Ch.6 Frost

While Raymond’s heart was in turmoil, Lin Yun found some opals hidden behind the wooden boxes. So, he searched around again, and after he confirmed that he didn’t miss anything, he turned to Raymond and said: 

“Raymond, come and give me a hand.”



Without waiting for Raymond’s answer, he carried a few fine pieces of opal and left.



Raymond stood in his place stunned. 

'Give you a hand? Do I even know you. Besides, these are just cheap materials. Do you want this daddy’s help with that. Do you think mages are cabbages on the streets or something?'




Raymond stormed in the golden rose shop.

“First, let’s talk about that. Don’t involve me in something troublesome. I don’t have that much mana to waste. Do you think mages can squander mana as they like. The mana consumed by a mage’s spell isn’t something an apprentice like you can imagine. Hey, are you listening?”



Raymond complained for a long time, but he didn’t hear a word from the other party, so he looked curiously.


“What the hell are you doing. Stop immediately” 


Raymond’s face paled as he saw Lin Yun holding a test tube containing a thick red liquid. This was of course, the red coral solution. It was notorious for being highly unstable, and any increase in temperature or any vibrations can cause it to explode with a violent mana fluctuations that are completely disproportionate to the cheap price of red corals. Once it explodes, the entire building will be razed to the ground.



Its destructive power was far beyond the capabilities of mages.


For thousands of years, countless sages tried to control this power, but unfortunately, thousands of years passed, yet the red coral solution remained a problem without a solution*. As for those sages who researched it, they ended up either dead or crippled. 

(TN: *see what i did there).


In the last hundred years, the red coral solution had even become a taboo in alchemy. Any apprentice who has just begun studying alchemy will be repeatedly warned by his master. There were many ways to deal with the red coral, but dissolving it to a solution, wasn’t one of them.


If red coral wasn’t dissolved, then it can only be considered an ordinary magic material. With ordinary magic conduction, and weak mana emission that only last for 2 or 3 days, the red coral could only be used as a low-end magic conductor.


With a high rate of production, and the supply was more than the demand, the red coral remained as one of the most cheap materials in Northrend for countless years.



“You hear me. Stop right now”

 Raymond’s voice shook a little as he tried to stop Lin Yun.


“What are you doing”


The words stuck in his throat, as he looked at Lin Yun who was seeking death. 

'That bastard actually started shaking the test tube, then he lit an alcohol burner* and put it under the test tube.'

(TN: *https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_burner)



'It’d be really a disaster, if you didn’t stop.'


Raymond broke out in cold sweat as he thought of the violent explosion of the red coral solution. 

' Who knew that Lin Yun’s alchemical knowledge was that lacking.' 



He directly cast a frost spell. Shortening the chant and using high-speed casting consumed a lot of mana. In a moment he lost more than one third of his mana, for a mage that was like losing half of his life.


However, that was better than losing all of his life.


After consuming a huge amount of mana, the power and speed of his frost spell dramatically increased. As he finished chanting, a chilling cold spread in the empty laboratory, followed by an icy blue light, that wrapped around the alcohol burner and extinguished it.



But that wasn’t the end of it. The icy blue light didn’t stop at the burner. It continued spreading like a growing weeds. It first reached the test tube, then it continued climbing Lin Yun’s hand. In a blink of an eye, Lin Yun’s right hand was frozen.


“Luckily, nothing happened” 

Raymond was still shaking a bit. 

‘That situation was really dangerous. If I was a bit late, the entire laboratory would have exploded. That bastard really acts recklessly. If you want to play with the red coral solution, then do it alone. Don’t drag your daddy into this.’



Raymond’s fear was replace with anger. In fact, with his strength, he could have controlled the frost spell and made it stop at the test tube. But he deliberately allowed it to freeze Lin Yun’s right hand to teach him a lesson.


‘How could an apprentice treat a mage as if he was his equal’ 

Raymond was really pissed off. If it wasn’t for his old man, he wouldn’t spare an apprentice in debt a glance. Not to mention, the way he ordered him around, If it was another person, he’d freeze him in the ice for 800 years.





'I already have tolerated him enough.'



After Raymond released the frost spell, he thought about it and decided to let ‘the bastard’ freeze for an hour. Then he will be ‘compassionate’ and release him. That way he will learn his lesson and adapt an honest attitude. And if his father asked, he will push the blame on the red coral solution. After all it was a dangerous substance, so he’d say he did it for the safety of the young master.

While Raymond was feeling satisfied with himself, he didn’t notice that there was no sign of confusion on ‘the bastard’ face.


That was expected. After all, for Lin Yun who witnessed the end of the world, the level of attack of a frost spell was nothing to him. He didn’t even consider it an attack. Raymond wouldn’t have thought that, the youth standing in front of him was also a mage. And even a monstrous one that formed his mana vortex in a few minutes. Even though Raymond became a mage earlier than Lin Yun, they weren’t on the same level.


Dealing with a frost spell that Raymond used one third of his mana to cast, Lin Yun didn’t cast any spells. He just mobilized his vortex to form a thin mana shield. This shield was really simple. After all it didn’t have any elemental attribute, just pure mana. If another mage tried it, then he’d have been frozen with his shield.


However Lin Yun wasn’t any other mage.


Surviving for 20 years in the post apocalyptic world, not only allowed Lin Yun to obtain knowledge more advanced than this era, but also allowed his ability to cast spells to be phenomenal. After all the ability to cast spells wasn’t related to the mage’s level. The harsh environment of Northrend’s last days, allowed Lin Yun to be experienced in magic combat more than anyone else. Living on the edge of life and death, hunting endlessly, and escaping the claws of beasts allowed him to gain the instincts of those beasts. He didn’t need to spend time calculating to know the most efficient way to kill the opponent while saving mana.


The mana shield looked crude as if it would collapse any moment. But it withstood Raymond’s spell.



As the chilling fog dissipated, the mana shield also collapsed. The thick ice that seemed to freeze Lin Yun’s hand, only froze the shield. After the shield disappeared, Lin Yun shook his hand a little and big chunks of ice fell onto the ground.





“NO” 

Raymond’s eyes opened wide as he couldn’t believe the scene in front of him. How could an apprentice withstand the frost spell with his body, even mages couldn’t do it. Even though the frost spell is a control class spell and wasn’t known for its power, it’s still a level 2 spell. Not even mages would dare to resist a level 2 spell with there flesh. How could this bastard do it successfully.


'Definitely, there is something wrong. Although this bastard is on his own right now, but he also is the son of Rogge Merlin. When the goldshire chamber of commerce was at its peak, it was filthy rich. And Rogge dotted on his only son. He even gave him an alchemy shop. How could he not give him a few alchemical artifacts and even magic weapons.Yep, that must be it. He must own a defense type magic weapon. Otherwise how’d this bastard come unscathed from a frost spell.'