Advent of the Archmage

Chapter 500: The Mysterious Island

As he spoke, Link activated the Level-12 sealing spell.

Countless crimson runes issued out from his body like morning mist and entwined themselves around the Red Dragon Queen’s body like a cocoon.

This went on for a few seconds until the cocoon of light was now an airtight chamber that rapidly shrank around Gretel’s body. At the same time, the Chaotic Rot in her body gradually subsided in her body. One of the most visible changes on her body was her eyes.

The dark power had receded instantly from her almost completely blackened eyes. Gretel’s pale face too had regained its color.

Another five seconds later, she drew a long breath, widened her eyes and stared at Link, a perplexed expression on her face. She remained silent for a long while. Then she said, “You… liar!”

Listening to him speak so affectionately before had filled her with so much hope. She thought he was going to finally confess his feelings to her, but it was all an act!

She was now angry and disappointed at him!

Link smiled awkwardly at her. He helped Gretel up, and said, “Your Highness, I wasn’t exactly lying to you. I was, in fact, trying to suppress the venom in you.”

“How dare you still call me ‘Your Highness’!” said Gretel coldly, glancing sideways at him.

Link could only chuckle at this. They had almost reached the ground at this point, and Link did not wish to continue this awkward conversation any longer. He surveyed the forest around them, and asked, “Tellie, I think there’s something wrong about this place. I’ve never seen these kinds of plants before.”

He did not recognize any of the plants around him. It was as if they had entered another realm.

Gretel did not mind being called “Tellie” by him since they were the only two people there. Gretel’s rage subsided somewhat upon hearing this, and she turned around to observe her surroundings. In an instant, she had forgotten all about her discontent and was now drawn to her strange new surroundings.

“This is new.”

Link had only lived for twenty years. Though he may be well read, his knowledge of the world was still limited in comparison to the Red Dragon Queen’s. On the other hand, Gretel had lived for 2000 years. Even though she had spent most of that time in Dragon Valley, she had gone on hundreds of trips to the outside world. The longest trip she had taken was with her mother when both of them once flew around Firuman.

She had virtually seen all of Firuman and was more than familiar with most of the islands dotting the great ocean. But the island below them was completely foreign to her.

At that moment, both of them had landed on the ground.

As they landed, there was a sudden squeak from the woods near them. A creature as large as a mouse shot out into the open. Its appearance was exceedingly strange. Link activated the Magician’s Hand and held the thing before him.

The thing was no larger than an adult’s palm. It resembled somewhat the kangaroos back on earth. Its hind legs were more developed than its front legs, which seemed dexterous enough to act as their hands. It squeaked desperately, struggling to free itself from the invisible hand holding it in the air.

“I’ve never seen such an animal before,” said Gretel, shaking her head.

It was rare indeed for her to not recognize something in the world of Firuman, assuming of course that they were still in Firuman.

Link let go of the mouse-like creature. It immediately scampered back into the woods.

He looked around at his surroundings and saw that the canopy of leaves above them was especially dense. A golden sun hung in the blue sky, which was not at all different from Firuman’s sky.

Link then cast a Detection spell to measure the island’s spatial distortion, magical saturation, and chronal speed. Each of these aspects was similar to Firuman’s.

“We are indeed on Firuman. If you’ve never seen this island before, could it be that it had simply floated to the ocean’s surface?”

This explanation, ridiculous as it may sound, was their only explanation for the island at the moment.

Gretel thought for a while and could not think of anything to contradict this. She spread her hands and spoke, “Anything can happen in this world. What you just described is possible… Aren’t there a couple of buildings on the island? This must mean that there are people living here. Why don’t we go and take a look?”

Link had the same idea, but at that moment, Gretel’s power had been sealed up. In her current state, she might not be able to defend herself if there was any trouble. He had to think of a way to neutralize the venom completely in her body as soon as possible.

Holding out the Void Centipede’s stinger, Link said, “Gretel, the venom running through your body is only temporarily sealed up. To actually remove it, we need to find a more efficacious antidote for it. There’s still a bit of venom in the stinger. Can you think of a way to counteract its effect?”

Alchemy was not Link’s strongest suit, but the Red Dragon Queen was an expert on the subject. She should be able to come up with something.

Gretel nodded and took out a magically-resistant vial. She then spoke to Link, “Here, pour the venom into this vial.”

Link did as he was told and carefully squeezed the remaining venom from the stinger into the vial. Around five ounces of the deadly liquid dripped into it and completely covered the bottom of the vial.

Though the venom emitted a faint black smoke, it was colorless like water and slightly more viscous.

Gretel then took out another vial which contained a viscous, pale blue liquid. She poured a drop of the venom into it. Immediately, the pale blue liquid began bubbling violently in its vial.

Seeing such a reaction, Gretel explained to Link, “The blue liquid tests a substance’s toxicity. The more poisonous something is, the greater its reaction will be.”

“So how poisonous is the venom?”

“Very. It’s deadlier than any other venom I’ve ever encountered. It’s a miracle I’m still alive.” Gretel’s face blanched at the thought of the venom still flowing around inside her body.

“Do you have a way to neutralize it?” asked Link.

Gretel shook her head, “I’m not sure; I’ll need to run a few more tests.”

She then laid out a wide array of bottles and vials from her spatial bracelet and continued running her tests. Her brows relaxed at times and pressed against each other tightly at others.

Half an hour later, a frown came across her face. “I have an idea, but the amount of venom we have right now may not be enough.”

Link too frowned at this. He could not expect her to accompany him back to the Sea of Void and face the Void Centipede again. That would be no different from suicide.

After a while, Link remembered something. In the game, he had helped an alchemy master gather some ingredients for the antidote. He still was able to recall what they were.

Even though he had no idea what the master’s procedure was, the Red Dragon Queen was, fortunately, an alchemy master. If she were to have the list of the antidote’s ingredients, things would probably go even more smoothly.

He pondered for a while on this. Choosing his words carefully, he said to the queen, “Your High… Tellie, I remember reading something about the Void creature in a High Elf book. I think it’s called ‘Thousand Legs.’ There was mention of an antidote, but it only listed its ingredients and said nothing about how to brew the concoction. I don’t know if this information is of any use to you.”

Hearing this, Gretel’s eyes lit up suddenly. “Of course it is! Just tell me.”

Link told her what he knew. “Creeping jennies, sunflowers, ginseng, a pinch of arisaema…”

When Link listed out all 13 types of ingredients, Gretel’s eyes brightened even more. Finally, she clapped her hands and laughed. “I got it! I’m not too far off from it. Though I’ll still need to run those tests, the venom we have in hand should suffice.”

Saying this, Gretel began collecting the alchemical ingredients from her surroundings. Link recognized none of the materials she had collected. When she had gathered more than seven materials from the forest, Link asked, “Gretel, the ingredients aren’t right.”

“You have much to learn. Each of these materials contains a number of medicinal properties. The goal of alchemy is to neutralize the properties that we don’t need and strengthen the ones that we do. To produce the medicinal effect that we need, we don’t have to follow the ingredient list to the letter. Oh, I’m still short of a few things. Oh well, I’ll look for them later. Let’s go. We’ll visit the village up ahead first. Who knows, we may come across some of the medicinal materials that I’m still missing along the way.”

Gretel put away all her ingredients. She dusted off her hands and looked at Link, ready to head out.

With the problem of the antidote more or less settled, Link now felt even more relieved. During their conversation, he had almost fully recovered his Dragon Power. He was now able to deal with any threats in their way.

The two of them then headed off in the direction that they had determined from the air.

A while later, Gretel patted her legs and sighed. “Ow, how tiring. This is taking forever.”

Link was speechless at such an obvious hint from her.

For the rest of the journey, Link gave Gretel a piggyback ride.

They now made their way through the forest even more quickly than before. Ten minutes later, the woods in front of them had become sparser. Through them, Link could see a simple stone wall erected up ahead. Behind the piles of rocks stood a neat row of wooden houses. The sounds of chickens and the occasional barks of a dog could be heard. Columns of smoke drifted from the wooden houses into the evening sky.

“It seems peaceful,” said Gretel.

Link too felt the same way about the place, but there was still something odd about it. “The architecture here seems strange. I’ve never seen it before. I don’t really know why, but I’m getting an ominous feeling about the place.”

He did not feel that their lives were being directly threatened at the moment, but the feeling was enough to make him feel uncomfortable about the place.

With her power being sealed off, Gretel’s senses were not as acute as Link’s. Hearing this from Link, she said thoughtfully, “It looks somewhat similar to the architectural style adopted 1000 years ago by the southern kingdom.”

As they observed the place, a troop of human-shaped figures marched out from another corner of the forest. Link was startled by what he saw.

“Are those… demons?”

Chapter 501: Worshipped as a Saint Translator:Nyoi-Bo Studio | Editor: Vicky_

The people who walked out of the forest looked very strange. They were all above six foot and were very muscular. They were shirtless, revealing their dark skin. Their features were menacing with a mouth of fangs and curled horns protruding from their foreheads. The only piece of clothing on them was a leather kilt around their waist.

They seemed to be hunters. Right now, they walked from the forest to a small town, carrying the corpses of a few giant unknown beasts.

Some people appeared in the town too. At closer inspection, they looked exactly like the hunters, albeit a bit weaker. They cheered happily after seeing the hunters. Some kids ran out too and circled the hunters. Their small hands grabbed at the prey while giggling.

Seeing this, Gretel determined, “They’re demons, probably a type of horned demon… But for some reason, I feel like their bloodline isn’t pure.”

“Mixed demons?” Link asked. He also felt that these demons had a mixed aura. Sensing more closely, it felt gloomy but didn’t have the chaotic fury of demons from the Abyss.

“Most likely. They don’t seem very powerful. Should we go and check?”

“Sure.” Link nodded.

He felt that mixed demons were weak. These hunters were at most Level-5 and were very average. Even if Gretel was momentarily disabled, nothing bad would happen with Link present.

He had another consideration. Gretel was beautiful, but that was from a human’s beauty standard. Maybe she was an ugly hag to the demons so he wouldn’t have to worry that her looks would cause trouble.

Seeing that the hunters had walked to the entrance of the town, Link carried Gretel out of the forest. Once outside, he canceled the Invisibility spell and strode towards the mixed demon hunters.

They were discovered by the demons after 150 feet. These guys seemed really shocked. They looked left and right, yelled something, tossed their weapons onto the ground, and started running over. They yelled while running and seemed really excited.

“Are they going to attack?” Gretel asked Link.

Link shook his head. “Doesn’t seem like it. They didn’t bring weapons.”

