Advent of the Archmage - Chapter 180

Chapter 180: Fastest Spellcasting Speed in History

 

March 18th

The cold winter had passed, and the warm rays of the sun had once again graced the World of Firuman. When Link opened the window in the morning, he could smell the distinct fragrance of vegetation nourished by the heavy rain last night.

From afar, Link saw that the Willow Forest beside Bryant’s Inspiration Courtyard seemed to be covered with a layer of yellow velvet edges. When the spring breeze blew, the petals would be carried along with the wind like snowflakes in the air. Under the warm embrace of the sun, the moisture in the wet ground continued to evaporate, pushing the petals around in the air. The slow and graceful whirlwind of petals was indeed a sight to behold.

Link also saw many other apprentices who woke up early to view the flowers or for the couples, a romantic getaway on the morning of spring. Some others found a remote spot to concentrate on their magic research. From time to time, crisp and hearty laughter could be heard.

The current East Cove Higher Magic Academy indeed looked a setting from a fairy-tale.

Link involuntarily smiled and looked out from his window for a few minutes before returning to his desk.

He first brought out the Prophet’s white stone and began charging it with mana. It took barely a few minutes for Link’s Mana Points to be completely depleted. A light sound was then emitted, and the material of the stone started to change.

The stone was originally opaque and white in color. However, it had turned into a clear and brilliant crystal with many shining spots sparkling inside it. It was like peering into an endless bounty of stars in the sky.

Link then checked its status.

Prophet’s White Stone (Fully Charged)

State: 100/100

Uses: 3/3

Link heaved a sigh of relief. It is finally charged.

He then took a short rest before picking up the quill to dip it in the pot of ink right beside it. He then started to expand on his space-time thesis.

He had been struck with inspiration last night in his dream. He had to write it out as soon as possible before his memory faded.

The thesis had been expanded to a level that was way higher than before. After six months of tireless effort on Link’s part, the thesis had reached an incredible stage. It was extremely tough to understand and even to the point of being obscure.

The question that inspired this paper was extremely simple. Why would a stone fall?

Every person on the continent should be able to understand this simple problem, and this basic question was the basis of Link’s entire thesis. However, the current state of the thesis had already contained ideas that were almost beyond the intellectual capabilities of a normal human.

Even if Link were to publish his paper to the world, there would only be a handful of people who would be able to understand it.

You could not even understand it even if he gave it to you for free. That was how arrogant the thesis itself was.

This situation was akin to letting an ordinary person on earth listen to a world-class physicist’s deduction process of his theories. One would be lucky enough to recognize all the symbols they were looking at, much less understand the entire speech.

That was the truth about Link’s thesis.

When Eliard came to visit a few days ago, he took a glance at Link’s recent discoveries and gave up after half a minute. He then had a look of frustration on his face.

Herrera also used to be interested in the thesis. She would often request for the newest copy and even discuss with Link about the details of the thesis. However, ever since she got the latest paper a month ago which took her three whole days before she grazed the surface of the contents, she stopped reading the thesis entirely.

It was way too difficult. She felt as though her mind was exploding when she read it. It had turned from being a joyous task to one that was torturous.

Link could only depend on himself now that no one around him would be able to give any constructive comments anymore. He felt like he was walking in a pitch-black wilderness. What will he find and achieve? He had no idea.

After half an hour of deduction, Link arrived at a beautiful formula. It was the perfect expression for a spatial curl.

He admired his work, but his expression quickly turned pained. What a waste! This spatial curl can totally be the basis of an ultra-long-distance transmission machine. However, the required magic compression level is way too high. It is impossible for a human to reach that level of strength alone. They would need a variety of equipment made from extremely high-quality materials. I predict that 10000 gold coins would not even scratch the surface of the cost to build such a transmitter.

He could only temporarily shelf his idea as it would be impossible to realize this dream in the near future.

Link then continued expanding on his thesis and quickly became immersed in the process. He would often frown and had various quirky expressions on his face. Sometimes, he would put down his quill to wonder about the many mysteries he was going to discover, completely neglecting the passage of time.

After a while, Link arrived at another formula. His quill came to a sudden stop as he stared hard at his new product. Around ten minutes later, he broke out in laughter.

“The Gods have blessed me! I have been thinking about how to increase the spellcasting speed of the Titan’s Hand. To think that I have achieved a breakthrough in my thesis!”

Link had already mastered the Level-6 spell Titan’s Hand for a month. However, he had never used it in battle. Even when he was facing the demon in the Girvent Forest, he merely used the Level-5 spell, the Fire God Hand.

The sole reason for that was the slow casting speed. It needed a full five seconds for the spell to be fully formed. Amidst a battle between high-level opponents, this casting speed was simply a joke.

Unless someone was protecting him while he channeled the spell, this Level-6 spell had practically no actual combat value. Furthermore, there would always be shortcomings when one depended on another person for protection. Link hated the feeling when his life depended fully on the performance of others.

Hence, his main aim was to increase the Titan’s Hand spellcasting speed. However, he had not been able to obtain a new Glyph of Soul from the in-game system. This greatly reduced the limit to which his spellcasting speed could be heightened. After half a month of research, he had only hastened the spellcasting time to four seconds.

The breakthrough that he got from the thesis was thus enough to make him ecstatic.

I know of a machine gun Supreme Magic Skill and a Glyph of Soul spell that could be released almost instantaneously. If I can combine them all together with the space dispersion field, I can reduce the casting time to less than a second!

The theory behind this was simple. Link would first release a Fire God Hand enchanted with his Supreme Magic Skill, the Machine Gun. Under the effect of the Glyph of Soul, he could almost release the Level-5 spell instantaneously. He would then cancel the Fire God Hand immediately which would trigger the magical resonance effect of the machine gun, creating a new Fire God Hand spell.

The original cause and effect would be that a Fire God Hand spell would call out another Fire God Hand spell. However, Link’s idea was to make use of the space dispersion field effect to call out a Titan’s Hand spell instead.

This would not be feasible for spells which were completely unrelated. However, the Fire God Hand spell and the Titan Hand spell were two almost homologous spells. It would totally work!

Link wasted no time and began to design the spell immediately.

He was the main architect of the Machine Gun, the Fire God Hand spell, the Titan Hand spell, as well as the space dispersion field. He thus had a good understanding of these respective components and began working quickly.

It took merely two hours for his design to take shape. By then, it was only 10 o’clock in the afternoon.

He checked his Mana Points and realized that it had already recovered to 600 points. Link thought for a moment and drank a mid-level Mana Recovery Potion to recover 500 Mana Points. He then dashed to the Heaven’s Thorn excitedly. He desperately wanted to test out his hypothesis.

If he succeeded in this attempt, he would have made the record for the fastest Level-6 spell in the entire history of Firuman. Even those Magicians who had worn countless equipment that increased their spellcasting speed previously in the game were unable to reduce the spellcasting speed of Level-6 spells to less than two seconds. His hypothesis might allow him to release one almost instantaneously!

The world is really filled with possibilities! Link could not wait to get started.

He made a quick dash to the Heaven’s Thorn. He was now a celebrity in the academy and would attract everyone’s attention.

Many Magicians on the way would greet him to which he replied in kind. He then rushed off at an even faster speed, causing the Magicians on the way to have a perplexed expression on their faces.

“What is Link up to again?” Someone asked.

“He is the kind of person who only thinks about magic all day long. It is pretty boring to be honest.” A beautiful female apprentice pouted.

“I remember you saying that he was charming last time. What happened? Did you get rejected?”

“None of your business!”

Link ignored all those statements and made a beeline for the Mage Tower. He was already panting and gasping for breath when he reached the Heaven’s Thorn. After seeing Selasse, he immediately asked, “Is the sub-elemental pool empty?”

Selasse helplessly said, “Someone just entered. You’ll have to wait for half an hour.”

“Oh…” Link was disappointed. This was the inconvenience of not having a Mage Tower of your own. One would have to wait even to further their own research. This made him desire his own Mage Tower even more.

Link could only wait.

However, Selasse then continued, “The dean had instructed me that if there is a need, you can use the main elemental pool reserved especially for him. It is currently empty.”

Link’s eyes glowed as he said, “Can I really?”

The main elemental pool in the Heaven’s Thorn was Level-9 in strength and was termed the Celestial Pool. It was well-known throughout the entire Norton Kingdom and even the human race. The only other elemental pool that was comparable in strength was the elemental melting pot in the sky city that belonged to the Magician Alliance in the South. This Celestial Pool was usually reserved only for the dean’s usage.

“Of course. It is the dean’s instructions. I’ll bring you there.”

Link hastily followed behind.

The main elemental pool was on the fifth level. Link was dumbfounded by the spectacular sight.

The entire fifth floor was made up almost entirely by the Celestial Pool. The room was 500 square feet in size, and the elements amongst the pool seemed exceptionally concentrated. From afar, there seemed to be no fluctuations in the elements at all, much like staring into mirrors of many different colors. The materials used to ensure the stability of the magic formation were also extremely rare. This spectacular sight almost blinded Link.

In the fire elemental area, Link saw the Fire Star Thorium. In the water elemental area, he then saw the Aquatic Silver that was reflecting sapphire brilliance off one another ever so confidently. The earth elemental area naturally had the Fissure Crystal—they were all extremely expensive materials.

Link could not even begin to estimate the cost needed to create an elemental pool of such scale. This was the hallmark of a kingdom’s strength, and definitely a strategic battle resource. Link had the confidence to build a Level-6 elemental pool from scratch. However, an elemental pool the level of the Celestial Pool was another question altogether. Judging from Link’s current strength, he could merely stare and watch in awe.

Let’s stop thinking about it and start experimenting. Link took a deep breath and stepped into the elemental pool.

Selasse gently closed the door behind Link and immediately was inspired to write a new poem.

He took out his notebook and started writing with fervor.

He is always disheveled, his hair as messy as the beggars outside of town. However, an intellectual brilliance shines through his eyes. Today, he stepped into the Celestial Pool. What miracles will he create? Mortals should not hope to even understand or predict his actions, but simply exalt those that he will bring.

Chapter 181: The Calm Before the Storm

 

In the Celestial Pool of the Heaven’s Thorn Mage Tower.

There weren’t many innovative changes to the structural spell this time, so the whole modification process went smoothly. In merely one hour and a half, Link had completed his Supreme Magical Skills modification on the spell to improve its spellcasting speed.

And now, it was time for him to give it a final test.

Vulcan’s Hand!

As soon as the thought emerged in Link’s mind, the Glyph of Soul caused a momentary stun throughout Link’s body for a fraction of a second, then the spell structure of Vulcan’s Hand emerged fully formed on the surface for the controlling magic seal. Just before the fire elements began to coalesce, Link halted the process abruptly, and in that instance the Machine Gun Supreme Magical Skill took effect and his Mana began to reverberate!

The surface of the magic seal flashed in a dim white light, which was then closely followed by the emergence of the Level-6 Titan’s Hand and the roaring fire elements which then gathered and converged to form a miniature version of the Titan’s Hand.

Link then tested a variety of movements using this miniature Titan’s Hand. Eventually he tried about 200 different movements with it and they were all a success.

It’s finally perfect, thought Link with a smile. After all the experiments, his Mana had been depleted down to less than 200 points. Had he not drunk a vial of potion before, it would’ve been down to zero by now.

Just at the moment when he stopped the spell, a flash of light appeared on the interface. Link took a look at it and discovered that it was a congratulatory notification.

Player successfully broke through the spellcasting speed limit for Level-6 spells. 50 Omni Points rewarded.

Player successfully created a new Supreme Magical Skill—Inter-Spell Resonance. 20 Omni Points rewarded.

With 70 newly earned Omni Points, added to his existing 150 points, Link now had 220 Omni Points. He was always careful not to spend too much of his Omni Points as they might come in handy during emergencies.

“Since you caught me breaking through the limits,” he said to the gaming system, “that must mean that you recorded my spellcasting time. So how long exactly did I take?”

0.65 seconds. You have the potential to decrease it further by 0.1 seconds.

Link was very satisfied with 0.65 seconds. It was fast enough even if he had to fight against a Level-6 Warrior. As for the potential to decrease it further by 0.1 seconds, Link was sure that he would achieve that naturally just by practicing anyway. Thus, Link made a decision to call it a day. He looked at the time and realized that it was only half an hour before noon. He’d been busy all morning, and his stomach began to rumble in hunger, so he left the Celestial Pool to get himself an early lunch.

When he reached the great hall on the first floor of the Mage Tower, Link noticed the servants bringing food to the table. Selasse and the dean’s other disciples were all at the table ready to start the meal.

“Link!” Selasse greeted Link when he noticed him. “Want to have a meal together?”

Link thought it rude to refuse. Besides, it wouldn’t be his first time to dine here at the dean’s Mage Tower, so he went over to Selasse and the rest of the Magicians there and joined them at the table. The servants then promptly provided him with a plate and a set of cutleries.

“Have you been so busy that you can’t even trim your beard, Link?” a Level-5 Magician called Ivan teased.

Link immediately cast a magic mirror and checked himself with it. At a glance his craggy unkempt face with his untrimmed beard made it seemed as if he’d aged ten years in the last month!

“Ah, you’re right!” said Link. “I guess it’s time for me to visit the barber!”

“You can cut your hair anyway you want,” said Selasse, “but don’t completely shave off all of your beard. Otherwise you’d look like a teenaged boy and no one would believe your actual skill level and they might underestimate you!”

The Magicians around all nodded in agreement to Selasse’s remarks. Link felt quite uncomfortable having his beard being the center of attention. He mumbled a few words in acknowledgment then pounced on the bread rolls which had just been served up by the servants.

“I’m starving! Let’s eat!” said Link enthusiastically, eager to change the subject, to which all the Magicians at the table erupted in laughter.

During the meal, a few of them didn’t just talk about magic and spells but chatted about their past experiences as well. All of them were the dean’s disciples and they were all in their prime, the oldest being only 41 years old. With the exception of the poet Selasse, these Magicians were all of Level-4 and above. They’ve all traveled extensively and had seen much of the outside world. Most of them had achieved glorious fame and reputation and were regarded as the Elite Magicians among the human realm.

Link listened keenly to the tales told by these Magicians and gained a lot of new insights from their adventures and rich experiences.

“Have any of you heard,” said Ivan suddenly, “of the rumored signs of a high-level demons in the capital city of Leo Kingdom by the Southern Magician Alliance?”

“How reliable is the rumor?” said Selasse, doubtful of the story’s veracity. If there really were high-level demons, they would’ve caused certain cataclysms that would be hard to miss. Yet, the academy had not heard of such reports recently.

Link’s ears pricked up at the mention of this strange incidence. To his knowledge, no high-level demons should appear around this time. Even if they did, shouldn’t they be found here in Norton Kingdom? Why did they turn up in the South instead?

“Who cares how reliable it was?” said Ivan, who at the time had thought nothing of the rumor other than an amusing hearsay. “It’s none of our business anyway. I hear there were signs of not just one demon, but three of them! And you wouldn’t believe this, but they said one of those demons was so beautiful she managed to charm Wavier’s socks off! You all know the Wavier, the Magician in the South, don’t you?”

“Of course,” replied another Level-4 Magician named Arthur. “He’s the darling of the Magician Alliance!”

“Let me tell you,” continued Ivan with a mischievous smirk, “they also said that Wavier was so besotted with the she-demon that he was soon overcome by lovesickness and didn’t care to sleep nor eat! He’d gotten so thin now that the president of the alliance got so worried his hair turned white within weeks!”

“What a character!” exclaimed Arthur with a hearty laugh. “This Wavier was reported to be a man whose talents the world hadn’t seen in a century, but who would’ve thought that his taste in women was just as unique!”

Several other Magicians broke out in laughter at this remark as they all took this rumor to merely be a funny story. Only Link sat there quietly focusing on the food on his plate. He had, in truth, sank deep into thought and was brooding about the rumor from the South.

A high-level demon beautiful enough to charm Wavier off his wits, mused Link, could it be Celine? Link suspected that this she-demon in the rumors must really be Celine, and the other two must’ve been the demon soldiers her father had ordered to capture her back to the abyss.

