From Leonos's behavior in granting him this title of Grand Headquarters Inspector with no real authority, Leilin could be certain that the man harbored ill intentions toward him.
Even if it wasn't about his dark wizard dealings being exposed, his rapid progress alone had been enough to raise the other party's alarm.
Under these circumstances, trying to play it safe and protect himself would accomplish nothing.
So why not use the last bit of authority at his disposal to squeeze out some benefits for himself?
After all, before Leonos officially issued a formal decree stripping him of the role, this tiger-skin banner of Grand Headquarters Inspector could still intimidate quite a few people — for instance, the very director of the Merit Exchange Hall standing before him!
"Are you slandering me?"
Upon hearing those words, the phantom of the man called Bill, his expression turned grave, and a blood-red glow seemed to emanate from his eyes.
"No… not slander. Just standard inspection procedures!" Leilin replied with a faint smile.
The instant the words left his mouth, a ring of energy particles detonated between them with a violent burst.
Boom!
Although both of them did their best to suppress the shockwaves from the confrontation, it still drew the attention of numerous wizards outside who stopped to watch.
Bill's phantom stumbled back several steps before steadying himself, a look of shock on his face: "Peak of the First-rank! So it's true — 'Metal Maniac' Marlborough really did die at your hands!"
The facts were laid bare before him, leaving no room for denial.
From that brief exchange alone, Leilin had revealed strength fully comparable to a peak First-rank wizard!
Cross-referencing the intelligence he had gathered, Bill could almost certainly conclude that the Lilisiteer Family's Metal Maniac, Marlborough, had indeed been killed by this person!
Good heavens! Even Bill himself was only a peak First-rank. And Marlborough, who had been at the same level, was now dead at Leilin's hands. With no Second-rank wizards leaving the headquarters, a peak First-rank was the strongest combat force routinely seen on the South Coast! Such a death was exceedingly rare. Marlborough's demise — had it not been so recent — would have been enough to cause a massive earthquake across the entire South Coast.
And Bill, who knew the truth, felt an even deeper wariness toward Leilin.
"What do you want?" Bill's expression was ugly.
"Nothing much. Just thinking…" Leilin's voice dropped very low, and in the end he simply fell silent, switching to voice transmission instead.
After hearing Leilin's transmitted message, Bill's face cycled through several expressions. First it flushed red, as though he had been gravely insulted. Then that look quickly faded, replaced by one of deep contemplation.
After a moment, Bill glanced around at the nearby wizards.
Their little disturbance had already attracted the attention of many wizards and apprentices present, and that finally forced him to make his decision.
"This matter… isn't entirely impossible to discuss. Follow me!"
Bill's phantom dissipated in an instant, leaving behind only a ring of crimson energy particles that formed various directional symbols.
Leilin smiled faintly at the sight.
He had long known that even among the white wizards, there would be no shortage of the "upright and incorruptible."
And merit point exchange was one of the most lucrative operations — it was bound to be dirty. But if Leilin pushed too hard and tried to dismantle it entirely, his days as inspector would end right here and now.
However, he hadn't backed Bill into a corner. He had merely made some demands, and it had been easy enough to extract a concession.
Ignoring the somewhat startled gazes of the
Before the massive doors, a wizard who looked exactly like the phantom from earlier was already waiting. This time, what appeared was a real body — not a projection.
"You're here!" Bill's expression was still grim.
Naturally, no one's mood was going to be pleasant after being confronted and extorted.
"Mm." Leilin gave a casual nod, saying nothing more.
Bill stared hard at Leilin once more, as though committing this image firmly to memory. "Follow me."
Without another word, he turned and began walking. Leilin smiled faintly, touched his nose, and trailed after him.
Along the way, seals and magical defenses of all kinds appeared one after another, but with Bill — an insider — leading the way, they passed through everything without a hitch.
Click!
Bill produced a black copper key and unlocked a massive door covered in dense runic inscriptions.
Whoosh! In an instant, the glow of countless treasures, the sheen of crystal spheres, and the fragrance of rare medicinal herbs filled Leilin's vision.
Before him stood an enormous reserve warehouse, its shelves and stacks loaded with all manner of precious resources as though they cost nothing at all.
"My clearance only lets me open the auxiliary vault! And the best I can offer is a forty percent discount — that's the bottom line!"
Bill's expression was resolute. From his tone and demeanor, this was truly his limit, and Leilin didn't press further.
"Fine, fine! I won't make things difficult for you…"
Leilin said insincerely, then strolled casually into the resource vault.
This attitude — acting as though the place were his own home — made Bill grind his teeth in secret, though he didn't dare say a word.
