Advent of the Archmage

The game system display recorded the entire process.

When Link fell into the lava lake, there were three types of power within him: Mana, Light power, and Dragon Power.

Mana went without saying. Every Magician had it.

The Light power…it was the soul blessing from the angel Herrera. After dealing with fallen Magician Bale, Link possessed the power to absorb sunlight. This ability was very weak and only made Link's body slightly stronger than the average Magician. But after all this time, he'd accumulated much Light power.

The Dragon Power came from the Red Dragon Queen.

According to the game system, the Red Dragon Queen actually didn't cast any spell on Link. She'd put pure Dragon Power into Link. Under its influence, Link naturally grew much more spirited.

After a few times, Link retained some of her power.

Of the three powers, he had the most Mana, followed by Light power, and finally, Dragon Power. The Dragon Power had been sealed by the Red Dragon Queen so it could only help him regain energy.

But this time, Link had cast a Legendary Spell and damaged his body. The Dragon Power naturally started acting and helped heal his wounds. As the saying went, failure was the mother of success.

During this process, the Dragon Power started fusing with Link's body. Part of the power that the Red Dragon Queen had sealed offhandedly was awakened too. Not only did it heal Link's body, but it also started absorbing from the surroundings to strengthen itself.

According to rumors, after a dragon was hurt, they could recover speedily no matter how serious the injury was, as long as they were given enough energy and weren't killed on the spot.

Reality proved that the rumors were credible.

However, there was another problem after the Dragon Power was awakened. It wasn't very cohesive with Link's body and instinctively started absorbing strength without caring if Link's body could withstand it.

Similarly, the Dragon Power clashed with the other powers within Link. It was practically a three-way war.

At this time, Link introduced the demon power.

Demon power was very dark. After it appeared, it immediately clashed against the Light power within Link. One light and one dark, they tried to destroy each other into the purest form of energy.

This energy didn't go anywhere. It was all absorbed by the Dragon Power. After it strengthened, it swallowed the neutral Mana. After another series of serendipities, Link came to possess flawless Level-7 Dragon Power with a pretty good future of growth.

This really is fortune born from misfortune, Link couldn't help but think.

Thinking back on his experiences in the World of Firuman, he'd had some good luck, but only this achievement was completely out of his expectations. It was also the most satisfactory.

However, there was another problem. He only had Dragon Power left, so how could he cast spells in the future?

Getting an idea, Link chose see character information.

His vision flashed faintly, and Link's profile appeared.

Link Morani (Noble)

Level-7 Dragon Mage

Flawless Dragon Power: 6500

Dragon Power Recovery Speed: 5-100 points per seconds (changes according to energy in the environment)

Current Dragon Power Recovery Speed: 66 points per second

Weapon: Burning Wrath of Heaven

How can I cast spells without Mana? Link discovered that all his power had changed.

The game system replied with a message.

The Flawless Dragon Power can be used as Mana.

Two Mana points = one Dragon Power point.

One Omni Point can raise the upper limit of Dragon Power by one point.

Omni Points will not be able to change the Dragon Power recovery speed.

Reading it all, Link gained a basic understanding of his new power. He looked back at the Mana cards that he could buy and realized that the Mana cost had turned into Dragon Power cost.

Seeing this, Link mostly got it. It was like opening a hidden career in the game. He'd changed his job and even changed his power bar.

The biggest advantage of becoming a Dragon Mage was that he didn't have to worry about using up Mana anymore. The Dragon Power recovery speed was honestly too fast. Even at the lowest speed of five points per second, it was 300 points in a minute, and he would be at the max within 20 minutes. Currently inside the volcano, the recovery speed was at 66 points per second.

Feeling the unprecedented strength, Link was happy but also felt a bit regretful.

Even if one Dragon Power point equaled two Mana points, his Mana upper limit was only 13,000. He couldn't use either of the two Legendary Spells—Miracle Aura and Thunder God Descent.

The Dragon Power was the flawless strength of dragons, but the functions still weren't complete. Link couldn't use it to shapeshift.

The exchange rate of Omni Points had lowered as well. Before, one Omni Point could exchange for 10 Mana. Now, it was a one to one ratio. He'd lost a lot on this but thinking of all the benefits of Dragon Power, Link felt better.

Whatever, it's still pretty good. The upper limit is low, so I'll just have to do more missions, Link comforted himself.

His body was fine now, and the Dragon Power's absorption speed had slowed down considerably. Link moved his limbs and started swimming upward.

With a splash, Link broke out of the lava's surface and started swimming towards land. Before he reached it, Nana came over. After seeing him, her big eyes turned into crescents, and she smiled. "Master, are you alright now?"

"No big problems." Link nodded.

He climbed onto land and heard the black cat's pained cries. Turning his head, he saw Melinda standing by the entrance. She cried while also hitting an extremely pathetic-looking black cat.

"All your fault! All your fault! All your fault!" she kept saying. If it wasn't for the cat's betrayal, Master Link wouldn't have died.

She hadn't discovered Link yet.

Uh, isn't that Elodim? Why is he with Melinda and looks so pitiful? Link found it very strange. He got up and walked over.

