Advent of the Archmage - Chapter 160

Chapter 160: Monetary Incentive (Part 3)

 

The fourth floor of Herrera’s Mage Tower.

There were a total of 66 tarot cards in Elin’s deck. She divided them into two separate rows, one with 22 cards and the other with 44 cards. They were placed face down on the table in a fan-shaped formation.

As Elin needed a drop of blood for her spell and clearly meant no harm, Link stretched out his hand. She skillfully pricked Link with a silver needle and a drop of blood appeared at his fingertip. The blood then floated in the air and dispersed into a cloud of mist the moment it was directly on top of the tarot cards.

Elin closed her eyes and flailed her hands randomly within the blood mist. From time to time, she would vocalize a few words with a trembling voice. “A…ba…salo…ji…”

If one were to ignore the increasing intensity of the mysterious aura surrounding her, she would look downright insane.

After half a minute, the blood mist hovering on top of the tarot cards split into two portions as though it was alive, each charging straight into a separate row of cards. Elin then opened her eyes. She looked slightly drained and the soft green glow in her eyes seemed to have dimmed greatly. Before she flipped open the tarot cards, she said, “The cards can predict your future. I have heard that you have chosen a barren land as your territory. If you are indeed the Chosen One, the Yabba race would offer you some help in the development of your land.”

“What if I’m not?” Link smiled. If the Yabba race was willing to help, it would exponentially speed up and improve the development process.

The Yabba people were the most outstanding magic mechanics in the world. They had ridiculous achievements in the area of architecture, building a large number of buildings that were magnificent enough to be termed as wonders. Their help would not only improve the quality, but also the speed of Link’s territory construction.

“If you aren’t then the deal is off.” Elin gave a cheeky smile before pulling out the cards selected by the blood mist. She then avoided Herrera’s and Link’s gaze before checking them carefully.

As she flipped open the cards, she explained, “The power of fate is extremely delicate and mysterious. Any minute changes may affect the result drastically. Therefore, I am the only one who can look at this. Wait a minute, this is…” Elin eyes suddenly widened, her gaze alternating between the cards in her hand and Link, who was right in front of her. She looked as if she had seen something incredible.

She had two cards in her hand.

The first card was the main card, showing a bright sun in the middle. This was the best main card anyone could hope for as it symbolized hope, light and inner peace.

The second card was the auxiliary card. This card showed a king holding a scepter, representing authority, passion, sincerity and creativity.

This was also the best auxiliary card!

From all the prophecies Elin had done, these cards were only chosen in extremely rare cases. Even if they were, only one of them would appear, while the other accompanying card would usually be something extremely poor.

Elin, who specialized in the power of prophecy, knew very well that it was almost impossible for these two cards to appear at once. This was due to the innate contradictory properties of these two cards.

If a person had great authority, he was bound to be absorbed into the vortex of power struggle. Coupled with his passion and creativity, it would be almost impossible to achieve inner peace.

This was merely one aspect of the contradiction. A wise person might be able to reconcile the differences between these two cards and find the fine balance. However, there was another important reason that prevented the concurrent appearance of the two cards.

That was the hidden meaning behind this pair of cards.

When the sun, the scepter and the king appeared simultaneously in a person’s fate, it only meant one thing—they would become the Savior!

What was a Savior?

Even when the entire world was on an unstoppable trajectory towards the abyss and every living creature was suffering a tragic fate, the Savior would be the only person that possessed the power to put a stop to the madness!

It was important to maintain inner peace when practicing prophecy spells. Elin had been trained to never show her emotions no matter the results she saw from the cards.

Even when she was predicting her own fate which showed that she would go through great suffering and even the destruction of the entire Yabba race, she only frowned ever so slightly and felt a twinge of sadness in her heart.

However, this was an exception. When the person destined to be a Savior was right in front of her, she could no longer stay calm. This was because her fate, the tragic fate of her entire race could be altered!

After a full 30 seconds in shock, Elin suddenly moved and quickly mixed the cards in her hand into the rest of the tarot cards on the table. She then hastily shuffled the deck to make it impossible for anyone to tell the two cards she had just picked out. Even though he was the Savior, his power still had not fully matured. She had to keep the results of this prophecy to herself in order to protect him!

“What’s the matter, Elin?” Herrera was clearly shocked by her exaggerated actions. What kind of prophecy would make a Level-6 Magician this flustered?

Elin had slightly regained her composure and gave a slight cough before continuing, “I’m sorry, Link. The cards showed that you are not the Chosen One.”

“That is not possible!” Herrera was puzzled. She had seen the brilliance of God in the depths of Link’s soul. “Elin, could you be mistaken?”

Elin was immediately enraged. She shouted with a flushed face, “Do not insult my prophecy magic! It is never wrong!”

“Alright, alright, I’m sorry,” Herrera hurriedly apologized.

Elin did not pursue the matter any further and turned to look at Link, “However, since we are friends, the cooperation might still be possible if you are willing to pay. When I return back to the Yabba Mountains (The hometown of the Yabba race, North of the Norton Kingdom, Adjacent to the Dark Elves Forest), I can still afford to send you a batch of our finest engineers.”

Link thought it was an extremely good plan. He was totally not concerned about the issue of the Chosen One. To him, it was nothing more than a title.

Even if he was the Chosen One, the God of Light would not be able to descend onto the World of Firuman to aid him in battle. If he wasn’t, the game system would still continue to help him navigate through this unfamiliar world. In any case, Herrera was already certain that he was the Chosen One. It was enough to see that the result of Elin’s prophecy was not sufficient to affect her judgment.

As for Elin’s offer to help with the construction of his territory, Link was extremely elated. He nodded in excitement and said, “Money is not a problem. I can fund the construction with my enchanting skills.”

Herrera nodded as well. “Link has outstanding talent in enchanting magic. His enchantment speed is extremely fast and he never fails to create exquisite designs. He is very skilled.”

Elin had no doubt about Link’s abilities at all. She immediately nodded and said, “If that is the case, I will start selecting the engineers the moment I return.”

“Thank you.” Link was satisfied.

“Just a small gesture,” Elin replied. She then fell silent and stared blankly into her deck of tarot cards, huddling in the chair.

Elin’s actions were definitely out of the ordinary. However, Herrera chose to leave her alone and turned towards Link. “You are back early this time. Did anything happen?”

Link nodded and took out a sword, staff and a dagger from his dimensional pendant. They belonged to the Dark Elf Warrior Norisa, Magician Parsons and Assassin Hedel respectively. Lastly, he took out Parsons dimensional bracelet and placed them on the table.

Dark Elves equipment were extremely recognizable by their characteristics. They were always black or bright red in color and would be enchanted with a layer of dark aura.

Herrera’s eyes widened upon seeing this equipment. She asked, “What’s going on?”

Elin, who was in a daze, also took a glance at the equipment before staring back at her deck of cards. However, her tiny ears were already erected, clearly interested in the background of these weapons.

Link then explained in detail his trip back to the Morani castle. As he mentioned about the Black Moon Conspiracy, Herrera already had a tight frown on her face. By the time he reached the part about Demon Tarviss, Herrera was unable to contain her fear anymore and covered her delicate mouth with her hands.

“Tarviss? Didn’t he get banished by the Legendary Magician Bryant?”

It was Link’s turn to feel perplexed. There was a discrepancy between the history he knew and the current timeline. In the game, Tarviss was merely sealed in an unknown area within East Cove Higher Magic Academy. Had he truly been banished in this timeline?

They were two completely different scenarios.

However, it didn’t take him long before he understood. The incident happened over 100 years ago and the story had been passed down through many generations. There was bound to be some deviation from the original. As Herrera had not entered the core layer of leadership in the Magic Academy, it was natural for her to not know the truth.

Link then said, “Why don’t we convey this message to Dean Anthony?”

“We have to; I will go now!” Herrera was flustered. Demon Tarviss was a Legendary creature. If the Dark Elves were successful in releasing him, it would definitely be a catastrophe, probably one that could destroy the entire magic academy.

She immediately stood up and left before turning back to collect the Dark Elves equipment Link had brought back with him. She then turned to Elin and said apologetically, “Elin, I have something urgent to attend to. I cannot accompany you anymore.”

Elin simply smiled and started putting away her tarot cards. Then she jumped down from her chair and said, “That’s fine, please get busy. I should also be returning to the Yabba Mountains as Link probably needs my engineer team soon. Can you let Link send me off?”

“Of course. Link?”

“Yes, master.” Link stood up and respectfully ushered Elin out of the hall, with Herrera following behind. When they reached the first floor, Link saw the merchant, Warter drinking at the bar. He seemed to be enjoying himself.

Link ignored him and continued walking towards the entrance.

When they exited the Mage Tower, Herrera made a beeline for the Heaven’s Thorn while Link accompanied Elin as they walked along the path leading towards the Griffins Railing.

Elin had restored her previous cheeky and cheery demeanor. She smiled at Link and said, “Link, I’ve heard that the Ferde Wilderness is extremely barren. Apart from having no natural resources, there are also all kinds of heinous criminals hiding in the area. Isn’t it very expensive to develop the land there?”

Link threw his hands out helplessly and said, “That is a fact.”

“Do you want me to help you?” Elin looked at Link with a haughty expression. She seemed to think she had a vantage point over Link.

“I think I have the solution to the problem.” Link pretended not to hear her.

Elin pouted, “You’re such a boring man. After all, I am still your senior. It is only polite to give you a gift on our first meeting. This is for you! It can probably sell for some money.”

She made a slight action with her hand and a glowing red metal enveloped by a red mist appeared in her hands. The metal was almost as large as a fist and would occasionally sparkle under the sun.

“This is…a Fire Star Thorium!” Link was shocked.

Chapter 161: Monetary Incentive (Part 4)

 

Fire Star Thorium

Quality: EpicMetal Summary: Fire Star Thorium is the perfect alloy consisting of thorium

and fire elements which act as a superconductor for Mana. It has a very stable structure that makes it ideal as a component for eternal magic seals. It is especially effective for fire element spells!

(Note: It can only be found in Tybo Volcano at the Yabba Mountain Range.)

Not only was there no other place in the world to get Fire Star Thorium, it was also a type of metal that could not be created artificially. It was precisely for this reason that the metal was inconceivably expensive. In the world of humans, only most of the users of the metal were high-level Magicians, and it was rarely available in the mass market.

The metal was priced at 2840 gold coins per ounce in the Magician’s District in Springs City, and it was one of the very few precious metals that was worth more than a thousand gold coins per ounce. Almost no one else other than the high-level Magicians could afford or had any use for such a ridiculously priced item.

What reason would Elin have for bringing out a lump of Fire Star Thorium that was as big as a baby’s fist? Thorium was an extremely dense metal, only a cubic foot of the metal would weigh close to a ton, so that lump of Fire Star Thorium Elin had there must weigh more than two pounds!

At that moment even the ever calm Link was flabbergasted. This lump of Fire Star Thorium must cost at least around a hundred thousand gold coins! Even the annual income of the royal Abel family was only 130,000 gold coins! It was just a gift that was too precious and too expensive for Link to accept in good conscience.

“No, I can’t accept this,” Link said.

This wasn’t just about the gift being too precious. There was no free lunch in the world, so he knew that he would be under some kind of obligation if he received this gift. Although Link wanted the Fire Star Thorium more than anything, he was afraid that he might have to spend all his life to pay for this debt of gratitude.

Nothing could prepare him for the way Elin reacted to his refusal, though.

Elin had been smiling and laughing just moments ago, yet the second she heard Link, her expression changed. She silently put the Fire Star Thorium back in her pouch, then tugged at Link’s sleeve and looked up at him with those pair of eyes that were brimming with tears.

“Why don’t you want my gifts?” she said with a pout. “You despise me, don’t you?”

“…” Link just couldn’t wrap his head around this little dwarf’s moods. One minute she was happy and joking around, and next minute she was crying and throwing tantrums. How would he deal with this girl?

“That’s not… I didn’t mean it that way…” Link tried to explain.

“Yes you did!” Elin then exploded into a loud wail. “Aaahhh…I know you despise me! You must think that I’m too short and I’m too small and that’s why you don’t like me!” Elin’s voice was very loud now, and she’d attracted the wrong attention from everyone around and causing them to misunderstand the situation.

Several Magicians who just happened to pass by had heard Elin’s words and they suddenly gave Link and Elin a peculiar kind of gaze that showed their confusion of the kind of drama going on between the two.

Can humans and dwarves have that kind of relationship? Some people thought. But the size is just wrong…

Isn’t that the famous Link who’s in the limelight recently? How did he attract a dwarf girl?

Morality is dead! That was the idea that came into the head of an old-fashioned gentleman Magician passing by.

Although none of these Magicians had voiced their thoughts, their gazes were enough to express what they were thinking in their heads. Link never thought that he would be caught in such an embarrassing situation, even less so with a powerful Level-6 Master Magician – all because he’d refused her gift!

For a time, Link was so confused that he could neither stand still nor walk away. Once Elin saw how her actions had produced an effect on Link, she smiled mischievously and stopped her crying for a while.

“So, are you going to accept it now?” she said as she leaned forward. “If you still refuse then I’ll keep on making so much noise you’ll be the talk of the town tomorrow.”

“…give it here then,” said Link as he massaged his temple with his fingers. He was considerably shocked at how adept Elin was at getting her way.

Link’s words had just left his lips when he felt something warm touching his hand. He turned to look at it and realized that Elin had slid the lump of priceless Fire Star Thorium into his palm.

The Fire Star Thorium was naturally warm, yet now Link somehow felt as if it was a lump of hot coal and he just wanted to throw it away as far as he could. But then he turned around and saw Elin’s doe-eyed face. Even though he knew that she had faked her crying, he still couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. She had looked genuinely miserable with the tears streaming from those innocent blue eyes, not to mention how childlike she looked when she sniffled with her pert, little nose. She looked nothing like someone who’d just put an act on.

This sight had reminded Link of the tragic history of the Yabba race in the game. He then thought of the fate of this young dwarf who was also the mighty and wise Lady Fortuna, and he could instantly understand the despair she must be keeping hidden behind her tantrums and jibes.

This little girl is a prophet, so she must’ve seen a vision of the future, Link thought. She must’ve seen the unspeakable suffering she must go through, not to mention the catastrophe that would befall her people. What she is doing now is probably her way to find a reliable ally for the Yabba race… But why did she choose me?

The moment this question occurred in his mind Link was reminded of Elin’s strange reactions when she picked out the Tarot cards earlier.

I got it now, that prophecy earlier must’ve proven that I really am the God of Light’s Chosen One. Elin had to conceal the details of the prophecy because she feared the knowledge would disrupt the path of destiny that dictates the events of the future.

When he thought of it this way, all of Elin’s actions before this now seemed logical.

She indicated that she would help me set up a team immediately and created an opportunity for us to be alone to give me this invaluable Fire Star Thorium. Even though she verbally denied my identity as the Chosen One, her actions were more than enough proof that she supports me.

Link sighed as he realized Elin’s true motives. He was reminded of that fire in his soul he felt when he received Lady Fortuna’s blessings from her soul in the game when he completed the last task that she set out for the player.

I must defeat the Lord of the Deep, Nozama!

That was what he thought then. With that strong conviction, he marched forward in the game and eventually led his comrades to successfully defeat Nozama before he descended upon the Realm of Light.

Now that he really was in this world, Link wondered if he would shirk away from such a terrifying mission? No, he would not. It was too late for that now.

That being the case, what reason would he have to refuse the Yabba people’s offer of alliance? Hadn’t his principle in doing things always been to gather as many available helpful forces as possible anyway?

With this thought in mind, Link became calm and the fog in his mind completely cleared away.

He then placed the warm lump of Fire Star Thorium inside his storage pendant. His mood was now back to normal. He even managed to smile a little as he patted Elin’s head gently.

“Don’t worry,” he said, “I will never forget how much you’ve helped me today.”

Can his mind be that sharp? Elin thought with surprise. She could sense the changes in Link’s manners as she raised her head to look up at him. She saw how the eyes that could see through a soul had now turned into a pair of kind and gentle ones. She immediately understood that Link had guessed her true motives.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have forced you, but I…” Elin said no more. She knew that Link understood her sentiments perfectly.

Initially, when she saw the vision of her people’s fate, she suppressed her emotions because she knew that she only had the power to see the future but none to change it. In that case, all she could do was accept the fate.

But now that she found the savior who would rescue the world from eternal darkness, she had begun to hope again. All the emotions she’d once suppressed exploded in one moment when she was acting up a scene just now. To be frank, even Elin herself was surprised at her almost mad behavior.

“You saw it, didn’t you?” whispered Link. He was no longer angry at Elin for what she’d done. If it had been him in her shoes, Link thought he might do something a hundred times worse than what Elin did if it meant he could save his own people.

Elin shuddered for a moment at Link’s question, but she soon found the words to reply him with.

“Will you save us?” she asked.

“To the best of my ability,” replied Link. “The Yabba people are noble. The Realm of Light cannot afford to lose you.”

Link and Elin’s exchange would sound completely mysterious and perplexing to an outsider, but this was a conversation between one person who could see into the future and another person who had experienced the future before after all.

These two had powerful souls as well, so they had no need for many words, as that only accounted for a small part of their communication. Instead, they relied heavily on each other’s gaze, expressions and the intonation of their voices which all conveyed more truthful and sincere information compared to mere words.

Because of that, both of them could now understand each other’s thoughts and feelings, although they did not mention it out loud. The result was that both man and girl were already aware of each other’s meaning, but they haven’t said it out loud yet.

Those few short sentences had set a solid foundation of an alliance between the two, and now Elin had returned to her normal behavior. She wiped her tears with a slight feeling of embarrassment as she followed behind Link to the Griffin’s railing and then stepped onto the Griffin’s back.

“Link!” Elin turned around and called out just as the Griffin was going to take off. “The sun will soon set beneath the horizon, and the light in the sky is nothing but just an afterglow.”

“But the sun will rise again,” replied Link.

Link’s words brought a smile to Elin’s little face, and her crystalline eyes shone again with the vibrancy of life. Although her lips were smiling, there were still signs of tears on her face. At that moment, she looked just as if she had walked out of a painting.

Then, the Griffin took off and rushed into the sky, flying into the distance towards the North. Link stood there watching the Griffin fly further and further away until it was nothing but a black dot in the sky. Only then did he turn away and head back to the Mage Tower.

He now had another valuable item in the storage pendant. This small lump of metal could smash the financial hurdle that prevented him from building his estate in one stroke. But as an enchantment Magician, would he ever use such a priceless material on a magic gear and sell it to someone else? Most definitely not!

I guess it’s time to replace my Star Catcher wand, thought Link. Maybe I’ll improve it a little and replace the Domingo crystal with a more superior crystal. It’s an epic quality wand made with high-quality materials, so it should fetch me at least 20,000 gold coins. Then maybe I’ll create a few pieces of jewelry to sell along with it, and that should cover the initial funds for my estate… oh, right, the merchant from Green Leaf Firm is waiting at the Mage Tower. I’d better get myself a good deal out of him.

Soon, Link was back at the Mage Tower. Warter was still sitting at the bare in the hall on the first floor, and in front of him was indeed a glass of the popular beverage Living Bubbles. Warter seemed to be enjoying himself with the bubbles that jumped around in his mouth.

As for Rylai, she had long gone to one of the tables in the hall and was hard at work studying a magic textbook.

Link had to walk right up to Warter before he realized that Link had returned.

“I’m sorry, sir,” Warter said hurriedly, “are you free to see me now?”

“Yes, let’s go to my room,” replied Link. “We’ll talk there.”

“No problem at all.” Warter then followed behind Link close at his heels.

Once they reached inside the room, Link poured two cups of water and placed it on the table. He then waited for Warter to settle down in his seat.

“I’m guessing my magic gear has caught your attention,” said Link. “Before we move on, I have some questions for you. What is the scale of the Green Leaf Merchant Firm? Also, how do you plan to cooperate with me? Do you have any prominent figures who are your patrons that would guarantee the safety and continuous operation of your business?”

These three points were the most important factors in a business deal in Firuman, and Link’s questions were all scrupulous and necessary. Warter was shocked at how wise this young man turned out to be. He knew just from these questions that no one would ever be able to take advantage or play tricks on Link.

Unfortunately for Warter, though, the Green Leaf Merchant Firm was only active in Springs City. It was basically an unknown entity outside of the capital. Furthermore, the firm only had one patron in the whole kingdom and he was just an old count who might not be able to protect the firm if it was ever faced with any serious threats.

In short, the firm’s network was still in a primitive stage.

Warter began to feel his hopes of cooperating with Link diminish. Nevertheless, he still remained calm and polite with Link and started to tell Link of the history and current status of his merchant firm.

“This is how things stand, Mr. Link…” Warter then went into every detail that concerned his business venture and responded to each of Link’s questions clearly and patiently. When he was finished, he sat upright and expected Link to respond with the simple yet portentous word –”no”.

Link drummed his fingers gently on the table when Warter finished speaking as he considered his options.

“What is your proposal, then?” Link then asked.

The moment these words were uttered Warter immediately knew that he had a chance.

“The moment you hand over your magic gear to me,” he began, “I will pay you at an ordinary market price on the spot. Once it is sold, if there is a premium, I will pay you 10%—no, 15% of the selling price. That is to say, we won’t just sell your creations for free, we would also pay you the additional gold coins we earned as well!”

Link was glad as he listened to the plan. He realized that this was no ordinary money-hungry salesman!

If all Warter wanted was to profit from Link’s magic gear, he would’ve shown him the door right now. Yet this man was a visionary. He wanted to use Link’s magic gear to build up the reputation of his firm and expand his business, and he didn’t mind paying Link a high price as well. A man with such an entrepreneurial spirit was way ahead of his time! Someone like him could end up getting all the gold coins on the continent into his pockets if he was given the right opportunity. Naturally, Link wouldn’t mind giving such a man just that opportunity.

“I want 20% of the profits,” said Link. “That’s not all, though. Your firm’s background is too weak. After joining you, the East Cove Magic Academy will become your firm’s official patron.”

“It’s a deal!” exclaimed Warter jubilantly.

Chapter 162: Anthony’s Confidence

 

Link had just gotten a stable source of income and settled the export for his future magic equipment. This would mean that the initial funding for the building of his territory was solved. He was naturally in a good mood. On the other hand, in the Heaven’s Thorn, Dean Anthony was deeply troubled.

In the parliament hall on the third floor of the Mage Tower, the Dark Elves’ equipment was laid out on a circular table. On the other side of the table sat Anthony and Herrera.

“Premium gold magic sword, an anti-magic dagger and a Spiral Focus Wand. These are all very valuable equipment.” Anthony carefully checked the Dark Elven equipment one-by-one. He then frowned tightly.

“Master, did you find something?” Herrera asked.

Anthony nodded and floated the golden sword gradually towards Herrera. He carefully positioned it such that the hilt was right in front of her eyes.

“Look carefully. Do you see the iris flower carved onto the hilt?”

Herrera took the sword into her hands and squinted her eyes. Indeed, she saw an exquisite and secretive marking of an iris flower. There were even miniscule petals surrounding the marking and each petal was engraved with another set of complex magic runes.

“The magic runes on the petals are extremely complex. This marking is almost impossible to forge. It belongs to the Norigan Familia, one of the three big Silver Moon Families. The dagger and the staff were all engraved with the same marking. These weapons are extremely well-made, probably produced for the core members of the Norigan Familia.”

Anthony then waved his hand and the golden sword floated back towards him. He held the blade of the sword with his two fingers and the hilt with his other hand and did a snapping movement. His hands suddenly glowed with a blinding light and the sword was broken cleanly into two parts the next instant. It was as though he was breaking a loaf of bread.

The fractured surface of the sword was still smooth, showing no signs of violent and deliberate destruction.

Anthony wore the reading glasses hanging on his chest and squinted his eyes, carefully observing the fractured surface. After half a minute, he nodded and did the same with the dagger and staff. He then declared, “The flow of power left certain special traces that could be detected from their weapon. It is often possible to tell the strength of the wielder simply through observation of their weapon. I can determine that the owner of these weapons were all Level-5 professionals.”

“Level-5? Three of them? How did Link achieve victory?” Herrera was shocked. Link merely told her that there were three Dark Elves who were slightly powerful. However, she had never expected them to be this strong!

She had once fought alongside Link and knew his strength first hand, especially his insane spellcasting speed. He once destroyed a huge group of undead Warriors that could easily overwhelm any professional Magician. However, those undead Warriors were merely Level-1 to Level-2 in strength. This time, he was confronted by three Level-5 professionals of different classes. If she was the one in that predicament, she would be lucky enough to make it back alive. How did Link return to the academy as though nothing serious had happened?

Anthony smiled and continued, “You have underestimated him. Look at this sword. The outer layer of the sword shows traces of melted metal. This would at least take the power of a Level-5 fire elemental spell to achieve.”

“Master, are you saying that Link has already mastered a level-5 spell?” Herrera was once again startled. Link had just reached Level-4 a month ago. To think that he had learned a Level-5 spell in just a month.

Anthony kept silent and put down the weapons. He then turned his attention to the dimensional bracelet and quickly found the iris flower marking on it. He then opened the bracelet and saw a magic book in it.

The book was titled Fusion Techniques of Dark Elementals. He then smiled. “This crafty boy took away all the valuable stuff and deliberately left the dark magic book inside to show his innocence. How cunning.”

Anthony then concentrated the fire elements in the air and engulfed the magic book in flames, instantly burning it to ashes.

He then told Herrera, “Link has undoubtedly become a Level-5 Magician. He has at least mastered a Level-5 spell and has the capabilities to stand up to three Level-5 professionals from the Norigan Familia. This can only mean that Link has an extraordinary understanding of magic.”

Anthony’s mind was on the northern battlefield as he said those words.

More than half of the Magicians should have already reached the battlefront. The incident at Jade Street seemed to have thoroughly enraged the king and catalyzed the attack against the Dark Forest. The Magicians of the academy had also participated in the attack.

In the most recent battle, three Level-2 Magicians form the kingdom were engaged in a battle with one Level-3 Dark Elf Magician. It was reported that the Dark Elf Magician managed to escape with heavy injuries despite being outnumbered, killing one Magician and heavily injuring another in the process. The injured Magician also seemed to be in trauma, and would not be able to battle for the next month.

This was almost too embarrassing.

In comparison, Link was so much more valuable.

Anthony could not help but exclaim, “The Kingdom has been too peaceful. The younger generation simply does not have enough battle power. The academy’s goal is to develop Magicians who are both wise and powerful. However, the truth is that very few people are interested in the latter, many of whom do not even know how to apply the knowledge they have learned. The gap between us and the Dark Elves is widening.”

