Advent of the Archmage

Golden Plains.

There was a natural indentation under a huge piece of crimson rock. It was the perfect hideout, concealing them from the possible sky patrols.

There was a bonfire burning within the hideout. Link, Felina, and Nana sat around the fire. They wore armor made from sheepskin to disguise themselves as ordinary Beastmen.

The bonfire was also not created from magic but with bare hands using flint and stone.

Nana sat down in an elegant position as she poked the prairie porcupine roasting on the bonfire with a long iron stick. They had caught and skinned this porcupine earlier.

On the other hand, Link was sprinkling all kinds of seasonings on the porcupine. He had learned this technique from the mercenaries beside Masos. Link had no idea if the temperature he was roasting the porcupine at was the ideal one, though the aroma of the meat was a testament to its taste. Felina swallowed her saliva as she stared at the porcupine expectantly.　　

"It is already the second day. It seems like we have managed to escape from Isendilan," Link was relieved and even felt slightly proud of himself.

Felina actually sensed no danger through the entire process. She was merely following Link around all this time, concealing her presence and disguising herself. She was simply listening to his orders.

Isendilan had not appeared even once. It was as though he did not exist.　　

It sounded extremely fulfilling to escape from the pursuit of a Legendary individual, though Felina, being part of this glorious achievement, merely felt that it was extremely simple and ordinary.

"Do you think Isendilan will kill the Beastmen if he cannot find us?" This was Felina's only worry.　　　

At that moment, the porcupine was already prepared. Link then used the Breakpoint dagger to slice off the perfectly roasted thighs and handed it to Felina. He then smiled and said, "He will not. I left many misleading clues along the way. Although Isendilan does not know our exact location, he cannot be completely off the charts as well. He has no time to even approach the Beastmen."

"That is nice to hear…Oh, this meat is delicious. It is more tender than the one I had with the Beastmen. Pretty decent," Felina then turned her attention to the meat as she spoke.　　

Link then sliced a piece of meat for himself and savored it slowly. It was indeed a decent first attempt at barbecued meat. It was a success.

"Master, can I taste it?" Nana said curiously.　　

"Please do," Link made an inviting pose before taking out a magic book of flame. He then lay casually on a rock at the side, enjoying his relaxing dinner time while reading a book.

Nana tore a slice of meat for herself and took a small bite of the meat. She then chewed the meat slowly before a frown appeared on her face. She still looked like a pure and innocent deer. No one could imagine what the experience was like for her.

After a while, she said, "The taste is weird. Is this what you mean by salty?"

Felina then said, "It is not just salty; there are at least six other flavors. They are mixed together to produce this unique taste. You can taste them one by one. Here, have this drought ginger."

Nana then stuffed the entire piece of spicy drought ginger into her mouth without hesitation. The drought ginger was at least half the size of a fist. It filled her mouth entirely, making her look like a stuffed hamster.

She then started chewing, her eyes glimmering with curiosity.

She was simply too fast. Felina was not fast enough to stop her and muttered, "You actually only need a small piece."　　　　

She felt uncomfortable even looking at someone stuff a whole piece of raw drought ginger into their mouth.　　

As Nana chewed, her eyes lit up and said, "This is delicious!"

She then stopped eating the meat and started stuffing the remaining drought ginger into her mouth, chewing delightfully. Felina then stared at the scene, dumbfounded.

"This… Link, do you think Nana has malfunctioned?"

On the other hand, Link was not particularly surprised by this. He laughed and explained, "The spicy taste in drought ginger came from a material called powdered silver. Nana probably likes the metallic taste of this substance."

Powdered silver was a rare metallic substance. Coincidentally, Link carried some with him for this journey. He then took out a small piece of powdered silver and gave it to Nana, saying, "Here, have a taste."

Nana bit into the powdered silver without hesitation, making a loud cracking sound as the metal was crushed under her jaws. However, she quickly spits out the pure powdered silver, and she frowned and said, "Master, this is too hard and bitter. Disgusting!"　

Link immediately knew that he had made a mistake. This was similar to how humans needed iron in their body to survive, though we do not consume metallic substances directly.

Nana probably liked the taste of drought ginger as the powdered silver inside could be easily absorbed. The pure piece of powdered silver was too condensed, making it bitter and unappealing.

Link then awkwardly said, "So sorry, try the rest of the food as well. Take whatever you like."

"Alright." Nana seemed to have found a new toy as she started experimenting with the different food.

Link had a small appetite. Before long, he started cleaning off the oil on his hands and focused his attention on his magic book.

Felina and Nana also reduced the amount of noise they made with their actions. The cave became extremely peaceful and calm.　

Two hours later, Link said, "It's about time. Let's set off."

"No problem."

The three of them then prepared to leave the cave. Link led the way, and he was still extremely careful. Before he left, he first cast a small-scaled Spatial Distortion spell on the entrance of the cave.

The Spatial Distortion spell acted like a mirror. It allowed Link to have a full view of the area outside of the cave.

"Is there anything in the sky?" Link asked Felina. After all, the dragon race had much better eyesight.

Nana carefully stared into the sky before she shook her head and said, "Apart from a few birds, nothing else."　　

"Then it should be fine," Link walked out of the cave.