When the black cat saw Link, its yowling grew twice as loud. "Stop…hitting! Stop…hitting! Link…still…alive. Look, there he is!"

It was really scared of that Yabba girl. She didn't listen to it at all and just blamed everything on it. No matter what it said, she would keep hitting. Its head was hit dozens of times while it said those words. Her hits weren't strong, but it made it feel pathetic.

She was so barbaric!

When it finished speaking, Melinda finally stopped and raised her teary eyes. She really saw Link walk over with Nana behind him.

Because of the lava, neither of them had clothes on. Melinda yelped in pleasant surprise, and then her face turned beet red. She hid back behind the corner.

Link walked out of the hot place and into the tunnel. He covered himself and Nana with a simple cape. After dressing, he called, "Melinda, it's fine now. Come out."

So Melinda finally came out with a red face. Seeing Link, her happiness quickly overcame her shyness. "Master Link," she called quietly.

Link nodded. He saw that the girl's leg was bloody and realized that her wound had opened again. He walked over to clean the wound. After wrapping it again, he tried to put in some Dragon Power.

Melinda immediately yelped.

"Does it hurt?" Link asked.

"No, it's warm. The wound feels kind of numb and itchy like it's about to heal soon. It's comfortable," Melinda said, feeling curious.

Hearing that the Dragon Power was effective, Link was relieved. After pouring Dragon Power into Melinda's wound, he said to Nana, "Carry her."

After Nana picked Melinda up, Link finally asked, "How did you catch the black cat?"

"It was hit by a big tree, and its back legs were flattened. I saved it and then cut off its front paws and pulled out its teeth. It can't hurt people anymore."

Link put Elodim in his hands. The cat really looked pathetic. It was covered in blood and talked with a lisp. Its fur was matted, and its limbs were all missing. It was even more pathetic than a stray cat.

With its ears flattened, it said weakly, "Link, let's make a deal. I won't have any bad ideas from now on. Will you forgive me?"

Looking at it, Link thought for five seconds before shaking his head. "No."

"Why not? I saved you this time. If not for me, you'd be dead meat. I helped you gain dragon power too!" The black cat was stunned.

It knew Link well. His words meant that he would end things once and for all. He was ten times crueler than the Yabba girl when he wanted to be!

Link smiled thinly. "It's not a personal problem between the two of us… Without further ado, goodbye Elodim. Nana, dagger!"

As soon as he spoke, the Breakpoint dagger in Nana's hand glowed faintly. She pierced it into Elodim's head.

Colorful lights flashed. This was a god's soul, and it tried to block the Breakpoint dagger. However, the dagger was an agglomeration of destructive singularity. Merely a god's soul was useless. After three seconds, the dagger pierced into the light.

"Ah!" A horribly painful cry rang out in everyone's mind. Then the colorful glow scattered into countless light spots. There were so many spots that the entire spacious tunnel was colored.

The light didn't fade for five whole seconds. By then, the dagger had sunk into the black cat's skull.

Elodim, a god that wanted nothing more than escape from Firuman, died under the destructive singularity just like that. Perhaps there were remnants of his soul, but this was unimportant.

The betrayal was only a small part of why Link killed it.

This black cat posed too big of a danger. The World of Firuman had already cracked, and it would only get stronger. With a god's wisdom, it would have endless tricks. A damaged physical body couldn't restrict it for long.

No one could know what a god would do at that time to the cage that had imprisoned it for thousands of years.

Link didn't dare take the risk, so he decided to get rid of the problem once and for all.

After that, Link tossed the black cat's corpse into the lava. With a soft pop, the corpse turned into smoke and disappeared.

Seeing that Melinda was a bit dazed, Link realized that his cruelty had shocked her, so he explained, "His existence has already caused the losses of countless lives. More lives will die because of him in the future. His strength is quickly growing and will soon surpass us. I can only take the chance to kill him now."

Melinda nodded lightly. She saw another side of Link—cruel and decisive. She was a bit scared but also felt safer. Her feelings were contradictory.

After leaving the cave, Link checked the direction and summoned the Nightingale. They climbed on and started flying towards the Orida Fortress.

This time, there was still a twinge of pain in his head, but he could bear it. After flying at a regular high speed for around 100 miles, not only was he not tired, his headache even disappeared.

A dragon's physique is so weird.

They were within the Norton Kingdom now and were around 250 miles from the Orida Fortress. It wasn't too far. With the Nightingale's speed, the fortress's outer walls appeared in Link's vision after three hours.

For 2000 years, the Northern human race had gone through eight dynasties. Each one had spent countless money and manpower on building and expanding the walls. At this time, it was undoubtedly the top strategic pass for the Northern humans.

When Link was three miles away, he was stopped by a scout.

"Magician, report your name!"

"Ferde Lord, Baron Link Morani." Link reported his noble title to the common soldier because it was easier to make a commoner respect a noble while a Magician would receive reverence and fear. The former was much better.

Once he said his name, the scout instantly became ecstatic, and he saluted to Link. "Lord, welcome to the Orida Fortress!"