Chapter 520: Fifty

‘There should be another way…’

Lin Yun frowned. He examined the energy levels at the five points in the array, considering the problem from all angles. But he didn’t know where to start. Time slowly passed, day after day, without any movement in the alchemy laboratory. Lin Yun just remained motionless as he stared at the Dragon Crystals in a daze.

In the end, on the fifteenth day, Lin Yun slowly opened the door to the laboratory, taking a deep breath of fresh air. ‘Forcing the energy of the five Dragon Crystals to form a circle isn’t as good as fusing them together into one Dragon Crystal to embed in the Doom Staff…’

To be more accurate, he gave up on his previous plan and decided to fuse the five Dragon Crystals instead. However, this also had some issues…

Once he came out of the laboratory, he noticed that Reina wasn’t alone. Yuri was also there.

“High Mage Mafa…” Yuri caught sight of Lin Yun and rushed to greet him, looking somewhat worried.

“Sir Yuri, what’s going on?” Lin Yun threw a strange look at Yuri as he asked, “Did something happen during my absence?”

“In the morning, Sir Karl of the Watson Family arrived at the Flame Demon Fort and said that he wanted to discuss some matters with you. But since you hadn’t come out, Sir Karl waited in the reception room…”

“Sir Karl?”

“The current Patriarch of the Watson Family, Karl Watson…”

“Take me to him…”

After Yuri’s careful introduction, Lin Yun learnt who Sir Karl was, which came as a bit of a surprise. He naturally knew that the Watson Family would send someone over to discuss the attack on the Horn of Fertility, but he hadn’t expected that person to be the patriarch of the Watson Family…

He had to admit that the patriarch was very patient. He had arrived five to six hours ago, but was still waiting patiently.

Lin Yun soon passed through layer after layer of guards and reached the entrance of the reception room. He appeared before an old and thin man.

The old man also caught sight of Lin Yun and showed a good-natured smile, looking just like an ordinary grandpa. “High Mage Merlin…”

Lin Yun scratched his cheek, a smile on his face. Mark just couldn’t compare to this old man in terms of temperament. “Sir Karl, I’m sorry for making you wait for such a long time…”

“Haha…” Karl waved his hand as he looked at Lin Yun with a smile. “Please don’t say this, I showed up unannounced and made you rush, having to wait for a bit is natural…”

After saying that, Karl Watson took a closer look at Lin Yun…

Half a month ago, he sent Mark to the Flame Demon Fort to suggest a collaboration with the Merlin Family.

To be honest, he hadn’t been worried about it…

He had been pretty sure that there would be no problem getting an agreement. After all, they would be gaining control of the Horn of Fertility, the most fertile place in the entire Raging Flame Plane. Even just 20% of that land would bring unimaginable wealth. How could the Merlin Family refuse such an opportunity?

Only a brainless commander would choose to refuse…

Let alone refusing, anyone would fight for the opportunity to participate.

The temptation of the Horn of Fertility far surpassed what an ordinary person could imagine. The Watson Family had also thought of working with other forces, but they gave up on that after careful deliberation, because most of those forces were a lot weaker than the Watson Family in the Raging Flame Plane. Aside from the Black Tower and the Cloud Tower, only the Merlin Family was comparable to them.

And there was no need to think about those two… The Watson Family couldn’t cooperate with one of the behemoths. If that happened, the Watson Family would lose their leverage and it would be good if they could even get 20%. Naturally, there was also the possibility that the Black Tower and Cloud would feel it beneath themselves to cooperate with the Watson Family at all, and would instead attack the Horn of Fertility on their own.

After thinking about it, they could only choose to ask the Merlin Family…

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Three days later, Karl Watson felt that something was odd because the Merlin Family was supposed to give their answer on that day. But even at midnight, no member of the Merlin Family showed up.

‘Maybe they need more time to think this through…’

This was how Karl comforted himself before deciding to wait a bit more. He firmly believed that the Merlin Family definitely wouldn’t reject the proposal, so he waited, day after day. But there was still no movement from the Merlin Family’s side. Finally, on the 10th day, Karl was ultimately not able to wait any longer. ‘Did they even get the information?’ he wondered.