Despite his words, he still activated a transparent spatial defense shield around them, just in case.

A few seconds later, these demons were around 100 feet away. Then, ignoring the mud on the ground, they fell to their knees and practically prostrated themselves on the ground.

Link had never seen anyone attack on their knees, so he instantly relaxed after seeing this.

They kept mumbling while kneeling. Link listened for a bit. It seemed to be a variant of the lingua franca, and he could make out some words, but they spoke too quickly. They were also very nasally so Link couldn’t figure out what they were saying.

“Tellie, can you understand?” Link asked.

Gretel shook her head lightly. “Just some words, like ‘God’s messenger,”saint,’ and such. They seem to be worshipping us… No, I think they worship someone who looks like us.”

This made sense. It was Link and Gretel’s first time here. These demons shouldn’t recognize him and wouldn’t worship them. The only possibility was that a human who looked them had come before. This man was probably really powerful. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be revered like this.

In that case, things would be much easier.

Link didn’t speak. He moved his hand and activated the Magician’s Hand. The kneeling bodies were lifted up.

They instinctively tried to resist, but Link’s power was on a whole other level. They couldn’t fight back at all.

The hunters were terrified and shocked. One of the most muscular started screaming something. Link could make out a few words, like “holy,””saint,””savior,” and other reverent words.

He couldn’t understand now, but he wasn’t worried. For people like him and Gretel, learning a language, especially a variant of the lingua franca, was extremely easy. As long as they stayed with these people, they could learn it in a few days.

Before this, they would just have to stay quiet, listen, and watch.

He didn’t care what the demons were saying. Keeping his face expressionless, he pointed at the small town and started walking over. The mixed demons exchanged glances and followed behind him.

When they got to a stone wall, Link decided to impress them with a spell. Waving his hand, a string of runes appeared on the wall. Then he patted the wall. Like a stone crashing into water, a door opened up in the wall.

Carrying Gretel, Link walked in. When the demons followed through, the simple portal had already disappeared. The demons touched the smooth wall, looking side to side, up and down. They just couldn’t find a crack that could allow someone through.

By now, many people were gathered by the wall—all mixed demons. Seeing this, they all cried out. Link could hear shock and reverence in their voices.

The streets inside the town were very dirty, like the outer city of Scorched City. The ground was covered in mud, feces, shattered bones, rotting vegetables, and more. The entire town reeked of garbage.

Gretel furrowed her brows. She knew that she couldn’t show her disgust, so she forced it in.

Link wasn’t accustomed to this either. He cast a Levitation spell for them and put Gretel down. Then he cast a cleaning spell in the air. They wouldn’t have to smell the disgusting odor anymore.

After that, he cast a force field that pushed the two forward. They floated slowly towards the city center.

The mixed demons in the town clearly hadn’t seen magic before. Seeing the two floating above the ground, they were all shocked. The result was that wherever Link and Gretel passed, the townspeople all knelt down in worship, disregarding the dirtiness on the ground.

After floating like that for a few minutes, the two saw some Warriors with dirty leather armor and steel spears. They walked over, escorting an old demon with a head of white hair and a face of wrinkles.

This elder was clearly of high status. He walked over unsteadily with his cane. The others all followed him respectfully.

After he saw Link and Gretel, he squinted and studied them for a long while. Then he tossed his cane to the side and fell to his knees.

Seeing him like this, the Warriors behind him followed him and knelt without hesitation. This made Link feel something was wrong.

The people they saw before were all commoners. Bluntly put, they were ignorant country bumpkins. As long as they looked similar, it was easy to mistake Link and Gretel for someone else. This elder was different though. From looks of things, he should be smarter. He might not be very knowledgeable, but should at least know more than the regular citizens. He’d studied them carefully before kneeling too. This meant that Link and Gretel looked very, very similar to the man they worshipped.

“This doesn’t make sense,” Gretel also whispered. She found it odd too.

But they had a language barrier right now and couldn’t communicate. Though they had doubts, they couldn’t say anything. What could they do?

Link looked around and saw some smaller demons kneeling in the crowd… They should be the kids. They clearly didn’t feel as reverent as the adults. Though they were kneeling too, they kept sneaking glances around.

Link also saw many smoked vegetables and meat hanging from the houses on the side of the street. There wasn’t much though. The clothing of the villagers was very shabby too. The men were mostly naked with a rag around their waist. The women were slightly better, but only with an extra rag around their chest. The kids were basically all naked.

The mixed demons here had horrible living conditions and lacked much material wealth.

Thinking of this, he got an idea. He would learn the language first, but he didn’t want to learn from adults. Their thinking was less innocent and could be troublesome. He would learn from these kids and know many things that the adults weren’t willing to say.

Link kept his expression stern. First, he waved at the elder’s cane, and the plane wooden staff flew to his hands.

He sneakily took out a piece of Mithril and used enchantment to fuse the Mithril into the cane. He added a Level-5 strengthening spell and then used the Mithril to draw many elegant patterns.

This way, the cane became beautiful like a piece of art. Something so beautiful had never appeared in the town before. Link could see the desire clearly in the elder’s eyes.

Link didn’t give him the cane immediately. He pointed at some kids and then pushed the cane forward a bit. His meaning was clear: exchange the kids for the cane.

The elder hesitated and looked to the children’s parents. Link followed his gaze and pointed his fingers at them, casting a dragon healing spell to all these demons.

Link could tell that they all had some sort of ailment due to long years of labor. With the spell, all their problems were cured. Many men had been hunched over, but now they stood up tall, full of energy. They seemed to have aged backwards instantly.

This action was like a god’s hand. Instead of punishment, it was healing. It was also showing that the kids wouldn’t be treated badly with him, let alone be in danger.

Some parents voluntarily pushed their kids to Link—five in total.

Link nodded lightly and tossed the cane to the elder. Then he pointed to the forest outside the town. Without explaining himself, he activated the Dimensional Jump.

A white light appeared. Under the townspeople’s reverent gazes, Link, Gretel, and the five children disappeared from the town.

Buzz. The group reappeared in the forest.

“What are you planning?” Gretel finally asked.

“We’ll stay here for a while and learn from the kids. After we know the situation, we can use the locals’ help to find the materials needed for your antidote. I’ll also use this time to study this meteorite.”

There was actually another reason. He felt that the people here had reacted too strangely to them. This island might contain some secret. He had to at least figure out if they were friends or foes.

Gretel didn’t really mind. “That works.”

Link chuckled. “So I’m going to build a safe fortress first.”

For a Legendary figure, turning dirt into stone and stone into a building was a simple task.

Chapter 502: The Legend of the One-Eyed King (1)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Link waved a hand at the five mixed demon children around him and pointed at the woods nearby. As he was not familiar with the local language, Link activated a Level-0 Suggestion spell.

“Go!”

The children straightened up and walked over to where Link had pointed. Gretel too stood at a safe distance from him.

Link found a flat surface in the woods after walking around it for a bit. He let out a burst of Dragon Power, and a white spatial ripple spread out in all four directions from his body.

The trees around him were all felled in an instant.

As the trees fell one after the other, the air was filled with a swarm of scaled-down versions of Link’s Vacuum Blades. The translucent magical razors raced towards the trees and began shaving off their leaves and branches till the trees lay completely naked on the ground.

As the spatial distortions raged on in the area, the clean logs fell in neat piles back on the ground. Link then dried them all up with a brilliant red blaze. The ground around him was now leveled and ready for construction.

He then let his Dragon Power flow into the earth. Three seconds later, he flicked both his wrists up and whispered, “Rise…”

A brown-greyish dirt castle began taking form. At the same time, a blue-white circle of light had appeared five feet in the air. As the dirt rose through the circle, it was instantly transformed into hard, polished stone.

This was simply a Level-4 Dirt-to-Stone spell. Its main function was to turn ordinary dirt into magical runestone, but Link had taken the spell to another level.

What he had sculpted with such a simple spell was nothing short of a miracle.

The mixed demon children standing in the distance looked on at Link’s work, utterly dumbfounded. Some of them were left speechless, their eyes wide like saucers. A few seemed to have forgotten that they still had their grimy little thumbs in their mouths, while others let their jaws gape open, thin slivers of saliva falling from the corners of their mouths.

In no more than five minutes, a 50-foot-tall, 40 cubic feet castle now stood majestically before them. Surrounding the castle was a great wall, on which wooden doors mounted with runes were set.

The castle’s general structure was now complete, but its details remained far from complete. Looking at the shoddy creation before him, Link felt his compulsion to magically smooth out all its imperfections acting up.

He activated Void Walk and began flying around the wall in circles.

He began carving out embellishments across the castle walls and the walls inside and outside the castle. He then proceeded to lay out the floors and set up the castle’s furniture and wooden window frames with the piles of dry logs outside.

Ten minutes later, after making ten rounds around the castle, Link was finally done with the whole castle. The castle’s details and furniture inside it were all sculpted with an exquisiteness that was contrasted splendidly by the building’s overall simplistic style.

Link landed on the dirt ground within the castle. With a push from his hand, the dirt ground was instantly transformed into a flat surface composed of jade tiles.

Link walked forth, and the jade-green surface began snaking forward. When he exited the castle walls, a smooth green path continued extending outward beneath the forest’s shade.

The path continued spreading out a hundred feet away from the castle grounds until it finally reached the Red Dragon Queen. Link smiled at her. He held out a hand and bowed to her.

“Your Highness, your palace is ready for you.”

Gretel smiled back. “If word of you using your enchantment skills for such a menial task gets out, you’ll probably be the laughing stock of the magical world.”

Despite what she had said, Gretel was impressed with Link’s handiwork. She strolled along the jade-tiled path towards the dazzling castle.

The mixed demon children beside her stared at Link with fearful eyes.

When Link turned towards them, some of the children imitated the deferential posture their elders had assumed back then, prostrating themselves before him and not daring to make direct eye contact with Link. However, they continued gossiping excitedly among themselves. Even though Link did not understand a word from them, he could clearly sense their amazement.

Link did not immediately let the children stand up. Instead, he listened to their ramblings for a few minutes, trying to make sense of some of their words. He then spoke to them, “Stand up now, and follow me.”

Saying this, Link headed for the castle after Gretel.

The children seemed to understand what Link had said. Pausing for a moment, they rose back to their feet and timidly followed Link to the castle.

As they were still children, they did not have much self-restraint. After walking for a while, they had completely forgotten their deference towards Link and began chittering among themselves again.

Link did not stop them and listened intently to them, trying to learn the mixed demons’ tongue from their excited chatter.

