reactions with those new materials?"

Hearing the specs that Lin Yun provided, Pinocchio was so confident of himself that he started criticizing without thinking.

"Even the new materials cannot work better than what I've studied. I study the future trend of airships' engine systems. Two-layer chain reaction in the mana reaction furnace. Let's see. Well, the mana output will be 29 times greater…"

Pinocchio proudly demonstrated his calculation ability. He got the result corresponding with the changed parameters. However, as he talked, he put on an awful expression too.

Fantexi, who had been looking awful, stared at Pinocchio with pity, as if he were looking at a moron.

Dumbass, the crucial parameters have already been given, yet you haven't figured out such a simple question yet. Your perfect theoretical design in the past is just garbage now that there are new materials…

Is this young man Gandaph's bastard son? That can't be right. Gandaph doesn't know our research well. This is not his field of expertise. Then who is he? Where did he get the materials and the crucial parameters?

Damn it, he's definitely doing this on purpose. He frustrated me first, and then Pinocchio later. What's he trying to do?

Fantexi already realized the problem. The more Pinocchio calculated, the more awful he looked. He then rushed to the crystal table crazily, and dragged three machines to himself. He worked for more than 10 minutes, and finally looked at the result in his hand in depression.

"Damn it, how can it be like this? Impossible. That's impossible. How can my research be wrong? I've calculated and deduced a million times…"

Fantexi sullenly looked at Pinocchio, and didn't mock him as he often did. He simply stared at Lin Yun, as if there were a lot of precious data on his face…

Lin Yun narrowed his eyes, and looked back at Pinocchio. It seemed that Pinocchio had finished his calculations.

It was very easy to frustrate Fantexi. All he needed to do was present a new material.

The best way to frustrate Pinocchio was to let him disapprove of his own research. That would motivate him to continue the negotiation. After all, new theoretical and technological research was never right or wrong. Until it was 100% confirmed to be false, everybody could claim that their theories were correct.

"Mr. Pinocchio, have you found something? Your bleeding-edge research doesn't have a foundation. It's like a tree without a root. Your research direction is wrong. It's not because of your ability. You cannot accomplish anything without a solid foundation. More importantly, you started in the wrong direction at the very beginning…"

Pinocchio gloomily stopped talking. According to the parameters of Lin Yun's materials, a warship made of such materials would make the design that he had been most proud of purely garbage. If the new materials were applied to his design, the product would be 50% less powerful than the product of the most suitable design.

Even a two percent difference between the warships made of the same materials would mean that one of them was a total failure, not to mention a 50% gap…

The 50% difference only meant that his research so far was completely wrong.

Fantexi and Pinocchio finally stopped fighting. They both angrily and gloomily stared at Lin Yun.

"Guys, do you need anything else?"

Lin Yun asked them a question, but neither of them responded. They had completely lost interest in what they had been working on.

"You're Mafa Merlin, right? Just tell us the truth. What do you want from us?"

Fantexi looked at Lin Yun vigilantly. Pinocchio seemed to have realized that Lin Yun was here for them too.