Advent of the Archmage

Korora Mountain Range, realm crack barrier

"Commence preparations for the magic seal's activation!" ordered Link. He was standing near the crack, observing the magical current within the large-scale healing seal.

The Firuman crack was a hundred feet away from where Link stood. Strategically-positioned runestones had cast a 200-foot-wide film of light across the crack.

One could vaguely make out the thick purple clouds swirling beneath the film of light. The clouds were in fact clumps of saturated Mana. Mana usually existed as a colorless element in nature. The fact that it had reached such a state spoke to just how saturated it was beneath the film of light.

Link estimated that if this concentration of Mana were to be released into the realm of Firuman, the realm's Mana concentration would sharply increase by at least ten percent.

Though Mana was usually harmless by itself, an explosion of such a high concentration of Mana would instantly kill everyone in the vicinity.

Also, there was a real risk of breaking the seal while trying to seal up the realm crack. If anything went wrong during the procedure, the resulting explosion would blow them all up to kingdom come.

In the face of such a risk, Link could not afford to be careless.

After giving out his order, Link soon heard sounds of activity coming from every magical node around him.

"Everything normal in magical cyclic node Alpha!"

"Same goes for the Ptolemic Mana Surge node!"

"Nothing unusual going on in the realm's turbulent currents..."

The activation of the large-scale healing magic seal was proceeding smoothly.

Link looked at the Crack Seal in front of him. He then psychically gave out his next command.

"Good. Now, activate the seal!"

There were more than 300 Magicians present. Each one of them was higher than Level-8, and they were all working on one of the largest magic seals to ever be conceived in the history of Firuman.

As soon as Link gave his command, these Magicians began channeling their power according to the restrictions that had been imposed upon them beforehand.

Hum... Hum... The large influx of Mana hummed softly. It sounded almost peaceful. However, it belied a raging torrent of Mana now flowing within the magic seal. There was now a visible distortion in the air around the barrier.

At that moment, there seemed to be some sort of heat wave emanating from the ground and rising into the air. Huge waves of Mana began radiating from the seal, causing the wildlife in the surrounding forest to flee in terror.

Link served as the pivot of the healing magic seal. As the most powerful Magician present, he was responsible for controlling at least 40 percent of the power circulating in the magic seal.

This was an extremely demanding task. In all of Firuman, there were no more than five Magicians capable of withstanding such a strain. Even if they were physically sturdy enough to endure it, there was no guarantee that they would be able to seal up the realm crack completely.

The Magician at the pivot of the magic seal would also need to endure the pressure for a long time. In short, the success of the entire process hinged on both the Magician's power level and their mental fortitude.

At that moment, Link's mental processes were working at top speed. He was distributing the influx of power evenly throughout the magic seal while making sure that power was flowing in uniformly from every Magician.

There were more than 300 Magicians present possessing either Dragon Power or Sunlight Power. Their power and spellcasting levels also varied greatly from each other. With their combined powers, they had produced a smorgasbord of different flavors of power circulating within the magic seal.

Link currently played the role of a chef, meticulously adjusting the proportion of each flavor of power so that they either merged with each other or canceled each other out. This delicate step was necessary in order to produce a flavorful mix of powers.

Link's Realm Essence Power was depleting rapidly. Large amounts of energy had to be spent to sustain the rapid thought processes currently running through his mind. His soul was literally burning up inside him as he pushed himself to his limits in order to control the power flow within the magic seal.

His eyes were now glowing with a silver light which grew brighter by the minute. This was the fire within Link's spirit.

Before long, Link's entire body was enveloped in the silver glow.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A series of rumbling sounds rang out from the Void. Beams of translucent light appeared in the air within the barrier. At first, there was one beam of light, then two, then three... They intersected with each other, forming a luminescent web in the air.

The brilliant web of light then descended from the sky, covering the crack completely. During the process, the translucent beams of light grew in number until every gap in the web-like structure was filled in.

At this point, Link was burning through his own power at a terrifying speed while handling every aspect of the procedure. He was now spending more than 100 Realm Essence Power points every second. His body was also slowly deteriorating due to the strain.