When they reached the entrance of the castle, Link who had been eavesdropping on the children’s conversation all this time, now had a better understanding of their language.

Stopping at the doorway, he turned and pointed at the children. Points of light containing a Cleansing spell and an Enchantment spell floated from his finger towards them.

The Cleansing spell cleansed them of all dirt on their bodies, whereas the Enchantment spell transformed the rags that they were wearing into beautiful sets of clothing.

Without waiting for the children to finish marveling at their new clothes, Link pointed at Gretel, who was admiring the elegant furniture in the castle’s great hall. He said to them, “She, queen, mistress. Obey mistress’ orders, understand?”

“Understand,” the children timidly replied.

Link then pointed to himself. “Me, the castle’s housekeeper. I’m in charge of you, will train you to serve mistress better. Understand?”

“Understand…” replied the children. Their replies were somewhat disorganized. One of them still had his thumb in his mouth, and his voice came out muffled as a result.

Link wagged a finger at him, and said, “No sucking on thumbs, or else you’ll end up like him.”

Saying this, he snapped his fingers and magically sealed the child’s mouth shut. A look of surprise came over his face, as he tried to pull his thumb out of his mouth, but to no avail.

The other children looked in horror at him. One of them, a girl probably, started to cry, and the other three followed suit. Chaos descended on them in an instant.

Link cast a Silence spell on them, and then took out four pieces of dried fruit bits from his spatial pendant. He gave a piece to each of them. “This is good stuff.”

The four children who were not sucking on their thumbs instantly stopped crying. They looked at the fruit bits warily. Then one of the bolder children, no longer able to resist the sweet scent coming from it, took a small bite. His face split into a wide smile, and he excitedly squeaked to the others, “It’s sweet.”

All four children wiped their tears and began nibbling on the dried fruit bit. The child who had his mouth sealed shut by Link had momentarily forgotten his ordeal. He now stared hungrily at his companions who were chewing on their bits of candy in front of him.

Link removed the spell from him and then held out a piece of dried fruit bit in front of him. Just as the child reached out for it excitedly, Link pulled his hand back and stuffed the candy into his own mouth. He said to them as he chewed on his own candy, “Obey my orders, and you’ll get something good to eat. My first rule is no thumb-sucking. Got it?”

“Got it, housekeeper,” all five of them responded in unison. Four of their faces were filled with excitement, though one still remained teary-eyed. With a tasty treat as their reward, their memories had gotten a lot better.

“Alright, for my second rule, keep yourself clean at all times. Clean yourself up in the pool if you somehow get yourself dirty.”

“Okay.”

“For my third rule…”

Link began listing out the rules of his castle to the children, enforcing them with either the promise of a delicious titbit or some horrifying form of magical punishment. Ten minutes later, he had finally reformed them into clean, obedient, well-mannered servants of the castle.

As he brought all five of them into the castle, Link began assigning their rooms and duties to them. He then gave each of them a beautiful mithril bracelet, which allowed him to eavesdrop on them whenever he wanted. Link wanted to have a better understanding of the island itself by listening to the children’s conversations.

“Always keep it on your wrist. Don’t take it off, or you won’t have anything to eat.” Saying this, Link gave each of them a piece of sweet cheese.

“I understand, housekeeper.” All five children had committed his teachings to memory. Though they were famished at this point, they remained standing upright, not daring to touch the pieces of cheese given to them.

“Good. You can eat.”

When he had finished speaking, the children stuffed the bits of cheese greedily into their little mouths. As they chewed, they glanced sideways at Link, uncertain whether they had done something wrong.

Link observed them for a moment, then nodded. “Good. Now, remember this last rule. Assemble in the great hall for your meals whenever the bracelet lights up. Understand?”

“Got it, housekeeper.”

“Good, you can now go and play outside.” Link vanished in a white light, and in an instant, he reappeared beside the Red Dragon Queen.

The Red Dragon Queen was out on the balcony on the third floor of the caste. She leaned against the railing and gazed at the mixed demons’ village in the distance. Sensing the flurry of Link’s appearance beside her, she asked without turning to him, “Have you gotten the little ones prepared?”

“Of course. In fact, I’ve almost mastered their tongue by now.” Link handed a runestone to the Red Dragon Queen and said, “You can use this to hear what they’re talking about with each other.”

“Smart move.” Gretel accepted the runestone with a smile, then asked, “What do you plan on doing next?”

Link already had his next step planned out. He took out the purple meteorite. “I’ll need to study the meteorite’s special properties. In any case, we need to find a suitable dampening material for the singularity explosion as soon as possible.”

“I’ll let you handle matters on that end, while I’ll try to understand the locals here. In the meanwhile, I’ll look for the rest of the medicinal herbs that I’m still missing for the antidote. Oh, I do hope the little ones would be of some help in that area.”

Link smiled. “They are quite intelligent. I’ll forge you a couple of magical gear later on so that you can defend yourself against any threat in the forest. I remember the kids mentioning something about a one-eyed king.”

He also had an eavesdropping runestone of his own. He held it to his ear and heard the children’s voices flow out from it.

One of the speakers was a girl. “My grandma said that no one should build their houses in the forest, because it’s the one-eyed king’s domain, and he’ll punish anyone who trespasses on his forest.”

“What are you scared of? The one-eyed king won’t be able to defeat the housekeeper. Didn’t you see how powerful he was?”

“But my grandma said that the one-eyed king is as huge as a mountain. He’ll tear the castle apart with just a sneeze. He even ate a hundred llamas in one gulp. If he’s upset, he’ll start stomping about, and the ground beneath him will split open.”

The children seemed to be describing a monstrous creature living in the woods. Though it all sounded like a fairy tale, there was always some truth in legends. Also, Link had noticed that there were no buildings anywhere in the forest.

He looked at Gretel. “Do you think there’s actually a one-eyed king?”

Gretel smiled back. “Maybe. The people in the village do seem to be frightened by the castle’s appearance. You’re the duke of the dragon race, anyway; do you really have anything to fear here?”

Chapter 503: Legend of the One-eyed Giant (2)

Three in the afternoon, one hour after Link finished constructing the castle, a group came from the demon village in the distance. The leader was the elder from earlier.

Looking down from the balcony, Link could see that the demons were anxious and restless. Something incredible seemed to have happened.

When the group was around 100 feet away from the castle gates, they stopped. They paced before the door, wanting to approach it but seemingly stunned by the beautiful building looming over them.

They debated there, wondering if they should enter.

Standing on the balcony, Link wanted to laugh. White light flashed, and he appeared above the city walls. The demons below immediately noticed him. They fell silent and fell to their knees. Then the elder started yelling.

This time, Link could mostly understand.

“God’s highest messenger in the mortal world, I have a very, very important thing that may pertain to your safety that I must tell you.”

Link already guessed what he was going to say. He purposely waited a few seconds, scaring the demons so much that they started sweating. Finally, he drawled, “Speak.”

His voice wasn’t loud but sounded clear under the spell.

The elder started yelling again, “God’s highest—”

“Enough, get to the point,” Link interrupted.

“God…God’s messenger, I must tell you that the forest is the territory of the one-eyed King Morophir. He is very strong and has a bad temper. He doesn’t like it when people live in the forest…”

The one-eyed king actually had a name. That meant this guy really did exist. After thinking a bit, Link asked, “Have you seen him before?”

The elder and strong men beside him immediately nodded furiously. The elder even opened his arms wide in an exaggerated pose. “Yes, yes. He’s as tall as the mountain. When you stand below him, you can’t even see his head. His arms are many times thicker than the waist of the red elephant. His slap can turn you into minced meat. He uses the trees as weapons. He can just pull up ancient trees that a group of people can’t even embrace with linking arms. Then he waves the tree and hits anyone he sees. No one is his match. He has a lot of powerful underlings too!”

His explanation was a bit exaggerated and filled with subjectively delusional descriptions. But when he spoke, the other demons all nodded in agreement. This meant that most of his words were objective. They probably really had seen Morophir before.

When Link heard the last sentence, he couldn’t help but smile. Fighting with trees is such a primitive way of fighting. This is probably a giant with endless strength. Judging from the measurements of the trees, he should be around 100 to 150 feet tall. Indeed, he’s unstoppable for regular people.

Thinking of this, he waved his hand. “I see,” he said. “You can go back.”

Before the terrified townspeople could reply, Link waved his hand after speaking. He used the Dimensional Jump to send them back to the village.

Returning to the castle, he saw that Gretel was telling horror stories to the demon children. They trembled in fear, curling into balls, but they loved the stories. They ended up shaking like quails, making Gretel giggle.

Seeing that Link was back, the kids immediately stood and said in unison, “Housekeeper.”

Gretel didn’t think Link could discipline children too. She couldn’t help but laugh again. After her laughter subsided, she asked, “So there really is a one-eyed king?”

“Yes. He’s probably like a Mountain Giant. It has a name too—Morophir,” Link answered with a laugh.

Mountain Giants were giant earth-element creatures in Firuman. They were as big as a mountain and on average, above 120 feet tall. They also fought by pulling up trees and were terrifyingly strong. The earth-element power within them was usually above Level-8.

To regular people, this was a god-like existence. But as strong as they were, it was still mortal power. A Legendary figure could still kill thousands with one attack.

In this case, Gretel didn’t worry anymore. Chuckling, she said, “Then I’ll hand it over to you, house…keeper.”

Link laughed awkwardly. After a pause, he said, “I’ll go fortify the castle.”

This wasn’t to defend the one-eyed king’s direct attack. Rather, it was to protect against the shockwaves.

Link went to work. Gretel seemed to really like these demon children. She had them gather around and started telling the horror story again. They were so scared they kept shaking.

On the other hand, Link was outside the building.

The castle used regular magic runestones around Level-4. If a Level-4 figure kicked the stones with all their might, it would cause quite some damage. This was naturally insufficient against someone in Level-8. Link used the Void Walk to fly around the castle, continuously slapping on runes.

The walls were white-ish before. After he circled it with runes a few times, a 20-centimeter-thick, translucent, jade-like shield appeared on the walls. This was Level-9 material. Even if the one-eyed king attacked directly, it could last for a while.

After this, Link turned to go study the meteorite. But after flying for a bit, he looked up at the sky. It was four in the afternoon. It was getting late and was dinnertime.

Back in the day, before Gretel’s power was sealed, this wouldn’t be important. She could go one year without eating. Things were different now. She wasn’t any stronger than the others; she needed three meals per day to replenish her energy.

With this in mind, Link flew into the forest. After a while, he carried back an animal like a wild goat.

