Advent of the Archmage

Mage Tower

The next morning, Link sat in a corner of the second-floor hall. Rylai sat across from him. He was answering the questions that she’d accumulated these days.

Rylai studied water magic but was only around Level-2 or Level-3. Link could understand the theory at a glance. He was learning and teaching at the same time.

There were other Magicians in the hall. Though they were reading their own books, they also listened secretly. It was low-level magic, but it still felt different when spoken from the mouth of a Legendary Magician.

No Magician wanted to miss this chance. They were also extremely jealous of Rylai who could be personally advised by Link.

Rylai had a lot of questions, but Link answered them all within the hour. Then he said, "Rylai, I need to tell you something."

This was a private matter, so Link activated a barrier that covered them.

"Tutor, please tell me." Rylai was a bit nervous.

"I might be busy later and won’t have much time to help you..."

Rylai froze. She stared at Link, her eyes already turning red and filling with tears. "Tutor, you don’t want me anymore?"

Link didn’t expect she would react so badly and was caught off-guard. "Oh, no, no. I just found you a new tutor for now. When I have time, I’ll take over again. You know her too. It’s my tutor, Herrera. I already wrote her a letter, and she agreed."

Rylai was only 13 years old and followed him around, switching between tutors. Link was truly irresponsible as the true tutor. More importantly, Link knew that his personality wasn’t good for being a teacher. He wasn’t as patient and detailed as Herrera. He would only let his student down.

Hearing that she would learn with Herrera, Rylai was comforted. She’d stayed in Herrera’s Mage Tower for a while and really liked this lady. She still wasn’t very happy though. "Okay," she mumbled.

Link reached out to pet her head. "Don’t worry," he coaxed. "I already arranged everything. In her Mage Tower, you can use the Elemental Pool for 25 hours and 1,000 gold coins’ worth of alchemy material every week. After you get there, you can still write letters to me if you have questions. I’ll reply after I receive them... Study well, kid."

"Thank you, Tutor." Rylai knew the benefits of these and was grateful, but she still didn’t want to leave. She lowered her head, still feeling down.

Link took out a spatial bracelet and put it around the girl’s slender wrist. "Take this. It’s my gift to you. I’ve arranged a guard for you too. You can leave tomorrow."

The spatial bracelet contained gold coins for everyday use and some magic tools. Most importantly, there was a book of basic spells that Link had written.

Looking down at the beautiful bracelet, Rylai’s tears fell uncontrolled. She really didn’t want to leave. Here, she could occasionally see her tutor. When she went to Aunt Herrera’s, the meetings would be very rare.

Biting her lip, she swore inwardly, Tutor, I’ll become a great Magician!

Link was affected too. He would feel unmoved if it were anyone else but Rylai had always been with him. All this time, he’d treated the girl as his daughter. Seeing her so sad now, he felt sad too.

He tapped his finger lightly, and the Magician’s Hand wiped Rylai’s tears away. Link smiled and said, "Come, I’ll tell you about the morphological changes of water today."

They then began focusing on magic.

...

The next day, Link brought Rylai to Lannie’s small airship. They were only 50 miles from the East Cove Magic Academy, and they could reach it within ten minutes. The airship could fly almost two miles high; this elevation was very safe.

Before leaving, Lannie cutely did a military salute to Link. "Don’t worry, Magician. Lannie is the best pilot!"

"Just go." Link chuckled at that.

Click. The airship’s cover went into place, and it soared into the sky. Link watched it leave and then turned to go back. After a while, his eye twitched. He saw the thief.

He was walking towards the Mage Tower. When he saw Link, he quickly moved to the side and bowed respectfully just like the other Magicians.

Link pretended he didn’t see the man and walked to the Mage Tower. At the top level, he found Celine.

"He’s here. Did you arrange everything?"

"Of course. I already warned Edmund. He won’t do anything to the girl," Celine said with a smile. "Your new magic notes are prepared as well. There are two copies. One is with Alloa, and the other is in the enchantment room. We’re just waiting for him to steal it."

