Chapter 184: Plagiarism

"Mafa Merlin, are you provoking an Archmage?" Kave's eyes were already filled with the flames of anger. Anyone familiar with the 9th Rank Archmage knew that this was a bad habit that appeared when he was extremely angry. Many people secretly squeezed their hands, feeling cold sweat for the poor Merlin.

After all, this young Great Mage had been brought here by Jouyi. No one was willing to see an accident happening to such a promising mage because of Kave.

"No, of course not..." Lin Yun remained unmoved. His smile didn't change as he looked steadily at Kave. "I'm just very curious. Since Sir Kave is not deaf, why would you be so eager to conclude that I am not qualified to stand here?"

"Why?" Kave's voice suddenly became louder. "You are still asking me why? You didn't put forward any widely acknowledged theory, you never earned the right to name a formula, and you haven't even taken charge of a magic research project. What do you think you are? How could you stand together with numerous Archmages?"

"Sir Kave, you are forgetting yourself..." Lin Yun regretfully shook his head as if he felt sorry for Kave, and he then asked with an expression filled with ridicule, "But didn't you hear? I said, 'Not for the time being'!"

"I heard it!" Kave flew into a rage, almost roaring back.

"You see, you are saying that you aren't deaf, yet you are speaking so loudly. Sir Kave, you should know as an Archmage that having damaged ears would be very unfavorable for magic research because it might cause you to make some minute mistakes..."

"My research has nothing to do with you!" If not for Jouyi standing there, Kave would have already flung out a Fireball to scorch that chattering mouth.

"How could it have nothing to do with me?" This was what Lin Yun had been waiting for. "I already said I couldn't for the time being, do you know the meaning of that expression? In other words, it meant that I couldn't at that earlier point..."

"You are saying that now you can?" Kave couldn't hide his snickering smile.

"Sir Kave is very clever," Lin Yun praised with a nod. That expression, that attitude, it was like an elder praising a youth.

"..." A vein was pulsating on Kave's forehead, his heart filled with thoughts of murder. An insignificant 5th Rank Great Mage actually dared to use that tone to speak with an Archmage? If not for Jouyi, that Mafa Merlin would have already died ten times!

Kave couldn't say much more at this time.

Because all of the youth's words, even when he mentioned deafness, had been refined and courteous in tone, speaking politely the entire time. In these circumstances, even if Kave wanted to make a move, he didn't have any justification.

"Good, good, worthy of a talent being recommended by Jouyi. In a few minutes, you made great achievements in some sort of magic research. Mafa Merlin, you had better use this opportunity to enlighten everyone as to what shocking achievements you attained just now and let us judge whether you have the qualifications to stand here with us."

"Okay."

"Ha?" Kave froze. His words had obviously been sarcastic. Everyone there was an Archmage. Who among them didn't know how time-consuming it was to conduct complicated research? Who would say that they could easily come up with unprecedented formulas that would take decades of research in a mere handful of minutes?

'What achievement? This is a joke. Let alone minutes, you couldn't do something like that even in a few decades...'

Kave was clear about this...

No matter how talented this Mafa Merlin was, he was only two decades old. At this age, even if he had started learning magic since the day of his birth, he couldn't have taken in that much magic knowledge. That would defy common sense. Magic research needed time and a deep background with sufficient knowledge. Two decades were clearly not enough! Merlin hadn't had time to build this deep pool of knowledge, yet he was arrogantly declaring that he now wanted to publish some theory or formula?

Kave had originally felt some regret about implicating Jouyi with his words.

But he hadn't expected that while he was secretly regretting, that young mage would nod and straightforwardly agree with his sarcastic comment.

What did that mean?

Kave took some time to react...

'Could it be that this young Great Mage truly wants to let everyone judge whether he has the qualifications to join the Magic Hand?'

This was a bit irrational...

"Sir Jouyi, sorry to bother you, but do you have a pen and some paper?" While Kave was still in shock, Lin Yun had already walked over to Jouyi.

"Merlin, you are..." Jouyi fished out the tools from his pocket while speaking worriedly.

"It's fine, rest assured." Lin Yun nodded at Jouyi before spreading the paper on a table nearby very quickly. He then wrote one rune after another at an extreme speed.

It only took him a few minutes to fill the first piece of paper.

"Eh!" Jouyi who glanced at it suddenly seemed delighted. This was an unprecedented formula. Although there were some key parts of the formula using some never seen before characters, causing to the formula to seem incomplete or damaged, a learned person could see that this wasn't someone lacking the ability to completely lay out the formula, but rather, it was a common way to maintain secrecy.

This method wasn't rare, as almost every mage would use it or something similar if it involved unique magic knowledge that they owned. Mages could use some special characters instead. Only they would be able to understand the true meaning of these characters. This was also the reason that magic inheritances were so precious. If one wanted to obtain a mage's true magic inheritance, they would have to learn their secrets, like the meaning of any magic characters that they used to encode their writings.

"Fuck..." Kave looked at it from a distance and felt startled. This was indeed an unprecedented formula. It would shock all of Andlusa if it were published.

'Isn't this too irrational? How could such a young mage unearth such a remarkable formula? Did he plagiarize someone?'

Kave latched onto that thought.

'Yes! This must be it! But even if he plagiarized it, I don't have any proof...' Kave couldn't help inwardly complain, 'If I had known, I wouldn't have said so much. It's too late to go back on my words now... What can I do? Do I truly have to let that Mafa Merlin slap me in the face?

'No! I have to prove that he plagiarized someone! Only then can I redeem my reputation!'

But here, he hit a stumbling block.

'There is no evidence... Do I have to fabricate some?'

As Kave racked his brain, he found that Lin Yun had completed the first page and started writing on the second page at the exact same speed, quickly noting down character after character, thus completing the 2nd page, the 3rd page, the 4th page...

The entire Banquet Hall was silent, and everyone looked at Lin Yun in alarm, as if they weren't looking at a young Great Mage, but a true miracle...

This was already the 5th formula...

And not a single part had ever been seen in Noscent!

Although the Magic Hand gathered every peak Archmage of the kingdom who had been researching magic for several hundred years, none of them had ever seen such a scene. Five entire formulas had appeared! This was quite a shock!

Moreover, before they could recover, Lin Yun started writing the 6th formula...

'Damn, there are more!?'

This time, the only one who wasn't paying attention was Kave.

Because Kave was deep in thought, trying to figure out how to prove that it was plagiarism.

After thinking for a long time, he came up a way.

'No evidence? It's fine. I'll make my own! I, Kave, am a 9th Rank Archmage, a peak existence in the entire Andlusa kingdom. My prestige and reputation can't be compared to that of a 5th Rank Great Mage. The entire situation will be reversed as long as I go forward and say that the formula this 5th Rank Great Mage is writing is a copy of my own work!

'Who would they believe? A 9th Rank Archmage? Or a 5th Rank Great Mage?'

With this supporting him, Kave slowly calmed down. After clearing his throat with two coughs, he shouted, "Mafa Merlin! You shameful plagiarist!"

After uttering those words, he didn't say anything else and only looked at Lin Yun with a gaze full of dignity and pity.

In Kave's eyes, his words should be enough to end this farce.

They were all Archmages, and everyone was smart enough to understand. After hearing those words, wouldn't someone come and ask him why he accused Mafa Merlin of plagiarism? At that time, he would only need to say a few sentences to convince everyone that Merlin had stolen this work.

Kave then waited, full of self-confidence.

But what awaited him were contemptuous looks...

Even Harren wanted to spit at him right now. 'You aren't just deaf, aren't you blind, too? Can't you see the seven new magic formulas!'