Advent of the Archmage

Mage Tower

Herrera waved her hands. "Let's move on. It's rare for you to come back. I shouldn't worry you about these things. The military will take care of it, and the dean already went there a week ago. They should be able to get it under control."

Things seemed urgent, but those who had gone mad were all ordinary citizens. No matter what, their combat abilities were limited. Magicians and the military were enough.

Link shook his head. "Tutor, you seem worried. The disease might not be so simple… There shouldn't be any cases at the academy, right?"

Herrera sighed. "There are some. One is inside my magic cage."

"Take me to them," Link said. Not even the God of Light's divine spell could cure them, and they showed characteristics of a contagious disease. This was strange and unsettled him.

Since Link wanted to see, Herrera wouldn't refuse him. Standing up, she said, "Come with me."

The three walked out of the room. Rylai was curious and wanted to see, but Link shooed her away halfway there. "This is for adults. You go read your books."

Rylai pouted and walked away sadly. Link and Herrera entered the basement of the Mage Tower.

The basement had three floors. The top floor was for food storage. The next was the negative energy pool of the Mage Tower, and the last floor was the magic cage.

Most of those imprisoned there were commonly-seen creatures, such as low-level werewolves, young vampires, and corpse-eating spirits. They weren't powerful and were used to educate scholars.

The mad patient was imprisoned there, as well.

There were many independent cells in the prison. All the cells were shaped like beehives, and the entrances were locked with translucent magic doors. When the door opened, the creatures all started howling and crying. When they saw Herrera, they started yelling even louder. Some of the more human-like ones even threatened her.

"Let me go, Magician. Otherwise, I'll rip you apart one day!" a werewolf with sharp claws said.

"Evil witch, you're dead! Dead! Dead!" That came from a human-faced black widow spider. It sped around its web and shrieked in its piercing voice.

"Oh, oh, so tasty. So delicious!" That was a small corpse-eating spirit.

Then Link entered the hall.

The cells that had been unruly a moment ago instantly silenced. Many creatures shrunk into corners and hid. The human-faced widow spider shook and fell down from its web with a clunk.

Herrera giggled. "These things are only scared of the difficult ones."

The creatures were sensitive and knew that Herrera was easy to sway, so they liked to throw insults. However, Link had killed countless people on the Northern battlefield and had a deathly air about him. Others might not have been able to sense it, but these creatures discovered it instantly. Faced with this, they were all terrified.

Walking along the tunnel, Herrera stopped at the back right corner. "It's this cell."

With a soft poof, she cast a light spell above the cell and illuminated it. Through the translucent magic door, Link saw a person squatting in the corner. He was a muscular man around thirty-five years old. He wore a regular merchant robe, but the fabric had been ripped. It hung around him in shreds.

Stimulated by the bright light, the man looked up blankly at the white light on the ceiling. This allowed Link to see his eyes.

They had become pure black with no sclera or pupil. His eyes were like two black sockets. Then Link looked to his hands, feet, and teeth. There were no changes; they were just like an ordinary man's.

"The eyes are the only change," Herrera whispered. "The other abnormalities are all in action and behavior. Look how he's squatting right now. Doesn't he look like an animal?"

Indeed, he squatted with his hands on the ground. He looked like he would pounce at any moment.

"Open the magic door. Show me his fighting abilities," Link said.

Herrera nodded. Before opening the door, she reminded him, "Don't think he's always this quiet. When he's active, he's quite fast."

"I understand."

Buzz. The moment the door opened, the man's head whipped over. A guttural sound came from his throat and he jumped, pouncing towards Link. He really was quite fast—equal to a Level-1 Warrior. But in Link's eyes, his movements were in slow motion.

Without even using his wand, he reached out. Dragon Power surged and a Spatial Sphere appeared. The person froze in mid-air.

Link walked closer to investigate. The man's face was menacing, teeth bared and muscles pulled taut. His skin was pale and wrinkled. He had many rotting ulcers. The worst was on his left leg, where the skin and muscle was decayed to the bone. He didn't seem to feel any pain. He just looked wild and savage.