He first went to the creek not too far from the castle and treated the body with a spell. He separated the meat, bones, and tendons. Thinking back to the delicacies he’d eaten before, he started making it with spells by the creek.

It was overly luxurious to cook meat with a fire spell, but it was fast. Within ten seconds, the taste would settle so Link could experiment quickly. He was a perfectionist too and had to make everything perfect.

The result was that Link tried 109 times within 15 minutes. He kept revising the recipe until he grasped the best fire and amount of spices for a rack of lamb.

When the final result came out, Link tasted what he’d made. He smacked his lips, very satisfied with the taste.

It wasn’t enough to just eat meat though. Link then found some edible plants by the creek. He used small water and fire spells to experiment dozens of times before getting nice results too.

After finishing everything, Link flew back to the castle.

“Dinner time!”

As he spoke, Link waved his hand. Dozens of elegant plates appeared on the long dining table in the castle. They were filled with food that looked delicious, all made by Link.

Gretel brought the children over. She sat into the main seat and tasted Link’s creation. Her eyes brightened and glanced at him, satisfied. Smiling, she said, “Mm, not bad. Keep working hard.”

Link smiled wryly. It felt like he’d doomed himself. However, he only had to wait until Gretel’s power recovered. He didn’t have to go for that long.

Turning to the children, Gretel said, “Kids, eat up.”

The five kids had been eyeing the food for a while. They wanted to just pounce onto the food, but with Link present, they didn’t dare go too wild. They had to use the utensils and eat the delicious food bit by bit. They looked very careful.

Link also ate some food. It was a small snack for him. When everyone was done eating, he used a cleaning spell to clean everything. Then he finally went to a quiet room in the top level of the castle to study the meteorite.

The meteorite was dark purple and was room temperature to the touch. When he tapped it, it buzzed softly. It was very strange.

Link cast a small Void Destruction fireball; it exploded on the surface of the meteorite. After the flames disappeared, the meteorite remained unchanged. Even the temperature didn’t change.

An interesting rock, but what’s the maximum temperature you can withstand?

If it really could be used as a buffer, Link estimated that it must be able to withstand at least a Level-20 attack to create a sufficient buffer for the singularity explosion.

Level-20 was god-level power. Link couldn’t do it by himself, but he could use a magic seal to demonstrate it. Of course, the magic seal would be complicated and consume many materials.

This was necessary to experiment though. Link put away the meteorite and took out all sorts of material. He started constructing the high-level magic seal in the room.

It was very, very difficult to create a Level-20 magic seal when he was at Level-11. Link put in everything he knew while using up all the precious material he had. After spending five days, he finally created a large magic seal.

It took up most of the room. It contained more than 10,000 rune wheels, all sorts of techniques, all the magical knowledge Link had, and the thin piece of time.

Link placed the meteorite onto the experiment rune and then started feeding Dragon Power to the magic seal.

He couldn’t accomplish it so easily. In reality, the magic seal would consolidate his Level-11 power to Level-20. Even if he wanted a shred of Level-20 power, Link needed to add in a tremendous amount of Dragon Power.

Link kept inputting power. One hour, two hours, three… At ten hours, the large magic seal was still unresponsive. The only change was that the runes were a bit brighter.

I need at least two million Legendary Dragon Power points to get a bit of Level-20 power. I hope no accidents happen.

If the magic seal failed, and all that Dragon Power exploded at once, the castle would be demolished. That would suck.

The only good thing was that Gretel had taken the kids to pick medicinal herbs and weren’t inside the castle. Link could experiment without concern.

This magic seal required two million Dragon Power points. However, this didn’t mean that a shred of Level-20 power would equal two million Dragon Power points.

In reality, a true Level-20 figure would think that this magic seal was extremely crude. A lot of power was wasted during the entire process. Link himself estimated that 99.9% of power was wasted. Only 0.1% of Dragon Power would be converted into Level-20 power.

Link sighed. In the end, I’m still not knowledgeable enough.

After resting, he continued feeding in power for another five hours. When the five hours were close to an end, a tiny—almost insignificant—bit of power appeared at the end of the magic seal.

The power seemed solid and was as thin as a needle. It was white and not very bright, but glancing at it, it felt piercing to the eye. Link didn’t dare to look for long. He quickly averted his eyes.

This bit of power was scattering as soon as it appeared. From Link’s estimates, if it scattered one centimeter, it would completely degrade into regular power. This kind of power was useless in a battle; it could only be used for experiments.

It streaked across the meteorite. Then with a poof, the dark purple meteorite collapsed into a bunch of bubbling purple liquid. It couldn’t resist the Level-20 power at all.

Link was greatly disappointed.

The meteorite wasn’t strong enough at all. It was so far away, but this was the strongest material Link had. He couldn’t replace it, so he had to improve it.

How? Alchemy and enchantments were the only options.

If he wanted alchemy, he’d have to ask Gretel, but she hadn’t recovered yet… This was a bottleneck. Link thought some more and decided to find Gretel. He would help her recover first.

He had given Gretel a tracking rune, so he just teleported over. With a few flashes of light, he was beside Gretel.

She was in a forest a few miles away. When Link reached her, she was staring at a huge footprint.

Seeing Link come, Gretel said, “The footprint is fresh. From the looks of things, this guest is at least 300 tons. It’s even bigger than a Mountain Giant.”

Link glanced over. The footprint was about two feet deep, 15 feet long, and six feet wide. There were two toes, and the two footprints were around 60 feet apart.

“Indeed very big. Should we go look?” Link asked.

Gretel shook her head quickly. “I don’t want to keep you back. You go… Here, I drew all the herbs I need. If you see them along the way, take them for me. The more, the better.”

Link took the paper and skimmed it. The drawings were very realistic and detailed. It also came with specimens.

“I understand. Be careful while I go check it out.”

Chapter 504: The Legend of the One-Eyed Giants (3)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The footprints in the forest were fresh. Link had no trouble tracking them.

Whoever these footprints belonged to seemed to be a really huge fellow. Link continued his pursuit, not worrying about being shaken off by his prey. Along the way, he picked up some of the medicinal herbs that Gretel still needed.

Soon, he had gathered a whole bunch of herbs in his hand. Gretel had even told him that the more he could find in the forest, the better.

After pursuing his prey and collecting herbs along the way for more than 30 miles through the forest, he finally saw a lake up ahead.

The lake was oval-shaped, its diameter more than a thousand feet. Its water was crystal clear. Near the reeds on the edge of the lake, Link caught a glimpse of what he had been tracking.

It was a giant. He seemed to be around 150 feet tall, almost humanoid. He did not have much body hair, or even any clothing, covering his muscular body.

Below the giant’s crotch, Link could see, a bit too vividly, two huge meat balls swaying along with the giant’s movements. A few birds had landed on the giant’s vast body, apparently looking for food on it.

At that moment, the giant was squatting beside the lake, scooping up water in his hands to his lips. He would sometimes catch a huge fish in his huge hands. With an idiotic smile on his face, he would then pick it up between his fingers, cocked his head back and let the slippery thing slide into his great maw without even chewing.

He seemed to be having fun with all this, as he would chuckle to himself for a long while. When he was done laughing, the giant continued drinking from the lake.

Link observed the creature from behind a tree and noticed a huge wooden stick on the ground beside the giant. Just as he had heard from the natives, it was the trunk of a tree whose leaves and branches had been plucked clean off. One end of it was jagged.

Link changed his perspective from behind the tree and saw that the giant was physically similar to a human being. The only difference was that he only had one eye. The eye looked out from above the giant’s nose bridge. The huge orb practically covered half his face. It was also radiating an unsettling orange glow.

This must be the one-eyed king, Link thought to himself. He carefully felt the giant’s aura. It was powerful, approximately at Level-8 Pinnacle and close to Pinnacle power in the mortal realm.

Of course, no matter how powerful a mortal was, they were still a mortal. To a Legendary master, an opponent’s size mattered little.

Whether the big guy’s brain is as big as the rest of his body is remains to be seen, Link thought. He walked out from behind the tree, and rushed at the cyclops, shouting, “Hey, big guy!”

He had spoken those words in the native language. He had also used a bit of magic to amplify his voice.

“Huh?” The giant heard him, stopped drinking, and turned to where the sound had come from.

He had not expected such a loud voice to come from Link’s relatively tiny body. When his eye fell on Link, he ignored him and searched elsewhere for the big fellow that the voice had belonged to.

Link laughed uncontrollably at this. Seems like he’s not as intelligent as he looks. All brawn, and not much else up there.

He took a few steps forward, and waved at the giant, shouting once more, “Hey, over here!”

This time, the one-eyed giant noticed him. He stooped down to give him a closer look. He then asked strangely, “Little one, why do you have such a loud voice?”

Link smiled. He had followed the giant to measure his threat level. From the looks of things, the giant was nothing more than a big brute.

If that was the case, Link only needed to give the giant a big scare that he would not dare approach his castle.

He then activated Void Walk and flew into the air. He accelerated, and with a boom in the air, Link landed on the giant’s shoulder in an instant.

He walked along his shoulder casually and said to him, “Big guy, have you seen the castle in the forest?”

“What are you doing there? Get off me, little one… castle? No, I have not seen it. Where is it? I want to push it down. I love pushing down castles.”

The giant’s speech was incoherent. His train of thought also seemed susceptible to influence.

Despite being distracted by Link’s mention of the castle so easily, his hand moved quickly to his shoulder, ready to swat him off. Had Link been slower to react, he would have been squashed into a meat puddle by the giant’s hand.

It would also have been an extremely painful experience to be hit by the giant’s hand if Link did not put up any form of defense around him in time. Of course, he did not let such a thing happen.

Link did not dodge the giant’s hand. Instead, he remained sitting on his shoulder and cast a Level-10 spatial forcefield around him.

As soon as he finished casting his spell, there was a thump above him. The cyclops’ hand struck the forcefield. Through its effect, the hand’s impact was redirected around the forcefield without harming Link.

“Eh? Why can’t I hit my own shoulder?” The cyclops roared in surprise. He swung his hand a few more times towards his shoulder, and the result was the same. His hand slipped away harmlessly from his shoulder each time he swatted his hand at Link.

Link remained calmly sitting on his shoulder. He then asked, “Big guy, do you have any friends?”

“Yes, I have many friends and a king. My hand seems to be broken. I can’t hit my own shoulder… This is strange,” the giant replied. He continued swatting at Link on his shoulder, without even realizing the futility of his efforts.

So he’s not the one-eyed king? The giant’s answer stunned Link. He thought for a bit about this, then asked, “Can you bring me to see your king?”

