Advent of the Archmage

Moon Stone sounded pretty, but the only relationship between the type of stone and the moon was that both had the same soft, watery glow.

If a piece of Moon Stone was put on the ceiling of a pitch black room, it would emit light like a moon. It would be beautiful.

Of course, it wasn't just beautiful. It was actually an astral meteorite that could reach Level-19. However, it wasn't material for combat. Biologically, it wasn't that strong—not even as strong as a Level-11 meteorite. It was very difficult to force its power into the territory of combat.

Its biggest use was for filtering!

In addition to physical objects, it could also filter power, souls, and other semi-solid things.

Take power for example.

A person would be affected by their mixed bloodline, talent, emotions, and even their environment. There would be many impurities in their power too. Take Celine for example. No matter how her demonic power was sealed, her Secret Mana would still have a tinge of demonic aura.

It was very faint, and a regular Magician wouldn't be able to tell, but at Link's level, he could sense it.

Once he got the Moon Stone, he could help Celine filter her power. After many filtrations, only pure Secret Mana was left in her. In turn, that power would affect her body and repress the demonic bloodline further. It might even eradicate the demonic bloodline entirely.

Also, take Link for example.

He supposedly had Flawless Dragon Power, but he could feel that it wasn't that pure. Whenever he cast spells at an extreme speed, his spells would ripple uncontrollably. This showed that his power wasn't pure.

If he could filter out these small impurities, his spells would be even more perfect. It would be helpful for leveling up in the future too.

And this was only one of the Moon Stone's uses. It could also filter distracting thoughts, purify one's heart, and many more miraculous things. All in all, the stone's uses were endless!

After accepting the mission, Link said, "I don't know some of these runes, but since he always has the bracelet on, it must be useful. If we meet him, we'll just keep an eye on the bracelet's changes."

In reality, Link already knew the bracelet's use when he saw the name Haromed.

The word meant "Lord of the Secret Node." This meant that the bracelet was the ring of the secret node. Its use was to help Haromed make short-distance and dense teleportation trips.

It was a bit abstract. The detailed process was that in one second, Haromed could teleport more than 1000 times between predetermined spatial nodes with barely any energy loss. The result was that, to the naked eye, Haromed would be at multiple places at the same time. It was like an undefeatable division spell.

This spell was great for escaping and terrifying during combat. Haromed loved escaping, but that was because he was careful. If he really started fighting, his tactics were troublesome too.

If Link had come alone and met this guy, he would have a hard time while fighting. Unfortunately for Haromed, he had three friends with him. More importantly, Celine happened to have a prediction talent that could equal Haromed's trick.

No matter how tricky he was, Celine would know where he would appear next. If she shot, he would be done for. Because of this, Link didn't worry too much over the bracelet.

At that time, everyone had finished checking their equipment and was ready. "Link," Eliard said, "can we go now?"

Link nodded and turned to Celine. "Be careful on the road. Keep your small guns handy for defense."

He'd added Ethereal Power into the pair of guns called Link·Celine and Link made 20 Level-11 bullets.

"I know." Celine patted the two magic fireguns at her waist.

"Then let's go."

As soon as he finished, white light flashed. The four disappeared from the tavern. An instant later, they reappeared on the business avenue in the southern suburb of Port Antique.

They walked westward according to the map. After around 15 miles, there was a branch. They went left and reached a hill after ten miles. There was a small town in the hills called Glen Heights.

According to the scouts, this was where the Ethereal prince last appeared in.

Ethereal King Haromed was very sensitive to spatial magic. In order to not alert him, Link had set the transmission location to somewhere 12 miles away from Glen Heights.

After reaching the business avenue, they walked westward. Along the way, they ran into two groups of lower-level bandits from the Syndicate. They avoided the first and dealt with the second. After walking for two hours, they saw Glen Heights.

The town was basically built halfway up the hill. The buildings were all plain wooden cottages. From the distance, they could see people walking to and fro. It was actually quite lively. An open road spiraled up along the incline. They walked up at a steady pace like ordinary mercenaries.