It seemed that he'd completely become an animal.

Link circled him and found something that made no sense.

"There are no maggots in his ulcers. Did you treat him?" Link asked. The ulcers were so deep and the environment was so dirty. There would usually be maggots all over, but this man had none.

Herrera shook her head. "Not at all. Maybe his blood is toxic."

"I didn't sense any abnormal auras in him, either. It looks just like a regular disease. How long does it usually last?"

"I don't know the specific timeframe, but this guy is from the first batch. It's already been three weeks. He eats everything and until now, there have been no weaknesses other than the ulcers."

Link wasn't very familiar with diseases and couldn't find anything wrong by looking. After a few minutes, he shook his head. "Other than losing his mind, I can't find anything. It looks like rabies, but they live longer."

This disease couldn't be cured with divine spells and spread quickly. Other than that, it was nothing special. It wasn't very threatening, either. Now that the military and Magicians had joined the cause, they could definitely control it.

Link had been unsettled before. After seeing this patient, he felt more reassured. He left the cell, and Herrera closed the magic door again.

"How do you usually treat these patients?"

"We haven't found an antidote yet. The only thing we can do to most patients is kill them and then burn the corpses," Herrera said.

Link considered this, then asked, "If a regular person lives near them, is it possible for them to catch the disease?"

"Yes, but not very likely. It's more possible for weaker ones to be infected. The stronger and healthier you are, the lower the possibility. Currently, nobody above Level-4 will be infected unless they're bitten."

Herrera's explanation was very detailed. It was clear she'd studied this plague.

Hearing this, Link's worries were mostly gone. He sighed. "Tutor, you're right. The military and Magicians can easily control the spread of this disease. I hope they can hurry so fewer people will die."

"Hopefully. And I hope the alchemists can quickly find a cure." Herrera walked out and said, "All right, we can discuss your matters now."

Link nodded and handed over the two enchantment books. "I plan on creating an enchantment workshop in Ferde. For this, I want to recruit some Magicians who specialize in enchantments. Apprentices will work, too. I can train them. I wrote these two books for this."

Herrera paused to flip through the pages. Intrigued, she said, "Let's go back to the top level. I want to read closely."

"Of course."

The two went to the hall in the top level, and Herrera started reading seriously. She read quickly, and the books were simple, without much content. She finished quickly. At the end, she looked up as if anticipating more. "Is that it?"

The book started off complicated and ended simply. It was very interesting, without any of the usual, boring parts. The enchantment methods included were also innovative. Even she was inspired and wanted to go experiment with them.

There were only two books. Herrera felt that she'd only taken two bites and the delicious meal was already gone. It didn't sate her at all!

"Yeah, I only wrote two books." Link shrugged.

"There's no problem in looking for Magicians," Herrera said. "I'll publish this news. Many Magicians will definitely come to you. However, these two books aren't enough for a thank you gift. These are great for the basics, but they're too simple. There's none of the truly good content."

With that, Herrera looked at Link and smiled. It was clear that she required more gifts.

Link sighed. "I'll send more books as soon as I finish writing. However, only these two can be published. The others will be for your eyes only."

"That's better. And how come the foreword for the outline is blank?" Herrera asked.

Link chuckled. "I was hoping you could fill it in for me."

Herrera smiled. "I would be honored to."

She immediately picked up her pen. Link took a book and started reading casually. While reading, his ears twitched. He looked out the window.

Outside the window, a group of carriages were entering the East Cove Magic Academy. When they stopped, Link saw Dean Anthony bring a team of Magicians in. Judging from his expression, he was furious.

"Tutor, the dean is back. The situation doesn't look so good."

Herrera walked over and did a double take. Seeing Dean Anthony throw his hat to the ground, she furrowed her brows. "I've known him for more than twenty years. He's never lost his temper like this. What happened?"