“Why should I bring you? My shoulder, my hand, they’re all busted… Wahhh!” Suddenly, the giant cried out in frustration. Huge drops of tears welled up from his one eye, and he continued striking at his shoulder even more persistently.

Noticing how exhausted the giant was, Link flew up and landed on the top of his head.

Thump! The cyclops finally managed to hit his own shoulder with his hand. He laughed out loud, “Haha, my hand’s all better, and there’s nothing wrong with my shoulder now. Eh, where did that little guy go?”

He looked around but did not see Link anywhere. He then mumbled to himself, “Strange.”

He then squatted back down and resumed his drinking.

On his head, Link sighed with disappointment at the giant’s obvious lack of intelligence. He activated a Level-1 Suggestion spell, then spoke, “Go and see your king!”

“Huh?” The giant looked about once more, but could not see anything or anyone who had said those words. His hand reached up to scratch at his head as he said strangely, “Why do I have to go see the king? I won’t go.”

He then continued scooping up water to drink.

“Go and see the king!”

“What was that? Is there someone talking in my head?”

“Go and see the king!”

“Alright, alright, no need to say it twice, I’m going.” The one-eyed giant finally gave up drinking. He stood up, picked up his huge wooden stick and walked away from the lake in huge strides.

Link sighed exasperatedly as he held his forehead in one hand. Something must have gone terribly wrong in the process of creating this great brute. He did not even have enough mental fortitude to resist a Level-1 Suggestion spell.

The giant walked at a somewhat quick pace, covering 30 feet of ground in a second. The trees around him were nothing more than weeds below him that did absolutely nothing to slow him down.

Link would sometimes spot in the vicinity a medicinal herb that Gretel still needed, and leaped from the giant’s head to add it to his collection. When he was done, he would leap back onto his free ride through the woods.

After walking through the forest for two hours, they had finally reached a huge mountain valley. In the distance, Link could see that there were a lot of buildings in it.

The valley’s architectural style was simplistic. The buildings seemed to have been built by simply piling up huge white rocks on top of one another. Its only defining characteristic was that everything was almost as big as the Dragon Temple itself.

In the middle of the valley stood a huge white building. It was the only place there that had a roof on it, which was more than a hundred feet off the ground. The building itself was around a few thousand cubic feet. In it, a giant wearing black fur clothing with his shoulders laid bare was contentedly eating a large animal that had just been cooked.

A great bonfire burned outside the building. Two naked cyclops were hard at work, turning the same kind of meat above the fire.

There were many giants living in the mountain valley. They were all naked, regardless of gender. The giant in the middle of the valley seemed to be the only one fully clothed and had others waiting on him.

He must be the one-eyed king.

The giant also seemed to be a lot more intelligent than the rest. He was able to notice Link from where he sat, but his following reaction caught Link completely by surprise. The giant king threw his food to one side and rushed out from the building. He took a few mighty steps forward and then fell on his knees. He roared, “Our almighty savior has come to set us free!”

Link frowned at this. First the mixed demons, now the cyclops, what in the world was going on with these people?

Chapter 505: Mighty Man or Liar?

One-eyed Giant Gorge

The One-eyed Giant that brought Link back didn’t know what had happened. Seeing the one-eyed king yell while kneeling before him, he waved his hands immediately.

“King, king, I’m not god’s messenger. I’m Auka. Don’t you recognize me?”

The one-eyed king lost his temper. He grabbed a three-foot-wide rock and hurled it at the giant Auka. “You idiot,” he exclaimed. “The god’s messenger is above your head!”

Auka’s head started bleeding from the hit. He clutched his head and scurried away.

Link flew down and hovered around 100 feet from the one-eyed king. “Why do you call me god’s messenger?” he asked curiously.

Seeing that Link could fly without wings, the one-eyed king grew even more reverent. He prostrated himself on the ground and looked up. “God once gave an oracle,” he said respectfully. “If someone who looks exactly like him appears one day, he’ll be the messenger that was sent to save us sinners.”

“God? Oracle?” Link was even more confused. Did the God of Light do this? It didn’t seem right though. If it was the God of Light, the game system would notify him. It wouldn’t be so quiet like now.

Of course, the system might not have felt the need to notify him. But was there a need to be so mysterious about this?

The one-eyed king nodded furiously. “Yes, an oracle. We pass it down every generation. It won’t be wrong. Not only do you look exactly the same as in the oracle, but you also appeared at the same time too.”

This explanation shocked Link. The detail about his appearance raised some alarms in his mind.

Since the oracle said that the god’s messenger would appear at this time, then he was sure that he wasn’t it. The true messenger would very possibly arrive soon.

Gods couldn’t just come to the mortal world, but if the god’s messenger wanted to win over these mortals, they had to be at least at the Legendary level. If they were unfriendly, it would be problematic.

Thinking of this, Link said, “Since he’s a god, you must have a statue. Let me see it.”

“Yes, Messenger.” The one-eyed king stood up and walked deep into the gorge. Link hovered in the air and followed 100 feet behind him.

Along the way, many One-eyed Giants looked at him curiously. Perhaps because they feared the lord, they watched from afar without getting close.

The gorge was huge. It was at least six miles long and almost 2000 feet wide. Going down the path, Link discovered that there were many giants here of all gender and age. They were all naked too. Of the 600 or so giants, there were at least 200 in their prime.

Seeing Link study his people, the one-eyed king said in disdain, “Messenger, those guys are all brainless idiots. They don’t even deserve to be mentioned.”

Link didn’t think so though. They were all strong Warriors above Level-8. The one-eyed king was at the pinnacle of Level-9. Other than the king who was smart and difficult to fool, the others seemed easily satisfied. If they were given nice food and clothes that only the leader wore, they would probably work for Link.

Such powerful strength and large bodies would become machines of terror on the battlefield. Of course, Link didn’t know if that would work before he understood the situation of the island.

Around ten minutes later, Link followed the one-eyed king to the end of the gorge. It was empty here, without a single giant. The terrain was flat too. A white 250-foot-tall statue stood in the center.

The statue looked exactly like a human. Studying it, Link’s features did look somewhat like it, but just a little. Actually, Link had a really plain face, so he looked similar to almost every human.

To a human, he would look very different from the statue. To a foreign race, there was no difference. (It was hard for anyone to distinguish faces of another race. For example, two dogs might look the same to you.) It was normal to get the wrong person.

Thud. The one-eyed king was already on the ground. “This is the mighty Thoreau,” he said. “He has always been protecting our island from being invaded by evil, but evil has never left. He is patrolling outside the island, waiting for a chance to come devour our souls. Thus, the mighty Thoreau left the oracle that 1000 years later, his messenger would return and help us defeat the evil once and for all.”

With that, he turned to Link. His yellow eye was filled with fervor. “Now you really are here. We can finally be free of the evil threat.”

Link was totally confused. He’d never heard of the mighty Thoreau before—not in the books he’d read or in the game… Wait, something flashed past his mind. It was a memory about the game.

It was really fleeting. Link had probably glanced at the information before but didn’t read it carefully.

He fell silent and worked on getting rid of distracting thoughts. He wanted to reconstruct that wisp of smoke-like memory. It was useless. He only had a vague impression. The memory remained in a nameless corner, deep in his mind. The more he tried to remember, the less he could.

Since he couldn’t remember, Link could only give up. “What evil do you mean?” he asked.

“The evil outside the island. They’re everywhere in the sea. They capsize all the ships, cover the sky, and blocked all ways for us to contact the mainland of light. That isn’t important now though. You’re here, and even the sky is brighter!”

Link was shocked. He paid attention to one detail. “You said they cover the sky?”

He could personally verify this. When he and Gretel entered the Firuman Realm and was miles in the air, he was sure that nothing was covering the sky.

However, Link then remembered that Gretel had told him that 400 years ago, she’d traveled throughout the realm with her mother. They hadn’t seen such a large island. To them, the Isle of Dawn was the biggest island.

This meant that the sky had once been covered, but now it was gone. It had disappeared within these 400 years.

But why?

Link’s thoughts whirred and quickly thought of two possibilities. One, the god’s messenger had already appeared, but the one-eyed king didn’t know. Two, the evil that the king spoke of had internal conflicts.

The first was much more possible.

Then, is this messenger a friend or a foe?

Link didn’t know. He only knew that this island wasn’t as safe as he’d thought. Both the evil in the sea and Thoreau’s messenger threatened them.

Thinking of this, Link ignored the one-eyed king. The space around him blurred slightly. This was the sign of the Void Walk operating at the extreme.

The next instant, there was a boom. Sound waves spread in all direction, forcing the one-eyed king back when he was hit. At the same time, Link disappeared.

He flew back to the castle. In mid-air, his mind flashed. He thought of why the name Thoreau was familiar.

On the world channel of the game, there was a notification that a player found a treasure. The notifications here moved really quickly, and players always found treasures. Link had just glanced at it casually.

With this clue, Link thought back a bit deeper. More and more information was dragged out.

Evil God Thoreau, eternal prison, perfect fraud, committing horrors in the name of justice… There wasn’t much, but the words kept jumping out. They were all bad news too, but it was what the notification had included.

This was all Link knew. He didn’t know about any details, but it was enough to put him on high alert. He was less than 100 miles from the castle. With his speed, he could get there within five minutes.

Four minutes later, the castle appeared in his vision. Nothing was strange. From afar, Link saw Gretel washing herbs by the creek near the castle. The five mixed demons were helping her. Everything looked normal.

He was slightly relieved. Slowing down, he adjusted his direction and flew to Gretel. When he landed slowly, the kids stood up immediately and greeted him. “Housekeeper.”

Link nodded. Then he said to Gretel in the lingua franca, “Tellie, I think I know why we were mistaken for god’s messenger.”

“Oh?” Gretel arched an eyebrow. “Tell me.”

Link told her everything he’d heard along the way, including the details about the Evil God and fraud. When he was done, Gretel furrowed her brows. “I heard some legends from these little guys. There’s also a mighty figure, but in the legend, he saved the world.”

Just in case, Gretel didn’t say Thoreau’s name. She knew that if he really was a god, he would be alerted if she said his name aloud.

Link thought about it. “The legends don’t contradict with what I heard. It’s just that one is on the surface while the other is deeper. From what I know, gods are all difficult to figure out. If this mighty person really is a god, no one would know what he wants… I think we should prepare well or leave quickly.”

“You’re right. Did you get herbs?”

“Of course. I got a lot.” Link took out all the herbs he’d picked along the way. It was a few hundred pounds.