Link wasn’t too pleased to hear of Wavier’s lovesick behaviors. He was also greatly disturbed by the thoughts of Celine being all alone while two of her father’s demon soldiers were pursuing her aggressively. If only he could drop everything and run to the South to find her now!

But he knew full well he couldn’t do that. Not while the academy was still shadowed by the threat of the Black Moon Conspiracy and the release of the demon Tarviss. Yet knowing this didn’t make him feel the urge to go to Celine less in any way at all.

After that, when Ivan and the other Magicians had moved on to other topics Link couldn’t pay attention to a word they said any longer. He wolfed down his food, said goodnight to everyone, and left the Heaven’s Thorn alone.

The sun still hung high in the sky when he came out of the Mage Tower. The glorious sunshine and the fact that he had solved the spellcasting problem of the Titan’s Hand had coupled to loosen Link up gradually. He took a walk around the academy for more than ten minutes, then when he walked past a barbershop he was suddenly reminded of Ivan and Selasse’s remarks on his appearance. Celine wouldn’t like to see me looking this haggard either, Link thought. And so, he decided to enter the barbershop and have his hair and beard sorted out somehow.

In the end, Link had his hair cut and his beard slightly trimmed. He now looked as if he could be about 23 or 24 years old. He walked out of the barbershop feeling like a new person, ready to go back to the Mage Tower to continue studying his magic textbooks.

To his surprise, he met Herrera and Rylai on his way back. They were holding hands and strolling towards Bryant’s Inspiration Courtyard, looking as if they were taking a casual stroll after the meal to admire the beautiful scenes of spring.

Rylai called out to Link immediately as she noticed him. Herrera, on the other hand, seemed to see through Link’s worries and anxiety after taking a glance at him.

“You’ve been so busy lately,” said Herrera, “why don’t we take a walk together to the square considering how beautiful the weather is today?”

Herrera thought it would be such a shame if one was to stay cooped up in the Mage Tower when spring had bloomed so beautifully after a season of harsh winter.

After a moment’s consideration Link nodded and agreed to accompany the two women for a walk to Bryant’s Inspiration Courtyard. He needed some time to relax and clear his mind after all, so a short walk wouldn’t hurt.

Once they reached the outskirts of the courtyard, bunches of bright yellow catkins rushed up into view and the fresh fragrance of the newly grown grass and leaves filled the air. Rylai fluttered about the courtyard like a butterfly while Link and Herrera walked slowly behind her, chatting freely.

“The dean told me that you’ve mastered a Level-6 spell,” said Herrera suddenly. “Is it true?”

“Yes, it’s the Fist of Firomoz,” said Link with a nod, seeing no point in hiding it from Herrera. “I’ve managed to modify its spell structure as well.”

Herrera sighed after hearing Link’s reply.

“I have nothing more to teach you, then,” she said. “I don’t think it would do you any more good to keep on staying in my little Mage Tower either. Have you any plans for the future?”

The question had been on Link’s mind a lot lately. As his level continued to increase, his repertoire of spells became more and more complex as well. The East Cove Magic Academy might have a wealth of rare and valuable textbooks, but Link feared they were still insufficient in quenching his thirst for more knowledge. He found that he couldn’t find any books that would answer his questions as easily as he did before. More and more now it was up to his own reasoning and experiments that would solve the problems he faced in magic theories and spells.

Could it be time for him to graduate from this magic academy?

“My estate was almost completely purged of robbers and bandits now,” said Link after a moment of silence. “I think it’s time I leave the academy and focus on building my estate after April 15th.”

Another plan on his mind that he didn’t mention to Herrera was his resolution to go south after the affairs of his estate had been straightened out. He must find Celine somehow.

“Not a bad idea,” said Herrera, half expecting Link’s answer. “The Ferde Wilderness isn’t so far away from here. If there’s any problem at all just send a letter and I will do my best to help you.”

“Thank you, tutor,” replied Link sincerely. Herrera had been a great help to him ever since he started learning magic. He didn’t think it would be possible to advance to Level-6 so quickly had it not been for Herrera’s selfless and patient guidance.

“Don’t mention it,” said Herrera with a gentle smile. “I only did what I should as a tutor.”

Just then, the sound of Rylai’s sparkling laughter reached their ears. When they turned to her direction, they discovered that she was happily playing with a magic kite that a Magician’s Apprentice had just given her.

As they looked further, they saw how there were many other Magician’s Apprentices in the courtyard enjoying themselves with their own magical toys as well. Some had kites just like the one Rylai was playing with, while others brought their own magical dolls or magical pets. Those who were slightly older either took a walk around the square or stood there watching the younger ones play with relaxed and happy faces. Everyone seemed to be basking in the magnificent early spring weather, giving the atmosphere an overall pleasant and cordial air.

Link drank up the jolly sight in front of him with a light heart for a while. But gradually the unnerving anxiety that bubbled underneath began to rise up to the surface, and the sight before him ceased to be pleasant anymore.

In the game in his previous life, Bryant’s Inspiration Courtyard at this moment had become a wasteland with a huge gaping hole in its middle, while the Mage Towers around it that once stood tall and proud had been reduced to ashes and rubbles. All the trees within the area of the academy were leveled to the ground, the fresh blooming flowers were withered and trampled on and the entire ground of the academy was covered in a layer of dark greenish-black aura.

Corpses of dead Magicians were strewn all across the entire area, most of them were too disfigured to identify. Chief among them was the corpse of Anthony the academy’s dean, whose body was riddled with holes because he had burnt his own soul as the last resort to fight against the demon Tarviss. Strangely enough, his body still stood there stiffly, his eyes were now hollow and blackened by the fire that burned his soul, yet they were frozen there, looking over at the scene of the academy’s total destruction before him.

It was a scene full of sorrow and despair.

The East Cove Magic Academy’s obliteration was a huge blow to the Norton Kingdom’s overall strength. Because of this, the kingdom was in shortage of powerful Magicians who would’ve been a crucial strength in the war and the kingdom was so weakened that it collapsed under the Dark Elves’ attacks, never to rise up again.

Will the same thing happen again this time? Link couldn’t help but worry.

Link had no answer to this question. The mission of investigating the Black Moon Conspiracy still remained unsolved in the gaming system, proving that the enemy was still moving the plot forward in ways that Link hadn’t yet discovered.

If the demon Tarviss was released, how will I fight against him? The best thing to do is to lure it out of the academy and kill him then, but will I succeed? Who knows…all I can do is to give it everything I’ve got and fight to the death…

“Link… Link!” said Herrera just as Link was deep in thoughts. “What’s wrong?”

“Huh?” Link was suddenly jolted back to reality. Herrera’s flawless face was illuminated by the brilliant sunlight right in front of his eyes, yet Link could detect a tinge of worry in her expressions.

“It’s nothing,” said Link shaking his head. “I was just thinking about the demon Tarviss. What if…”

“There are no more what ifs about that!” Herrera interrupted, her eyebrows furrowed but she shook her head assuringly. “The academy has undertaken the best security measures. Even if Tarviss was released, we are now well-equipped and ready to face him!”

Link nodded. He was slightly pacified by Herrera’s assurances. He’d changed many things ever since arriving in this world. Besides, he wasn’t fighting alone, there were many powerful people fighting against the forces of darkness just like him. Furthermore, he now had the help of the Prophetic Stone, so there really was no need to worry himself sick.

“Tutor! Aunt Herrera!” cried Rylai as she ran towards both of them with a face that shone with happiness. “Come, follow me! There are Golden Orchids in full bloom over there. They are just the loveliest things!”

A Golden Orchid was a rare plant species that was renowned in Firuman for its beautiful and dignified flowers. It was also the national flower of the Norton Kingdom.

Rylai’s joy and innocence were so infectious that Link and Herrera were soon in a much better mood. They both cast away their gloomy worries for the future and followed the girl with smiles on their faces.

When the future generations looked back at the history of the East Cove Magic Academy through the archives, they would remember this day as the last glimmer of peace and harmony before the dark days that were to come.

The 18th of March, the 1057th year of the Holy Calendar, marked the first day of the war between the Dark Army and the Realm of Light. It was known throughout history as the Spring Night Battle. The day was filled with joy and harmony, but no one knew that it had been the last moments of calm before the monstrous storm that was to hit. Apart from a handful of high-level members in the academy, almost no one knew that there was a looming darkness that was about to engulf the academy and indeed, the whole Realm of Light.

On this fateful night, a diabolical storm swept across the East Cove Magic Academy. Many young Magicians died in their sleep, oblivious to the end of what had snatched their young lives so quickly in the silence of the night. Several Mage Towers that once stood so majestically were razed to the ground.

This was also the day the Magician Link Morani unleashed his unrivaled power for the first time. This battle had thrust him officially onto the stage of warfare between the good forces of light and the evil forces of darkness, marking the day when the first lines of his own epic poem were written down. —Selasse Moormont, historian and Magician of the East Cove Higher Magic Academy.

Chapter 182: The Black Moon Conspiracy

 

Link managed to take a break from his hectic schedule for two hours under Herrera’s invitation. He then returned to the Mage Tower to do some casual reading and even slept early at eight o’ clock. It was a relaxing day.

Link originally thought he could have a good rest all the way till the next morning. However, his heart palpitated at an insane rate in the middle of his sleep. He screamed and sat up immediately in shock.

He then touched the back of his pajamas and found it to be soaked in cold sweat. He could also still feel the effects of the frantic palpitation he experienced. It did not reduce in intensity despite the fact that he had awakened.

Magicians possessed strong souls and would never feel flustered for no reason at all, even more so for powerful Magicians like Link. This sudden outburst of panic must definitely be some kind of premonition. Link’s soul had been strengthened by the God of Light and had reached the level of a sacred spirit. Herrera had personally validated the fact. His intuition to danger was thus unusually strong.

He immediately donned his blue magic robe and opened the curtains to take a look outside. It was completely dark, and nothing could be seen. Link spun and looked at the clock before realizing it was ten minutes to midnight.

At that moment, as Link was starting to get sober, the feeling of panic had begun to subside. If an ordinary Magician were to encounter such a situation, they would probably doubt their own judgment and miss the best chance to escape.

However, Link was different. He was sure that something dangerous was approaching. Seeing no suspicious movements through his window, Link rushed out of his room after taking his wand and Prophet’s White Stone. He then checked his Mana Points.

Only half full at 1500 points? That is not enough! Link wanted to replenish his Mana Points using a mid-level Mana Recovery Potion. However, he put the potion back into his dimensional pendant after some thought.

His Mana Recovery Speed was 200 points per hour. He also had 220 spare Omni Points which would allow him to instantly refill his Mana Points if needed. The potion should only be used if he was left with no choice.

Link headed for the highest floor of the Mage Tower without hesitation. He ran all the way to the top and reached Herrera’s doorstep half a minute later. He then raised his wand and tapped the runes on the door frantically.

The runes started sounding in succession, accurately reflecting the panic in Link’s heart.

“Who is there!” Herrera’s voice was transmitted through the magic runes.

“Mentor, it’s me!” Link shouted.

Ten seconds later, the door opened. Herrera appeared only wearing a nightgown with her hair disheveled, holding her crystal staff defensively. Link noticed that her forehead was also drenched in perspiration, her eyes shining with fear.

“Mentor, you had a nightmare as well?” Link asked. Sudden palpitations and nightmares were premonitions that Magicians would get in the face of impending danger.

Herrera nodded. “I dreamed that the academy was in flames. A few people were laughing wildly, but there were bodies everywhere! It was too terrible!” Herrera’s voice trembled as she spoke. It was clear that the dream was emotionally traumatizing.

Powerful Magicians seldom dreamed. However, once they did, their sightings would often come true, especially those with a strong connection to their life.

Link immediately said, “Mentor, I am afraid this is the Black Moon Conspiracy. We have to take precautions!”

Herrera was startled for a moment but quickly recollected herself. She used a hairband to tie her disheveled hair into a ponytail and tapped her staff lightly on her shoulders. Similar to the time when she gave chase to Bale, her nightgown was immediately replaced by a blue battle magic robe.

Link could not help but catch a glimpse of Herrera’s body once more. Fortunately, he had experience with this spell and immediately shifted his gaze.

Herrera took ten seconds to change before speaking, “Let’s go to the rooftop and see what’s going on.”

“Alright.”

The size of Herrera’s Mage Tower was not huge. However, it was still decent in terms of height. Standing 60 feet tall, one would be able to get a bird’s eye view of the entire academy, apart from the Heaven’s Thorn and the Spiral Mage Tower.

The two of them quickly reached the rooftop. For some reason, the darkness was especially suffocating, and despite being extremely dark, the moon and the stars were not visible. It seemed as though the sky was shrouded in a thick layer of clouds, though closer inspection would suggest that the air did not contain the oppressive feeling usually present during a cloudy night.

It was indeed very strange.

Standing on the rooftop, the two of them cast their views across the entire academy.

“The Eye of the Civet!” A pale, yellow light appeared at the tip of Link’s staff, and two wisps floated into their bodies. Their eyes were then immediately shrouded in a faint amber glow.

The Eye of the Civet

Level-2 spell

Effect: Gives the user cat-like night vision and allows them to see through the oppressive darkness

This Level-2 spell was something that Link learned in his spare time. With his strong magic foundation, he could learn a low-level spell simply in a few attempts. It was not something that would take up a lot of time and effort.

Under the effect of the spell, their field of vision immediately became clear. The academy was displayed as a clear, black and white world.

The Revelation Square that was crowded in the morning was totally empty. The entire academy was also extremely silent. After circling her gaze around the academy, Herrera shook her head, “I see nothing special. What about you?”

Link similarly saw nothing out of the ordinary. However, the rooftop of every other Mage Tower was similarly bustling with activity. People could be seen staring down from the rooftops, and faint magic rays were also present.

“Look, it’s the other mentors; they have also felt the danger!” Link exclaimed.

The East Cove Higher Magic Academy was not a low-level Magic Academy like Flemmings. It was filled with powerful Magicians who naturally had a stronger premonition for danger. However, as they could not figure out the exact source of threat, everyone had gone to the rooftop to observe.

At that moment, a giant light ball appeared above the Heaven’s Thorn. This light ball was like the sun, slowly rising to the point of 600 feet above the ground. This light ball illuminated the entire East Cove Higher Magic Academy.

“Mentor released a giant illumination spell. He had also sensed the danger.” Herrera seemed to have calmed down slightly. With the help of a Leve-7 Magician, the academy should be safe.

Link nodded. It seemed that his warnings were being taken seriously. After the academy went into red alert, their crisis reaction speed had increased exponentially. This was excellent.

In the game, one of the main reasons the academy suffered such a tragic defeat was due to inadequate preparation. When they realized that Magician Bale was dabbling into dark magic, the council immediately went to confront him which caused him to go berserk. Bale then accidentally smashed the seal that contained Tarviss, giving the academy no time to react.

This time, the academy had made ample preparations. There should not be any problems.

In response to the giant illumination spell cast by Anthony, all the other Magicians stopped concealing their magic presence. In an instant, powerful magic fluctuations covered the entire school, much like candle lights in the night.

Herrera also released her full power, causing the air around the rooftop to become distorted. Link estimated that her Maximum Mana would be around 2800 Mana Points. Standing in the midst of this distortion, Link felt as though he was trapped in a heatwave, the constant splitting of images making him dizzy.

This scene was much more intimidating than the one where Bale’s chief disciple Darris tried to exert pressure on him in the corridor. This carried on for about three seconds. After the signal was released, Herrera once again concealed her power, and the air around the rooftop became normal again.

However, the moment the air ripples disappeared, Link felt something was amiss.

Link immediately turned to look at the suspicious area. At the edges where the giant light ball could barely reach, there was supposed to be a white tower. However, other than a ball of darkness, there was nothing.

Link originally thought he was mistaken. After checking it for a few times, he then gasped in horror. The white tower had disappeared

“Where is the white tower?” Link pointed to the general direction while asking Herrera.

“What white tower? Oh you mean the Tower of Azula…hey…where is the white tower?” Herrera exclaimed, clearly shocked by the disappearance as well.

The white tower was not a conspicuous building, especially in the night. However, as much as it wasn’t eye-catching, it could not have disappeared into thin air. The Tower of Azula had imprisoned countless demons and powerful creatures. If anything happened, it would be a total disaster!

