Advent of the Archmage

Splash! Misamier dragged Link with her and fell into the boiling lava.

Watching this, everyone was stunned.

The Level-8 Winged Howler cut off the fire shark's head in one strike. Hearing the noise, he turned to look only to find that Misamier's body had fallen into the lava. Not wanting to fight, he immediately ran.

This time, the Magician will definitely die, right? Commander, I'll report this to the Lord of the Deep. I'm sure he'll remember your service! The Winged Howler thought to himself.

The space above this cavern was wide, and there was a hole leading into the sky. This was the hole that lava would emerge from when the volcano erupts. The demon spread his wings and prepared to fly.

Bang. He heard a soft sound and saw a bullet flying, headed straight towards him. It was from Melinda.

Rip! The bullet shredded one of his wings just as he flew above the lava. As his wing broke, he spiraled down from the air and fell into the lava. Splash!

"Aaah! Aaaah!" He screamed. He struggled fiercely as he tried to escape from the lava, but it was all in vain.

The temperature of the lava was simply too high.

After Nana fell in, she immediately swam as quickly as she could to the edge of the lava. Even if it was her, she could not last for very long. How could a flesh and blood demon compare?

In but a moment, the demon's body was on fire. The screaming gradually faded until it disappeared.

The mountain finally quieted down, and Melinda put down her musket. She stared stupidly at the spot in which Link had fallen into the lava, mind blanked.

Splash, splash. Nana had swum to the edge of the lava and got out. Her body was now bright red, and many parts were deformed. If she took any longer, she would also have melted.

After reaching the shore, she too stared at the lava. She was waiting for her body to cool down so that she could jump in to look for her master.

At this moment, the one who was calmest was the black cat. Seated inside the bag around Melinda's waist, it poked out its head and stared at the lava pool. "Interesting. How interesting."

"Interesting your head!" Melinda immediately shouted when she heard the cat. She was incensed. If not for this damn cat, Master Link would never have died. It was all the fault of this cat!

Therefore, the cat which had experienced a few lucky moments of calm was once again subjected to indescribable torture. Painful sounds of mewing resounded through the mountain.

At this moment, deep within the lava pool was a very different scenery.

After being pulled into the lava by Misamier, Link found himself slowly drifting down.

The temperature of the boiling lava was extremely high. This could be seen from how even Nana could not handle being inside for too long. Strangely, Link only found it slightly warm, and not the least bit scalding.

Streams of warm currents flowed into his body and joined into the warm current inside it, making it flow faster and stronger.

Mysteriously, under the influence of the warm current, Link found that even as he descended deeper into the lava, he was not suffocating even though there was no air around.

He simply did not need to breathe.

Misamier was also still alive. Demonic power spread out from her body, protecting her from the insane heat. She hugged Link tightly, planning to drag him deep into the lava.

Not just that, she opened her mouth wide and bit savagely at Link. Link instinctively twisted to the side, causing Misamier to bite onto his shoulder.

Misamier was now just like an octopus. Not only did she latch onto Link with her teeth, but her arms were also wrapped tightly around Link, as were her legs. She wanted to thoroughly trap him and kill him!

If Misamier was at her full strength, Link's body would definitely be twisted to death by her. However, right now, she was severely weakened and her strength diminished. Also, there was a strange force circulating within Link's body helping him resist Misamier's grip.

The two of them had sunk down over 90 feet into the lava. The temperature was getting increasingly hot. Link no longer felt cold. Now, he felt hot, extremely hot!

The current within his body was now raging fiercely, and Link could feel an enormous force that he could not describe. It was as though the power was trapped inside his body and was trying to force its way out. Link's body had become the battleground in this struggle, turning into something like a pressure cooker and causing Link to be in burning pain.

If this thing gets any stronger, I'm going to die! I'll definitely explode to death! I need to suppress it.

Under constant attack by the intense struggle within his body, Link's mind was spinning, and he could not think properly. At some point, he detected a cool presence beside his body, an icy cooling sensation.

It must be Misamier. She's actually still alive!

By now, Link could no longer feel Misamier's twisting grip. However, he could still feel the cooling presence beside his body. It was precisely because of this presence that he was still alive and not destroyed by the power within himself.

There's a wound on my shoulder. It can let the power escape!

Link attempted to circulate and direct the path of the current. He actually did not have much control and could only hope that some of it leaked out from his shoulder wound.

Somehow, he succeeded. Although the current was circulating rapidly in his body, he could somehow direct it. A portion of it separated and flowed towards the wound on his shoulder.

The cool feeling from his shoulder came from where Misamier's sharp teeth were still clamped onto him. The coldness came from the demonic power of Misamier and was slowly seeping into Link's body.

Under normal circumstances, this demonic power was more than enough to kill Link. However, right now, things were different. The power in Link's body was much stronger, and in fact, it was still growing.

This power was like an incinerator. In front of it, whatever demonic power that entered Link's body could only be dissolved.

