Advent of the Archmage
chapter-583

When the Storm Lord was still alive, the World Tree already existed. It had a manager at that time, and we all called him Heim. That means 'highest sovereign. At first, the lords and Heim lived in harmony. Then one day, a lord made a mistake while testing a new spell, leading to a horrible spatial change. Heim spent three years trying to revert this change. During these three years, countless people died… Finally, Heim realized the danger of magic, and he decided to ban everyone from using it… Then, the War of Domination erupted.

Link sat quietly in his Mage Tower's library, listening to the sword spirit recount the War of Domination from millenniums ago.

It was too long ago, and the sword spirit often had to stop, but his memory was still quite clear.

"What happened next?" Link asked.

What happened next? Let me think, let me think.

The sword spirit's voice was close to a murmur. He didn't continue until a long while later.

Heim was too powerful. The lords weren't his match at all. Using the World Tree's power, he easily defeated them all… Until one day, someone discovered his secret.

Here, the sword spirit stopped again. Link couldn't help but urge in his mind, "And then?"

Don't worry, don't worry. It's been too long… Oh, right. There was some unknown thief who somehow climbed onto Heim's World Tree. He discovered the secret of the Book of Creation. Heim destroyed the thief, but the secret still spread. The Storm Lord, Fire King, Iron Dragon and more all went forth. Finally, my old master, the Storm Lord, found the chance. He used turbid lightning to shatter the Book of Creation into pieces… Ah, I was so powerful back then. I shattered the tablet with one hit, scattering the pieces on the ground… After that, I became famous…

"Alright, alright," Link quickly cut the sword spirit off so it wouldn't drown in its past glory. "What about the pieces? Was it really broken into three big pieces with one in the Dragon Valley, one in the Isle of Dawn, and one in the North?"

Let me think.

The sword spirit sank into deep thought again. Link had to wait patiently. This time, it took a long while to think. Just as Link was about to give up, it spoke again.

It was too chaotic at that time. I don't remember how many pieces it broke into, but one was really big. It was the main portion. When it broke, the Storm Lord grabbed it… He'd checked it carefully and then said it was useless. He was about to throw it away, but someone stopped him…

"And then?" Listening to the sword spirit's memories made Link feel constipated. He had to push it out bit by bit. It even made his stomach hurt.

This time, the sword spirit didn't reply. More than ten minutes later, it said in confusion, I can't remember, for some reason.

Link sighed deeply and composed himself. "Then tell me what you can remember," he said.

Okay. I'm sorry. It's been too long, and I can't remember. Its voice was apologetic.

Link couldn't do anything except comfort it. "It's okay. Anything you say now will become my unique advantage. I don't need to know everything. I just have to know more than other people."

The sword spirit seemed to feel better, and it continued.

I have some impression of where the large piece went. I think… the Storm Lord still threw it to the north. He threw it really, really far away. He even used a wind spell. Perhaps that's the one in the North.

"Oh… So you're saying that the one furthest up north may be the biggest one and the main portion at that?" Link suddenly wanted to go north immediately and search for the piece.

However, he quickly calmed down. It had been millenniums since the war. Throughout these years, there must have been countless ambitious people who went to find it. The High Elves must have had some information too. They wouldn't let go of a chance to control the World Tree.

After all these years, either someone found it secretly, or it was very difficult to find. Anyway, it couldn't be rushed. It depended on pure luck to find it.

Probably. I remember that the main portion had many more times the content than the other pieces.

Link was intrigued. He continued asking, "Is there more information?"

Let me think.

The sword spirit fell silent. After that, it managed to say some more, but they were mostly unreliable rumors. Link could only remember them and use them for reference.

While he was communicating with the sword spirit, Celine came over. "Link, that mouse surrendered."

Ever since that day, the mouse had been stuck in the basement. In order to not damage the Mage Tower, the Magicians just used the most powerful seal to keep the thing in a corner instead of capturing it.

It had been more than a week now. The thing hadn't had any food or water and had less than 30 feet to move in. It probably couldn't keep going anymore.

Since the sword spirit couldn't think of other valuable things, Link stood up. "Let's go take a look."

The two got to the basement. Eliard and Evelina were there too, observing the cage.

Eliard looked as if he'd seen something new and special. "Link, you came at the right time. Come look at this thing. We thought it was a magic pet, but it's actually a demon. It has such great transformation skills!"

Transformation? Link was quite curious. The game had transformations. For example, dragonification was the most typical one. However, a dragon couldn't hide their power after transforming. They were still a dragon.

But this demon didn't have any demonic aura after transforming. It looked just like a mouse. This was quite interesting.

He walked inside the seal but didn't see a mouse anywhere. There was just a demon girl around 13 or 14 years old.

