Advent of the Archmage

Central Plaza

...

"Link, are you alright?" A worried but familiar voice rang in Link's ears. When he spun around, he saw Herrera rushing over with a group of Magicians. Eliard and Rylai were also amongst the first few people who reached the incident site.

The destruction caused by the three Flame Blast spells was devastating, creating a hell-like scene. It had also alarmed the entire Hot Springs City. Herrera and the rest were only the first groups of people rushing to the site. Behind them were the Mission Intelligence, Section 3, the Royal Guards and the Royal Battle Magicians, all making their way to the central plaza at top speed.

This incident was way too horrifying. The situation was getting more chaotic as more people arrived. Link stayed vigilant while staying right beside Prince Phillip to prevent any more tragedies from happening. The sight of Herrera and his friends unharmed calmed him down slightly, "I am fine. However, a lot of people are injured. Prince Phillip also requires attention and help."

Herrera's attention was then diverted to the High Elf beside Link. From her accumulation of wisdom, she could more or less infer the cause and motive of the attack. This was definitely a planned murder of a Royal High Elf on the side of the Silver Moon!

She immediately turned and told Eliard, "The situation is pretty serious. Bring Rylai back to the inn to pack up, and leave for East Cove Higher Magic Academy."

The situation was beyond the powers of Eliard and Rylai. If they continued to stay in the capital, they would only become Herrera's source of worry and distract her from the investigation. Link, on the other hand, had once fought beside her and even played a crucial role in the Battle of Mist Basin. She had already considered him a fellow comrade.

"What about you?" Eliard's heart sank. He knew the situation was grave.

"The incident has way too many implications. The kingdom might require my assistance." Herrera was prepared. She was a master of the East Cove Higher Magic Academy and was known by name in the royal kingdom. She was even accorded the title of a Duchess. She naturally had to stay and offer her assistance in the face of such a tragedy.

"Alright." Eliard held Rylai's hand and left the plaza ruins hastily.

As he left, his eyes swept across the plaza ruins. There were two clear lines of impact on the ground and in the middle of those traces were two complete bodies. They were one of the few bodies that managed to remain intact through the incident.

When Eliard first saw the signs, he did not think much about it. However, it hit him after a while.

That was a controlled outburst of energy. It should be the work of Link...has he already reached that level?

Link basically stayed in the academy this whole time, communicating with Eliard over their recent magic discoveries. Eliard had of course heard some rumors of Link's strength but thought nothing of it. However, now that he had seen the aftermath of Link's battle, he was hit with the realization of Link's true power. While they were around the same age, Link had already surpassed him in many aspects, probably even in ways far beyond his imagination.

Eliard quickened his pace at this thought. He could feel the gap widening and had no time to waste. He had to speed up his progress or he would end up chasing after Link's shadow indefinitely.

The ruins had attracted a crowd. Many of them had a look of horror on their faces, stunned by the image right in front of their eyes.

"Who would be crazy enough to do this?"

"Oh my, this is Wand Master Hermira!" Someone had found the corpse of the well-known Enchanter.

"This is…Master Dallas!" Another person recognized the identity of a Level-5 Magician.

Dallas was a wind elemental Magician from the Southern Magician Alliance. He was probably here to join in on the fun of the festival. Little did he know that he would lose his life on such a joyous occasion. The future was truly unpredictable.

People who were around the edges of the attack were still alive but suffered injuries. As they were treated, screams of pain could be heard echoing through the street.

Herrera joined forces with Link to protect the prince and she held her staff out in alert. Two minutes later, the Royal Guards arrived together with a Royal Magician, an acquaintance of Herrera.

"Master Grinth, you have arrived," Herrera greeted.

Grinth was a Level-6 Master Magician. He was 58 years old and his hair had turned white. He had a serious expression and his wrinkles seemed as though they were carved onto his face by a sharp knife.

He scanned across the central plaza. When he saw Herrera and Link together with Prince Phillip, he heaved a sigh of relief.

