Advent of the Archmage

When Seve left, Link was still sitting on the stone bench.

He was not in a rush to inform Raymond Morgenstein of the Elder Council meeting back in the Morgenstern manor. After days of careful observation and reflection, he had finally figured out the secret behind the World Tree’s power.

The World Tree had Level-19 Pinnacle power, while Link was currently at the early stages of Level-19. In terms of power, Link was on equal footing with the World Tree. Also, the World Tree was just a really powerful magical construct. With the aid of the game system, Link could easily bring down the entire tree if he put his mind into it.

Otherwise, the Travel Magician would not have foreseen the Inferno Archmage uprooting the World Tree in his prophecy.

Link quietly sat there as concentrated Nature Power flowed from the leaves and branches of the World Tree. It then evaporated into a green mist in mid-air, before spreading out over the Isle of Dawn in all directions.

The World Tree’s Nature Power would linger for a while beneath its canopy before spreading out over the island. As a result, the concentration of Nature Power in the royal palace of Andwar was higher than the rest of the island by 50%, making it the High Elves’ sacred ground.

The question remained: Where did all this Nature Power come from?

After days of painstaking observation, he had finally come to a conclusion: the World Tree’s power came directly from the realm’s core.

More specifically, the World Tree was a power converter. It absorbed the realm’s Realm Essence power through its roots, before converting it into Nature Power. Whenever a High Elf died, their body’s essence would return to the earth and back into the realm’s core after going through a series of conversions.

This was an extremely elaborate cycle of life and death.

Throughout the cycle, the Realm Essence power would simply be converted into other forms of energy. Life in the Firuman realm was just a part of this process of energy conversion.

Link now had a deeper understanding of the World Tree. The realm itself is a living being that exists on a higher plane of existence!

Naturally, such a life form would partake in a constant exchange of energies with its natural habitat in order to sustain itself. In the case of Firuman, the realm itself was continuously being nourished by the Sea of Void.

However, this exchange of energies between the realm and the Sea of Void was extremely delicate. Introducing an immense power into a realm would wreak as much havoc to it as ingesting a nail would to a human body.

When the realization that the realm was a living being dawned on him, Link felt as if he had just understood some fundamental truth of the world. The light of enlightenment had cleared away the fog on his consciousness.

The realm was alive. Naturally, this meant that it had a will of its own. It even had a name: Freyar. Like all life forms living in it, the realm had a complex body.

However, a highly destructive power could easily disrupt its nigh irreproducible internal structure.

The realm would also need a constant input of Void power in order to grow. However, due to its destructive nature, Void Power would have to be processed beforehand before it could be safely consumed by the realm.

Like the realm one resided in, a mortal needed energy to live as well. Despite being rich in energy, substances like charcoal might not agree with them. They would have to obtain the nutrients necessary to their survival from edible substances such as rice, meat, and eggs.

So how would a realm go about converting highly destructive Void Power into consumable energy?

Link immediately arrived at an answer. The realm processes Void Power through all life living in it. All of us act as its Void Power converters! Intelligent life forms have the highest conversion rate, but they are also the riskiest.

Intelligent life in the Firuman realm possessed an infinite potential for growth. For instance, dragons who had reached Legendary would be able to absorb Void Energy directly and use it as they saw fit. Their high conversion rate of Void Energy had been a boon to the realm itself.

However, the existence of intelligent life in Firuman also came with a downside.

Throughout Firuman’s history, the mortals of the realm had been the reason behind numerous catastrophes that had nearly destroyed the realm. Intelligent life had existed as a double-edged sword in Firuman, ensuring the realm’s continued existence and growth on one hand, while threatening to lead it to ruin on the other.

Link sighed inwardly. It’s a miracle that the Firuman realm has been able to survive for this long.

He then looked back at the World Tree. Suddenly, a realization dawned on him.

