Chapter 40: Night Visit to the Lighthouse, the Hurricane Approaches

Before the sun set, the townspeople who had come to see the doctor dispersed. Even those whose luck was bad and failed to secure a place in line had no other choice.

After all, the fishermen needed to head out to sea for the night, the workers had to rest their exhausted bodies, and the lighthouse keeper had to station himself at the beacon.

Lin Bo once again declined the consultation fees and gifts offered by the townspeople, but they still left the items in the courtyard.

The consultation fees for this time totaled nine hundred and thirty-two yuan. After being sorted, they were stored separately alongside the previous earnings.

He calculated in his mind to use this money to purchase some medicines and chemical reagents in the city to compound more drugs. Since it was a reward given to him by the townspeople, he would spend the money on them as well.

As the sun sank below the horizon, the lighthouse keeper switched on the Fresnel lens right on schedule. The step of winding the rotating mechanism was much simpler than before.

"(True Name) Iron."

Mantra Magic Art—Flow drove the crank to rotate, winding the spring fully in an unhurried manner.

When channeling different things, a mage could perceive the differences in their intrinsic properties.

The power of ocean waves was heavy and profound, the wind was light and agile, and the power of iron was slightly inferior to the waves, lacking the speed of the wind as well. However, the reverse was also true: the wind was frivolous, the waves were sluggish, and both were difficult to shape. Iron was a medium of magic arts that combined three major advantages.

Before he mastered a more powerful True Name of matter, iron was the only choice.

With the Magic Art of Life, Lin Bo possessed powerful and precise metal processing capabilities, the significance of which to mechanical manufacturing was self-evident. Of course, it was also of great help to his construction and renovation work.

If he had mastered the True Name of iron earlier, he wouldn't have needed to purchase any metal frames for building the mushroom greenhouses.

If he could master a few more True Names and bring wood, stone, bricks, tiles, rubber, copper, glass, and other materials into his grasp, Lin Bo would have the confidence to quickly handcraft a comfortable cabin.

By virtue of the extremely exquisite tactile sense of the Surface Touch and Internal Peeping Method, he could guarantee that the wooden floor shaped by the Magic Art of Life would be as reflective as a mirror, and walking on it barefoot would feel like stepping on delicate silk.

The improvement of productivity brought an immediate enhancement to the quality of life. The research results of magic did not necessarily have to be used on destroying opponents.

After the crowds dispersed, the lights on the first floor were still brightly lit.

Lin Bo was preparing to trial-produce a mental potion tonight.

He intended to use alcohol as a base to prepare a refined whale oil tincture, then mix it with herbal decoction to stimulate the medicinal properties that nourish the spirit and replenish vital energy and blood.

All magico-energetic substances possessed a kind of near-universal miraculous characteristic.

In the hands of a spellcaster, magical energy could be converted into elemental forces such as earth, water, fire, and wind; it could create arcane constructs, such as a mage's hand or an unseen servant; and it could even be transformed into food such as bread and fine wine.

The whale oil in this world, because it contained magical power, could be efficiently converted into electrical energy.

When Lin Bo ingested the biological components of a whale, the release of the magical energy within would replenish his depleted incantation mana.

If he didn't care about refinement, drinking whale oil directly could also restore his mental state.

However, this approach carried extreme risks for two reasons. Whale oil was flammable, and refined whale oil was even explosive; drinking it might cause it to detonate right inside one's stomach. Secondly, it was a tremendous waste of magico-energetic substances.

Raw magical energy was chaotic and volatile, and only after being catalyzed under certain conditions could it express the miraculous power to the maximum extent.

Compared to drinking whale oil directly, the amount of mental recovery after it was made into a potion could be multiplied by several times or even dozens of times.

Before officially starting to make medicine, Lin Bo decided to finish up the electrical wiring work first.

Once the wiring was laid out, he could add electrical appliances to the kitchen.

He had long prepared an electromagnetic stove and several pots and cookware, all of which had been selected for Lin Bo by [Scrap Collector].

With these new cooking utensils, it would be much more convenient to boil medicinal soups. In addition, there was a set of glass glassware for laboratory chemical reagents, used to make the whale oil tincture.

The medical books given to him by the shrine maiden had a theoretical system that was relatively archaic and primitive, possessing a strong occult color. About half of the content could be put into practice by him, while the rest served as reference.

Therefore, Lin Bo additionally purchased chemical knowledge materials to study. After all, formalized pharmaceutical methods in a laboratory yielded more stable finished products, serving as a beneficial supplement to the ancient medical system and the magical medical system.