"Arrgh!!!" Link roared out in pain. He feared that his thought processes would be affected if he kept his pain bottled up in him.

He absolutely could not afford to make a mistake at this crucial juncture.

Outside the web of light, Celine saw what was happening in the magic seal and panicked. She closed her fist, then opened it. She then felt her palm. It was wet with cold sweat.

"Something's not right," said Celine to Piasce, who was standing beside her when Link roared out.

Piasce was also closely looking at the situation around the realm crack. To him, the sealing of the realm crack was a good thing. It would mean that Nozama would not be able to track him down. The Lord of the Deep would also have a hard time entering Firuman. Piasce would be able to rest easier with the realm crack sealed.

Like Celine, he was also looking at the whole process with a concerned look on his face. He then said, "As the pivot of the magic seal, the lord needs to endure most of the magic seal's strain. This is a risk he has to take. Should he make even the slightest mistake, it would set back the entire process and may even cause the Crack Seal to collapse in itself. It would be a catastrophe of the highest order."

Piasce had goosebumps just thinking about what Link had to endure. If he was in Link's shoes right now, he would probably have collapsed from exhaustion within minutes.

During their brief confrontation, Piasce was able to place Link's power between Level-12 and Level-13. Although Link was much stronger than him, there seemed to be no discernible distinction in the essence of his power. He had no idea how Link was able to hold out for so long.

Celine grew even more worried when she heard what Piasce said. As the magic seal's circulation process was extremely delicate and could not be interrupted at any point, Celine could only watch on helplessly from the sidelines.

Nana was standing beside Celine at that moment. When she heard what Piasce had said, she said flatly, "Piasce, you're thinking too much. My master will not fail."

There was a vague look of condescension on her indifferent face. Piasce shrugged. "Of course, I don't want him to fail. I'm just stating the facts as they are right now."

Nana turned to look at the magic seal. "I'm also stating them as they are."

Though Piasce possessed Level-11 Pinnacle Magical Power, he was merely a scholar. Someone like him would not fully understand her master's power and resolve.

As he was still a bit wary of Nana, Piasce decided to not argue with her any further.

Just then, the translucent web of light had fully merged with the Crack Seal. It began to shrink, expelling all the Mana within the Crack Seal out of the Firuman realm.

As the pivot of the magic seal, Link was now shining so brightly that no one could look at him directly. From afar, he now resembled a silver sun that had descended to the ground.

No one knew how long he would be able to endure the strain of the process.

As everyone looked at Link, anxiously worried that he might collapse at any moment, the purple clumps of Mana within the Crack Seal began to shrink. Three minutes later, the Mana clouds vanished completely. Soon, the dark earth on both sides of the seal began pressing towards each other, and the crack grew smaller and smaller.

All of a sudden, there was a clear ting from the crack. The sound was so resonant that it seemed to vibrate through every person on the scene.

It was then that the crack vanished completely.

The healing magic seal emitted a few flashes of light which then died out gradually. At the center of the magic seal, the blinding silver light also began to fade away, slowly revealing Link's form in the center of it all.

Link was half-kneeling on the ground, with one hand gripped tight around the handle of the Ode of a Full Moon sword. He was taking in huge gulps of air. His body was drenched in sweat. Despite looking as pale as a corpse, he was wearing a huge, relieved smile on his face.

Celine rushed over to his side, immediately helping him up. She asked, "Are you alright?"

"I'm alright, but I may need a few days' rest after all this." Link was still staring at where the crack had been moments ago. Though he was physically exhausted, he now felt at ease, as if he had just downed a glass of cold beer during a hot summer's day.

Felina and the young Red Dragon Warriors quickly came over. They were all looking at him with awe and reverence.

Suddenly, Link could hear a series of disordered footsteps coming towards him. It was the Red Dragon Elders.

They hurried over to where the crack had been. After observing its current state, they turned towards Link and asked incredulously in unison, "Duke, is the crack sealed up for good?"

Despite what they had seen, the elders still required confirmation from their duke in order to quell their fears once and for all.

