Chapter 197 (1/2)

Chapter 197: The Mad Genius Vance

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

One week’s time had passed in a blink of an eye. Meanwhile, Link was cooped up in his wooden cabin creating magical gear all along.

Once he’d received the notebooks from the Magicians of the East Cove Magic Academy, Link’s enchantment skills had now broken into a whole new realm. Within a week, he’d managed to create two epic quality magical gear, comprising of one Level-5 wand and another Level-5 bracelet fixed with a defensive spell.

The bracelet was for Celine, of course. It was so exquisitely made and Celine adored it so much that she couldn’t put it down for a second.

Afterwards, both of them then headed to Shark Bay to meet up with Vance.

The passage into the underground palace would be too narrow for Dorias to pass through, so there would be no point in him following them. Thus, the tiger remained in a protected area specially built for it in Scorched Ridge. Link had also fulfilled his promises to Dorias and ordered his people to feed him, groom his fur, clean his teeth and polish his claws. He’d even dispatched people to find a female Wind Tiger across the continent.

Shark Bay was only about five miles away from Scorched Ridge, so even as Link and Celine strolled casually, it only took them half an hour to arrive.

Celine’s eyesight was as sharp as an eagle’s; she saw a white skeleton lying on the surface of the stone cliff from afar. The skeleton seemed carefree and nonchalant as he lay there, even the Mana it emitted was very faint and weak while the eye sockets were dark and hollow with no signs of the ghostly flames. To put it simply, the skeleton looked exactly as if it was a dead body that had been there for decades and decomposed there.

“Is that him?” asked Celine uncertainly. “Doesn’t he look too…laid-back?

“Yes, that’s him,” answered Link, nodding. No one else could have such a smooth and shiny jade-like skeleton.

Once they approached the skeleton, Vance still lay there and made no attempt to get up. The only response he made was lighting up the ghostly flames in his eye sockets, but even then, only faintly.

“Oh, you’re here,” he said. “You’re earlier by a few days than what I’d expected.”

“Are you hurt?” asked Link as he stared at him suspiciously.

“Hurt? No!” replied the Lich as he folded his bony hands above his chest. “No, I was bored and had nothing to do, so I lounged around for a bit.”

Vance still lay there as if he was never going to get up.

Link furrowed his brows slightly when he heard Vance’s response. He could feel a thick sense of apathy from the Lich. If he could fall asleep so calmly on a cliff in the wilderness, wouldn’t he sleep for years and years once he’d reclaimed his underground palace?

Link then took out the wand with the Magician’s Hand out from his robe and handed it to Vance.

“Here,” he said, “it’s your wand.”

The flames in Vance’s eye sockets turned much brighter again, and he sat up and took the wand into his hand. He thought Link’s enchantment skills had turned out to be pretty good as he noticed the subtle details on the wand that displayed its exquisite quality.

“Tsk tsk, your basic skills are quite solid,” said Vance. “You’ve even thought to use thorium, that’s not a bad material at all. Oh…and the Mana structure is…Ah, wonderful. Quite wonderful!” His tone had become livelier and more impassioned now, and the languidness in his aura was reduced by half.

Vance stood up and tested the new wand by casting a Level-1 dark magic spell called Ball of Decay on the cliff stone. As the Mana fluctuated, a fist-sized gory green orb appeared and hit the surface of the cliff. A buzzing noise followed, and a basketball-sized pit then appeared on the stone surface.

“So, it works very well with dark magic too!” praised Vance immediately. “I must ask, kid, have you learned dark magic before?”

Link shook his head in reply.

“That’s not it,” said Link. “I’ve only just come to learn the basics of secret spells from the Master Magician, Eleanor, so I thought I might incorporate it into the wand.”

“Ah, no wonder, then,” said Vance. “Does it have a name?”

“Gray Flame,” replied Link. “Gray to signify its support of secret spells and dark magic. Flame because it is specialized in attacks and offensive spells.” In his eyes, these were the strongest aspects of the wand.

Gray Flame

Quality: Epic

Effect 1: The speed of Mana unleashing is increased by 80%.

Effect 2: The attacking power of elemental spells is increased by 60%. The attacking power of secret spells is increased by 80%.

Effect 3: Fixed with one Level-5 spell—the Flaming Hand. (There is a Mana channel in the wand where a small number of dark elements could be mixed into the spell, forming a more powerful attack of the Gray Flaming Hand.)

(Note: This is a gift for the Lich Vance.)

“Excellent,” said Vance, very satisfied with his new wand. “It’s only slightly less powerful than my original wand.” He then turned towards Celine and glanced at her for a few seconds then furrowed his brows.

“A demon Warrior?” he asked.

Compared to the past, Celine had now been able to adapt to this kind of attitude. As long as Link didn’t mind her true identity, though, she couldn’t care less what other people thought of her. She also had no intention of worrying herself sick about leaving a good impression on those people who treated her with this attitude.

Celine then squinted her eyes and addressed Vance with a menacing tone.

“You might like to know, Lich,” she said, “that I am very good at cracking bones.”

“Now, now, calm down,” said the Lich with a grin. “I was only stating the obvious. I’ve got no problem with it if Link trusts you.” He then clapped his bony hands which made a rattling sound.

“Let’s go!” said Vance. “Time is of the essence!”

“You lead the way, then,” said Link as he stepped aside.

“No problem,” replied Vance. He took a few steps forward then leaped down the cliff. He didn’t use any flying spells or even floating spells as he jumped.

Sure enough, three seconds later there was a crackling noise of crunching bones on the white sandy beach down the cliff. Vance had disintegrated into a pile of bones on the ground.

“…”

Link and Celine looked at each other with horror. They couldn’t figure out what kind of tricks Vance was playing on them. Did he just commit suicide?