When Link and Herrera were still in shock, a ferocious roar could be heard coming from the direction where the Tower of Azula once stood. A huge sonic wave traveled towards the direction of the academy.

“I am finally free!”

Link then saw a 12-foot-tall Giant Cyan Tiger leaping out of the shadows. This tiger was surrounded by translucent cyan flames and ran at breakneck speed. It charged straight towards the academy the moment it was released.

“Little guys, I am here for your brains!” The tiger laughed hysterically, leaving air ripples behind him as he charged at a pace faster than sound. It was an extremely intimidating momentum.

Herrera paled upon seeing this creature. She said in a trembling voice, “It is a Wind Tiger, a Level-6 Magical Creature…”

The tiger itself was not the reason she had such a horrified expression. It was because the appearance of this tiger could only mean one thing —the Tower of Azula was already destroyed.

Sure enough, after the appearance of the Wind Tiger, many shadows emerged, each one of them having a strength equivalent to that of a Level-6 professional. There was a total of 20 shadows that appeared, five of which even had the magic presence of a Level-7 professional.

This was a terrifying sight.

Link felt terrified as well. However, he said optimistically, “Although there are a lot of powerful people, we have our Mage Towers. They will not be able to breakthrough our defenses!”

The moment he said those words, a huge explosion happened on Bryant’s Revelation Square. A huge crater appeared as rubble flew in all directions. An almost suffocating presence could be felt from the crater. This presence was so concentrated it almost felt like a solid object. It was filled with bloodthirst, chaos, and rage. As the presence swept through the Mage Towers, it caused great emotional damage to all Magicians. Even Dean Anthony was unable to escape the wrath of this presence, his giant illumination spell instantly extinguished by this overwhelming force.

Herrera looked as though she was going to faint, muttering, “Tarviss, Level-8 in strength…he has escaped.”

Chapter 183: The Terrifying Giant Demon!

 

At the East Cove Magic Academy.

Because of Tarviss’ sudden appearance, the Magicians of the academy had been rooted to the spot with fear and terror. Even the prisoners who had just broken free from the Azura Tower weren’t pleased with the sight of the demon’s release.

“Lord of Light, what have I gotten myself into?” remarked an escaped Level-6 Magician prisoner. “I’m not staying here!” The Magician then cast a flying spell and took off into the sky, fleeing the scene as far and as quickly as he possibly could.

“I’m no match for this demon,” said another escaped prisoner who was a Level-7 Necromancer. “Gentlemen, let’s hope we never meet again!” Suddenly, a pair of wings flapped open on his back, and he flapped the wings a few times before taking off into the air just like the previous prisoner, leaving the academy within seconds.

The rest of the escaped Magicians responded similarly. They’d finally regained their freedom after being locked away in that damned tower for centuries; there was no way they would act like fools and stay here in the academy and face certain death.

In just a few seconds after the release of the demon Tarviss, only three of the escaped Magicians were left. Of the three, one was Bale who was controlled by Manrod, another was the Level-7 Lich, and the third was a Level-6 Magician.

Oh, and of course there was the roaring magical tiger who charged straight towards the East Cove Magic Academy the moment he gained freedom, hell-bent on getting his revenge. He didn’t retreat for a single step after the appearance of the demon Tarviss. Instead, he was excited to see such a powerful potential ally.

“Excellent,” he said enthusiastically. “I was just in need of a strong ally! You must be the demon Tarviss. Good! I will stand by you tonight, and we’ll devour all of these puny Magicians!”

The magical tiger’s voice was loud enough that all three Magicians at the Azura Tower heard him clearly. They fell into momentary silence after hearing the tiger’s words.

“I bet,” said the Level-7 Lich finally, “the little kitten will get trampled to death by Tarviss soon.

“Haha, no,” said the Level-6 occult Magician. “Lord Tarviss will utilize the tiger’s power while it is still useful. Only when he is no longer of any value to him will he then eat it up.” The occult Magician was only wearing a pair of pants while his upper body was completely naked, exposing a body ripped with muscles and dark brown skin. Countless occultic runes covered his whole body, and his eyes were pure onyx black without any signs of the white of the eyes. These features of his cut a strikingly peculiar figure even among all the other prisoners of the Azura Tower.

Manrod, on the other hand, had little interest in the Wind Tiger’s fate. He stared at the other two Magicians there and laughed.

“I know you,” he said, “aren’t you the Bloodmage Talon?”

“Indeed, I am,” replied the occult Magician with a laugh. “I didn’t expect anyone to still remember me even after two hundred years.”

“Of course you’re still remembered,” said Manrod. “You are, after all, the Magician who sacrificed thousands of souls to the demon god in the Leo Kingdom in the South. You are infamous all over the big continent. Although, I don’t understand why they didn’t completely purge your body and soul…”

“Purge me?” replied Talon with a sneer before continuing with boastful pride. “They wanted to do that, for sure, but they didn’t have enough power to do so. You may think that I’m just a Level-6 Magician, so I couldn’t have been all that powerful. But the Master had bestowed me with an undying soul. That meant that if they destroyed my body, all they would achieve was to unshackle my soul from its bodily prison so I would be invincible and free! Hahaha!”

“Undying soul?” said Manrod, who then nodded. “Not a bad deal at all. Are you staying here for revenge?”

“Why else?” replied Talon. “I’ve been locked up in here for 200 years. Now that I’ve got my freedom back and even got to meet Lord Tarviss—what better time to take sweet revenge?” Then, Talon rushed straight towards the site where Tarviss was emerging.

Manrod then turned towards the Level-7 Lich.

“What about you?” he asked. “Why are you still here?”

The Lich turned around to face Manrod. His bluish ghostly flames in his hollow eye sockets flickered as he let out a cold, mirthless chuckle in answer to Manrod’s question.

“I’m only a casual observer,” said the Lich.

Manrod recognized the Lich the moment he heard his voice.

“You’re Vance!” he said. “The man in the prison who didn’t want to escape!”

“You’re right,” replied the Lich. Suddenly his body was blanketed in a layer of pale white mist, and from the thick mist emerged a hazy voice that said, “I have a feeling that Tarviss will die tonight. I can’t wait to see how he’ll die…”

As he spoke, the Lich’s body gradually faded from view and blended into the mist. Shortly after, the mist itself slowly dissipated. When it vanished completely, the Lich was gone as well.

Manrod knew, though, that the Lich didn’t go anywhere. He was still around here, masking his presence and aura.

“What a strange fellow,” said Manrod with a shrug. He took no notice of the Lich’s words. If Tarviss was alone in facing the attacks from the whole academy tonight, there might’ve been a slim chance of him dying. But Tarviss wasn’t alone. The academy would have to face Manrod as well.

Manrod controlled Bale’s body and rushed straight into the heart of the East Cove Academy, ready to help Tarviss.

Black fog billowed out of the giant gaping pit in the middle of Bryant’s Inspiration Courtyard. Everything that came into contact with this black fog was destroyed—the trees and plants wilted and withered, and even the dirt turned into black ashes. In a short period, the square had completely turned into a blackened wasteland.

Although it was a horrifying sight, this was the best opportunity to attack Tarviss. The Magicians of the East Cove Magic Academy were no cowards. They sensed that it was the best moment to defeat the demon and reacted accordingly.

“Attack!!!”

Then, an eye-catching column of light emerged out of Heaven’s Thorn that focused on the hole in the square—it was a signal for the target of the Magicians’ attack.

Shortly after, a large beam of light with a diameter of more than 10 feet rose from the tops of the six Mage Towers. Each light beam from each Mage Tower was of a different color—there was green, blue, yellow, white, red and gold—each representing a type of element.

These light beams pierced through the clouds and converged 500 feet into the sky into a dark purple beam of light that was about 70 feet in diameter. The power of this combined elemental light energy was so great that the Magicians could feel the warmth emanating from it from the ground. The light beam was so intense that it brightened up the whole sky until the night seemed to have turned to day!

But that wasn’t all.

The position of the light beam was right above the Heaven’s Thorn, where another intense white beam of light emerged and converged with the dark purple beam. Immediately afterwards, a tsunami of Mana fluctuation spread out from this light beam. The whole sky seemed to have become agitated by it, so much so that flocks of birds took up to the sky and fled away from the nearby Girvent Forest while wild animals there were driven to panic in droves as well. Even the inhabitants of the River Cove Town could feel the unsettling vibrations in the air at the time.

This was Anthony’s prepared attack to fight against the demon Tarviss. He had borrowed the power of the six Mage Towers of the academy and his own Heaven’s Thorn’s strength to synchronize and combine into a formidable Level-8 attack spell!

The dark purple light beam in the sky began to oscillate. Then, after two seconds the multi-element light beam of more than 10 feet in diameter struck precisely at the hole in the center of the Inspiration Courtyard.

It was the joint attack that accumulated all the power of the entire East Cove Academy, and it hit directly at the demon Tarviss just as he was still inside the hole before he was completely unfettered—there was no way for him to escape this attack!

But then, an unexpected accident occurred.

When the light beam was half-formed, a strange silvery mirror suddenly appeared in the sky. This mirror was very thin and was almost unnoticeable, but it was far from weak and fragile. Not only did it stop the light beam completely from piercing through it, but the light beam was also reflected on the mirror’s surface, and the direction of the light beam was deflected away from the hole where the demon was chained.

It was now directed towards the Heaven’s Thorn!

Crash!!!

Although the dean, Anthony had cast a defensive spell around the Mage Tower earlier, it was only a Level-7 spell which was as protective as a thin film of soap in the face of the Level-8 combined attack of the entire Magic Academy. The light beam pierced straight through the shield and the Mage Tower and was directed precisely at the Celestial Pool inside.

The Celestial Pool contained a huge reserve of elements which were aggressively agitated by the Level-8 light beam. A series of explosions followed, causing crucial damage to the structure of the Heaven’s Thorn.

Then, under the heavy stares of the Magicians across the academy, the towering Heaven’s Thorn which had stood proudly for hundreds of years was snapped in two from the middle!

A few seconds after that, there was a burst of the dean’s aura. Just before the explosion started, though, the aura then disappeared completely.

“No!!!!” shouted Herrera.

The Elemental Pool was the core of every Mage Tower. The dean must have been in the Celestial Pool in order for him to unleash such an immense burst of aura that Herrera had detected just now. And now that the Elemental Pool of Heaven’s Thorn had been attacked and multiple eruptions had spread throughout the tower from it, something terrible must’ve befallen the dean!

Even Link was shocked by this turn of events. He had felt a sense of relief when he sensed the sheer power of the dark purple light beam and had allowed himself to hope that Tarviss would surely be defeated by this attack. It was, after all, an attack that was on par with a Level-8 spell which was certainly a match for the Level-8 demon. Who was to expect that it would be reflected and redirected to the main source of the academy’s power—the dean’s Mage Tower?

There wasn’t a shadow of a doubt in the minds of everyone present—the Heaven’s Thorn would surely collapse!

“Farewell, Anthony,” said Manrod with a confident smile as he stood in the willow woods watching the Heaven’s Thorn tumbling down from its heights and burn to ruins.

As he spoke, the physical body that he embodied began to rot and wither at a rapid speed. In no time, all that was left was a puddle of blood and gore. Manrod had burned Bale’s soul and thoroughly exhausted the physical and spiritual capabilities of this body to cast a Level-8 spell—the Ultra Reflector.

Ultra Reflector

Level-8

Effects: Reflects and redirects an attacking spell towards the direction that the spellcaster desired. Especially useful against light elemental spells.

With just one move, Manrod had successfully killed Anthony who was the academy’s most powerful Magician and also destroyed the East Cove Magic Academy’s most powerful Mage Tower!

There was now no leader among the East Cove Academy Magicians now. Not only that, but they’ve also lost their strongest attack power. Now, Manrod believed, the Level-8 demon Tarviss would teach them a lesson they would never forget!

Right at the moment, the East Cove Academy Magicians were stunned by the horrific turn of events, a deep, terrifying, earth-shattering voice came out from the big gaping hole in the middle of the square.

“Finally… Freedom!!!!”

Immediately afterwards, a huge hand that was nearly two feet long emerged and clawed at the edge of the hole, sending dust and debris flying. Then, another hand emerged, followed by an unimaginably huge head.

Eventually, a colossal demon whose body was about 22 feet tall stood in the middle of the Inspiration Courtyard. The demon’s skin was ember red, with many fleshy tentacles on his chin. There were countless dark gold magic runes, and his body emanated a black flame-like dark aura while his blood-red eyes reflected a three-foot-long light column.

Although Tarviss had been sealed in the hole for 400 years, his strength was still at Level-8—he was definitely still the strongest and most formidable being in Firuman!

For a time, the entire East Cove Magic Academy fell into an eerie silence. Even the Wind Tiger who had been so bold a few moments ago stopped dead in his tracks and began to instinctively step backwards. The demon might not be that much bigger than it, but he was emanating such an intimidating aura that was simply petrifying!

The demon’s loud voice resounded across the academy. Tarviss apparently still remembered his arch nemesis Bryant as the first thing that came to his mind the moment he was released was to take revenge!

“Where is Bryant?” shouted the demon. “Where is he hiding?”

No one answered his question. The Bloodmage Talon was already kneeling on the ground in front of Tarviss, worshipping him.

Even Herrera herself was shocked witless by this colossal demon. Her eyes were opened wide as she stared haplessly at the demon while Link was at her side repeatedly trying to shake her back to her senses.

“Tutor!” cried Link urgently. “The Mage Tower isn’t safe anymore. We must direct everyone to leave this place!”

Now that the Heaven’s Thorn had collapsed, no other Mage Towers in the academy had enough power to stop Tarviss anymore. If they remained in the Mage Tower, there would only be one outcome for them—death!

And sure enough, just as Link finished the sentence, Tarviss who was getting more and more angry as he got no response to his questions suddenly lunged forward. The dark demonic power around his body had condensed into an unimaginably gigantic black shadow that was about a hundred feet tall. This humongous shadow collided head-on with a Mage Tower nearby.

Crash!!!!

The Mage Tower fell as if it was a toy at the impact of the collision with the demon.

Who could stop such unworldly strength?

Herrera was jolted back to her senses and rushed down the rooftop and began to direct all the Magician’s apprentices in her Mage Tower to flee immediately. In that chaos, she did not notice that Link had not followed her down the rooftop. He stayed there and watched the total carnage caused by the demon Tarviss across the East Cove Magic Academy. He listened to the dying screams that emerged from the collapsed Mage Towers. Then, his eyes began to focus, and all his attention was intensified on one thing.

He was now in the absolutely calm state of spellcasting.

Chapter 184: The Slayer’s Hand??

 

The East Cove Higher Magic Academy, Midnight

Tarviss strode ferociously towards the Pivotal Mage Tower. Along the way, he swung his arms wildly which caused the demonic forces surrounding him to also destroy everything in sight. An ordinary Mage Tower was immediately severed into two pieces, causing the elemental pools to explode and the cries of fear to intensify. The East Cove Higher Magic Academy was in total chaos.

“Bryant, if you continue to hide, I will destroy this place together with the people!” Tarviss shouted.

He naturally didn’t get his response; Bryant was no longer in this world. This made Tarviss even more enraged.

The Mage Towers were not simply standing there and waiting to be destroyed. They were actually retaliating with their offensive magic spells, shooting Level-6 spells towards Tarviss consecutively. However, in the face of a Level-8 demon, these Level-6 spells were merely a bunch of fireworks. They could not even penetrate through the demonic forces that were surrounding Tarviss.

At that moment, every Magician in the academy had the same questions in their mind.

Who could stop this demon? Is Dean Anthony still alive?

Dean Anthony was the psychological pillar of the academy. No one knew whether he survived the assault of the Level-8 spell. The appearance of this terrifying demon had further plunged the Magicians into despair. Many had already given up hope.

But, the truth was that Anthony was still alive.

At the last moment, Anthony teleported away from the Heaven’s Thorn. He was currently around 0.6 miles away from the academy. Although he escaped the majority of the attack, his teleportation spell still took a bit too long to cast. In that moment, he suffered some drastic injuries from the shockwaves of the Level-8 spell.

