Advent of the Archmage

White Cloud City.

This time, Link didn’t experience any crowding. Wherever the Sky Shattering Warlord was, the Beastmen would immediately move aside. It was like squeezing a stick into a can of sardines, forcing a path out.

Holun didn’t kill the giant dragon and sacrificed so many lives, so he felt disgraced. The entire way, his expression was dark. He walked wordlessly with his head lowered, not slowing down until he reached the house of the White Cloud City’s city lord.

The so-called city lord house wasn’t bad. It was a stone longhouse with two levels and quite big as well. It was more than 100 feet long and wide. In the impoverished Beastman city, it was good, but in a human city, it couldn’t even be compared to a rich merchant’s mansion.

The city lord had come to wait for them by the gate early on. He was an old Beastman around 50 years old. Link could tell that he was very strong in his youth and probably was a powerful Warrior. Now though, he was frail and hunched. His muscles had shrunk, and his face was wrinkled.

When Holun saw him, he said brusquely, "Old man, my axe broke. The Master Magician said he can make a new one for me. Hand over whatever good stuff you have."

The old Beastman wasn’t annoyed at all. He smiled warmly. "A broken axe isn’t much. All that matters is that you’re back. If you need material, you can take whatever I have that you need."

Holun looked less tense. "Time is tight. I need a new weapon as soon as possible. Take me there now."

The city lord nodded and said to the soldiers, "Take good care of the guests."

After the guards replied, he took Holun away.

"Follow me." The guard looked at Link with animosity and stared at Felina even harder. Only Masos was spared the looks.

It couldn’t be helped. Beastmen were naturally suspicious of foreigners, and it couldn’t be changed within a short period.

The inside of the stone house was alright. It was furnished with tables and chairs, and after everyone took a seat, a voluptuous Beastwoman came out to serve them wine. Her features were quite pretty, and she had naturally curled black hair. Her figure was hot too with a bit of wildness. She was an undisputable beauty even to a human.

"This is Charlotte," Masos explained to Link softly. "The city lord’s youngest wife. She specifically treats the Warriors. If you like her, you can tell the city lord, and she’ll spend the night with you."

Link was taken aback. He didn’t expect the Beastmen to have this tradition. Obviously uninterested, he shook his head. "That’s nice, but the Beastmen are too strong. I don’t think I can take it."

Felina heard this and was unhappy. She glared at Masos. "Merchant, mind your business and shut up!"

Since no one entertained him, Masos shrugged and drank by himself.

After a few dozen minutes, Holun came with a big sack to Link’s side. He tossed the sack down with a thud and said a bit proudly, "Master, all the good stuff is here. Do you think they’re okay?"

Link opened the sack and checked each object.

There were indeed quite a few good things, but they were all unrefined ore. He saw orichalcum, silver compounds, thorium, obsidian, star copper, and more. There were around 20 different types.

Link thought for a moment and got an idea. He chose five fist-sized rocks and said, "This is enough. You can take the rest back."

"That’s it? You can take more. No need to save anything." Holun only knew that these things were valuable but didn’t know how to use them. He just thought that if he used all of it, the axe would be really, really powerful.

Link couldn’t help but smile. Beastmen were truly ignorant and uncultured. Few in the race had any wisdom. All they knew were some basic common sense and experience. But because of this, they had simple thoughts and wouldn’t think about nonsense. They could easily put their all into a battle and were perfect Warriors.

When they joined the allies in the previous game and received the weaponry supplied by the other races, they produced shocking combat ability. They were the most elite group in the army.

Later, the allies had been able to fend off the demon army’s direct attack mostly thanks to the Beastmen.

Seeing that Holun was worried this was perfunctory for him, Link took out the biggest piece of obsidian from the sack. "Adding this will do. You know, an axe is only so big. More material will just be a waste."

This made sense, so Holun accepted it. He scratched his head and asked, "Master, when will I get my axe?"

"I’ll do it as fast as possible. During this time, I hope you can go find more helpers. You know, a giant dragon is hard to deal with."

Holun could relate to this deeply. "You’re right. That dragon is honestly troublesome. Here, I’ll go find Avatar. That guy’s more powerful than me!"

Avatar, the Glorious Warlord, had unbeatable combat skills. The strongest human Warrior was Kanorse, the Dawn Swordsman. He had almost perfect techniques, but in the game, these two had fought, and Kanorse couldn’t even block 30 of Avatar’s moves. It was obvious how powerful this Beastman warlord was.

"We also need a shaman," Link reminded. Divine power was indispensable against legendary power.

"Okay, I will go find the grand shaman."

"That should be enough. Go."

Holun was impatient about revenge and didn’t want to waste another second. He turned and left. When he passed Charlotte, he reached out and squeezed her boob and said seriously, "Charlotte, when I defeat that dragon, I’m gonna do you for three nights!"

The Beastwoman glanced at him and patted Holun’s crotch. "Then you have to come back alive."

"Wait for me!" Holun left the house with the expression of a tragic hero.

Link drank some wine and started working on the axe after a short break.

He didn’t plan on changing the axe’s original appearance or weight because Holun was already used to it. Changing it could affect his performance. Link didn’t plan on adding some special magic effect to the axe either. It was too complicated, and Holun’s straightforward brain wouldn’t be able to use it. Link just planned on creating the sharpest battle axe.

As for magic...there was only one spell that could work. The effect would strengthen Holun’s power and endurance to the maxe. In other words, it could turn him into a war machine that wouldn’t tire out on the battlefield.

If he could do this, Holun had to have endless vitality.

A regular spell couldn’t do this. He had to use a "blood-sucking" spell. Here, the blood was another name for "vitality."

Blood-sucking spells can be both good and bad but it doesn’t involve much power from the soul, so it doesn’t count as black magic. There might be some problems with humans, but the Beastmen don’t care about this so I’ll use it.

With that thought, Link started to construct his first slightly-demonic weapon.

...

While Link was doing his best on the axe and Holun was hurrying around gathering manpower, a human dressed as a scout raced across the Golden Plains on a horse.

This man wasn’t a stranger—it was wandering vigilante Skinorse. He’d wanted to join the Norton Army and go with Link, but Link was busy, and he couldn’t wait, so he went to the North first.

Because of his power and extraordinary sneaking abilities, he made many victories and was already the major of the MI3.

Coming to the Golden Plains this time, he only had one goal: give Link a letter in the Dragon Valley.

The reason was simple. The Dark Elves of the North were becoming more threatening by day, and the shadow of the Divine Gear was thickening. There were more and more demons, and everyone could sense that the Dark Elves were about to unleash their final attack.

How could Link, such a renowned Battle Mage, be absent during the time of crisis?

The reinforcements from the dwarves and Yabba people had asked about Magician Link as soon as they arrived at the Orida Fortress. When they heard that Link wasn’t there, their expressions all darkened and they seemed dejected. It was as if the humans were nothing without Link.

For every moment that Link was away, a message for help would come his way. Even if he was at the end of the world, the messengers would risk their lives to find him. He’d now become a pillar of the human race, just like Aymons was to the Dark Elves. Countless people were counting on him. He had to be there!

Racing down the vast grassland, Duke Abel’s words echoed in Skinorse’s mind. Find him as fast as possible. We need his wisdom! I heard that a powerful human Magician appeared in the White Cloud City. Perhaps I should go look there.

Skinorse had a feeling that that human Magician was the Master Link he was looking for.