Not You Too!

On the way back to the academy, the Merchant could not stop apologizing to Baiyi, "I'm so sorry, Sir Hope! I really just wanted them to get your protection. I didn't expect them to be so overconfident..."

No, don't say that. I know that they meant no harm actually. It's just that young people can be too impatient sometimes. I've already taught him a little lesson, Baiyi replied calmly. As for protection, well, you should know that the best protection is to get them out of my sight. 

"I understand. Thank you for your kindness and graciousness, Sir Hope, " the Merchant thanked him from the bottom of his heart. To be honest, it was a blessing in disguise for the young sorcerer to have met with the forgiving Baiyi and not some other guy who would massacre the whole family with just one wrong look. If it happened to be another person, such a rude provocation would result in him being taught a lesson that would be much worse than ending up in bed for just a mere couple of days.

It is common knowledge that offending a powerful being would most likely invite disastrous repercussion.

Sending off the trembling Merchant, Baiyi continued to listen to the discussion of the other Voidwalkers whose topics had rapidly shifted from criticizing the Merchant to how to utilize this first pot of gold. Nobody was interested in the topic of the ant that Baiyi had just stepped on.

"How about buying some herbs and borrowing the alchemy lab from the academy? Adding on to my knowledge, this money will be doubled in no time," the Alchemist suggested　

"How much can we make with only 50 gold coins? There won't be much left after deducting the cost of the raw material," a Walker nicknamed the Blacksmith retorted. "Alchemy is a trade that will yield great profit IF the investment is high. The investment of 50 gold coins is just too little."

"Or how about we just create some magic scrolls to sell? This should be a faster method. Even if these scrolls cannot be sold, Mia-chan could also use them on her test," the Sorcerer proposed.

"Master, the time has changed! Such method does not work anymore!" The Walker with the title the Painter responded, "Just 80 years ago, The Association of Sorcerers of the General Realm had passed a bill that allow them to have sole regulation and punishment rights over the magic scrolls. Whoever wants to sell them would have to apply for special authorization. Otherwise, the scroll would all be confiscated."

"What? Why did they come up with such a thing? Such a shameless thing that these good-for-nothing people who feed from the public trough would do to fill their own pockets!" The Sorcerer bellowed when he heard what the Painter said. There must have been some feud between him and the Association judging by his reaction.

"Well, this is not only for the interest of the Association. It's also to look after the rights of the sorcerers who invented their own spells and magic. These sorcerers would get the patent for the spells that they invented and in turn, they would be protected by the Association. The spells and magic that are not patented will be prohibited from being passed on and the scrolls will be prohibited from being sold, " the Painter went on to explain, "This largely solves the plagiarism issue of magic and preserves the rights and enthusiasm of inventors and it is well supported by most sorcerers... So, if we really want to sell scrolls, we would have to get the patent and selling rights first. The process is very tedious. I'm sure you know very well the efficiency of the Association too, right?

"More importantly, all of the magic and spells that are invented by some of you have been recorded as having no inventors as they could not find the original creator anymore. So, the patents of these magic and spells are either possessed by the Association or by other people who have registered these spells under their name first. Therefore, if we want to sell scrolls, we would either have to look for long-lost magic or develop our own new spells. This also requires the Association's patent certification and the process can be very cumbersome, " the Apprenticed added on.

It seemed that this world's protection of intellectual property was by no mean less accomplished than that of Earth's. It was probably the second thing that could keep up with Earth's advanced way of life other than the designs of women clothing.

Only the Sorcerer scoffed at the progress. Irritated, he said, "Why did everything become so troublesome? An indecent thing such as secretly learning other people's magic even need to be bound by terms and regulations now? Don't these people have any sense of dignity and conscience?"

"Well, in the face of profit, dignity and conscience are not worth mentioning anymore. Not everyone can be as disciplined as in the past..." the Painter said with a wry smile on his face.

"You are one to talk! If it wasn't for you, this kind of misconduct would not exist at all! Let alone all these troublesome patent thing," the Apprentice said snappily to the Painter.

The 32nd Walker, nicknamed the Painter was formerly known as Kashi, his original occupation was indeed... a painter. He had an extraordinary memory and he could perfectly copy the power of his opponent just by looking at the floating runes that the opponent had casted. Does it not remind you of a certain ninja with a similar name? 1

... So, this "Copy Painter Kashi" whose strength had finally awakened at long last embarked on this plagiarism journey and never had looked back. In just a short amount of time, his power made a leap of progress. And then, by maliciously copying other magical scroll to disrupt the market, he managed to earn a lot of resources and was known as one of the most powerful being in that era. Even though he finally died when he was arrested by the Association and his soul was exiled to the Void, he had successfully set off this trend of plagiarism in every part of the world. It was only until the coercive measures was enforced by the Association that the situation got better.

Even though this man who was first dubbed "Copy Painter Kashi" had finally repented after going through a long and boring prison life, the damage that he had inflicted on the academic field was irreparable. At this time, no amount of regret and self-condemnation could help turn the situation around.

