Chapter 30

However, the young alchemist clearly did not realize he had just narrowly escaped a disaster. After hearing Lin Yun's refusal, his face immediately turned sour: "Are you afraid I'll do something to them? That's really funny. I have personally formulated more alchemical potions than you have seen in your entire life. Do you think I would do something to these two bottles of alchemical potions...?"

"I really don't have a time limit..." Lin Yun took a deep breath and repeated what he had said earlier.

"Alright then..." Seeing Lin Yun's insistence, the young alchemist could only nod with a disgruntled look: "But my time is tight. I have an important experiment to conduct soon, so I can only give you three minutes."

Lin Yun smiled and placed the two bottles of alchemical potions on the table. Both bottles were green and emitted a strong, pungent smell when placed on the table. The young alchemist just sniffed it and couldn't help but frown.

"Two bottles of low-quality healing potions, estimated at 300 gold coins." It took the young alchemist only thirty seconds to make his judgment. As he put the two bottles back on the table, he muttered under his breath: "Trash..."

At this point, Lin Yun didn't say anything more. He picked up the two bottles of alchemical potions and was about to leave. What a joke, one bottle of ghost potion and one bottle of volcano potion, being mistaken for two healing potions and estimated at only 300 gold coins. Does he think I'm stupid and have lots of money?

However, just as Lin Yun was about to turn and leave, the door to the reception room was pushed open.

A man in his sixties entered, with white hair and a wrinkled face, wearing a crumpled gray robe. He was out of breath, as if he had come in a hurry.

"Is it Mage Merlin?"

"You are..." Lin Yun was instantly stunned, looking at the old man with a puzzled expression. Whether it was his own memory or Mafa Merlin's, he should have no recollection of this old man. Why did the old man act as if they were very familiar?

"You are Mage Merlin?" The old man immediately smiled warmly upon seeing Lin Yun: "Welcome, welcome, Mage Merlin. Let me introduce myself, my name is Khadgar, the chief appraiser of the Black Horn Auction House."

"Hello..." Lin Yun greeted him politely, but he was also pondering. He had heard the name Khadgar, the chief appraiser of the Black Horn Auction House, many times.

It was said that Khadgar was a figure who could rival the Sorcerer's Tower of Soph. Both were Archmages and Grand Alchemists, but Khadgar had always been very low-key, so many people only knew of Soph and not Khadgar.

"By the way, I heard outside that Mage Merlin came today to sell two bottles of alchemical potions?"

"Originally, yes, but I changed my mind just now..."

"Ah?" Khadgar looked at Lin Yun with a stunned expression, then glanced at the young alchemist across the table, wondering what had happened. Did someone offend this Mage Merlin?

Thinking of this possibility, Khadgar's expression turned a bit sour when he looked at the young alchemist...

This was no joke. The last time a bottle of multicolor potion was sent to the Black Horn Auction House, even Master William praised it, saying it was the most ingenious alchemical potion he had seen in recent years, with some techniques that were unheard of.

Before Master William left Thousand Sails City, he repeatedly instructed Khadgar to find the alchemist who formulated this multicolor potion.

Although the Black Horn Auction House had not been in contact with Lin Yun for the past few months, they had secretly conducted countless investigations. After all, the Black Horn Auction House was backed by the top power in Noscent, the Black Horn Chamber of Commerce, whose intelligence capabilities far exceeded those of other forces in Thousand Sails City. If the Black Horn Auction House wanted to, nothing that happened in Thousand Sails City could be hidden from them.

Of course, the investigation process was not that simple. The Black Horn Auction House almost mobilized all its intelligence resources to investigate Rog Merlin, the Gilded Rose, the Flash Gold Chamber of Commerce, and all related clues.

In the end, they reached a shocking conclusion.

The multicolor potion that Master William highly praised was likely formulated by a young alchemist in his twenties.

The name of this young alchemist was Mafa Merlin.

Khadgar was quite proud of this conclusion. In contrast, the Sorcerer's Tower, the top power in Thousand Sails City, although they also obtained a bottle of multicolor potion at the same time, everyone, including Saruman, still believed that behind the young Mage Merlin stood a mysterious Grand Alchemist.

Thinking of this, Khadgar couldn't help but laugh.

After all, Mage Merlin had stayed in the library of the Sorcerer's Tower for a long time, during which the Sorcerer's Tower had countless opportunities to interact with him, but they missed all these opportunities.

