Surviving The Fourth Calamity
Chapter 400 - 199: Cards on the Table, the Mystery of Fran!

Chapter 400: Chapter 199: Cards on the Table, the Mystery of Fran!

William glanced at Fran, who remained silent throughout.

Ordinary people couldn’t tell how proficient Draculus was in alchemy, but this person surely could.

The way they both behaved did not seem like they had never interacted before.

In Draculus’s presence, Fran was too much at ease, not at all like someone facing a creature that had lived for over a hundred thousand years.

He leaned against the sofa helplessly, thinking how well these mages concealed their cards!

Adrian and Hill probably didn’t know about the acquaintance between Fran and Draculus.

Especially Adrian, who looked quite unconfident.

As for how deep their relationship went, it seemed the two were about to inform him.

William felt lucky, having just asked Fran for help summoning someone.

Neither Fran nor Draculus would deliberately hide anything from him, but there were things he didn’t know that could lead him to make wrong decisions.

"By the way," Draculus said, as if something came to his mind, "your recent alchemy products seem to have deviated from your teacher’s path, haven’t they, Fran?"

William knew Draculus was hinting that Fran was familiar with him because of Fran’s mentor.

Fran belongs to a long lineage of an alchemy school, William had always known that, but he never expected it to be related to Draculus.

"Over the years, I’ve seen some of the world’s reality. I finally understand why Elemental Crystals are truly worth an alchemist’s attention," Fran said quietly, "If you break all Crystals down to their smallest, almost invisible state with spiritual power, you can see a lot. Many precious materials require nothing more than the right combination of elements."

William was taken aback—this was a bigwig in synthetic materials!

No matter how common the material, if it could be artificially created then it could become utterly inexpensive.

William’s eyes widened. The God of Time and Space and other big shots were involved in research far too sophisticated, but it couldn’t be helped. To the God of Time and Space, what mattered most now was mending the continent’s flaws.

But as for Fran, who had only just touched upon synthetic materials, he would surely start from the most basic materials and gradually work his way up.

The by-products produced in the process could be enough for Saral to get back on track!

William’s eyes darted around; he needed to think of a way to have Fran show him his finished products.

He would ask the God of Time and Space later to see if he had anything special to offer.

Draculus took a sip of tea, "Oh—so you’ve advanced your teacher’s material theory, have you? It looks interesting;I might give it a try. But good things should not be destroyed on a whim. Scraps are okay to use. Alchemy should still play to the strengths of the materials themselves."

Fran responded with a smile, not saying a word.

William, however, could understand Fran’s approach. If everyone lived for over a hundred thousand years like Draculus, then they’d have any material they wanted at their disposal.

One was a person richer than even a wealthy man like William, who could obtain any material needed.

The other started from the bottom and gradually climbed up, needing every penny to count.

William felt fortunate to be dealing with someone like Fran.

Draculus’s extravagance was not something ordinary people could afford.

Perceiving William’s expression, Draculus shook his head nonchalantly.

"That’s why I don’t make things for others," Draculus said with a smile, "What I create usually represents the pinnacle of the material itself. But Fran and his ilk always want to push materials to their limits, ideally surpassing their inherent quality.

However, doing so, no matter the material, ultimately leads to its complete alteration, which I dislike.

Fran’s teacher was from a faction passed down by one of my students.

Back then, I told him that alchemy is meant to serve mages, not the other way around; he wouldn’t listen. He insisted on exploring the basic principles of materials and, sure enough, after he set out to build his own tower, he never even reached legendary status.

Sometimes I come back and check on them. Unexpectedly, although none reached legendary status and they couldn’t even hold onto their Magic Tower, the lineage did survive.

Nevertheless, Fran’s teacher was the most disgraceful of them all, dying young at just over three hundred years.

When I noticed their emblem had changed hands, I took a look.

At that time, this kid was traveling around, leading an interesting life and truly standing out with his abilities.

It’s a pity though, he’s following their doctrine. Had he followed mine, he would’ve been legendary by now."

"Aside from eating the meal I prepared and claiming to be an ancestor of my mentor, telling me you’re a high-ranking member of the Mage Association who spends years in the Starry Sky and that I could ask for help but can hardly ever find you, what else have you done?" Fran retorted coldly, "As soon as you gave up trying to tempt me to change schools, you disappeared quickly."

"I never thought the day would come when I’d negotiate with the successor of my student’s lineage standing against me. Truly, this saddens me deeply!" Draculus expressed regretfully.

This was someone who had lived too long and no longer cared about anything, William concluded.