Herrera then reminded him, “Master, Link also mentioned something about the demon, Tarviss. Didn’t he get banished a long time ago?”

This jolted Anthony out of his thoughts. He nodded, “The truth is that he didn’t. He was way too strong and Bryant did not have the power to banish him back to the abyss. He could only choose to seal him away, and the sealing spot is none other than the East Cove Higher Magic Academy.”

As the dean, he was well informed about the secrets the academy kept through the generations. The information regarding Tarviss was one of them.

This gave Herrera a shock. She said, “Link mentioned that the Dark Elves were planning to break the seal and destroy the academy. This is the essence of their Black Moon Conspiracy. Master, is this situation very serious?”

Strangely enough, there was not a hint of worry on Anthony’s face. He shook his head, “That is not possible. Even I do not know the exact location of the seal. The location had been lost through the generations. If I do not know, there is no way the Dark Elves could know.”

“What if they chanced upon it?” Herrera was still worried.

Anthony smiled and shook his head once again. “Even if they got the exact location, they would not be able to break the seal. The power of the seal is extremely strong. The academy has a total of 36 Mage Towers and every single Mage Tower is a part of the seal. Unless the Dark Elves have the capability to destroy half of these Mage Towers, the seal will definitely remain intact.”

This would mean that the Dark Elves had to destroy 18 Mage Towers. Every Mage Tower at least had a Level-4 Magician residing within, and the total number of official Magicians in the academy was well above 200.

Furthermore, Dean Anthony’s predecessors had been strengthening the defense of the academy every generation. One such example was the massive Level-7 defensive magic formation that could be instantly activated.

This defense was almost unassailable. Even if all the Dark Elf Magicians from the Silver Moon Alliance came, the academy would still be able to hold its ground.

This was the source of Anthony’s confidence.

“This Black Moon Conspiracy is purely a plan that the Dark Elves took for granted. There is no need to worry too much about it. What we should focus on now is the war in the North. The king is eager to achieve a victory to offset the negative impact from the Jade Street massacre. The first wave of soldiers has already set off. However, the operation is very hastily planned and executed. I am worried that something might happen.”

As one of the strongest Magicians in the Norton Kingdom, Anthony was informed first hand of the situation in the North. There had been a mix of good and bad news amongst the messages that he got. However, he could never feel truly at ease.

He had been keeping this uneasiness within him the past few days. Now that his most precious disciple was here, he took the chance to voice out his discomfort and changed the topic to the war in the North. He was not exactly worried about the Black Moon Conspiracy information that Herrera brought up.

Herrera, on the other hand, was optimistic about the situation in the North. “Master, the situation is not that bad. Our attack this time is also a surprise for the Dark Elves. They should also be unprepared for it.”

“I hope that is the case,” Anthony sighed.

Anthony then put the fragments of the weapons into the dimensional bracelet and handed it over to Herrera. “Link did well this time. I have already placed the reward in the bracelet. Tell him that while developing his territory is important, he should not delay the progress of his magic research. If not, I will personally request for the king to reclaim the territory!”

“Yes, Master.” Herrera took the bracelet and stared inside it curiously. She was immediately at a loss for words.

She had no idea when her master placed the rewards into the bracelet. It was filled to the brim with premium gold ore that could be refined into tens of thousands of gold coins. Apart from money, he also included a huge pile of Mithril ore which would probably become seven pounds of pure Mithril after extraction. All these items were worth at least 30000 gold coins in total.

“Master seems to have a lot of confidence in Link. He is so generous this time.” Herrera felt extremely happy for Link. Link should probably have enough money for the development of his land after this.

Herrera was just planning to leave when she stopped in her tracks and said, “There is one more thing I have to tell you. Lady Fortuna Elin met Link just now.”

“Oh, how were the results?” Anthony was slightly interested. He had heard many things about her gift in prophecy magic. However, he was not a fan of such magic. He had always thought they were slightly lunatic in nature and not dependable.

“She seemed to have seen something incredible. Her attitude towards Link completely changed.” Herrera was incredibly sensitive. She would not be easily fooled by Elin’s words.

Anthony laughed loudly and gave a casual comment, “It seems like the young man has gotten himself a new tiny little ally.”

Chapter 163: I’ll Have to Rely on Myself, Then

 

“Oh, by the way,” said Herrera, “this is your reward from the dean.”

Upon returning to the Mage Tower, Herrera took out her storage bracelet and handed Link his reward. Link immediately gasped after catching sight of the reward.

“Why is the dean so generous with me?” asked Link. “He’d just given me a golden ore, and now I get 20,000 gold coins as well?”

By rough estimations, Link discovered that the gold in the ring and all its other components and the fragments of the Dark Elves’ weapon would wipe out his funding problems immediately.

“The dean thinks highly of you,” said Herrera with a smile. “You mustn’t let him down.”

“Of course,” said Link.

Link had defeated and killed three mighty Dark Elves, plus he’d even brought back the important information about the Black Moon Conspiracy, so Link felt that he had indeed made a great contribution to the academy. Thus, he accepted the rewards and kept them in his storage pendant with good conscience as he knew that he had earned them.

“What did the dean say about the Black Moon Conspiracy and the demon, Tarviss?” asked Link.

“The dean said that the academy’s defense is impenetrable,” answered Herrera immediately. “Besides, the location of the seal of the demon, Tarviss has long been forgotten, so even though he will keep an eye out for the Dark Elves, there was really no need to be too worried about the Black Moon Conspiracy.”

Link’s eyebrows creased intensely as he heard Herrera’s reply.

The incident of the demon, Tarviss’ escape had really happened in the game, so it was obvious that the Dark Elves knew of his location. Even though things were slightly different now in this world, the Dark Elves’ ability to release Tarviss was unquestionable.

The demon’s destructive power was unparalleled and not to be trifled with. In the game, even Anthony’s powerful spell that he cast by burning parts of his soul had only managed to injure the demon and force it to flee. Now with the information in his hands, he chose to ignore the threat of the Dark Elves’ plot and say that the defense of the academy was perfect and impenetrable?

That is just a tad too ridiculous!

Seeing Link’s reactions, Herrera felt the need to say something in her mentor’s defense.

“The dean is very busy lately,” she said. “He’s fully preoccupied with the matter of the war going on in the North. He’s always in the academy anyway, surely the Dark Elves wouldn’t attempt anything too bold as they would be facing him.”

Herrera was extremely respectful of the dean. She fully trusted his wisdom and strength, so if he told her that there should be no reason to worry too much about the Dark Elves’ secret plot, then that meant that they really didn’t pose that much threat. Her own fear and anxiety over the matter had reduced accordingly as well.

Link was a little worried with how relaxed Herrera seemed about the dangerous plot, yet he stopped himself from trying to argue about it with her.

Both Herrera and Anthony were natives of the Firuman continent, so their perspectives were radically different from Link’s. Herrera and Anthony had never received any external information other than what they’d seen and heard in their lives, and they’d spent most of their lives in this academy after all, so it was no wonder that they would regard the academy as the safest place in the kingdom. If Link had been in their shoes, he was sure that he would agree with them too. The only reason Link knew any better was because he’d witnessed the catastrophic release of the demon himself in the game.

When he thought of it that way, Link completely gave up his urge to persuade Herrera otherwise. The lines of worry on his face gradually faded as well, and he finally managed to nod at Herrera’s remarks.

“If that’s how the dean sees it, it must be no problem then,” said Link. “Excuse me, tutor, but I’ve just remembered that there are some things I must go deal with now.”

“Go ahead,” replied Herrera, relieved that Link didn’t try to press the matter of the Dark Elves.

Link then turned around and walked away from Herrera.

Link and Herrera had met in the corridor on the third floor of the Mage Tower, so Link continued walking down the corridor while he mused about the next course of action that he should take.

Tutor and the dean both can’t see just how much danger we are in right now, he thought. But how should I convince them? I must find evidence… but where could I find such a thing?

Just as Link was still deep in his thoughts, trouble arose.

Link came to the East Cove Magic Academy often in the game in his previous life, so he used to be very familiar with this place. Even so, the game and reality were different. The real East Cove Magic Academy was many times bigger than the one in the game, not to mention that there were many more minute details here as well. Link hadn’t been here for more than a few months, and he spent most of his time studying in the Mage Tower, so he was still quite unfamiliar with the real East Cove Magic Academy at this point.

Not only was the place still quite foreign to him, he hadn’t even known many Magicians in the academy as well.

Still, he walked on while thinking about the problem. He walked all the way from the third floor to the first floor, then out of the Mage Tower, walking aimlessly through the academy.

Just take a walk if you feel you’re at a dead end about something – that was the habit he developed when was working on his thesis.

Without knowing it, Link had been walking for ten minutes now and he’d reached Bryant’s Inspiration Courtyard. Although it was still winter now and the snow still blanketed the ground, the flowers in the courtyard were still in bloom under the influence of a magic seal.

Link walked up to the willow tree where he often discussed magic with Eliard and sat down on a stone bench there. He looked at the leaves wafting in the wind idly for quite some time while he brooded about the problem. Yet, after half a day’s time had passed and he made no progress at all. He even started to feel discouraged for the first time.

There are just too many things that I don’t know, he thought. Must the academy embark on its old path to destruction? Can it be that it is fate and I can’t do anything about it?

Link caught himself mere seconds after the idea arose in his head. He stamped out such a frustrating and fatalist thought out of his head immediately.

I’ve become hotheaded, he thought. There’s no point in brooding about this now, the Black Moon Conspiracy is going to happen on April 15, so I still have nearly three months. Even if I can’t find out the exact details of the plan, I can still muster up enough power to fight the demon Tarviss in three months’ time, can’t I?

Link’s eyes lit up the moment this thought occurred to him. It felt as if the clouds had given way to the clear and bright sunlight now.

Yes, I must defeat the darkness with light! Link realized. If the Dark Elves planned to release Tarviss to destroy the academy, then I’ll just kill him when his chains are unshackled! If Tarviss was a Level-8 demon, then I must learn spells that are at least Level-8 as well.

Link then had a thought of checking his own status, and in a blink of an eye the gaming system displayed it on the interface.

Link Morani (Hereditary Baron)

Level-5 Elite Magician

Mana Recovery Rate: 110 Points per Hour

Maximum Mana Limit: 1910

Current Weapon: Starcatcher Wand

Current Omni Points: 210 Points

Link then had a thought of checking the list of Level-8 spells. Immediately afterwards the interface displayed rows of bright shining cards of Level-8 spells, of which Link thoroughly examined one by one.

The Glorious Annihilation consumes 4600 Mana Points, the Flaming Sky, 4800 Mana Points, the Frost Dragon requires 4900 Mana Points to summon. Time Cage would consume 4800 Mana Points, the Holy Dragon’s Blessings, 1300 Mana Points… But auxiliary spells like some of these are useless against the demon, and they consume so much Mana!

The higher the level of the spells, the greater the difference of Mana consumption between each spell. As a general rule, auxiliary spells would consume far less Mana than attacking spells.

This was so among the Legendary spells as well. Link’s Legendary spell Dimensional Jump only consumed 1800 Mana Points, yet any attacking spell of this level would require at least 9000 Mana Points!

The demons were a race of fighters, they had very high resistance to magic attacks and exceptional strength and vitality, not to mention almost indestructible armor. Once Tarviss got released from his chains, he would instantly raze the whole academy to the ground like an invincible war chariot.

For such a strong opponent as Tarviss, the weak attacks of auxiliary spells were basically no threat to him at all. The only way he could be defeated was to attack him instantly with the strongest offensive spell in the arsenal without giving him time to breathe.

But the demon’s resistance to magic is extremely high, thought Link. Even if I modify a Level-8 spell with Supreme Magical Skills, I wouldn’t be able to strike him down in one move anyway. And Level-8 spells consume so much Mana that I won’t be able to increase my maximum Mana limit to accommodate two Level-8 spells in three months… As a matter of fact, I don’t think Tarviss would give me any chance to cast two Level-8 spells anyway.

Link then discovered many key details after further consideration. For example, if he wanted to cast two Level-8 spells, he could cast the first one as an ambush attack, then the second one would have to be a direct attack on Tarviss. A Level-8 demon like him would have lightning-fast responses, so if Link wasn’t able to cast the second spell quick enough than he would be dead. Even the Legendary spell Dimensional Jump wouldn’t save him then. The only reliable plan, then, was to master a defensive spell able to protect him from spells up to Level-8, which meant that Link must now increase his maximum Mana limit to accommodate three Level-8 spells to be able to fight against the demon Tarviss.

But instead of wasting his Mana on three Level-8 spells, wouldn’t it be better for him to master a Level-9 spell?

He then checked the list of Level-9 spells on the interface. But then he almost jumped out of his skin when he took the first glance of the list – Level-9 attacking spells required a minimum of 7000 Mana Points! Not to mention how difficult it would be to try to master a Level-9 spell in three months! Thus, Link began to lose hope in this plan.

The higher the spell level, the more complicated it is, plus there were some other major hurdles as well, and that first hurdle was at Level-6. Typically any Magician who’d managed to surpass the Level-6 barrier would be called a Master Magician.

Why?

Because there was a drastic increase of difficulty in Level-6 spells. Link had seen the spell structure of some Level-6 spells, and he knew that even while he could master the Level-5 Flaming Hand in two days, he wouldn’t be able to master these in at least half a month, and even then he would have to forego meals and sleep and devote himself solely to the spell!

There were now six Level-6 Magicians in the East Cove Magic Academy, and Anthony was the only Level-7 Magician here. It had been this way for the past ten years, in fact there were only two Level-7 Magicians in the whole kingdom, with the other one right now stationed in the royal palace.

Meanwhile not even one Level-8 Magician could be found in the whole human world. There was one Level-8 Warrior, but the power of a Warrior was far beneath that of a Magician, so they couldn’t be compared at all.

And now Link was hoping to master a Level-9 spell within three months – if he ever let anyone know of this intention of his, they’d surely think he’d gone crazy.

If he used the gaming system to spend 90 of his Omni Points to purchase a Level-9 spell, he’d still be unable to afford the 7000 Mana Points needed for it. Moreover, that spell would only be the regular version without any modification at all. If he used that spell to fight against a peerlessly powerful and almost invincible demon, then he might as well just jump off a cliff because it would give him the same result anyway.

Even mastering a Level-8 spell would be tricky in just three months’ time, I couldn’t believe that I would master a Level-9 spell in that time myself! Link then smiled cynically and shook his head in near exasperation.

Nevermind, I’ll stop worrying about this for now, thought Link. I’ll just do what I can and work as hard as possible. Whatever happens, at least I’ve done my best. Link’s face showed a steely determination as he stood up and was about to head back to the Mage Tower. There wasn’t much time left, so he must start working now.

But just as he was on his way back to the Mage Tower, Link noticed something he never could’ve expected.

It was a familiar figure among the willow trees not too far away from where he stood. He blinked and squinted to try to see the figure better and discovered that it was Eliard’s lover Elena.

It wouldn’t have been such a strange sight to see Elena around the academy, but she was standing in a remote area of the willow grove where most of her body was concealed behind the tree trunks and the shrubs. Had Link not accidentally looked in that direction, he wouldn’t have known that she was there.

And what’s most perplexing of all was the fact that she wasn’t there alone. Right there beside her was a man.

The man was dressed in a luxurious fur coat and seemed to be a man who’s well-to-do. He was most probably a merchant from Springs City. He was standing very close to Elena, it was a distance that was too intimate; Link got very suspicious of them now. He took a few steps back and hid behind a willow tree and began to listen in on their conversation.

Because of the distance, Link could only hear the tone of the voice but couldn’t make out exactly what they were saying. He didn’t dare to use any magic spying device either as he was afraid that they might be able to sense the Mana fluctuations.

Link thought Elena’s tone was poles apart from the one he often heard when she was around Eliard. Her current tone of voice was cold, haughty and even tinged with a slight sense of guilt. It sounded to Link as if it was the voice of a graceful and noble queen. Meanwhile, the merchant’s voice was soft and gentle, and despite looking like a successful and wealthy merchant, his voice sounded very submissive and humble when he addressed Elena.

But isn’t Elena just the daughter of an average merchant family? Link wondered. Why would that rich merchant treat her as if she’s the queen?

Chapter 164: Total Annihilation

 

Elena was Eliard’s lover. This was hardly a secret, especially in Herrera’s Mage Tower as they had started cohabitating.

In their daily conversations, Eliard would often commend how gentle and kind Elena was. He would even proudly discuss Elena’s outstanding performance at night when he was in the mood. Whenever the topic was on Elena, Eliard had an expression of bliss, as though he had the whole world in his palms.

He had completely become a servant to love.

Even though Link did not have a good impression of Elena, she was, after all, Eliard’s beloved partner. He could only stay as far away as possible.

Other than being scheming and materialistic, Link originally thought nothing of Elena. It was not surprising if you thought about her background, as she came from a family of merchants. However, the situation unfolding right in front of him was triggering all the emergency bells in his head.

After talking to the merchant for around ten minutes, Elena suddenly embraced the merchant and kissed him on the lips. The kiss lasted for three seconds before Elena let go of the merchant and walked away nonchalantly. The merchant, on the other hand, stayed in the forest and stared lovingly at Elena’s disappearing shadow.

Link had a clear view of the entire scenario from his angle. He immediately frowned, Eliard is definitely unaware of this. However, he will realize it sooner or later, I am afraid…

Thinking back on the look of bliss on Eliard’s face, Link was certain that Eliard would be devastated.

“Should I tell Eliard?” Link was having a headache.

Link had no evidence of the incident. If he had told Eliard directly, Elena would likely deny all accusations and use her charm to trap Eliard in her web of lies. As Eliard was blinded by love, he would definitely believe her side of the story and turn his back on Link.

However, if he chose to ignore and keep it a secret from Eliard. Eliard was sure to be devastated when he realized the truth. Judging from his character, he would probably not harm Elena, but wallow in self-pity and despair alone.

Love is indeed a volatile and luxurious good. If it does not turn out well, it might even destroy a talented Magician, Link could not help but exclaim silently.

After thinking for a moment, Link had decided to first observe Elena and get a deeper understanding of her personality. If he deemed her character to be seriously flawed, he would then find chances to give subtle hints to Eliard.

He then stayed in the forest for another five minutes until both the merchant and Elena were completely out of sight. He then walked back to Herrera’s Mage Tower. The moment he opened the door, he saw Eliard and Elena on the first floor.

They were flipping through magic books in the corner. From time to time, Eliard would guide Elena along and answer her queries. Elena would then look at him in adoration, to which Eliard would always give a warm and tender smile in return.

Link even saw Elena wearing a necklace that he had created. As he recalled Eliard’s expression that day when he was asking for a favor, Link could not help but sigh.

At that moment, Elena gave a quick peck on Eliard’s cheek while he was absorbed in the magic book. Eliard then broke out into a silly smile. That was almost Link’s limit and he immediately left the hall while trying to erase those memories from his brain.

For the next few days, Link spent almost all his time on his magic research. When he felt tired, he would delve fanatically into crafting magic equipment. The equipment would then be passed to Warter for sale. Occasionally, Lucy would write to inform him on the progress of the Ferde Wilderness’ initial development. Link did not participate physically in the entire process, merely writing back to Lucy and sending back another 5000 gold coins as funding. This was so even when the mercenary band started missions to clear up the bandit’s hideout in the area. At the same time, Link had also been observing Elena.

He placed a secretive magic formation at the tower gate. As long as Elena left the Mage Tower alone, her unique magic fluctuations would activate the magic formation which would then send a signal to Link. If she was leaving with Eliard, the magic formation would stay dormant. Whenever Link received a signal, he would follow behind stealthily.

Time flew and it was two weeks since the first time Link caught Elena in the forest. In this period, Elena left the Mage Tower alone for a total of eight times. The duration was always a standard 30 minutes and her reason of absence was always that she needed some fresh air.

In these eight separate instances, Link saw a different side of Elena.

She would always meet a merchant in secret in the forest. Furthermore, there was more than one merchant that she was seeing! Link had counted a total of six different merchants with prestigious backgrounds. Each of those merchants having a close business relationship with a Master Magician in the academy. However, Elena seemed to be able to keep her multiple intimate relationships a secret from each of her lovers. Every merchant seemed to be bewitched by her charm.

Not only was her private life complicated, but Link was horrified to discover that Elena had many faces. While she was gentle and kind towards Eliard, she could be cold, elegant, seductive or even submissive to the other merchants. She displayed each character naturally and with ease. There were almost no flaws in her facade.

This woman is really something. She definitely has a more complicated background. Her merchant background was simply a farce!

Link was extremely careful every time and kept a distance between Elena and himself. He also did not use any magic, causing him to miss out on the content of their conversation. However, based on what he had observed, he had already developed suspicion towards Elena’s true identity.

Link’s continued attempts at tracking Elena were no longer an act simply to help his good friend. He felt that Elena was a huge threat, even to the point of suspecting that she was connected to the Black Moon Conspiracy. This was due to her multiple secret intimate relationships which seemed to point to something more sinister.

Link then used a Supreme Magic Skill he had recently grasped to set up an extremely well-hidden magic formation to eavesdrop on the conversation.

This magic formation came in handy soon after. One day, as Link was just preparing to test out his new ideas in the elemental pool, the alarm from the tower entrance rang again. Elena had left the Mage Tower on her own.

Link immediately ran out of the elemental pool and left the Mage Tower after three minutes.

Link hastened his pace the moment he left the Mage Tower, taking the shortcut towards the Inspiration Courtyard before finally reaching the forest Elena always held her secret conversations in. He made a detour and entered the forest through another entrance before squatting down in a good hiding spot.

After three minutes, Elena had arrived. There was already a merchant awaiting her arrival. This merchant was none other than the one Link saw two weeks ago.

The moment their gazes met, Elena and the merchant embraced each other and kissed with great passion. This lasted a whole two minutes. All the sounds Link got from his eavesdropping magic formation were panting and slurping sounds. He felt unusually irritated by it.

It felt like an eternity before the two of them finally got their hands off each other. Elena’s voice could then be heard. She spoke in a cold voice, “My knight, what good news have you brought me this time?”

“My dear queen, you will definitely be satisfied. I have successfully bribed a Level-4 Magician from Ferdinand’s Mage Tower. Look what he gave me.”

Link stole a glance and saw the merchant handing a scroll over to Elena.

Elena opened the scroll and looked satisfied. She smiled seductively and said, “Very well my knight. The master will definitely reward you. I will reward you as well.”

The merchant then spoke hastily, “Oh, my queen, thank you so much. May I know when I can redeem your gift?”

After a few seconds, Elena spoke, “Not here. How about this. I will be going to River Cove Town to settle some things tomorrow. You can wait for me in the hotel.”

“Thank you so much, my queen.” The merchant sounded as though he was going insane.

Both of them then carried on with their disgusting conversation. The merchant praised Elena continuously while Elena carried herself like a queen, belittling the merchant yet enticing him with seductive words.

Link ignored these superfluous things. His attention was captured by Elena’s second sentence—”master”? That sounds like a term used by followers of a dark cult. Could Elena be a spy from a cult?

Link’s eyes widened upon the realization. I cannot let this Elena accomplish what she wants. It sounds like she will be headed to River Cove Town tomorrow. That would be perfect!

Link had to take action.

As for Eliard…Link looked at the memory crystal he had activated to record the entire scene. He sighed regrettably. It is better to end some things quickly even though they might be painful. Let’s just hope Eliard can recover.

At that moment, Elena bade goodbye to the merchant and they once again got drunk in each other’s passionate embrace.

As he had gotten Elena’s subtle permission, the merchant was extremely daring. He slid his hands into Elena’s skirt without any resistance. This lasted for five entire minutes before they reluctantly separated from each other. Elena then tidied up her hair before leaving the forest. The merchant then walked the other way with a dazed expression.

Link did not return to the Mage Tower immediately. He waited patiently in the forest before following behind the merchant.

Elena was Eliard’s official partner and was a member of the academy. She would not be able to go too far without the academy’s permission. However, this merchant was a free individual not bounded by the academy’s rules and was just about to leave the academy. Link thus decided to start his investigation from this merchant.

The merchant continued walking towards the stable where he parked his carriage. Taking advantage of his ignorance of magic, Link cast a Level-0 magic marking on the merchant and exited the academy ahead of him. After he was out of the sight from Guardsman Vincent, Link then hid in the forest beside the pathway in wait for the merchant.

Around ten minutes later, a carriage bearing the magic fluctuations of Link’s magic marking arrived at the entrance.

This place is still too close to the academy. It’s not a good time. Link waited for the carriage to drive past him before casting a Cat’s Agility spell on himself and followed closely behind.

After around ten minutes, Link felt comfortable with the distance and was prepared to strike.

At that moment, a strange thing happened. A group of bandits suddenly rushed out from the forest and killed the coachman. They then attempted to break open the carriage door violently. From their bloodthirsty expression, it seemed like their target was the merchant.

“Are they trying to…silence him?” Link was appalled. The issue was way more complicated than he had ever imagined.

Chapter 165: A Woman Who Put Fear into Link’s Heart

 

The scene took place just 200 feet away from Link. He quickly made a decision.

That merchant mustn’t die, neither can I let those robbers die. I have some questions to ask them!

By that time, the robbers had pulled open the carriage door.

“Is it gold coins that you want?” shouted the horrified merchant in panic. “I can give you however much you want! 100 gold coins? 200? A thousand?”

“Stop wasting your time,” the robber sneered. “Once you’re dead, all your money will be ours!” Then the robber stabbed a dagger right at the merchant’s heart.

Surprisingly, to both the robber and the merchant, the dagger hadn’t touched the merchant’s skin but was stopped by a white shining shield that appeared out of thin air. The robber could feel a strong deflective force coming from the dagger. Now, not only was he unable to stab the dagger through the shield, he even had difficulties in holding on to the dagger’s hilt.

Clang!

The dagger was suddenly pushed out of the robber’s hand and flung far away by an inexplicable force. Even the robber himself lost his balance and fell off from the carriage.

“What’s going on? What’s going on!” the robber screamed in shock and terror. He simply couldn’t wrap his head around what just happened.

The next moment, he saw a dozen white lines in the air, followed by a series of small explosions. Then all he could hear was the sound of his brothers screaming in pain. When he turned around, he discovered that all his brothers who had been with him had fallen to the ground. He didn’t know if they were dead or alive, but this was just too horrifying!

The sight before him had made the robber’s blood run cold. All he could do was stand there with his jaw dropped so low that one could fit a duck’s egg into his mouth! Then, he saw a young man wearing an ink-blue robe walk towards him. This man was shrouded in a faint white aura, and he looked so mystifying that the robber was wakened from his stupor.

