Advent of the Archmage

Mage Tower

Bryant’s arrival was unexpected but also made sense. It would have been stranger if the High Elves had no reaction to Link stealing the island.

After a pause, Link smiled. "The weather’s nice today, with the night wind bringing the fragrance of flowers. How about we walk down the street?"

Bryant shook his head. "The mortals on the street are like ants. It’s boring. How about we go to the rooftop of your Mage Tower? Just the two of us?"

"Sure." Link nodded and signaled with eyes for everyone to stop worrying. He reached his arm out in invitation. "After you."

Bryant stood up and started up the spiral staircase around the wall of the Mage Tower. Link followed him. He didn’t look guarded; he seemed prepared.

At a turn on the first level, Bryant stood saw Eliard at the corner. He glanced at him, did a double-take, and his eyes lit up. He shook his head and sighed. "What talent. It’s a pity he’s staying with the humans."

With that, he continued climbing up.

After he climbed a few steps, Eliard suddenly said, "Bryant, Link told me about you, so I know you. I know people like you. I look down on you even more, traitor!"

Bryant paused, his power pulsing. Link stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder. Smiling, Link said, "Do you lose your temper so quickly with juniors too?"

"Hmph!" Bryant retracted his power and continued walking to the top of the Mage Tower.

The two soon reached the top level.

They were about 300 feet high above ground, and the surroundings were all flatlands. From the top, they could see dazzling lights from the thousands of houses in Scorched City. They were like a sea of stars. The view looking down at them was like a god looking down at all life.

"You did a good job building up this city in two years," Bryant nodded with satisfaction.

Link shook his head. "You have no right to comment on my matters. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that phrase, but I won’t allow it in the future."

"You... Fine, it’s good for a youngster to have attitude." Bryant glanced at Link and smiled. "I thought you would die in the Dragon Valley, but I didn’t expect you’d be so lucky. Not only did you survive, you even started stealing things in the sea."

Link moved his hand slightly. Light flashed and a chair floated up. He took a seat while saying, "I don’t know what you’re saying. Honestly, I don’t understand why you’re here. We don’t have anything to discuss, right?"

Bryant wanted to pull over a chair like Link, but he tried and failed. He knew Link had messed with something to stop him, so he could only stand.

He turned to stare at the dark sea in the distance. Suddenly, he said, "Scorched City is a great place. It’s so close to the sea and a deep water port. The bad thing about living by the sea, though, is that if there’s a storm or hurricane, nothing will be left."

That was a potential threat.

Link leaned back in his seat and rested his chin on a finger. Grinning, he said, "Yes. Just like the Isle of Dawn, we all depend on the sea."

The Isle of Dawn was an island. Both of their territories had similar geographical characteristics. There was no point in threatening each other.

Bryant chuckled and looked at Link with disdain. "Our race has governed the Isle of Dawn for millenniums. We’ve experienced countless storms. We’re not worried."

The High Elves were proudly isolated. They’d fortified the Isle of Dawn long ago until it was as sturdy as an iron drum. Link’s threat wasn’t very realistic.

That was the truth, and Link couldn’t refute it. However, he changed the topic and smiled. "Everything about the Isle of Dawn is great, except it’s too isolated. It’s surrounded by water and doesn’t have many mines. You don’t have anything and need to be supplied by the mainland. If a storm hit and all the merchant ships were blown off course, what would you do?"

He couldn’t take care of the Isle of Dawn, but he could stop the ships. That was one disadvantage of sea transportation. Once targeted by someone, there was nowhere to hide. As long as Link put all his effort into fighting the High Elves, he could destroy the entire trade system by himself!

Bryant swallowed his words at this. He stared at Link for a long while before saying, "You’re only one person. We have tens of thousands of high-level Magicians in our military."

Since they were at this point, he didn’t use euphemisms anymore and spoke straightforwardly. Link was unmoved. He was clear on the High Elves’ situation.

In the game, he’d entered the Isle of Dawn and was familiar with the general geography, many details of the palace architecture, the extraordinary Magicians, and more.

By now, Bryant was sure Link had stolen the gyromagnetic iron ore, but Link would never admit it. More importantly, since Bryant had come personally to talk, it meant the High Elves didn’t want to fight him now. Maybe they were scared or just didn’t want to ruin the relationship more.

This gave Link some leeway.

"Bryant," he said. "You probably didn’t come here just to argue with me. Otherwise, that would be useless."

Bryant finally gave his terms. He pointed at where Link had hid the gyromagnetic iron and said, "My race wants half of that!"

"What if I say no?" Link asked in reply.

Bryant wasn’t surprised at this, but he was sure he could convince Link, because he had a hidden card!

"Then neither of us will get it. My warships are already aimed at it. If you don’t agree, we will shoot a Level-10 Dissociation Ray. All the gyromagnetic ore will evaporate."

Link thought for a moment but still shook his head. "If you do, you’ll die. I’ll destroy those Silver Storm Sparrows. From today, my dragon Warriors and I will block all merchants going from the Isle of Dawn to Firuman. No ship will pass!"