She couldn't be over four feet tall. She wore a pure white fur dress and was barefoot. Her face looked just like a human's with pink cheeks. There were only two inhuman characteristics. First, her black eyes had faint purple veins. There were also two curled horns near her ears. The horns were also black with the same purple veins. They were beautiful and looked harmless.

Perhaps due to being watched by everyone, the "little girl" looked shy. She hugged her knees in the corner, peering outside cautiously. Her expression, paired with her lovely features, made her look pitiful. There was none of the chaotic murderous intent a demon should have.

Seeing Link come, she curled up even tighter, hiding her face behind her knees. Only her eyes were revealed.

"Will you kill me?" She finally spoke. Her voice was bright and young like a little girl's.

However, this was just the surface. To Link, he saw a Level-10 demon. She looked pitiful now because the Magicians present were all more powerful than her. If she faced regular people, she would be a horrific demon… The souls lost due to the explosion outside the city hadn't been laid to rest yet.

Link didn't answer the demon's question. Instead, he asked, "So you must be Nozama's daughter. Tell me your name."

"I'm Merna." The "little girl" still looked pitiful.

"Merna?" Link thought back. This name was foreign… No, he might have seen this girl before. Oh, right. She might have been in the game's demon fortress.

With this clue, Link's memory sharpened. Yes, after Avatar used his life to injure Nozama, he'd returned to the demon fortress. In the game, it was actually a storyline game. Naturally, countless players swarmed over to watch. Link went too, of course.

While they killed one boss after another, there would be a non-player character who wouldn't attack voluntarily. Her name was Merna, and she wasn't eye-catching. She wasn't brave either and would run away after a player came. They wouldn't be able to find her afterward.

Thinking now, she'd faced many players in the mid-Legendary Level and must have been terrified. She had escaped without caring about her poor dad at all. Of course, that didn't mean that Merna wasn't dangerous. It just meant that she didn't feel anything towards Nozama. They were merely using each other.

Thinking of this, Link said, "I want to know everything about Nozama. If you tell me, I'll let you go."

Merna shook her head. "No, it doesn't matter if you forgive me. If I betray my father, he can easily use a dark curse to kill me. I can't."

"Oh, then I'll just have to take you to the city's church to be baptized," Link said with a smile. He studied Merna's reaction while talking.

When he mentioned baptism, he saw Merna shudder clearly. To a demon, a baptism was like getting sliced by thousands of knives. It was the most horrible torture. Their souls would disappear completely after it.

Merna gulped. Instead of begging him, she turned to Celine and wiped at her tears. "Sister, you're my sister. Father told me about you many times. Save me, Sister, I don't want to die."

Her tears rolled down like pearls, and her voice was so sad. She looked very pitiful. Celine opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She looked to Link. It was clear from her eyes that she had softened a bit.

It wasn't because of Merna's overly-dramatic performance. Instead, it was because of their similar pasts. If not for Link, Celine would probably have a fate like Merna and become a puppet too. Merna looked to only be a teenager. She was curled up in the enemy's Mage Tower and tried so hard to save herself.

Celine couldn't do it.

Link understood Celine and knew her thoughts with that one look. He sighed inwardly and said to her, "Merna is still useful. In the future, she can help us defeat Nozama. You will be in charge of her, but know that if she does anything, you're responsible."

Gentleness appeared in Celine's eyes. She knew that Link always respected his own rules and was strict on himself. Today, he broke the rules for her. Clearly, she was very important to him.　　

"I will watch her carefully, Lord," she said seriously.

"Yes." Link nodded and turned to Eliard and Evelina. "The single annual forgiveness right of the Lord has been used up."

The lord's forgiveness was the only special right Link gave to himself.

Eliard and Evelina nodded to show that they'd recorded it. This was the supervision system between the core Magicians. Even the lord wasn't exempted from it. Of course, Link could break it if he really wanted. However, his image that he'd built up would be destroyed instantly. He had to choose between these two options.

Merna had Legendary power while Celine was only at the pinnacle of Level-8. Thus, Link tapped the magic seal. Countless runes appeared in the air and easily passed through the seal, burying into Merna's body.

At the same time, other runes flew into Celine's body.

Three seconds later, Link tapped the seal again to cancel it. Merna pouted, but she stood up obediently and walked to Celine.

She had no choice. Not only did Link seal up most of her power, but she also had a curse planted in her for Celine. Celine could torture her with one thought. She had no way to fight back.

Celine patted her head and murmured, "Alright, Merna. It's much better than baptism."

Merna's matter would temporarily stop here. "I wish to go north. I need some helpers," Link said to Eliard.

The north had the main piece of the Book of Creation. He had to at least try his luck. If he really got the piece, the High Elf threat would vanish.