They were around 130 miles east away from White Cloud City. In order to not leave any clues, they were traveling at a speed similar to that of an ordinary Beastman. They would need at least four days before they could reach their destination at this rate.

Although the progress was slow, it was safe.

After half a day, a small Beastman town appeared. This small town seemed unaffected by the wrath of the berserk Beastmen. The town seemed to be holding a small festival of some sort, which explains the crowd along the streets. There were even a few human merchants on the way.　

"Look at this wolf-fang necklace. How pretty." Felina pointed to a stall on the roadside. She always had a penchant for these accessories. She had even bought a bracelet that Link designed simply for collection purposes some time ago.

She then ran over and bought this necklace for one red dragon gold coin.

This merchant did not recognize a red dragon gold coin, though he could recognize gold when he saw one. He was surprised that Felina was going to purchase this without a bargain and beamed delightfully. He was so elated that he even gave a complimentary wolf-fang bracelet to Felina.

This raised Felina's spirits indefinitely. She then started a shopping spree, spending her gold coins on almost every stall in sight.

Link did not stop her seeing that she was enjoying herself.

Felina had used over ten gold coins by the time she left the town. She bought a bunch of useless objects and wore them all on her body, inquiring Link about her looks every so often.

Link could not understand this weird hobby and merely nodded in agreement every time.

They then continued on their journey to White Cloud City.　　

Half a day after Link and company left the town, Isendilan arrived, clad in a long black robe. He realized that something was amiss upon entering the town. The air seemed to be filled with an extremely familiar scent.

He sniffed his way forward and quickly arrived at a stall selling wolf-fang accessories.　

"Respected customer, what do you wish to purchase?" the Beastman asked. Not long along, he had sold a necklace worth only a few bronze coin for a full gold coin. He was in an extremely good mood.

Isendilan's mood was the complete opposite. He had pursued Link all the way to this dreadful place. God knows how many traps he had fallen into along the way. He was itching to kill to unleash the frustration inside him.

However, he had good self-control. He would never recklessly kill anyone. This was not because of his malevolence, but because he felt that this would only be a waste of his energy.

He did not even bother replying to the Beastman. He pushed the approaching Beastman on the floor before he walked over and pulled open the cash register of the stall.

Beastmen were not known for their friendliness to other races. It was normal for them to get into fights with humans and dragons alike. Furthermore, this guy seemed to be robbing him of his hard-earned money.

"Hey, are you going to rob me?" He picked up a stone from the ground and flung it with full force at Isendilan's head.

The stone then landed at the back of Isendilan's head. Isendilan seemed fine, though the stone had completely shattered.

At that moment, Isendilan was deep in thought staring at the red dragon gold coin. He had not noticed the attack from the Beastman until he suffered the full impact of the attack.

"Hmm?" Isendilan still kept himself from retaliating as he took out the red dragon gold coin. He then asked menacingly, "Where did this gold coin come from?"

The Beastman swallowed his saliva nervously. He knew that this was not someone he could mess with after seeing how the stone shattered.　　

At that moment, when he saw Isendilan closing in, he felt extremely hopeless. His mind seemed to have stopped functioning. He retreated for a few steps before he started running, shouting, "It's all yours! It's all yours!"　

Isendilan frowned and was just about to give chase when a few well-armored Beastmen surrounded him. One of then placed his sword on Isendilan's neck and bellowed, "How dare you rob one of our kind. Either come with us or pay a fine. Choose!"　

Isendilan's patience had finally run thin. He grabbed the sword and squeezed it slightly. Boom! The sword shattered and its metallic shards flew in all directions.

The shards flew at an insane speed, piercing anything along the way.

The Beastmen around could not react in time and were ruthlessly injured by the metallic shards. Blood splattered across the streets, and at least 20 people died with just a small action on Isendilan's part.

"Ah!" A woman screamed.

"A serial killer!"

"Run"　　

The town went into a state of frenzy.　　

"Helpless mortals!" Isendilan was lazy to deliver another blow. He started sniffing the red dragon gold coin in his hands.

"What a fresh smell. It should be less than four hours since they left…But could this be another decoy?"　　　　

He had already fallen for many traps along the way. He was hesitant about this clue as well.

Just when he was deep in thought, a bellow could be heard, "Fire!"　

The sound of crossbows firing echoed through the town. Isendilan then heard war cries declaring their prowess. He turned around and realized that 30 Beastmen archers were lined up in an orderly manner in front of him.

"Oh, you humble mortals. Are sneak attacks all you know?"

Isendilan was already in a bad mood. Now that he was repeatedly provoked, he had finally lost his cool. He lifted his hands and an incandescent fireball more than six-feet-wide appeared in his palms.　

He then slammed the fireball onto the ground.

"How irritating, all of you shut up!"

"Boom!" An earth-shattering sound could be heard. A 300-feet-wide incandescent fireball appeared in the sky above the small town. The entire town was subsequently destroyed by the impact of this spell.　　

After the spell subsided, the world became exceptionally silent.　　

Staring at the bodies on the ground, Isendilan shook his head in disappointment and said, "What a waste of my strength."

He then sniffed the red dragon gold coin once again and chased the faint presence all the way out of town.

Although he could not pinpoint the exact location, he could feel that his enemy was not far away. All he needed was a stroke of good luck.