Chapter 105 - 100: Hot Search, Hot Topic_l
Bullying!
This is absolute bullying!
Sophie Lucia sharply clenched her teeth in anger.
At this moment, Sophie Lucia loathed Link Grande, this ‘new blood’ yokel from the Stormy Sea.
If it were not for the ongoing effect of Wizard Peter Lionel’s mental witchcraft, she would have completely broke down and had a fit right there.
For a yokel to repeatedly push her too far, it was despicable beyond words.
However, Sophie Lucia had to admit begrudgingly that Link Grande, the yokel, did play the move very well this time!
She was left without words to refute him.
“Don’t get too cocky, your moment won’t last long,” said Sophie Lucia, forced by Wizard Palo’s pressure to accept this supposed “apology”. If she didn’t, it would be disrespecting Wizard Palo.
At that point, not only would Wizard Peter Lionel not stand up for her again, but even her cousin Zoran Archie is likely to remain silent.
She could only grit her teeth and respond quietly.
Link chuckled and said nothing more as he made his way back to the east platform.
With so many wizards present, any whispers between the two would still be overheard.
Link would not allow such an oversight.
However, on his way back, he also reminded himself inwardly.
He had made quite a splash today; he would have to play it steady for a while and not get carried away.
Keep a low profile personally, but make a splash professionally.
Being high-profile in both was bound to incite resentment from others.
“Peter, Zoran, wouldn’t you agree I’m not bullying the weak now, am I?”
With a satisfied smile, Wizard Palo was pleased with Link Grande’s recent actions and comments. Hence, when speaking to his opponents, his tone had softened significantly, no longer as aggressive as before.
Peter Lionel didn’t reply to this, instead turning his attention to Zoran Archie.
Today was Zoran Archie’s home court, and how to act and respond should be decided by him.
This level of respect was necessary for the host, even if the two were closely connected, there would always be differences in their interests and positions.
You couldn’t just add seasonings or mess with the operations while the chef is cooking without their permission!
The reason that Peter Lionel had defended Sophie Lucia before was purely because Wizard Palo was targeting him, using Sophie Lucia as leverage — a necessary action.
Zoran Archie, unlike Palo and Peter Lionel who were in a state of ‘metamorphosis’, remained calmly composed throughout the event, except when affected by the “Regret” potion.
He gave a nod to Peter Lionel, indicating his understanding. He then instructed Sophie Lucia, “Sophie, show your gratitude, then continue hosting the conference. Remember, both our conference and potions are pure, free from bizarre elements.”
After a pause, Zoran Archie emphasized, “As for the comparisons in sales and reviews, feel free to continue. What good potions can a first-year Newblood who can’t even identify all potion ingredients create? Unless he hires someone to do it for him!”
This phrase was aimed at Link Grande. By questioning Link’s abilities, Zoran planted seeds for potential failures in the future with a ready explanation.
Considering how aggressive Wizard Palo was, Zoran Archie wouldn’t want to make any absolute statements to avoid embarrassment in the future.
“Thanks for Palo’s thoughtfulness, but I really have no use for it, this gift can only gather dust in a corner.”
Sophie, having calmed down under the effect of mental witchcraft, spoke loudly, “The Lucia Potion Shop has been based in the East District for nearly a hundred years. Neither our reputation nor our customer loyalty can be tarnished by a trick or two. I’ve earnestly invited everyone here to introduce the sixteen new releases from the Lucia Potion Shop, they are…”
Having accomplished most of his goals, Wizard Palo decided not to meddle any further.
The conference still needs to be held to completion, right?
You can’t really go too far in bullying, can you?
Afterwards, the conferences on both sides returned to their normal rhythm.
They each sent out female wizards or wizard apprentices to explain and promote various potions to interested guests.
But it was obvious that the traffic on the east side was much higher than that on the west.
The reason was simple — the opening act had taken the initiative.
Firstly, the call of the Serene Wizard, with the help of the “Regret” potion, instantly increased considerably,
Many wizards, even if they couldn’t afford or didn’t have access to the “Regret” potion, still wanted to see the other six potions designed for Ti and T2 wizards, asking about their effects and price;
Secondly, many were genuinely attracted by the gimmicks designed specifically by Wizard Palo,
Wanting to see what kind of aromatherapy essential oils, fragrances, and perfumes this first-year Newblood developed, that Palo would regard so highly, worthy enough to compete with the new fragrances from Lucia Potion Shop.
The contrasting flow of people between the east and west sides was captured by a “journalist” from the “Ravensmouth Forum”.
Zoran Archie, upon seeing this, was unable to prevent it.
The “Ravensmouth Forum” is a high-level forum, covering the Senior Division and Ravensmouth City. There are many users and a deep background.
Combined, the Lucia family and Lionel couldn’t challenge the “Ravensmouth Forum”.
It is too late to try buying them off now.
Wizard Palo had definitely made a deal with the forum workers in advance.
Sure enough, while the release party was still in progress, the “Ravensmouth Forum” had already posted an in-depth report about the event with this photo as the cover.
With pictures, texts, and videos, expert writing, and sharp wording, it directly described the overall performance of Lucia’s Potion Shop as “knocked down without a fight, rendered incapable of striking back”.
And so, before the respective release parties even ended, the news of what happened at the exhibition center quickly spread all over the city.
