Advent of the Archmage

The people who walked out of the forest looked very strange. They were all above six foot and were very muscular. They were shirtless, revealing their dark skin. Their features were menacing with a mouth of fangs and curled horns protruding from their foreheads. The only piece of clothing on them was a leather kilt around their waist.

They seemed to be hunters. Right now, they walked from the forest to a small town, carrying the corpses of a few giant unknown beasts.

Some people appeared in the town too. At closer inspection, they looked exactly like the hunters, albeit a bit weaker. They cheered happily after seeing the hunters. Some kids ran out too and circled the hunters. Their small hands grabbed at the prey while giggling.

Seeing this, Gretel determined, "They're demons, probably a type of horned demon… But for some reason, I feel like their bloodline isn't pure."

"Mixed demons?" Link asked. He also felt that these demons had a mixed aura. Sensing more closely, it felt gloomy but didn't have the chaotic fury of demons from the Abyss.

"Most likely. They don't seem very powerful. Should we go and check?"

"Sure." Link nodded.

He felt that mixed demons were weak. These hunters were at most Level-5 and were very average. Even if Gretel was momentarily disabled, nothing bad would happen with Link present.

He had another consideration. Gretel was beautiful, but that was from a human's beauty standard. Maybe she was an ugly hag to the demons so he wouldn't have to worry that her looks would cause trouble.

Seeing that the hunters had walked to the entrance of the town, Link carried Gretel out of the forest. Once outside, he canceled the Invisibility spell and strode towards the mixed demon hunters.

They were discovered by the demons after 150 feet. These guys seemed really shocked. They looked left and right, yelled something, tossed their weapons onto the ground, and started running over. They yelled while running and seemed really excited.

"Are they going to attack?" Gretel asked Link.

Link shook his head. "Doesn't seem like it. They didn't bring weapons."

Despite his words, he still activated a transparent spatial defense shield around them, just in case.

A few seconds later, these demons were around 100 feet away. Then, ignoring the mud on the ground, they fell to their knees and practically prostrated themselves on the ground.

Link had never seen anyone attack on their knees, so he instantly relaxed after seeing this.

They kept mumbling while kneeling. Link listened for a bit. It seemed to be a variant of the lingua franca, and he could make out some words, but they spoke too quickly. They were also very nasally so Link couldn't figure out what they were saying.

"Tellie, can you understand?" Link asked.

Gretel shook her head lightly. "Just some words, like 'God's messenger,''saint,' and such. They seem to be worshipping us… No, I think they worship someone who looks like us."

This made sense. It was Link and Gretel's first time here. These demons shouldn't recognize him and wouldn't worship them. The only possibility was that a human who looked them had come before. This man was probably really powerful. Otherwise, he wouldn't be revered like this.

In that case, things would be much easier.

Link didn't speak. He moved his hand and activated the Magician's Hand. The kneeling bodies were lifted up.

They instinctively tried to resist, but Link's power was on a whole other level. They couldn't fight back at all.

The hunters were terrified and shocked. One of the most muscular started screaming something. Link could make out a few words, like "holy,""saint,""savior," and other reverent words.

He couldn't understand now, but he wasn't worried. For people like him and Gretel, learning a language, especially a variant of the lingua franca, was extremely easy. As long as they stayed with these people, they could learn it in a few days.

Before this, they would just have to stay quiet, listen, and watch.

He didn't care what the demons were saying. Keeping his face expressionless, he pointed at the small town and started walking over. The mixed demons exchanged glances and followed behind him.

When they got to a stone wall, Link decided to impress them with a spell. Waving his hand, a string of runes appeared on the wall. Then he patted the wall. Like a stone crashing into water, a door opened up in the wall.

Carrying Gretel, Link walked in. When the demons followed through, the simple portal had already disappeared. The demons touched the smooth wall, looking side to side, up and down. They just couldn't find a crack that could allow someone through.

By now, many people were gathered by the wall—all mixed demons. Seeing this, they all cried out. Link could hear shock and reverence in their voices.

The streets inside the town were very dirty, like the outer city of Scorched City. The ground was covered in mud, feces, shattered bones, rotting vegetables, and more. The entire town reeked of garbage.

