Chapter 65: The Powerful Imp

An Imp was a very high-level Combat Puppet, belonging to the magic type, roughly equivalent to a Level 4 Mage. Not only were the materials expensive, but the manufacturing was also extremely exhausting. On the Continent, the number of Alchemy Masters who could create Imps could be counted on one hand. The Old Mage was one of them. However, making this thing was too troublesome. If he did it himself, it would take at least half a year of hard work. Given the Old Mage’s status, just the labor fee alone would cost no less than twenty or thirty thousand Gold Coins! If you included the materials, an Imp would be worth nearly a hundred thousand Gold Coins in total. It was definitely a toy only super-wealthy tycoons could afford.

The Old Mage was also stunned at the time. In their previous bets, it wasn’t often that they went over ten thousand Gold Coins; usually, it was just a few thousand. He didn’t expect Rui Li to dare to ask for such a huge amount this time. Actually, for the Old Mage, if he lost, he wouldn’t have to spend that much money. After all, he could make it himself, and the materials were ready. But the problem was that he would lose too much face.

The Old Mage frowned slightly and said, “This bet is not light. So what do you plan to bet?”

“Hmph!” Rui Li suddenly revealed a girlish shyness, hurriedly grabbed the Old Mage’s hand, and said, “Teacher, I am very poor. How can I take out such a good thing? How about this, I bet with this ring, okay? This is the most valuable treasure on me!”

Saying that, Rui Li took out a magic diamond ring carved with exquisite patterns. The Old Mage glanced at it and nearly fainted. It turned out that this ring was just a relatively low-level Lightning Storage Ring, which could instantly release the Level 1 Spell Lightning Arrow, at most 20 times. In the eyes of others, this thing was indeed not bad, especially for people who didn’t know magic. It was almost like having a handgun, so it could sell for a few thousand Gold Coins on the market. But the problem was, for a proper Archmage, who would care about a Level 1 Spell? They could cast it instantly whenever they wanted; having it or not was exactly the same! Compared to an Imp, this was simply trash! They were simply on two different levels.

“This, isn’t this a bit too much?” The Old Mage couldn’t help but say helplessly.

“But, I’m really poor!” Rui Li said coquettishly.

“Rui Li, stop pretending in front of me, okay?” The Old Mage couldn’t help but smile wryly, “Don’t I know your family assets? When we traveled together on the Continent before, we found a lot of good things, and most of them were taken by you. Plus, you know how to do business, so you haven’t earned little these years, right? You take this thing to bet against my Imp; don’t you think you’re being very unkind?”

“You still have the nerve to mention the past to me?” Rui Li suddenly looked at the Old Mage with a resentful gaze.

Suddenly, the number one expert of the Griffin Kingdom, the Continent-famous Lightning Magic Saint, Geralf Stephen, immediately admitted defeat. Like a frostbitten eggplant, he was as wilted as could be. He lowered his head directly, not daring to look at Rui Li. He just sighed and said, “Okay, okay, I won’t mention the past. I agree, alright?”

Obviously, there was some inexplicable connection between these two. It was very likely that the Old Mage had done something to let her down. Otherwise, the usually ferocious Old Mage would never have been in such a low posture.

“Teacher is the best!” Seeing her scheme succeed, Rui Li immediately shouted excitedly. Then she smiled and said, “Then I’ll bring Little Xue to find you in two days. By the way, Teacher, you can’t be lazy with the Imp for me. If it doesn’t have the level of a Level 5 Mage, I won’t accept it!” After saying that, without waiting for the Old Mage to react, she turned around and ran away.

