Throne of Magical Arcana

It was the middle of the day. The ancient and magnificent Aalto City stood next to the Bellen River, looking down at the villages around it.

The wall of the city was not in black, which was what most sorcerers would have liked. It was in dark yellow because it was as old as the everlasting sky.

Although Fernando dared not to fly, he still reached the central city of the empire a couple of days later since he did not rest at night.

He cleaned his clothes and walked to the city gate, which was defended by a dozen sorcerers. Their leader revealed the unmistakable air that he was an archmage!

It was the scorching noon, but peasants, dealers, and citizens going in and out of the city were not reduced at all. One could not help but sense the liveliness and exuberance of Aalto.

“Stop!” A middle-rank sorcerer stopped Fernando in wariness. In such an eventful period, nobody wanted to be killed by the night watchers.

Because Fernando was wearing a red magic robe, all the sorcerers shifted their attention to him. All of them looked grave except the archmage, as if they would attack him relentlessly if anything went wrong.

Fernando said loudly, “I am from Holm. I’m here to look for my good friend Antec. He’s a student of the King of Nightmare.”

Antec was merely a senior-rank who just made it to the sixth circle. He couldn’t have been known by a lot of people. So, in case of an accident, Fernando simply brought up the name of his teacher, the legendary sorcerer “King of Nightmare”.

The destination of their class was exactly “King of Nightmare”, like Maskelyne who used to rule the city in the past. His “Book of Astrology and Elements” had only two legendary classes, “Prophet” and “Lord of Elements”.

To obtain more legendary classes, one would have to make enough contributions to the empire to enter the “Tower of Gods”, the library of the empire in Antiffler, to study them. In the heyday of the Sylvanas Magic Empire, the sorcerers were so confident that they believed that legendary experts were mortal gods and that different classes were the gods of different realms. So, the library of the empire was named “Tower of Gods”. However, the rise of the Saint Truth made the “gods” fall into dust.

“The King of Nightmare?” Now that the name of a legendary sorcerer was mentioned, the archmage at the gate was much more serious and friendly.

Fernando nodded. “Yes, but I do not know him. I’m only familiar with his student Antec.”

He was too proud to fake connections with a legendary sorcerer.

An oddly honest fellow… The sorcerers could not understand Fernando’s pride and only presumed that he was silly because he had been too devoted to his research.

The archmage at the gate smiled. “I know Stanis, another student of the King of Nightmare. I heard the name Antec from him before. So, you may come in.”

Huh? Fernando was surprised at his privilege. He was let in so easily? They did not even ask his name!

The archmage mistook Fernando’s stun for not remembering Stanis or believing what he said. So, he said in a low voice, “Stanis is the King of Nightmare’s best student. Antec must’ve mentioned him before, right? His cognitive world has half-solidified since half a year ago, and he is considered a half legend. Hehe. Perhaps we’ll see two Kings of Nightmare in one city someday.”

“His cognitive world has half-solidified?” Fernando had thought that he, who almost reached the eighth circle, was the best of the “young” sorcerers in his generation. He did not know Stanis, who was not much older than him, had already reached such a level.

“Yes. He might try to make a breakthrough before long. He’s a real genius at illusions and dreams.” The archmage’s envy was obvious. The boundary between the ninth circle and legendary was slim, but the differences were too huge.

Instead of nodding, Fernando said eagerly, “I know a thing or two about illusions too.”

He was implying that he could communicate with Stanis and see if this “real genius” deserved his name. He would never praise, envy, or look up to anyone!

The archmage, however, thought that a sorcerer who was good at illusions had come to ask for the guidance of Stanis and the King of Nightmare. That was not rare, particularly when he was familiar with the King of Nightmare’s student.

“How should I call you?” After Fernando mentioned the King of Nightmare, he felt that it was necessary to make acquaintance with this senior-rank sorcerer. “I am Reece Brown. You can call me Reece.”

That’s the right protocol! Fernando thought. “I am Fernando Brastar. I prefer to be called Fernando.”

Reece paused and asked in hesitation, “Your last name suggests that you are from the Asso Empire, aren’t you?”

Fernando nodded. “Yes, but my teacher is a sorcerer of the empire.”

Reece did not further confirm his identity, as if he were certain about Fernando’s truthfulness. He said with a smile, “Fernando, come on in. Antec is already waiting for you. We should talk about magic knowledge sometimes.”

“What? Antec is waiting for me? I’m already allowed to go in? You don’t need to examine my identity? Are you not afraid that I have surrendered to the Church and become a night watcher?” Fernando felt that he had more and more questions after he knew Douglas.