“Please spare me, Master Magician!” he pleaded. “I won’t do anything to cross you again! Please spare me!”

Link was disgusted at the sight of this robber who had an ugly wolf tattoo on his cheek. Within a few seconds he’d thrown all his dignity away and begged for mercy to save his own hide. Link had no sympathy for a man like that.

“Get up!” said Link. “Carry all your men into the woods. If you attempt to run away from me, then you’ll get a real taste of my magic power!”

As he spoke, Link unleashed a Whistle onto a big boulder beside the road. The boulder was a brown mudstone of about three cubic feet in size, so it wasn’t a particularly hard material. The moment Link cast the Whistle, it shot through the air with a high-pitched screech and hit right in the middle of the boulder.

Bang!

The boulder was now reduced to crumbling fragments of rocks that were sent flying through the air. The robber was just an ordinary Level-1 Warrior, so he wasn’t at all accustomed to this level of power. He gulped continuously as he watched the big boulder get reduced to clumps of clay. His face was getting green with fear now and all the thoughts he had of running for his life were extinguished. He then began to obediently carry the bodies of his brothers into the forest one at a time.

Meanwhile, Link walked up to the carriage and looked inside. He discovered the merchant sitting there shaking like a leaf. There was also an unpleasant smell inside the carriage – the merchant had pissed himself in fear. Link frowned deeply in repulsion at the offensive stench.

“Get up!” Link scowled at the merchant. “Drive your carriage into the forest right there.”

They weren’t that far away from the academy gates, so parking it on the roadside here would make it too conspicuous and that might attract unwanted attention.

The merchant didn’t dare to defy Link’s orders, so he clumsily climbed into the coachman’s seat and tried to drive the carriage. It was obvious that he’d never done it before, but after a struggling for a few minutes, he finally got the carriage moving. Meanwhile, Link helped maintained the horses’ movement by casting a few Fireballs near them to scare them and force them to move forward. In the end they managed to get the carriage into the forest after much effort.

The three of them then walked out onto a small path in the forest. Link stood leaning against a big tree trunk and slowly poured his Mana into the Memory Crystal that he’d always been carrying around lately. This Memory Crystal would record everything that happened here – all the voices and images as well. This would later be useful as an important piece of evidence when Link decided to expose Elena’s covert actions.

“Tell me,” Link barked at the robber, “who ordered you to kill the merchant?”

“No…no one,” the robber answered, waving his hands in denial, “I just wanted to rob his money…”

“Do you take me for a fool?” Link’s wand then lit up and a Glass Orb flew out of its tip and headed towards the robber’s head. It stopped abruptly a mere couple inches in front of the robber’s face. Then, Link gradually loosened his control over the fire elements in the Glass Orb, transforming it from a dimly glowing orb to a gradually brighter fireball. Even the air around it started to roil up from the intense heat and the robber’s hair was beginning to singe as well.

The robber was now so scared that he stood there rooted to the ground; large beads of cold sweat streamed down his forehead and he kept gulping in fear while his eyes still darted around uncertainly. Yes, he was afraid of Link, but this fear was still not enough to make him spill the identity of the person behind this.

“Don’t try my patience!” warned Link. He once again let loose his control over the fire elements in the Glass Orb. With a frightening whoosh, the Glass Orb’s surface turned into flames. The robber’s face was burned by the fire which made him recoil instinctively.

“I don’t know who she was,” he suddenly spilled out, no longer daring to be silent, “but she ordered us to wait by the road for a carriage to pass by. If that carriage made this stone glow, then she ordered us to kill everyone inside it.” As he spoke, the robber slipped out a thumb-sized stone from his pocket with lines of runes on its surface. It was undoubtedly a magic rune stone.

Link noticed that the robber used the word “she”, so the person behind this must be a woman—it was most likely Elena.

He didn’t touch the rune stone, but instead just examined the runes on its surface from afar. After a while, a notification about the rune stone appeared on the interface.

Green Rune Stone (Auxiliary)

Quality: Fine

Level-3

First Effect: When a specific magic indicator appears within 300 feet of the rune stone, it will be activated and emit a light.

Second Effect: Detects all Mana fluctuations that appear within 300 feet of the rune stone and converts this information into a simple signal that will be sent to the main rune stone within a range of three miles.

‘A specific magic indicator’? Link wondered. His eyebrows furrowed at the thought, then he turned towards the terrified merchant beside him and cast a Level-2 detection spell on him.

A light spot appeared with a trailing light behind it. This spot of light then flew over to the top of the merchant’s head and its trailing light turned into a sheet of light that then curled into a halo-like ring over the merchant’s head. Then the halo shone a light down the merchant’s body, surrounding him with a thin blanket of light.

Soon, glowing white runes appeared on the merchant’s chest, proving that someone had stamped a magic indicator there. There was another spot on his back where a patch of small gray runes appeared.

Link then focused his Mana and directed it to the gray runes to destroy it. Once that was done, the rune stone in the robber’s hand immediately stopped glowing. That proved that this patch of gray runes was the signal for the robbers to attack him. But who would attach this to the merchant’s body?

Link thought it must be no one else but Elena. She was the only one who had been intimately close to the merchant in the willow grove in the academy, so she had plenty of opportunities to stick this magic indicator onto the merchant’s back. Now that he was sure of this point, Link began to see the big picture.

Now that Elena had gotten her hands on the scroll that Link assumed contained important information, she’d completed her aims and had no more use for the merchant. She had promised the merchant an ultimate prize, which the merchant assumed to be a night of carnal bliss with Elena, but in fact, what Elena meant was that she would kill him off because he was useless to her now.

As for these robbers, they must’ve been the people that she had hired earlier to do the dirty work for her. This way, it was impossible to link the merchant’s death back to Elena. Even if Link had figured out her plans, he still didn’t have any solid evidence that would prove her guilt beyond any doubt.

What was even more frightening was the fact that Elena had taken every precaution so meticulously. Not only did the rune stone serve the purpose of making sure that the robbers got the right person, it also served as a warning signal in case her plans might be found out as well. Link knew that by now Elena was already aware that her plans had gone awry. She must be thinking of a way to save herself by now. Moreover, this would give her time to destroy any evidence that might incriminate her.

Link also believed that even if he returned swiftly to the academy right now and present the Memory Crystal as an evidence, all he would achieve was to put himself into trouble. It might even prevent him from learning her real motives forever.

No one can say she’s not thorough! Link thought.

All these things, Link understood in a matter of seconds. He then cast a Glass Orb and knocked the robber out with it. Then he turned to the merchant who’d pissed himself once again.

“That Elena woman that you’re so charmed with is a poisonous snake,” said Link. “She’s the one who hired these robbers to kill you. If you still want to live, go back to the academy with me and expose her crimes!”

Although he didn’t have enough material evidence against Elena right now, Link could easily prove her guilt if this merchant would cooperate and expose what she had done.

To Link’s surprise, though, the merchant responded to him with a shake of his head and a sorrowful expression on his face.

“No, I can’t do that,” he said. “She is my queen. If she wanted my life, then I’ll give it to her.”

As he spoke, the merchant who had been so timid up till now suddenly drew a dagger out of nowhere and was about to stab it at his own heart.

“Farewell, my love!” the merchant shouted.

Link couldn’t just let the man die right in front of him, so he quickly used the Magician’s Hand to grab the dagger just in time before it struck the merchant’s heart.

“Don’t be stupid!” Link shouted. “She just used you like a dog! Why would you want to throw your life away for her?” Link just couldn’t understand what this man was thinking. He wondered if Elena had used a dark magic spell on him, but strangely enough he couldn’t detect any trace of dark magic aura from his body at all.

“I’d be the happiest man if my queen thinks of me as her dog,” said the merchant wistfully. “Ah…I know she loves me, but she’s a holy maiden, so she can’t be with me. She must’ve wanted me dead because she didn’t have the heart to reject me in person…”

“…” Link was speechless for a while when he heard the man’s lament. He thought this man might have some kind of a brain damage. Nonetheless, his attention was caught by a couple of words the merchant had used to describe Elena.

“Holy maiden? What do you mean by holy maiden?” Link asked.

“Stop trying, Mr. Magician,” said the merchant as he turned around to face Link and gave him a wry smile. “I will never betray my queen.”

After finishing his sentence, the merchant went on to slam his head against the metal part of the carriage in an attempt of suicide.

The first suicide attempt might have been an impulsive action, but to try it for a second time meant that this man really wished to die, so it would be pointless to stop him now. The merchant had really lost his head to Elena, so much so that he would actually commit suicide when he found out that Elena wanted him dead.

What a pathetic man! And what a terrifying control Elena had on this man’s heart!

Link didn’t bother to stop the merchant as he tried to kill himself again. He used a lot of force this time and soon enough Link could hear a splat! It was the sound of the merchant’s head being smashed. His lifeless body fell limply to the ground – he was dead.

Link stared at the dead body with fear and apprehension. It wasn’t the sight of a fresh corpse that disturbed him so much, he was just scared for Eliard.

How far had Elena’s charm worked on Eliard? If this is the degree at which a man could be controlled by her, what would happen to Eliard if something happened to Elena?

Link didn’t dare to imagine the possibilities of what could happen then.

Chapter 166: Elena’s Countermeasure

 

East Cove Higher Magic Academy.

While Link was rescuing the merchant, Elena was reading a book silently in the hall. She was alone as Eliard was in the elemental pool experimenting on a Level-2 spell he newly learned. He was extremely busy these days.

When magic fluctuations could be felt from the luminous green rune stone, Elena was shocked and her face immediately sunk.

“Have I been exposed?”

She held the rune stone tightly in her hand. The rune stone was originally cold to the touch. However, due to the constant information and vibrations from the magic fluctuations, it had started to become warmer.

When she covered the stone with her hands, she could prevent the magic fluctuations from being felt by anyone else. She could also determine the type of spell used from the special way the rune stone would react to different spells.

The current fluctuation pointed to the presence of explosive spells around the other rune stone. Whenever a spell was caste, there would be a sharp increase in magic fluctuations, allowing Elena to accurately determine the strength and frequency of the attacks.

At the start, Elena felt two extremely strong magic fluctuations back-to-back. Her heart almost skipped a beat. “This is a Level-4 spell! This Magician cast two Level-4 spells in less than two seconds! What fast spellcasting speed! Are two Magicians fighting against each other?”

In fact, it was Link who had consecutively cast the Level-4 defensive spell, Edelweiss, twice.

Following which, the rune stone emanated a series of weak but extremely fast fluctuations. There were a total of 12 fluctuations in less than half a second. Elena was horrified. “This is the strength of a Level-1 spell. Who could have cast 12 spells in half a second? Could it be…?”

There was only one Magician in the entire academy who could cast Level-0 spells at such a frequency. That person was Link, the Magician staying in the same Mage Tower whom she had avoided the entire time.

She then felt another few instances of Level-1 and Level-0 spells. This carried on for around ten minutes before the rune became dormant.

Elena’s heart sank.

“It could only be him. No one else could cast two Level-4 spells in less than two seconds. Hasn’t he been in the Mage Tower all this while? How could he possibly find out?”

Elena was confused. She had already taken precautions to avoid him. To think that she would still be busted by him. However, she knew that she had no time to worry about the details. She had to think of a countermeasure before Link returned to the Mage Tower. Elena stayed calm and immediately weighed her options. From the day she entered the academy, she had been preparing for this day in case she ever got exposed.

She stood up and put away the magic books she was reading.

The apprentice beside her was puzzled and asked, “Elena, we still have a lot of time left. Why did you stop?”

“I am feeling slightly unwell and wish to rest.” Elena gave a slight smile and spoke in a gentle voice. She even tried to sound weak and managed to make herself look pale.

The apprentice was completely fooled and immediately nodded, “Please rest. After all, health is the most important.”

“Thank you.” She then proceeded to the second floor and greeted a few other apprentices on the way. When she reached her room, she immediately entered the room and closed the door behind her.

The room was large by normal standards. It was made up of a common space and two bedrooms, as she was cohabitating with Eliard. She immediately peeled off her facade and her expression of pain and weakness changed into one that was cold and unmoving. She entered her bedroom and took a thick magic book from the top layer of her bookshelf, where she hid three separate scrolls in the cover compartment.

These three scrolls contained detailed blueprints of the internal structure of the six most powerful Mage Towers in the academy. The information included the Detection spells, Defensive spells, and Offensive spells used by the tower and the workings of their respective elemental pools.

If one were to plan their attack based on the information recorded, their ambush would be a lot more efficient. Furthermore, if they could point out the weakness of the Mage Tower from the blueprint, they could take down the Mage Tower in one hit!

There were six Master Magicians in the academy, and their respective Mage Towers would be the pivotal buildings holding the fort in the case of an attack. If the Dark Elves were to destroy them, the academy’s defensive strength would be reduced by at least thirty percent!

The blueprint of Bale’s Mage Tower had already been taken care of. Elena was simply tasked with bringing back the blueprints of the other five central Mage Towers. She had carried out her task efficiently, already securing three of them. She did not expect to be exposed at this crucial juncture when victory was already in sight.

These scrolls should have been sent out a long time ago. However, after the incident in Gladstone City, the Norton Kingdom started their ruthless extermination of the Dark Elves as well as anyone who had pledged allegiance to the Dark Brotherhood and the Syndicate. This destroyed all her connections outside of the academy and left her alone on this highly dangerous mission. She could only keep these scrolls in a safe place until she received new instructions.

However, her life was at stake now.

“I have to send the blueprints out, but how? Link is rushing back right now, I don’t have much time.” Elena’s heart was pounding as she pranced around the room. Her brain was working at top speed, thinking of a way to escape the academy safely.

After a while, she was suddenly struck with an idea, “That’s it!”

It would be difficult for her to deliver the blueprints herself, but she could use Eliard’s help! Eliard was Link’s best friend. If she left the academy together with Eliard, Link would have to think twice before attacking her as Eliard’s safety would be compromised. Furthermore, she could also use Eliard as a hostage when the time came.

Elena then formulated a detailed plan before she put away the scrolls into her robe. She then left her room and headed towards the elemental pool on the second floor.

She should not be disturbing Eliard as he was experimenting with his new spell. However, time was short. Elena pinched her thighs with full force and a sharp pain shot through her body, causing her eyes to be full of tears.

She then activated the runes on the door. When the runes lit up, she feebly said, “Eliard, can you come out for a moment?”

Within ten seconds, the door to the elemental pool opened. Eliard walked out with wet hair and ice residue on his hands. There were also many tears in his magic robe. He looked completely disheveled.

He must have forcefully interrupted his experiment at the most crucial moment.

Elena felt a tinge of guilt upon seeing Eliard’s pale face, but suppressed her emotions almost immediately.

Eliard on the other hand, didn’t think much about the incident. The moment he saw the pained expression on his lover’s face, he gently asked, “Elena, what happened?”

Elena clutched her abdomen with her hands and beads of cold sweat could be seen on her forehead. She spoke with a pale face, “My stomach hurts and I have no idea why. The recovery potions didn’t help as well…”

“How did this happen! I’ll take you to the church in River Cove Town now!” Eliard scooped Elena off her feet and briskly walked towards the Mage Tower entrance.

Magic could accomplish almost anything in the World of Firuman. However, healing was something that magic had limitations in. Priests were the only ones who could cure serious injuries or illnesses. Hence, a Magician would still have to consult a priest if they fell sick.

As the East Cove Higher Magic Academy did not have priests, they would have to go to River Cove Town, which was exactly what Elena wanted.

Eliard ran all the way to the stables with Elena in his hands. By the time he reached, he was already sweating and panting.

Eliard immediately paid the coachman a whopping ten gold coins and shouted, “To River Cove Town, double up!”

With the monetary incentive, the coachman’s actions were also unusually swift. He led the horses out of the stable, hooked them onto the carriage and with a resounding whip, the carriage sped out of the academy.

In the carriage, Eliard held Elena’s hand with one hand while gently rubbing her stomach with another. He whispered, “Why did this happen. Was it because of last night…?”

“Don’t say that.” Elena’s pale cheeks suddenly flushed with a tinge of shyness.

Eliard felt extremely guilty and reprimanded himself in his heart. His expression also grew gentler by the minute. At that moment, he felt that this woman meant more to him than the world, even more than magic, which he loved so dearly.

He could not explain the phenomenon as well.

In the beginning, Eliard did not feel much affection for Elena, merely noticing that she was an understanding and kind girl. However, as they spent more time with one another, he gradually grew accustomed to her companionship. He then started developing feelings for Elena. There were times when he would feel jealous when he saw her chatting and joking with other male apprentices.

When she inadvertently showed her seductive expressions, there would be a huge desire to make her his own. He still remembered the feelings of bliss when they shared their first kiss. He also remembered the ecstasy he felt when they were connected for the first time.

Now, he was already inseparable from her. If she was met with an unfortunate accident someday, Eliard had no idea how he was going to take it.

The carriage quickly sped through the gate and onto the King’s Lane.

The East Cove Higher Magic Academy’s carriages had four windows, each of them made from clear crystals. One would have a clear view of their surroundings even when sitting in the carriage.

Less than half a minute later, Elena saw a familiar figure riding towards the carriage on a Wind Fenrir.

The figure seemed to have noticed the magic aura in the carriage as well. He gradually slowed down his speed and turned his Wind Fenrir sideways to block the entire King’s Lane, preventing the carriage from moving any further.

The coachman was horrified and immediately stopped the carriage.

Elena then narrowed her eyes ever so slightly. She knew that this was the most crucial moment.

Chapter 167: Was It True? Or Was It All a Lie?

 

On King’s Lane.

Link saw through the transparent crystal window of the carriage that it was Eliard and Elena inside. Link sighed quietly. He knew that Elena would be using this trick on him.

Eliard was Link’s best friend. Elena must’ve known that Link would never do anything to put Eliard in harm’s way. Link was secretly impressed at how cunning Elena had been by using Eliard as a hostage.

By then, Eliard had also noticed Link as well; he was not aware of the real situation yet and was curious about Link’s actions.

“Link,” he called out as he opened the carriage window, “what are you doing here?”

Link’s eyes never left Elena. At that time, she was leaning closely against Eliard’s chest and her face looked very pale—she seemed to be in pain, but Link knew that it was just a ruse. He noticed that Elena had rested her hand on Eliard’s heart all this time, never moving it away even for just an inch.

She was wearing a magic bracelet on that hand. If Link wasn’t mistaken, the bracelet should be the one that contained a Level-1 Whistle. There were some rough and clunky parts on the bracelet that confirmed Link’s suspicion that it was Eliard’s own handiwork.

Link was sure that if he ever made any moves that would threaten Elena’s safety, she would immediately release that Whistle straight at Eliard’s heart, killing him in an instant. Link feared he might not be able to stop Elena in time if she did that since the magic bracelet was so close to Eliard.

This time, it seemed Eliard really was in trouble. Link mustn’t make any rash movements.

“Get out of the way, Link,” said Eliard. “Elena’s really unwell, I must take her to the priest immediately!” Eliard could feel Elena’s body shivering in his arms. He thought she must really be suffering in pain right now.

Link let out a long sigh and shook his head gently. He then pointed his wand at Elena.

“Eliard,” he said, “she must not be allowed to leave the East Cove Magic Academy!”

“What are you talking about?” said Eliard, completely flummoxed. “What is going on here, Link?” He was getting more and more worried about Elena’s illness and wanted to get help for her as fast as possible, yet Link was here blocking the way. At that moment, even though Link had always been his best friend, anger was beginning to brew in Eliard’s heart.

Link squinted his eyes to focus on Elena’s every movement. Then, without moving his gaze away from her, he took out the Memory Crystal from his pocket.

As Link’s Mana slowly flowed into it, the amber-like yellow crystal began to glow faintly. Then a play of light and shadow appeared in the air near the crystal, showing Elena’s amorous rendezvous with the dead merchant in the willow grove.

The crystal in Link’s hand was of high quality, plus Link’s own control of his Mana was unparalleled. These factors combined to make the scene displayed so incredibly clear and life-like that they were no different from a hologram.

Link didn’t show the entire scene that went on in the willow grove as he wanted to protect Eliard’s feelings. All he showed were several seconds of them kissing and that was it. He knew that even that was more than enough.

After just a glance of the scene Eliard seemed as if he was hit by a ton of bricks. He just sat there completely struck dumb!

Elena really didn’t expect that Link would use this trick. The originally pale face of hers now got deathly pale where not even a tinge of color was on her face anymore. Eliard, in contrast, had gone red in the face. Even his eyes seemed to be bloodshot now. Elena could clearly feel Eliard’s hands shaking now.

This Link really is something, Elena sighed. He’s left me no room to defend myself at all. I’m afraid I won’t be leaving here alive.

After a while, another scene emerged from the Memory Crystal. It was the scene when the merchant committed suicide on the King’s Lane.

“Elena is not the innocent girl you think she is, Eliard,” said Link after the scene ended. He then put the crystal back inside his pocket. “It’s likely that she might be involved in some evil cult as a holy maiden and was plotting something that would undermine the security of the East Cove Magic Academy. Therefore, she must not be allowed to leave here before everything is investigated!”

Link had noticed Eliard’s appearance by now and he felt very sorry for him, but there was no other choice. This must be done. Eliard seemed to have heard Link’s words, but he hadn’t made any response just yet.

“Elena,” he finally whispered to her in a desperate voice, “please tell me this isn’t true.”

Elena didn’t dare to look straight into Eliard’s eyes. The scenes from the Memory Crystal was so clear that there was no way she could get away with accusing them as forged and untrue. And so, all Elena could do was look down. Her lips shook slightly as if she wanted to say something, yet they both stayed that way for a while and no one said anything.

Eliard had been the perfect gentleman with her. Even though she couldn’t feel the same way that he felt for her, she still couldn’t find any flaws in him to attack him with. And so, she stayed silent.

“You’re not ill at all, are you?” asked Eliard. He wasn’t an idiot. As a matter of fact, he had a mind so brilliant that he was almost unparalleled, so everything was quickly clear to him now after what Link had shown him. “Elena, you faked your illness to trick me into bringing you away from East Cove Academy, didn’t you?”

His eyes swept over Elena’s delicate face. It was the face that had once given him bliss and joy, yet all he felt now was fear and even a hint of hatred.

In the end, his eyes fell on the hand that clutched on his chest. Those fingers were so slender and delicate, the skin so fair and smooth, and her arms were so round and soft. Her hands were so beautiful that he had held them lightly in his own hands and admired them endlessly many a night.

Yet now, Eliard’s gaze was only fixed on the magic bracelet on her wrist. It was a gift from him that he made for her himself.

“Now that Link has found out about you, are you going to threaten him with my life?” Eliard’s eyes were now becoming cold and emotionless. All the warmth he felt for her was gone now. How could there be such a cruel and heartless woman in this world?

Finally, Elena discarded all her pretenses and smirked at Eliard. She raised her head haughtily and the tenderness in her eyes had now completely disappeared and was replaced with cold ruthlessness.

“Eliard, you simple fool,” mocked Elena, still clinging to Eliard’s heart. “I’ve been pulling the wool over your eyes all this time and you’ve always been happily following me around. Let me tell you, that bastard in the scene wasn’t the only one, I actually have four other lovers as well!”

Eliard’s face was now turning purple. He gritted his teeth in anger, but because he was naturally mild-tempered he still couldn’t find any vicious words to attack Elena with.

“Why?” That was the only word Eliard finally managed to utter after being stunned for a long time.

“There is no reason. I just like to play with you. I think you look stupid!” Elena’s words became even more vicious.

After saying that, instead of looking straight into Eliard’s eyes, she turned to Link and laughed in his face.

“You are better than I expected,” she said. “I don’t mind getting caught by such a mighty talent like you. But let me be clear, I have no intention of going back to the academy. If you want to bring me back, then you’ll have to bring back two dead bodies – one is mine, and the other is Eliard’s!”

“A single magic bracelet is no threat to me,” said Link, narrowing his piercing eyes at Elena with a gradually boiling temper.

“Haha! Did you think that I would kill him with this pathetic bracelet?” jeered Elena. “I’ve slept with this idiot so many times that I’ve fixed so many things into his body now. I’ll be honest with you, I’m not much of a Magician, and my skills in magic spells aren’t all that impressive. But divine spells, especially dark divine spells, are just my forte! I could easily put someone as unguarded as this idiot easily under my control. Remember this, if I die, then the divine spells in Eliard’s body will explode as well!”

Link was shocked and suddenly caught up in a dilemma. The merchant had called her a holy maiden after all, so it should be natural that she would have knowledge of some powerful divine spells. Link took her threats seriously and knew that he mustn’t make any moves that might cause harm to Eliard.

But can he let this woman go? Obviously not!

And so, for a time, the two sunk into silence with either side not willing or able to make any move.

Then suddenly the usually silent Eliard exploded in anger.

“Did you think that I would be afraid of death, Elena?” he roared. “Then you’re sorely mistaken!” He then swiftly began to cast the spell, Whistle right as he spoke, completely undeterred by the possibility that Elena might counterattack. He was ready to fight till the death, and he must kill this wicked woman with his own hands!

Elena immediately began to fight back by directing her Mana into the magic bracelet. Because she relied on magic gear to cast the spell, she would complete much faster than Eliard. In this case, she would be able to unleash a Whistle within 0.1 seconds– at this speed, there was no way that Eliard would have enough time to defend himself. The only one who could respond in such a brief moment would be Link.

Link focused his gaze and entered instantly into the calm state of spellcasting. The world in his eyes now seemed to move very slowly. With the wand in his hand pointing at Elena, he directed his Mana into it and instantaneously set forth a translucent ball of light that immediately hit the bracelet on Elena’s hand.

“Silent Disarray!” uttered Link under his breath.

Silent Disarray

Level-2 Spell

Mana Consumption: 60 points.

Effects: Disrupts the spell structure of spells at Level-2 and below to impede the target’s spellcasting.

(Note: This special magical structure requires precise control of Mana. Spellcaster must be of Level-5 or higher in order to master this spell.)

This was a spell that Link had just mastered recently, so he could cast it almost instantaneously. When Link’s Silent Disarray was completed, Elena’s Whistle was only half-formed, and so Link’s spell managed to make the spell structure of Elena’s Whistle collapse and thus, the spell disintegrated.

That didn’t deter Elena though. When her Whistle failed, she suddenly slipped out a dagger with her other hand at the speed of a lightning bolt and was about to fling it towards Eliard’s heart.

It was obvious that this woman had gone through the training of an Assassin’s combative skills. She had slipped out the dagger with such acuity and speed, plus the dagger’s material had anti-magic properties so low-level spells would be useless against it. High-level spells, on the other hand, would take too much time to cast.

