513 A Letter From Balbo

"In that case, I shall not disturb you any longer, President Felic," Wilkinson said while staring at Lin Li, who he felt would not be able to answer the pharmaceutical questions that he had just asked. Hence, he left in disappointment.

"Wait a minute," said Lin Li, who decided to tell Wilkinson the answers to his questions since there was nothing important for him to do at the moment. "You don't have anything urgent to do now, do you? I know how to answer your questions. If you're not in a hurry, take a seat and hear me out."

"What!?" Wilkinson asked in astonishment, thinking that he had heard wrongly.

Lin Li immediately shook his head, and said, "It's just questions about the double-helix cold extraction technique and the nine-color qualitative theory. What's so difficult about that?"

Wilkinson shrieked in shock after hearing Lin Li's words just as he was about to turn around to leave. He almost thought that he was out of his mind.

Wilkinson himself was already an intermediate pharmacist, and a proud disciple of Master Balbo. Hence, he would obviously raise substantial and difficult questions. Actually, ever since Wilkinson arrived and gained some inspiration from the concoction of process of the modified Bone Erosion Powder, Wilkinson could vaguely sense that only a senior pharmacist would be able to answer his questions.

Those two questions belonged to the scope of advanced pharmacy, and could only be answered by the senior pharmacists. Yet, the young Lin Li who had just been deduced by them to be an intermediate-level pharmacist actually said that he could answer his questions. Wilkinson refused to believe it at all.

"Let's go, I'll just tell you guys about it all together." Lin Li walked out of the door with a piece of paper. Although he initially planned to officially begin teaching the pharmacists some knowledge only after all of the potions required by Black Clouds Town had been concocted, since Wilkinson had already asked him those questions that were rather symbolic, he decided to tell them about it lest they asked him those questions again.

"Wait a minute, President Felic…" Wilkinson was at a loss. Could it be that this young mage turned out to just be an old demon who had a young appearance? He could no longer tell if he was out of his mind or this mage was just too crazy.

How much could one achieve at the age of 20? Wilkinson became an intermediate pharmacist at the age of 21, and the entire Pharmacist Guild was taken by storm back then. In the history of pharmacy, there had never been such a young intermediate pharmacist. Although Wilkinson had a reserved and humble personality, he was also a young man, after all, and it made sense for him to be proud of his own achievements.

But now…

"Everyone, wait a minute…"

Wilkinson finally snapped back to reality after hearing his words, only to discover that he had somehow followed President Felic to the pharmaceutical lab. President Felic was walking towards the podium while all of Wilkinson's peers stared at him peculiarly.

"Wilkinson, go back to your seat." Lin Li arrived at the podium. Although he had never been a teacher before, he knew what teachers were like because he had seen them before he traveled through space and time. However, he sounded like a teacher.

Wilkinson expressed assent and did not reject at all. While everyone stared at him peculiarly, he obediently returned to his seat.

"Hey, what's the matter? Didn't you go to consult him? Why is he here?" one of them asked Wilkinson softly.

Wilkinson smiled wryly, and said, "I still haven't gotten the clear idea yet. We'd better look at it together."

Lin Li cleared his throat, and said, "Wilkinson came to look for me just now, saying that he had encountered some tricky issues. Although you guys can't apply it yet, it's better to know more."

Everyone finally realized that President Felic, who was standing on the podium, was actually going to give them a lecture. It was way too crazy, absurd, ridiculous, and unacceptable. Although the pharmacists were only low-level and intermediate ones, their teachers were senior pharmacists, and they often attended lectures by Masters. What rights did he have to lecture them from the podium!?

The pharmacists below the podium did not actually open the door to storm off angrily. Instead, they just remained seated and waited to see him make a joke out of himself. Some of them had already secretly gotten ready to make things hard for Lin Li and let him know that not everyone could be a teacher.

However, as Lin Li proceeded with the lecture, the audience's mindset began to change slowly. They were all known as geniuses, and none would reject a chance to learn just out of spite.

Lin Li was the only one speaking in the room; the young pharmaceutical geniuses below the rostrum had already been completely convinced by him. They were in absolute awe, and were entirely focused. They were afraid that they would miss even a piece of information taught by Lin Li. In fact, their breathing even began to slow down.

In the eyes of the pharmacists, Lin Li's figure began to get blurry, and they began to forget his age and identity. At this moment, he was purely a lecturer. They didn't wish to think about anything at all, and were just listening to him attentively. No one would say no to additional knowledge.

Lin Li stood on the podium and continued to rattle on and on while scanning the faces of the pharmacists below the podium. He was rather pleased with their attitude for now, especially since they were interested in learning and their passion was so strong that they could not be distracted at all. Although he wasn't a teacher to begin with, he believed that it would be easier to teach them from now on.