Gretel checked all of them and then chuckled. “It’s enough. I’m not strong enough so you’ll have to make the potion for me. I’ll instruct you.”

“Got it.”

Chapter 506: The Arrival of the Actual God’s Messenger

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

In the castle

Link stood beside a crystal cauldron almost as tall as him. He was busy stirring the thick medicinal concoction within the cauldron with a crystal rod.

The concoction was so thick that each stroke had taken a lot out of him. Link felt as if he was rowing through molten steel.

“Oh, you should probably stir it a bit faster. Also, you should focus on stirring in a spiral. Yes, that’s it. You sure are a lot better at this than any Apocalypse Dragon Guard.”

Link was panting at this point. He had thought about magically enchanting the crystal rod to stir itself, but Gretel had said that any use of magic would affect the mixture’s medicinal properties and that he would need to stir it with his bare hands.

With that said, Link was forced to work until he could barely feel his hands.

As he stirred with all his strength, Gretel stood on the other side of the cauldron, regulating the intensity of the fire beneath it. At times, she would sprinkle a pinch of herbs into the mixture.

After that, she poured a huge bowl of golden-colored herbs, which she called “Searing Sun Herb,” into the cauldron. She then said to Link, “Stir it faster, yes, keep it that way… Don’t let your sweat drip into it. Yes, that’s it.”

Link kept on stirring according to Gretel’s instructions.

There was a bubbling sound from within the cauldron, and he could see the mixture within begin to thicken. The Searing Sun Herb had dissolved completely into it, and slowly, the mixture began to shimmer with a jade-green color. At the same time, a pleasant fragrance wafted from the cauldron.

The noses of the children around them unconsciously twitched at the smell.

Gretel’s face brightened at the concoction’s change. “That’s it, the texture’s turning out nicely. Don’t stop stirring, Link.”

Link soldiered on. It was a good thing the Dragon Power within his body was able to repair any bodily injury almost instantaneously. Otherwise, he would have crippled both his arms at this point.

After stirring for more than an hour, no more than a tenth of the jade-green liquid was left in the cauldron. It had changed into a dark green color, and the fragrance was now so pungent it was almost intoxicating.

Gretel began turning down the heat. She then said, “It’s almost done. Stir it slowly now. Yes, that’s it.”

Link did as he was instructed. He continued stirring for half an hour until the liquid within the cauldron was finally condensed into a black capsule no bigger than a dove’s egg.

“It’s done,” said Gretel with a smile. She picked up the capsule from the cauldron, bit off a small chunk off of it, and then gave the rest to Link. “Eat it.”

“Why? I’m not the one poisoned here,” said Link, confused.

“Eat it, and you’ll know why. This isn’t just an antidote,” said Gretel, smiling knowingly at him.

Link took the other half of the capsule and breathed in its medicinal fragrance. Warily, he chewed a small bit off the capsule. As the antidote dissolved into his saliva and slid down his throat, Link felt a rush of heat enter his stomach and then spread out to all corners of his body.

Immediately after, an in-game message concerning the capsule he had just swallowed appeared before him.

The Red Dragon Queen’s Antidote

Quality: Level 11

Description: Neutralizes the Void Centipede’s venom, while restoring the user’s physical strength. If ingested after undergoing extreme exertion, the drug will repair torn muscles and strengthen the user at the same time.

(Note: Anything made by the Red Dragon Queen is guaranteed to be top quality.)

After reading the message, Link gave the rest of the capsule back to Gretel. “I think you should eat the rest. You’re the one who’s poisoned. You need it more than I do.”

“Idiot.” Gretel shook her head, smiling. “I’ve already calculated the dosage I need. I left the rest of the drug especially for you. Why do you think I deliberately let you stir the mixture just now? It’s so that you’ll be able to exhaust yourself and later fix yourself up with the medicine. And still, you want to give me your half?”

“I see,” said Link. He swallowed the whole thing in one go, and an intense heat flowed through him from his stomach.

The heat was intense, but not overwhelming. Instead, it produced an almost soothing sensation as it boiled through his entire body.

Wherever the heat passed through, it melted away all the exhaustion in that part of his body. A while later, Link was filled with so much energy that he would probably explode at any moment.

The fire within him began to intensify. Link’s body felt like a balloon at that moment. More accurately, he felt like a piece of steel being grilled in a pool of lava.

Is Gretel trying to melt me from within? This medicine’s a bit too efficacious! he thought. Link could not take the heat anymore. He immediately drew out the Dragon King’s Fury sword and rushed into a nearby stream, where he began madly practicing his sword in the water.

Gretel was left speechless when she saw Link taking the whole capsule in one gulp. She had forgotten to tell him to take it in moderate portions.

“He’s going to have a hard time,” she said.

Gretel carefully popped one small piece of the capsule into her mouth. Her pale face turned crimson in an instant, and her breathing was now steadier than before.

She could clearly feel the icy venom coursing through her body being incinerated by the intense heat from the capsule. Once completely free of the venom, Dragon Power flowed again through her. In a few moments, she had regained more than 1000 Dragon Power points.

Before, she was unable to deal with the Chaotic Rot that Link had sealed up in her body with his Sealing spell. Now, with her Dragon Power, she managed to expel the Rot together with Link’s Sealing spell out of her body.

The tainted energy that she had released from her body was so powerful that it probably would have flattened the whole place in a ten-mile radius if not handled properly. When it exited her body, Gretel was careful enough to open a realm portal and direct it out of the realm of Firuman.

When she was done, Gretel heard the swishing sound of Link’s sword coming from the nearby stream. She shook her head, chuckling at him. She then let out a sigh with a deep-felt sense of respect and gratitude towards Link.

Many times, she had personally witnessed Link’s self-restraint.

He was a reliable person who would not let his emotions get the better of him. She never needed to worry about him messing up any of her requests. He was also extremely diligent. In her 2000 years as the Red Dragon Queen, Gretel had never met anyone like him.

His accomplishments would most likely not stop here. Link would keep on going forward until he had finally surpassed everyone and everything.

It was truly a blessing to all dragonkind to have Link as a Dragon Duke.

Ah, if only I had met you sooner… With Celine in the way, whatever shall I do? thought Gretel, frowning.

She had wanted to have Link all to herself at first. As time passed, the more she knew him, the more she felt that it was impossible to do so. The little fellow was frightfully intelligent at times and rarely made any mistakes.

After thinking for a while, her eyes suddenly widened. “If I can’t get to him directly, maybe I can do so through Celine. I may have a chance if Celine agrees to it… alright, I’ll do just that!”

…

While Link worked off the excess energy he had received from the antidote, seawater lapped lazily against the white sand of a beach a few hundred miles away. One of the waves receded from the beach to reveal a huge, black fish lying on the sand.

The fish was around two feet long, and its scales were densely packed together. With a closer look, one could see that its scales were covered with countless gleaming runes. As the wave receded, its scales began to transform into a long black robe with golden linings all over. In that robe, the fish had taken on a human form.

Before the next wave came crashing against the sand, the figure in the black robe stood up, and vapor began rising from his body into the air. Before long, he was completely dried from head to toe.

The figure was a 20-year-old man. With a mat of black hair and a fair complexion, his body was slender and almost skeletal-looking.

The man then began walking along the coastline for about ten miles until a simple-looking village appeared before him.

There were a number of large humanoid shapes walking among the wooden huts in the village. Upon closer inspection, one could see that every one of them had the head of a fish on top of their human torsos, while their skins glistened with a sticky fluid like an amphibian’s.

Stunned by the appearance of the man in the black robe, they then began shouting and waving their tridents as they rushed at the black-robed man.

With a sinister smile on his face, the man gently waved a hand at the fish people. A ripple appeared in the air like a crystalline wave, bringing up the white sand into the air and sending it crashing down on the fish people like a huge net.

A terrible ripping sound could be heard. More than 200 fish people in the village were bloodily torn apart by the sudden attack, their misshapen bodies now scattered on the sand.

The black-robed man ignored the corpses around him and continued on through the village until he reached a large cage. The cage opened by itself, releasing ten mixed demons imprisoned within.

The mixed demons were already groveling on the floor before him. They all said in unison, “Our almighty messenger of the gods, you’ve finally come to save us!”

The man nodded. “Thoreau the esteemed one has ordered me to descend to the mortal realm to save his children. Come, follow me as we rid this place of all darkness. I can feel it, the darkness that has taken root in the deeper parts of the island.”

With the fish people dead, none of the mixed demons had anything to say about this. “As you wish, great messenger of the gods!”

Chapter 507: Time Sword Technique

Whoosh, whoosh.

In the water, a layer of fiery red light emerged on Link’s body. The water around him boiled and bubbled, steaming. When he wielded his sword, it left a heavy red afterimage in the air.

He was extremely fast, so the afterimages overlapped around him like a forest of swords. This wasn’t enough though.

Link felt that fire was still burning inside him, almost grilling his body. Strangely though, other than feeling bloated, he didn’t feel much pain. He could clearly feel the tiny impurities inside him getting burned away.

At the same time, he felt new Dragon Power being born continuously even though his Dragon Power was maxed out. Before, the new power would be used up immediately. He couldn’t save it. Now, he could feel clearly that the power remained.

My Dragon Power limit is increasing! Link understood immediately, overjoyed.

He thought of a saying from Firuman. When things are going good, don’t try to change anything. Let it keep being good.

This was a wise saying. Link didn’t try to change. He kept practicing swordsmanship in the creek. As he practiced, he sank into a very strange and intriguing state. He completely forgot about the fire burning in him and even forgot that he was practicing swordsmanship. He just kept leaping and stabbing in the river, following an instinctive urge.

Whoosh, splash. Water flew in the air.

Hiss, hiss. The sword cut across the sky, whistling through the air.

Translucent droplets of water fell from the sky, only to be halved by the Dragon King’s Fury sword as it passed by. Clear water flowed from the upstream. When it passed Link, it became turbid and rushed downstream.

The water was still water. Nothing had changed except how it flowed.

A phrase popped up in Link’s mind: space is water; time is a river.

This was like a key for the lock and a beautifully written essay. Link’s mind brightened as if the sun had risen.

A thought rushed through Link’s mind like a flood. So this is the essence of time. Space is still water while time is the force pushing the water. The two complement each other. They are two of the same entity… I see now! I see!

Understanding the time book from this angle, Link realized that all his confusion dissolved instantly. A vast golden avenue opened up before him.

At this time, he still had questions about time, but he was sure that he knew how to advance. He wasn’t baffled anymore.

Fire kept burning his body so he couldn’t stop his sword practice.