When the shockwaves reached him, the defensive spell in the elemental pool automatically defended against some of the impact. However, the Level-8 spell managed to penetrate through the barrier and grazed his body, causing his legs to vaporize almost immediately.

He was now lying in the Girvent Forest, gasping for breath from the pain in his legs. He was on the verge of losing his consciousness.

But he persevered.

Five seconds later, Anthony moved. The Legendary staff in his hand glowed slightly and created a pair of wings on his back. He then made these wings vibrate at high speed and flew back to the academy.

He was the dean of East Cove Higher Magic Academy. As long as he was still alive, he had to stop the Level-8 demon causing fear and destruction on his home ground. He had to defeat the demon, even if it meant burning his soul.

There would be something in this world that was worth sacrificing your soul for. To Anthony, the East Cove Higher Magic Academy was his life!

…

The Academy.

The Wind Tiger had long escaped into the Girvent Forest upon Tarviss’ arrival. He had given up all thoughts of revenge and ran for his life.

This demon is slightly scary. I am not his opponent, so I will be better off finding beautiful ladies in the South.

Blood Demon Talon stood and watched from afar. His strength was not sufficient to even take part in this battle. He merely commended, “What great power, Sir Tarviss. Yes, destroy this damn academy!”

Tarviss never got the response he wanted from Bryant and had already descended into insanity. As another Mage Tower came into his field of vision, he saw a pathetic Magician standing on its rooftop.

“Pitiful mortal! Taste my fury!” Tarviss bellowed and widened his steps, charging towards the Mage Tower.

Tarviss envisioned the situation to be as such. He would slam his fist down on the Mage Tower and smash it to smithereens. In the process, the Magician would cry in despair and devastation, the perfect testament to his strength.

That Mage Tower was Herrera’s.

Herrera had already left the Mage Tower together with her apprentice. She held Rylai’s hand tightly and was running as far as she could from the demon. They had no clear destination, all they could think of was to escape.

This was true for all other Mage Towers. Herrera could see many other Magician’s Apprentices on the run.

She suddenly heard Rylai cry out, “Where is mentor? Why is he not here?”

Herrera was taken aback and looked behind her and realized Link was indeed missing. At the same time, she saw the demon rushing towards her Mage Tower.

Herrera instantly panicked. She had no idea where Link went. However, she had a hunch that he was still in the Mage Tower, which was about to get destroyed!

Faced with the overwhelming power of a Level-8 demon, she had no idea what to do.

Just then, Herrera felt an incredible magic fluctuation from the rooftop of her Mage Tower. This fluctuation was extremely terrifying. Its appearance distorted the air a 30-foot-radius around the rooftop. The shockwaves from this distortion went even further, leaving its impact on the soul of every Magician in the academy.

In an instant, all the cries and screams of fear seemed to have vanished.

Even Tarviss did not expect such a turn of events. In his eyes, the Magician on the rooftop was merely an ant, to think that he would suddenly show such incredible strength.

This would probably be how it felt when one stamped down on an ant only to find out that it was a metal nail.

Tarviss halted his advance and asked, “Bryant?”

It had been too long. His memory of Bryant’s power had already blurred. However, the young man standing right in front of him felt somewhat familiar.

There was no reply.

Following the terrifying outburst of energy was an incredible concentration of elemental energy. This attraction force was so great that even the elements in the elemental pools were not spared. Almost all the fire elementals in the academy seemed to be flying towards Herrera’s Mage Tower.

At that moment, the Mage Towers who were casting fire elemental spells onto Tarviss were instantly interrupted. Every fire elemental Magician was also surprised to find that they could no longer cast spells.

A giant fire elemental hand then appeared on the rooftop.

The palm was extremely condensed, looking just like a crimson crystal. It was surrounded by a forcefield and slowly converged into lines of runes which connected themselves to the Magician casting the spell. This palm was so huge that the fingers themselves were 18 feet wide and 60 feet in length. Despite the fact that Tarviss was 90 feet tall, he seemed tiny in the face of this giant palm.

The moment the palm appeared, it charged straight towards Tarviss. It traveled at an incredible speed and was also extremely flexible.

“Bryant, finally!” Tarviss bellowed. He thought that this was his mortal enemy, Bryant and charged headlong into the palm.

The collision caused a large explosion in the air. A huge shockwave spread through the entire academy, and visible white ripples appeared in the air.

Every Magician’s Apprentice covered their ears instinctively. Those who were stronger physical managed to hold their ground and remained standing. However, those who were physically weak fell down upon the impact of the shockwave.

The collision created a blanket of dust which obstructed their vision of the battle scene.

Amongst the dust cloud, sounds of explosions could still be heard. One could only imagine the intensity of the battle going on within. Around half a minute later, the dust cloud dissipated and an illumination spell appeared on top of a pivotal Mage Tower.

Under the illumination of the light, everyone could finally see the battle scene clearly. They were all shocked by the scene in front of them.

The crimson red hand was grabbing Tarviss tightly in its grasp. As much as Tarviss struggled and repeatedly released his terrifying demonic energy, he seemed to be unable to break through of its death grip.

Everyone knew exactly how violent and destructive Tarviss was.

To think that this spell could defeat Tarviss in a battle of strength. What power was this? A Magician who could create such an offensive spell must have been extremely wise! He was definitely a great Magician!

Oh, great Magician!

“In the name of the God of Light, Tarviss is restricted!”

“It did more than restrict Tarviss. It is clear that Tarviss is weaker than this Hand of God!

“Who is this Magician?”

The Magicians who stayed in their respective Mage Towers and were prepared to give up their lives in this final fight against Tarviss got the best view of the situation. They not only had a clear view of Tarviss, but also the Magician who was fighting on par with this demon.

A blue robe could only mean that he was of medium rank. Which middle-ranking Magician could possess such power?

However, someone recognized him from the color of his hair.

“He looks like Link!”

“How can it be? He just used a Level-9 spell! Only a Level-9 spell could have such terrifying power!”

The Magicians were both pleasantly surprised and confused. They could not figure out what happened.

At that moment, the Wind Tiger merely reached the edge of the academy. As he looked behind him and saw the terrifying scene, cold sweat broke out on his forehead. Damn, lucky I didn’t charge straight in. Who would have thought this human infested academy would have a Level-9 Magician? This is even more terrible than the abyss!

Blood Demon Talon who was just praising Tarviss also became speechless.

For a Level-8 demon to lose in a one-on-one battle with a Magician from East Cove Higher Magic Academy—did the Queen of the High Elves come visit?

In the shadows, the Level-7 Magician Vance carefully observed this legendary battle. The blue flames in his eyes seemed extremely agitated, vibrating at a fast pace.

“Ah, what a beautiful spell. I did not think that the academy housed someone like this. It seems like Tarviss is in trouble.” He then left after speaking.

The outcome of the battle had been decided—a Level-9 spell that was cast by a talented combat Magician. There was no way Tarviss could turn the tables around.

Tarviss was boiling with rage. He once again released his power while giving a low rumble, the demonic force that used to surround him visibly getting weaker.

“Get off me!” He shouted as he flailed his arms, trying to push the giant hand apart.

This time, he was successful. The palm opened and Tarviss quickly escaped. He then turned around and charged with full speed towards the Mage Tower where the accursed Magician was residing in.

He might not be able to compare with the Magician’s spells, but he had more than enough power to destroy his physical body.

However, it was clear that Tarviss was naive.

The hand that he just escaped from instantly retreated back to the Mage Tower. While it was returning to the tower, the hand clenched into a fist, and as though it was charged with power beforehand, it punched with full force towards Tarviss.

This blow was inspired by the Fist of Firomoz spell!

Bang! The loud explosion echoed throughout the academy.

Tarviss felt as though a locomotive hit him. He immediately fell to the ground. However, the fist did not stop there. It continued to advance as Tarviss sank deeper into the ground.

Bang! Rumble! Tsssss!

The ground shook and a fissure 90 feet in length, 30 feet wide and 12 feet deep appeared.

This hit was the decisive blow. It destroyed the demonic forces surrounding Tarviss and had completely destroyed his willpower. He lay flat on the ground and was unable to even get up.

Link was still going to finish him off.

The Titan’s Hand descended from above and grabbed tightly onto Tarviss’ body. It then began to tighten onto Tarviss as Link activated the explosion spells he enchanted onto the fire elements in the center of the palm.

This attack was inspired by the Level-5 Flaming Hand spell!

Tarviss was feeling groggy from the previous assault and could not react in time. When he felt physical pain from the attack, it was already too late. The power of the Titan’s Hand had already been heightened to its limit.

Tarviss was extremely clear of the horrific powers of a Level-9 fire elemental spell as he was once a Legendary professional. When he felt the extreme temperature of the hand far beyond the tolerance limit of any lifeform, he knew he was finished.

Under the restriction of the Titan’s Hand and the explosive power of the fire elements, the inner environment of the Titan’s Hand was akin to a high-pressure melting pot currently baking a huge Level-8 demon.

Under the pressure of such extreme temperature, Tarviss’ body began to glow. This was due to the insane amount of fire elements rushing into his body and destroying the integrity of his cells.

He opened his mouth to scream but to no avail. Instead of a loud rumbling sound, flames emerged from his mouth, followed by his eyes, ears, nose and finally his skin.

Around ten seconds later, the fire elementals in the hand were completely used up. The Titan’s Hand then released its grip, and a liquid similar to lava began flowing from where Tarviss once stood. That liquid was the remains of the demon who once terrorized the World of Firuman.

The fact that Tarviss was not vaporized by the heat was a testament to the hardiness of his body.

This was the scene Anthony was greeted with when he finally rushed to the entrance of the academy. The entire academy watched this legendary scene with looks of admiration and disbelief.

Around the debris of the Heaven’s Thorn, Selasse, whose legs were completely squashed by the rubble climbed out with great effort. He then took out his notebook and started writing with trembling hands, My words are pale in the face of such an event. They are completely incapable of expressing my feelings. However, I can confirm one thing. I believe that, in the near future, East Cove Higher Magic Academy will usher in the first Legendary Magician ever since its establishment!

Chapter 185: Conquering the East Cove Academy

 

On the Mage Tower rooftop.

Link leaned back against the railing and almost slumped down to the floor. The process of killing the Level-8 demon might seem easy to an onlooker, but in truth, the attack Link had just unleashed had cost him an unimaginably immense amount of energy that left him completely drained.

Tarviss was incessantly bursting with power, so Link must continuously direct his Mana into the Titan’s Hand to maintain it as well. The Mana consumption rate, in this case, had soared up to 200 points per second!

In less than two minutes of fighting, Link had spent 220 Omni points to obtain an unlimited maximum Mana limit. He then drank two bottles of a mid-level Mana potion. Only then did he manage to kill the demon Tarviss, and even then, the demon had died right before the moment Link completely exhausted his store of Mana.

Mission: Investigate Black Moon Conspiracy (Failed)

Player successfully killed the demon Tarviss. 200 Omni Points rewarded.

These two notifications flashed into his view on the interface. Link now had 200 Omni Points, yet instead of celebrating he didn’t even want to move an inch. He had overexerted himself in draining his Mana, and he was sure that the Mana potion he’d drank was now poisoning his body. All this had left him without even an ounce of energy to lift a finger at the moment. Maintaining a powerful Level-9 spell had been taxing his spirits as well, and he felt it was too much effort to even stay awake.

After some time, Link heard sounds of rushing footsteps approaching. It was followed by a familiar voice that was full of worry and anxiety.

“Link!” said Herrera. “Are you alright?”

Link didn’t have the strength to even turn towards her at this point. All he could manage was curl up his lips slightly in an effort to smile, but before that could happen, he was overcome by a sudden hazy sensation and blacked out immediately. But just before he completely collapsed, he heard Herrera’s panicked voice again.

“Oh no!” said Herrera. “He drank two bottles of Mana potion! The toxins have spread into his bloodstream!”

Herrera had helped him the last time he drank too much Mana potion. She was now in the academy where she could get help from other people easily, so Link was sure that there wouldn’t be any problem for her to help him this time. As a result, he fainted knowing that he was already in safe hands.

…

When Link woke up again, he found himself lying on a bed. He looked around and realized that he was in his room in Herrera’s Mage Tower. He could feel that the bed sheets and the blanket that were covering his body were clean and crisp as if they had been recently changed. They even smelled fresh and fragrant. Link then noticed that he felt fine apart from feeling a little weakened and dizzy.

Link then sat up in the bed and discovered that the clothes on his body had been changed as well. His storage pendant and his protective spell magic ring were both still on his body, while his wand was placed on the table right beside the bed. Just as Link was about to climb out of bed, the door was pushed open, and Herrera walked in. She was pleasantly surprised to see Link already awake and rushed towards him immediately.

“How are you feeling?” she asked with concern.

“Not too bad,” answered Link. By then, he was already out of bed pacing slowly back and forth in the room. “I feel a little dizzy, but that’s about it.”

As soon as he said that, Herrera’s face turned slightly angry.

“Of course you’d feel dizzy,” she said, gently but firmly reprimanding Link. “You overdosed on Mana potions again. This time you didn’t use a spell to freeze your stomach, so the poison had spread into your bloodstream and flowed to the rest of your body. If it weren’t for Master Grenci who managed to cure you with the Hundred Herbs medicine in time, you would’ve surely died!”

Master Grenci was one of the six members of the academy’s high council. He was the best Alchemist in the entire East Cove Magic Academy. A Hundred Herbs medicine was his most treasured possession which was an epic-level poison antidote. It was an item so priceless that no amount of money would be able to buy it, and Master Grenci had treasured it more than any other of his creations.

“I must go thank him personally,” said Link, full of gratitude.

“There’s no need to hurry,” said Herrera. “You can do that once you’ve fully recovered. I hope this will teach you not to do anything so risky next time…but I’m afraid that wouldn’t ever happen.”

Herrera’s eyes began to redden. She knew more than anyone else how dangerous a situation Link had put himself in on that fateful night was. She still shuddered in terror as she thought about it. God of Light only knew how much anxiety this young man, who had no thought of his own safety, had caused her!

Link noticed the genuine concern in Herrera’s expressions and felt both grateful to her and ashamed of himself for having put her through this. He walked slowly to the window and pushed the curtain aside to look out.

The weather was excellent this day. The sky was as bright as a blue jewel, rays of sunlight shone down like a heavenly golden waterfall, basking the whole academy in its shimmering glory and warmth.

From this point of view, Link could see the scars of destruction left by the demon Tarviss on the academy. Several Mage Towers had fallen and were reduced to rubble, and a large number of workers were busy clearing the space. A handful of Magicians stood aside guiding and helping the process with some magic spells. He could hear the sounds of their chattering voices sometimes while the workers were all hard at work sweating profusely; even the Magicians were covered in dirt and dust.

Further away, Link could see that the hole in the middle of Bryant’s Inspiration Courtyard was filled up while some Magicians were busy dispelling the traces of demonic aura left by Tarviss there.

At this moment, the East Cove Magic Academy was just like a wounded old tiger licking its wounds and taking its time recuperating.

“Tutor,” said Link after a while, “the dean…”

It was pure chaos at the time, so Link had no idea what had befallen the dean other than the fact that he sensed the sudden disappearance of Anthony’s aura that night. Still, Link was unwilling to believe that a mighty Level-7 Master Magician would be killed so quickly and easily.

Herrera walked towards the window and smiled gently.

“The dean survived,” she said. “He used Burst to escape in the nick of time. He has lost both of his legs, though.”

“Oh, thank goodness!” exclaimed Link, visibly relieved now. To a soldier, losing limbs would be a great tragedy as they would have some difficulty in taking care of themself. Yet, to a Magician, this was nothing but a cause of mere inconvenience.

“The academy lost six Mage Towers that night,” Herrera continued, “the Heaven’s Thorn was one of them. Nineteen full-fledged Magicians died in battle, 130 Magician’s Apprentices were killed, and countless other people were injured. But in the end, it was not all in vain because the demon Tarviss had finally been killed!”

As she spoke, she turned her head towards Link and her eyes shone with gratitude.

“It was all thanks to you, Master Link!” she exclaimed.