But this was exactly why Fran would bring out his treasured tea to host the Chapter president.

William felt that Fran was also being a bit too kind to him.

Otherwise, even if hospitality was needed, he would at most have used what Adrian made; William didn’t believe for a second that there were none in Fran’s storage ring.

"When it came legendary time, seeing the data of the Mage Association, I was truly shocked! I thought it was an Elder’s man, but it turned out to be the President!" Fran scoffed, "No wonder, our school’s emblem and the Mage Association’s logo look so similar."

"You, who have been serious since you were little, even when you are surprised, your face remains expressionless." Draculus said uncaringly, "But you’re smart to know how to use that emblem to contact me."

"So, does nobody know where Mr. President is?" William finally realized after hearing this.

He had been worried that someone had seen Fran going to look for this Draculus! Who knew the two had their own way of communicating?

"Of course, otherwise I would have already left, and not still be here drinking tea." Draculus moved his fingers slightly and picked up the small jar Fran had left on the table, "I believe this is just a convenient little tea jar you made. You wouldn’t begrudge giving me this, would you?"

Fran responded with a helpless smile, "The tea in these two jars is made by my student Adrian. It’s not as good as Hill’s, but there’s a lot of it." He took out two beautiful jars, each about 20 centimeters tall.

Draculus smiled as he accepted them, then threw a small box to Fran, "For your student. I wouldn’t just take something from a child without giving something in return."

William watched the exchange between the two and lowered his head in thought: He had thought himself very capable of wooing Fran over to Saral.

But it seemed Fran might have already known that Draculus didn’t want the Mage Association anymore?

When did the two of them hook up?

Was it the last time, when Draculus stayed on the earth, ready to help fight the Half-Elf Demigod?

As William pondered back and forth, he couldn’t help but ask the two who were in the midst of their exchange.

Fran glanced at William, "I just knew that Mr. President simply did not want to deal with any matters of the Mage Association, hence he made a personal decision. Saral’s style is much more to my liking.

I had no idea he was planning to completely discard the Mage Association.

Who could have thought it?"

"I just made up my mind too! Demons have even been brought into the headquarters, it’s too dirty! Just thinking about it makes me feel sick." Draculus said with a wry smile, "Otherwise, I wouldn’t be willing to let my efforts of over a hundred thousand years go to waste.

The city where the Mage Association is located is also something I slowly rebuilt over a hundred thousand years!

It’s such a pity to think about it, all those things!

But it doesn’t matter.

It’s a good opportunity to see what effect the Arrays I’ve worked on for so many years can have.

Of course, if His Majesty the King hadn’t given me confidence, I wouldn’t have just given up.

I’ll just let them play their games.

If the world is truly going to be destroyed, there are still many children in the Mage Association who’ve received a basic education! They are always innocent, and I will take them away with me.

Though I knew about the demon issue, I really wasn’t clear that he actually had a half-plane.

Ah! To think that a tens of thousands of years old man could be so muddled.

Does he really believe that by having human existence in the Abyss, he can live well?

Luckily His Majesty the King informed me that dealing with a half-plane is not that easy.

I thought a mere explosion would suffice, but in the end, I had to take action myself."

William, listening to Draculus speak so lightly about abandoning countless lives, once again deeply understood that people who live too long care only for themselves and are indifferent to else.

But since Draculus had a clear mind and even knew which Vice-President was causing trouble, he decided not to meddle further.

"You youngsters must think I’m too cruel." Draculus laughed, "But look at the God of Nobility, his character wasn’t like this when he first ascended to godhood.

After being in the Starry Sky for a while, he also got used to caring only for mankind as a whole.

As for how much suffering individuals go through, or how many people die, he couldn’t care less.

Living too long is the same for everyone, things that don’t leave a strong impression are almost all forgotten!

You see, as far as you’re concerned, the God of Nobility is still forgivable, isn’t he!

It’s the same for me.

Even if someone slides into the Evil Faction, as long as they still consider themselves a human Mage, I wouldn’t find them unforgivable.

But demons are a different matter. Those filthy beings have no reason to exist."

William remained silent; the God of Nobility did indeed cause a lot of chaos and death, but he made very few mistakes regarding the human race.

He also knew that if those who were tricked to death by the God of Nobility truly had souls below, they would curse him to eternal damnation.

And not as it is now, where a price paid allows a return to divine status.

However, William was also clear that he could recognize the God of Nobility again because he didn’t feel a kinship with the humans of this world.

He had tried to put himself in others’ shoes as much as he could.

But the phrase "as much as he could" just proved that he couldn’t do it.