Advent of the Archmage

Chapter 528: The Prodigy That Rivaled Eliard

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

In the stone hut, the Magician who had been lying on the stone platform finally woke up.

”Oh... where am I? How did I get here?” He rubbed his forehead, his brows bunched up in a frown. At times, his body would shake involuntarily like a leaf. He must not be feeling well at all.

Link was sitting beside the stone platform. When the Magician had woken up, Link quickly said, ”Easy now, you’re safe.”

The Magician sat up and stared at Link. He did not recognize the scruffy-looking mercenary sitting beside him. Confused, he asked, ”And you are?”

”Just your everyday busybody,” replied Link casually. He then added, ”You were possessed by an evil spirit. I expelled it from your body. You should be able to feel its absence from your body.

”Expelled from my... you know magic?” The Magician surveyed Link from tip to toe. His surroundings seemed unreal to him. At the moment, he was more intrigued by Link’s presence than his own current condition.

Link did not respond. He continued asking, ”Do you not feel that you have just woken up from a terribly vivid dream?”

Despite not answering his question directly, the mercenary did not seem to harbor any ill intentions. The Magician had no choice but to repress his curiosity and rake through his brain for his most recent memories. He nodded. ”Yeah, I think so. In the dream, I did many... many terrible things. Oh god, did I really do these things?”

Realization quickly dawned on the Magician.

”No, that wasn’t you. Rather, it was the evil spirit who had taken possession of you, but I’ve already exorcized it from your body.” Link paused for a moment and stared at the Magician. He then said, ”You probably should know that you weren’t the only one being controlled by these evil spirits. These spirits were no ordinary entities, they’re extremely intelligent, and they seem to work in coordination with one another. I need to know what these spirits are up to now.”

According to the natural laws of Firuman, Ethereals were classified as a type of incorporeal entities. They usually did not retain their own memories in them. Instead, they would store their memories in their hosts’ minds. After being ejected from a body, an Ethereal would leave behind its memories in its previous host. He or she would be able to recall these memories if they dug deep enough.

This was the Ethereal Warrior’s biggest weaknesses.

The Magician pressed his head against a hand, trying to recall his dream. After a few minutes, he grabbed his head in both hands and moaned out in pain. He began tossing and turning on the platform. ”Argh, no, I can’t do it. My head feels like it’s about to split open...”

The Eliards voice went hoarse. His eyes were protruding from their sockets. Blue veins began appearing across his face, and he was biting on his lower lip until it bled.

Link frowned at the sight of this. He drew out the Dragon King’s Fury sword and swung it a few times in the air. Hum, hum... An almost inaudible sound rang out in the air as if the sword had sliced through something invisible. When this was over, the Magician’s face had relaxed somewhat. He lay on the platform, grasping his head in his hands while taking in huge gulps of air.

”What just happened?” asked Link.

”I don’t know. I was trying to recall the things that had happened before. I did remember a few things, and then my memory... no, my entire mind was invaded by a huge black shadow. It told me that I was dead. And then there was pain.”

”Black shadow?” Link frowned. After thinking for a while, he suddenly stepped forth and pressed his hand on the Magician’s body, feeling for something. After that, he turned his body around, so that the Magician was now lying face-down on the platform. He then lifted the Magician’s shirt up behind him.

The Magician was around 30 years old. His Level-4 power meant that he must be among the upper middle-class members of the Magic Academy. His skin was a delicate white. However, a purple rune had been imprinted on his skin at the midsection of his spine.

The rune was shaped like an eye. As Link had already severed the connection between the rune and its caster, the rune now remained dark. This, however, did not affect Link’s ability to discern its purpose.

He wiped at it with a hand. The rune peeled itself off the Magician’s back and floated in the air.

The Magician lifted his head and was startled to see the rune. ”What is this?”

”Shadow Eye. The evil spirit that was possessing your body had activated the rune before it left your body. The rune’s caster would be able to shatter your memory and even your soul through it.”

Saying this, Link looked at the Magician. ”How do you feel now? Can you remember anything from before?”

