Chapter 87: Eternal Darkness, New Avenues of Release
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Despite being doubtful, Link received the letter and said, "Eliard, send my greetings to your teacher."
"I will." Eliard kept the items on the stone table and left after setting the date for their next meeting.
Link did not leave immediately. He looked around and after making sure no one was looking, then opened Herrera's letter. There was only a small paragraph on the letter. It was not written in human language, but in a long lost language from an ancient Earth Spirit civilization. Link specifically learned this language in order to converse with Herrera.
"I am sorry to disturb, my friend. The situation this time around is slightly special. Master Anthony has informed me that the academy's Detection Spell once again detected a strange dark energy coming from the Girvent Forest. While it is carefully hidden, the overflowing energy suggests the user might be extremely powerful, probably similar to the standard of a Level-6 Magician. I have already sent the Magic Crow to investigate and will personally interfere once I have gotten concrete evidence. However, to not raise the suspicion of Magician Bale, this will be a secret mission. I may need the assistance of another Magician then. If you are willing to travel with me, please contact me so that I can make the necessary preparations. I will give a good reason for you to take a leave of absence from the academy and predict the journey to begin in a month. This is extremely dangerous. If you truly wish to travel with me, please be prepared."
The moment Link finished reading, the letter combusted with a brilliant flame. At the same time, a new mission appeared in his field of vision.
New mission: Travelling Together.
Mission: Leave the academy when the time is ripe to help Herrera in her investigation into the origin of the dark energy in the Girvent Forest.
Reward: 100 Omni Points.
Link shuddered at the sight of such a hefty reward. This would be a difficult mission. But could he reject Herrera's request? Of course not! Herrera was an Angel of Light, and a strong ally in his fight against the dark forces. If she required assistance, he would gladly render it.
Link accepted the mission.
Luckily, there was still a month before the mission began. By then, Link would have recovered from his weakened state and his Domingo Crystal will be purified. He should also be able to invent a few more Supreme Magical Skills in this period, accumulating a few more Omni Points. He would become an extremely strong Level-4 Magician by then.
This should be enough to deal with the mission.
However, even with so much equipment and spells, Link was still afraid. He remembered that darkness always emerged from new openings whenever another was sealed off. While Link had certain knowledge of the openings up until now, he had no background information on these new openings.
As he continued rewriting history, he was also slowing losing his advantage of knowing the future.
Darkness is always present; it has merely found another way to release its power. I wonder what kind of calamities will be unleashed when it eventually goes out of control. Link sighed.
It was already four o'clock in the afternoon and the sun was setting. Link had a busy day and casually strolled back to Bale's Mage Tower, preparing to take a good rest. When he reached the hall, he saw the apprentices assembling in front of the podium, and Derek seemed to be announcing something important as the manager of the Mage Tower.
Link headed quietly to his seat in the corner and listened.
"All in all, the royal army has issued a huge order, and they have high expectations for the quality, especially the stability of the equipment. We will have to complete the order in time and give our highest quality equipment..." Derek was full of energy and inspiration, but the apprentices listening had a pained expression on their face.
After listening for a while, Link understood. It seemed like the Nordic Kingdom was preparing to launch a revenge assault on the Pralync Kingdom of the Dark Elves in the Dark Forest. Naturally, they would need a variety of resources, such as magic scrolls and potions for their battle.
In the game, after the massacre in Gladstone City, the Dark Elves received divine blessings from the Spider Queen Lolth, and got their hands on a divine weapon. The Nordic kingdom had been suffering defeats ever since.
History is changing, I wonder what will be the result this time? For some weird reason, Link felt especially worried.
As Link was late to the meeting, he went straight to Warwick to inquire more about the mission. "Warwick, what kind of mission is this?"
Warwick was clearly troubled. He fully extended his five fingers and said, "From today onward, everyone will have to write five magic scrolls per day, for a total of 20 days. Our Mage Tower was assigned to write 800 Level-0 Magic scrolls. I will also help with the writing."
Link immediately understood. There were only seven apprentices in charge of writing magic scrolls in the Mage Tower. With the addition of Warwick, that would be eight. To be able to complete 800 scrolls in 20 days, that would mean 100 scrolls per person, thus five scrolls per day.
However, the Mana and energy of the apprentices were limited. The more scrolls they wrote, the higher their chance of failure due to fatigue. Five magic scrolls per day was a huge burden for a low-level Magician's Apprentice.
As a high-level Magician's Apprentice in charge of magic scrolls, Warwick would then have to personally fill in the gaps if the low-level apprentices could not perform.
Warwick felt terrible simply thinking about the days ahead.
Link had an idea. "Are there any specific requirements for the scrolls?" he asked.
"Yes. The army only wants Lesser Sharpness and Lesser Armor supporting magic scrolls."
"But I only know Lesser Armor."
If Link had said that he already mastered both spells, it would cause a great ruckus in the Mage Tower. Mastering a Level-0 spell in two weeks seemed just about right.
"What? You learned Lesser Armor?" Warwick's eyes lit up. He did not factor Link into his calculations because Link had only been writing Earth Spike scrolls all along.
"I just mastered it, and I'm still not too used to them yet. I am afraid of announcing it." Link stuck out a finger and tapped himself lightly. After one second, a pale green glow enveloped his body.
This was indeed the Level-0 spell, Lesser Armor.
Warwick was at a loss for words.
"It's fine, completely fine, just practice more and you will get used to it. Ha, what good news!" That meant a total of nine people will be participating, Warwick felt a weight lifted off his shoulders.
When Derek was done speaking, Warwick assembled the apprentices and announced, "Time is tight and we have a lot of scrolls to make. Begin as soon as possible." He distributed 10 blank scrolls and a bottle of silver ink to everyone.
All the apprentices sighed while they collected their ink and scrolls. Link, on the other hand, kept silent. He was not the slightest bit anxious about the creation of magic scrolls and went back to his room to read.
As for the magic scrolls, he would get to it after he was tired of reading and ran out of inspiration for his thesis; it was simply an easy task.
All good news is usually accompanied by bad news. The next day, an accident occurred. Two magic apprentices were too nervous about the scroll writing task that they burned the midnight oil in an attempt to complete them. Due to extreme fatigue, they made mistakes and caused their Mana to rebound back to their bodies, dealing serious internal damage. While they were still alive due to the relatively low-level of their Mana, they would need about a month to recover. These two apprentices were not allowed to use magic for the whole month.
As such, the number of people writing the scrolls was reduced to a pathetic seven, with one of them being Link, a newbie to the spell. Warwick simply wished no more accidents would happen!
"Five scrolls a day, nothing more, if you feel tired do not force yourself to complete the mission. I will think of a way!" Warwick was afraid his apprentices would overwork and kept emphasizing the issue of health.
On the other hand, Warwick himself was going insane from writing magic scrolls in fear that the order would not be met. He actually wrote eight scrolls in one night, at the expense of his concentration and sanity.
Warwick even planned to purchase some scrolls from the market to make up the numbers. However, the magic scrolls in the market had already been bought up by the army. Even if he wanted to pay royalties for the scrolls, they were nowhere to be found.
What a pitiful guy. Link felt sorry for him and decided to lend him a hand. He could also use this chance to create waves in the Mage Tower.