Advent of the Archmage

This was Link's 18th day at the crack.

Nothing else happened these days, perhaps because the powerful barrier kept the enemies away or perhaps because Link's fight against the divine punishment had been too great. Link could focus on studying a magic seal to heal the Realm Crack.

To increase efficiency, he didn't keep it a secret. He publicized the magic seal to all the Magicians there so they could all participate in the study.

There were hundreds of Magicians within the barrier. The weakest was at Level-7. Through their mutual effort, they successfully created a small experimental magic seal after 18 days.

Now, Link and the Magicians were testing it.

The healing seal was printed on a runestone of more than 20 centimeters long. Five Magicians were feeding their power into it. Link stood to the side, making precise adjustments.

Maybe because the realm took care of them, the experiment was very successful. Half an hour later, cheers erupted from the crowd.

"Success!"

"The Realm Crack will finally disappear!"

"Duke, you saved us!"

All sorts of voices rang out, filled with irrepressible joy. Some dragons were even crying from the excitement. Only the heavens knew how much pressure the crack gave them. A single mishap could cause the crack to expand and swallow the Korora Mountain Range, Dragon Valley, and even the entire realm.

Even without this problem, the crack led directly to the boundless Sea of Void. If another Void Tyrant or even more terrifying creature burst free from it, even a divine-level defense barrier wouldn't be able to protect them for long.

But now, this crisis was over!

Link also sighed in relief. Since the experimental spell had succeeded, the next step was just enlarging the scale of the spell. It wasn't hard.

In other words, this crack that had been threatening Firuman all this time was finally resolved.

He looked around at each Magician and smiled genuinely. "This runestone is the result of everyone's efforts. It also represents the friendship between Ferde and the Dragon Valley. Everyone, let's keep working hard and create a magic seal that can truly mend the crack to prevent any accidents."

This was the truth.

A Red Dragon Elder walked up and declared, "The duke is right. As long as the crack still exists, we can't relax, understand?"

"Understood!" the dragon Magicians replied in unison.

The elder was pleased but kept his emotions checked. The younger dragons didn't care about that. Many waved their fists energetically, ready to do something big. Many more gazed at Link with burning and reverent eyes.

Suddenly, a young dragon Magician asked loudly, "Duke, will you stay here during this time?"

Everyone knew about Link's power and wisdom.

In the past, he'd also created many miracles. He had uncovered the dukes' evil plot, defeated the traitor Isendilan, quickly broke through the Mist Maze, defeated the impossibly terrifying Void Tyrant, and even defeated the God of Destruction's Saint. His Ferde was now one of the most flourishing places on the mainland!

To most young dragons, their duke was the only one who could lead them to victory. As long as they could keep going with him, they would have no fear. Even the queen couldn't give them this sense of security.

Thus, when that dragon asked, the other Magicians also looked to Link. Both young and old all had similar expressions. They hoped Link could remain.

However, the Ferde Magicians were the opposite. Their lord was only the dragon duke in name. It was only an alliance. Their lord was already generous to provide the method to mend the crack. Why did these dragons want the lord to do everything?

Did they want to steal their lord?

If the Magicians didn't know how important the crack was, they would definitely protest now. But even though no one spoke, they all glared at the dragons.

Link scanned the crowd and saw all of their inner thoughts. Thinking, he said, "I will stay for one more month. During this time, I will fortify the barrier and lead the creation of the magic seal's core."

He couldn't stay for longer. After that, he must return to Ferde and plan to attack the Army of Destruction and lower their confidence. He also had to find a way to prevent the fusion of realms.

All these things were important. He couldn't stay at the crack.

Hearing this, the dragons were a bit disappointed, but they couldn't say anything. After all, Link wasn't a true dragon duke. They'd all accept that, but Link also had the powerful Ferde. He might not be impressed by the weakening Dragon Valley.

The dragons weren't as strong anymore and had lost confidence.

The Ferde Magicians couldn't argue either. The crack was too important, and nothing could go wrong. Everyone knew this. There was nothing disputable about Link's actions.

Seeing everyone quiet down, Link clapped and said, "Alright, let's start now."

Since the test succeeded, everything else was basically just physical labor. Neither the Red Dragon Magicians nor Ferde's Sunlight Magicians lacked physical strength. With Link's supervision, their speed was unexpectedly fast.