As he practiced, the time knowledge that he’d just came up with, the theories he had from before, and even the techniques he was practicing now slowly mixed together. This feeling was strange. Even Link didn’t know what exactly was going on. He didn’t even think; the knowledge mixed automatically.

Now, Link’s mind was like a furnace while all the knowledge was boiling metal.

Dragon Power started burning in Link’s mind, supplying the energy for his thinking. But Link’s mind kept using up more and more energy. Finally, even the fast recovery rate couldn’t make up for the consumption.

The Dragon Power inside him gradually depleted. Even the fire weakened and eventually extinguished.

After who knew how long, Link felt something explode in himself. He pierced forward furiously.

Snick. He’d stabbed a tree.

This sound woke Link up. He focused his eyes and looked forward. He’d come to the riverbank without realizing, and he’d stabbed through a big tree.

He could have done this easily before, but he soon realized that this stab was different.

After stabbing the tree, a 20-centimeter radius around the hole was all rotten. Link softly retracted the sword. With a soft puff, the rotten parts transformed into a fine powder and flowed down. A wide hole gaped open.

Strange. Link walked over and picked up some powder. He rolled it in his hand. The powder turned into something like ashes and blew away in the wind.

He sniffed his hand. The powder smelled a bit like rotten wood.

What kind of power is this? Link found it strange. Dragon Power couldn’t create this effect. He hadn’t used any spells either, and the powder didn’t have any magic aura.

After a moment, Link thought back to how it felt when he stabbed forward. He stabbed the tree again. When the sword was midway through, the strange feeling came again. It felt like something in his body flowed into the Dragon King’s Fury sword, surrounding it.

Shtick. Again, he stabbed through the tree without using any power. It was as easy as slicing tofu. Another decayed ring of 20 centimeters appeared around the hole, just like before.

Weird, so weird. Since when do I have this kind of power? What exactly is it that can cause such a strange effect?

Just as Link was utterly confused, his vision flashed. He glanced at it.

Player created a new time battle technique, +300 Omni Points. Please name this battle technique.

Time battle technique? Link couldn’t figure it out. “Explain battle technique,” he said.

His vision displayed some text.

Unnamed Battle Technique

Above Level-12 (Power changes according to the amount of Dragon Power inputted)

Cost: Minimum 3000 Dragon Power points (no maximum)

Effect: Activated the time essence within Dragon Power and feeds it into a weapon. All targets of the weapon will undergo the “pass of time” effect. The nearby area will instantly move 100,000 years into the future.

(Note: Only time is invincible!)

This description stunned Link. He checked the decayed layer around the hole in the tree. Was the gray-white powder the result of the passage of time?

Link was both shocked and happy. He saw rocks in the surroundings. He walked over and activated the time battle technique again.

Poof. The rock was sturdy, but the moment the sword hit it, it weathered crazily, and Link stabbed through it easily.

Link walked over to check. He discovered that everything around the stone had turned into soft dirt. He could easily crush it in his hands.

It’s not very strong towards nonliving organisms. It’s not even as strong as a Level-4 spell. But to living organisms, it’s fatal!

What kind of creature could survive 100,000 years? If a god didn’t fight back, they might suffer too.

Interested, Link went to stab another tree. This time, he couldn’t activate the battle technique. It wasn’t that he wasn’t good at it. He’d just used up all his Dragon Power.

Three moves had used up all his power. This consumption was crazy.

Link then checked his own stats.

Link Morani (Dragon Duke)

Level-11

Current Dragon Power Recovery Rate: 45 points per second

Dragon Power Limit: 16500 points

Current Dragon Power: 1500 points

His upper limit had increased 2000 points with the potion. It was great.

Link was very satisfied and started brainstorming what to call the battle technique. After a while, he said, “Since it uses time, it’s a battle technique, and I use a sword, let’s call it the Time Sword.”

Naming complete. Player now possesses the Time Sword!

Link was satisfied with this powerful sword technique. Seeing how he was covered in mud and water, he cast a cleaning spell and started for the castle.

At the door, Link saw Gretel. She’d recovered her power already.

“Should we leave the island now?” Link asked. They didn’t know where exactly they were now, but this island had unknown dangers and the Evil God Thoreau. Leaving would definitely be better.

With their speed, they could fly towards somewhere and circle the Firuman Realm within half a day. There were no worries about getting lost.

Gretel nodded. After thinking a bit, she gave a Dragon Power seed to all the kids. Gazing at the beautiful castle, she said sadly, “I’ll miss this pretty house.”

“Your Majesty…Tellie, if you want, I can build you a new one in the Dragon Valley,” Link said, chuckling.

Gretel laughed. “Okay, don’t forget.”

Then Link walked forward. The power of the Void Walk extended and brought them both into the sky. They flew to the sea.

Twenty minutes later, they could see the coast. The beach and sea were before them, and everything looked normal, but Link stopped.

“The island is locked,” he whispered.

Gretel discovered this too. The sea was blue and seemed normal, but she could clearly feel that the air was filled with runes.

“The runes are quite powerful, probably above Level-14. If we keep flying, we’ll run into great pressure,” Link said.

“Can you fly higher?” Gretel asked.

Link tried. When he was around 1.5 miles in the air, he stopped again. “I can’t. It’s seamless.”

“He discovered us?” Gretel asked. Link naturally knew that she was talking about Thoreau.

“I’m afraid so. I think the god’s messenger will appear soon too.” Link didn’t choose the trouble; the trouble chose him.

Chapter 508: Thoreau the Soul Devourer ##

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

On the beach of the mysterious island

“How is it? Can you break the spatial rune?” asked Gretel.

On the beach, Gretel reclined on a chair magically sculpted with sand, basking under the sun. As Link had already far surpassed her on the subject of spatial magic, she chose not to interfere with his work.

Link carefully observed the transparent runes carved into the space on the other side of the beach. A long while later, he nodded. “I can break it, but I may need half a day to do so, and I fear our opponent would not be so generous as to give us that much time.”

As soon as he broke the rune, whoever cast it in the first place would surely come for them. The island was the enemy’s territory; both Link and Gretel may not be his equal here.

“What should we do then?” asked Gretel, though she did not seem flustered. Judging from Link’s calm demeanor, Gretel assumed that he must have some sort of plan up in his sleeve.

Link paced in circles on the beach. Finally, he said, “The longer we wait, the more prepared our opponent will be on this island. Since he’s deliberately locked us in here, we’ll just have to force him to come to us.”

Gretel immediately understood what he meant. She said, laughing, “Sounds like a great plan. Then break the seal, while I’ll wait for him to come here.”

Link nodded and pulled out the Dragon King’s Fury sword. From the sword’s tip radiated a red light, which then pierced the air in front of him.

He had begun the rune-breaking process, but his intention was not to actually break the magical seal but rather to draw the enemy out.

Eight minutes later, a rune had crumbled, and a crack formed on the rune formation. The surrounding runes began to glimmer and align themselves back in place. In an instant, the crack was closed back up again.

A crack caused by the rupture of one rune could be healed up without any problem. If ten or a hundred or even a thousand of those runes were to break at the same time, the resulting crack could be irreparable.

Five minutes later, a second rune crumbled. A crack then closed itself up just as quickly as it had reappeared.

After breaking those two runes, Link felt that he had enough practice. He then proceeded to break a rune at two-minute intervals, but there were just too many runes covering the whole island. Just chipping away at a few runes would not affect the whole thing, and the whole magic seal around the island remained as sturdy as before.

But this was only temporary.

Though the rune formation seemed perfect, after losing ten or so runes, a few places on it had begun showing discordance. All he needed to do was to keep on breaking the runes till everything collapsed.

When Link had broken through more than 50 runes, Gretel, who had been lazily lounging on the beach all this time under the sun and sea breeze, suddenly sat up. “He’s coming!”

Link nodded and continued his work. “He’s a bit slower to react than I had expected. If he were any slower, I would have been done with the whole rune formation.”

In case the enemy had not yet noticed the state of his magic seal, Link did not stop breaking the runes. On the other side, Gretel stood up, and her body began swirling with a bright light. In a flash, the light condensed into a gleaming dragon-scaled battle dress on her. She held in her hand an elegant-looking one-handed sword. The weapon itself emanated a soft red glow, indicating that it too was a legendary weapon.

Link looked at her, somewhat surprised. “Your Highness, you can use a sword?”

Gretel smiled. “I’ve learned many things in the past 2000 years. Though I don’t normally use a sword, I might just be better at it than you.”

“Maybe.” Link chuckled.

At that moment, a black spot had appeared in the sky. A few seconds later, the black spot expanded into the figure of a man with a black robe billowing around him. Another ten seconds later, the figure was already within 300 feet away. He hovered in mid-air, and a voice came from him. “Ah, I seem to have caught two dragons. Today’s catch has certainly exceeded all my expectations.”

Link looked up and saw an extremely beautiful young man in the air. He was wearing a black magic robe with golden linings. With black hair and white, almost flawless skin, he was a beauty to behold by human standards. However, Link was not concerned with his looks. He intently felt for his opponent’s aura which was almost imperceptible.

This meant that his opponent was probably two levels higher than Link.

Link glanced at Gretel. “He’s strong.”

Gretel’s face was now tautened with alertness. She nodded, and began focusing Dragon Power into her magic sword, getting herself ready for battle.

The young man spoke again. “Truth be told, I did not expect such an extravagant catch. Your souls do seem powerful. By absorbing your souls, I’ll possess both your strength and knowledge. My understanding of the laws governing this world will reach heights never before imagined by anyone, not even I!”

Hearing this, Link’s brows furrowed. He asked, “Are you Thoreau, the Esteemed One?”

The man was preparing to devour their souls. It was not something a god’s messenger would do, as all souls belonged to whatever god he or she served.

In the game world, the island was part of a hoax, and the character known as Thoreau had done much evil under the guise of dispensing justice. Using this knowledge, Link was able to deduce the stranger’s identity.

The black-robed young man was stunned by how quickly his identity had been discovered. He then shook his head, sighing. “I had expected no less from a Legendary master. Nothing gets by you, eh?”

He remained in the air without moving an inch, as he said, “Yes, you guessed right, I’m Thoreau. 1000 years ago, I spent countless hours and energy creating this island. I’ve even brought together the mixed races exiled from the outside world to flourish here and reproduce. As they reproduced generation after generation, the souls of their deceased nourished me, making me stronger. When the island becomes a bit too populated, I’ll appear as a demon before them and bring their numbers down to an acceptable level. Through this cycle of life and death, my power has surpassed its limits twice. Haha, isn’t my plan just glorious?”