Link nodded. "Yes, it's sealed up. The space here isn't just repaired; it's also been fortified by the magic seal. Now, not even teleportation spells can be cast here."

The Red Dragon Elders were overjoyed!

The dragon race had finally rectified the crime committed by the traitor known as Isendilan. With the threat towards the entire dragon race now gone, every dragon present was now able to heave a sigh of relief.

No one would ever forget what Link had done for all of them.

Though the Red Dragon Elders were not as quick as the younger Red Dragons to express their gratitude, there was a noticeable change in their behavior towards him.

They were now humbler and more respectful towards him. Such a change could only be felt personally. Link had a feeling that if he were to declare himself as dragon king at that moment, none of these rigid-minded dragons would have been too averse to the idea.

His reputation among the dragon race was not the only thing to have benefited from the sealing of the realm crack.

After successfully closing up the realm crack, a message from the game system popped up in his field of sight.

Achievement: Savior of the Realm

Description: Through the activation of a healing magic seal, Player Link has successfully sealed up the crack in the Firuman realm.

Reward: Crystal Essence.

Link had no idea what a Crystal Essence was. Thankfully, it came with a description.

Crystal Essence

Quality: Tier-18

Description: A mysterious type of Astral Meteorite. It is soft like rubber and almost impossible to cut through. Through the application of Legendary Magical Power, it will crystallize to form a 0.2-ton material with near flawless magical resistance without changing any of its innate properties. This allows it to resist all kinds of magic.

Not only will it have near perfect magical resistance, but it will also be able to retain all of its original properties. This is indeed a gift sent down from the heavens! thought Link.

As a grandmaster of enchantment magic, Link was immediately able to come up with a few ways to put this piece of Astral Meteorite to good use. He would be able to forge perhaps the most powerful magical equipment in all of Firuman with it.

Suppressing his joy, he turned to Felina and the other dragons and said, "The realm crack has been repaired. I'll need to rest now. Tomorrow, I'll be leaving for Ferde."

With the matter of the realm crack resolved, he was now able to move on to more pressing matters at hand.

He still had a lot of business to attend to, such as searching for the mysterious gear in the Sea of Void, preventing the realm reunification, fighting off the Army of Destruction in the North, and so on and so forth.

Felina said, "Duke, I'll accompany you back to Ferde."

"Me too."

"Me too!"

"And me."

"The queen is still in Ferde. I wish to be by her side while she recuperates."

A crowd of young Red Dragons had formed around Link, pestering him to allow them to accompany him back to Ferde. The Red Dragon Elders looked on at this with a tired smile but did not bother stopping any of them.

Link nodded. "Alright, go get ready then. We'll be leaving tomorrow."

...

The moment the realm crack was sealed up, slight changes rippled across Firuman. Masters inside and outside of the realm were all able to sense a change in the air.

In the Skeletal Fort, to the north of the Black Forest, Eugene suddenly jolted.

The Mana disturbance has disappeared. What's going on?

She stood up and was about to head out and seek an explanation, when suddenly Molina came up to her and said, "Your Highness, my master has informed me that the realm crack near Dragon Valley had been sealed up."

"Sealed up? Of course!" Eugene was stunned. She fell silent for a moment. Then she sighed. "Must be the lord of Ferde's doing. He's certainly stronger than me when it comes to matters like this."

...

Abyss

There was the sound of breaking glass. Lord of the Deep, Nozama had smashed his wine glass into pieces on the ground. His Succubus servants were all trembling in a corner, fearing that they might end up as the next target of their master's ire.

However, Nozama completely ignored them. He growled through gritted teeth, "Link, time and time again, you've obstructed my every move!"

With the realm crack mended, entering the Firuman realm just became a lot harder. Not only had this accursed human Magician robbed him of two of his daughters, but he had also repeatedly foiled his plans without fail.

Barely restraining his own anger, Nozama now turned his attention towards the realm that he had recently conquered. "Puny one, by all means, let this little victory go to your head. Once I find my prize, I'll let you have a taste of my wrath!"