With a weird smile, Reece said, “Rest assured. There are no night watchers in Aalto. Look, isn’t Antec over there?”

Following his finger, Fernando saw a young man in a monocle. He was slim and pale, with messy hair, rising cheekbones, and an untrimmed beard. The disgusting smell from him suggested that he hadn’t been out of the meditation room or the laboratory for a long time.

“You look as terrible as before,” Fernando mocked Antec straightforwardly. “And you don’t know how to sort yourself out at all.”

With a bitter expression, Antec said, “Whether or not I sort myself out, no beautiful sorceresses will ever like me. Only someone as handsome as you is worth sorting out.”

There were hints of envy and jealousy in his tone.

“Have you considered modifying your face?” Fernando did not consider Antec’s feelings at all.

Antec, however, thought about it carefully and said, “Few people in our magic tower are good at physical modification, and I don’t trust other people, fearing that I will become even uglier.”

“Hehe. You are still a coward who doesn’t dare to try and trust! You shouldn’t have studied after the King of Nightmare, and you should’ve gone to the Tower of Misfortunes!” Fernando was particularly mean today.

The Tower of Misfortunes was the demiplane of “Lord of Misfortunes”, a legendary sorcerer who had already perished in Antiffler.

Antec was not so cowardly in front of his friend whom he had known for years. He said proudly, “My teacher said that I am very gifted at dreams, and I’m most suitable to hide in someplace safe and manipulate dreams.”

“Yes. It’s indeed suitable for cowards,” Fernando said.

Antec suddenly smiled. “Fernando, let me tell you a story.”

“Huh? A story?” Fernando failed to follow Antec. He suddenly felt that his friend had something he could not understand since they last met ten years before.

Antec led Fernando through the gate into the crowded market area. The vampires under their parasols, the elves who embraced the sunlight, the dragons who stopped on the roofs, and the human beings who were coming and going made the place diverse and charming.

“The Lord of Abyss, my teacher’s good friend, is one of the best experts in bloodline melting and body modification. When he was young, he was often mocked by his good friend for being too hideous. However, he has plenty of mistresses right now,” Antec said in a calm tone.

Fernando was not envious at all. “He’s a legendary. Nobody can refuse him.”

In the Magic Empire, legendary sorcerers had great privileges. As long as they did not kill anyone too important, they would only be fined for murder.

Then, he chuckled. “So, that’s what you used to encourage yourself? How inspiring!”

“That’s not important. The important thing is that when the Lord of Abyss was only in the seventh circle and not as strong as his friend, he ambushed and killed his friend after having enough mockery, before turning his friend into a demon dog.” Antec suddenly sounded delighted.

Fernando was stunned for the first time during his interaction with Antec. He said with his face frozen, “Do you want me to thank you for not killing me?”

“Yes, but I dare not do so,” Antec replied with a smile. He was already satisfied to see the look on Fernando’s face.

Fernando was about to roar when he saw a vampire fighting an elf in the avenue up ahead. The blast of the senior-rank supernatural powers had demolished a lot of buildings.

“Nobody is going to stop them?” Was Aalto so unregulated? Then, perhaps the Church did not need to attack them at all; they would kill each other after a while!

Antec suddenly sounded extremely weird. He asked, both in amusement and confusion, “Fernando, have you pretended to be a girl?”

“How did you know?” Fernando was rather shocked. How could such a thing have been spread to Aalto?

Antec pointed at his side. “She’s right here.”

Shocked, Fernando looked at his right side, only to discover a petite red-eyed beauty was standing next to him shoulder to shoulder, except that she looked rather fuzzy.

He was lost at first, before he said in great enlightenment, “Is this Aalto City my dream?”

“No, it’s OUR dream,” Antec replied with a smile. He was much bolder when they talked about that.

“Our dream, as well as theirs?” Frowning, Fernando pointed at the human beings, elves, dragons, vampires, and dwarfs around them.

Antec nodded his head. “This place is based on the dreams of all the living creatures in the real Aalto. Now that you have come to this place, you’ve naturally joined the dream. It’s barely possible for traitors to hide in such dreams.”

“This is… too remarkable for your teacher to accomplish! Has he reached level three of legendary? It’s impossible for even the level-three legends!” Fernando had a profound understanding of illusions and read a lot of books on the battles of legends.

Antec chuckled. “Have you forgotten that Prince Dracula is in Aalto?”