“It was only my duty,” answered Link who was slightly unnerved by Herrera’s gentle and crystalline eyes staring straight at him. “Besides, you are my tutor; you shouldn’t call me Master.”

“I’m no longer your tutor, Link,” she replied. “You have graduated. You are the most outstanding Magician the East Cove Magic Academy had ever produced!”

Link was stunned at Herrera’s generous praise, but then she interrupted him before he could make any reply.

“It’s almost noon now,” she said. “Go put on your Magician’s robe and get yourself ready for lunch.”

“Yes, tutor,” said Link, suddenly realizing that he was quite hungry. He turned around and took a glance at the garnet Magician’s robe laid out on the table. As he approached it, he was immediately taken aback by its superior quality.

“Is this for me, tutor?” he asked incredulously.

He recognized the astounding quality of the robe’s material at a glance. After further inspection, he discovered that it was made with Golden Fire Silk with many mysterious looking magic runes made with the world’s softest Mana-conductive metal, Oester Silver. When he examined it more closely, he discovered that the spell structure on the robe was a Level-6 booster spell called Clear Thoughts.

Just as he was looking at the robe, a notification popped up on the interface.

Flame Controller

Quality: Epic

First Effect: Speeds up the rate of fire element accretion by 50%.

Second Effect: Boosts the resistance towards elemental spells by 100%.

Third Effect: Fixed with the spell Clear Thoughts, which when activated will restore 2000 points of Mana to the caster in five minutes. A gap of 48 hours is required before the spell can be re-cast.

(Note: This is a special gift from the East Cove Magic Academy!)

This was obviously an invaluable robe! For a Magician who had an affinity towards flame and fire like Link, this robe would be like a pair of wings given to an already mighty tiger, which would make him almost invincible! The spell Clear Thoughts would be especially helpful to him because it would greatly compensate for his biggest weakness that was his lack of Mana.

“Of course it is yours!” answered Herrera. “It is a special gift to you in return for saving the academy. The Golden Fire Silk was Master Ferdinand’s prized possession, and the Oester Silver was from the dean. Meanwhile, Master Weissmuller was the one who made the robe with his own hands. And now, the robe is yours.”

Link made no more pretenses to be polite and quickly took off his clothes and slipped into his new Magician’s robe. It felt luxurious against his skin, and the superior style and quality of the robe was even more obvious now that he wore it. Because the robe could accumulate fire elements in the air, Link’s body now seemed to be emitting a faint glow and because the fire elements were gathered on top of Link’s head. It seemed as if Link was wearing a flaming crown.

Link then cast a magic mirror to check how he looked. He was momentarily stunned at the majestic appearance of the robe and even thought that it might look too ostentatious on him. But he changed his mind moments after as he thought there would be no point in keeping a modest appearance now that he’d advanced this far. Besides, the dean, the six members of the academy’s high council, and Herrera herself all wore extravagant robes, so it was no big deal that he was one wearing one himself.

“King Leon had sent a special tailor to help work on the robe as well,” said Herrera, whose eyes shone brilliantly as she laughed. “He’s obviously done an excellent job here.”

Not only was the robe simply gorgeous to look at, but it also enhanced Link’s presence and charisma while also underlining his calm and collected appearance. Link looked undoubtedly like the king of fire in this robe!

After that fateful night, no one questioned the profound acuity Link had on magic spells that involved fire elements. He was indubitably Firuman’s greatest master of fire spells.

“How many days have I been unconscious?” Link asked, suddenly realizing that such a magnificent robe must’ve taken some time to prepare.

“Not too long,” answered Herrera reassuringly, completely understanding Link’s sudden confusion. “Only about three days.”

The academy must’ve exerted enormous efforts in preparing such a Magician’s robe in the short span of three days. Link almost felt as if he’d conquered the East Cove Magic Academy by defeating the demon Tarviss.

Later, Link followed Herrera out of his room and into the hall on the first floor, where Link was faced with a shocking sight.

Anthony, Grenci, Ferdinand, Weissmuller and the rest, not excluding all the Magicians in the academy who were of Level-5 and higher were present in the hall. All 37 people were waiting for Link.

Upon seeing Link, Anthony took the lead in standing up. His wounds had now healed almost perfectly thanks to a Priest’s divine healing spells. He was fixed with a pair of magical prosthetic limbs which allowed him to move just as he always did.

“Our hero is here!” he exclaimed joyously.

Everyone was sitting in the hall initially, but they all rose to their feet immediately upon seeing Link. Then, Anthony took the lead again in giving Link a respectful Magician’s bow which was traditionally performed by a Magician of lower level to a Magician of a higher level.

Link was slightly dismayed by this treatment as he was only a Level-6 Magician in truth. The only reason why he could cast the Level-9 spell, Titan’s Hand was because of the Prophetic White Stone’s help. Meanwhile, the dean was a genuine Level-7 Master Magician, so Link felt he didn’t deserve this kind of gesture at all.

The dean smiled gently as he noticed Link’s obvious unease.

“We are aware that the Prophetic White Stone’s power helped you,” he said, “but, it alone would be useless in the hands of anyone else but you. None of us could control a Level-9 spell, let alone use it to defeat the Level-8 demon Tarviss. But you did it, and you’ve saved us all. That is the truth, and that is all that matters.”

He then turned around and addressed everyone else in the room.

“Make way for Master Link!” he shouted. “Today the seat at the head of the table belongs to him!”

The Magicians in the hall then shuffled aside to make way for Link. On the dining table, he saw that a variety of scrumptious dishes had been laid out. They had obviously got wind of Link’s recovery and made these special preparations just for him.

“Don’t worry, Link,” Herrera whispered, “this is everyone’s way of showing their gratitude to you. You’ve earned their respect.”

Link knew this, of course. He also knew that it would be a sign of disrespect if he were to turn down the dean’s generous gesture.

“Thank you,” said Link, returning the Magicians’ bow respectfully. “I am moved by the generosity you have shown me today.”

He then walked to his seat at the head of the table.

There was neither boastful arrogance nor exaggerated modesty in his expressions. He cut a strikingly calm figure against the backdrop of festive moods in the hall. Overall, he seemed like a man whose maturity far exceeded his young age.

None of the Magicians present were younger than 35 years old. In fact, Herrera who was the youngest there apart from Link was already 36 years old herself, while most of the rest had grey hair and beards. Naturally, they had been worried that the respect shown to such a young Magician would make him vain and conceited.

Just think about it—this was the person who could control an advanced Level-9 spell and defeat the mighty demon, Tarviss. For all they knew, Link could be bloated with pride right now!

But then Link’s actions began to put them at ease. Once he’d taken his seat, everyone started to dine, and the atmosphere relaxed considerably. The crowd began to chat freely about magic and spells and Link himself would say a few words to the dean. In a few minutes, the tension in the air began to loosen, and everyone started to enjoy themselves.

After the meal, the table was cleared, and Anthony suddenly clapped his hand to get everyone’s attention; the air became tense again. Link was surprised and didn’t know what to expect next, but just then, Master Grenci walked up to him and placed a notebook in front of him.

“Master Link,” he said, “this is a notebook that contains all the knowledge I’ve discovered throughout my life. I hope you may find some inspiration from it.”

Then, the rest of the high council members—Ferdinand, Weissmuller, Hanswiser, and Andal all handed each of their own notebooks to Link, all reiterating Grenci’s hope to one day inspire Link.

Link had stood up at this point. He did not refuse the Master Magicians’ gifts. He knew that these contained precious wisdom that could not be found anywhere else in the world. They would be an invaluable help to him in advancing his magic skills.

Link bowed deeply each time he received a notebook. He was aware that this was the highest honor that could be bestowed upon a student of the academy. This meant that he had now been recognized as a stellar Magician by the most respected Magicians in the academy.

By now, although it wasn’t explicitly stated that Link was the best Magician in the academy, the fact that he was presented the notebooks of the Master Magicians meant that he was implicitly recognized as one. Only three other people had ever received such an honor in the long history of the East Cove Magic Academy, and all three of these people had gone on to become the academy’s dean.

In total, Link received 37 notebooks that day. He then bowed to the Magicians again and took out a notebook from his storage pendant and placed it on the table.

“I’ve recorded all of the Supreme Magical Skills that I’ve ever created in this notebook,” he said. “It also contains some of my theories and deductions that I’ve accrued from the first day I started to learn magic. I would like to gift it to the academy so that anyone can read and study them. I hope it might one day inspire you to make new discoveries and advance your magic skills as well.”

“Wow!”

The hall was now echoing in gasps and surprised exclamations by the Master Magicians. They soon erupted into warm applause. They had not expected him to give them anything, yet Link had gifted them with such a priceless item. Naturally, everyone there now found Link to be admirable and deserving of their respect.

There was not a trace of a doubt that Link was a peerless genius. His spells were full of innovation and creativity apart from being incredibly powerful. For that reason, his notebook was without question the most prized possession of the academy. It would be a great help to the Magicians of the academy as they advanced their levels.

Link himself wouldn’t lose anything by giving this away. The Supreme Magical Skills he developed were indeed powerful. If he were to make this knowledge accessible to the Magicians of the academy, then that would only mean that more of them would become stronger and better Magicians who would fight better in the war against the dark forces in the future. That could only be a good thing.

Herrera looked on quietly as the scene unfolded in front of her among the crowd; she was deeply moved inside. She had watched Link grow up from a skinny Magician’s Apprentice in tattered rags who had bloomed into such a powerful and formidable Master Magician who might one day become the next dean in slightly more than half a year. It was nothing short of a miracle.

Still, Herrera knew that as the God of Light’s Chosen One, this was only the beginning. Link would be creating even more miracles in the future, and Herrera couldn’t wait to see what they would be.

What miracles will he make next in the Ferde Wilderness? Herrera wondered with anticipation.

Chapter 186: Only Stones Were Left

 

A loud rumble startled a flock of seagulls casually relaxing on a cliff. On the coast, the crashing waves created a tall water pillar that sprayed water in all directions. Under the shining rays of the sun, a faint rainbow could be momentarily seen.

A few figures with stark differences in height stood on the cliff.

The tall people consisted of Link and the captain of the Flamingo Band of Mercenaries, Jacker. The shorter people were the Yabba race. The leader of the three-man team was called Aberdeen, the supervisor of the waterway development project. The two people standing by his side were his assistants.

This place was located on the East Coast of the Ferde Wilderness called the Tigers Cliff. It was an extremely tall cliff with a concave area 900 feet wide and 90 feet deep in the middle. The slope after the concave area was gentle, making it easy to walk onto the coast from this area.

If this cliff did not exist on this coast, it would have made an extremely good spot to build a port.

In order to develop his territory, Link would require a lot of resources. The most economical and efficient way to do this was through the sea. Therefore, once Link had a basic understanding of the situation, the first thing he did was request the Yabba engineering team to open the seaway.

Staring at the crashing waves, Link asked, “How long will it take to build a usable waterway?”

Previously, all these matters were left in the hands of the Flamingo Band of Mercenaries. Link merely gave some general instructions through letters and did not have a clear picture in his mind. Now that he was personally involved, he would have to inquire the experts and make sure that the project was done to his standards.

Aberdeen knew that the young man in front of him was a gold mine and a powerful Magician. He would not be able to deceive him. Aberdeen then adopted a serious tone and said, “We have already sent divers to explore the area. The whole area within 50 nautical miles from here is filled with reefs. However, only the ones within a 2.5-mile radius from the Tiger Cliff have to be removed. In order to clear up this area, the estimated time will be two months. We have already started, and it will be done in a months’ time.”

A month sounded good.

Link then pressed on, “Do we need to mark a safe sailing route for the area outside of the 2.5-mile radius then?”

Aberdeen patiently explained, “There is no need to. Nowadays, every ship is enchanted with some basic water elemental magic runes. An experienced captain would be able to judge the depth of the water in front of them from the change in the brightness of the runes. As long as the reefs are not too densely populated, they’ll be able to avoid them with ease.”

Upon hearing these words, Link immediately knew that he had complicated the situation in his mind. In the real world, people would often look for the most economical and reliable ways to solve problems. Furthermore, he was a complete novice at sea trade. If he probed too much into the methods of the experts, he might unknowingly make a joke out of himself.

“So what would be the estimated cost?” Link asked. This was something he had to keep track of.

“4827 gold coins. This is an extremely accurate cost. The Yabba race has always been fair in our pricing, especially to our good friends.” Aberdeen patted his chest and quoted an extremely specific number.

Link, on the other hand, had his own ideas. “I would like the harbor to have enough room for expansion as well. If we manage to do well in the future, we would then be able to develop it without much hassle.”

Aberdeen then had an embarrassed expression on his face. “Sir, if that is the case, we will have to level all the stones under our feet. The workload would immediately double …”

“My budget is 10000 gold coins,” Link said as he stuck out one finger with confidence.

“Consider it done.” Aberdeen’s eyes immediately glowed as he spoke.

He then turned around and started discussing with his two assistants. His assistants held a blueprint each in their hands, and after a moment of whispering and flailing of arms, Aberdeen said, “Sir, that would increase the time required by another half a month.”

The addition of work naturally meant that more time was needed. Link nodded without question. The group then walked back along the Tiger Cliff before they went their separate ways. Link then followed Jacker all the way back to the camp on a horse.

Jacker looked like he wanted to say something on the way.

Link noticed it immediately and understood his concerns. He laughed, “Jacker, are you afraid that we will not have enough gold coins?”

This was exactly what Jacker wanted to say. He turned around and looked at the port which was under construction. “Sir, including the money you spent on the port, the total cost for the development of the Ferde Wilderness has already amounted to 30000 gold coins, and this is only the beginning.”

Not long ago, they had just cleared all the bandits out of the area and built a small camp for themselves. In the blink of an eye, 30000 gold coins were spent. The speed at which they were depleting their resources was simply insane!

Jacker had never seen such extravagant spending before. Apart from him, Lucy and Gildern were also horrified, and even Magician Carrido also started having doubts. While Link could indeed earn money with his enchanting skills, it was not enough to keep up with their spending.

They were afraid that Link would deplete all their resources before the Ferde Wilderness could even take flight.

Link laughed, “This is a necessary investment. If we save now, we will only spend more next time.”

Jacker’s lips seemed to move ever so slightly. He was usually a straightforward person, however, some things were really difficult for him to put into words.

Link laughed loudly and teased, “It has only been a few months since I last saw you. What happened?”

Jacker smiled bitterly and decided to confide in Link with a worried expression on his face, “My lord, the Ferde Wilderness is really barren. No place in this area can be used to grow crops. There is also gravel and stones everywhere. Apart from a few weeds, there are no trees and rivers in sight. It is also often a victim of hurricanes, and this barren land provides absolutely no shelter. Can such a place really prosper?”

They originally arrived at the Ferde Wilderness with confidence and passion to develop this land together with Link. However, that was when they were unfamiliar with the situation. In these few months, their enthusiasm had been completely devastated by this desolate land. Food, clothing and even wood had to be transported from other areas. There was no helping this barren hellhole.

Link merely laughed without a hint of worry.

The natural environment of the Ferde Wilderness was indeed lacking. However, if that were not the case, he would never have gotten such a huge piece of land.

Furthermore, the Ferde Wilderness had its benefits as well. Apart from the anti-magic soil, it had an extremely strategic geographical position. It faced the sea and Dawn Island, the home of the High Elves. It had relatively easy access to the southern countries and was close to the capital of the Norton Kingdom in the North. These were acceptable conditions.

As for the natural environment, he simply had to change it.

That would totally be possible in the World of Firuman. As long as one was willing to part with their gold coins, anything was possible. Link currently had 120000 gold coins in his bag. Part of this fortune was earned from his enchanting skills, while 80000 gold coins was the reward from the Magic Academy in the name of helping him develop his territory.

“Relax, Jacker. In ten years, the Ferde Wilderness will definitely turn into a bustling Ferde City,” Link assured.

At that moment, the camp came into sight. Link whipped the horse harshly, signaling it to accelerate towards the camp. Jacker, on the other hand, still saw no hope in the territory. He simply sighed and followed closely behind Link.

The camp was called the Scorched Ridge. Although it was merely a temporary camp, Link still had to spend nearly 6000 gold coins for its construction.

