Chapter 54: Proof

Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance

“Mage Merlin, what does this mean?” Upon hearing these words, let alone the young Magic Apprentice, even Bassoro, who had been immersed in his writing, began to frown.

As a Great Alchemist, how could he not know what a Dissipation Potion was? It was a poison tailored for mages. Once poisoned, the victim’s usable mana would decrease very rapidly. A lot of rogues liked to douse their daggers in Dissipation Potion so that when fighting a mage, a small injury could change the outcome of the battle.

But a mage drinking a Dissipation Potion? This had never been heard of…

“Sour, I presume?” Lin Yun squinted as he kept watching that young Magic Apprentice, apparently not hearing Bassoro’s question.

“You… You are talking nonsense!” Under Lin Yun’s intense gaze, the young Magic Apprentice was even more nervous. “What Dissipation Potion? I never heard about it, you… What proof do you have!”

“Eh… Proof?” Lin Yun didn’t move from his seat as he mused with a lazy voice.

However, just as his words ended, a “woosh” could be heard.

It was followed by a splash of blood…

Before anyone realized what had happened, Lin Yun had already taken out a glass bottle, and the spurt of blood entered the bottle without a single drop being spilled.

The entire process was so fast that everyone was left in a daze for a moment…

When Cruise clutched his right hand while letting out a miserable shriek, everyone understood what had happened. Fresh blood could be seen dripping from the young Magic Apprentice’s wrist, and the sound from before had come from a quickly cast Wind Blade.

In other words, he had cut open the young Magic Apprentice’s wrist and collected the blood coming out in a glass bottle.

And he had done it so quickly that no one was able to follow the action!

What did this mean…

The three people sitting on the other side of the table couldn’t treat this lightly. Among the three of them, Granger was a 5th Rank Great Mage, Bassoro was a 6th Rank Great Mage, and the remaining one was someone who had only recently become a Great Mage. But even so, these three Great Mages were all in a daze and weren’t able to clearly understand how it had happened. How did this Mage Merlin release that Wind Blade? How did he cut Cruise? And how did he collect the blood in the glass bottle?

They weren’t able to see it, and that realization shocked them…

That casting speed was far too frightening.

What would have happened if the target of that Wind Blade wasn’t Cruise’s wrist, but rather the neck of one of the three Great Mages?

As the thought passed through his mind, Granger suddenly felt uncomfortable sitting in his chair…

After all, ever since that young mage entered the reception room, Granger had deliberately been making things hard for him. This was partly because it was a necessary part of conducting the hearing, but it was also due to Granger’s selfishness.

Others might not know the reason, but how could Granger not know? The eldest son of the Monchi Family, Ryan, had personally visited him and promised numerous precious magic materials. All he needed to do was to make things difficult for that Mafa Merlin guy during the hearing.

Granger had unhesitantly agreed.

As he saw it, Mafa Merlin was but a 20-year-old Mage whose biggest backer had already passed away. He was now operating an alchemy shop with a very old butler. He had no influence and no background. So what if he embarrassed him in the hearing? Would such a person dare to retaliate?

Retaliating against a Great Alchemist… Even if he was bold, he wouldn’t dare!

And in the hypothetical case that he dared to do so, would he even have the ability?

A youth who had just advanced to become a Mage retaliating against a 5th Rank Great Mage, such a joke…

Thus, from the beginning, Granger had been thinking of every possible way to make it hard for this young mage, while each of his words had an intimidating tone and each of his questions carried deep malice.

But now, Granger felt a little bit nervous…

He had suddenly found out that the young mage he had been trying to intimidate was a huge threat…

He had cast a spell that harmed their witness, and none of the Great Mages had been able to stop him, or even react at all.

This casting speed was too frightening…

Granger went pale as he thought about the fact he had been antagonizing such a frightening person.

“Merlin… Mage Merlin… This… What does it mean?”

“Nothing much. It’s just that, didn’t Magic Apprentice Cruise just say that I didn’t have any proof?” Lin Yun gently shook the glass bottle in his hand while calmly explaining, “I felt that this was a provocation, and thus I decided to produce some proof.”