An explosion in the most crowded area of the capital was an unprecedented tragedy. If the prince of the High Elves were to be affected by this incident, it would be a disaster!

It was thus fortunate that the prince was alive and not injured.

Grinth then commanded the Royal Guards beside him, "You, form a team to treat the injured. You guys each bring a team to maintain order."

The guards immediately dispersed to execute their own duties. After giving some instructions to his assistant, he quickly walked towards Prince Phillip. Grinth immediately bowed and apologized for the trauma caused upon reaching the prince. He then looked Herrera and asked, "Moira, what exactly happened here?"

Grinth and Anthony were best friends. As Herrera was Anthony's favorite disciple, Grinth was naturally on good terms with her. Furthermore, not only was she the strongest Magician in the area, she was also standing right beside Prince Phillip when he arrived. It seemed only natural to ask her for information.

However, he had inquired the wrong person this time. Herrera pushed Link forward and said, "I do not have first-hand experience of the situation. This is my disciple Link. When the explosion happened, he was nearby. He is also the one who saved the prince."

Grinth then diverted his attention to Link. He saw a black-haired teenager with a very vague magic aura (Link was concealing his aura) and he was not more than 20 years of age. His heart was immediately filled with a little contempt. Out of respect for Herrera, he said, "Tell me exactly what happened here."

Grinth was a senior in magic. Naturally, Link greeted him with respect before recounting the incident in detail. Finally, he pointed to the two corpses lying in the trails of his spell and said, "There were three Dark Elves involved. One of them ran away while the other two were killed by me. It was an emergency and I did not have the liberty to control my strength. Hence, I was unable to keep them as captives."

Grinth was extremely surprised. Firstly, he was surprised at the Dark Elves involvement in this assault. Secondly, he was both impressed and shocked by Link's battle abilities.

Grinth was not idling while he listened to Link's recount. His sights were set on the plaza ruins and he managed to get a rough understanding of the situation that unfolded. There were six human bodies with a huge open wound on their heads and no burnt injuries. Link claimed that they were assassins which Prince Phillip confirmed.

From their equipment, Grinth could determine that the six of them were at least Level-3 in strength. If Link had used a spell that covered a large area to kill all of them at once, he would not be this surprised. However, Link had chosen to cast six individual low-level spells. From what he had observed, the six assassins were defeated before they even got the chance to react.

What impressive spellcasting speed! Grinth gasped.

He also saw two huge burnt fan-shaped trails which were more than 90 feet in length. From the remnant elemental energy, he could tell that it was a Level-4 spell.

According to Link, he was ambushed by three Dark Elves at that point in time.

To be able to cast two consecutive Level-4 spells in the midst of an ambush—what kind of skill does that take? Grinth was dumbfounded. As he listened, he carefully observed the young man standing in front of him.

He looks extremely young and is clad in a grey magic robe. He is holding a wand in his hand…? A Domingo crystal! What exquisite workmanship! Such a unique rune arrangement…is this an Epic wand? Why have I not heard of it before?

The most important equipment to a Magician was the wand. An Epic wand would thus definitely be well-known amongst Magicians. However, this was Grinth's first time seeing this wand. There could only be one explanation which was that the wand was newly crafted.

Anthony kept bragging that there was a genius in the academy who had achieved Level-4 despite his young age. He also mentioned his unimaginable magic talent. Is this the guy?

Originally, he simply dismissed the idea as preposterous.

He had always believed the young man was merely talented. His tender age would suggest that his experience with and understanding of magic was nowhere near satisfactory. However, the battle scene had proved him wrong. The details had proven that this young man was a lot stronger than people of his age. Many of his skills appeared to be original as well, so much so that Grinth was not able to comprehend the battle scene completely.

Anthony is too damn lucky! If it was me, I would have also crafted an Epic wand for him! Grinth could not help but be envious.

If Grinth had known that the wand was created by Link, there was no telling how impressed he would be.