The camp was built on high ground and was enclosed by a circle of tall castle walls built from boulders. There were a total of two gates in the castle wall, one of which led to the sea, while the other opened to the Girvent Forest.

The castle wall encircled an area almost 900 feet in radius. A watchtower was also built at the highest point to survey the surrounding area. Below the watchtower were the wooden huts where the mercenary band and workers lived in.

Link alighted the horse and handed the reins over to the soldier on one side before walking towards a large wooden building.

This wooden building was the administrative building of the camp. It had two stories and covered more than 600 square feet. Link could see working personnel hurriedly entering and leaving the building. As Link approached the building, a studious-looking young man immediately came to welcome him. He was Link’s extremely competent secretary called Joshua. Link had hired him from River Cove Town.

He held a piece of document in his hand and reported clearly to Link, “My lord, the academy has given their reply. This is a handwritten letter from Anthony.”

‘Read it to me,” Link said.

“Yes,” Joshua nodded and continued. “The letter mentioned that your vision is not practical. It is impossible to change the natural environment of the Ferde Wilderness simply by using one Mage Tower. In order to achieve this goal, you need a magic formation formed by at least five powerful Mage Towers with a Master Magician stationed in each one of them. This, similarly, would not be achievable in the near future…the academy can offer to build a Mage Tower for you at half the price, but will be unable to satisfy your request.”

It was indeed not practical. One Mage Tower would cost at least 100000 gold coins to build. Five Mage Towers would then add up to 500000 gold coins. Furthermore, it required a Master Magician to be stationed in every one of those Mage Towers. This plan was insane.

Link walked along while Joshua read the letter out to him. When he reached his study room, he had fully understood the message and sat down with a frown on his face. “That is not good news.”

In order to develop the Ferde Wilderness, the port was a key component. However, the other key component was to change the climate. These were indispensable parts of Link’s plan. The Ferde Wilderness was, on average, hit by four mega-hurricanes and ten smaller hurricanes every year. If this was not changed, it would be impossible for this place to flourish.

A Mage Tower was also an important component in Link’s personal growth. Although he had graduated from the academy, there was no limit to magic research. If he wanted to further his strength, he needed a Mage Tower of his own, preferably one similar to the scale of the pivotal Mage Towers in the academy.

Now that the academy was unable to help him, Link had to find an alternative.

The young secretary then brought out another letter. This letter had a magical imprint on it, suggesting that it was a secret letter. Joshua handed this letter to Link and said, “My lord, this letter just arrived.”

Link cast a glance and realized that the letter had a magic imprint that glowed ever so slightly. The envelope was made from tough bear leather. There was even a self-destruct rune at the back of the envelope. As long as the letter was opened in the wrong way, it would explode. But what was the correct way to open this letter? There were no explanations or instructions.

Link carefully observed the letter and decoded the meaning and position of each rune. After half a minute, he had broken the code. It was a Malfoy style lock that was intricately designed. However, as long as one was familiar with the conditions, they could easily decode it.

A few months ago, Link might have been stumped by this code. However, after reading through the notes given to him by all the Master Magicians in the academy, his magic foundation had reached a new level. This magic rune lock was a piece of cake for him.

After five or six minutes, Link tapped his fingers lightly on the runes and imbued them with different amounts of mana. After tapping the thirteenth rune, all the magic runes instantly disappeared, and the letter automatically opened.

Before he pulled out the letter, Link could not help but wonder, who is playing charades with me? This is pretty interesting.

Chapter 187: The Thousand-Year-Old Lich

 

Link took out the letter and examined the crude map drawn on it. At a glance Link realized that he was very familiar with all the landmarks in it. After closer inspection, it turned out that the map was of the area around Scorched Ridge.

There was a red line on the map that extended southeast from the Scorched Ridge and ended at a place called Shark Bay, where on the map a line of words was written.

I can help you transform the climate in the Ferde Wilderness, but you must come alone. Are you brave enough?

Link couldn’t help but smile cynically as he read those words.

Hmmm…Is this a trick to trap me or is it someone who can’t be seen? Link wondered.

The person who’d sent him this map had used an intricate Malfoy runic lock, which meant that the sender was a Magician and judging by the quality of the runes and the level of the spell used, probably a Level-5 or higher Magician at that.

Such a Magician wouldn’t waste his time pulling a prank on Link.

Besides, Shark Bay wasn’t that far from Scorched Ridge anyway, only about 5 miles on the road, so Link decided he would go there and see what was up.

There was a possibility that he might encounter some dangers there, of course. But he had mastered the spell Dimensional Jump and still had two more chances to use the power of the Prophetic White Stone, he even had 200 Omni Points now, so even if someone had set up a trap and ambushed him, he was confident that no one in this world could kill him easily.

Another possibility was finding someone who really could transform the climate of Ferde Wilderness. Achieving that would mean that a huge chunk of problem Link was facing now would be solved!

With this in mind, Link thought there really was no reason for him not to go and find this mysterious person at all.

It was midday at the time, and the weather was pleasant. Link greeted his clerk Joshua then promptly left the campgrounds alone.

Once he was outside the camp, Link summoned the Fenrir Wolf and almost flew straight to Shark Bay. With the speed of the Fenrir Wolf, he covered the distance of five miles in only about six minutes.

As he approached Shark Bay, a cliff emerged into view. Link hopped down from the Fenrir Wolf and ran up to it. He discovered a ring-shaped beach around the cliff, but there was no one there save for a few seagulls.

Link walked along the cliff but still couldn’t find anyone there. Just as he was starting to get suspicious, he sensed a Mana fluctuation. He quickly turned around and noticed an almost transparent figure emerging from a crack in the cliff stone.

Link understood why this mysterious figure had wanted him to come alone the moment he saw him. Had any normal folk caught a glimpse of this figure, they would’ve been frightened to death by the figure’s appearance.

This figure was a Lich, a pure Lich, whose body was now completely skeletons without an ounce of flesh on it. The bones looked strangely beautiful, though, just like jade stones. In his eye sockets, there were bluish flames from which extraordinary spiritual energy and Mana emanated. From this Link could gauge that he must be at least at Level-7 and was as strong and powerful as Anthony, the dean of the East Cove Academy.

This strength wasn’t enough to intimidate Link, of course. He calmly canceled the Wind Fenrir and walked towards the Lich.

“May I know your name?” asked Link when he was about thirty feet away from the Lich.

Lichs were creatures of darkness, most of them were evil in nature and regarded other lives as their own playthings. Still, Link sensed something special from this Lich. The dark energy he sensed from him was, in fact, pure and serene, just like the tranquility of midnight, and there was not a hint of evil in him at all, completely unlike the aura he sensed from the Necromancer Shade and Bale who had transformed into a Lich previously. Hence, Link decided to stay his hand and approached the Lich.

“I’m Vance,” answered the Lich.

“Huh?” Link thought he had heard of the name somewhere before. He tried to recall it carefully; then something jumped out in his memory. “Are you the person who founded the studies of Battle Aura?”

Was that possible? According to the historical record, the Lich would have to be about a thousand years old to be the founder of Battle Aura studies! Yet this Lich was only a Level-7 Magician, so how could it be possible for him to live so long?

Even Legendary-level figures couldn’t live this long. The king of underground organization Morpheus himself was less than 500 years old, and he was always making sacrifices to the demon god. Why? Because he knew that he would soon expire!

To Link’s surprise, Vance nodded.

“I didn’t expect you to know me,” said the Lich. “What an honor. You must be wondering how I manage to live this long. I’m afraid I can’t explain it to you in detail right here, and now, all I can say is that I made a deal with a demon god in the Sea of Void after committing a deplorable sin and was locked up inside the Azura Tower for the last 400 years.

Demon god was the collective name of low-level gods of darkness, they were usually low-level Demi-Gods, and there were hordes and hordes of them. There were at least a hundred different real names of these demon gods that were known in the dark corners of Firuman. As long as one knew one real name of these demon gods one could summon them through a special ritual and make a deal with them.

These deals were usually sinister and bloody in nature, which meant that Vance’s past wasn’t as clean as his calm aura might suggest.

This was no surprise to Link, though. History had recorded how Vance had tried to study Battle Art and Battle Aura by conducting horrific experiments on live Warriors. He might have been the founder of Battle Art studies, but that didn’t necessarily mean that the method he used to achieve it was acceptable. According to legends he mysteriously disappeared without a trace in the end. Now Link knew that he had actually made a deal with a demon god and transformed into a Lich.

To put it simply, Vance was a mad genius who had committed some questionable deeds but wasn’t purely evil in nature.

Link didn’t mind such a figure, although he was still hesitant to associate himself with him. Still, the Lich had promised to help solve an urgent problem for him in the letter, and he didn’t want to turn him down before at least getting to know him first. After a few seconds of silent contemplation, Link decided not to waste any time beating around the bush here.

“Did you say you can solve the climate problem for me?” Link asked.

Vance chuckled in a hoarse voice when he heard Link.

“I met an interesting young woman in Girvent Forest after escaping from the Azura Tower,” said Vance. “She told me that you are an open-minded young mind who wouldn’t turn me out the moment you see me, that’s why I decided to come here. Apparently, she was right about you.”

“Is that woman called Eleanor?” Link asked. He was considerably alarmed by this revelation. “You didn’t hurt her, did you?” Eleanor had been a good friend to him and had helped him a great deal many times before. Link didn’t want any harm to ever come to her.

Vance shook his head in reply.

“Am I such an evil person in your eyes?” he asked Link. “No, you’ve misjudged me. All I ever desired was to learn the truth. Yes, I may have used barbaric techniques to achieve my goals, but wasn’t it all worth it in the end?”

Link was relieved to hear that Eleanor was fine. That was all that mattered to him. He didn’t care to trouble himself with this old Lich’s past mistakes.

“What do I have to do in return for your help?” Link asked.

“You are a smart one indeed,” said Vance with a laugh. “That made it so much easier. Well, to begin with, I’ve just regained my freedom not too long ago, so I don’t have any wand with me at all. Neither do I have access to any materials to create one…”

It seemed the Lich had seen one of Link’s magic gear and realized that this was one of his fortes.

“That won’t be a problem,” said Link. “I’ll create one for you as soon as possible, and I promise you it will be just as good as my own.” Creating wand wasn’t that big a deal for Link anyway.

“And then,” the Lich continued, “I must first reclaim my underground palace, but that is not something I could ever achieve alone. I need some help.”

“Your underground palace?” asked Link suspiciously. “What happened to it?” Link was beginning to think that the Lich was demanding too much out of him.

“I had been imprisoned for 400 years. At first, I thought the world outside was too noisy and complicated, so I decided to just stay inside the Azura Tower forever. But since I’m out now, I have no choice but to find a place to go. I had once built an underground palace, so I made up my mind to go back there. I discovered, however, that it had been taken over by a group of Necromancers. Their leader is a terrifying Level-6 swordsman Necromancer, and all his underlings are tough as they had mastered the Battle Art that I had developed a long time ago. This Necromancer swordsman even had the control of the magic seal in my underground palace. In short, I could never defeat them alone.”

“But a wand is already worth 20,000 gold coins,” said Link plainly. “And you still want me to help you reclaim your underground palace. Don’t you think you’re asking too much of me?”

Link had achieved some reputation for himself by now. He was sure that even without this Lich’s help he would be able to find another way to solve the climate problem anyway. He could go to the Isle of Dawn, for example, and find help there. The High Elves were renowned for being powerful Magicians, after all, so Link was sure that he would find someone there who could help him.

Vance chuckled and rubbed his bony palms together, making a clunk noise as he did so.

“I may have asked too much,” said the Lich, “but once my underground palace is reclaimed, there would be rewards for you. There weren’t many gold coins there, but there are many magical materials and seven types of Epic-level Battle Art scrolls. I’ve been storing them there for all these years, yet I have no use for them, so if you want, you may choose any of the Battle Art scrolls that you like, or you could just take them all. As for the magical materials, we can divide them equally between us! By the way, this solution I have for your climate problem is in a book I kept in my underground palace, so I must go back there to get it.”

As he heard this, Link’s interest was suddenly piqued. Vance was the founder of Battle Art studies after all, so there was a high chance that he was telling the truth. The seven Epic-level Battle Art scrolls would be of little value to a thousand-year-old Lich like Vance, but to Link, these items would have inestimable value in helping him develop the strength of his troop!

“If what you said is true,” said Link after having weighed the matter for a while, “then we couldn’t possibly defeat them alone. I must find another helper.

An underground palace would be nothing like the outside world. The terrain and interior would be complex and labyrinthine which would hamper his ability to fully exert his magic power. Furthermore, the opponent would be a skilled swordsman who was familiar with the terrain and had developed considerable strength while being backed up by numerous tough underlings. This wouldn’t be an easy battle to win.

The best helper, in this case, would be a strong fighter who wouldn’t be disturbed by the presence of the ghoulish Lich and smart enough to think on his feet.

After much deliberation, Link thought the best person he could find to help them here was Celine, the demon princess. Not only was she a mighty Magician, but she was also experienced in martial skills which would come in handy.

“I don’t have any problem with that,” said Vance. “But how long would you need to find this helper?”

“I’m not quite sure,” answered Link. “She’s in the south at the moment, but I’ll try to summon her. If I get no response, then I might need to go down there and find her myself. My estimate would be about a month.”

“That’s fine,” said the Lich. “I wish you luck in finding her. Oh, by the way, do you happen to have any spare wand that I could use while I’m waiting for the new one?” Vance stretched out a hand towards Link as he spoke.

Link did have a spare wand, although it was far inferior to the main wand that he’s currently using. He had created this crude wand with spare Mithril just to practice his craft, but since Vance seemed to need a wand so urgently, he took it out from his storage pendant and tossed it towards him.

Vance took the wand and tested it with a few simple spells. He seemed to be muttering something under his breath as he cast the spells and the bones of his mouth made a rattling noise as he did so.

“This is the worst wand I’ve used in over a thousand years,” said Vance finally. “But it’s better than nothing, I guess.”

Link didn’t take the Lich’s jeering remarks to heart. He then summoned the Wind Fenrir again and turned towards the Lich.

“I’ll try summoning her the moment I get back,” said Link. “I hope everything goes well.”

“Good,” said Vance. “I’ll be here in Shark Bay for a while. Oh, yes, I’ve been locked up for so long that I’d forgotten most of the Battle Art techniques. But I do remember one—Imperial Conqueror. It’s a fire element, Battle Art. Think of it as a sign of my sincerity.”

As he spoke, Vance handed Link a magic scroll.

Link opened the scroll and glanced at it for a while. He thought it was an exceptional spell, albeit with a ridiculous name.

“It’s a good spell but isn’t the name a bit silly?” said Link.

Vance smiled slyly in reply, and his upper and lower jaw bones clunked and rattled as he did so.

“But those simple-minded Warriors wouldn’t learn it if it didn’t have a name that sounds impressive!” he said.

Link made no reply and hopped onto the Wind Fenrir’s back.

“I will prepare the wand for you as soon as possible,” he said. Then he promptly turned the wolf around and sped back to Scorched Ridge.

Link was the only Magician in Scorched Ridge at the moment because Carrido was in River Cove Town and Eliard had gone back to East Cove Magic Academy. Hence, Link wasn’t worried about anyone sensing any Mana fluctuation he might cause. Once he reached his own wooden cabin, he took out the black feather Celine had given him and cast a small fireball to burn the feather.

The feather burned quietly and slowly in a gray flame. It burned continuously for three minutes; then the flame burst into an intense brightness for a slight moment, then it puffed out and was extinguished immediately.

In the meantime, Link could not sense Celine’s aura at all. This aroused an unsettling concern in his heart.

Link wasn’t a rookie Magician as he used to be. He knew that the burning of the feather was a summoning process that required the receiver to reply to his summoning with their aura. Yet he hadn’t sensed a trace of Celine’s aura at all just now, and this worried him very much

He remembered the rumors he heard about the appearance of three high-level demons in Leo Kingdom and Link’s ever-calm heart was agitated for the very first time.

Had anything bad happened to her? Link wondered. What’s going on with that lovesick Wavier, could he do anything to harm Celine? Something’s not right. I must go down to the south and find her!