”I’ll try.” The Magician was still unnerved by all this, especially what this nameless mercenary had done before him. But this was not the time to whine. He calmed himself down and tried to recall his dream again.

”Most of the memories have been erased... I see the king, the queen, the dean, all of them were my compatriots... wait, I also see a Magician. I only saw her once. She was wearing an emerald robe and a cape. She held a magic wand. The wand was strange. A green crystal was set on its tip. It looked almost like jade. Around it floated two smaller crystals. The three crystals were tied to each other by strands of energy. These smaller crystals orbited the wand continuously...”

Hearing this, Link’s brows furrowed. The wand’s description sounded familiar to him. The name of the wand that matched the Magician’s description popped up in his head, and he even knew its user. But this was Southmoon Kingdom; what was she doing here?

This made no sense. The person he had in mind should be on the Isle of Dawn.

Stumped, Link asked, ”Do you remember what the Magician looked like?”

The Magician thought for a while, then shook his head. ”The memory’s foggy... wait, I remember her hair. It was a dark red. Her hair shimmered, and it looked almost transparent. It was also soft to the touch, like dark red water. I can’t really find the words to describe her hair texture. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

Hearing this, Link was now sure of the female Magician’s identity. He let out a sigh. ”Who would have thought that she would betray the Isle of Dawn? There could be trouble soon.”

The World Tree grew on the Isle of Dawn. The tree was approximately Level-19. Under the suppressive aura it gave off, the island was able to maintain its peace, at least on the surface.

However, where there were people, there was also strife. The Isle of Dawn was no exception to this rule.

In the game world, there was a mixed-blood High Elf living on the Isle of Dawn called Evelina. Royal High Elf blood flowed in one half of her body, while the other half contained pure Dragon blood. Two of the most ancient and powerful blood circulated through her body, combining to form a completely new power: Nature-Dragon Power.

This power was strange as it was potent. Despite being a mixed-blood, as Evelina’s mother also happened to be the High Elf princess, she was forced to reside on the Isle of Dawn. Even as part of royalty, she was bombarded by contempt and disdain for not being of pure blood. She had even earned the moniker ”half-breed” among her peers.

If Evelina was any other person, she would probably shrug off the constant insults and name-calling. But she was extremely talented, even more so than Bryant’s niece, who had been killed by the God of Destruction. At 30 years old, she had already reached Level-9. At 33 years old, she was able to enter the Legendary Realm. She had most likely become a Legendary master by now.

Not only was she powerful, the woman was a reasonable person.

She did not leave the Isle of Dawn out of anger after having endured years of discrimination. Rather, it was due to the fact that she knew that she would not be able to make a name for herself on the Isle of Dawn as a mixed-blood. She would be ostracized forever if she were to remain there. This was not what she wanted, and so she decided to leave the island.

In the game world, Evelina did not side with any other power. She was simply a wandering heroine character. However, in this world, she was now aiding the Syndicate. This could be troublesome.

Evelina was a true genius. Her strength came from her intellect and resolve. In the game, she was one of the few who could rival Eliard in terms of physical beauty.

Though Link was a Legendary master himself, in the face of such talent, he could not help but feel anxious.

He was not sure whether he would be able to beat Evelina. Unless the difference between their power levels was huge, the only way to know who would win in a battle between two Legendary masters was to actually let them fight it out.

At this, Link said to the Magician, ”You should know what we’re up against right now. The higher-ups of Full Moon City have been possessed by evil spirits. You are now free to go as you please, but only death awaits you if you choose to return to Full Moon City.”

”I know. I’m not ready to go back. The South is not under the protection of any strong masters. It’s just too dangerous. My safest option would be to take refuge in Ferde.” The Magician had decided on his destination.

”Be my guest. Goodbye.” Link took a step backwards. The stone wall behind him split into two halves, opening up a door. He stepped through it and disappeared from the Magician’s line of sight.

With Evelina’s involvement in this matter, Eliard would not be able to deal with all this on his own. Link needed to group up with him, immediately.