The books he had stockpiled earlier had all been read and memorized, yet in the actual operation process, Lin Bo found that the required knowledge increased rather than decreased.

This was also a terrifying trap of learning. Sometimes one thought one had walked very far, but looking across the knowledge system as a whole, one realized one was still lingering at the foot of the mountain.

The mage had already fallen into the pit, and he had no intention of turning back.

Knock, knock, knock!

A hurried knock sounded at the door, and Lin Bo paused his work.

Outside the door was the owner of the old street pawnshop. He climbed over the low fence of the lighthouse courtyard and paid a quiet visit under the cover of night.

"Lighthouse Keeper, have you met the visitors from Hongdu? And the Viscount, you've met him too, right? Did you reveal any information about that item?"

The owner squeezed into the house, hurriedly closed the door behind him, and asked a string of questions out of breath, his tone lowered with a guilty conscience.

"They came this evening. Probably just to watch the commotion." Lin Bo invited the guest to sit down and poured a cup of cold boiled water.

"Why do you think these rich and powerful people came? It must be for those gold coins! The news must have leaked, and someone knows I come from Stone Tower Town. Fortunately, they haven't come looking for me yet."

Lin Bo nodded. "Your confidentiality work is very mediocre. Moreover, you shouldn't have bragged about some shipwreck treasure in the newspaper."

The owner muttered, complaining that his acquaintances in Hongdu were all involved in the black market and gray industries, yet had loose lips. Upon learning that people from Hongdu had arrived, the pawnshop owner had closed his shop for a day and only came to find Lin Bo under the cover of night to discuss countermeasures.

He still hadn't given up on trying to win over the lighthouse keeper, and promptly took out a thick stack of banknotes from his carry-on bag. "This is the money I earned at the auction house. Let's split it fifty-fifty."

"There's no need for that," Lin Bo teased him. "Besides, a major portion of this money is just the writing fees you were paid by the newspaper office for submitting fake news."

"Ah, don't mention it." The pawnshop owner wore a wry expression, then earnestly inquired about the origin of the ancient shipwreck coins.

"They washed ashore on the beach with me during the shipwreck," the lighthouse keeper said nonchalantly.

"Ah, so there really is a treasure!"

"No. If anyone believes this lie, I will laugh at him for a lifetime."

"Old man, point the way for me. Lighthouse Keeper, if the Viscount comes knocking, how should I explain things?"

Lin Bo looked at the other man's flickering gaze and chuckled softly, "You might as well tell them the truth and let them come find me."

"Wouldn't that cause trouble for you?" The pawnshop owner chuckled sheepishly. "Rest assured, I'm not like those conscience-less peers of mine. Since the items were sold to me, I will never implicate you."

"Your next word is 'however'."

"However, uh, however, I need a small favor from you." The pawnshop owner smiled awkwardly. "Just pretend you never saw that box of shipwreck ancient coins. This matter has nothing to do with you at all."

Lin Bo was thoughtful. As long as he, the person in the know, kept his mouth shut, then the origin of the gold coins could be fabricated however the pawnshop owner pleased.

The lighthouse keeper said softly, "You intend to lie to the Viscount and the people from Hongdu, substantiate the shipwreck treasure, and then sell a false piece of news to those rich folks."

"...Uh." The owner was at a loss for words.

"I hope you understand the consequences of doing this."

"Lighthouse Keeper, this world is huge. With money, you can make a home anywhere. How about this, you take half of this money as your agreement."

A thick stack of banknotes slid from the other end of the table to Lin Bo, only to be pushed casually back.

"Take it away. Do as you see fit. However, if you want to run away with your family, you had better do it as soon as possible, or wait another half a month."

The pawnshop owner was afraid the lighthouse keeper would go back on his word, yet he could do nothing to compel him. He could only trust the other's character, anxiously put away the money with his heart pounding wildly, and asked in a strained voice, "Why must I leave as soon as possible?"

He still wanted to sell a few more copies of his fake news to rake in a fortune and save up enough capital for running away.

"Because a hurricane is coming." The lighthouse keeper produced an iron bell from somewhere and began to ring it.

The crisp chiming echoed through the night sky. The pawnshop owner, harboring a guilty conscience, jumped in fright and hurriedly bid farewell, fleeing the lighthouse at top speed.

Behind him, the chiming sound drifted further and further away, fading into the purplish-black waves just like the stars reflected on the sea.

The bald man running wildly across the fields toward Stone Tower Town panted heavily. His brain went blank due to insufficient blood supply, and he even temporarily forgot his original intention of heading to the lighthouse, remembering only the swaying iron bell and the lighthouse keeper's words that a hurricane was coming.