One day, two days, three days… Ten days passed in the blink of an eye. The magic seal was at least 60% complete. The core was completed, and all that remained was the outside.

This was much faster than Link had predicted. However, he said he would stay for a month, so he didn't go back on his words. He just had more free time when his workload lessened.

Of course, Link didn't relax completely. When he was free, he spent most of his time inside his room. There, Celine was studying the Book of Revelations. Link would also struggle with this Legendary Pinnacle book. Both studied Soul magic together.

Celine was serious this time. Her improvements in Soul magic were shocking.

At first, Link was responsible for tutoring while she learned. However, Link was very average in the aspect of Soul magic. A few days later, Celine could start to truly discuss with Link. The two helped each other and learned even faster.

Perhaps the Book of Revelations had activated Celine's blood talent. Her power increased almost twice as fast as before. She would soon enter the Legendary level.

Sensing her improvements, Celine worked even harder. She wasn't far off from how Link had been at Creekwood Village. She was truly invested in it, and Link naturally supported this.

The Mana density around the crack was higher than other places, but it still wasn't high enough. Link specially set up a magic seal around the house to raise the density by 50%. When Celine was tired, Link would sometimes cast a dragon recovery spell for her and give her some delicious food. Occasionally, when Celine was tired of the book, Link would accompany her on walks and talk about light topics.

These actions were all effective. Celine had no worries and improved quickly. If others knew, they would be dumbfounded.

Twenty days after creating the magic seal to mend the crack, it was basically complete. They were in the last steps. Every Magician involved felt like they'd accomplished something historic.

The same day, Celine felt that something had changed when she woke up in the morning. She was filled with endless strength.

After being purified of her Demon Power, Celine's eyes had been dark purple. After leveling up into Legendary, her eyes returned to pure black. They looked like Link's, but there were two balls of dark purple light inside. They pulsed like flames.

Link discovered this change before Celine herself. Pleased, he smiled and asked, "Do you feel anything different?"

Celine had just woken up and was still bleary. After a blank moment, she cocked her head at Link. A few seconds later, she laughed. "I realized that I can see your thoughts."

Link froze and then shook his head in disbelief. "No way. I didn't sense any invasions."

Celine was confused too. She hit her forehead. "Weird. I saw it earlier, but now you're guarded, and I can't see it anymore."

"Okay, I'll relax. Guess what I'm thinking."

With that, Link stared at Celine's juicy red lips without talking.

Celine looked seriously at Link. A few seconds later, her milky cheeks reddened, and she hit Link. "So annoying! Why are you thinking that?"

"You really can see it?" Link was shocked. He'd just thought of their past experiences in bed. Looking at Celine's expression, she must have seen it.

Celine wasn't really angry. She just wanted to hide her embarrassment and quickly recovered. She didn't know why it was like this. After a while, she said, "I think that maybe this is my bloodline talent."

"It probably is." Link looked at Celine and quickly thought of the talent's use. "If you pair this talent with spells like Soul Comfort or Serene Spirit, the target will have no secrets… Ah, no. There might be another use."

"What do you mean?" Celine was interested too.

Link climbed out of bed and hurried to the window. He saw a strong Red Dragon Warrior practicing in the distance. Link distorted space so the other's image was projected before Celine. "Look, he doesn't know you're here, so he won't have any guards. What is he thinking?"

Celine looked and said, "I really can see his thoughts, but they're very messy and broken. Most are battle techniques and such. He also has a goal, which is to keep strengthening and become a Legendary figure."

"Oh, that's normal. Another one." Link changed the target to a female Magician from Ferde.

After seeing her, Celine said, "She's thinking of her children in Ferde. Her son is five, and her daughter is only three. She's worried that the servants can't take good care of them. Yes, they're very cute."

"Oh, and this one?" Link changed the target to another Ferde Magician.

"He's thinking of his pretty girlfriend. He's worried she'll like someone else and cheat on him."

"Seems like I should bring them back to Ferde… What about this one?" Link changed the target to a young dragon. He knew this guy. He was Piceno and had just become of age. He was talented and was already at the pinnacle of Level-8.

"This…oh? I can't see anything… No, I see darkness. No, it's coming at me. It's a soul trap!"