Advent of the Archmage

Whoosh!

The sound of waves crashing against each other could be heard as, like flying saucers, three magic warships raced across the surface of a seemingly boundless ocean.

The magic warships were fifty feet long, their streamlined bodies covered by a hazy layer of purple dotted by what looked like stars. On the deck stood a mast, on which hung a sail with a silver sparrow flower on it. Around the flower was a ring of brambles and thorns, which was in turn surrounded by countless magical runes.

The fleet belonged to the Silver Storm Sparrows, feared by all seafarers across the ocean of Firuman.

At this moment, their sails were full with the winds of the sea, propelling all three ships at an incredible speed.

On the deck of the foremost warship stood a well-built High Elf with a bit of white hair growing out of his temples who was busy inspecting the conditions of the ocean in front of them through a high-powered telescope.

They had received an order from their queen at ten in the morning.

The queen had ordered them to head straight for the Broken Isles, drive the Ferde warships off the isles, and gain control of the mines back from them.

She had also instructed her fleet to engage the enemy ships in combat, and if push came to shove, they were permitted to sink any of those warships, but only on the condition that the first strike came from the enemy, and that the whole thing was recorded in a Memory Crystal.

The Broken Isles finally appeared in the horizon, but what was startling was the fact that there did not seem to be any sign of the Ferde fleet.

On the deck, the High Elf put down his telescope and turned to another High Elf who was dressed like a Magician. "Master Vonhelon, do you feel any magical activity?"

The High Elf Magician Vonhelon was a Level-9 Pinnacle Spatial Magician, commander of the ninth Battle Magic Legion, as well as magical advisor of the queen for life.

He and 300 other Elite Battle Mages were on board as contingency against any magical confrontation.

Naturally, they were looking out for Link, the lord of Ferde, and the Legendary Magician himself.

The magic of the High Elves held unfathomable secrets. A Level-9 Pinnacle Magician and 300 other Level-7 Elite Battle Mages, equipped with an assortment of powerful magical gear and magical circles may not have had the flexibility of one Legendary Magician, but it would be enough to go toe to toe with him.

This was all proven and battle-tested by the prophet of this generation of High Elves, Bryant.

In truth, in the game world, the High Elves had once sent a few hundred Magicians in an assault on Orida Fortress, which was merely a small portion of the High Elves' magical forces.

Only in the face of worsening circumstances in the later stages of the game did the High Elves begin dispatching thousands of their battle mages into the fray.

All in all, though the High Elves lived exclusively on the Isle of Dawn, they were the pinnacle of all of Firuman in terms of military strength. They simply didn't have the manpower to efficiently rule all the races on the continent should they have decided to conquer all of Firuman.

Ever since the Mana Disaster 3,000 years before, the High Elves had adopted the policy of 'Pride in Isolation.'

Through such a policy, they had established their stronghold on a massive island far away from the continent in order to gain a positional advantage over the rest of the continent. In the process, they managed to keep the humans on the continent under their thumb by intervening in any attempts of unification among the human race, which involved either instigating a rebellion or an assassination.

They would take such an approach against not only humans, but the other races of the continent, as well.

For 3,000 years, the High Elves had maintained their position at the top of all of Firuman by relying on their superiority in magical power and unequaled cunning.

The races of the continent had seen much war and bloodshed against one another for thousands of years, the lives of their people in constant poverty and pandemonium. Only the High Elves remained unsullied by any form of warfare, living on the Isle of Dawn in relative peace and luxury.

The High Elves had always been the lofty observers of every great change in history, sneering at the myopia of pitiful mortals constantly at war with one another on the main continent. To ordinary people, they were calm and dignified existences, untroubled by the affairs of the rest of the world.

Barring any prejudice one might have against them, there was no doubt that the High Elves were a terrifyingly intelligent race.

On the deck of the ship, Vonhelon shook his head. "Captain Langdon, I don't sense any magical activity from the island. The Spatial Wheel has also indicated that everything is normal, and nobody has used any spatial magic there."

Captain Langdon frowned, then raised a hand as he gave an order to his crew. "Ready the defense circles, prepare for battle!"

Things were a bit too quiet. There was the possibility that the enemy could be using a high-level spell to hide their presence, and any ambush from such a high-level opponent would cost them their lives if they were unprepared.

The three Silver Storm Sparrow warships spread out in a triangle formation, slowing down considerably. Magical energy swirled in the middle of the triangle, where an insubstantial magical bond began forming between the three ships.