Chapter 188: The Chosen Path of Two Genius

 

Although Link had already made the decision to search for Celine in the South, he could not simply leave his territory. The entire development of the area rested on his decisions. He thus had to make some arrangements before he could leave.

This took him three full days. In this period, he left enough gold coins and made basic arrangements of the development plans for the next three months.

Unfortunately, right after he was done with the preparations, the Ferde Wilderness was hit by a huge hurricane. It was an extremely serious one with rumors of people getting swept off their feet. The sea waves crashed violently against one another, and torrential rain terrorized the land. The territory was even greeted by hail. Everyone stayed in at the Scorched Ridge, shivering in their own homes while praying for the blessing of the gods. They were afraid this hurricane would destroy their fragile wooden houses.

Link disregarded the advice of Lucy and the others and stubbornly set out in the abominable weather. He summoned the Wind Fenrir and started charging southwards. Along the way, images of Celine flashed across his mind. His memories of her in the game and in this reality became intertwined.

Aren’t you afraid of me? You know I’m a demon! On the rooftop of the Gladstone City clocktower, Celine teased him while exuding her unparalleled charm.

I can’t choose my birthright. However, I can choose the path I want to take! Celine eyes shone with resolve in the game as she said this sentence.

My father? He is merely a piece of crap in the abyss! She frowned whenever she said this.

Oh, Link, you are really an interesting Magician. I think I might have fallen in love with you. Heh, oh my, did you take that seriously?

Fool, I love to see the dazed expressions of you mortals.

The memories flashed through his mind with unusual clarity. Link felt a fire burning in his heart.

“Celine, I’m coming!”

He accelerated, bringing his speed to a maximum.

The wind roared as he sped into the boundless horizon.

A flash suddenly appeared in the sky as a thunderbolt struck the ground. Hailstones were mixed into the raindrops which mercilessly crashed down upon Link. Despite the protection from the Edelweiss spell, Link appeared to be struggling against the forces of nature. Many times, he would fly off the back of the Wind Fenrir as the view of the terrain was terrible.

After each fall, Link would summon a new Wind Fenrir while in mid-air to prevent himself from getting injured. He would then continue charging forward without reducing his speed.

At that moment, Link was no longer the Magician who shook the world with his name. He was also no Duke or Master of a territory. He was merely a young man following his heart.

There were six countries in the South, each of them on a much smaller scale than the Norton Kingdom. The total size of the six kingdoms was merely 1.5 times that of the Norton Kingdom. In order to defend themselves against the Northern Lions, these six countries formed an alliance called the Southern Free Trade Confederation.

Within the six countries, the Kingdom of Leo was ranked the last in terms of general strength and was also the smallest. It merely covered 800000 square kilometers. However, despite its size, the Magician organization located at the southern districts of its capital, Opal City, had made its reputation throughout the entire Firuman continent. This organization was the Southern Magician Alliance.

Unlike the tall Mage Towers that were preferred by people in the North, the Magicians in the South did not find such structures appealing. Instead, they preferred to build majestic castles.

The Southern Magician Alliance’s base was essentially built from a huge group of castles. It covered an area of 30000 yards and had six pivotal castles set in a six-star array formation. The perimeter of the castle was filled with residential homes, where the workers and merchants with connections to the Magician Alliance lived. There were about 5000 of such people, including servants, coachman, horse trainers, scroll merchants and so on. It looked just like a city of magic. This was where the Alliance’s youngest genius Magician, Wavier, studied magic.

Wavier was 21 years old and had elegant silver hair and eyes. In three months, he was expected to achieve a breakthrough and reach Level-5. This achievement would be an unprecedented one in the history of the alliance. He had hence earned the right to use the Merlin’s Wand.

If all went according to plan, Wavier’s road to success had already been set. His strength would continue to rise, probably even reaching Level-8. If he managed to attain that strength, he would then very likely become the next dean of the alliance.

However, an incident two months ago completely messed up the rhythm of his progress.

Wavier woke up as usual in the morning and ate breakfast casually. Following which, he headed straight to the library in the alliance. He had gotten an epiphany regarding multi-cast spells last night and needed to validate them with the wisdom of his predecessors to ensure that they were viable. He walked into the long corridor outside his room; there were many other Magicians who had woken up early. After seeing Wavier, they all bowed respectfully to which Wavier replied in kind. When he reached the Elottison Square right outside the castle, a sentence caught his attention.

“Did you know the investigation team has returned?” This was from a Magician’s Apprentice.

“Oh, what’s the situation?” Another person asked. Wavier was immediately intrigued and slowed down his pace.

“We sent ten people over, but only three made it back alive! It was said that they found connections between the demons and the Syndicate. That damned group of thieves are covering up the footsteps of the demons.”

“The Syndicate is really disgusting!” Another Magic Apprentice was immediately enraged. He waved his fist in the air.

The two apprentices left after this short conversation. On the other hand, Wavier immediately changed his direction and headed directly to his mentor, Master Hanlott.

Master Hanlott was a Level-6 Magician. However, he was already 60 years old and did not possess as much energy as before; he would only wake up at 9 o’clock every day. Wavier would probably have to wait for a while before he could see him.

Master Hanlott’s room was on the first floor. A young female servant was standing in front of the door. Upon seeing Wavier, she spoke respectfully, “Sir, the master is still sleeping. Please wait a moment.”

“Alright.” Wavier found a seat in the hall and started reading a magic book.

Previously, he could get immersed in a magic book quickly, to the point where he would become oblivious to his surroundings. However, he seemed to be unable to do so today. Two months ago, traces of demons appeared in the capital. He had personally participated in the investigation; one time, he saw a young girl. Despite only getting a glance, he felt as though he was struck by something amazing. The whole world seemed dull when placed beside this beautiful young girl of brilliance and vigor.

After that, he felt as though he was sleepwalking and made many mistakes along the way. Realizing that something was amiss, he voluntarily withdrew from the investigation team. Although the girl was proven to be a demon, it still did not change Wavier’s impression of her.

How can such a beautiful young girl be a demon? Although Wavier’s eyes were stuck onto the magic book, he was replaying images of that fateful encounter in his mind.

It was at an ordinary market in Opal City. The girl was wearing a light blue linen dress and carrying a hand-woven basket. She was bargaining with a few farmers and looked just like a girl-next-door. There were many of such young girls in Opal City—she was just slightly prettier.

However, Wavier was somehow mesmerized by her the moment their gazes met.

The eyes shining with brilliance, the teasing shape of her nose and the way her crescent brows shot up when she noticed him in a daze—it was as though Cupid had shot an arrow right through his heart.

I wonder where she is now? Is she hurt by any of the Magicians? Did she…kill anyone? Many possibilities flashed through his mind. He felt terrible.

Suddenly, a voice rang in his ear. “Sir? Sir?”

“Oh?” Wavier was jolted out of his thoughts and looked up at the servant.

“The master is awake. You may visit him now.”

“Oh, alright,” Wavier replied as he put away the magic book that he had barely read. He followed the servant into his master’s room.

Hanlott’s room was simply decorated. He had never been one that liked extravagance or wasteful designs. Minimalist and a basic lifestyle was something that he had always believed in. His favorite robe was the plain, white robe that he was currently wearing.

The moment he saw his talented disciple, Hanlott smiled. “Sit, my dear lad.”

He liked to call the young Magicians that he was close to lads. He admired the youthful vigor that was emanating from them.

Wavier sat on a wooden stool beside the bed and said, “Master, I heard that the investigative team suffered great losses this time around.”

Hanlott’s face sank upon hearing this news. He nodded. “The demon is strong.”

“Did we kill the demon?” Wavier asked.

Hanlott shook his head. “We seriously injured one of them. However, the demon had two other companions. Despite activating the Sealing Barrier spell, we were unable to stop them from escaping.”

“Did…did they see the female demon?” This was not a question befitting of the situation, but Wavier could not resist.

Hanlott frowned and stared hard at Wavier, speaking in a serious tone, “Young lad, that is a dangerous thought.”

“Master…” Wavier tried to explain himself but was interrupted by Hanlott.

The old man’s face had a strict and grave expression; his eyes shone with the bladed resolve he once had in his youthful days. “Wavier, you have a bright future; do not ruin it! I want you to swear in the name of the God of Light. Swear that you will never be entangled with that demon woman!”

“Master!” Wavier wanted to defend himself, but Hanlott continued staring at him with a stern expression.

In this mental battle, Wavier eventually gave in and whispered, “In the name of the God of Light, I swear, that I will never have any contact with that demon woman. If I ever see her, I will…kill her without any thought.”

Hanlott was finally satisfied. He patted Wavier on the shoulders and said, “Good, young lad. Remember, the more beautiful a demon, the more charming and sinister she is. People who are charmed by these vicious creatures usually don’t have good endings. I do not want my talented disciple to fall under the hands of a demon.”

“Thank you, Master.” Wavier felt slightly frustrated, though he also felt gratitude for his master’s guidance.

“Alright, go focus on your magic research. Try to get to Level-6 fast and become a Master. Don’t let the complacent bastards at East Cove Higher Magic Academy look down on us.” Hanlott said as he patted Wavier on the shoulders as a form of encouragement.

Wavier nodded his head and left Hanlott’s room. When he closed the door behind him, he sighed and felt the energy leaking out of his body. It was as though he had lost something of great importance in his life.

She is a demon; it is impossible between the both of us…forget about it. Wavier shook his head and continued walking towards the library.

…

Opal City, Market. A common residential house.

Although the Magicians had found some of her traces, Celine had not left Opal City, not even the crowded market area. She merely changed her hiding spot.

It was indeed dangerous to stay so close to the Magician Alliance. However, those Magicians were also her guardians. Their presence would ensure that the demons behind her would not do anything rash.

Celine was on the second floor of the house, nursing her injured arm. This was an injury caused by a spiraling magic knife last afternoon. The injury was extremely deep—so much so that the bones were visible. Fortunately, the Magicians had arrived on time and saved her from her predicament. If not, she would have already been sent back to the abyss.

The wound was stained with the aura of the abyss, and the surrounding flesh had been corroded. She had to cut these pieces flesh off quickly, or she would go insane from the effects of the aura.

Using her knife, she carefully chipped at the pieces of rotten flesh around her wound. This was extremely painful, causing her to shiver uncontrollably with cold sweat on her forehead. However, she gritted her teeth and held on until she was sure that all the corroded flesh was removed. Only then did she lean on the wall feebly and sigh.

She briefly tied her hair which was drenched in perspiration and stared at the roof with her pair of beautiful, moist eyes. There was a spider web in the corner of the roof which had caught an unsuspecting bug. Despite the worm’s painful struggle, it seemed to be unable to escape from its predicament. Meanwhile, the spider was closing in on its prey.

Am I the bug who has been caught in the web?

Celine felt devastated. She was all alone in this world in her struggles. Her only friend was all the way in the North and would not be able to come to her aid. She was almost at the limit.

Link, what should I do? A dark-haired young guy seemed to appear right in front of her eyes. At the same time, she seemed to hear his voice whispering, “One cannot choose their own birthright, but they can choose the path they want to take.”

But why is my path so rugged and winding? Celine closed her eyes as a teardrop flowed down her cheek.

Chapter 189: The Story of an Upright Tiger (Part I)

 

Link rushed down to the South from Ferde Wilderness in haste. He crossed the Black River and finally passed through the borders of Leo Kingdom in only three days’ time. He had kept this journey a secret, being careful not to let anyone in the world know of his whereabouts.

Once he reached Leo Kingdom, he slowed down his speed and went through a forest where there were no inhabitants to enter into the heart of the kingdom. Then from there, he hired a carriage and headed towards Opal City where there had been reports of high-level demon sightings.

To conceal his identity, Link put on an extra hooded cloak made of ice bear hide on top of his extraordinary Flame Controller Magician’s robe. He wouldn’t even bring out his wand if there was no need for it. Right now, Link looked nothing more like a wandering Magician.

Leo Kingdom was a rich and prosperous country with expansive mercantile activities. Hence, the roads in the heart of the kingdom were well-paved, safely flat and spacious as well. The roads here were indeed just as good as the King’s Lane in Norton Kingdom, so the carriage had been traveling very smoothly and managed to cover quite a large distance in a short time.

In front of them was a city that was sprawled along a river where from afar, one could see tall spires reaching towards the clouds. As they approached the city, they came up to a stone bridge which looked very narrow but had very heavy traffic. Apparently, one must pay a bridge toll before crossing, which created a bottleneck in the traffic there. It made the movements of the carts and carriages very slow.

Link got bored waiting in the carriage, so he took out the Battle Art scroll Vance had given to him and began to study it. This Epic-level Imperial Conqueror Battle Art was indeed a very advanced technique. Moreover, it had been invented by Vance, the founder of Battle Art studies himself. Yet, Link had never come across this peculiar spell in the game before, and he couldn’t find it in the gaming system’s spell menu either. Thus, Link quickly became engrossed in studying the Battle Art spell.

Tsk, tsk. The deep understanding of the human body and the way in which power is integrated within it is obvious in this spell, Link couldn’t help but think. The founder of Battle Art studies really is unrivaled!

Although this spell was a type of secret spell, Link had a deep interest in the studies of Battle Aura and Battle Art; he found it to be potentially very useful. Lucy, Jacker, Gildern and the rest of the Warriors in his mercenary troop would benefit greatly if they were to be exposed to the proper training and cultivation of Battle Art. Once the strength of his allies advanced further, Link’s own power would naturally increase as well.

After studying half of the scroll, Link began to form his own opinions on the techniques adopted in it.

This is indeed extraordinary, but it would demand too much of the elemental purity of the practitioner. Not only would one need to have exceptional physical strength, one must be mentally strong as well—this would mean that it would take massive amounts of effort to progress.

Link realized further that a practitioner of Imperial Conqueror must have a perfectly honorable nature and not have a trace of darkness in their heart, in addition to a steely and relentless determination. From what Link had observed of the members of his mercenary troop, the total number of people who were suitable for this technique couldn’t be more than ten. Jacker might be able to practice it to its full performance. While the others could attempt it too, their progress would be so limited that they’d only be wasting their energy and time.

This technique’s practicality is just too poor, thought Link. Although it is highly effective in improving individual strength, it doesn’t do much in improving the overall strength of a troop. If only there were a technique that would allow anyone to practice it and use it to develop their skills to a great result—that would be just great!

Improving the strength of ten people by twofold was always better than improving the strength of one person by tenfold. This was a crucial principle that could mean the difference between victory and defeat in a war!

Right at that moment, the idea of creating a common practice method for the mercenary troop began to take root deep inside Link’s mind. It was only a vague idea at this moment though, because he still knew very little about Battle Aura and Battle Art.

Link then continued to study the scroll. Just as he was fully immersed in it, he suddenly heard a loud roar that sounded as if it had been made by a wild beast. The roar was like thunder that reverberated through the air and almost shook the earth. It had come from the forest that fringed the Opal City, and that one roar had caused flocks of birds to flee into the sky.

The ferocity and the intimidating volume of this roar sounded familiar to Link’s ears.

The people in the carts and carriages that were lining up to pay the bridge toll erupted into discussions of what the source of the sound could be, making it harder for Link who was still inside the carriage to listen to the roar clearly. He then threw a silver coin to the coachman and gave him an instruction.

“Lev,” Link called out, “go and ask around about the loud roar just now and find out what kind of beast made that sound.”

“Yes, sir!” Lev was elated by the silver coin. He then quickly dashed off to investigate the matter.

Ten minutes later, Lev ran back with the news he’d gathered.

“My lord,” he said, “people are saying that a magical beast has come to the outskirts of the city. It was said to be a big tiger that stood 13 feet tall. It had arrived a month earlier and had eaten a few people here initially, but it then disappeared without a trace. No one could find it; only roars could be heard coming from the forest from time to time.”

“Is that so?” asked Link, whose curiosity was now deepened. “But why would it behave that way? Are there any other rumors about it?”

“Yes, there are quite a few rumors about it,” replied Lev. “Some people say the rich merchant Olidor had purchased a tiger fur coat made from the fur of this magical beast. Some people say the beast was from the demonic realm and was sent here to scout the situation in this realm. Other people say…”

Lev continued to recount a dozen other rumors he heard from the townsfolk. All turned out to be mere speculation with no real value and a very low possibility of being true. Link couldn’t make head or tails of all this hearsay.