Link weighed his options for a moment and soon discovered that the only way to stop the blade in time was to stun Elena.

Link had always been decisive and he was even more so now. So, within the blink of an eye, Link waved his wand and unleashed a Glass Orb that headed straight to Elena’s hand that was holding the dagger. The blow’s aim was to attack Elena’s arm so that the threat of the dagger could be diminished.

Link used his high-speed spellcasting skills here and he used the Glass Orb spell which he was very familiar with. Moreover, he’d also borrowed the strength of the Domingo crystal by using the elements stored inside it, so Link only spent 0.01 seconds to cast the second Glass Orb.

The Glass Orb shot through the air and exploded near Elena’s ear. It was Link’s plan to knock Elena out with the shockwave of the explosion. While it was true that he mustn’t kill her because of the threat of the dark divine spells inside Eliard’s body, but there was no reason why he couldn’t make her unconscious!

Bang! Bang!

Those were the explosions of two Glass Orbs that were unleashed almost simultaneously. The hand that held the dagger was directly hit by the impact of the Glass Orb, rendering it useless in holding on to the weapon. Meanwhile, the other Glass Orb that was aimed at Elena’s ear had…slightly missed the target that Link was aiming for.

It was unclear whether it was a coincidence or if it was intentional, but Elena had leaned her head at the very last moment towards the Glass Orb near her ear. It was supposed to explode 60 inches away from her, yet now it exploded in half that distance, which was close enough to kill her!

Elena’s head was blasted with the full impact of the explosion. Although she had a thick head of hair that might dampen the explosive impact slightly, blood still came streaming out of her ears, immediately staining half of her body in red.

Even with such a serious injury, though, Elena still stayed conscious.

Those big pair of eyes had now gone dull, but they stared fixedly at Eliard’s face with the same warmth and tenderness that had been there before. There was even a weak but sincere smile on her face now.

“Forgive me…my love.”

Those were the last words that parted Elena’s lips. Then, with the gentle smile still on her face, she died.

Nothing happened to Eliard, though. He did not blow up into pieces the way Elena had threatened would happen. There was no change in his body at all.

Eliard slumped down to the ground. Then, he seemed to suddenly think of something and rushed up to Elena’s body and held it tight against his chest. He then raised his head up to heaven and bawled at the top of his lungs, his voice drenched in sorrow.

He felt he could understand Elena now. She was a priestess of a dark cult and was on a certain mission, so she had to use her charms to lure the men to use them to her advantage.

But Eliard was sure that she loved him. She had ridiculed him and used cold and vicious words with him when her secret plot was about to be revealed to the world because she wanted to taunt Eliard into killing her.

What other choice would she have?

“Ahhhhhhh!!!!!”

If someone had pierced a knife through Eliard’s heart right now, the pain would still have been less than what he currently felt.

My love is dead. My life is over, thought Eliard as he clung to Elena’s lifeless body.

Meanwhile, Link was also shaken by what had just happened. He looked at Elena’s corpse and then at his friend Eliard who was suffering in immense pain. His eyebrows knitted so closely together that they were joined into one.

Did she intend to die? Were her feelings for Eliard sincere? Or was it all just a ruse?

What was true? Or was it all a lie? Even Link wasn’t so sure now.

Chapter 168: The Downfall of a Genius

 

The King’s Lane

Eliard was devastated. He held Elena’s corpse in his arms and fell into a state of despair.

Link could not bear to see his best friend in such great pain. It was a heart-wrenching moment. As for the coachman, he simply stayed in the corner and was too scared to move.

However, even though he was paralyzed with fear, he was also the only person who had no connection with the issue. His awareness and judgment were not as seriously affected as the rest.

His gaze alternated between Link, Eliard and Elena’s corpse when all of a sudden, he saw a faint glow emanating from Elena’s corpse, which disappeared quickly after circling once around her chest.

The speed of this light ball was extremely fast. Everything happened in the blink of an eye. When the coachman tried to look more closely after rubbing his eyes, all that was left was a body covered in blood.

Originally, the coachman wanted to report this phenomenon to Link, but immediately dismissed the idea. These Magicians would kill without batting an eyelid in the heat of the moment. This is too horrifying. I would be better off if I stay out of this.

Link was too preoccupied and shocked by Elena’s rashness to notice this minute detail. Furthermore, he was completely focused on Eliard and paid no notice to Elena’s corpse. As for Eliard, he was thoroughly devastated and had practically no awareness of his surroundings.

The coachman lost sight of the light ball instantly. He did not realize that it had floated to the back of the carriage. The light emanating from it was dim, much like a highly transparent glass orb. It was also very small in size, only about the size of a thumb. It carefully evaded Link’s field of vision and slowly drifted into the forest beside the carriage.

It took its time and slowly bobbed up and down till it had covered a distance of about 300 feet. It then accelerated to a speed almost ten times faster than its original, leaving shockwaves and wind in its path. It traveled straight into the depths of the Girvent Forest.

After a while, a farm appeared in its field of vision. There was a beautiful manor in the middle of the farm. It should be the property of a small noble family.

The farm did not cover a large area. There were about 30 households over the 1000-acre land. In the farms beside the village, one could see many farmers hard at work, and at the northwest corner of the farm under a large tree was simply a cemetery built simply from wooden fences.

There were over ten people surrounding the cemetery. A pale-faced female corpse laid on the ground while a man cried uncontrollably while holding her in his arms. From his muttering, one could determine that the deceased woman was his wife who died from difficult childbirth. There were two farmers beside the body who were hard at work digging a pit to bury the woman.

The woman was dead for less than a day. As it was winter, the body still looked as though it had some vitality.

The dim light started traveling even faster upon this sight and rushed into the body of this young woman.

The man was still holding his wife’s body while lamenting about her tragic life. However, the next moment, he let go of the body and stared at it with a horrified expression. His lips moved but no words came out of his mouth.

“What happened, Joseph?” Someone asked.

“Lisa seemed to have moved a while back.” The person called Joseph sounded slightly uncertain. His wife had already stopped moving, causing him to suspect that it was all his illusion.

“Don’t be too sad, Joseph. Lisa has already gone to heaven,” another person comforted.

Joseph agreed with his gaze still glued to his wife’s body. At that moment, the body moved again. Her chest even showed faint signs of breathing, validating the presence of life.

Joseph was extremely convinced this time. He was surprised and elated and immediately placed his ears on his wife’s chest to listen for a heartbeat. He then heard faint but clear thumping sounds!

Joseph was ecstatic. He shouted, “Lisa is not dead. She is still alive! She has returned from the dead. Oh God of Light, thank you for your kindness!”

How can someone come back from the dead? Everyone thought Joseph was going insane from the depression and looked at him with a compassionate gaze.

However, as Lisa’s breathing became more visible and showed more obvious signs of life such as coughing, no one doubted Joseph’s words anymore.

“Oh my god, Lisa really is back.”

“But I saw her die with my own eyes!” A middle-aged woman screamed in horror. She was a midwife and had delivered countless babies. She had never seen a woman come back to life from a difficult childbirth!

“This must be the blessing of the God of Light! He must have been touched by Joseph’s love.” This was an illogical explanation. However, in a world where gods were proven to have existed and even appeared throughout the annals of history, this was a sound and persuasive argument.

Finally, an old man walked out. He was Joseph’s father. He said, “Alright Joseph. Lisa may have been resurrected. However, she is still very weak. Take her back home immediately!”

“Yes!” Joseph was extremely happy and he felt as though he had unlimited energy. He hugged Lisa and ran all the way back home.

In his embrace, Elena sighed. Master’s magic is indeed powerful…but this body was too heavily damaged. Also, she seems to be an ordinary village woman. She must have been bounded to many menial tasks and household chores every day. It might not be easy to escape from this place.

She then started to recall her past memories. When Elena’s physical body suffered lethal injuries, she expelled her soul from that body and left. However, that was not before she took a close look at the contents of the scroll using the Eye of the Soul.

The soul was the most basic and pure state of life, with the ability to record any information with objectivity and faith. In other words, a person in that state would have an eidetic memory.

As Elena recalled, bits and pieces of the contents would slowly appear in her mind. Every detail was clear and defined. She had a look of satisfaction on her face. That’s a relief. Although it had been a dangerous mission, I somehow completed it perfectly. Most importantly, I seemed to have destroyed a brilliant Magician in the World of Light. This is extremely worth it!

With Eliard’s sensitivity, he must have thought that I deliberately took the attack. He must be devastated and might even fall into depression. He has also just turned 18, which was the golden period for any Magician to increase their strength. If his depression could last for a couple of years, his magic achievements would definitely be substantially reduced in the future. This would mean that she had gotten rid of a potential enemy.

It was even possible that he might turn against Link. Elena could not help but chuckle at that thought.

How perfect. Elena was proud. Perhaps I will feel slightly bad for deceiving Eliard. No, he is an enemy, I must be ruthless! Show no compassion and pity in the face of an enemy. This is master’s teachings!”

…

Link could only sigh as all the light went out in Eliard’s eyes. It wouldn’t help to simply stay on King’s Lane. He turned to the coachman and said, “Let’s return to the academy.”

“Yes, Mr. Link.” The coachman immediately nodded. Link was pretty famous within the academy and he had long heard of his name.

The carriage turned in the opposite direction and slowly made its way back.

Along the way, no one spoke. Even the horses seemed to have detected the repressive atmosphere and trotted as lightly as possible.

When they arrived back at the academy, the carriage stopped in front of Herrera’s Mage Tower. Link stepped forward to open the carriage door as Eliard dragged his feet towards the Mage Tower with Elena’s bloody corpse in his arms.

When the Magician’s Apprentices in the hall saw the situation, many of them exclaimed or screamed in horror.

“Oh my god.”

“What happened?”

“Elena just said that she was feeling unwell, how could she have…”

Eliard ignored all the comments and simply walked towards the staircase.

Herrera was bound to know if such a serious thing happened in the Mage Tower. As Eliard climbed the stairs, she appeared at the platform on the second floor.

“Eliard, what happened?” Herrera stared at the bloodied corpse with a look of disbelief.

In her eyes, Elena was a conscientious and hardworking student. She also had a flair for magic. She was even optimistic about her relationship with Eliard, confident that it would become a beautiful story she could tell to her next batch of students. How did things turn out like this?

Eliard did not answer the questions and simply walked past Herrera. He had no idea why he did that. His only aim now was to satisfy his stubborn inner self and bring Elena back home, to the small room where they had spent countless happy moments together.

As Herrera did not get an answer, she then looked at Link, “What is going on?”

Link smiled bitterly and said, “Master, I need to tell you this in private.”

“Alright. Come to my room.” Herrera walked towards the highest floor while Link followed closely behind.

When they reached the hall at the highest floor of the Mage Tower, Link took out his memory crystal and activated it. Images of the event in the Girvent Forest appeared. The talks Elena had with the merchants in the forest, the suicide of the merchant on King’s Lane, all of them were displayed clearly in front of Herrera.

Herrera had a look of disbelief on her face. “This is Elena?”

This was the complete opposite from the obedient and hardworking Elena she knew!

“It should be her if she doesn’t have a twin sister.” Link threw his hands out helplessly. It seemed as though he had successfully stopped Elena. However, he felt that something was amiss although he could not point out exactly where.

“Do you know the contents of the scroll?” Herrera did not dwell much on Elena’s deception. Her main concern now was the scrolls, which were the most important object of the incident.

“I have no idea. I guess the scrolls are still on Elena’s body. When I stopped her, she was about to escape. However, it might not be easy now that Eliard is devastated.” Link could totally understand Eliard’s actions. If he were to be in Eliard’s shoes, he might have already gone insane.

“What exactly happened that made Eliard so depressed?” Herrera could feel that Eliard was not in a good shape.

Link then recounted the incident at King’s Lane in detail. When he was done, Herrera fell silent.

It took some time before she sighed, “I have no idea if Elena had true feelings for Eliard. However, I know that it will be difficult for Eliard to recover given his personality.”

Eliard was sincere, generous and even a little stubborn. Once he decided to go into a relationship, he would definitely put all his emotions into maintaining it. Now that his partner had willingly died for him, he might be stuck in this whirlpool of remorse for his entire life.

In other words, a talented Magician like Eliard might meet his downfall because of Elena.

Upon hearing Herrera’s words, Link immediately recalled the merchant who willingly died for Elena. He suddenly felt a chill down his spine.

The merchant was merely an ordinary person and was, naturally, easily manipulated. However, Eliard was a world-class genius and was way more difficult to control. That might be why Elena adopted the destructive approach to ruin him.

And it looked like she was successful.

Had her ability to manipulate people reached that level?

So… is she really dead? Link was starting to feel unsure.

Chapter 169: Fistfights and Friendship

 

Eliard had been staying in his room all the time after coming back to the Mage Tower. He didn’t eat or drink. He just sat there staring at Elena’s body in a daze. No one knew what he was thinking about.

On the second day, Herrera searched Elena’s body and found three scrolls containing the detailed map of the internal layout of the Master Magicians’ Mage Towers.

Eliard looked on numbly throughout the entire process. He didn’t stop Herrera from her search, but neither did he speak to her or make any movements at all. He just sat there motionless like an inanimate sculpture.

No one disturbed him after the discovery of the scrolls, because they had caused an uproar throughout the entire academy.

Even prominent Magicians in the Master Magicians’ Mage Towers could be bought with gold coins, and it turned out that they had sold the secrets of three Mage Towers! The whole academy was shocked by this terrifying revelation.

The dean, Anthony was understandably furious when he got wind of this news. He was now afraid for the safety of the academy, which was why he presided over the operation to cleanse the academy of traitorous and corrupt Magicians once and for all. The Magicians who had sold the academy’s secrets were naturally stripped off their magic powers, their memories of the Mage Towers wiped out of their minds and they were cast out of the academy.

All the merchants involved in the plot suddenly disappeared off the face of the earth. This wasn’t the academy’s doing, though, but was the work of the MI3. The East Cove Magic Academy was within the Norton Kingdom’s territory after all, when something terrible happened there, rumors said that the king himself had taken special interest in this matter.

After the purge, Anthony and the other members of the academy’s high council began to rectify the gaps in the security system of the academy and planned confidential measures to make sure that something like this could never happen again.

Link held no important position in the academy, so he had little to do with all these follow-up measures. Besides, he’d already received generous rewards from the dean, which was the pass to enter the dean’s Mage Tower anytime he wished. Plus, he was allowed to use the Level-6 Elemental Pool in the dean’s Mage Tower up to six hours per week and the permission to freely browse any books he liked in the dean’s library.

It was just what he needed right now.

Although the traitors in the academy had all been rooted out and it seemed that the dark forces had been thwarted, Link still felt an indescribable uneasiness in his mind. This type of unease always drove Link to forget everything else and focus on learning magic and advancing his level.

With this obsessive determination, Link had made immense progress in a short time, but it was still not good enough for him. Once Link began to learn a Level-6 spell, he realized that he had far underestimated the difficulty in becoming a Master Magician.

Link now knew what a nonsense fantasy it was to try to reach Level-8 in three months. It would be a miracle if he could even master a Level-7 spell well enough to know how to use it in a real battle in that time.

This discovery caused Link to become quite exasperated.

Still, Link’s true strength was in his unrelenting attitude towards something that he’d set out to do. No matter what kind of difficulties he faced, even if they seemed to be insuperable, he would never give up even though he might feel frustrated. He would just quickly adapt to the current situation then find the best solution in order to move on.

Thus, although he didn’t know if he could achieve his goal, he never stopped working hard to try to advance his level to the highest point that he could muster.

Link slept for six hours a day and didn’t drink or eat but depended on magic spells to maintain his body’s health. He would cast the spell, Elemental Cure on his body once in the morning and once before he went to sleep at night, and that was enough to let him go through the day.

That was how his days went by for the past week. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Link had completely immersed himself in the world of magic spells and had completely given up the joy of life.

Late one night after the tiring week, Link was walking back to Herrera’s Mage Tower in utter exhaustion from the Heaven’s Thorn. Just as he was approaching the Mage Tower’s entrance, he saw Eliard standing there waiting for him.

Within a week, the originally well-built Eliard had become emaciated and his dark blue eyes were now deep-set and dull. Even his skin had gotten grayish. He looked nothing like his former self.

“Eliard, why are you so…?” Link was at a loss for how to face this friend of his. Even with all things considered, Link was still the one to cause Elena’s death. There was no way for him to avoid this fact. Admittedly part of the reason why Link had been obsessively learning magic all this while was to avoid meeting Eliard.

A faint smile appeared on Eliard’s face. He looked at the tired face and bloodshot eyes of his friend’s and shook his head gently.

“You don’t have to blame yourself, Link,” he said. “You did the right thing. I don’t blame you for it at all.”

It had been a week now and Eliard had given it much thought. He had resented Link for a time, but it only lasted for a few hours. He understood well that Link had done what he should do to protect the safety of the academy. The one at fault wasn’t Link, it was Elena. Still, Eliard couldn’t bring himself to blame Elena either. She’s dead now anyway.

In the end, the only thing Eliard hated was his fate. He couldn’t understand why fate had to torture him so. Fate had brought him to a woman he loved, yet it also snatched her away so quickly. Nothing could be crueler than that!

Meanwhile, Link felt no sense of relief at all after hearing what Eliard just said. He grew even more worried instead and felt he had to say something.

“I…”

“I’ve decided to give up on magic,” said Eliard suddenly.

“What did you say?!” Link’s eyes opened wide in shock at Eliard’s words. This was the Magician whose level of genius was one that the world hadn’t seen in five hundred years! In the game when Link had reached the Legendary Pinnacle level and was about to fight against Nozama, Eliard had begun to prepare himself to ascend to the level of Archmage while he was only 36 years old!

But now this would-be earth-shattering genius was talking about giving up magic, all because of a woman? This is preposterous!

For what felt like hours, Link just stood there dumbstruck, hardly knowing what to do or how to respond.

Eliard then took out a pouch from his sleeve and used the Magician’s Hand to hand it over to Link.

“Here are the 1300 gold coins that I owe you,” said Eliard. “I’m paying it all back to you now. Thank you for your selfless help in the past, I…I’m very sorry!”

“…” Link stared at the coin pouch floating in front of him as all kinds of emotions began to stir up in him.

What was Eliard thinking? He’s giving up magic and paying off his debts to Link because he wanted to completely sever the friendship between them? All because of a woman from a dark cult? So now that Eliard was heartbroken he was just going to abandon magic just like that?

Anger started to rise up in Link as well. He flung the pouch violently to the ground then rushed up towards Eliard and grabbed his collar.

“You’re a coward, do you know that?” Link shouted in Eliard’s face. “You’re a motherf*cking coward!”

Eliard shoved Link away and his face turned stone cold.

“This is my decision; it’s got nothing to do with you!” said Eliard. “If I didn’t learn magic, then I wouldn’t have met Elena. If it wasn’t for magic, Elena wouldn’t have died! Magic killed her!”

Those words were the last straw for Link. He was now desperately learning and practicing magic so he could gain enough strength to fight against the Level-8 demon, and he was ready to sacrifice all the joys in his life to achieve that. Still, there was a thread of hope in him that had got him through all the hardships he faced so far, and that hope had sprung from the fact that he knew he wasn’t alone in this fight. He knew that apart from himself there was a genius Magician whose talents could one day save the world from the forces of darkness. He knew that once this young genius grew up and had developed his skills to its full potential, he would be a powerful ally who would fight against the Dark Army with him side-by-side.

And now that damned bastard actually thought of giving up magic?

The flame of anger in Link’s heart had gotten to the such an untamable point that he no longer cared about Eliard’s feelings.

“You’re wrong! It wasn’t magic that killed Elena, it was her evil cult!” Link shouted. “If she didn’t get killed this time, then she would’ve died the next time! If she didn’t die because of me, then someone else would’ve killed her once they found out her secret plot! Either way, she would’ve died anyway!”

Thwack!

As soon as Link finished his sentence he was seeing stars for a moment from the punch to his eye and his cheek was burning with pain from the hit as well.

“You wanna fight?!” Link lunged forward and punched Eliard on his nose till it was gushing out with blood.

Eliard had gotten furious by now. Not only did Link cause Elena’s death, he’d even uttered such despicable words, and now he wanted to fight back? And so Eliard punched Link back one more time, this time making him completely punch-drunk with the brunt force of Eliard’s fist.

Link wasn’t about to just take the punches like a rag doll, though. He threw another hook to Eliard’s chin, causing him to lose his balance and he fell to the ground. Then, he went down on the fallen Eliard and prepared to punch him some more.

To Link’s surprise, Eliard’s response was extremely quick. While he was still on the ground he managed to kick Link with both of his feet and knocked Link down as well. Then, as both of them were now on the ground, they started to fight like dogs with one person punching and the other kicking, then one socked the other with his elbow and the other responded with his knee. This went on for a few minutes, neither party was willing to be the first person to stop.

Link had been leading an easy life in the past few months, so although he was still not as strong and muscular as Eliard, he had gained considerable physical strength and was no longer the scrawny kid that he used to be. Eliard, on the other hand, had gotten much thinner and weaker in the past week, which meant that both of them were now fighting as equals. Neither of them had used magic, though, because they knew that once magic was involved the other party might get killed. Even though they were both angry at each other they still had no wish to kill each other yet.

Both of them had been storing much anger and frustration all this while, so now they treated each other as punching bags to release the pent-up emotions inside them.

After a few minutes, the entrance door of the Mage Tower was suddenly opened and the crystal lamp hanging over the door lit up as well. Then, Herrera’s wrathful face emerged out from the inside of the Mage Tower.

She had rushed down here from her room in a flurry. She was still wearing her nightdress and her hair was messy as she just got out of bed. She reached the Mage Tower entrance only to see two of her proudest disciples brawling on the ground like common street dogs.

Link’s face was swollen to the size of a pig’s head, one of his eye sockets was black and blue and his lips were cracked and bloody while the Magician’s robe on his body was torn to tatters. Eliard’s conditions were even worse as his body had been weakening for the past week. When Herrera emerged from the door she saw Link sitting on Eliard and bashing into his face with his fists!

At this moment, Eliard’s face was even more swollen than Link’s, his nose was dripping with blood which stained the clothes on his chest red. One of his eyes had ballooned almost to the size of a peach and it was obvious that Eliard couldn’t open it anymore. That strikingly handsome face of his was now such a mess that it wasn’t even human-like!

Not only that, but all around them hundreds of gold coins scattered and rolled about. Three shoes were seen nearby – the last one was still on Link’s left foot.

What a scene it was!

“Enough, both of you!” bellowed Herrera in rage.

Among both of them, one was already a genius Magician who had begun to attract fame and reputation in the outside world. Meanwhile, the other was a young Magician with nearly perfect innate talents in magic and limitless potential to develop in the future. The fact that two outstanding talents had emerged in the span of a few months was indeed a miracle, yet now both of them ended up wrestling each other in the dirt was such a shame! If rumors of this incident ever spread out they’d be the laughing stock of the whole kingdom!

Now that they saw their tutor, Link, who had long tired out his arms, stood up immediately. His strength by then had almost reached its limit and his fists could no longer throw any more punches. He was sure that if they persisted any longer he would be completely overwhelmed by the physically stronger Eliard.

Eliard was as worn out as a pair of old boots himself, so he clambered up onto his feet and stood in front of Herrera right beside Link. They both bent their heads down, staring at the ground like children who knew they were in trouble and were about to be punished.

Herrera was initially about to explode in anger, but when she saw how innocently child-like Link and Eliard looked, she suddenly found it all amusing instead. She must keep a stern appearance, though.

“Tidy up these things on the ground and get yourselves back to your rooms!” she said sternly.

At that moment Herrera felt as if she was a foster mother of two immature young boys.

Herrera was a respected tutor to both Link and Eliard, so they quickly and quietly obeyed her command and went about picking up their shoes and the gold coins that scattered about everywhere on the ground.

Link picked up his right shoe and tried to put it back on, but just then he happened to glance at Eliard who was squatting on the ground trying to put on his shoes as well. Link saw how the face that used to be the envy of men and the adoration of women now looked as swollen as a pig’s! Link suddenly found it so hilarious that he erupted into uncontrollable laughter.

Eliard saw how Link’s face was further disfigured with his laughter and couldn’t hold back his laughter either. Soon enough the two friends were both laughing at each other’s ridiculous faces.

But after a while, Eliard was reminded again of his own fate, which caused him to cry. He wept for the loss of his beloved Elena, he wept for the hard times he had to endure ever since his parents abandoned him on the streets when he was just a baby. He sat on the ground and wept and wept at his tragic fate until the initial sobs turned into howling wails.

Link and Herrera looked at each other then at Eliard in sympathy. Link then started to pick up all the gold coins with the Magician’s Hand as he was too tired to do it himself. It only took a few seconds before all the gold coins were collected in the pouch. He then put the pouch into the storage bracelet he got from the Dark Elf Magician, Parson. This storage bracelet had been purged of all dark magic auras and had even been slightly modified by Link himself so no one could ever recognize its Dark Elven origins anymore.

All traces of anger in Link’s heart had subsided after the brief fistfight.

“Here, take this,” said Link as he slipped the storage bracelet onto Eliard’s wrist.

“Take it with you and go outside and explore the world for a while. You’ll feel better soon enough. But don’t ever think about giving up on magic again.”

Eliard said nothing in reply, he just nodded in agreement.

The fight just now had also cleansed Eliard’s heart of all anger and resentment towards his friend. Looking back, he finally realized that things hadn’t been so bad that he must give up everything in life and run away.

Elena was still the love of his life, of course, and he naturally still ached and grieved for her loss. But that didn’t change the fact that she was dead now and will always stay in the past. Link was right, he should go out of the academy and explore the world and get a change of scenery for a while. He knew that it would certainly help him recover and feel better then.

As for magic, Eliard now realized that it was not the cause of Elena’s death after all. Without magic, Elena would’ve died of the blade of swords or daggers or the arrows, or maybe even of the dark divine spells that Elena was involved with. Eliard knew more than anyone else how cruel this world could be.

Eliard understood clearly now that giving up magic would be tantamount to giving up his own life.

“Aren’t you building your new estate, Link?” asked Eliard suddenly. “I could go there and help you out.”

Link was momentarily stunned, but he recovered himself quickly and gave Eliard a firm nod. Once he’d put on his shoes, he stood up and walked towards Eliard then extended a hand out to him.

“It would be my pleasure,” said Link.

Eliard reached out to catch Link’s hand and got himself up to his feet. He suddenly realized that Elena wasn’t as perfect as she had been in his imagination after all. Instead, it was this friend of his here who’d been like a brother to him all along who was the one person he could rely on whenever he’s in trouble.

