Advent of the Archmage

Dragon Power was a very special kind of power. Even though Link had the Heart of the Dragon and had been studying the book Dragon, he still had a long way to go to understand the basic nature of the power.

But even if he didn't understand it, he could still let regular people have the power. Link already had this idea. He prepared to start with the dragonification magic.

The dragons had an entire set of methods to turn a human into a regular dragon. In the game, there were also Dragon Warriors and Magicians. The Red Dragon Queen had also shown Link dragonification potion without side effects.

It shouldn't be hard, Link thought.

But despite that, he still didn't have a deep understanding of it, so he didn't know what to do. That was okay though. He could ask experts.

There was an expert right in Ferde—Red Dragon Elder Pettalong.

Link called him over and expressed his wishes.

Pettalong listened patiently, his face not betraying any emotions. When Link was done, he shook his head briskly. "No, this can't do. Nothing like this has ever happened in our history. There's no precedent! Furthermore, how can the dragon race's power be spread amongst regular humans?"

"Dragons and humans are from the same source. Why not?" Link frowned.

"Duke, that's true, but in actuality, we are very different from humans. After tens of thousands of years, humans have interbred with different races, such as elves, Beastmen, Yabbas, and even the lizard people of the southern swamps. Humans are like a melting pot while the dragon bloodline is pure. Our blood is still the noble blood of our ancestors. The difference is like a pure mountain spring and the polluted swamp water. It is a difference in nature!"

Pettalong said this naturally as if it was something all dragons believed in. Link was a bit angry at this. The elder was right, but there was no class in blood.

For example, the Shadow Walker, Morpheus, was just a regular human. He was lucky to receive a piece of Godhead and instantly became a Level-19 Legendary figure. No one in the entire realm could defeat him. You could say that he wasn't noble and he would grind you into dust if he was annoyed. In his eyes, what meaning did being noble hold?

To Link, the difference between noble and lowly was just a shallow title the powerful created to support their privileges.

Thinking of this, Link's voice became cold as he said, "So my blood is a melting pot too?"

Pettalong nodded reflexively. "Yes…"

But mid-sentence, he felt something was wrong. He looked up at Link and saw the man's narrowed eyes with a glint flashing past. The elder trembled and quickly waved his hands. "Duke, that's not what I mean. You are different. Your blood is mixed, but you've already broken free from the mundane fate. The impurities of your blood have been removed. Right now, you are the pure and noble dragon duke!"

Hmph. Link vented the dissatisfaction he felt, and after a moment, he collected his fury. He knew that it was useless to go against Pettalong. At most, he could only use his Legendary authority to convince Pettalong, but it wasn't genuine or meaningful.

Pettalong's attitude alerted Link too. The other dragon elders would probably react similarly and reject the idea instinctively.

Looking at the cautious but still insistent Pettalong, Link thought, Seems that I've oversimplified things. I cannot break the dragon tradition. I need some tricks to achieve my goal.

Thinking a bit, Link changed his tactic. He began persuading Pettalong from the dragon race's perspective.

"Pettalong," he continued, "I have my own considerations. Look, us dragons are few in numbers now. There are less than 500 true Red Dragon Warriors while Firuman is filled with disasters. Before the shadow of Nozama could fade, the God of Destruction came. If we send our own Warriors into battle whenever something happens, won't we become extinct in a few years?"

Hearing this, Pettalong's expression faltered a bit. Link was right, but it still felt wrong.

"Right now, there are 20 million humans and is the most populated race in Firuman. They have the same ancestors as us too. If we choose some talented youths and train them into successful Dragon Warriors or Magicians, they can be a great help to us."

"This…" Pettalong furrowed his brows in deep thought. To be honest, Link's idea was nice. The continent was indeed in danger now; Pettalong was scared too.

But it just felt wrong. He'd been against this at first. Now, Link changed his explanation, and he couldn't find anything to disagree with. It seemed that he'd been persuaded. But how could he?

Seeing him like this, Link grinned. "So you agree?"

But Pettalong was still an experienced guy who'd lived for almost 3000 years. Even though he couldn't figure it out quickly, he still reflexively gave a neutral answer. "Your explanation is correct, but I am not well-versed in dragonification. I know there are many side effects. Why don't you ask Her Majesty?"

He couldn't refute Link, so he passed this problem to the queen.

To Link, this was already a good result. He could persuade Pettalong with this logic so he could persuade the other elders too. He didn't need them to agree; acquiescing in silence was good enough. When everything was on track, and the dragon war chariots were rumbling, it would be too late to stop!

Link chuckled. "Sure, I was planning on visiting the Dragon Valley. I'll go ask her opinion right now."

Without waiting for Pettalong's reply, white light flashed around Link, and he disappeared from the Mage Tower, reappearing on the field outside. Celine was there, practicing her shooting. Link explained where he was going and cast the Void Walk, hurrying over to the Dragon Valley.

His speed was extreme. At thousands of feet per second, almost 2000 miles per hour, he was three times faster than the wind.

The Dragon Valley was in the westernmost region of Firuman while Ferde was the easternmost. There were thousands of miles in between, but with Link's speed, he arrived at the Korora Mountain Range within three hours.

Here, Link went to check the realm crack first.

The center of the crack was located in the mountains in the South. There were runestones around it and many dragons guarding it. There were three Red Dragon Elders responsible for it and more than 50 pureblood Warriors, hundreds of flying dragons, and ground dragons. It was heavily guarded.

