Advent of the Archmage

The Wailing Gorge, cave.

Nana was behind him, so whose arm did he just touch?

Skinorse felt goosebumps all over him, and cold sweat sprouted all over his back. He had the sudden urge to get up and just run.

Poof. Link cast an illumination spell and weak light lit up the cave. Under the dim yellow light, Link saw two pairs of wide eyes and two faces filled with terror. One was Skinorse, and the other was Melinda, the Yabba woman.

As for Nana, she was how she always was. The black cat was curled inside Nana’s shirt, licking its paws as if the outside world had nothing to do with it.

As for the surroundings, the cave tunnel was already very spacious. It was 50 feet wide and more than 15 feet high. There were pebbles scattered all over the ground, and to the left, there was a huge ten-foot tall semicircular boulder that blocked everyone’s line of sight. Many stalactites hung down from the ceiling of the cave. There were two dark tunnels up ahead, one of which had wind traveling through, creating eerie keening sounds.

"N-nothing? But I clearly felt something. It was soft and kind of warm." Skinorse was about to cry. He flattened himself against the wall and gripped daggers with both hands in a defensive position. Only like this could he be slightly at ease.

Whoosh. Link cast another light spell. He lit up three in total, and three fist-sized balls of milky white light flew out. One was stuck above Skinorse’s head, one stuck onto the ceiling, and another turned and flew behind the boulder in the upper left.

The space was instantly illuminated, and everything became clear. No blind spots were left. Skinorse was a lot more reassured. Gripping his daggers, he inched towards the boulder. He thought that it was the only possible hiding place. If that thing he touched really existed, it had to be here.

He was already prepared to fight.

Three feet, six feet, nine feet... After six more feet, he would be behind the boulder. Here, Skinorse pounced using his experience and rolled forward after landing. He ended in a half squat behind the boulder, his dagger before him and ready to go in either direction.

If there was someone hiding behind the boulder, Skinorse would charge like this to ensure he wouldn’t be attacked.

"Where is he? Where? Still no one?" Skinorse felt that he was going to have a mental breakdown.

The cave was only so big, and this boulder was the only hiding place. If there was nothing here, then what the f*ck did he touch?!

"Skinorse, m-maybe you imagined it?" Melinda asked timidly. She was curled up on Nana’s back as if she wanted to disappear.

Skinorse lost his confidence. He lowered his head and looked around. If that guy really existed, there should be footprints on the ground. Skinorse started suspecting that he’d imagined it because there were no footprints at all.

"Lord, do you sense anything wrong?" Skinorse felt that he was so nervous that he made a mistake—and a rookie mistake at that.

Link didn’t speak after casting the light spell and carefully investigated the surrounding marks. At this time, he’d already found some abnormal marks.

"You were right. You probably did touch something. Look here," Link said, pointing at the center of the boulder.

Skinorse looked over. There was a small scrape at the six-foot point. It was a fresh mark as well. It seemed that the thing had gone deeper into the cave.

"It probably flies, and after you accidentally touched it, it was scared too and immediately flew away. It’s silent when flying or it’s very quiet and was covered by the wind in the cave on the right."

While speaking, Link ended the light spell, only keeping the one on top of Skinorse’s head. "If I guessed correctly," he continued, "there should be some abnormal things in this cave. The thing we just ran into should be like a detective sentinel."

In the game, these sentinels were called "Night Whistles." They were a type of trained bird unique to the Wailing Gorge. If a Night Whistle was discovered inside a cave, it was a sign that there was definitely a storyline quest inside.

If Link was correct, the one right ahead was called "The Night King’s Sadness."

Sealed locations like caves had fewer geographical details, so this place was practically identical to the game. When the familiar semicircular boulder appeared, Link immediately confirmed his guess.

After knowing this was a storyline quest, Link felt relieved but also annoyed.

The reason was simple. The final boss in this quest, the Night King, wasn’t too powerful but the way to win was really messed up. If the player had bad luck, they would feel like smashing their head against a wall.

The quest was called the Night King’s Sadness, but it could easily end up being the player’s sadness.

Link had done this storyline quest at least 100 times in the game. He passed after completely wracking his brain every time just to win a double mount that the Night King dropped.

When he got it, Link swore that he would never come to this messed up place. But now, in real life, he was back.

On the other hand, Skinorse heard that there were sentinels and scratched his head. "Lord, there are two roads up ahead. Which way should we go?"

"The left side, the one without wind," Link said.

"Ah, but the right side has wind. That means there’s an exit." Skinorse didn’t understand. He liked adventures, so he knew this type of basic knowledge.

Link had already gone toward the left. "The wind isn’t natural. It’s a wind element spell. I can feel that it will end up as a dead end."

Actually, Link couldn’t tell at all. In his opinion, this wind was exactly like natural wind. Link only knew because he’d fallen for the trick before.

This was the first trick of the Night King’s Sadness. The pioneer gamers would see that the left was still while the right continuously had wind. They would instinctively feel that there was something in the right and go that way.

However, the result was the wind would lead them into the maze-like tunnel and run into a bunch of wind element creatures. There were usually two endings after choosing the right side. One, the player would accidentally attract too many creatures and get killed; two, the player would get completely stumped by the maze and return to the cemetery to be resurrected. (The game didn’t have the Hearthstone.)

The ones who could exit the maze were either geniuses or were lucky enough to win the lottery.

The tricks here could be used on rookies but also experienced players. Link was now completely focused. He was ready to deal with the Night King’s traps.

Link’s words were very reliable. Since he said the right side was a dead end, Skinorse walked towards the left without any hesitation.

"Wait, let’s leave a mark behind."

With that, Link walked to the right entrance. He pointed his wand forward, and a light spell appeared, flying deep into the cave. The spell had a unique characteristic—it had a very, very long range.

Its Mana structure was introverted and very stable. After completion, it would steadily release light until all the Mana inside was used up. The Magician didn’t need to consume energy during the process to maintain its existence. This resulted in its super long range. Basically, the light spell could be shot as far as one could see.

Link controlled the spell along the tunnel. Unsteadily, it flew 650 feet before sticking onto the wall.

"This spell can last three minutes," he explained. "The entire time, it’ll release large amounts of Mana aura—"

Before he could finish, the black cat stuck out its head and said, "And then the demon general will charge into there and end up in the maze. Meow, Link, you’re evil. I like it."

Link shrugged in admission.

Deep inside, he was impressed. As expected of a god, the black cat immediately understood the inner structure of the cave. Of course, even though it looked extremely cute, it was actually cold inside. It would sacrifice anything for freedom, which was evident from his actions.

Link was still cautious of it.

Hearing their words, Skinorse was rest assured. Under the guidance of the light above his head, he took the lead and entered the left cave. He walked forward while Link stayed behind to erase their marks. He wiped away all the footprints, spell auras, odors, and everything else.

The path was mostly smooth, and nothing abnormal happened.

The further they went, the more spacious the cave became. After five minutes, Link suddenly felt something. Then he heard a boom come from behind them.

"What’s that?" Skinorse’s footsteps faltered.

Link was a bit surprised by this. "My Magic Door was broken in. It seems that the demon general truly is powerful and we can only fool him for so long. Don’t worry. Let’s continue."

After around 300 feet, there was suddenly a glowing Magic Door before them. A sentence was written in magic runes. Mortal, what is the biggest lie in life?

There were three choices under it: love, power, and wealth. There was a blank space after it, as well as an explanation below it. If you want to enter, answer the question.

Seeing this, Link sighed. This was first trick for experienced players. In the game, countless good men were wrecked by this Magic Door.