The World Tree is a detriment to the entire realm! It draws energy from the realm’s core and redistributes it to the High Elves, enabling them to build a civilization around it. It is a parasitic existence that should have been excised from the realm a long time ago!

However, something did not make any sense.

Why would the Firuman realm still allow such an abhorrent thing to continue existing?

Link had been reading up on the High Elves’ history over the last few days. The World Tree had existed for more than 100,000 years. No one had dared to challenge its power in all that time. The ancient High Elves had settled beneath its shade the moment they realized what it was capable of. They did not even mind adapting themselves physically to the tree’s Nature Power. Since then, they had fought tooth and nail to safeguard the World Tree from their enemies.

However, if Link was right in thinking that the realm was a living being, it should have begun planting the seeds of rebellion in the High Elves’ minds a long time ago, inspiring them to revolt and uproot the World Tree. However, it did not seem to have done so.

Link gazed at the World Tree absently as he searched for an answer.

The royal capital bustled with people. A couple of pedestrians raised a brow at Link, wondering why this young High Elf was sitting there on the stone bench.

He was even approached by a few female High Elves. It should be known that the High Elves of the Isle of Dawn were always on the lookout for a bit of fun with the opposite gender. Given the rampant effeminacy among the High Elf nobility on the Isle of Dawn, Link’s masculinity was a breath of fresh air for these women.

However, Link ignored all of them.

Just then, a beautiful High Elf maiden approached him. She was holding a fan over the lower half of her face. She seated herself beside Link and asked smilingly, “Master Theodore, why are you sitting here by your lonesome? I’m holding a party this afternoon at my place. Why don’t you join us?”

Link had disguised himself as Theodore Morgenstern, a young, noble High Elf with Level-10 Pinnacle power. One would be hard-pressed to find someone as remarkable as him elsewhere in the Isle of Dawn. Naturally, everyone in the royal capital knew who he was, including the female High Elf who had decided to sit beside him.

Link had been so deep in thought that he was not even aware of the beautiful maiden’s presence. Only when a sweet-smelling aroma wafted past his nostrils did he snap back to reality. However, there was still a dazed look on his face. He then turned to the High Elf maiden and asked, “Can I help you with something?”

He was still puzzling over why the Firuman realm had not yet compelled anyone to excise the World Tree from the Isle of Dawn.

The maiden chuckled softly. She then began tracing one of Link’s scars on his face with her finger and said softly, “There’s a human saying that goes, ‘Scars are what make a man.” I didn’t believe this at first, not until I finally had a good look at you. You have a certain pull, something the other young masters lack on this island.”

The maiden exuded decorum. Her fingers were soft and smooth. Her beauty was impeccable. The soft light from her purple eyes would have instantly melted anyone into a puddle. Suddenly, Link felt an itch on his face as the female Elf continued stroking his scar. The gentle rubbing of her finger against his skin suddenly set off an electric tingle in his brain.

Men and women are drawn to each other since birth. Only through the union of two bodies can we compensate for each other’s inadequacies and achieve perfection. So is there something the Firuman realm currently lacks? Of course, it does. The wise men of old had split Firuman in two. After a catastrophe, the Firuman realm would naturally seek to make up for its losses, and what better way to do so than with the help of the World Tree? That’s it! The High Elf Queen was under the influence of the Will of the Realm this whole time. That’s why she wanted to fuse the two realms in the first place!

Link’s mood brightened considerably when he finally found his answer.

Still ignoring the High Elf maiden, he gazed up at the World Tree and laughed out loud. “I’ve figured it out! I’ve figured it out! Hahahaha…”

At that moment, Link felt as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

Freyar, if that is what you have been trying to do all this time, then allow me the honor of seeing it through in your name!

Link rose up and laughed again as he strode out of Andwar.

Everyone on the street looked at him strangely, wondering if Link had completely lost his mind. This soon became the talk of the city.

Only the High Elf maiden remained seated on the stone bench as she watched Link’s figure shrink into the distance with a smile, her fan still pressed lightly against her lips.