Advent of the Archmage

Eliard was extremely decisive. He immediately set off the next day with Link's letter in hand.

At the moment, the Flamingo Band of Mercenaries were destroying the bandit's hideout in the entire Ferde Wilderness with the help of Magician Carrido. Carrido did not go through official magic training and lacked a comprehensive understanding of magic. Many a times, his strength was not sufficient.

Eliard, on the other hand, did not have this problem. He was a Level-2 Magician and had a solid foundation in magic. With his help, the process would be a lot smoother.

In the letter, Link specifically instructed Jacker to take special care of Eliard. It would be fine if they slowed down the clearing process, but Eliard must be kept safe.

Link strongly believed that Eliard would recover from this state of depression after making some new friends and training together with the mercenary band.

As for Link, he was still completely focused on magic. Everything else was secondary.

Now that Eliard's matter was resolved, Link could focus entirely on his magic research, increasing the efficiency exponentially. He gradually spent more time on it until he merely slept four hours a day.

Herrera was horrified at the sight of such insane dedication. She was afraid Link's body would not be able to withstand such intense hours. However, after failing to persuade him to take more rest, she started giving Link strange potions said to nourish the body and forcing him to drink them.

Link had no choice but to drink them. He did not expect them to really be effective. When he felt his energy getting boosted, he was pleasantly surprised and delved into his research with even more fanaticism.

The days flew by. After 20 days, Link had made huge progress with his biggest achievement being a thorough understanding of the magic structure of a Level-6 spell.

He possessed the precious Fire Star Thorium and preferred fire elemental spells in general. This Level-6 spell was naturally also fire element based, called the Fist of Firomoz.

The Fist of Firomoz

Level-6 spell

Effect: Concentrates fire elementals into a giant fist. It possesses terrifying offensive power!

(Note: Inspired by a scroll fragment left in the mortal world by Flame Titan Firomoz)

The Titans were an extremely powerful ancient civilization. It was rumored that they had not gone extinct. However, Link had never met any of them even when he was playing the game.

The reason he chose to learn the Fist of Firomoz was simple. This spell was basically an upgraded version of his Level-5 spell, The Flaming Hand. There were many similarities in the magic structure of both spells, giving Link the inspiration to unify the good ideas in both of them.

A fist and a hand. If the fingers of a hand were tucked in, wouldn't it become a fist?

He should have mastered a Level-6 spell in half a month. However, Link spent almost a whole month at it instead, due to his stubbornness in putting the innovation into practice.

He had already achieved the initial success. All that was left was the execution.

As it was a Level-6 spell, the elemental pool in Herrera's Mage Tower would not be sufficient. Link then headed towards the Heaven's Thorn to conduct his experiment.

In order to prevent any careless mistakes, Link gave himself a good rest the night before.

Early in the morning, Link could be seen rushing to the Heaven's Thorn. The door opened quickly after a few knocks and Selasse, Herrera's senior in magic, stood behind the door.

"Why are you here so early today?" Selasse was Anthony's disciple. However, his magic talent was ordinary at best. He had only achieved the strength of a Level-3 Magician even though he was almost 40 years old. His expertise lay in the literary world. He had already written more than ten poetries well known across the Norton Kingdom. He was an extremely talented person as well. He was also kind and amiable. Usually, he would be Link's host whenever Link decided to visit the Heaven's Thorn.

"Is the sub elemental pool occupied today?" Link asked. The elemental pools in the Heaven's Thorn had the best functions in the entire academy. It was always fully booked and would rarely have any empty slots.

Selasse smiled and said, "You are the first one today. You have 90 minutes."

Ninety minutes was already very generous. On normal days, Link would only get 50 minutes in the elemental pool, which was already a long duration on the account that he had a good relationship with Anthony. Other Magicians usually only got 30 minutes in the elemental pool and would have to apply for it a week in advance. They could not simply enter and use it as freely as Link.

Link then followed Selasse into the Mage Tower. When he reached the hall, he saw two people clad in purple robes. They seemed to be waiting for someone.