“Level 5?” The Old Mage was dumbfounded when he heard this. You know, an ordinary Imp had the level of a Level 4 Mage. This was actually already quite good. A Level 4 Mage was considered an intermediate Mage and could instantly cast Level 1 or even Level 2 Spells. However, this was not the limit of the Imp. If one was willing to spend materials and energy, the Mage could upgrade the Imp, giving it the strength of a Level 5 Mage. An Imp at that level would be almost like a cannon, instantly casting Level 3 Spells. Even a Magic Saint would feel pain if hit a few times. Moreover, their spells were entirely powered by the Magic Stones inside their bodies. As long as the number of Magic Stones was sufficient, they could bombard continuously for a long time. In terms of sustained combat capability, it was definitely comparable to a Magic Saint. After all, a Magic Saint’s Magic Power was limited! It couldn’t compare to several kilograms of top-quality Magic Stones.

However, such refining was too exhausting. The material cost alone was no less than a hundred thousand Gold Coins. And although the Old Mage was capable, making one would keep him busy for at least three years. It could be seen how high the value of this thing was. Without five hundred thousand Gold Coins, the Old Mage definitely wouldn’t bother with you!

Originally, he thought Rui Li just wanted an ordinary Imp. He didn’t expect it to be such an enhanced version. This worried the Old Mage terribly. He hurriedly wanted to call out to Rui Li to argue, but she completely ignored him and ran away. He wanted to chase her, but thinking about the handle she had on him, he helplessly wilted. He had to place his last hope on Old Xie. As long as Old Xie could win, wouldn’t that mean he suffered no loss?

Thinking of this, the Old Mage hurriedly went to find Old Xie again, asking him earnestly to win. Who was Old Xie? An old monster who had lived for hundreds of years. His ability to read people’s expressions was top-notch. Seeing this posture, he knew the Old Mage seemed to have made a bet he couldn’t afford to lose. With such a perfect opportunity to blackmail, how could he let it slip?

So a series of conditions popped out of Old Xie’s mouth endlessly. The Old Mage was caught in a trap and didn’t have the slightest chance to resist. In the end, he signed a series of unequal treaties. How to put it? It was simply a humiliation to the country! Even the Old Mage himself wanted to slap himself when he looked at it.

According to this agreement, all materials for Old Xie’s Castle would be provided entirely by the Old Mage. Moreover, he had to provide a thousand ordinary Puppets as labor, completely under Old Xie’s command. However, given Old Xie’s temper, although these Puppets were nominally borrowed, when the time came, it would definitely be like throwing a meat bun at a dog—gone forever!

In addition, Old Xie also extorted the command of the Puppet army in the Mage Tower. Of course, he could only use it when Old Xie’s Castle was threatened. Other than that, Old Xie could not lead this combat Puppet unit to kill everywhere.

Of course, regarding the stake Rui Li placed, that ring, Old Xie didn’t let it go either. Even a mosquito’s leg is still meat. In this way, the Old Mage suffered a huge loss this time. If Old Xie won, not only would he get no benefit, but he would also have to put in a lot of things. However, compared to the consequences of Old Xie losing, such a loss was still completely acceptable to the Old Mage. Anyway, what Old Xie wanted were just some low-level things. The Old Mage didn’t have to pay out of his own pocket. As the head of the Royal Magician Regiment of the Griffin Kingdom and the Dean of the Griffin Academy, he had countless ways to make the public pay for him. But if he really lost an elite-level Imp to Rui Li, let alone the materials that would make his heart ache to death, just the three years of hard refining would be enough to depress him.

…

On the other side, Rui Li was also instructing her student. To be on the safe side, she spent the entire next day training the Little Princess. Rui Li first gave her treasure, a bra with complex magic attributes, to the Little Princess, and then carefully taught her the skills to use it.

After the Little Princess became proficient in using it, Rui Li was gratified to find that her disciple’s talent was really good. The situation was much better than she had expected. She could actually cast Ice Arrow in 2.5 seconds. This result was very pleasing. Ordinary Mages achieved such results only after the age of 20, while Little Steven was only sixteen. Even if he were a genius, he couldn’t surpass such an achievement. So in this sense, the Little Princess was bound to win.