“Despicable,” said Gretel. “You’re devouring souls for nourishment. What you’re doing is against nature itself, and you’ll soon answer for your crimes against it!

Thoreau cackled. “My crimes against nature? No, no, no, the only rule governing all life in the realm is survival of the fittest. As long as I’m strong and careful enough, no one and nothing will be able to punish me for my actions.”

Saying this, he turned towards Gretel and smiled. “Judging by your good looks and power, you must be the Red Dragon Queen. No other creature in all of Firuman possesses such faultless beauty. If you’re willing to give up your power to me, I’ll promise to spare your life and let you stay by my side. What do you think?”

Gretel shook her head. “You must be out of your mind.”

Thoreau heaved a sigh. “Seems like you’ve not yet understood your place here. Right now, I’m the hunter, and both of you are my prey. I’m the one holding sway over your very fates, while you don’t get to decide anything.”

When he had finally finished gloating, a magic wand suddenly appeared in his hand. The wand was a dark golden color with a blue gemstone fixed on its tip. As soon as the wand appeared, the whole sky shimmered with an azure blue haze. At the same time, the waves began exploding against the beach. The water level rose, and it seemed as if a tsunami was about to happen.

This was a Legendary-level phenomenon.

Thoreau said with a low voice, “I’ve spent 300 years making this wand, and it’s already close to perfection. In all these years, I’ve never met any prey worthy of my full strength. But now, both of you will have that honor!”

At the appearance of the magic wand, Link heard the spirit of the Dragon King’s Fury sword warning him in his mind, “Careful, I know that wand. It’s the Sea God’s Fury wand!”

The game system instantly reacted to the mention of the wand’s name by revealing its in-game message.

The Sea God’s Fury wand, the Scepter of the Tidal Summoner

Legendary Mid-level (14)

Description: Greatly amplifies all water spells, the dream weapon of any Water Magician.

(Note: If you happen to come across the wand’s user in the ocean, run for your life!)

Reading this, Link was able to immediately devise a countermeasure. He said to Gretel, “It’s an extremely powerful water-based magic wand. We shouldn’t be fighting him near the ocean.”

Saying this, Link winked at her, implying that there was more to his words than met the eye.

Chapter 509: Not Even 10,000 Tricks Can Stop the Pass of Time ##

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

At the beach

In this world, if you gave your heart to someone, you’ll be able to sense even their smallest movements.

To Gretel, Link was that someone. In her more than 2000 years of life, other than her mother who’d passed away, Link was the person she was most familiar with.

She felt Link blink. Jolting slightly, she understood what Link meant. That sentence was said to lower the opponent’s guard. His ulterior motive was to unleash a fatal kill while the other was relaxed and listening to his words.

The corners of Gretel’s lips curled upward. Understood.

Link caught this small movement too. He knew that Gretel understood his motive and started preparing to act.

Thoreau didn’t discover the secret exchange. He was feeling proud that Link complimented his wand. “You aren’t blind, at least. But unfortunately—”

Before he could finish, Link moved abruptly. He stabbed his Dragon King’s Fury out. Halfway there, the tip flashed with crystal-red light. He’d activated the Demon Slayer Whip.

A thin crystal-red streak flashed and whipped towards Thoreau’s head. It was so fast that it reached within 60 feet of Thoreau within one-tenth of a second. It instantly went for the kill.

Because of Link’s previous words, Thoreau had subconsciously guessed that Link would use this action to move the battlefield. He sneered. “Nice calculations but it’s useless to me. Crystal Waves!”

Whoosh! A ring of transparent ripples appeared around him. It was only as tall as him at first and spread out with him as the center. Three feet away, it turned into a huge wave. After another three feet, the wave turned into a tide. Sand and pebbles tossed in its path. The crystal wave entirely covered Thoreau.

An instant later, it crashed into Link’s Demon Slayer Whip.

Hiss. Water and fire clashed and white steam rose up. Link’s Demon Slayer Whip snaked through the crystal-like wave, trying to attack the spell-caster behind it.

But the waves seemed to be endless. The Demon Slayer Whip kept bursting forward and evaporating the waves. It even created a hole more than six feet wide in the waves. But after 15 feet, it used up all its energy.

Poof. Link’s flame extinguished.

His fire law was around the same level as the law in the Crystal Wave. However, the difference in scale of the spell was too large. Thoreau was the victor in this direct clash of spells.

“Haha, taste the power of the sea!” Thoreau’s roar traveled from behind the endless waves. His voice rumbled like thunder.

Link had lost in the fight of water against fire. But he wasn’t alone.

“Burning Dragon Breath!” Gretel yelled.

She pointed her magic sword at the incoming waves. A dark purple pillar of firelight rushed forward. Halfway there, the pillar transformed into a dragon in flight.

An instant later, there was a huge boom. The dragon of light snuck into the hole in the crystal waves that Link’s whip had created.

Thoreau’s crystal waves had a large scale but, to defend Link’s traceless Demon Slayer Whip, he’d chosen a ranged attack. He wasted a whole lot of energy. Gretel’s spell, on the other hand, was a targeted attack and had the advantage created by the Demon Slayer Whip. With these two together, water and fire came to a tie.

With a boom, white steam rose up and firelight shot in all directions. A huge hole gaped open in the horrible wall of water.

Now!

Link was waiting for this. He instantly activated the battle technique Instant Flash.

His figure blurred and the next moment, he was beside the black-robed man. He stabbed his sword forward with the Time Sword technique he’d just acquired. He also added in 10,000 Dragon Power points.

He put his all into this attack. If he didn’t succeed, he would be dead.

With this stab, time passed and 100,000 years flew by!

This attack was so abrupt. As a battle technique, there was also no need to construct a Mana structure. Thus, it operated so fast the opponent had no time to react at all.

Thoreau was surprised. His spell had gone against Gretel, and his power was delayed. It was completely beyond his expectation that Link would be able to cast such a fatal attack. He was still a Level-13 Legendary Magician though. As his thoughts flowed, his body faded. He turned into a ball of white mist that flew back quickly.

While escaping, crystal needles appeared in the air around him. They pierced towards Link.

If Link didn’t dodge them, he would turn into a pin cushion.

If he kept stabbing his sword forward like this, he would miss. But he didn’t change his movement. His sword kept going but midway through, the white mist was 300 feet away. It transformed back into a human while the crystal needles were right before Link, about to stab through him.

“Despair!” A light ball with a black vortex within appeared at the tip of Link’s sword. The tip buried into the ball. He still ignored the crystal needles.

“Dragon Scale Barrier!” It was Gretel; she cast a defense spell for Link. A thick magic shield appeared before Link. It was a Level-11 spell.

Ding, ding, ding, ding. There were consecutive crashing sounds. White crystal shards appeared on the surface of the ten-centimeter-thick red scale-like shield.

Thoreau had hurriedly released this spell while Gretel was prepared, so she had the advantage.

The same moment, Link’s sword appeared behind Thoreau. This move was still as abrupt as before. He’d just re-solidified and was caught off guard. Link’s sword ended up stabbed into his back.

“Vaporize!”

As someone who’d reached Level-13 with his own abilities, Thoreau was truly powerful. The instant the sword entered his body, his back turned into vapor. He’d dodged the fatality of that attack. Then the light of vaporization extended to the rest of his body and he escaped again.

He couldn’t help it. He’d miscalculated and was forced into a disadvantage. His every move after that worsened it. Every second was spent at the brink of death. This was unexpected too.

Now, he finally understood that Link hadn’t planned on moving the battlefield. He’d been preparing to just end the battle!

Link reacted quickly. Seeing that Thoreau had vaporized again, he swept the Dragon King’s Fury horizontally.

Boundless Sharpness!

This effect had been raised to the highest level. It could even cut through the causal loop of time, let alone white mist. The blade started tearing apart the mist’s structure.

If it was just the mist getting torn apart, Thoreau wouldn’t get hurt. He could quickly reconnect after that. However, Link’s sword also had the power of time.

Time flew by. One hundred thousand years passed in an instant!

The Dragon King’s Fury first broke through the white mist. Then the broken mist traveled through time, passing millenniums instantly. No elemental spell in this world could last for more than one day, let alone millenniums.

So in the time’s path, the spell quickly ended, revealing the flesh body. After a while, the flesh turned into black fish scales and white flesh. The fish body then started decaying until it finally turned to ash.

Poof. Link cut the white mist into two with his sword. As the sword passed by, gray-white ashes flew to the side. No matter how powerful one’s spell was, it couldn’t survive the passage of time.

The broken white mist rapidly turned into two bodies. Link had cut through the body’s chest, halving it.

“Ah!” The black-robed Thoreau fell to the ground. He wasn’t a human anymore—he was a giant black-scaled fish!

Link didn’t give him any chance to fight back. He stabbed again, and the Despair Ball appeared. He was going to end this guy once and for all.

Poof. But Thoreau didn’t die and even cast a spell. Half of his body turned into white mist again. Then it transformed into a white flash of light, escaping with incredible speed.

Link’s sword was only met with white mist. He didn’t have much Dragon Power left, so he couldn’t activate the Time Sword battle technique. He couldn’t damage the white mist either.

With this delay, the mist escaped to the sea and jumped in, disappearing in the water. The sea was boundless. There was no way to pursue him now.

Only two items were left on the beach. One was half of Thoreau’s fish body. The other was his wand, the Sea God’s Fury. After Thoreau’s escape, peace resumed on the surface of the water. Light kept flowing in the air around the island. It was the rune array.

The runes in the sky cracked and disappeared, one by one. The shackles around the island disappeared completely.

Gretel walked over. Studying the cut on Thoreau’s remaining body, she gasped, “Link, your sword is so powerful.”

Before this, she’d thought that it would be a bitter battle. In the end, Link only stabbed his sword once, and Thoreau couldn’t even resist it. A Level-13 Legendary Magician was forced to flee from just one of Link’s attacks.

Link felt for his Dragon Power. He had pretty much used up all of it for this attack, so he didn’t feel any pride in that. He chuckled wryly. “There’s a thin line between victory and defeat. If I were by myself, I wouldn’t be his match.”

There were countless powerful heroes in this big world. By far, he wasn’t powerful enough.

Gretel didn’t mind. “Alright,” she laughed. “He’s an old creature that has been alive for who knows how long. How old are you? When you’re his age, you can kill him with just the wind from your sneeze.”

As she spoke, she picked up the Sea God’s Fury wand. She studied the blue gem at the tip and gasped. “Hey, why do I think this is a meteorite? Link, come look. This is something good.”