Different levels have different focuses.
Those Tier 3 Wizards who hadn’t experienced the effects of the “Regret” potion were most concerned about it, and began posting inquiries everywhere.
First and second-level wizards paid more attention to the six potions, also crafted by Serene Wizard.
A small number of people were attracted by the gimmicks and posted queries about whether the Glasswort Series of aromatherapy essential oils, fragrances, and perfumes were really good, and worth buying.
Approaching noon, they ended the press conference, and everyone returned to the potion shop.
On the way, listening to Sharia, Tina, and Ayla discussing the many posts on the “Ravensmouth Forum”, Link came to know that the Wizard World also had people similar to “uploaders”.
Many of the wizards who bought the potions at the site of the press conference rushed to post about their trial experiences and reviews.
The popularity of the Glasswort Series was not high at first.
Especially after a few male wizards gave reviews of “ordinary”, “average”, “nothing special”.
It wasn’t until a few beautiful witch users shared full course graphic texts or video posts or live broadcasts of them trying out the Glasswort Series that public opinion was reversed, and its popularity soared.
Half a day passed, and the most popular thread topic on the “Ravensmouth Forum” was “When will witches stand up?”.
This heavy punch confused many male wizards who care about cost performance.
The efficacy of the Glasswort series fragrance isn’t much stronger than the new fragrances by Lucia Potion Shop, they have only put in more thought into the fragrance.
How did it escalate to the point of male wizards suppressing female witches?
Inexplicable!
A storm was gathering.
Many witches, by means of the Glasswort Series, especially the fragrances and perfumes, extensively complained that the previous lady-oriented potions were not lady-oriented at all.
In the past, there weren’t many pharmacists, including female pharmacists, who would consider women separately, focussing on enhancing charm and emphasising beauty, in addition to practicality.
The Glasswort fragrance is elegant and fresh, with a lasting and faint fragrance, suitable for daily life.
It’s great to have such a fragrance that soothes the mind and makes you feel happy after a busy day of studying, researching, or even fighting.
The Glasswort series perfume has many scents: passionate, lively, charming, adorable, serene, retrained. You can mix and match as per your personality, liking, and according to different moods and occasions.
Isn’t this more intimate than the “vulgar” perfumes with no new ideas in other potion shops?
Upon hearing this, Link was greatly surprised.
The fact is not so, those witches surely exaggerated it to vent their accumulated frustration.
Products designed from the perspective of women’s love for beauty, whether potions, or magic tools or rune objects, are indeed few, but not non-existent.
After all, from the perspective of the developers, practicality is the key. As long as the core of the product is solid, and its effects are strong, that’s enough.
Focusing on aesthetics, or juggling both practicality and aesthetics, requires extra effort and attention to design and carve. That wouldn’t be giving themselves additional work.
However, this time the situation is special as many people are paying attention to the same event at the same time.
First, they were attracted in by the yet another quarrel between Wizard Palo and Peter Lionel to watch the show and eat popcorn online.
Then they were attracted in by the big spending by Serene Wizard and the masterpiece potion “Regret”, and followed the post asking questions.
Only then were they attracted by the gimmick to pay attention to the Glasswort Series.
When the popularity rises, hot searches come.
When hot searches come, more people with different positions come.
With differing positions, the heated discussion becomes rowdier.
Even Wizard Palo didn’t expect the public opinion on the “Ravensmouth Forum” to be skewed this way.
Lucia Potion Shop did indeed suffer a setback. And it was without even starting to compare sales and reviews.
But the reasons for the setback were somewhat strange.
This was not the effect he wanted.
The look Palo gave to Link had also become somewhat strange.
“What were you thinking when you did this?”
This question suddenly drew the attention of Serene Wizard, Sharia, Tina, Ayla, and Jasmine to Link.
That’s right, what was Link Grande thinking that he understood women so well.
On the “Ravensmouth Forum”, a witch had already claimed that Link Grande is the pharmacist who understands female aesthetics best!
Link opened his mouth, but for a moment he didn’t know how to explain.
He had merely found that there were too few shops that specifically sold women’s products, including clothes, accessories, personal care products, and cosmetics after doing his research.
As for the aromatherapy essential oil, it is more about practicality.
The fragrances and perfumes available in the market, including the signature products of various potion shops, focused too much on practicality from the female perspective.
At that time, Link recalled a hot book app from his previous life, which had countless posts and videos teaching girls how to dress up. Living a refined life beautifully had become a strong trend.
Even yoga pants could become sexy and beautiful.
He thought that even in the Wizard World, where power is respected, women’s nature should also be to love beauty.
Like Serene Wizard, she pays a lot of attention to her appearance.
She is a pharmacist and can make all kinds of personal care and cosmetic products for herself.
But pharmacist isn’t a common profession, there would be many other witches who can’t make personal care and cosmetic products for themselves.
Link was also just trying it out; he never expected that he would become the drop of water that splashed into the boiling oil pan, causing such a boiling public opinion debate.
Seeing Link’s dumbfounded expression, everyone couldn’t help but laugh awkwardly.
Wizard Palo also didn’t dwell on it.
Anyway, most of the anger he had been holding in his heart since the night of the Colosseum has been vented.
The rest will be addressed later..