Thus, he personally went to Mark, who had been sent to the Flame Demon Fort. There, Karl found out that he indeed delivered the news and detailed the situation to the Merlin Family…

Karl decided to suppress his anger and wait a bit more. He felt that the Merlin Family was being quite excessive. He guessed that they were dragging out their answer in order to get an extra bargaining chip in the negotiations. If he sent someone over before they replied, he would inevitably appear to be lacking confidence.

But after five more days, he still had no news from the Merlin Family. Instead, he got news from the Black Tower. They were dispatching Mage Legions towards the Horn of Fertility. He had a bad premonition when he heard this… What was the Black Tower planning?

He then sent someone to make some inquiries and obtained some shocking news: The Black Tower seemed to have noticed the abnormality of the Horn of Fertility and was preparing to attack.

This…

Hearing this, Karl Watson became enraged. The Black Tower was much more powerful than his Watson Family. They simply didn’t need the help of any other forces for this, and they could easily attack the Horn of Fertility. If that happened, what about the Watson Family?

Thus, Karl rushed over to the Flame Demon Fort, and although he was very resentful, he didn’t show it.

The smile on Karl’s face appeared somewhat stiff as he looked at the young commander. “Merlin, you should know why I came to the Flame Demon Fort came this time. It concerns the matter of the collaboration between the Watson Family and the Merlin Family. After capturing the Horn of Fertility, your Merlin Family can get 30%, what do you think?”

Now that the Black Tower had joined in, Karl was feeling the pressure. He really couldn’t let the matter of the Horn of Fertility drag on. He wouldn’t even hesitate to make some concessions and increase the benefits of the Merlin Family.

It couldn’t be helped that their position had weakened…

He, an esteemed Patriarch, had personally come to the Flame Demon Fort. This already made put the Watson Family on their back foot in this negotiation.

“Haha…” Hearing Karl Watson’s offer, Lin Yun subconsciously chuckled. He paused for a while before saying, “Sir Karl, to be quite honest, our Merlin Family doesn’t have too great of an interest in the fight over the Horn of Fertility, you might be disappointed…”

Lin Yun answered half-heartedly. The Merlin Family had gained too many benefits from the war against the Thawing Fire Tribe. The land they occupied had more than doubled, and they had gained control over many ore veins. Although Lin Yun didn’t know the details, he knew to some extent that the Merlin Family still needed time to digest the rewards from that war.

This caused the Merlin Family’s Planar Legion to be too scattered throughout the area, and everyone was always continuously bustling around. No one was idle.

After all, the Merlin Family couldn’t compare to the Black Tower. After dealing with the Thawing Fire Tribe, although the Merlin Family’s forces were all occupied, the Black Tower had many idle troops they could transfer.

“Eh?”

Karl was obviously stunned. He looked at Lin Yun in a daze, not believing what he’d heard. The other side actually refused so easily?

How could the Merlin Family not be interested in the Horn of Fertility?

“Mafa Merlin… Don’t rush to make a decision, think over it carefully! That’s the Horn of Fertility! If we can seize it, your Merlin Family will get endless benefits…” Karl forced a smile as he was extremely anxious. This concerned the rise of the Watson Family. Thinking about it, Karl suddenly clenched his teeth. “Half a year ago, your Merlin Family’s Ancestral Land reached an agreement with our Watson Family to cooperate in the Raging Flame Plane. Moreover, there is no harm to your Merlin Family if you participate. if you are dissatisfied with the allocation, you can go ahead and make an offer. As a close ally, our Watson Family wouldn’t fuss over minor matters…”

After his entreaty, Karl truly felt like he was bleeding. His words completely gave the initiative to the Merlin Family.

But he had no better option.

If the Black Tower hadn’t appeared at the last moment, the Watson Family would have had time to think of other ways, but they no longer had time to waste.

At this time, Lin Yun’s frown slowly relaxed. He had been waiting for these words from Karl all along. Indeed, how could he be uninterested in the Horn of Fertility?

After all, the Horn of Fertility wasn’t just fertile… It was close to the end of the Wailing River.

“The Watson Family is really generous…” Lin Yun smiled at Karl. He could see that Karl’s face had taken on an ashen hue. He didn’t continue to provoke the other side and instead slowly extended five fingers. “Sir Karl, our Merlin Family needs fifty percent to agree to this collaboration.”