If it was any other fleet from the continent, they wouldn't be so cautious. However, the opponent they were up against was the lord of Ferde, who was also a Legendary Spatial Magician and definitely someone they should not let their guard down against.

Fwoosh! The waves now lapped gently against the warships, and the senses of the High Elves on board were all tautened, ready for any sign of an attack.

The warships were now slowly approaching the Broken Isles. Half an hour later, they had reached the outer region of the Broken Isles.

Throughout all this, Captain Langdon kept a wary eye out on his surroundings, not once putting his telescope down.

Gradually, he began to sense something was amiss. It was as if there was something missing from the picture, but he couldn't quite tell what it was.

"Master Vonhelon, do you feel that?" he whispered, the telescope still attached to one eye. The feeling in him that something was wrong had not yet subsided.

"Strange, what's missing here?" In all his years as captain, Langdon had passed by the Broken Isles many times and felt a sense of security every time he glanced at them.

He had been the first to discover the Magnetic Magic Island, which had suddenly emerged two years ago in the ocean. He figured it was probably a reef that had risen to the surface or a huge meteor that had landed in the ocean.

Wait a minute, where was the mining island?

Langdon finally realized what was wrong.

Vonhelon had made the same observation at the same time as him and cried out, "The mining island's disappeared!"

How was this possible?

While the mining island was not too big, it wasn't small enough to be carried off, either. At a size of more than 100 square feet, and weighing more than 1,000 tons, such a huge object could not have simply vanished into thin air!

The two High Elves stood on the deck looking at each other, flabbergasted. After a while, Langdon asked, "The Magnetic Magic Island only recently surfaced. Do you think it could have sunk back into the ocean?

"I have no idea. Let's take a closer look." Vonhelon's brows knitted together, as he felt that things were not as simple as they seemed.

The three Silver Storm Sparrows began advancing slowly. Half an hour later, they finally reached where the Magnetic Magic Island used to be. A group of High Elves were dispatched to search the area for the island, but could not find a single hint as to where it could have possibly been.

"It's gone." Langdon took off his captain's hat and ran his fingers through his thick mass of dark green hair. He still could not figure out what had happened.

Vonhelon stood on one side of the ship, his eyes filled with a silver glow as he began magically scanning as far as 200 feet beneath the ocean waters for any trace of the island, but still, he found nothing.

Two hundred feet was the limit of his underwater probing. Seeing nothing but the inky darkness of the ocean water, he finally gave up.

The loss of a such a valuable piece of land would have been a great hit to anyone.

Captain Langdon walked to the Magician's side and asked with a frown, "Master, do you think the people of Ferde had something to do with this?"

Vonhelon shook his head. "I don't know, I really don't know what happened here."

This had truly surpassed the limits of his imagination. If the people of Ferde had indeed made the whole island disappear, how had they done it? He could not think of any way they could have accomplished such a feat.

Langdon wasn't content with the lack of answers. He ordered the fleet to circle around the area for something, but still, no one managed to turn up anything. The absence of the mining island and the fleet of Ferde was aggravating.

"Now what?" He looked at Vonhelon, open to all suggestions at this point.

At a loss himself regarding what to do next, Vonhelon pondered for a long time before saying, "I suppose there's not much else to do here other than record everything and report back to the queen."

"I guess that's all we can do for now."

The High Elves bustled about on the three ships, putting together an account of all they had seen and heard. When all was said and done, Captain Langdon finally gave the order to set course for home.

Two days later, the Silver Storm Sparrow reached the port of the Isle of Dawn. Vonhelon rushed immediately to the Jade Palace, bringing with him news of the island's disappearance to the High Elf Queen.

He met the queen, who was with the Legendary Magician Bryant, at the Garden of Magic.

After seeing the contents of Vonhelon's Memory Crystal, the High Elf Queen asked Bryant, "Who do you think is responsible for this?"

Bryant spread his hands out and answered her with certainty, "There's no question about it. Be it a freak storm, or a vanishing mining Island, it has to be Link behind all this."

As a Legendary Magician himself, Bryant was familiar with this level of power. Anyone at the Legendary power level would be capable of extraordinary feats that no ordinary being would even dream of.

Though he still didn't know how Link had managed to pull it off, he was certain that with the correct method, he, too, could do something like this.

The High Elf Queen had drifted off into a reverie. After a while, she finally said, "The other party has not left any evidence of foul play. This may be troublesome."

Their opponent had outsmarted them in such a way that the High Elves were not in a position to retaliate. To have a whole mining island stolen from them was a loss the High Elves had not experienced in over 3,000 years.

This really was unacceptable!