Chapter 160: Monetary Incentive (Part 3)

 

The fourth floor of Herrera’s Mage Tower.

There were a total of 66 tarot cards in Elin’s deck. She divided them into two separate rows, one with 22 cards and the other with 44 cards. They were placed face down on the table in a fan-shaped formation.

As Elin needed a drop of blood for her spell and clearly meant no harm, Link stretched out his hand. She skillfully pricked Link with a silver needle and a drop of blood appeared at his fingertip. The blood then floated in the air and dispersed into a cloud of mist the moment it was directly on top of the tarot cards.

Elin closed her eyes and flailed her hands randomly within the blood mist. From time to time, she would vocalize a few words with a trembling voice. “A…ba…salo…ji…”

If one were to ignore the increasing intensity of the mysterious aura surrounding her, she would look downright insane.

After half a minute, the blood mist hovering on top of the tarot cards split into two portions as though it was alive, each charging straight into a separate row of cards. Elin then opened her eyes. She looked slightly drained and the soft green glow in her eyes seemed to have dimmed greatly. Before she flipped open the tarot cards, she said, “The cards can predict your future. I have heard that you have chosen a barren land as your territory. If you are indeed the Chosen One, the Yabba race would offer you some help in the development of your land.”

“What if I’m not?” Link smiled. If the Yabba race was willing to help, it would exponentially speed up and improve the development process.

The Yabba people were the most outstanding magic mechanics in the world. They had ridiculous achievements in the area of architecture, building a large number of buildings that were magnificent enough to be termed as wonders. Their help would not only improve the quality, but also the speed of Link’s territory construction.

“If you aren’t then the deal is off.” Elin gave a cheeky smile before pulling out the cards selected by the blood mist. She then avoided Herrera’s and Link’s gaze before checking them carefully.

As she flipped open the cards, she explained, “The power of fate is extremely delicate and mysterious. Any minute changes may affect the result drastically. Therefore, I am the only one who can look at this. Wait a minute, this is…” Elin eyes suddenly widened, her gaze alternating between the cards in her hand and Link, who was right in front of her. She looked as if she had seen something incredible.

She had two cards in her hand.

The first card was the main card, showing a bright sun in the middle. This was the best main card anyone could hope for as it symbolized hope, light and inner peace.

The second card was the auxiliary card. This card showed a king holding a scepter, representing authority, passion, sincerity and creativity.

This was also the best auxiliary card!

From all the prophecies Elin had done, these cards were only chosen in extremely rare cases. Even if they were, only one of them would appear, while the other accompanying card would usually be something extremely poor.

Elin, who specialized in the power of prophecy, knew very well that it was almost impossible for these two cards to appear at once. This was due to the innate contradictory properties of these two cards.

If a person had great authority, he was bound to be absorbed into the vortex of power struggle. Coupled with his passion and creativity, it would be almost impossible to achieve inner peace.

This was merely one aspect of the contradiction. A wise person might be able to reconcile the differences between these two cards and find the fine balance. However, there was another important reason that prevented the concurrent appearance of the two cards.

That was the hidden meaning behind this pair of cards.

When the sun, the scepter and the king appeared simultaneously in a person’s fate, it only meant one thing—they would become the Savior!

What was a Savior?

Even when the entire world was on an unstoppable trajectory towards the abyss and every living creature was suffering a tragic fate, the Savior would be the only person that possessed the power to put a stop to the madness!

It was important to maintain inner peace when practicing prophecy spells. Elin had been trained to never show her emotions no matter the results she saw from the cards.

Even when she was predicting her own fate which showed that she would go through great suffering and even the destruction of the entire Yabba race, she only frowned ever so slightly and felt a twinge of sadness in her heart.

However, this was an exception. When the person destined to be a Savior was right in front of her, she could no longer stay calm. This was because her fate, the tragic fate of her entire race could be altered!

After a full 30 seconds in shock, Elin suddenly moved and quickly mixed the cards in her hand into the rest of the tarot cards on the table. She then hastily shuffled the deck to make it impossible for anyone to tell the two cards she had just picked out. Even though he was the Savior, his power still had not fully matured. She had to keep the results of this prophecy to herself in order to protect him!

“What’s the matter, Elin?” Herrera was clearly shocked by her exaggerated actions. What kind of prophecy would make a Level-6 Magician this flustered?

Elin had slightly regained her composure and gave a slight cough before continuing, “I’m sorry, Link. The cards showed that you are not the Chosen One.”

“That is not possible!” Herrera was puzzled. She had seen the brilliance of God in the depths of Link’s soul. “Elin, could you be mistaken?”

Elin was immediately enraged. She shouted with a flushed face, “Do not insult my prophecy magic! It is never wrong!”

“Alright, alright, I’m sorry,” Herrera hurriedly apologized.

Elin did not pursue the matter any further and turned to look at Link, “However, since we are friends, the cooperation might still be possible if you are willing to pay. When I return back to the Yabba Mountains (The hometown of the Yabba race, North of the Norton Kingdom, Adjacent to the Dark Elves Forest), I can still afford to send you a batch of our finest engineers.”

Link thought it was an extremely good plan. He was totally not concerned about the issue of the Chosen One. To him, it was nothing more than a title.

Even if he was the Chosen One, the God of Light would not be able to descend onto the World of Firuman to aid him in battle. If he wasn’t, the game system would still continue to help him navigate through this unfamiliar world. In any case, Herrera was already certain that he was the Chosen One. It was enough to see that the result of Elin’s prophecy was not sufficient to affect her judgment.

As for Elin’s offer to help with the construction of his territory, Link was extremely elated. He nodded in excitement and said, “Money is not a problem. I can fund the construction with my enchanting skills.”

Herrera nodded as well. “Link has outstanding talent in enchanting magic. His enchantment speed is extremely fast and he never fails to create exquisite designs. He is very skilled.”

Elin had no doubt about Link’s abilities at all. She immediately nodded and said, “If that is the case, I will start selecting the engineers the moment I return.”

“Thank you.” Link was satisfied.

“Just a small gesture,” Elin replied. She then fell silent and stared blankly into her deck of tarot cards, huddling in the chair.

Elin’s actions were definitely out of the ordinary. However, Herrera chose to leave her alone and turned towards Link. “You are back early this time. Did anything happen?”

Link nodded and took out a sword, staff and a dagger from his dimensional pendant. They belonged to the Dark Elf Warrior Norisa, Magician Parsons and Assassin Hedel respectively. Lastly, he took out Parsons dimensional bracelet and placed them on the table.

Dark Elves equipment were extremely recognizable by their characteristics. They were always black or bright red in color and would be enchanted with a layer of dark aura.

Herrera’s eyes widened upon seeing this equipment. She asked, “What’s going on?”

Elin, who was in a daze, also took a glance at the equipment before staring back at her deck of cards. However, her tiny ears were already erected, clearly interested in the background of these weapons.

Link then explained in detail his trip back to the Morani castle. As he mentioned about the Black Moon Conspiracy, Herrera already had a tight frown on her face. By the time he reached the part about Demon Tarviss, Herrera was unable to contain her fear anymore and covered her delicate mouth with her hands.

“Tarviss? Didn’t he get banished by the Legendary Magician Bryant?”

It was Link’s turn to feel perplexed. There was a discrepancy between the history he knew and the current timeline. In the game, Tarviss was merely sealed in an unknown area within East Cove Higher Magic Academy. Had he truly been banished in this timeline?

They were two completely different scenarios.

However, it didn’t take him long before he understood. The incident happened over 100 years ago and the story had been passed down through many generations. There was bound to be some deviation from the original. As Herrera had not entered the core layer of leadership in the Magic Academy, it was natural for her to not know the truth.

Link then said, “Why don’t we convey this message to Dean Anthony?”

“We have to; I will go now!” Herrera was flustered. Demon Tarviss was a Legendary creature. If the Dark Elves were successful in releasing him, it would definitely be a catastrophe, probably one that could destroy the entire magic academy.

She immediately stood up and left before turning back to collect the Dark Elves equipment Link had brought back with him. She then turned to Elin and said apologetically, “Elin, I have something urgent to attend to. I cannot accompany you anymore.”

Elin simply smiled and started putting away her tarot cards. Then she jumped down from her chair and said, “That’s fine, please get busy. I should also be returning to the Yabba Mountains as Link probably needs my engineer team soon. Can you let Link send me off?”

“Of course. Link?”

“Yes, master.” Link stood up and respectfully ushered Elin out of the hall, with Herrera following behind. When they reached the first floor, Link saw the merchant, Warter drinking at the bar. He seemed to be enjoying himself.

Link ignored him and continued walking towards the entrance.

When they exited the Mage Tower, Herrera made a beeline for the Heaven’s Thorn while Link accompanied Elin as they walked along the path leading towards the Griffins Railing.

Elin had restored her previous cheeky and cheery demeanor. She smiled at Link and said, “Link, I’ve heard that the Ferde Wilderness is extremely barren. Apart from having no natural resources, there are also all kinds of heinous criminals hiding in the area. Isn’t it very expensive to develop the land there?”

Link threw his hands out helplessly and said, “That is a fact.”

“Do you want me to help you?” Elin looked at Link with a haughty expression. She seemed to think she had a vantage point over Link.

“I think I have the solution to the problem.” Link pretended not to hear her.

Elin pouted, “You’re such a boring man. After all, I am still your senior. It is only polite to give you a gift on our first meeting. This is for you! It can probably sell for some money.”

She made a slight action with her hand and a glowing red metal enveloped by a red mist appeared in her hands. The metal was almost as large as a fist and would occasionally sparkle under the sun.

“This is…a Fire Star Thorium!” Link was shocked.

Chapter 161: Monetary Incentive (Part 4)

 

Fire Star Thorium

Quality: EpicMetal Summary: Fire Star Thorium is the perfect alloy consisting of thorium

and fire elements which act as a superconductor for Mana. It has a very stable structure that makes it ideal as a component for eternal magic seals. It is especially effective for fire element spells!

(Note: It can only be found in Tybo Volcano at the Yabba Mountain Range.)

Not only was there no other place in the world to get Fire Star Thorium, it was also a type of metal that could not be created artificially. It was precisely for this reason that the metal was inconceivably expensive. In the world of humans, only most of the users of the metal were high-level Magicians, and it was rarely available in the mass market.

The metal was priced at 2840 gold coins per ounce in the Magician’s District in Springs City, and it was one of the very few precious metals that was worth more than a thousand gold coins per ounce. Almost no one else other than the high-level Magicians could afford or had any use for such a ridiculously priced item.

What reason would Elin have for bringing out a lump of Fire Star Thorium that was as big as a baby’s fist? Thorium was an extremely dense metal, only a cubic foot of the metal would weigh close to a ton, so that lump of Fire Star Thorium Elin had there must weigh more than two pounds!

At that moment even the ever calm Link was flabbergasted. This lump of Fire Star Thorium must cost at least around a hundred thousand gold coins! Even the annual income of the royal Abel family was only 130,000 gold coins! It was just a gift that was too precious and too expensive for Link to accept in good conscience.

“No, I can’t accept this,” Link said.

This wasn’t just about the gift being too precious. There was no free lunch in the world, so he knew that he would be under some kind of obligation if he received this gift. Although Link wanted the Fire Star Thorium more than anything, he was afraid that he might have to spend all his life to pay for this debt of gratitude.

Nothing could prepare him for the way Elin reacted to his refusal, though.

Elin had been smiling and laughing just moments ago, yet the second she heard Link, her expression changed. She silently put the Fire Star Thorium back in her pouch, then tugged at Link’s sleeve and looked up at him with those pair of eyes that were brimming with tears.

“Why don’t you want my gifts?” she said with a pout. “You despise me, don’t you?”

“…” Link just couldn’t wrap his head around this little dwarf’s moods. One minute she was happy and joking around, and next minute she was crying and throwing tantrums. How would he deal with this girl?

“That’s not… I didn’t mean it that way…” Link tried to explain.

“Yes you did!” Elin then exploded into a loud wail. “Aaahhh…I know you despise me! You must think that I’m too short and I’m too small and that’s why you don’t like me!” Elin’s voice was very loud now, and she’d attracted the wrong attention from everyone around and causing them to misunderstand the situation.

Several Magicians who just happened to pass by had heard Elin’s words and they suddenly gave Link and Elin a peculiar kind of gaze that showed their confusion of the kind of drama going on between the two.

Can humans and dwarves have that kind of relationship? Some people thought. But the size is just wrong…

Isn’t that the famous Link who’s in the limelight recently? How did he attract a dwarf girl?

Morality is dead! That was the idea that came into the head of an old-fashioned gentleman Magician passing by.

Although none of these Magicians had voiced their thoughts, their gazes were enough to express what they were thinking in their heads. Link never thought that he would be caught in such an embarrassing situation, even less so with a powerful Level-6 Master Magician – all because he’d refused her gift!

For a time, Link was so confused that he could neither stand still nor walk away. Once Elin saw how her actions had produced an effect on Link, she smiled mischievously and stopped her crying for a while.

“So, are you going to accept it now?” she said as she leaned forward. “If you still refuse then I’ll keep on making so much noise you’ll be the talk of the town tomorrow.”

“…give it here then,” said Link as he massaged his temple with his fingers. He was considerably shocked at how adept Elin was at getting her way.

Link’s words had just left his lips when he felt something warm touching his hand. He turned to look at it and realized that Elin had slid the lump of priceless Fire Star Thorium into his palm.

The Fire Star Thorium was naturally warm, yet now Link somehow felt as if it was a lump of hot coal and he just wanted to throw it away as far as he could. But then he turned around and saw Elin’s doe-eyed face. Even though he knew that she had faked her crying, he still couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. She had looked genuinely miserable with the tears streaming from those innocent blue eyes, not to mention how childlike she looked when she sniffled with her pert, little nose. She looked nothing like someone who’d just put an act on.

This sight had reminded Link of the tragic history of the Yabba race in the game. He then thought of the fate of this young dwarf who was also the mighty and wise Lady Fortuna, and he could instantly understand the despair she must be keeping hidden behind her tantrums and jibes.

This little girl is a prophet, so she must’ve seen a vision of the future, Link thought. She must’ve seen the unspeakable suffering she must go through, not to mention the catastrophe that would befall her people. What she is doing now is probably her way to find a reliable ally for the Yabba race… But why did she choose me?

The moment this question occurred in his mind Link was reminded of Elin’s strange reactions when she picked out the Tarot cards earlier.

I got it now, that prophecy earlier must’ve proven that I really am the God of Light’s Chosen One. Elin had to conceal the details of the prophecy because she feared the knowledge would disrupt the path of destiny that dictates the events of the future.

When he thought of it this way, all of Elin’s actions before this now seemed logical.

She indicated that she would help me set up a team immediately and created an opportunity for us to be alone to give me this invaluable Fire Star Thorium. Even though she verbally denied my identity as the Chosen One, her actions were more than enough proof that she supports me.

Link sighed as he realized Elin’s true motives. He was reminded of that fire in his soul he felt when he received Lady Fortuna’s blessings from her soul in the game when he completed the last task that she set out for the player.

I must defeat the Lord of the Deep, Nozama!

That was what he thought then. With that strong conviction, he marched forward in the game and eventually led his comrades to successfully defeat Nozama before he descended upon the Realm of Light.

Now that he really was in this world, Link wondered if he would shirk away from such a terrifying mission? No, he would not. It was too late for that now.

That being the case, what reason would he have to refuse the Yabba people’s offer of alliance? Hadn’t his principle in doing things always been to gather as many available helpful forces as possible anyway?

With this thought in mind, Link became calm and the fog in his mind completely cleared away.

He then placed the warm lump of Fire Star Thorium inside his storage pendant. His mood was now back to normal. He even managed to smile a little as he patted Elin’s head gently.

“Don’t worry,” he said, “I will never forget how much you’ve helped me today.”

Can his mind be that sharp? Elin thought with surprise. She could sense the changes in Link’s manners as she raised her head to look up at him. She saw how the eyes that could see through a soul had now turned into a pair of kind and gentle ones. She immediately understood that Link had guessed her true motives.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have forced you, but I…” Elin said no more. She knew that Link understood her sentiments perfectly.

Initially, when she saw the vision of her people’s fate, she suppressed her emotions because she knew that she only had the power to see the future but none to change it. In that case, all she could do was accept the fate.

But now that she found the savior who would rescue the world from eternal darkness, she had begun to hope again. All the emotions she’d once suppressed exploded in one moment when she was acting up a scene just now. To be frank, even Elin herself was surprised at her almost mad behavior.

“You saw it, didn’t you?” whispered Link. He was no longer angry at Elin for what she’d done. If it had been him in her shoes, Link thought he might do something a hundred times worse than what Elin did if it meant he could save his own people.

Elin shuddered for a moment at Link’s question, but she soon found the words to reply him with.

“Will you save us?” she asked.

“To the best of my ability,” replied Link. “The Yabba people are noble. The Realm of Light cannot afford to lose you.”

Link and Elin’s exchange would sound completely mysterious and perplexing to an outsider, but this was a conversation between one person who could see into the future and another person who had experienced the future before after all.

These two had powerful souls as well, so they had no need for many words, as that only accounted for a small part of their communication. Instead, they relied heavily on each other’s gaze, expressions and the intonation of their voices which all conveyed more truthful and sincere information compared to mere words.

Because of that, both of them could now understand each other’s thoughts and feelings, although they did not mention it out loud. The result was that both man and girl were already aware of each other’s meaning, but they haven’t said it out loud yet.

Those few short sentences had set a solid foundation of an alliance between the two, and now Elin had returned to her normal behavior. She wiped her tears with a slight feeling of embarrassment as she followed behind Link to the Griffin’s railing and then stepped onto the Griffin’s back.

“Link!” Elin turned around and called out just as the Griffin was going to take off. “The sun will soon set beneath the horizon, and the light in the sky is nothing but just an afterglow.”

“But the sun will rise again,” replied Link.

Link’s words brought a smile to Elin’s little face, and her crystalline eyes shone again with the vibrancy of life. Although her lips were smiling, there were still signs of tears on her face. At that moment, she looked just as if she had walked out of a painting.

Then, the Griffin took off and rushed into the sky, flying into the distance towards the North. Link stood there watching the Griffin fly further and further away until it was nothing but a black dot in the sky. Only then did he turn away and head back to the Mage Tower.

He now had another valuable item in the storage pendant. This small lump of metal could smash the financial hurdle that prevented him from building his estate in one stroke. But as an enchantment Magician, would he ever use such a priceless material on a magic gear and sell it to someone else? Most definitely not!

I guess it’s time to replace my Star Catcher wand, thought Link. Maybe I’ll improve it a little and replace the Domingo crystal with a more superior crystal. It’s an epic quality wand made with high-quality materials, so it should fetch me at least 20,000 gold coins. Then maybe I’ll create a few pieces of jewelry to sell along with it, and that should cover the initial funds for my estate… oh, right, the merchant from Green Leaf Firm is waiting at the Mage Tower. I’d better get myself a good deal out of him.

Soon, Link was back at the Mage Tower. Warter was still sitting at the bare in the hall on the first floor, and in front of him was indeed a glass of the popular beverage Living Bubbles. Warter seemed to be enjoying himself with the bubbles that jumped around in his mouth.

As for Rylai, she had long gone to one of the tables in the hall and was hard at work studying a magic textbook.

Link had to walk right up to Warter before he realized that Link had returned.

“I’m sorry, sir,” Warter said hurriedly, “are you free to see me now?”

“Yes, let’s go to my room,” replied Link. “We’ll talk there.”

“No problem at all.” Warter then followed behind Link close at his heels.

Once they reached inside the room, Link poured two cups of water and placed it on the table. He then waited for Warter to settle down in his seat.

“I’m guessing my magic gear has caught your attention,” said Link. “Before we move on, I have some questions for you. What is the scale of the Green Leaf Merchant Firm? Also, how do you plan to cooperate with me? Do you have any prominent figures who are your patrons that would guarantee the safety and continuous operation of your business?”

These three points were the most important factors in a business deal in Firuman, and Link’s questions were all scrupulous and necessary. Warter was shocked at how wise this young man turned out to be. He knew just from these questions that no one would ever be able to take advantage or play tricks on Link.

Unfortunately for Warter, though, the Green Leaf Merchant Firm was only active in Springs City. It was basically an unknown entity outside of the capital. Furthermore, the firm only had one patron in the whole kingdom and he was just an old count who might not be able to protect the firm if it was ever faced with any serious threats.

In short, the firm’s network was still in a primitive stage.

Warter began to feel his hopes of cooperating with Link diminish. Nevertheless, he still remained calm and polite with Link and started to tell Link of the history and current status of his merchant firm.

“This is how things stand, Mr. Link…” Warter then went into every detail that concerned his business venture and responded to each of Link’s questions clearly and patiently. When he was finished, he sat upright and expected Link to respond with the simple yet portentous word –”no”.

Link drummed his fingers gently on the table when Warter finished speaking as he considered his options.

“What is your proposal, then?” Link then asked.

The moment these words were uttered Warter immediately knew that he had a chance.

“The moment you hand over your magic gear to me,” he began, “I will pay you at an ordinary market price on the spot. Once it is sold, if there is a premium, I will pay you 10%—no, 15% of the selling price. That is to say, we won’t just sell your creations for free, we would also pay you the additional gold coins we earned as well!”

Link was glad as he listened to the plan. He realized that this was no ordinary money-hungry salesman!

If all Warter wanted was to profit from Link’s magic gear, he would’ve shown him the door right now. Yet this man was a visionary. He wanted to use Link’s magic gear to build up the reputation of his firm and expand his business, and he didn’t mind paying Link a high price as well. A man with such an entrepreneurial spirit was way ahead of his time! Someone like him could end up getting all the gold coins on the continent into his pockets if he was given the right opportunity. Naturally, Link wouldn’t mind giving such a man just that opportunity.

“I want 20% of the profits,” said Link. “That’s not all, though. Your firm’s background is too weak. After joining you, the East Cove Magic Academy will become your firm’s official patron.”

“It’s a deal!” exclaimed Warter jubilantly.

Chapter 162: Anthony’s Confidence

 

Link had just gotten a stable source of income and settled the export for his future magic equipment. This would mean that the initial funding for the building of his territory was solved. He was naturally in a good mood. On the other hand, in the Heaven’s Thorn, Dean Anthony was deeply troubled.

In the parliament hall on the third floor of the Mage Tower, the Dark Elves’ equipment was laid out on a circular table. On the other side of the table sat Anthony and Herrera.

“Premium gold magic sword, an anti-magic dagger and a Spiral Focus Wand. These are all very valuable equipment.” Anthony carefully checked the Dark Elven equipment one-by-one. He then frowned tightly.

“Master, did you find something?” Herrera asked.

Anthony nodded and floated the golden sword gradually towards Herrera. He carefully positioned it such that the hilt was right in front of her eyes.

“Look carefully. Do you see the iris flower carved onto the hilt?”

Herrera took the sword into her hands and squinted her eyes. Indeed, she saw an exquisite and secretive marking of an iris flower. There were even miniscule petals surrounding the marking and each petal was engraved with another set of complex magic runes.

“The magic runes on the petals are extremely complex. This marking is almost impossible to forge. It belongs to the Norigan Familia, one of the three big Silver Moon Families. The dagger and the staff were all engraved with the same marking. These weapons are extremely well-made, probably produced for the core members of the Norigan Familia.”

Anthony then waved his hand and the golden sword floated back towards him. He held the blade of the sword with his two fingers and the hilt with his other hand and did a snapping movement. His hands suddenly glowed with a blinding light and the sword was broken cleanly into two parts the next instant. It was as though he was breaking a loaf of bread.

The fractured surface of the sword was still smooth, showing no signs of violent and deliberate destruction.

Anthony wore the reading glasses hanging on his chest and squinted his eyes, carefully observing the fractured surface. After half a minute, he nodded and did the same with the dagger and staff. He then declared, “The flow of power left certain special traces that could be detected from their weapon. It is often possible to tell the strength of the wielder simply through observation of their weapon. I can determine that the owner of these weapons were all Level-5 professionals.”

“Level-5? Three of them? How did Link achieve victory?” Herrera was shocked. Link merely told her that there were three Dark Elves who were slightly powerful. However, she had never expected them to be this strong!

She had once fought alongside Link and knew his strength first hand, especially his insane spellcasting speed. He once destroyed a huge group of undead Warriors that could easily overwhelm any professional Magician. However, those undead Warriors were merely Level-1 to Level-2 in strength. This time, he was confronted by three Level-5 professionals of different classes. If she was the one in that predicament, she would be lucky enough to make it back alive. How did Link return to the academy as though nothing serious had happened?

Anthony smiled and continued, “You have underestimated him. Look at this sword. The outer layer of the sword shows traces of melted metal. This would at least take the power of a Level-5 fire elemental spell to achieve.”

“Master, are you saying that Link has already mastered a level-5 spell?” Herrera was once again startled. Link had just reached Level-4 a month ago. To think that he had learned a Level-5 spell in just a month.

Anthony kept silent and put down the weapons. He then turned his attention to the dimensional bracelet and quickly found the iris flower marking on it. He then opened the bracelet and saw a magic book in it.

The book was titled Fusion Techniques of Dark Elementals. He then smiled. “This crafty boy took away all the valuable stuff and deliberately left the dark magic book inside to show his innocence. How cunning.”

Anthony then concentrated the fire elements in the air and engulfed the magic book in flames, instantly burning it to ashes.

He then told Herrera, “Link has undoubtedly become a Level-5 Magician. He has at least mastered a Level-5 spell and has the capabilities to stand up to three Level-5 professionals from the Norigan Familia. This can only mean that Link has an extraordinary understanding of magic.”

Anthony’s mind was on the northern battlefield as he said those words.

More than half of the Magicians should have already reached the battlefront. The incident at Jade Street seemed to have thoroughly enraged the king and catalyzed the attack against the Dark Forest. The Magicians of the academy had also participated in the attack.

In the most recent battle, three Level-2 Magicians form the kingdom were engaged in a battle with one Level-3 Dark Elf Magician. It was reported that the Dark Elf Magician managed to escape with heavy injuries despite being outnumbered, killing one Magician and heavily injuring another in the process. The injured Magician also seemed to be in trauma, and would not be able to battle for the next month.

This was almost too embarrassing.

In comparison, Link was so much more valuable.

Anthony could not help but exclaim, “The Kingdom has been too peaceful. The younger generation simply does not have enough battle power. The academy’s goal is to develop Magicians who are both wise and powerful. However, the truth is that very few people are interested in the latter, many of whom do not even know how to apply the knowledge they have learned. The gap between us and the Dark Elves is widening.”