Unexpectedly, not only did this exchange not have any negative effects, but it also gave Link some benefits. It was like a regulator, as the heat within Link's body dissolved the cold demonic power, the pressure from the heat also reduced.

However, this demonic power was not enough. It was far too little! He needed a lot more of it to achieve a balance.

As Link struggled, he found that his strength had increased. He easily shook off Misamier's grip on him. Not only that, he even hugged her tightly and bit down onto her neck.

Filled with thick demonic power, blood started flowing out of Misamier's neck and into Link's belly. It was icy cold, and as it entered Link's body, it dissolved the immense pressure within him.

Link instantly felt much better.

Misamier started struggling. However, it was no use. This time, it was Link who held onto her tightly, and Link's strength was much greater than hers. He gulped down her cool blood greedily.

The blistering hot energy was still entering into Link's body, and the warm current was getting larger. However, under the influence of the demonic energy, the current was a lot warmer and manageable.

If the power earlier was likened to blistering lava, the power now could be described as a gentle water flow. As it gently coursed through Link's body, it helped him recover his internal injuries.

These injuries were the result of forcefully using the Legendary level magic spell. Link's head had cleared up by now, and he could "see" these injuries. He saw numerous torn arteries and tendons, as well as fractured bones.

Looking at his wounds, Link suddenly came to a realization. No wonder the Legendary Magicians were so much rarer than the Warriors. Besides the requirement of magic, the strength of one's body was definitely another restriction.

Warriors' bodies were naturally strong. After reaching the peak of Level-9, it was easy for them to attain Legendary power. However, Magicians could not. Their bodies were too weak such that even if they were enlightened on the mysteries of the Legendary power, their bodies were unable to bear the load of such a force unless they had a way to raise their bodies' strength.

This point, therefore, demonstrated the superiority of the dragon race.

The gentle current washed over each wound, and with every second that passed, the wounds gradually recovered. The torn blood vessels slowly reformed like leaves growing on a plant, sprouting little by little.

Link had no idea how much time had passed, but he detected that within his embrace, the body he was hugging had crumbled. He had completely sucked Misamier's demonic power dry.

The hot energy from the lava was still entering his body. Without the demonic power to balance out the heat, Link's body started to heat up again.

However, there was no longer anything constricting his movements. He moved his arms and legs and rapidly swam towards the surface of the lava. As he got higher, the temperature of the lava decreased. Consequently, the heat of the energy entering his body decreased as well. After swimming up for about a minute, Link reached a depth where he felt comfortable.

The temperature at this depth was neither too high nor too low. Surrounded by the lava, he felt warm and comfortable.

At this point, Link was happy to stay in his current position and float there, letting his body absorb the heat from the lava.

As time passed, the power in his body got thicker and thicker, and Link's mind felt clearer and clearer. The effect of the injury to his soul was also fading.

He carefully assessed the power within his body.

Based on Link's intuition, the power had a crystal red color and was extremely hot. It was bursting with energy and furthermore, was unimaginably clear.

How could he describe this?

The power was exactly like the most brilliant ruby that would make everyone desire it… Hold on… Link recalled seeing power this pure only once before. That's right, he had seen it once in the Red Dragon Queen Gretel. That was the impression her dragon power gave Link.

At this point, Link's heart was pounding. Could it be that the power within me is dragon energy? But how did I come to have it?

He suddenly remembered what happened in the Dragon Temple. At that time, she had demonstrated a few mysterious magic spells for him. After every demonstration, his fatigue always disappeared, and he was always full of vigor.

Don't tell me that she was doing Dragonification on me? But if it were Dragonification, wouldn't I have detected it before? Why would it be hidden until now?

Link could not understand.

There was one other thing he could not comprehend. Earlier, to reduce the pressure, he had to absorb demonic power from Misamier to balance the power inside him. Based on that logic, his power should be mixed with demonic power. However, not only did the power within him not have the slightest bit of evil, it was pure beyond comparison. In fact, it was comparable even to the Red Dragon Queen Gretel.

This is truly mysterious! Could it be the game system? Link guessed wildly before rejecting the hypothesis. If this was the work of the game system, he would have received a notification window. However, the notification window did not appear.

Since he could not figure it out, he would rather not bother with it. He focused on absorbing the energy.

As the energy continued flowing into his body, Link noticed that his body was no longer feeling as "thirsty" as it was before.

Before, it was as though he hadn't eaten for half a year. He had greedily absorbed all the flame energy around him and secreted all the waste from his body.

Something flashed in his vision, and the notification window popped up. This fellow finally appeared.

Link looked and saw a row of words.

Player Link has obtained "Flawless Dragon Power."

Flawless Dragon Power (Growth)

Level: 7

Effect: Boosts the life force, strength, speed, etc. of the user, and power increases as skill level increases.

(Note: Ability gained from multiple coincidences.)

Coincidences?

Link asked, What coincidences?

The system displayed another message. Link looked at it and was pleasantly surprised. This is fortunate. Truly fortune!