Saruman was probably still racking his brains over how to contact the mysterious alchemist behind the young mage.

But what was the situation now...

What happened while he was away?

"Don't be in a hurry, Mage Merlin. Our Black Horn Auction House is really sincere about working with you. Why don't you hear our terms first and then make a decision?"

"Alright, go ahead." For Khadgar to say this, it was indeed a sincere offer. Lin Yun couldn't outright refuse, and to be honest, if it weren't for the young alchemist's attitude, Lin Yun would definitely have placed these two bottles of alchemical potions at the Black Horn Auction House.

Thus, after Khadgar's request, Lin Yun also relaxed his stance.

Listening to their conversation, the young alchemist, who had been in a daze, swallowed hard again. Since Khadgar pushed open the door to the reception room, the young alchemist had been suspecting that he was dreaming. Otherwise, how could this be explained?

This was too terrifying...

The chief appraiser of the Black Horn Auction House, Khadgar, was actually being polite to a young mage in his twenties!

Yes, being polite!

The young alchemist had worked at the Black Horn Auction House for ten years and had never seen Khadgar be so polite to anyone, whether it was to Saruman of the Sorcerer's Tower or to Munch of the Twin Moon Chamber of Commerce. Khadgar had never been this polite.

What kind of background did this young mage have...

Thinking about it, the young alchemist couldn't help but swallow again. For a moment, he felt his throat was extremely dry, as if something was stuck in it.

After all, his attitude towards this young mage earlier was not very good, and he even called the two bottles of alchemical potions he brought "trash." At the time, he didn't think much of it, partly because he was busy and didn't have time to waste, and partly because he was a bit annoyed by the young mage's attitude, which seemed to show a lack of trust in him.

Thus, when estimating the value of the two bottles of alchemical potions, he was somewhat perfunctory.

This might not have been a big deal under normal circumstances, but now, it seemed to be a serious problem...

That was someone whom even Khadgar treated politely, and he had recklessly offended him. Moreover, it seemed that Khadgar now placed great importance on those two bottles of alchemical potions, even saying that the Black Horn Auction House was very sincere about it.

What did this mean...

Given his understanding of Khadgar, the young alchemist knew that this meant Khadgar had decided to do whatever it took to keep those two bottles of alchemical potions at the Black Horn Auction House.

Thinking of this, the young alchemist's face couldn't help but turn pale...

But fortunately, at this moment, neither Lin Yun nor Khadgar paid attention to the young alchemist, whose face had turned white with fear.

After hearing that Lin Yun was willing to consider, Khadgar was immediately delighted and quickly laid out his terms: "Mage Merlin, have you heard that the Black Horn Auction House holds an auction every three months?"

"Of course, I have." Lin Yun nodded. The Black Horn Auction was a grand event in the eastern part of the kingdom, and he had come here today for that very reason.

"Then, Mage Merlin, if you are willing, I hope you will allow the two bottles of alchemical potions you brought to be placed in the Black Horn Auction that will take place in a few hours. What do you think?"

Khadgar did not overly praise the Black Horn Auction or explain the benefits of doing so, as he believed the other party would not refuse his terms.

Even for a Grand Alchemist, getting on the stage of the Black Horn Auction was not an easy feat. After all, it was a grand event in the eastern part of the kingdom, and being on that stage meant being recognized by the entire eastern part of the kingdom. Even a Grand Alchemist would find it hard to resist such an allure.

Therefore, after laying out his terms, Khadgar did not say anything more, but only slightly narrowed his eyes to observe the young mage's reaction.

"This..." No one expected that Lin Yun, who had already shown some willingness, would now look troubled after hearing Khadgar's terms.

Khadgar was momentarily stunned, not quite understanding what was happening. He even wondered if he hadn't explained clearly enough.

In fact, at this moment, not only Khadgar, but even the young alchemist who had previously offended Lin Yun, couldn't help but want to jump up and curse. What a joke, that was a grand event in the eastern part of the kingdom. Any alchemist who got on that stage would immediately see their value increase a hundredfold. Not being moved to tears of excitement was one thing, but looking troubled was another.

"Really sorry, Archmage Khadgar, I don't think I can keep these two bottles of alchemical potions for the Black Horn Auction."

"..."

As soon as Lin Yun said this, the reception room fell silent.