Herrera then reminded him, “Master, Link also mentioned something about the demon, Tarviss. Didn’t he get banished a long time ago?”

This jolted Anthony out of his thoughts. He nodded, “The truth is that he didn’t. He was way too strong and Bryant did not have the power to banish him back to the abyss. He could only choose to seal him away, and the sealing spot is none other than the East Cove Higher Magic Academy.”

As the dean, he was well informed about the secrets the academy kept through the generations. The information regarding Tarviss was one of them.

This gave Herrera a shock. She said, “Link mentioned that the Dark Elves were planning to break the seal and destroy the academy. This is the essence of their Black Moon Conspiracy. Master, is this situation very serious?”

Strangely enough, there was not a hint of worry on Anthony’s face. He shook his head, “That is not possible. Even I do not know the exact location of the seal. The location had been lost through the generations. If I do not know, there is no way the Dark Elves could know.”

“What if they chanced upon it?” Herrera was still worried.

Anthony smiled and shook his head once again. “Even if they got the exact location, they would not be able to break the seal. The power of the seal is extremely strong. The academy has a total of 36 Mage Towers and every single Mage Tower is a part of the seal. Unless the Dark Elves have the capability to destroy half of these Mage Towers, the seal will definitely remain intact.”

This would mean that the Dark Elves had to destroy 18 Mage Towers. Every Mage Tower at least had a Level-4 Magician residing within, and the total number of official Magicians in the academy was well above 200.

Furthermore, Dean Anthony’s predecessors had been strengthening the defense of the academy every generation. One such example was the massive Level-7 defensive magic formation that could be instantly activated.

This defense was almost unassailable. Even if all the Dark Elf Magicians from the Silver Moon Alliance came, the academy would still be able to hold its ground.

This was the source of Anthony’s confidence.

“This Black Moon Conspiracy is purely a plan that the Dark Elves took for granted. There is no need to worry too much about it. What we should focus on now is the war in the North. The king is eager to achieve a victory to offset the negative impact from the Jade Street massacre. The first wave of soldiers has already set off. However, the operation is very hastily planned and executed. I am worried that something might happen.”

As one of the strongest Magicians in the Norton Kingdom, Anthony was informed first hand of the situation in the North. There had been a mix of good and bad news amongst the messages that he got. However, he could never feel truly at ease.

He had been keeping this uneasiness within him the past few days. Now that his most precious disciple was here, he took the chance to voice out his discomfort and changed the topic to the war in the North. He was not exactly worried about the Black Moon Conspiracy information that Herrera brought up.

Herrera, on the other hand, was optimistic about the situation in the North. “Master, the situation is not that bad. Our attack this time is also a surprise for the Dark Elves. They should also be unprepared for it.”

“I hope that is the case,” Anthony sighed.

Anthony then put the fragments of the weapons into the dimensional bracelet and handed it over to Herrera. “Link did well this time. I have already placed the reward in the bracelet. Tell him that while developing his territory is important, he should not delay the progress of his magic research. If not, I will personally request for the king to reclaim the territory!”

“Yes, Master.” Herrera took the bracelet and stared inside it curiously. She was immediately at a loss for words.

She had no idea when her master placed the rewards into the bracelet. It was filled to the brim with premium gold ore that could be refined into tens of thousands of gold coins. Apart from money, he also included a huge pile of Mithril ore which would probably become seven pounds of pure Mithril after extraction. All these items were worth at least 30000 gold coins in total.

“Master seems to have a lot of confidence in Link. He is so generous this time.” Herrera felt extremely happy for Link. Link should probably have enough money for the development of his land after this.

Herrera was just planning to leave when she stopped in her tracks and said, “There is one more thing I have to tell you. Lady Fortuna Elin met Link just now.”

“Oh, how were the results?” Anthony was slightly interested. He had heard many things about her gift in prophecy magic. However, he was not a fan of such magic. He had always thought they were slightly lunatic in nature and not dependable.

“She seemed to have seen something incredible. Her attitude towards Link completely changed.” Herrera was incredibly sensitive. She would not be easily fooled by Elin’s words.

Anthony laughed loudly and gave a casual comment, “It seems like the young man has gotten himself a new tiny little ally.”

Chapter 163: I’ll Have to Rely on Myself, Then

 

“Oh, by the way,” said Herrera, “this is your reward from the dean.”

Upon returning to the Mage Tower, Herrera took out her storage bracelet and handed Link his reward. Link immediately gasped after catching sight of the reward.

“Why is the dean so generous with me?” asked Link. “He’d just given me a golden ore, and now I get 20,000 gold coins as well?”

By rough estimations, Link discovered that the gold in the ring and all its other components and the fragments of the Dark Elves’ weapon would wipe out his funding problems immediately.

“The dean thinks highly of you,” said Herrera with a smile. “You mustn’t let him down.”

“Of course,” said Link.

Link had defeated and killed three mighty Dark Elves, plus he’d even brought back the important information about the Black Moon Conspiracy, so Link felt that he had indeed made a great contribution to the academy. Thus, he accepted the rewards and kept them in his storage pendant with good conscience as he knew that he had earned them.

“What did the dean say about the Black Moon Conspiracy and the demon, Tarviss?” asked Link.

“The dean said that the academy’s defense is impenetrable,” answered Herrera immediately. “Besides, the location of the seal of the demon, Tarviss has long been forgotten, so even though he will keep an eye out for the Dark Elves, there was really no need to be too worried about the Black Moon Conspiracy.”

Link’s eyebrows creased intensely as he heard Herrera’s reply.

The incident of the demon, Tarviss’ escape had really happened in the game, so it was obvious that the Dark Elves knew of his location. Even though things were slightly different now in this world, the Dark Elves’ ability to release Tarviss was unquestionable.

The demon’s destructive power was unparalleled and not to be trifled with. In the game, even Anthony’s powerful spell that he cast by burning parts of his soul had only managed to injure the demon and force it to flee. Now with the information in his hands, he chose to ignore the threat of the Dark Elves’ plot and say that the defense of the academy was perfect and impenetrable?

That is just a tad too ridiculous!

Seeing Link’s reactions, Herrera felt the need to say something in her mentor’s defense.

“The dean is very busy lately,” she said. “He’s fully preoccupied with the matter of the war going on in the North. He’s always in the academy anyway, surely the Dark Elves wouldn’t attempt anything too bold as they would be facing him.”

Herrera was extremely respectful of the dean. She fully trusted his wisdom and strength, so if he told her that there should be no reason to worry too much about the Dark Elves’ secret plot, then that meant that they really didn’t pose that much threat. Her own fear and anxiety over the matter had reduced accordingly as well.

Link was a little worried with how relaxed Herrera seemed about the dangerous plot, yet he stopped himself from trying to argue about it with her.

Both Herrera and Anthony were natives of the Firuman continent, so their perspectives were radically different from Link’s. Herrera and Anthony had never received any external information other than what they’d seen and heard in their lives, and they’d spent most of their lives in this academy after all, so it was no wonder that they would regard the academy as the safest place in the kingdom. If Link had been in their shoes, he was sure that he would agree with them too. The only reason Link knew any better was because he’d witnessed the catastrophic release of the demon himself in the game.

When he thought of it that way, Link completely gave up his urge to persuade Herrera otherwise. The lines of worry on his face gradually faded as well, and he finally managed to nod at Herrera’s remarks.

“If that’s how the dean sees it, it must be no problem then,” said Link. “Excuse me, tutor, but I’ve just remembered that there are some things I must go deal with now.”

“Go ahead,” replied Herrera, relieved that Link didn’t try to press the matter of the Dark Elves.

Link then turned around and walked away from Herrera.

Link and Herrera had met in the corridor on the third floor of the Mage Tower, so Link continued walking down the corridor while he mused about the next course of action that he should take.

Tutor and the dean both can’t see just how much danger we are in right now, he thought. But how should I convince them? I must find evidence… but where could I find such a thing?

Just as Link was still deep in his thoughts, trouble arose.

Link came to the East Cove Magic Academy often in the game in his previous life, so he used to be very familiar with this place. Even so, the game and reality were different. The real East Cove Magic Academy was many times bigger than the one in the game, not to mention that there were many more minute details here as well. Link hadn’t been here for more than a few months, and he spent most of his time studying in the Mage Tower, so he was still quite unfamiliar with the real East Cove Magic Academy at this point.

Not only was the place still quite foreign to him, he hadn’t even known many Magicians in the academy as well.

Still, he walked on while thinking about the problem. He walked all the way from the third floor to the first floor, then out of the Mage Tower, walking aimlessly through the academy.

Just take a walk if you feel you’re at a dead end about something – that was the habit he developed when was working on his thesis.

Without knowing it, Link had been walking for ten minutes now and he’d reached Bryant’s Inspiration Courtyard. Although it was still winter now and the snow still blanketed the ground, the flowers in the courtyard were still in bloom under the influence of a magic seal.

Link walked up to the willow tree where he often discussed magic with Eliard and sat down on a stone bench there. He looked at the leaves wafting in the wind idly for quite some time while he brooded about the problem. Yet, after half a day’s time had passed and he made no progress at all. He even started to feel discouraged for the first time.

There are just too many things that I don’t know, he thought. Must the academy embark on its old path to destruction? Can it be that it is fate and I can’t do anything about it?

Link caught himself mere seconds after the idea arose in his head. He stamped out such a frustrating and fatalist thought out of his head immediately.

I’ve become hotheaded, he thought. There’s no point in brooding about this now, the Black Moon Conspiracy is going to happen on April 15, so I still have nearly three months. Even if I can’t find out the exact details of the plan, I can still muster up enough power to fight the demon Tarviss in three months’ time, can’t I?

Link’s eyes lit up the moment this thought occurred to him. It felt as if the clouds had given way to the clear and bright sunlight now.

Yes, I must defeat the darkness with light! Link realized. If the Dark Elves planned to release Tarviss to destroy the academy, then I’ll just kill him when his chains are unshackled! If Tarviss was a Level-8 demon, then I must learn spells that are at least Level-8 as well.

Link then had a thought of checking his own status, and in a blink of an eye the gaming system displayed it on the interface.

Link Morani (Hereditary Baron)

Level-5 Elite Magician

Mana Recovery Rate: 110 Points per Hour

Maximum Mana Limit: 1910

Current Weapon: Starcatcher Wand

Current Omni Points: 210 Points

Link then had a thought of checking the list of Level-8 spells. Immediately afterwards the interface displayed rows of bright shining cards of Level-8 spells, of which Link thoroughly examined one by one.

The Glorious Annihilation consumes 4600 Mana Points, the Flaming Sky, 4800 Mana Points, the Frost Dragon requires 4900 Mana Points to summon. Time Cage would consume 4800 Mana Points, the Holy Dragon’s Blessings, 1300 Mana Points… But auxiliary spells like some of these are useless against the demon, and they consume so much Mana!

The higher the level of the spells, the greater the difference of Mana consumption between each spell. As a general rule, auxiliary spells would consume far less Mana than attacking spells.

This was so among the Legendary spells as well. Link’s Legendary spell Dimensional Jump only consumed 1800 Mana Points, yet any attacking spell of this level would require at least 9000 Mana Points!

The demons were a race of fighters, they had very high resistance to magic attacks and exceptional strength and vitality, not to mention almost indestructible armor. Once Tarviss got released from his chains, he would instantly raze the whole academy to the ground like an invincible war chariot.

For such a strong opponent as Tarviss, the weak attacks of auxiliary spells were basically no threat to him at all. The only way he could be defeated was to attack him instantly with the strongest offensive spell in the arsenal without giving him time to breathe.

But the demon’s resistance to magic is extremely high, thought Link. Even if I modify a Level-8 spell with Supreme Magical Skills, I wouldn’t be able to strike him down in one move anyway. And Level-8 spells consume so much Mana that I won’t be able to increase my maximum Mana limit to accommodate two Level-8 spells in three months… As a matter of fact, I don’t think Tarviss would give me any chance to cast two Level-8 spells anyway.

Link then discovered many key details after further consideration. For example, if he wanted to cast two Level-8 spells, he could cast the first one as an ambush attack, then the second one would have to be a direct attack on Tarviss. A Level-8 demon like him would have lightning-fast responses, so if Link wasn’t able to cast the second spell quick enough than he would be dead. Even the Legendary spell Dimensional Jump wouldn’t save him then. The only reliable plan, then, was to master a defensive spell able to protect him from spells up to Level-8, which meant that Link must now increase his maximum Mana limit to accommodate three Level-8 spells to be able to fight against the demon Tarviss.

But instead of wasting his Mana on three Level-8 spells, wouldn’t it be better for him to master a Level-9 spell?

He then checked the list of Level-9 spells on the interface. But then he almost jumped out of his skin when he took the first glance of the list – Level-9 attacking spells required a minimum of 7000 Mana Points! Not to mention how difficult it would be to try to master a Level-9 spell in three months! Thus, Link began to lose hope in this plan.

The higher the spell level, the more complicated it is, plus there were some other major hurdles as well, and that first hurdle was at Level-6. Typically any Magician who’d managed to surpass the Level-6 barrier would be called a Master Magician.

Why?

Because there was a drastic increase of difficulty in Level-6 spells. Link had seen the spell structure of some Level-6 spells, and he knew that even while he could master the Level-5 Flaming Hand in two days, he wouldn’t be able to master these in at least half a month, and even then he would have to forego meals and sleep and devote himself solely to the spell!

There were now six Level-6 Magicians in the East Cove Magic Academy, and Anthony was the only Level-7 Magician here. It had been this way for the past ten years, in fact there were only two Level-7 Magicians in the whole kingdom, with the other one right now stationed in the royal palace.

Meanwhile not even one Level-8 Magician could be found in the whole human world. There was one Level-8 Warrior, but the power of a Warrior was far beneath that of a Magician, so they couldn’t be compared at all.

And now Link was hoping to master a Level-9 spell within three months – if he ever let anyone know of this intention of his, they’d surely think he’d gone crazy.

If he used the gaming system to spend 90 of his Omni Points to purchase a Level-9 spell, he’d still be unable to afford the 7000 Mana Points needed for it. Moreover, that spell would only be the regular version without any modification at all. If he used that spell to fight against a peerlessly powerful and almost invincible demon, then he might as well just jump off a cliff because it would give him the same result anyway.

Even mastering a Level-8 spell would be tricky in just three months’ time, I couldn’t believe that I would master a Level-9 spell in that time myself! Link then smiled cynically and shook his head in near exasperation.

Nevermind, I’ll stop worrying about this for now, thought Link. I’ll just do what I can and work as hard as possible. Whatever happens, at least I’ve done my best. Link’s face showed a steely determination as he stood up and was about to head back to the Mage Tower. There wasn’t much time left, so he must start working now.

But just as he was on his way back to the Mage Tower, Link noticed something he never could’ve expected.

It was a familiar figure among the willow trees not too far away from where he stood. He blinked and squinted to try to see the figure better and discovered that it was Eliard’s lover Elena.

It wouldn’t have been such a strange sight to see Elena around the academy, but she was standing in a remote area of the willow grove where most of her body was concealed behind the tree trunks and the shrubs. Had Link not accidentally looked in that direction, he wouldn’t have known that she was there.

And what’s most perplexing of all was the fact that she wasn’t there alone. Right there beside her was a man.

The man was dressed in a luxurious fur coat and seemed to be a man who’s well-to-do. He was most probably a merchant from Springs City. He was standing very close to Elena, it was a distance that was too intimate; Link got very suspicious of them now. He took a few steps back and hid behind a willow tree and began to listen in on their conversation.

Because of the distance, Link could only hear the tone of the voice but couldn’t make out exactly what they were saying. He didn’t dare to use any magic spying device either as he was afraid that they might be able to sense the Mana fluctuations.

Link thought Elena’s tone was poles apart from the one he often heard when she was around Eliard. Her current tone of voice was cold, haughty and even tinged with a slight sense of guilt. It sounded to Link as if it was the voice of a graceful and noble queen. Meanwhile, the merchant’s voice was soft and gentle, and despite looking like a successful and wealthy merchant, his voice sounded very submissive and humble when he addressed Elena.

But isn’t Elena just the daughter of an average merchant family? Link wondered. Why would that rich merchant treat her as if she’s the queen?

Chapter 164: Total Annihilation

 

Elena was Eliard’s lover. This was hardly a secret, especially in Herrera’s Mage Tower as they had started cohabitating.

In their daily conversations, Eliard would often commend how gentle and kind Elena was. He would even proudly discuss Elena’s outstanding performance at night when he was in the mood. Whenever the topic was on Elena, Eliard had an expression of bliss, as though he had the whole world in his palms.

He had completely become a servant to love.

Even though Link did not have a good impression of Elena, she was, after all, Eliard’s beloved partner. He could only stay as far away as possible.

Other than being scheming and materialistic, Link originally thought nothing of Elena. It was not surprising if you thought about her background, as she came from a family of merchants. However, the situation unfolding right in front of him was triggering all the emergency bells in his head.

After talking to the merchant for around ten minutes, Elena suddenly embraced the merchant and kissed him on the lips. The kiss lasted for three seconds before Elena let go of the merchant and walked away nonchalantly. The merchant, on the other hand, stayed in the forest and stared lovingly at Elena’s disappearing shadow.

Link had a clear view of the entire scenario from his angle. He immediately frowned, Eliard is definitely unaware of this. However, he will realize it sooner or later, I am afraid…

Thinking back on the look of bliss on Eliard’s face, Link was certain that Eliard would be devastated.

“Should I tell Eliard?” Link was having a headache.

Link had no evidence of the incident. If he had told Eliard directly, Elena would likely deny all accusations and use her charm to trap Eliard in her web of lies. As Eliard was blinded by love, he would definitely believe her side of the story and turn his back on Link.

However, if he chose to ignore and keep it a secret from Eliard. Eliard was sure to be devastated when he realized the truth. Judging from his character, he would probably not harm Elena, but wallow in self-pity and despair alone.

Love is indeed a volatile and luxurious good. If it does not turn out well, it might even destroy a talented Magician, Link could not help but exclaim silently.

After thinking for a moment, Link had decided to first observe Elena and get a deeper understanding of her personality. If he deemed her character to be seriously flawed, he would then find chances to give subtle hints to Eliard.

He then stayed in the forest for another five minutes until both the merchant and Elena were completely out of sight. He then walked back to Herrera’s Mage Tower. The moment he opened the door, he saw Eliard and Elena on the first floor.

They were flipping through magic books in the corner. From time to time, Eliard would guide Elena along and answer her queries. Elena would then look at him in adoration, to which Eliard would always give a warm and tender smile in return.

Link even saw Elena wearing a necklace that he had created. As he recalled Eliard’s expression that day when he was asking for a favor, Link could not help but sigh.

At that moment, Elena gave a quick peck on Eliard’s cheek while he was absorbed in the magic book. Eliard then broke out into a silly smile. That was almost Link’s limit and he immediately left the hall while trying to erase those memories from his brain.

For the next few days, Link spent almost all his time on his magic research. When he felt tired, he would delve fanatically into crafting magic equipment. The equipment would then be passed to Warter for sale. Occasionally, Lucy would write to inform him on the progress of the Ferde Wilderness’ initial development. Link did not participate physically in the entire process, merely writing back to Lucy and sending back another 5000 gold coins as funding. This was so even when the mercenary band started missions to clear up the bandit’s hideout in the area. At the same time, Link had also been observing Elena.

He placed a secretive magic formation at the tower gate. As long as Elena left the Mage Tower alone, her unique magic fluctuations would activate the magic formation which would then send a signal to Link. If she was leaving with Eliard, the magic formation would stay dormant. Whenever Link received a signal, he would follow behind stealthily.

Time flew and it was two weeks since the first time Link caught Elena in the forest. In this period, Elena left the Mage Tower alone for a total of eight times. The duration was always a standard 30 minutes and her reason of absence was always that she needed some fresh air.

In these eight separate instances, Link saw a different side of Elena.

She would always meet a merchant in secret in the forest. Furthermore, there was more than one merchant that she was seeing! Link had counted a total of six different merchants with prestigious backgrounds. Each of those merchants having a close business relationship with a Master Magician in the academy. However, Elena seemed to be able to keep her multiple intimate relationships a secret from each of her lovers. Every merchant seemed to be bewitched by her charm.

Not only was her private life complicated, but Link was horrified to discover that Elena had many faces. While she was gentle and kind towards Eliard, she could be cold, elegant, seductive or even submissive to the other merchants. She displayed each character naturally and with ease. There were almost no flaws in her facade.

This woman is really something. She definitely has a more complicated background. Her merchant background was simply a farce!

Link was extremely careful every time and kept a distance between Elena and himself. He also did not use any magic, causing him to miss out on the content of their conversation. However, based on what he had observed, he had already developed suspicion towards Elena’s true identity.

Link’s continued attempts at tracking Elena were no longer an act simply to help his good friend. He felt that Elena was a huge threat, even to the point of suspecting that she was connected to the Black Moon Conspiracy. This was due to her multiple secret intimate relationships which seemed to point to something more sinister.

Link then used a Supreme Magic Skill he had recently grasped to set up an extremely well-hidden magic formation to eavesdrop on the conversation.

This magic formation came in handy soon after. One day, as Link was just preparing to test out his new ideas in the elemental pool, the alarm from the tower entrance rang again. Elena had left the Mage Tower on her own.

Link immediately ran out of the elemental pool and left the Mage Tower after three minutes.

Link hastened his pace the moment he left the Mage Tower, taking the shortcut towards the Inspiration Courtyard before finally reaching the forest Elena always held her secret conversations in. He made a detour and entered the forest through another entrance before squatting down in a good hiding spot.

After three minutes, Elena had arrived. There was already a merchant awaiting her arrival. This merchant was none other than the one Link saw two weeks ago.

The moment their gazes met, Elena and the merchant embraced each other and kissed with great passion. This lasted a whole two minutes. All the sounds Link got from his eavesdropping magic formation were panting and slurping sounds. He felt unusually irritated by it.

It felt like an eternity before the two of them finally got their hands off each other. Elena’s voice could then be heard. She spoke in a cold voice, “My knight, what good news have you brought me this time?”

“My dear queen, you will definitely be satisfied. I have successfully bribed a Level-4 Magician from Ferdinand’s Mage Tower. Look what he gave me.”

Link stole a glance and saw the merchant handing a scroll over to Elena.

Elena opened the scroll and looked satisfied. She smiled seductively and said, “Very well my knight. The master will definitely reward you. I will reward you as well.”

The merchant then spoke hastily, “Oh, my queen, thank you so much. May I know when I can redeem your gift?”

After a few seconds, Elena spoke, “Not here. How about this. I will be going to River Cove Town to settle some things tomorrow. You can wait for me in the hotel.”

“Thank you so much, my queen.” The merchant sounded as though he was going insane.

Both of them then carried on with their disgusting conversation. The merchant praised Elena continuously while Elena carried herself like a queen, belittling the merchant yet enticing him with seductive words.

Link ignored these superfluous things. His attention was captured by Elena’s second sentence—”master”? That sounds like a term used by followers of a dark cult. Could Elena be a spy from a cult?

Link’s eyes widened upon the realization. I cannot let this Elena accomplish what she wants. It sounds like she will be headed to River Cove Town tomorrow. That would be perfect!

Link had to take action.

As for Eliard…Link looked at the memory crystal he had activated to record the entire scene. He sighed regrettably. It is better to end some things quickly even though they might be painful. Let’s just hope Eliard can recover.

At that moment, Elena bade goodbye to the merchant and they once again got drunk in each other’s passionate embrace.

As he had gotten Elena’s subtle permission, the merchant was extremely daring. He slid his hands into Elena’s skirt without any resistance. This lasted for five entire minutes before they reluctantly separated from each other. Elena then tidied up her hair before leaving the forest. The merchant then walked the other way with a dazed expression.

Link did not return to the Mage Tower immediately. He waited patiently in the forest before following behind the merchant.

Elena was Eliard’s official partner and was a member of the academy. She would not be able to go too far without the academy’s permission. However, this merchant was a free individual not bounded by the academy’s rules and was just about to leave the academy. Link thus decided to start his investigation from this merchant.

The merchant continued walking towards the stable where he parked his carriage. Taking advantage of his ignorance of magic, Link cast a Level-0 magic marking on the merchant and exited the academy ahead of him. After he was out of the sight from Guardsman Vincent, Link then hid in the forest beside the pathway in wait for the merchant.

Around ten minutes later, a carriage bearing the magic fluctuations of Link’s magic marking arrived at the entrance.

This place is still too close to the academy. It’s not a good time. Link waited for the carriage to drive past him before casting a Cat’s Agility spell on himself and followed closely behind.

After around ten minutes, Link felt comfortable with the distance and was prepared to strike.

At that moment, a strange thing happened. A group of bandits suddenly rushed out from the forest and killed the coachman. They then attempted to break open the carriage door violently. From their bloodthirsty expression, it seemed like their target was the merchant.

“Are they trying to…silence him?” Link was appalled. The issue was way more complicated than he had ever imagined.

Chapter 165: A Woman Who Put Fear into Link’s Heart

 

The scene took place just 200 feet away from Link. He quickly made a decision.

That merchant mustn’t die, neither can I let those robbers die. I have some questions to ask them!

By that time, the robbers had pulled open the carriage door.

“Is it gold coins that you want?” shouted the horrified merchant in panic. “I can give you however much you want! 100 gold coins? 200? A thousand?”

“Stop wasting your time,” the robber sneered. “Once you’re dead, all your money will be ours!” Then the robber stabbed a dagger right at the merchant’s heart.

Surprisingly, to both the robber and the merchant, the dagger hadn’t touched the merchant’s skin but was stopped by a white shining shield that appeared out of thin air. The robber could feel a strong deflective force coming from the dagger. Now, not only was he unable to stab the dagger through the shield, he even had difficulties in holding on to the dagger’s hilt.

Clang!

The dagger was suddenly pushed out of the robber’s hand and flung far away by an inexplicable force. Even the robber himself lost his balance and fell off from the carriage.

“What’s going on? What’s going on!” the robber screamed in shock and terror. He simply couldn’t wrap his head around what just happened.

The next moment, he saw a dozen white lines in the air, followed by a series of small explosions. Then all he could hear was the sound of his brothers screaming in pain. When he turned around, he discovered that all his brothers who had been with him had fallen to the ground. He didn’t know if they were dead or alive, but this was just too horrifying!

The sight before him had made the robber’s blood run cold. All he could do was stand there with his jaw dropped so low that one could fit a duck’s egg into his mouth! Then, he saw a young man wearing an ink-blue robe walk towards him. This man was shrouded in a faint white aura, and he looked so mystifying that the robber was wakened from his stupor.