He said all this in a calm tone as if he was just stating facts. At the same time, a black seal appeared in his hands.

When Bryant saw it, he flinched, finally losing his cool. "The Dragon Duke Seal, it’s black, the Red Dragon Queen, how... how?! That old hag... You’re only twenty-one!"

The black Dragon Duke Seal was special. Bryant was very smart and had read many books. He was familiar with all of these secrets.

Before seeing this seal, Bryant was confident in his trip. But now, Link unexpectedly had the dragons’ support... The High Elves weren’t afraid of dragons or Ferde, but when they were allied, they were more than a match for the Isle of Dawn.

Link didn’t speak. He stayed silent, waiting for Bryant to sort through his thoughts.

After a long while, Bryant finally recovered. He still wasn’t willing. Staring closely at Link, he said, "Are you really going to turn my race into your enemies? Think carefully. This will be an extremely difficult road. Three hundred years ago, I tried it too, but reality told me it was impossible."

Link didn’t reply. He stood up and retreated, taking out the Dragon King’s Fury sword. He didn’t use any power but pretended to stab Bryant three times.

It was strange. Link’s sword didn’t contain any power, and his movements were laughably slow. He was stabbing seemingly unimportant areas on Bryant’s limbs instead of critical organs, too. But Bryant’s body shook violently with every stab.

After those three stabs, Bryant’s forehead was covered in sweat. His face was as white as paper.

Clang. Link put his sword away and smiled thinly. "I’m good at casually finding someone’s Achilles’ heel, and that’s true for both people and races. If you don’t trust me, we can try it."

Bryant could barely stand up. "Thirty percent!" he gritted.

Link shook his head.

"Ten percent. Nothing less!"

Link still shook his head. He tossed a gold coin at Bryant. "If you really want to benefit, you can have this coin. Nothing more."

Bryant didn’t want to accept it. He didn’t even reach out, but somehow, he felt something cold in his hand. It was the gold coin. Link had used a spatial spell to transport the coin into his hand.

The coolness stimulated Bryant’s palm, making his cheeks burn. An ineffable humiliation surged in his heart. He took out his wand, his Mana automatically surging.

Link chuckled. He just watched Bryant, waiting for him to do something.

Slowly, the Mana ripples on Bryant’s body calmed down. He stared at Link, having seemingly aged many years. "Young man, you will pay for your arrogant actions!"

With that, he turned and left. His silhouette was slouched now, and the powerful aura was gone. All that remained was the thick feeling of age and lethargy.

Seeing his back, Link knew that the talks were over. He would soon welcome the High Elves’ attacks.

"I heard that the High Elves have a secret force called the Black Thorn. The Assassins are all very skilled. Among them, there’s a duo called the Double Shadows. They have a Legendary dagger each and high speed magic equipment. They’ve never failed any of their missions. Go back and tell your queen that I’d like to witness them."

Bryant flinched. He was extremely shocked. Both the Black Thorn and Double Shadows were confidential secrets of the Isle of Dawn. If Link knew, it meant he’d made sufficient preparations.

He didn’t know that Link had received all this information from the game.

"Your wish will come true." Bryant sped up.

He left the Mage Tower without stopping. Once outside, he transformed into a cloud of light and flew towards the sea. After a while, he was above the gyromagnetic iron. He saw light in the mine. Many miners were digging right then with continuous dings and clings.

He impulsively wanted to throw a corrosive light ball down and turn all the damn miners into mud, but he forced the urge down.

Flying past it, he was thousands of feet into the sea. There was a ball of mist there. Passing into it, he saw the three Silver Storm Sparrows anchored there. Bryant landed on the deck of a warship.

A Magician instantly went over. It was Level-9 Magician Vonhelon. "Prophet, how was it?" he asked.

"It’s over." Bryant’s face was dark.

"Then... do we?" Vonhelon pointed at the mine in the distance.

"No, let’s go back. The situation is beyond my expectations. When we return, I will personally report the specifics to Her Highness." With that, Bryant went straight into the cabin, leaving a confused and upset Vonhelon.

After a while, the High Elf fleet started back. Whoosh, whoosh went the crashing waves. The three ships quietly left Ferde’s sea.

On the seaside, Link watched as the Silver Storm Sparrows left. He let out a relieved breath. He had actually had been worried that Bryant would lose his temper and act recklessly. Things would have become troublesome, which was why he’d run over.

Now that they’d left, the situation was much better.

Seeing the Silver Storm Sparrows fade away, Link turned to go back into the Mage Tower, but after a few steps, he suddenly felt something and looked towards the southern sea. He could feel something hiding there. It was a weird thing that seemed to follow the Silver Storm Sparrows.

Almost at the same time, a message popped up in his vision.

Activate Mission: Pursuit

Mission Content: Sneakily follow the High Elves’ Silver Storm Sparrows

Mission Reward: 10 Jogu

Link was already curious. He immediately cast a minor Levitation spell and used the Spatial Distortion Force Field to push himself. He also cast an Invisibility spell and started following the Silver Storm Sparrows from thousands of feet away.