Gretel furrowed her brows. She knew that she couldn't show her disgust, so she forced it in.

Link wasn't accustomed to this either. He cast a Levitation spell for them and put Gretel down. Then he cast a cleaning spell in the air. They wouldn't have to smell the disgusting odor anymore.

After that, he cast a force field that pushed the two forward. They floated slowly towards the city center.

The mixed demons in the town clearly hadn't seen magic before. Seeing the two floating above the ground, they were all shocked. The result was that wherever Link and Gretel passed, the townspeople all knelt down in worship, disregarding the dirtiness on the ground.

After floating like that for a few minutes, the two saw some Warriors with dirty leather armor and steel spears. They walked over, escorting an old demon with a head of white hair and a face of wrinkles.

This elder was clearly of high status. He walked over unsteadily with his cane. The others all followed him respectfully.

After he saw Link and Gretel, he squinted and studied them for a long while. Then he tossed his cane to the side and fell to his knees.

Seeing him like this, the Warriors behind him followed him and knelt without hesitation. This made Link feel something was wrong.

The people they saw before were all commoners. Bluntly put, they were ignorant country bumpkins. As long as they looked similar, it was easy to mistake Link and Gretel for someone else. This elder was different though. From looks of things, he should be smarter. He might not be very knowledgeable, but should at least know more than the regular citizens. He'd studied them carefully before kneeling too. This meant that Link and Gretel looked very, very similar to the man they worshipped.

"This doesn't make sense," Gretel also whispered. She found it odd too.

But they had a language barrier right now and couldn't communicate. Though they had doubts, they couldn't say anything. What could they do?

Link looked around and saw some smaller demons kneeling in the crowd… They should be the kids. They clearly didn't feel as reverent as the adults. Though they were kneeling too, they kept sneaking glances around.

Link also saw many smoked vegetables and meat hanging from the houses on the side of the street. There wasn't much though. The clothing of the villagers was very shabby too. The men were mostly naked with a rag around their waist. The women were slightly better, but only with an extra rag around their chest. The kids were basically all naked.

The mixed demons here had horrible living conditions and lacked much material wealth.

Thinking of this, he got an idea. He would learn the language first, but he didn't want to learn from adults. Their thinking was less innocent and could be troublesome. He would learn from these kids and know many things that the adults weren't willing to say.

Link kept his expression stern. First, he waved at the elder's cane, and the plane wooden staff flew to his hands.

He sneakily took out a piece of Mithril and used enchantment to fuse the Mithril into the cane. He added a Level-5 strengthening spell and then used the Mithril to draw many elegant patterns.

This way, the cane became beautiful like a piece of art. Something so beautiful had never appeared in the town before. Link could see the desire clearly in the elder's eyes.

Link didn't give him the cane immediately. He pointed at some kids and then pushed the cane forward a bit. His meaning was clear: exchange the kids for the cane.

The elder hesitated and looked to the children's parents. Link followed his gaze and pointed his fingers at them, casting a dragon healing spell to all these demons.

Link could tell that they all had some sort of ailment due to long years of labor. With the spell, all their problems were cured. Many men had been hunched over, but now they stood up tall, full of energy. They seemed to have aged backwards instantly.

This action was like a god's hand. Instead of punishment, it was healing. It was also showing that the kids wouldn't be treated badly with him, let alone be in danger.

Some parents voluntarily pushed their kids to Link—five in total.

Link nodded lightly and tossed the cane to the elder. Then he pointed to the forest outside the town. Without explaining himself, he activated the Dimensional Jump.

A white light appeared. Under the townspeople's reverent gazes, Link, Gretel, and the five children disappeared from the town.

Buzz. The group reappeared in the forest.

"What are you planning?" Gretel finally asked.

"We'll stay here for a while and learn from the kids. After we know the situation, we can use the locals' help to find the materials needed for your antidote. I'll also use this time to study this meteorite."

There was actually another reason. He felt that the people here had reacted too strangely to them. This island might contain some secret. He had to at least figure out if they were friends or foes.

Gretel didn't really mind. "That works."

Link chuckled. "So I'm going to build a safe fortress first."

For a Legendary figure, turning dirt into stone and stone into a building was a simple task.