“Please spare me, Master Magician!” he pleaded. “I won’t do anything to cross you again! Please spare me!”

Link was disgusted at the sight of this robber who had an ugly wolf tattoo on his cheek. Within a few seconds he’d thrown all his dignity away and begged for mercy to save his own hide. Link had no sympathy for a man like that.

“Get up!” said Link. “Carry all your men into the woods. If you attempt to run away from me, then you’ll get a real taste of my magic power!”

As he spoke, Link unleashed a Whistle onto a big boulder beside the road. The boulder was a brown mudstone of about three cubic feet in size, so it wasn’t a particularly hard material. The moment Link cast the Whistle, it shot through the air with a high-pitched screech and hit right in the middle of the boulder.

Bang!

The boulder was now reduced to crumbling fragments of rocks that were sent flying through the air. The robber was just an ordinary Level-1 Warrior, so he wasn’t at all accustomed to this level of power. He gulped continuously as he watched the big boulder get reduced to clumps of clay. His face was getting green with fear now and all the thoughts he had of running for his life were extinguished. He then began to obediently carry the bodies of his brothers into the forest one at a time.

Meanwhile, Link walked up to the carriage and looked inside. He discovered the merchant sitting there shaking like a leaf. There was also an unpleasant smell inside the carriage – the merchant had pissed himself in fear. Link frowned deeply in repulsion at the offensive stench.

“Get up!” Link scowled at the merchant. “Drive your carriage into the forest right there.”

They weren’t that far away from the academy gates, so parking it on the roadside here would make it too conspicuous and that might attract unwanted attention.

The merchant didn’t dare to defy Link’s orders, so he clumsily climbed into the coachman’s seat and tried to drive the carriage. It was obvious that he’d never done it before, but after a struggling for a few minutes, he finally got the carriage moving. Meanwhile, Link helped maintained the horses’ movement by casting a few Fireballs near them to scare them and force them to move forward. In the end they managed to get the carriage into the forest after much effort.

The three of them then walked out onto a small path in the forest. Link stood leaning against a big tree trunk and slowly poured his Mana into the Memory Crystal that he’d always been carrying around lately. This Memory Crystal would record everything that happened here – all the voices and images as well. This would later be useful as an important piece of evidence when Link decided to expose Elena’s covert actions.

“Tell me,” Link barked at the robber, “who ordered you to kill the merchant?”

“No…no one,” the robber answered, waving his hands in denial, “I just wanted to rob his money…”

“Do you take me for a fool?” Link’s wand then lit up and a Glass Orb flew out of its tip and headed towards the robber’s head. It stopped abruptly a mere couple inches in front of the robber’s face. Then, Link gradually loosened his control over the fire elements in the Glass Orb, transforming it from a dimly glowing orb to a gradually brighter fireball. Even the air around it started to roil up from the intense heat and the robber’s hair was beginning to singe as well.

The robber was now so scared that he stood there rooted to the ground; large beads of cold sweat streamed down his forehead and he kept gulping in fear while his eyes still darted around uncertainly. Yes, he was afraid of Link, but this fear was still not enough to make him spill the identity of the person behind this.

“Don’t try my patience!” warned Link. He once again let loose his control over the fire elements in the Glass Orb. With a frightening whoosh, the Glass Orb’s surface turned into flames. The robber’s face was burned by the fire which made him recoil instinctively.

“I don’t know who she was,” he suddenly spilled out, no longer daring to be silent, “but she ordered us to wait by the road for a carriage to pass by. If that carriage made this stone glow, then she ordered us to kill everyone inside it.” As he spoke, the robber slipped out a thumb-sized stone from his pocket with lines of runes on its surface. It was undoubtedly a magic rune stone.

Link noticed that the robber used the word “she”, so the person behind this must be a woman—it was most likely Elena.

He didn’t touch the rune stone, but instead just examined the runes on its surface from afar. After a while, a notification about the rune stone appeared on the interface.

Green Rune Stone (Auxiliary)

Quality: Fine

Level-3

First Effect: When a specific magic indicator appears within 300 feet of the rune stone, it will be activated and emit a light.

Second Effect: Detects all Mana fluctuations that appear within 300 feet of the rune stone and converts this information into a simple signal that will be sent to the main rune stone within a range of three miles.

‘A specific magic indicator’? Link wondered. His eyebrows furrowed at the thought, then he turned towards the terrified merchant beside him and cast a Level-2 detection spell on him.

A light spot appeared with a trailing light behind it. This spot of light then flew over to the top of the merchant’s head and its trailing light turned into a sheet of light that then curled into a halo-like ring over the merchant’s head. Then the halo shone a light down the merchant’s body, surrounding him with a thin blanket of light.

Soon, glowing white runes appeared on the merchant’s chest, proving that someone had stamped a magic indicator there. There was another spot on his back where a patch of small gray runes appeared.

Link then focused his Mana and directed it to the gray runes to destroy it. Once that was done, the rune stone in the robber’s hand immediately stopped glowing. That proved that this patch of gray runes was the signal for the robbers to attack him. But who would attach this to the merchant’s body?

Link thought it must be no one else but Elena. She was the only one who had been intimately close to the merchant in the willow grove in the academy, so she had plenty of opportunities to stick this magic indicator onto the merchant’s back. Now that he was sure of this point, Link began to see the big picture.

Now that Elena had gotten her hands on the scroll that Link assumed contained important information, she’d completed her aims and had no more use for the merchant. She had promised the merchant an ultimate prize, which the merchant assumed to be a night of carnal bliss with Elena, but in fact, what Elena meant was that she would kill him off because he was useless to her now.

As for these robbers, they must’ve been the people that she had hired earlier to do the dirty work for her. This way, it was impossible to link the merchant’s death back to Elena. Even if Link had figured out her plans, he still didn’t have any solid evidence that would prove her guilt beyond any doubt.

What was even more frightening was the fact that Elena had taken every precaution so meticulously. Not only did the rune stone serve the purpose of making sure that the robbers got the right person, it also served as a warning signal in case her plans might be found out as well. Link knew that by now Elena was already aware that her plans had gone awry. She must be thinking of a way to save herself by now. Moreover, this would give her time to destroy any evidence that might incriminate her.

Link also believed that even if he returned swiftly to the academy right now and present the Memory Crystal as an evidence, all he would achieve was to put himself into trouble. It might even prevent him from learning her real motives forever.

No one can say she’s not thorough! Link thought.

All these things, Link understood in a matter of seconds. He then cast a Glass Orb and knocked the robber out with it. Then he turned to the merchant who’d pissed himself once again.

“That Elena woman that you’re so charmed with is a poisonous snake,” said Link. “She’s the one who hired these robbers to kill you. If you still want to live, go back to the academy with me and expose her crimes!”

Although he didn’t have enough material evidence against Elena right now, Link could easily prove her guilt if this merchant would cooperate and expose what she had done.

To Link’s surprise, though, the merchant responded to him with a shake of his head and a sorrowful expression on his face.

“No, I can’t do that,” he said. “She is my queen. If she wanted my life, then I’ll give it to her.”

As he spoke, the merchant who had been so timid up till now suddenly drew a dagger out of nowhere and was about to stab it at his own heart.

“Farewell, my love!” the merchant shouted.

Link couldn’t just let the man die right in front of him, so he quickly used the Magician’s Hand to grab the dagger just in time before it struck the merchant’s heart.

“Don’t be stupid!” Link shouted. “She just used you like a dog! Why would you want to throw your life away for her?” Link just couldn’t understand what this man was thinking. He wondered if Elena had used a dark magic spell on him, but strangely enough he couldn’t detect any trace of dark magic aura from his body at all.

“I’d be the happiest man if my queen thinks of me as her dog,” said the merchant wistfully. “Ah…I know she loves me, but she’s a holy maiden, so she can’t be with me. She must’ve wanted me dead because she didn’t have the heart to reject me in person…”

“…” Link was speechless for a while when he heard the man’s lament. He thought this man might have some kind of a brain damage. Nonetheless, his attention was caught by a couple of words the merchant had used to describe Elena.

“Holy maiden? What do you mean by holy maiden?” Link asked.

“Stop trying, Mr. Magician,” said the merchant as he turned around to face Link and gave him a wry smile. “I will never betray my queen.”

After finishing his sentence, the merchant went on to slam his head against the metal part of the carriage in an attempt of suicide.

The first suicide attempt might have been an impulsive action, but to try it for a second time meant that this man really wished to die, so it would be pointless to stop him now. The merchant had really lost his head to Elena, so much so that he would actually commit suicide when he found out that Elena wanted him dead.

What a pathetic man! And what a terrifying control Elena had on this man’s heart!

Link didn’t bother to stop the merchant as he tried to kill himself again. He used a lot of force this time and soon enough Link could hear a splat! It was the sound of the merchant’s head being smashed. His lifeless body fell limply to the ground – he was dead.

Link stared at the dead body with fear and apprehension. It wasn’t the sight of a fresh corpse that disturbed him so much, he was just scared for Eliard.

How far had Elena’s charm worked on Eliard? If this is the degree at which a man could be controlled by her, what would happen to Eliard if something happened to Elena?

Link didn’t dare to imagine the possibilities of what could happen then.

Chapter 166: Elena’s Countermeasure

 

East Cove Higher Magic Academy.

While Link was rescuing the merchant, Elena was reading a book silently in the hall. She was alone as Eliard was in the elemental pool experimenting on a Level-2 spell he newly learned. He was extremely busy these days.

When magic fluctuations could be felt from the luminous green rune stone, Elena was shocked and her face immediately sunk.

“Have I been exposed?”

She held the rune stone tightly in her hand. The rune stone was originally cold to the touch. However, due to the constant information and vibrations from the magic fluctuations, it had started to become warmer.

When she covered the stone with her hands, she could prevent the magic fluctuations from being felt by anyone else. She could also determine the type of spell used from the special way the rune stone would react to different spells.

The current fluctuation pointed to the presence of explosive spells around the other rune stone. Whenever a spell was caste, there would be a sharp increase in magic fluctuations, allowing Elena to accurately determine the strength and frequency of the attacks.

At the start, Elena felt two extremely strong magic fluctuations back-to-back. Her heart almost skipped a beat. “This is a Level-4 spell! This Magician cast two Level-4 spells in less than two seconds! What fast spellcasting speed! Are two Magicians fighting against each other?”

In fact, it was Link who had consecutively cast the Level-4 defensive spell, Edelweiss, twice.

Following which, the rune stone emanated a series of weak but extremely fast fluctuations. There were a total of 12 fluctuations in less than half a second. Elena was horrified. “This is the strength of a Level-1 spell. Who could have cast 12 spells in half a second? Could it be…?”

There was only one Magician in the entire academy who could cast Level-0 spells at such a frequency. That person was Link, the Magician staying in the same Mage Tower whom she had avoided the entire time.

She then felt another few instances of Level-1 and Level-0 spells. This carried on for around ten minutes before the rune became dormant.

Elena’s heart sank.

“It could only be him. No one else could cast two Level-4 spells in less than two seconds. Hasn’t he been in the Mage Tower all this while? How could he possibly find out?”

Elena was confused. She had already taken precautions to avoid him. To think that she would still be busted by him. However, she knew that she had no time to worry about the details. She had to think of a countermeasure before Link returned to the Mage Tower. Elena stayed calm and immediately weighed her options. From the day she entered the academy, she had been preparing for this day in case she ever got exposed.

She stood up and put away the magic books she was reading.

The apprentice beside her was puzzled and asked, “Elena, we still have a lot of time left. Why did you stop?”

“I am feeling slightly unwell and wish to rest.” Elena gave a slight smile and spoke in a gentle voice. She even tried to sound weak and managed to make herself look pale.

The apprentice was completely fooled and immediately nodded, “Please rest. After all, health is the most important.”

“Thank you.” She then proceeded to the second floor and greeted a few other apprentices on the way. When she reached her room, she immediately entered the room and closed the door behind her.

The room was large by normal standards. It was made up of a common space and two bedrooms, as she was cohabitating with Eliard. She immediately peeled off her facade and her expression of pain and weakness changed into one that was cold and unmoving. She entered her bedroom and took a thick magic book from the top layer of her bookshelf, where she hid three separate scrolls in the cover compartment.

These three scrolls contained detailed blueprints of the internal structure of the six most powerful Mage Towers in the academy. The information included the Detection spells, Defensive spells, and Offensive spells used by the tower and the workings of their respective elemental pools.

If one were to plan their attack based on the information recorded, their ambush would be a lot more efficient. Furthermore, if they could point out the weakness of the Mage Tower from the blueprint, they could take down the Mage Tower in one hit!

There were six Master Magicians in the academy, and their respective Mage Towers would be the pivotal buildings holding the fort in the case of an attack. If the Dark Elves were to destroy them, the academy’s defensive strength would be reduced by at least thirty percent!

The blueprint of Bale’s Mage Tower had already been taken care of. Elena was simply tasked with bringing back the blueprints of the other five central Mage Towers. She had carried out her task efficiently, already securing three of them. She did not expect to be exposed at this crucial juncture when victory was already in sight.

These scrolls should have been sent out a long time ago. However, after the incident in Gladstone City, the Norton Kingdom started their ruthless extermination of the Dark Elves as well as anyone who had pledged allegiance to the Dark Brotherhood and the Syndicate. This destroyed all her connections outside of the academy and left her alone on this highly dangerous mission. She could only keep these scrolls in a safe place until she received new instructions.

However, her life was at stake now.

“I have to send the blueprints out, but how? Link is rushing back right now, I don’t have much time.” Elena’s heart was pounding as she pranced around the room. Her brain was working at top speed, thinking of a way to escape the academy safely.

After a while, she was suddenly struck with an idea, “That’s it!”

It would be difficult for her to deliver the blueprints herself, but she could use Eliard’s help! Eliard was Link’s best friend. If she left the academy together with Eliard, Link would have to think twice before attacking her as Eliard’s safety would be compromised. Furthermore, she could also use Eliard as a hostage when the time came.

Elena then formulated a detailed plan before she put away the scrolls into her robe. She then left her room and headed towards the elemental pool on the second floor.

She should not be disturbing Eliard as he was experimenting with his new spell. However, time was short. Elena pinched her thighs with full force and a sharp pain shot through her body, causing her eyes to be full of tears.

She then activated the runes on the door. When the runes lit up, she feebly said, “Eliard, can you come out for a moment?”

Within ten seconds, the door to the elemental pool opened. Eliard walked out with wet hair and ice residue on his hands. There were also many tears in his magic robe. He looked completely disheveled.

He must have forcefully interrupted his experiment at the most crucial moment.

Elena felt a tinge of guilt upon seeing Eliard’s pale face, but suppressed her emotions almost immediately.

Eliard on the other hand, didn’t think much about the incident. The moment he saw the pained expression on his lover’s face, he gently asked, “Elena, what happened?”

Elena clutched her abdomen with her hands and beads of cold sweat could be seen on her forehead. She spoke with a pale face, “My stomach hurts and I have no idea why. The recovery potions didn’t help as well…”

“How did this happen! I’ll take you to the church in River Cove Town now!” Eliard scooped Elena off her feet and briskly walked towards the Mage Tower entrance.

Magic could accomplish almost anything in the World of Firuman. However, healing was something that magic had limitations in. Priests were the only ones who could cure serious injuries or illnesses. Hence, a Magician would still have to consult a priest if they fell sick.

As the East Cove Higher Magic Academy did not have priests, they would have to go to River Cove Town, which was exactly what Elena wanted.

Eliard ran all the way to the stables with Elena in his hands. By the time he reached, he was already sweating and panting.

Eliard immediately paid the coachman a whopping ten gold coins and shouted, “To River Cove Town, double up!”

With the monetary incentive, the coachman’s actions were also unusually swift. He led the horses out of the stable, hooked them onto the carriage and with a resounding whip, the carriage sped out of the academy.

In the carriage, Eliard held Elena’s hand with one hand while gently rubbing her stomach with another. He whispered, “Why did this happen. Was it because of last night…?”

“Don’t say that.” Elena’s pale cheeks suddenly flushed with a tinge of shyness.

Eliard felt extremely guilty and reprimanded himself in his heart. His expression also grew gentler by the minute. At that moment, he felt that this woman meant more to him than the world, even more than magic, which he loved so dearly.

He could not explain the phenomenon as well.

In the beginning, Eliard did not feel much affection for Elena, merely noticing that she was an understanding and kind girl. However, as they spent more time with one another, he gradually grew accustomed to her companionship. He then started developing feelings for Elena. There were times when he would feel jealous when he saw her chatting and joking with other male apprentices.

When she inadvertently showed her seductive expressions, there would be a huge desire to make her his own. He still remembered the feelings of bliss when they shared their first kiss. He also remembered the ecstasy he felt when they were connected for the first time.

Now, he was already inseparable from her. If she was met with an unfortunate accident someday, Eliard had no idea how he was going to take it.

The carriage quickly sped through the gate and onto the King’s Lane.

The East Cove Higher Magic Academy’s carriages had four windows, each of them made from clear crystals. One would have a clear view of their surroundings even when sitting in the carriage.

Less than half a minute later, Elena saw a familiar figure riding towards the carriage on a Wind Fenrir.

The figure seemed to have noticed the magic aura in the carriage as well. He gradually slowed down his speed and turned his Wind Fenrir sideways to block the entire King’s Lane, preventing the carriage from moving any further.

The coachman was horrified and immediately stopped the carriage.

Elena then narrowed her eyes ever so slightly. She knew that this was the most crucial moment.

Chapter 167: Was It True? Or Was It All a Lie?

 

On King’s Lane.

Link saw through the transparent crystal window of the carriage that it was Eliard and Elena inside. Link sighed quietly. He knew that Elena would be using this trick on him.

Eliard was Link’s best friend. Elena must’ve known that Link would never do anything to put Eliard in harm’s way. Link was secretly impressed at how cunning Elena had been by using Eliard as a hostage.

By then, Eliard had also noticed Link as well; he was not aware of the real situation yet and was curious about Link’s actions.

“Link,” he called out as he opened the carriage window, “what are you doing here?”

Link’s eyes never left Elena. At that time, she was leaning closely against Eliard’s chest and her face looked very pale—she seemed to be in pain, but Link knew that it was just a ruse. He noticed that Elena had rested her hand on Eliard’s heart all this time, never moving it away even for just an inch.

She was wearing a magic bracelet on that hand. If Link wasn’t mistaken, the bracelet should be the one that contained a Level-1 Whistle. There were some rough and clunky parts on the bracelet that confirmed Link’s suspicion that it was Eliard’s own handiwork.

Link was sure that if he ever made any moves that would threaten Elena’s safety, she would immediately release that Whistle straight at Eliard’s heart, killing him in an instant. Link feared he might not be able to stop Elena in time if she did that since the magic bracelet was so close to Eliard.

This time, it seemed Eliard really was in trouble. Link mustn’t make any rash movements.

“Get out of the way, Link,” said Eliard. “Elena’s really unwell, I must take her to the priest immediately!” Eliard could feel Elena’s body shivering in his arms. He thought she must really be suffering in pain right now.

Link let out a long sigh and shook his head gently. He then pointed his wand at Elena.

“Eliard,” he said, “she must not be allowed to leave the East Cove Magic Academy!”

“What are you talking about?” said Eliard, completely flummoxed. “What is going on here, Link?” He was getting more and more worried about Elena’s illness and wanted to get help for her as fast as possible, yet Link was here blocking the way. At that moment, even though Link had always been his best friend, anger was beginning to brew in Eliard’s heart.

Link squinted his eyes to focus on Elena’s every movement. Then, without moving his gaze away from her, he took out the Memory Crystal from his pocket.

As Link’s Mana slowly flowed into it, the amber-like yellow crystal began to glow faintly. Then a play of light and shadow appeared in the air near the crystal, showing Elena’s amorous rendezvous with the dead merchant in the willow grove.

The crystal in Link’s hand was of high quality, plus Link’s own control of his Mana was unparalleled. These factors combined to make the scene displayed so incredibly clear and life-like that they were no different from a hologram.

Link didn’t show the entire scene that went on in the willow grove as he wanted to protect Eliard’s feelings. All he showed were several seconds of them kissing and that was it. He knew that even that was more than enough.

After just a glance of the scene Eliard seemed as if he was hit by a ton of bricks. He just sat there completely struck dumb!

Elena really didn’t expect that Link would use this trick. The originally pale face of hers now got deathly pale where not even a tinge of color was on her face anymore. Eliard, in contrast, had gone red in the face. Even his eyes seemed to be bloodshot now. Elena could clearly feel Eliard’s hands shaking now.

This Link really is something, Elena sighed. He’s left me no room to defend myself at all. I’m afraid I won’t be leaving here alive.

After a while, another scene emerged from the Memory Crystal. It was the scene when the merchant committed suicide on the King’s Lane.

“Elena is not the innocent girl you think she is, Eliard,” said Link after the scene ended. He then put the crystal back inside his pocket. “It’s likely that she might be involved in some evil cult as a holy maiden and was plotting something that would undermine the security of the East Cove Magic Academy. Therefore, she must not be allowed to leave here before everything is investigated!”

Link had noticed Eliard’s appearance by now and he felt very sorry for him, but there was no other choice. This must be done. Eliard seemed to have heard Link’s words, but he hadn’t made any response just yet.

“Elena,” he finally whispered to her in a desperate voice, “please tell me this isn’t true.”

Elena didn’t dare to look straight into Eliard’s eyes. The scenes from the Memory Crystal was so clear that there was no way she could get away with accusing them as forged and untrue. And so, all Elena could do was look down. Her lips shook slightly as if she wanted to say something, yet they both stayed that way for a while and no one said anything.

Eliard had been the perfect gentleman with her. Even though she couldn’t feel the same way that he felt for her, she still couldn’t find any flaws in him to attack him with. And so, she stayed silent.

“You’re not ill at all, are you?” asked Eliard. He wasn’t an idiot. As a matter of fact, he had a mind so brilliant that he was almost unparalleled, so everything was quickly clear to him now after what Link had shown him. “Elena, you faked your illness to trick me into bringing you away from East Cove Academy, didn’t you?”

His eyes swept over Elena’s delicate face. It was the face that had once given him bliss and joy, yet all he felt now was fear and even a hint of hatred.

In the end, his eyes fell on the hand that clutched on his chest. Those fingers were so slender and delicate, the skin so fair and smooth, and her arms were so round and soft. Her hands were so beautiful that he had held them lightly in his own hands and admired them endlessly many a night.

Yet now, Eliard’s gaze was only fixed on the magic bracelet on her wrist. It was a gift from him that he made for her himself.

“Now that Link has found out about you, are you going to threaten him with my life?” Eliard’s eyes were now becoming cold and emotionless. All the warmth he felt for her was gone now. How could there be such a cruel and heartless woman in this world?

Finally, Elena discarded all her pretenses and smirked at Eliard. She raised her head haughtily and the tenderness in her eyes had now completely disappeared and was replaced with cold ruthlessness.

“Eliard, you simple fool,” mocked Elena, still clinging to Eliard’s heart. “I’ve been pulling the wool over your eyes all this time and you’ve always been happily following me around. Let me tell you, that bastard in the scene wasn’t the only one, I actually have four other lovers as well!”

Eliard’s face was now turning purple. He gritted his teeth in anger, but because he was naturally mild-tempered he still couldn’t find any vicious words to attack Elena with.

“Why?” That was the only word Eliard finally managed to utter after being stunned for a long time.

“There is no reason. I just like to play with you. I think you look stupid!” Elena’s words became even more vicious.

After saying that, instead of looking straight into Eliard’s eyes, she turned to Link and laughed in his face.

“You are better than I expected,” she said. “I don’t mind getting caught by such a mighty talent like you. But let me be clear, I have no intention of going back to the academy. If you want to bring me back, then you’ll have to bring back two dead bodies – one is mine, and the other is Eliard’s!”

“A single magic bracelet is no threat to me,” said Link, narrowing his piercing eyes at Elena with a gradually boiling temper.

“Haha! Did you think that I would kill him with this pathetic bracelet?” jeered Elena. “I’ve slept with this idiot so many times that I’ve fixed so many things into his body now. I’ll be honest with you, I’m not much of a Magician, and my skills in magic spells aren’t all that impressive. But divine spells, especially dark divine spells, are just my forte! I could easily put someone as unguarded as this idiot easily under my control. Remember this, if I die, then the divine spells in Eliard’s body will explode as well!”

Link was shocked and suddenly caught up in a dilemma. The merchant had called her a holy maiden after all, so it should be natural that she would have knowledge of some powerful divine spells. Link took her threats seriously and knew that he mustn’t make any moves that might cause harm to Eliard.

But can he let this woman go? Obviously not!

And so, for a time, the two sunk into silence with either side not willing or able to make any move.

Then suddenly the usually silent Eliard exploded in anger.

“Did you think that I would be afraid of death, Elena?” he roared. “Then you’re sorely mistaken!” He then swiftly began to cast the spell, Whistle right as he spoke, completely undeterred by the possibility that Elena might counterattack. He was ready to fight till the death, and he must kill this wicked woman with his own hands!

Elena immediately began to fight back by directing her Mana into the magic bracelet. Because she relied on magic gear to cast the spell, she would complete much faster than Eliard. In this case, she would be able to unleash a Whistle within 0.1 seconds– at this speed, there was no way that Eliard would have enough time to defend himself. The only one who could respond in such a brief moment would be Link.

Link focused his gaze and entered instantly into the calm state of spellcasting. The world in his eyes now seemed to move very slowly. With the wand in his hand pointing at Elena, he directed his Mana into it and instantaneously set forth a translucent ball of light that immediately hit the bracelet on Elena’s hand.

“Silent Disarray!” uttered Link under his breath.

Silent Disarray

Level-2 Spell

Mana Consumption: 60 points.

Effects: Disrupts the spell structure of spells at Level-2 and below to impede the target’s spellcasting.

(Note: This special magical structure requires precise control of Mana. Spellcaster must be of Level-5 or higher in order to master this spell.)

This was a spell that Link had just mastered recently, so he could cast it almost instantaneously. When Link’s Silent Disarray was completed, Elena’s Whistle was only half-formed, and so Link’s spell managed to make the spell structure of Elena’s Whistle collapse and thus, the spell disintegrated.

That didn’t deter Elena though. When her Whistle failed, she suddenly slipped out a dagger with her other hand at the speed of a lightning bolt and was about to fling it towards Eliard’s heart.

It was obvious that this woman had gone through the training of an Assassin’s combative skills. She had slipped out the dagger with such acuity and speed, plus the dagger’s material had anti-magic properties so low-level spells would be useless against it. High-level spells, on the other hand, would take too much time to cast.