Later, Link paid the bridge toll, and the carriage drove up onto the bridge. When they reached the middle of the bridge, another thundering roar was heard coming from the distant forest. This time, the roar sounded much angrier than the first one and Link thought it sounded even more familiar now.

There mustn’t be many magical beasts in this continent that had the form of a tiger and was this powerful. Link had even encountered one such beast himself a month ago…Wait, he remembered it now!

Could it be the Wind Tiger that escaped from Azura Tower? Although he framed it as a question, at that moment, there was no doubt in Link’s mind that he got the beast’s identity right.

The reason of Link’s confidence was that the Wind Tiger’s strange behavior in the East Cove Academy that night corroborated with this tiger’s odd behavior—if the tiger had been trying to disappear or hide inside the forest, then why was he making so much loud noise all day?

When the carriage had crossed the bridge, there was once again a roaring sound that rang out from the forest. This time, the beast sounded as if it was in pain.

Is it hurt? Link thought with surprise. But who could harm such a mighty beast?

A Level-6 Wind Tiger would have an unimaginably powerful body and formidable combat skills. Moreover, even if it had met an opponent that it couldn’t defeat, it would’ve been able to flee at super speed. Its name wasn’t for nothing, after all. According to legends, a Wind Tiger could move up to 300 miles per hour—that’s twice the speed of Link’s Wind Fenrir. In fact, that’s much faster than a sports supercar!

The carriage was fast approaching the city gates by now. Link suddenly overheard some townsfolk talking about the Wind Tiger near his carriage.

“Did you hear that?” said one of them. “That must be the sound of some powerful master capturing the magic tiger!”

“Did the city mayor hire someone to do that?” replied the other. “No, it can’t be. I haven’t heard of any such rumors.”

“Who cares? As long as that beast remains in the forest, we won’t be at peace anyway. It’s good news that someone finally tried to chase it away or capture. Better yet, I hope someone would kill the beast.”

As they spoke, there was another roar coming from the forest. This time, it sounded even more in pain.

Link was genuinely unnerved now. Someone who could hurt the Level-6 Wind Tiger so much that it would cry out in pain and be unable to flee from must at least be at Level-7!

Even Link knew he wouldn’t be able to achieve such a feat himself. If push came to shove and he must defeat the Wind Tiger, then he would have to rely on the Prophetic White Stone’s power. Even then, he wouldn’t be able to stop the tiger from fleeing!

But are Level-7 Magicians so widespread in Firuman that they can be found anywhere now? Link brooded. He found the matter utterly curious until finally, a possible explanation popped up in his mind.

It can’t be one of the escaped prisoners of Azura Tower, can it?

He clearly remembered that on that day, among the escaped prisoners were a big group of Level-6 Master Magicians. Their number was in total no less than twenty. Apart from them, there were five Level-7 Master Magicians; then, there was one who was able to cast a Level-8 deflective spell. Once Vance was excluded from this total count, there would be four Level-7 Magicians left who were currently at large.

Magical beasts had notoriously hardy physical strength. Their flesh and blood, their bones and their fur were all precious magic materials. It would be no wonder that this Wind Tiger would be targeted since he made no attempt to conceal his presence; he emitted such ear-splitting roars announcing its whereabouts to the world.

Once he thought of it this way, Link thought he must get to the bottom of the matter himself now. Those escaped prisoners were mostly shady characters who’d committed serious crimes against the living. They were also exiled individuals who wouldn’t find a place where they were accepted in mainstream society. These types of people would eventually fall in with the dark forces, which would one day be enemies that Link would have to eliminate.

Even if he couldn’t defeat the opponents now, it’s best that Link investigate the matter and gather as much information as he can now.

“Lev, stop the carriage,” Link ordered. “I’ve reached my destination.” He then opened the front window of the carriage and threw five gold coins to Lev before the coachman could make any reply.

Lev was naturally stunned once he’d seen the gold coins. He stopped the carriage immediately, where Link then hopped out the carriage and walked away. He didn’t enter the city gates, though, but headed instead towards the forest.

Roaaaarrrrr!!!

It was another beastly cry from the forest, although this time it sounded less like a roar and more like a whimper.

Link cast the spell, Cheetah’s Agility on himself to increase his speed and energy. He then concealed his presence with a high-level invisibility spell which masked the sounds of his footsteps, his scent, his Mana as well as rendering his body invisible. Once completed, Link then rushed straight towards the direction where the roars had originated from.

Roaaaarr!!!

Link could sense that the beast was getting weaker now. It sounded as if it was not too far away from him now. Link estimated that the Wind Tiger was probably only a mile away.

Link ran for another three minutes. Then finally, he reached the battle site.

He was at the banks of a small creek in the forest. Trees around him had been uprooted and fell flat to the ground. He could sense that the energy of wind elements and dark elements had recently clashed violently here. There, on the rocky banks of the creek, lay a bloodied tiger, breathing laboriously and struggling to keep itself alive.

Not far away from him stood three people. Two of them were Warriors, each wielding a shield. The remaining one was a Magician shrouded in a thick black fog of dark energy, himself clad in a black cloak that covered his whole body.

The Magician stood right beside the Warriors’ shield, as a rope-like stream of black mist poured forth from his wand and entered into the wounds on the Wind Tiger’s body. The mist corrupted its flesh and blood with its dark, demonic aura.

The tiger was too weak to do anything but groan in pain. It was obviously suffering excruciating pain at the moment, yet it did not struggle or attempt to move at all. It must’ve been completely drained of its energy.

After a while, Link could accurately estimate the levels and strengths of the three men there.

Two of them are Level-6 Warriors utilizing dark Battle Aura, thought Link. That’s something I’ve never encountered before. That Level-7 Necromancer, on the other hand, is definitely a Lich. He’s definitely from Azura Tower, and he’s using a Level-7 Occult transformation spell!

A notification popped up on the interface. Link took a glance and saw that it was a new mission.

Mission: Stop the Occult Transformation

Mission Details: 1. Kill the occult opponents and save the Wind Tiger. 2. Investigate the identities of the three occult opponents.

Reward 1: 100 Omni Points.

Reward 2: Soul Stamp (to be used on Battle Animal)

Well then, thought Link. Having seen the contents of the notification, he then accepted the mission without hesitation.

Chapter 190: The Story of an Upright Tiger?Part II?

 

Forest, Rocky Creek.

The Wind Tiger gasped for breath while he spoke spitefully, “Andrew, I recognize you bastard. Heh, you are clever enough to bring two other helpers. If you had arrived alone, I would have absolutely defeated you!”

“Idiot!” The Necromancer named Andrew sneered and diverted his focus back to demonizing the tiger.

The Wind Tiger had given all hope. He merely said, “Andrew, don’t be too complacent. Don’t think that joining the Syndicate will make you invincible. You are a prisoner of the academy and will be caught by them soon enough! I don’t believe that you can defend against a Level-9 spell!”

Andrew merely mumbled coldly, “The academy is in the North. We are currently in the South; they wouldn’t give chase all the way here.”

The incident at the East Cove Higher Magic Academy was indeed shocking. He was almost certain that the academy would be destroyed when Tarviss appeared. However, the final results of that battle almost threw him off his feet.

It seemed like a genius who possessed the qualities of a savior had appeared in that damned academy and defeated a Level-8 demon single-handedly. Andrew had originally planned to loot the remaining treasures from the academy after the destruction. However, upon hearing the news, he immediately ran southwards without hesitation.

From his knowledge, he was not the only one who had done so. After the terrifying news got around, all the prisoners who managed to escape from the Tower of Azula went as far as they could away from the Norton Kingdom. A good handful of them went towards the Dark Forest, while a majority of them decided to head southwards where the pursuing hands of the academy could not reach.

This was something to be expected. The Magician was rumored to possess Level-9 strength, suggesting that he was only one step from being promoted to a Legend. Furthermore, he was able to defeat a demon, a race that was known for their natural talent in combat.

As much as the prisoners had faith in their skills and battle experience, this power was not something to be trifled with.

The Wind Tiger could feel that the dark forces had begun to corrode his internal organs. While he was already disheartened, he still would not admit defeat and give Andrew the satisfaction.

“If the Syndicate were to extend their influence to help Morpheus attain the rank of a god, you would have to travel northwards. You will then meet him once again.”

“Shut your mouth!” Andrew shouted, looking visibly irritated as he increased the rate of his demonization spell.

“What can you do? What more can you do to me?” The Wind Tiger rebutted. Since he was going to lose consciousness, he was not about to give Andrew an easy time.

A Shield Warrior beside Andrew then whispered, “My lord, do you need me to cut off his tongue?”

Andrew nodded. It was not required for a warbeast to speak. He might as well take away this ability now and save himself the frustration.

The Shield Warrior marched forward with his sword. As he reached the Wind Tiger, he smashed his shield mercilessly onto the tiger’s jaw. Under the full impact of the force, the weakened tiger could only scream in pain, causing his mouth to be wide open. Making use of this chance, the shield warrior then pushed his shield into the open jaw, forcing it to stay open. The scene was extremely brutal.

“I’ll remember you now. You are dead! You hear me?” The Wind Tiger screamed with a muffled voice. Although he still sounded harsh, his eyes were glued to the sword in the Warrior’s hand, his eyes showing a hint of fear.

He had never imagined that a mighty Wind Tiger could suffer such a cruel fate.

“What a sad life I’ve lead! After being imprisoned for 200 years, I returned home only to find my wife and children either missing or dead. Now, I am even going to lose my consciousness and freedom! Why…”

The thought of his miserable fate caused tears to roll down his cheeks. Although his cries sounded weird from the shield keeping his mouth open, the tears were real and visible. The Shield Warrior ignored those cries and stuck his sword deep into the tiger’s throat, prepared to sever the tongue.

At that moment, something happened!

A scream could be heard in the direction behind him. It was the voice of the Necromancer who just joined the team! The Warrior then heard a warning cry.

“Ambush!”

Ambush?

Before he could react, a huge fist had appeared from the side of the stream and was charging towards him at high speed. It was barely visible to the naked eye and was covered in incandescent flames.

As his shield was stuck in between the tiger’s mouth, he was unable to retract in time to defend himself. His sword was also naturally unable to withstand such an attack. At the last moment, the Warrior threw his sword away decisively and crossed his hands in front of his chest while squatting in a stable position. This was the defensive position a Warrior took when they were preparing to release their Battle Aura.

Furthermore, as a pivotal Level-6 Warrior of the organization, he had defensive magic wrist guards on both his left and right arms. He could activate them for a total of three times to defend himself from surprise attacks.

The moment his hands crossed, the magic on the wrist guards was activated. A light tinkering sound could be heard, and a Level-4 circular light elemental shield emerged in between his body and the incoming giant fist.

He had assumed that his Battle Aura coupled with his Level-4 defensive spell and his anti-magic armor would be enough to withstand the collision with the spell.

However, he was wrong.

At the moment when he completed his defensive preparations, the hand changed its form. The spell changed from a charging fist to that of a hand trying to grasp its target. The offensive flames of the hand had also been transferred to the center of the palm.

This hand then gripped the Warrior tightly in its fiery embrace.

The Warrior’s light elemental shield could only defend against single directional attacks. Under such immense pressure from all directions, the protection it offered to the Warrior was close to zero. This had rendered much of the preparations the Warrior had done ineffective. He was totally at a loss when the hand managed to get a grip on him.

In an instant, he could feel his Battle Aura being consumed rapidly by the violent assault of flames. Although his armor had anti-magic properties, it was not strong enough to withstand a Level-6 fire elemental spell. The temperature of the armor rose rapidly and soon glowed with a crimson hue.

As the Warrior thought he was about to meet his doom, the hand released him from its deathly grip and went in the other direction. Along the way, it once again changed form back into a charging fist and collided with a spiral spike spell cast by Andrew.

Spiral Spikes

Level-5 spell

Cost: 700 Mana Points

Effect: Highly Corrosive. Able to corrode 50 ordinary humans instantly in one hit.

Andrew released this Level-5 spell almost instantaneously, a testament to his strength and control over his magic as a Level-7 Magician.

The fire elements in Link’s spell and the dark elements in Andrew’s spell then began to contradict one another in a destructive battle.

A low rumble could be heard from the point of collision. The Spiral Spike disintegrated first as it was the lower level spell. However, the dark energy that erupted after its disintegration had greatly damaged the stability of the flaming fist. The spell eventually collapsed as well and started causing explosions in the area.

Using a low-level spell to deal with a high-level spell was a necessary and basic skill for combat Magicians.

It seemed as though Andrew was successful.

Andrew thought so as well. He pointed to the forest at the side and commanded the Shield Warrior beside him, “He is right there. Charge towards him; I will cover you!”

The Shield Warrior nodded. He had already seen his opponent who was currently hiding behind a large tree. He followed the command and charged forward while holding his shield in a protective stance. A thick and stable layer of dark elemental Battle Aura engulfed his body, and he took courageous strides forward.

However, something horrific happened after he took only a few steps.

The flaming fist that had just disintegrated began to reorganize itself at an insane speed. He did not manage to take any more steps before the fist was fully formed. The familiar incandescent glow once again penetrated through the forest and charged towards him at full speed.

Neither the Shield Warrior nor Andrew were prepared for this.

Who in the world could cast a Level-6 spell in less than half a second?

Andrew had prided himself on being able to cast a Level-5 spell instantaneously. However, the anonymous Magician hiding in the forest completely crushed him in a battle of spellcasting speed.

The fist collided with the Shield Warrior as he was hesitating whether to take any more steps forward.

A loud and dull collision sound echoed through the area.

The dark Battle Aura of the Shield Warrior had served as a defensive barrier against the violent invasion of the flames. However, the Shield Warrior was unable to defend against the powerful impact of the flaming fist that could even break through solid concrete walls.

He flew backwards in the direction of Andrew, who was only nine feet away from him.

Andrew was caught totally unprepared. Before he was hit by the Shield Warrior, he instinctively cast a Level-2 Ice Shield spell.

This low-level spell was smashed to smithereens the moment the Shield Warrior collided with it. However, it managed to absorb some of the impacts and reduce the damage of the impact on Andrew. As the Shield Warrior landed on Andrew’s chest, he could clearly hear the cracking sounds from where he determined was his ribcage.

He was slightly relieved I would have been dead if I was not a Necromancer!

However, the next moment, his relief turned into horror. He could see the flaming fist charging straight at them. His opponent was giving them no time to react and wanted them dead!

Damn it! Andrew pressed the magic ring on his hand, and he was instantly enveloped in a veil of water.

Transportation spell, an essential escape spell that any high-level Magicians needed to have in his arsenal.

This Magician was a monster. He was done with the mission.

In the instant his transportation spell was formed, he saw the Shield Warrior being caught by the flaming hand. He then heard half a scream before he was teleported miles away.

Although he didn’t manage to see it, Andrew could imagine the state of the Shield Warrior after the scream.

The moment he landed safely, Andrew cast his second escape spell without hesitation, The Shadow of the Mist.

Shadow of the Mist

Level-5 Dark Spell

Cost: 653 Mana Points

Effect: Turns the user into a ball of dark energy, giving him unimaginable speed.

Similarly, Andrew cast this Level-5 spell almost instantly. His body turned into a cloud of white mist, and he quickly escaped maneuvering through the woods. Along the way, Andrew could not help but exclaim, “Who was that Magician?

Although his opponent had the upper hand of a sneak attack, they had three people on their side!

Two of them were Level-6 pivotal Shield Warriors from the Syndicate, while he was a Level-7 Magician. To think that the battle would end overwhelmingly in the favor of his opponent with him narrowly escaping and his two other comrades dead. This was too horrifying.

The suppressive atmosphere in the woods, while his opponent was casting his spells, was almost suffocating. This was the second time he felt like this in the 400 over years he had been alive. The first time was 300 years ago when he was facing a young Bryant. He was similarly defeated and had to escape in fear.

Andrew was not the only one in shock. On the riverbed, the Wind Tiger witnessed the entire scene. He spit out the shield that was stuck in between his jaws and swallowed his saliva in fear. He then said with a trembling voice, “Is he the one?”