“What is that proof?”

“The proof…” Lin Yun smiled and stood up, shaking the glass bottle while walking toward the table.

“What… What are you doing!” Granger immediately jumped up in surprise. But after he cried out in alarm, the Great Alchemist realized that he had forgotten to act with decorum, and promptly spoke further to cover it up. “You can show your proof, you don’t need to come up here to do so!”

“Great Alchemist Granger, I’m only bringing the proof to you, you don’t need to be so nervous…”

“I am not nervous!” How could Granger admit something like that?

Fortunately, Lin Yun didn’t press the matter. He only put the glass bottle on the table and explained, “This is the proof.”

“What kind of proof is that?” Granger was confused.

No, it wasn’t just Granger…

Although the other two Great Alchemists didn’t say anything, when they looked at Lin Yun, they couldn’t help frowning. What kind of proof could there be in this bottle containing a bit of blood?

Lin Yun quickly gave them the answer.

“Great Alchemist Granger, your knowledge is truly lacking…” Lin Yun pointed at the – History of Alchemy’s Growth – on the floor while saying with a smile, “If you were to carefully read this book, you would find in the third paragraph of page 27 that Ruler Zhang Tui had been stabbed with a weapon doused in Dissipation Potion in his later years, leading to all kinds of symptoms. If I’m not wrong, it was mentioned that it took three months for Ruler Zhang Tui’s wound to heal, and the flow of blood was never-ending…”

“…” Granger’s expression was unsightly. What he had just used to make fun of Lin Yun was now being used against him, and he couldn’t say anything against it because the description was too crucial. For some time, Granger stared attentively at the book on the ground, but he could neither pick it up nor leave it there.

If he picked it up, that was the same as losing his reputation because of his earlier words, but if he didn’t pick it up, how could he refute the claim?

“You see, Great Alchemist Granger, soap… Errr, knowledge is at your feet, but you are unwilling to bend your waist to pick it up…” The most terrible part was Lin Yun’s sneering.

“…” For some time, Granger really felt like slapping himself.

“How about you look inside to check, Granger?” Bassoro, who was feeling a bit intrigued, couldn’t help but advise him to continue.

Granger turned to glance at Bassoro, and although he didn’t say anything, he had already cursed eighteen generations of Bassoro’s ancestors. ‘Fuck, you are a bastard. I’m already in this situation, but not only are you refusing to support me, you’re even throwing stones at me. If you want to take a look, how about you go pick it up and check yourself?’

“The hearing has to continue.” Bassoro clearly knew with a glance that Granger wasn’t thinking anything good about him right now, so after a short time, he simply lowered his head and gave this reason.

But to Granger, having this reason was a way out of the embarrassing situation. Thus, after hesitating for a long time, the Great Alchemist clenched his teeth and picked up – History of Alchemy’s Growth –.

When he looked inside, he wanted to find a hole where he could hide.

After flipping through some pages, he saw that on the third paragraph of page 27, it was indeed written that Ruler Zhang Tui of the 3rd Dynasty had spent three months recovering from his wound and that it had bled profusely.

Everything was as Mafa Merlin had said!

Granger suddenly realized that the path that this hearing was heading down was far from good for him. He stood still for a while, staring at the words before him.

Sure enough, after Granger checked the relevant passage from the book, Lin Yun held the glass bottle up and gently shook it. “Why was the wound continuously bleeding? Take a look at the drops of blood. It has been ten minutes since I cut Magic Apprentice Cruise’s wrist, yet these drops of blood still show no signs of coagulating. This blood simply cannot coagulate. Great Alchemist Granger, you wouldn’t tell me that it is but a mere coincidence?”

“This… This is only your conjecture! This can’t be used as evidence!” Granger felt that he could still salvage the situation.

“This isn’t a mere conjecture.” Lin Yun didn’t plan to give him the slightest opportunity. He picked up a quill and a piece of paper on the table and started writing. He wrote down an alchemy formula containing four lines. “There, compound this potion and you can extract at least a drop of Dissipation Potion from this blood sample here in three minutes. At that time, if Great Alchemist Granger is still not convinced, he can try it himself!”