Evelina was more familiar with the South. "There's a large jungle south of the hills," she introduced. "It contains rich resources while Glen Heights is built right at the edge. It's also close to the port. Merchants often buy medicinal herbs, fur, and other jungle products here."

"They must have a diverse population," Eliard said.

Evelina nodded. "Indeed. That's why foreigners don't attract much attention here. It's logical if Haromed appeared here."

Link chuckled. "But he's still a guest from another realm and slipped up."

The scout had reported that there was a merchant living in Glen Heights who liked to eat ants. The bigger and darker the ant was, the more he liked it. He would also buy it specifically from people. According to his servant, he had to fry the ants for him.

At first, the scout didn't feel anything strange. Everyone had their own weird habits. However, Link knew immediately that this was a high-status Ethereal Warrior after seeing this information.

In the game, ants were a delicacy for the Ethereal Warriors. Ants had some special nutrients that could relieve the pain caused by not fitting well with their host. The more powerful an Ethereal was, the more insufferable the pain was. A regular Ethereal could force himself through it, but high-level Ethereals had to eat ants to get rid of the pain. Otherwise, it would be more painful than death.

This would happen in the first half year after the Ethereals entered Firuman. Half a year later, someone discovered a way to relieve the pain, thus finally ending the strange habit of eating black ants.

Half an hour later, the four reached Glen Heights.

Link looked left and right. He found a farmer chopping firewood outside a secluded house by the roadside. "Hey, I want to ask something."

"I'm busy…ah, what would you like to know?" He immediately changed his tone after Link tossed him a silver coin.

"I heard there's a strange merchant who likes to eat black ants," Link said.

"Oh, you're talking about Mr. Goodall, right? Why are you looking for him?" the farmer asked offhandedly. At the same time, he applied force and split the firewood into two.

"See, us four, we're mercenaries. We heard that he's willing to pay a good price for ants and we found some really big ones." Link shook his bag.

"Oh, I see." The farmer pointed at a wooden building with a pointed roof in the heart of the town. "See that? That's where Mr. Goodall lives. Just go there."

"Oh, thank you very much." Link nodded and turned to wave at his companions. The group walked "casually" over.

The wooden building was only a few hundred feet away. After some minutes, they were outside.

The building had a yard and was surrounded by high walls. The door was shut tightly; there was no sound inside at all. Link listened, and his expression changed. He walked to the door, placed a hand on it, and got ready to force it open. But just as he was about to apply force, he felt something and immediately snatched his hand back.

"There's a security spell. Go to the side." Link walked towards an alley on the side. Once he got there, he held onto Celine's shoulder. Using physical strength, he jumped and flipped over the ten-foot-high wall.

Eliard and Evelina all had strong bodies and jumped up too. Once inside the yard, they saw that it was filled with strange flowers and plants. There was also a big pot with bubbling liquid inside. Beside it was a small bag. The bag was half-open, revealing all the dead ants inside.

Getting an idea, Link walked over and sniffed the vapor of the pot. "This guy is trying to extract the fusion substance in the ants… He must have gone out but will return soon. Let's hide in the yard!"

The yard was more than 60 feet long and 30 feet wide. There was also much vegetation. The four could use the plants to cover themselves without any spells.

Link waited for the three to hide first. Then he started wiping away all of their traces. Finally, he hid too and waited for the Ethereal prince to appear.

The four waited patiently. After around two minutes, the door creaked, and someone pushed it open. Then two young men walked in.

One of them wore a gray-white robe and had no mask. He looked to be around 30 years old. The one beside him was a woman, but she'd covered herself well. She even covered her aura, not letting even a bit out. Her only characteristic was her height. She was half a head taller than most human women.

According to Evelina's descriptions, the one on the left was the Ethereal prince. Then who was the woman on the right?

Link glanced in confusion at Evelina who was hiding in another corner. What he saw shocked him. Evelina was shaking her head and saying silently, That's not the Ethereal prince. That woman is a High Elf.