Link didn't collect his aura. When he reached the outside of the crack, a young flying dragon walked over. "Duke," he greeted respectfully.

Link nodded. "I'm here to check the runestones around the crack. Please lead the way."

"Yes, Duke."

The dragon turned in the sky and started flying towards the closest runestone. Link followed slowly.

From the air, one could see that the mountains in the distance glowed with a semicircle shield. It was at least 1000 feet high. The Mana inside the shield was abnormally dense, flowing like water, but not a bit leaked out because of the spatial barrier.

Link looked with squinted eyes. He could guess the Mana density from the outer texture of the Mana. It was probably five times higher than Firuman right now. The limit was 500 times. Once the density reached 500 times the norm, the spatial barrier wouldn't be able to withstand the huge pressure. At that time, a horrible Mana storm would sweep through the Korora Mountain Range. The Mana density of the entire mountain range would probably double. The entire Firuman continent would be affected as well.

Link estimated that it would take at least 13.5 years to go from five times to 500. This was a bit slower than he'd expected. This was good news.

The two now reached one runestone.

This runestone was hidden inside a sturdy obelisk. It was surrounded with a huge magic shield that could block all spells under Level-12. No mortal could ever approach it.

Of course, it wasn't guarded against Link.

When he neared the obelisk, many dragon Warriors saluted to Link. He returned them and asked the Red Dragon Elder who stayed here, "Has there been anything abnormal?"

The elder nodded. "Yes. Half a month ago, a Void Beast appeared inside the shield. It tried to break through the spatial barrier but failed in the end. Look here, the runestone even cracked due to this. Her Majesty has fixed it though."

Link was shocked. He looked in the direction the elder pointed and saw some visible cracks in the previously smooth runestone. There were many new runes too. It looked like it'd been patched up. From the way the runes were made, they were definitely from the Red Dragon Queen's hand.

Then he looked to the spatial barrier in the distance. He could see that the space inside had completely collapsed. It was practically connected to the Sea of Void. It couldn't guard against Void creatures.

Link circled the runestone and walked towards the spatial barrier, feeling carefully for the status of the consolidated space. He grew worried.

This was unexpected. Not only did the Void Beast crack the runestone, but it also created undetectable ripples in the stagnated air around the spatial barrier. And this was only a regular creature. If a stronger one came or if the God of Destruction discovered this barrier's existence, he could definitely break through. That would be a problem.

The spatial barrier isn't a long-term solution. I must quickly find a way to mend the crack.

Link couldn't do anything better now though. He could only try his best in fortifying the barrier. He circled these runestones and fortified them one by one.

He was now much better at spatial magic than the Red Dragon Queen. After repairing them, not only was the spatial barrier completely repaired, it was also stronger than before as well.

But if he wanted to stop something at the level of the God of Destruction, it was still not enough. He had to think of another plan.

After finishing the fortification, Link gave the elders some advice and continued flying towards the Dragon Valley.

As he flew, he thought about the spatial barrier. Everything is possible. The spatial barrier isn't completely safe and might accidentally be broken someday. At that time, some Void Beast will definitely burst free. They're all above the Legendary level, and these dragons aren't their match. Only the queen can stop them, but she's only one person. What if something like the Void Tyrant comes? That would be horrible.

Thinking of this, Link realized that there were too few Legendary figures of Firuman. At most, there were only around ten right now. Less than five could be counted as allies, and all had their own duties. For example, Kanorse had to stay in the North to clean out the demons in the Black Forest. He couldn't leave at all.

After thinking, Link's eyes brightened. We don't have enough people, so we'll use material power. The spatial barrier isn't safe, but it restricts the way Void creatures can enter Firuman. They can only crawl out from there. If there's an extremely strong magic array around the runestones, it can definitely kill all these guys while they're still crawling out.

Sometimes, there wasn't enough manpower, but wisdom was boundless, especially in destructive magic. It wasn't hard to create a horrible attack.

Of course, there would be a huge cost to operate the magic array too.

Link had been studying magic all this time and never relaxed. He'd received Lucia Silverstar's notes and the book, Dragon. He also studied the time magic book. Though he was far from understanding it all, his understanding of the laws had improved a lot. If he could work with the Red Dragon Queen, creating a powerful magic array around the spatial barrier wouldn't be hard.

The spatial barrier is related to the dragon race's security. If I can create a fortifying method, Gretel would owe me. Then if I ask her to help me research Dragon Power seeds, she won't be able to refuse… Right, I won't mention it first. When everything is done, I'll find a chance to mention it so she won't feel antipathy.

Thinking through the entire process, Link made up his mind.

After flying for a while, the Mist Maze appeared. Link passed through it with practiced ease. After ten minutes in the Dragon Valley, the Dragon Temple was before his eyes.

The Warriors who saw him all saluted from afar. Link sensed the Red Dragon Queen's position and finally found her in the Creation Hall.

The Creation Hall, simply, was an enchantment workshop. It was where the dragons created magical items.

The queen wasn't alone in the hall. There were more than 20 Dragon Magicians over Level-8. There was also a scroll more than 10 feet in length and width spread out on the table in the center. It was covered in runes.

Link scanned it and immediately understood the general significance of the runes. It seems that the Red Dragon Queen has already started preparing.

Gretel had already thought of what he'd thought of and had already put the plan in motion.