She wasn’t sure if the man would definitely steal the notes, but it was the most valuable thing in the Mage Tower. It wouldn’t hurt to be safe.

Link nodded. "Then let’s wait."

For the next few days, Link didn’t read books as usual. He started to make a smaller fire gun for Celine for short-range use, as well as new bullets. He also improved the big fire gun. Its usage wasn’t changed, but its power was increased by two levels. It could now break through Level-9 defenses.

With Link’s skills now, he sped through the small fire gun. Within two days, he created a pair of small Epic fire guns. It was similar to a pistol from earth, but because it was covered in runes, it looked mysterious, ancient and magical.

After that, Link started on the bullets. He wasn’t overly flashy this time, and the new bullets were as simple as possible. He also created a magic tool to produce bullets. After adding the material and Mana, ten perfect bullets would jump out within two seconds after a crank. He didn’t have to keep wasting time.

The only drawback of this magic tool was that it had high requirements for power. Only Legendary power could activate it.

Link didn’t care; he had too much Dragon Power. Crank, crank. The sounds continued for three whole days. During these three days, Link used up equipment worth more than one million gold coins. He created 4000 bullets for the big fire gun, 8000 for the smaller gun, and more than 20,000 training bullets.

When Celine saw these, her eyes widened in joy. "I can train all I want now."

"That’s not all." Smiling, Link took out the two smaller fire guns.

"These are so pretty," Celine commented.

She could tell the use of these guns at a glance. Taking them, she studied them. One gun’s body was dark blue and carved with dark gold runes. The other was dark red with silver runes.

The two guns looked simple yet obscure. There was also a cold sense of danger. Celine fell in love immediately and wouldn’t let go. Turning them around, she fell even more in love the more she looked at them. She felt that every detail was flawless and unbelievably intricate.

"What are they called?" Celine asked.

Link smiled. "I haven’t named them yet. I was waiting for you."

"Let me think." Celine cocked her head, finger prodding her forehead. After a few seconds, she smiled. "Here, the dark one is called Link, and the silver one is Celine. Hehe, what do you think?"

Link was stunned by this weird naming style, but it was interesting. He took the guns and used a rune-like font to engrave these names. Looking at the guns again, the information in his vision changed.

Link·Celine

Double Magic Guns

Top Epic

Effect: This pair of fire guns can shoot extremely powerful bullets up to 300 feet. Within this range, it has high precision and can break through Level-9 spells.

(Note: Eternal companions)

With these small guns for short-range battles and the big fire gun’s long-range attacks, Celine could completely destroy demons like the Fodor Flaming Demon.

Just then, Link felt something. A security rune had been activated. Link waved his hand, and a three-dimensional image appeared in the air showing Alloa’s room.

She wasn’t here today; she’d gone to ask Vance about magic. Speaking of Vance, Link could only describe him as an old pervert.

Maybe it was due to being restricted for too long, but after this guy got a house in Scorched Ridge, he brought different girls back every day. Fortunately, he had a bottom line too. Each woman was a fair trade. They were both willing, and he would pay up. Other than getting a bad image, he didn’t cause any trouble.

Anyway, the thief snuck into Alloa’s room while she wasn’t there.

In the image, the guy crept forward and carefully looked around. Finally, he got to the notes that Link had faked.

Even though it was fake, it was covered in obscure runes and had a strange Mana aura. It looked totally real.

The thief flipped through. Eyes flashing, he hurried out. He went straight to the exit, getting ready to escape.

Here, Link kissed Celine’s forehead and smiled. "I’m going to follow him."

"Okay... be careful," Celine reminded. For some reason, she felt scared.

"Don’t worry. I’m not alone." Link cast an Invisibility spell and crept out. At the door, he waved his hand lightly. Felina walked over and followed him.

Felina was a mid-Level-8 Dragon Warrior, basically a top Warrior. More importantly, the two could help each other.