Link weighed his options for a moment and soon discovered that the only way to stop the blade in time was to stun Elena.

Link had always been decisive and he was even more so now. So, within the blink of an eye, Link waved his wand and unleashed a Glass Orb that headed straight to Elena’s hand that was holding the dagger. The blow’s aim was to attack Elena’s arm so that the threat of the dagger could be diminished.

Link used his high-speed spellcasting skills here and he used the Glass Orb spell which he was very familiar with. Moreover, he’d also borrowed the strength of the Domingo crystal by using the elements stored inside it, so Link only spent 0.01 seconds to cast the second Glass Orb.

The Glass Orb shot through the air and exploded near Elena’s ear. It was Link’s plan to knock Elena out with the shockwave of the explosion. While it was true that he mustn’t kill her because of the threat of the dark divine spells inside Eliard’s body, but there was no reason why he couldn’t make her unconscious!

Bang! Bang!

Those were the explosions of two Glass Orbs that were unleashed almost simultaneously. The hand that held the dagger was directly hit by the impact of the Glass Orb, rendering it useless in holding on to the weapon. Meanwhile, the other Glass Orb that was aimed at Elena’s ear had…slightly missed the target that Link was aiming for.

It was unclear whether it was a coincidence or if it was intentional, but Elena had leaned her head at the very last moment towards the Glass Orb near her ear. It was supposed to explode 60 inches away from her, yet now it exploded in half that distance, which was close enough to kill her!

Elena’s head was blasted with the full impact of the explosion. Although she had a thick head of hair that might dampen the explosive impact slightly, blood still came streaming out of her ears, immediately staining half of her body in red.

Even with such a serious injury, though, Elena still stayed conscious.

Those big pair of eyes had now gone dull, but they stared fixedly at Eliard’s face with the same warmth and tenderness that had been there before. There was even a weak but sincere smile on her face now.

“Forgive me…my love.”

Those were the last words that parted Elena’s lips. Then, with the gentle smile still on her face, she died.

Nothing happened to Eliard, though. He did not blow up into pieces the way Elena had threatened would happen. There was no change in his body at all.

Eliard slumped down to the ground. Then, he seemed to suddenly think of something and rushed up to Elena’s body and held it tight against his chest. He then raised his head up to heaven and bawled at the top of his lungs, his voice drenched in sorrow.

He felt he could understand Elena now. She was a priestess of a dark cult and was on a certain mission, so she had to use her charms to lure the men to use them to her advantage.

But Eliard was sure that she loved him. She had ridiculed him and used cold and vicious words with him when her secret plot was about to be revealed to the world because she wanted to taunt Eliard into killing her.

What other choice would she have?

“Ahhhhhhh!!!!!”

If someone had pierced a knife through Eliard’s heart right now, the pain would still have been less than what he currently felt.

My love is dead. My life is over, thought Eliard as he clung to Elena’s lifeless body.

Meanwhile, Link was also shaken by what had just happened. He looked at Elena’s corpse and then at his friend Eliard who was suffering in immense pain. His eyebrows knitted so closely together that they were joined into one.

Did she intend to die? Were her feelings for Eliard sincere? Or was it all just a ruse?

What was true? Or was it all a lie? Even Link wasn’t so sure now.

Chapter 168: The Downfall of a Genius

 

The King’s Lane

Eliard was devastated. He held Elena’s corpse in his arms and fell into a state of despair.

Link could not bear to see his best friend in such great pain. It was a heart-wrenching moment. As for the coachman, he simply stayed in the corner and was too scared to move.

However, even though he was paralyzed with fear, he was also the only person who had no connection with the issue. His awareness and judgment were not as seriously affected as the rest.

His gaze alternated between Link, Eliard and Elena’s corpse when all of a sudden, he saw a faint glow emanating from Elena’s corpse, which disappeared quickly after circling once around her chest.

The speed of this light ball was extremely fast. Everything happened in the blink of an eye. When the coachman tried to look more closely after rubbing his eyes, all that was left was a body covered in blood.

Originally, the coachman wanted to report this phenomenon to Link, but immediately dismissed the idea. These Magicians would kill without batting an eyelid in the heat of the moment. This is too horrifying. I would be better off if I stay out of this.

Link was too preoccupied and shocked by Elena’s rashness to notice this minute detail. Furthermore, he was completely focused on Eliard and paid no notice to Elena’s corpse. As for Eliard, he was thoroughly devastated and had practically no awareness of his surroundings.

The coachman lost sight of the light ball instantly. He did not realize that it had floated to the back of the carriage. The light emanating from it was dim, much like a highly transparent glass orb. It was also very small in size, only about the size of a thumb. It carefully evaded Link’s field of vision and slowly drifted into the forest beside the carriage.

It took its time and slowly bobbed up and down till it had covered a distance of about 300 feet. It then accelerated to a speed almost ten times faster than its original, leaving shockwaves and wind in its path. It traveled straight into the depths of the Girvent Forest.

After a while, a farm appeared in its field of vision. There was a beautiful manor in the middle of the farm. It should be the property of a small noble family.

The farm did not cover a large area. There were about 30 households over the 1000-acre land. In the farms beside the village, one could see many farmers hard at work, and at the northwest corner of the farm under a large tree was simply a cemetery built simply from wooden fences.

There were over ten people surrounding the cemetery. A pale-faced female corpse laid on the ground while a man cried uncontrollably while holding her in his arms. From his muttering, one could determine that the deceased woman was his wife who died from difficult childbirth. There were two farmers beside the body who were hard at work digging a pit to bury the woman.

The woman was dead for less than a day. As it was winter, the body still looked as though it had some vitality.

The dim light started traveling even faster upon this sight and rushed into the body of this young woman.

The man was still holding his wife’s body while lamenting about her tragic life. However, the next moment, he let go of the body and stared at it with a horrified expression. His lips moved but no words came out of his mouth.

“What happened, Joseph?” Someone asked.

“Lisa seemed to have moved a while back.” The person called Joseph sounded slightly uncertain. His wife had already stopped moving, causing him to suspect that it was all his illusion.

“Don’t be too sad, Joseph. Lisa has already gone to heaven,” another person comforted.

Joseph agreed with his gaze still glued to his wife’s body. At that moment, the body moved again. Her chest even showed faint signs of breathing, validating the presence of life.

Joseph was extremely convinced this time. He was surprised and elated and immediately placed his ears on his wife’s chest to listen for a heartbeat. He then heard faint but clear thumping sounds!

Joseph was ecstatic. He shouted, “Lisa is not dead. She is still alive! She has returned from the dead. Oh God of Light, thank you for your kindness!”

How can someone come back from the dead? Everyone thought Joseph was going insane from the depression and looked at him with a compassionate gaze.

However, as Lisa’s breathing became more visible and showed more obvious signs of life such as coughing, no one doubted Joseph’s words anymore.

“Oh my god, Lisa really is back.”

“But I saw her die with my own eyes!” A middle-aged woman screamed in horror. She was a midwife and had delivered countless babies. She had never seen a woman come back to life from a difficult childbirth!

“This must be the blessing of the God of Light! He must have been touched by Joseph’s love.” This was an illogical explanation. However, in a world where gods were proven to have existed and even appeared throughout the annals of history, this was a sound and persuasive argument.

Finally, an old man walked out. He was Joseph’s father. He said, “Alright Joseph. Lisa may have been resurrected. However, she is still very weak. Take her back home immediately!”

“Yes!” Joseph was extremely happy and he felt as though he had unlimited energy. He hugged Lisa and ran all the way back home.

In his embrace, Elena sighed. Master’s magic is indeed powerful…but this body was too heavily damaged. Also, she seems to be an ordinary village woman. She must have been bounded to many menial tasks and household chores every day. It might not be easy to escape from this place.

She then started to recall her past memories. When Elena’s physical body suffered lethal injuries, she expelled her soul from that body and left. However, that was not before she took a close look at the contents of the scroll using the Eye of the Soul.

The soul was the most basic and pure state of life, with the ability to record any information with objectivity and faith. In other words, a person in that state would have an eidetic memory.

As Elena recalled, bits and pieces of the contents would slowly appear in her mind. Every detail was clear and defined. She had a look of satisfaction on her face. That’s a relief. Although it had been a dangerous mission, I somehow completed it perfectly. Most importantly, I seemed to have destroyed a brilliant Magician in the World of Light. This is extremely worth it!

With Eliard’s sensitivity, he must have thought that I deliberately took the attack. He must be devastated and might even fall into depression. He has also just turned 18, which was the golden period for any Magician to increase their strength. If his depression could last for a couple of years, his magic achievements would definitely be substantially reduced in the future. This would mean that she had gotten rid of a potential enemy.

It was even possible that he might turn against Link. Elena could not help but chuckle at that thought.

How perfect. Elena was proud. Perhaps I will feel slightly bad for deceiving Eliard. No, he is an enemy, I must be ruthless! Show no compassion and pity in the face of an enemy. This is master’s teachings!”

…

Link could only sigh as all the light went out in Eliard’s eyes. It wouldn’t help to simply stay on King’s Lane. He turned to the coachman and said, “Let’s return to the academy.”

“Yes, Mr. Link.” The coachman immediately nodded. Link was pretty famous within the academy and he had long heard of his name.

The carriage turned in the opposite direction and slowly made its way back.

Along the way, no one spoke. Even the horses seemed to have detected the repressive atmosphere and trotted as lightly as possible.

When they arrived back at the academy, the carriage stopped in front of Herrera’s Mage Tower. Link stepped forward to open the carriage door as Eliard dragged his feet towards the Mage Tower with Elena’s bloody corpse in his arms.

When the Magician’s Apprentices in the hall saw the situation, many of them exclaimed or screamed in horror.

“Oh my god.”

“What happened?”

“Elena just said that she was feeling unwell, how could she have…”

Eliard ignored all the comments and simply walked towards the staircase.

Herrera was bound to know if such a serious thing happened in the Mage Tower. As Eliard climbed the stairs, she appeared at the platform on the second floor.

“Eliard, what happened?” Herrera stared at the bloodied corpse with a look of disbelief.

In her eyes, Elena was a conscientious and hardworking student. She also had a flair for magic. She was even optimistic about her relationship with Eliard, confident that it would become a beautiful story she could tell to her next batch of students. How did things turn out like this?

Eliard did not answer the questions and simply walked past Herrera. He had no idea why he did that. His only aim now was to satisfy his stubborn inner self and bring Elena back home, to the small room where they had spent countless happy moments together.

As Herrera did not get an answer, she then looked at Link, “What is going on?”

Link smiled bitterly and said, “Master, I need to tell you this in private.”

“Alright. Come to my room.” Herrera walked towards the highest floor while Link followed closely behind.

When they reached the hall at the highest floor of the Mage Tower, Link took out his memory crystal and activated it. Images of the event in the Girvent Forest appeared. The talks Elena had with the merchants in the forest, the suicide of the merchant on King’s Lane, all of them were displayed clearly in front of Herrera.

Herrera had a look of disbelief on her face. “This is Elena?”

This was the complete opposite from the obedient and hardworking Elena she knew!

“It should be her if she doesn’t have a twin sister.” Link threw his hands out helplessly. It seemed as though he had successfully stopped Elena. However, he felt that something was amiss although he could not point out exactly where.

“Do you know the contents of the scroll?” Herrera did not dwell much on Elena’s deception. Her main concern now was the scrolls, which were the most important object of the incident.

“I have no idea. I guess the scrolls are still on Elena’s body. When I stopped her, she was about to escape. However, it might not be easy now that Eliard is devastated.” Link could totally understand Eliard’s actions. If he were to be in Eliard’s shoes, he might have already gone insane.

“What exactly happened that made Eliard so depressed?” Herrera could feel that Eliard was not in a good shape.

Link then recounted the incident at King’s Lane in detail. When he was done, Herrera fell silent.

It took some time before she sighed, “I have no idea if Elena had true feelings for Eliard. However, I know that it will be difficult for Eliard to recover given his personality.”

Eliard was sincere, generous and even a little stubborn. Once he decided to go into a relationship, he would definitely put all his emotions into maintaining it. Now that his partner had willingly died for him, he might be stuck in this whirlpool of remorse for his entire life.

In other words, a talented Magician like Eliard might meet his downfall because of Elena.

Upon hearing Herrera’s words, Link immediately recalled the merchant who willingly died for Elena. He suddenly felt a chill down his spine.

The merchant was merely an ordinary person and was, naturally, easily manipulated. However, Eliard was a world-class genius and was way more difficult to control. That might be why Elena adopted the destructive approach to ruin him.

And it looked like she was successful.

Had her ability to manipulate people reached that level?

So… is she really dead? Link was starting to feel unsure.

Chapter 169: Fistfights and Friendship

 

Eliard had been staying in his room all the time after coming back to the Mage Tower. He didn’t eat or drink. He just sat there staring at Elena’s body in a daze. No one knew what he was thinking about.

On the second day, Herrera searched Elena’s body and found three scrolls containing the detailed map of the internal layout of the Master Magicians’ Mage Towers.

Eliard looked on numbly throughout the entire process. He didn’t stop Herrera from her search, but neither did he speak to her or make any movements at all. He just sat there motionless like an inanimate sculpture.

No one disturbed him after the discovery of the scrolls, because they had caused an uproar throughout the entire academy.

Even prominent Magicians in the Master Magicians’ Mage Towers could be bought with gold coins, and it turned out that they had sold the secrets of three Mage Towers! The whole academy was shocked by this terrifying revelation.

The dean, Anthony was understandably furious when he got wind of this news. He was now afraid for the safety of the academy, which was why he presided over the operation to cleanse the academy of traitorous and corrupt Magicians once and for all. The Magicians who had sold the academy’s secrets were naturally stripped off their magic powers, their memories of the Mage Towers wiped out of their minds and they were cast out of the academy.

All the merchants involved in the plot suddenly disappeared off the face of the earth. This wasn’t the academy’s doing, though, but was the work of the MI3. The East Cove Magic Academy was within the Norton Kingdom’s territory after all, when something terrible happened there, rumors said that the king himself had taken special interest in this matter.

After the purge, Anthony and the other members of the academy’s high council began to rectify the gaps in the security system of the academy and planned confidential measures to make sure that something like this could never happen again.

Link held no important position in the academy, so he had little to do with all these follow-up measures. Besides, he’d already received generous rewards from the dean, which was the pass to enter the dean’s Mage Tower anytime he wished. Plus, he was allowed to use the Level-6 Elemental Pool in the dean’s Mage Tower up to six hours per week and the permission to freely browse any books he liked in the dean’s library.

It was just what he needed right now.

Although the traitors in the academy had all been rooted out and it seemed that the dark forces had been thwarted, Link still felt an indescribable uneasiness in his mind. This type of unease always drove Link to forget everything else and focus on learning magic and advancing his level.

With this obsessive determination, Link had made immense progress in a short time, but it was still not good enough for him. Once Link began to learn a Level-6 spell, he realized that he had far underestimated the difficulty in becoming a Master Magician.

Link now knew what a nonsense fantasy it was to try to reach Level-8 in three months. It would be a miracle if he could even master a Level-7 spell well enough to know how to use it in a real battle in that time.

This discovery caused Link to become quite exasperated.

Still, Link’s true strength was in his unrelenting attitude towards something that he’d set out to do. No matter what kind of difficulties he faced, even if they seemed to be insuperable, he would never give up even though he might feel frustrated. He would just quickly adapt to the current situation then find the best solution in order to move on.

Thus, although he didn’t know if he could achieve his goal, he never stopped working hard to try to advance his level to the highest point that he could muster.

Link slept for six hours a day and didn’t drink or eat but depended on magic spells to maintain his body’s health. He would cast the spell, Elemental Cure on his body once in the morning and once before he went to sleep at night, and that was enough to let him go through the day.

That was how his days went by for the past week. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Link had completely immersed himself in the world of magic spells and had completely given up the joy of life.

Late one night after the tiring week, Link was walking back to Herrera’s Mage Tower in utter exhaustion from the Heaven’s Thorn. Just as he was approaching the Mage Tower’s entrance, he saw Eliard standing there waiting for him.

Within a week, the originally well-built Eliard had become emaciated and his dark blue eyes were now deep-set and dull. Even his skin had gotten grayish. He looked nothing like his former self.

“Eliard, why are you so…?” Link was at a loss for how to face this friend of his. Even with all things considered, Link was still the one to cause Elena’s death. There was no way for him to avoid this fact. Admittedly part of the reason why Link had been obsessively learning magic all this while was to avoid meeting Eliard.

A faint smile appeared on Eliard’s face. He looked at the tired face and bloodshot eyes of his friend’s and shook his head gently.

“You don’t have to blame yourself, Link,” he said. “You did the right thing. I don’t blame you for it at all.”

It had been a week now and Eliard had given it much thought. He had resented Link for a time, but it only lasted for a few hours. He understood well that Link had done what he should do to protect the safety of the academy. The one at fault wasn’t Link, it was Elena. Still, Eliard couldn’t bring himself to blame Elena either. She’s dead now anyway.

In the end, the only thing Eliard hated was his fate. He couldn’t understand why fate had to torture him so. Fate had brought him to a woman he loved, yet it also snatched her away so quickly. Nothing could be crueler than that!

Meanwhile, Link felt no sense of relief at all after hearing what Eliard just said. He grew even more worried instead and felt he had to say something.

“I…”

“I’ve decided to give up on magic,” said Eliard suddenly.

“What did you say?!” Link’s eyes opened wide in shock at Eliard’s words. This was the Magician whose level of genius was one that the world hadn’t seen in five hundred years! In the game when Link had reached the Legendary Pinnacle level and was about to fight against Nozama, Eliard had begun to prepare himself to ascend to the level of Archmage while he was only 36 years old!

But now this would-be earth-shattering genius was talking about giving up magic, all because of a woman? This is preposterous!

For what felt like hours, Link just stood there dumbstruck, hardly knowing what to do or how to respond.

Eliard then took out a pouch from his sleeve and used the Magician’s Hand to hand it over to Link.

“Here are the 1300 gold coins that I owe you,” said Eliard. “I’m paying it all back to you now. Thank you for your selfless help in the past, I…I’m very sorry!”

“…” Link stared at the coin pouch floating in front of him as all kinds of emotions began to stir up in him.

What was Eliard thinking? He’s giving up magic and paying off his debts to Link because he wanted to completely sever the friendship between them? All because of a woman from a dark cult? So now that Eliard was heartbroken he was just going to abandon magic just like that?

Anger started to rise up in Link as well. He flung the pouch violently to the ground then rushed up towards Eliard and grabbed his collar.

“You’re a coward, do you know that?” Link shouted in Eliard’s face. “You’re a motherf*cking coward!”

Eliard shoved Link away and his face turned stone cold.

“This is my decision; it’s got nothing to do with you!” said Eliard. “If I didn’t learn magic, then I wouldn’t have met Elena. If it wasn’t for magic, Elena wouldn’t have died! Magic killed her!”

Those words were the last straw for Link. He was now desperately learning and practicing magic so he could gain enough strength to fight against the Level-8 demon, and he was ready to sacrifice all the joys in his life to achieve that. Still, there was a thread of hope in him that had got him through all the hardships he faced so far, and that hope had sprung from the fact that he knew he wasn’t alone in this fight. He knew that apart from himself there was a genius Magician whose talents could one day save the world from the forces of darkness. He knew that once this young genius grew up and had developed his skills to its full potential, he would be a powerful ally who would fight against the Dark Army with him side-by-side.

And now that damned bastard actually thought of giving up magic?

The flame of anger in Link’s heart had gotten to the such an untamable point that he no longer cared about Eliard’s feelings.

“You’re wrong! It wasn’t magic that killed Elena, it was her evil cult!” Link shouted. “If she didn’t get killed this time, then she would’ve died the next time! If she didn’t die because of me, then someone else would’ve killed her once they found out her secret plot! Either way, she would’ve died anyway!”

Thwack!

As soon as Link finished his sentence he was seeing stars for a moment from the punch to his eye and his cheek was burning with pain from the hit as well.

“You wanna fight?!” Link lunged forward and punched Eliard on his nose till it was gushing out with blood.

Eliard had gotten furious by now. Not only did Link cause Elena’s death, he’d even uttered such despicable words, and now he wanted to fight back? And so Eliard punched Link back one more time, this time making him completely punch-drunk with the brunt force of Eliard’s fist.

Link wasn’t about to just take the punches like a rag doll, though. He threw another hook to Eliard’s chin, causing him to lose his balance and he fell to the ground. Then, he went down on the fallen Eliard and prepared to punch him some more.

To Link’s surprise, Eliard’s response was extremely quick. While he was still on the ground he managed to kick Link with both of his feet and knocked Link down as well. Then, as both of them were now on the ground, they started to fight like dogs with one person punching and the other kicking, then one socked the other with his elbow and the other responded with his knee. This went on for a few minutes, neither party was willing to be the first person to stop.

Link had been leading an easy life in the past few months, so although he was still not as strong and muscular as Eliard, he had gained considerable physical strength and was no longer the scrawny kid that he used to be. Eliard, on the other hand, had gotten much thinner and weaker in the past week, which meant that both of them were now fighting as equals. Neither of them had used magic, though, because they knew that once magic was involved the other party might get killed. Even though they were both angry at each other they still had no wish to kill each other yet.

Both of them had been storing much anger and frustration all this while, so now they treated each other as punching bags to release the pent-up emotions inside them.

After a few minutes, the entrance door of the Mage Tower was suddenly opened and the crystal lamp hanging over the door lit up as well. Then, Herrera’s wrathful face emerged out from the inside of the Mage Tower.

She had rushed down here from her room in a flurry. She was still wearing her nightdress and her hair was messy as she just got out of bed. She reached the Mage Tower entrance only to see two of her proudest disciples brawling on the ground like common street dogs.

Link’s face was swollen to the size of a pig’s head, one of his eye sockets was black and blue and his lips were cracked and bloody while the Magician’s robe on his body was torn to tatters. Eliard’s conditions were even worse as his body had been weakening for the past week. When Herrera emerged from the door she saw Link sitting on Eliard and bashing into his face with his fists!

At this moment, Eliard’s face was even more swollen than Link’s, his nose was dripping with blood which stained the clothes on his chest red. One of his eyes had ballooned almost to the size of a peach and it was obvious that Eliard couldn’t open it anymore. That strikingly handsome face of his was now such a mess that it wasn’t even human-like!

Not only that, but all around them hundreds of gold coins scattered and rolled about. Three shoes were seen nearby – the last one was still on Link’s left foot.

What a scene it was!

“Enough, both of you!” bellowed Herrera in rage.

Among both of them, one was already a genius Magician who had begun to attract fame and reputation in the outside world. Meanwhile, the other was a young Magician with nearly perfect innate talents in magic and limitless potential to develop in the future. The fact that two outstanding talents had emerged in the span of a few months was indeed a miracle, yet now both of them ended up wrestling each other in the dirt was such a shame! If rumors of this incident ever spread out they’d be the laughing stock of the whole kingdom!

Now that they saw their tutor, Link, who had long tired out his arms, stood up immediately. His strength by then had almost reached its limit and his fists could no longer throw any more punches. He was sure that if they persisted any longer he would be completely overwhelmed by the physically stronger Eliard.

Eliard was as worn out as a pair of old boots himself, so he clambered up onto his feet and stood in front of Herrera right beside Link. They both bent their heads down, staring at the ground like children who knew they were in trouble and were about to be punished.

Herrera was initially about to explode in anger, but when she saw how innocently child-like Link and Eliard looked, she suddenly found it all amusing instead. She must keep a stern appearance, though.

“Tidy up these things on the ground and get yourselves back to your rooms!” she said sternly.

At that moment Herrera felt as if she was a foster mother of two immature young boys.

Herrera was a respected tutor to both Link and Eliard, so they quickly and quietly obeyed her command and went about picking up their shoes and the gold coins that scattered about everywhere on the ground.

Link picked up his right shoe and tried to put it back on, but just then he happened to glance at Eliard who was squatting on the ground trying to put on his shoes as well. Link saw how the face that used to be the envy of men and the adoration of women now looked as swollen as a pig’s! Link suddenly found it so hilarious that he erupted into uncontrollable laughter.

Eliard saw how Link’s face was further disfigured with his laughter and couldn’t hold back his laughter either. Soon enough the two friends were both laughing at each other’s ridiculous faces.

But after a while, Eliard was reminded again of his own fate, which caused him to cry. He wept for the loss of his beloved Elena, he wept for the hard times he had to endure ever since his parents abandoned him on the streets when he was just a baby. He sat on the ground and wept and wept at his tragic fate until the initial sobs turned into howling wails.

Link and Herrera looked at each other then at Eliard in sympathy. Link then started to pick up all the gold coins with the Magician’s Hand as he was too tired to do it himself. It only took a few seconds before all the gold coins were collected in the pouch. He then put the pouch into the storage bracelet he got from the Dark Elf Magician, Parson. This storage bracelet had been purged of all dark magic auras and had even been slightly modified by Link himself so no one could ever recognize its Dark Elven origins anymore.

All traces of anger in Link’s heart had subsided after the brief fistfight.

“Here, take this,” said Link as he slipped the storage bracelet onto Eliard’s wrist.

“Take it with you and go outside and explore the world for a while. You’ll feel better soon enough. But don’t ever think about giving up on magic again.”

Eliard said nothing in reply, he just nodded in agreement.

The fight just now had also cleansed Eliard’s heart of all anger and resentment towards his friend. Looking back, he finally realized that things hadn’t been so bad that he must give up everything in life and run away.

Elena was still the love of his life, of course, and he naturally still ached and grieved for her loss. But that didn’t change the fact that she was dead now and will always stay in the past. Link was right, he should go out of the academy and explore the world and get a change of scenery for a while. He knew that it would certainly help him recover and feel better then.

As for magic, Eliard now realized that it was not the cause of Elena’s death after all. Without magic, Elena would’ve died of the blade of swords or daggers or the arrows, or maybe even of the dark divine spells that Elena was involved with. Eliard knew more than anyone else how cruel this world could be.

Eliard understood clearly now that giving up magic would be tantamount to giving up his own life.

“Aren’t you building your new estate, Link?” asked Eliard suddenly. “I could go there and help you out.”

Link was momentarily stunned, but he recovered himself quickly and gave Eliard a firm nod. Once he’d put on his shoes, he stood up and walked towards Eliard then extended a hand out to him.

“It would be my pleasure,” said Link.

Eliard reached out to catch Link’s hand and got himself up to his feet. He suddenly realized that Elena wasn’t as perfect as she had been in his imagination after all. Instead, it was this friend of his here who’d been like a brother to him all along who was the one person he could rely on whenever he’s in trouble.