"And that is why even if Sir Hope managed to find a way to free us, I will not leave at the moment. Instead, I will continue to repent here until the healthy practice of the academic field is restored again. This is my punishment for myself, it's also redemption for the sin that I've committed before my death," the Painter announced in a somber tone.

There was nothing that Baiyi could do other than sigh helplessly at his decision. This guy who usually placed great emphasis on aesthetical value could still appear to be righteous when he turned serious. With the intention of changing the subject, Baiyi said, "Since none of the previous proposals was useful, is there anyone who has a better suggestion?"

"Perhaps, we could go to the Taobao2 flea market? Won't it be easy to pick up some loose fragments from magical artifacts?" The Devil quickly suggested. It seemed like this person was addicted to a web novel now.

"Or we could buy some smart clothing, a bunch of roses and a harp. And when the evening sky is filled with the light of sunset, we could go to the house of a beautiful aristocratic lady and play a touching love song for her..." The Bard interjected suddenly.

Seriously, are you trying to make money or court a girl? Even if you look past that obviously super-backward, super-low technique way of courting, how do you expect me to court a girl with this Soul Armature body of mine? ...Sigh... I guess I just can't expect much from somebody who managed to enter the Void by living off women. Now that I think about it, you must be the lowest scum among us, Baiyi howled angrily.

"Buy an axe and the necessary ration and then board a ship to the Northern Wasteland where there are countless of beasts there. Each of this beasts would drop a large amount of gold coins..." the Caveman interrupted.

Although I can kind of understand the things that you are trying to say but must you describe it like an online game? Besides, please get your facts straight! The only character that will drop gold coins is the humanoid okay? Er... Okay... Let's get back to the topic. Are you sure that such a long trip to the wasteland would not result in Mia coming back with a baby instead?

"Ah damn it! I did not think of this... err..." the Caveman pondered for a moment before he added again, "That's right! Why haven't I thought of this before? OF COURSE she would need to bring Teleport Scroll or Hearthstone or something along with her during the journey!"

WHAT? YOU ARE STILL TALKING ABOUT THIS? DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT THIS IS SOME SORT OF ONLINE GAME NOW?? WAKE THE FREAKING HELL UP! HAVE YOU BEEN CORRUPTED BY THE BARD AND STARTED TO BECOME A SCUM YOURSELF TOO? WHAT THE F*CK HAPPENED TO THE FREAKIN NAME HUSKAR?!

Because of those two people, the rest of the discussion basically fell into chaos. Their topic had long veered off to some ridiculous abyss.

Not only had he not been able to pick out any useful suggestions, he was plagued to death by this group of people to create a simulation battlefield. All because the group was divided into two sides with different opinions, where both side insisted that their own opinion was the correct one and verbal arguments did not seem to be enough for them. So finally, the argument evolved to this: Nvidia VS AMD3 --- Who has the best performance?

In order to avoid being constantly harassed by this group of people as well as being bombarded by all those rubbish discussion, Baiyi was forced to construct a simulation battlefield4 for them. Not long after, he could see the notifications popping up in his mind:

"The Lich has chosen the Lich."

"The Devil has chosen Doom... and he requested for a Devil Blade as an accessory or any other treasure will also do…"

Can’t you be a little less shameless?

"The Assassin has chosen the Sacred Warrior."

"The Paladin has chosen the Crystal Maiden."

Why the hell didn't you choose Omniknight? Can't you see that everyone is choosing a warrior that is similar to their own class?

"Because the Omniknight is not suitable for this round! And look at how beautiful the Crystal Maiden is! Pero Pero5!

F*ck man! This guy is totally helpless…

"The Thane has chosen YaphetS6."

"The Painter has chosen Rubick."

Did you just choose a hero who can copy the spells of his enemy? What happened to the person who said he was going to repent just now? I guess it's true that a leopard can't change its spots overnight. Give me back the tears that I shed just now!

In short, what happened was both parties would use Baiyi's simulation battlefield and battle it out there. All of them could be heard cursing all at once. "F*CK! F*CK! F*CK!" "SAVE ME!!!!!!" "WHOEVER RUNS IS A COWARD!"...

... all sorts of rubbish flooded into Baiyi's ears...

So, what was the conclusion of what they should do with the money? Well, it was obvious that this topic had been completely forgotten by those people. Bayi could not help but sighed out loud.

At this moment, his teacher, the Archmage promptly gave him a suggestion, "In my opinion, the only option that we have is to create some magical scrolls and simple equipments for Mia's own use. This money should be enough for that."

Sniff... This is the most reliable words that I have heard all day. As expected from my teacher! Baiyi thought to himself.

Before he could say another word, the Archmage continued, "Oh by the way, if you still have some energy, please help me to simulate a game as well. I have not drawn a card for a very long time now..."

NOT YOU TOO!