Lin Li carefully analyzed and explained the questions posed by Wilkinson from every aspect. He only stopped after two hours. At this moment, the pharmacists below the podium were engrossed in new knowledge, and none of them was saying a single word.

By the time Wilkinson snapped back to reality, he discovered that Lin Li had already vanished. Everyone broke into an uproar, and shock and disbelief were written all over their faces.

"Just now… Was I dreaming just now!?!"

It was way too absurd. Was that young president really only 20 years old? Everything that he had seen just now made him suspect that he was just a High Elf who was surrounded by humans. Pharmaceutics were different from magic, which required talent and flair. It was an accumulation of knowledge. Talent would only allow one to learn quickly and understand things better. However, it would still require some time for knowledge to be picked up.

"Oh God, the… the things that he said just now. Surely he can't be a senior pharmacist?"

Everyone shared the same doubts. Words were not enough to describe the stellar achievements that the young mage, Lin Li, had made.

"Actually, intermediate pharmacists might have that kind of knowledge too."

Others soon began to rebut, especially Wilkinson who had raised the questions.

"The fact that he could explain the questions so clearly means that he must be an intermediate pharmacist who's about to advance soon," Wilkinson murmured.

"Who is the pharmaceutics Guru who taught him? He nurtured such a monster," they said enviously. Everyone felt that they had gained a lot from the lesson this time, and began to get more curious about Lin Li.

It was extremely difficult to teach and nurture one into a senior pharmacist, what more a 20-year-old. Although the pharmacists there were all intermediate and low-level ones, none of them were senior pharmacists. However, they could tell that the content of the lecture was genuine.

The pharmacists were busy gossiping about Lin Li and discussing the knowledge that they had gained during the lecture. They seemed rather rowdy in the room.

"PAT!"

Wilkinson slammed his hand against the table and stood up, after which everyone fell silent.

"What's wrong, Wilkinson?" one of his peers asked concernedly.

Sensing that he had acted inappropriately, Wilkinson frantically said, "Nothing much. I just suddenly thought about something." He then left his seat and walked out of the room.

Everyone looked at each other in shock and dismay. They had no idea what was wrong with Wilkinson.

Wilkinson ignored their speculations and exited the room, after which he immediately returned to his room to rest. He then began fumbling about and ransacking his suitcase, pouring all of his clothes and items onto the bed. It looked as if a burglar had just broken into his room.

A long while later, Wilkinson finally found a crumpled and tattered letter in the pocket of his clothes.

"Damn it. How did I forget Teacher's instructions and caused the latter to end up in such a state? How am I supposed to bring this to President Felic?" Wilkinson murmured in frustration.

As it turned out, when Wilkinson and his peers were brought to the Tower of Dusk by Gerian, Balbo handed a letter to Wilkinson and instructed him to hand it to Lin Li. However, Wilkinson, like everyone else, thought that he was exiled to the Tower of Dusk by Balbo, and naturally didn't take his words seriously.

After everything that happened in the past few days, Wilkinson already knew that he and others were not exiled, but were actually sent there to receive training. He could say confidently and truthfully that the trip was worth it. He only remembered about the letter now.

Wilkinson read the letter over and over again for a while, after which he felt a sudden movement in his heart made him curious about the content of the letter. He felt a strong urge to sneak a peek at the letter since there was no one else around him.

There was no magical seal or glue on the envelope. Clearly, the letter was not meant to be confidential; hence, he reckoned that it should be fine to sneak a peek. Wilkinson finally persuaded himself to open the letter.

"Master Felic!"

Wilkinson almost fell off his chair in shock.

In the world of Anril, not everyone could be called a Master, for it was an honorific and not just a polite term.

I must have seen wrongly. Perhaps this letter is for President Felic's teacher? Wilkinson dared not believe his eyes. He rubbed them, but realized that there were no changes in the letter at all.

Suppressing the shock within him, Wilkinson continued to look at the rest of the letter, only to get more and more shocked. If it weren't for the fact that he had already met President Felic, he would have thought that the letter was for an elder who was as senior as Balbo.

However, the truth was that the letter was written to a young mage who had just turned 20 years old. Still, Balbo did not sound like an elder who was speaking to his junior, and it was as if the two were friends instead. Balbo often spoke to his juniors condescendingly. However, he seemed to look up to Felic.

Wilkinson could no longer continue thinking about it, for the shock the letter brought him was indescribable. He thought that that was all. However, he only realized that everything was not over yet when he flipped to the second page of the letter.

What is this!?! Teacher Balbo… is actually seeking help from President Felic?

Was there anything more absurd than this? Wilkinson was about to collapse. Teacher Balbo was not only the President of the Pharmacists Guild, but also a senior pharmacist. No one knew his academic accomplishments better than Wilkinson did. Yet, he was asking President Felic about pharmaceutics with utmost sincerity!