Because if he truly pressed the issue, Leilin did have leverage against him, enough to catch him red-handed, ruin his reputation, strip him of his position, and possibly face criminal charges!
Compared to all that, letting Leilin take a few bargains was nothing at all.
Leilin walked past stacks upon stacks of potions and materials worth thousands of merit points each, his expression perfectly composed.
For someone at his current stage, the materials that still caught his eye were already exceedingly rare.
Moreover, what he urgently needed right now was a rapid increase in combat strength, so offensive secret techniques were of far greater value to him.
Leilin kept walking, heading straight for the wooden shelves where knowledge crystal spheres were displayed.
"Research," "Experiments," "Secret Techniques"…
Detailed nameplates were affixed beside the shelves, cataloguing the types of knowledge stored and providing brief summaries — making Leilin's search much easier.
He went directly to the secret techniques section.
"High-Energy Eagle Eye!" "Canine Nose Modification!" "Shadow Projection!" "Liver Transplant!" "Fire-element Negative Energy Superposition!"
All manner of secret techniques, ones he had heard of and ones he hadn't, were packed densely before his eyes. The sheer volume was almost dizzying.
"Sorry about this — could you disable the defensive array for a moment? I'd like to take a closer look at the contents!"
Leilin's words were apologetic, but his actions were anything but.
"You—" Bill was nearly speechless, but still stepped forward, producing a token from inside his robe and waving it toward the shelves.
Hummm!
A ring of milky-white magical luminescence rose from the token, and the protective formation enveloping the shelves powered down completely.
"My clearance only allows you to see the first third of the contents. Beyond that, the ultimate-tier formation I installed will activate, and there's nothing I can do about it…" Bill spread his hands.
"That's enough!" Leilin nodded, casually picking up a crystal sphere containing data on the Eagle Eye modification and flipping through it quickly.
On the surface, he was rapidly scanning the crystal sphere, searching for the knowledge he wanted. In reality, inside his mind, the Chip was operating at full speed, recording every piece of information he laid eyes on.
Although each set of data contained only about a third of the total content, that was already sufficient for the Chip. Given these fragments, deducing the rest was simply a matter of time.
Half an hour later, Leilin had gone through every crystal sphere in the knowledge section. The Chip had reaped enormous gains, logging a vast amount of precious data.
"This Shadow Projection technique, and this Terror Bear transplant modification, and this Bloodline Preparation theory — I'll take one copy of each, please!"
Of course, the Chip couldn't perfectly deduce everything. Behind certain items, it had flagged a list of materials it estimated could not be fully reconstructed.
Leilin reviewed the list, then selected a few more based on his actual needs.
"No fractions — total comes to one thousand merit points! With the discount, that's six hundred!"
Back and forth, he had just saved four hundred merit points. Even if Xishan, the captain of the Hunting Squad, had come personally, Leilin estimated the best discount would have been twenty percent off at most.
But right now, at only sixty percent of the price, everything in this vault was his for the taking!
"Oh, and this one… this one… and that one — a copy of each!"
Before long, Leilin had spent every last one of his newly acquired 1,500 merit points.
Several hours passed before Leilin finally strolled out under Bill's sour, dark expression.
"That was quite the haul!" Leilin patted his bulging waist pouch and let out a satisfied sigh.
"If only I could do this every day…"
Then he reminded himself that he was only indulging in fantasies.
Do this even one more time, and he would immediately face a furious backlash from the entrenched vested interests. The only reason he had dared to be this brazen was because he had no intention of staying in the Four Seasons Garden for much longer.
Otherwise, within a white wizard organization, if he truly provoked collective outrage, there would be no shortage of ways to have him die without anyone ever figuring out how!
"Benefits from the merit exchange — check. Now for other places…"
Leilin gazed out at the vast Ganges Secret Realm, watching the ceaseless stream of wizards coming and going, and a brilliant smile spread across his face…
A few days later, rumors about Leilin spread far and wide.
"The Metal Ender!" "The Greedy Dragon!" — these were his newest titles.
"The Metal Ender" referred to his battle that felled Metal Maniac Marlborough. It was in that fight that Leilin had slain a peak First-rank wizard head-on, cementing his reputation as a true powerhouse.
And "The Greedy Dragon" referred to his recent string of brazen "raids," conducted with complete disregard for his own standing.
Whether it was the Merit Exchange Hall, the Defense Corps, the Garrison Corps, or even the various wizard branch offices and war zones — none were spared from his unscrupulous extortion!
Truth be told, the extent of the wizards' corruption far exceeded his expectations. Almost every department he investigated had something to hide.
Even though they had cooked their books beautifully, under the Chip's terrifying computational power, nothing could remain concealed.