Their magic robes had many unique characteristics. They were light purple in color and extremely thick. There were patterns similar to that of a bramble sewn onto their sleeves with silver threads. On their chest was a picture of a roaring lion. At the same time, the surface of the magic robe seemed to be covered in a layer of a special, sticky liquid.

Link recognized this magic robe. It was a magic robe of the Norton Army Magicians. The sticky layer of liquid was a defense spell specially developed by the Royal Magicians in the Kingdom called Tenacity. As the Magicians climbed in rank, the color of the robe would change ever so slightly and the strength of Tenacity would also increase.

There were a total of six levels: Basic Tenacity, then going into Mid-Level Tenacity, High-Level Tenacity, Heroic Tenacity and finally, Endless Tenacity.

This defensive spell could defend against both magical and physical attacks. It also had excellent stability and strength. It was rumored that the strongest Endless Tenacity could defend against a Level-6 offensive spell head-on.

From the magic fluctuations coming from these two Magicians. They should be in the Mid-Level Tenacity stage. They also had the presence of a Level-3 Magician, probably Elite Magicians in the Kingdom. They were casually chatting and seemed to be in a good mood.

"Are they any good news about the war in the North?" Link asked curiously. If they had lost the war, the two Magicians should have been depressed and silent. The gleeful look on their faces could then only mean one thing.

Selasse then introduced them with a smile, "We are victorious in the Battle of the Ice Peak. The Kingdom army charged ferociously ahead and left the Dark Elves unprepared. We have already secured three consecutive victories. The rest of the Kingdom's army was also converging to the Ice Peak to support the war and continue our winning streak."

Link was relieved and elated to hear this news. This was a victory unheard of while he was playing the game, which was proof that he had indeed changed the course of history.

"That is good news; it is indeed time to teach them a lesson. However, the Kingdom is still rather unprepared. Isn't it too risky to go all out in this state?" Link was still slightly worried. He felt that the Kingdom was being too rash and arrogant, probably due to their bolstered confidence from the consecutive victories.

Selasse shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don't know much about the military. I would believe that the generals have their reason for doing this."

"That is true." Link nodded. He was not well-informed about the situation in the North. He was thus in no position to comment on the general's decisions.

He then turned his attention away from the Royal Magicians. He had limited time in the elemental pool and had to make good use of it.

While Link was observing the Royal Magicians, they also noticed his presence in the hall.

The two of them were originally Magicians from the academy. However, they left the academy two months ago for the war in the North. At that time, Link was still not famous.

In the Battle of the Ice Peak, the two of them performed exceptionally well and had gotten credit for their achievements. They were promoted to a first-class captain and a second-class captain respectively. This time, the reason for their return was to apply for more magic materials from the dean, while also giving him an overview of the current situation.

Both of them felt extremely puzzled that such a young Magician was able to enter the Heaven's Thorn.

"Arthur, who is that young man?" one of them asked.

The person named Arthur knew slightly more than his comrade. He said, "He is Link, a member of the Morani family and the disciple of the great beauty Moira. I heard that he is already a Level-4 Magician. He is extremely talented."

"Level-4…what talent. However, I don't reckon he will do well in a real-life battle. He looks so young and inexperienced."

"Who knows." Arthur shrugged his shoulders. "It does not matter even if he is bad in combat. With his talent, he would definitely reach the upper echelons of the academy in the future. He might even become a member of the six-man council. He would not even need to go on the battlefield."

"Alright, what a blessed life." This Magician sighed with a slight look of contempt on his face.

He had already spent more than two months on the battlefield. In that period, he had survived seven battles and killed 15 Dark Elves. He was no longer the rookie Magician in the past. Those Magicians who were still studying in the academy or had just graduated from the academy were all termed as rookie Magicians.

Hence, despite Link's fame in the academy, he was merely an inexperienced rookie Magicians in his eyes.

Link had already disappeared into the staircase passage. Arthur then waved his hands and said, "Alright let's stop talking about him. Romey, now that the situation in the North is optimistic. I might get promoted to a general after the war and even wear a magic robe enchanted with Heroic Tenacity."

Romey laughed, "You shouldn't stop there. My aim is the Endless Tenacity magic robe!"