CHAPTER 61: CHAPTER 58: THE YOUNG MAGE

"I, Andrew Xifa Lin, am now a formally titled... Water Mage."

Andrew looked up at the star-filled night sky of this Flame Realm, thinking to himself that now he had a better chance of surviving well in this Otherworld.

...

...

"Huh? The previous Grand Mage Hubert... is dead?"

As Andrew officially became a Water Mage in Wildfire Town, a young man in a large city called "Hunting Wasteland City," located on the northern edge of the "Inner Sea Desert," was slightly startled.

He had just received some news from his Magic Guild.

Hunting Wasteland City is the largest city in the Inner Sea Desert.

This is a city of hunting.

A large number of Desert Hunters live here year-round, entering the Inner Sea Desert to hunt before and after the "Desolate Beast Sand Tide."

The gains from the hunts are then sold at the city’s market.

The bodies of Desolate Beasts are very valuable as magic materials for Fire Mages, especially the Earth Fire Mages of the Magic Guild.

As for why they hunt before and after the "Sand Tide"—

That’s because if entered during the "Sand Tide," even the powerful Desert Hunters would be torn to pieces by the countless Desolate Beasts.

The two weeks before and after the Sand Tide is exactly the window of time when "Desolate Beasts" appear in considerable numbers, but it isn’t too dangerous.

This year’s Sand Tide will arrive in less than a month.

Even though it’s night, Hunting Wasteland City is still quite bustling.

The largest city of the Inner Sea Desert can’t be compared to places like Wildfire Town or Baal Town.

The young mage of the Magic Guild sat in a tavern on one side of the main avenue of the city, with a somewhat peculiar expression on his face.

He was in contact with someone through the guild’s Magical Communication Device: "Is the information confirmed?"

"What do you think? The Lifebound Magical Soul Artifact is shattered; can that be fake?" a voice on the other end of the magic headset said.

"Alright." The young mage frowned slightly, "Hubert, right? From Wildfire Town? I’ve never met him, but I’ve heard of him. Wasn’t he a big figure at the Scholar’s Fortress? Tell me, why are you telling me this? Do you have a task for me?"

The voice from the earpiece gave a sound of agreement, "Yes. The Magic Guild will continue to hold off the Warm Fire Commerce Association; during this time, we hope you can complete the ’capture Barbara’ task. Also, please investigate Hubert’s cause of death."

The young mage sighed.

The shattering of the Lifebound Magical Soul Artifact means: he was killed and didn’t die of natural causes. Hence the need for investigation.

"The problem is that there’s less than a month to this year’s ’Desolate Beast Sand Tide’..."

The young mage was somewhat reluctant.

He was quite surprised when he first heard the news of Hubert’s death.

But this was supposed to be a rare vacation for him.

Having come all the way from Scholar’s Fortress to Hunting Wasteland City just to relive some of the good old days, why was there a task?

"It’s precisely because the Sand Tide is approaching that you must go," the other end said, "after success, you’ll get an invitation to the Saintess’s birthday banquet—"

"Deal." The young mage said immediately, "I’ll take the task."

"..."

"Alright, I got it," the young mage became very eager, "Capture the third miss Barbara of the Warm Fire Commerce Association and find out Hubert’s cause of death—or rather, find out who was bold enough to kill him—isn’t that right? That’s all, right?"

"Yes."

"Does the person who killed Hubert need to be captured alive as well?"

"Not necessary. Investigate the whole story thoroughly and then execute the punishment. After all, it’s just the ’former’ Grand Mage."

"Understood."

The young mage stood up and gracefully left the tavern, heading straight out of the city.

Wildfire Town is at the center of the Inner Sea Desert, quite a distance from Hunting Wasteland City.

Gotta hurry, after all, I am the man who plans to marry the Saintess, and I definitely want that birthday banquet invitation. The young mage thought.

"Hey, buddy, you’re daring to enter the Inner Sea Desert all by yourself? Don’t you need a bodyguard?"

A Desert Hunter blocked the young mage at the city gate and grinned, "The Sand Tide is coming soon this year. You’re a mage, strong indeed, but without a reliable bodyguard in a place like the Inner Sea Desert—hey, hey, at least listen to me finish, I can give you a discount!"

The young mage, however, ignored him and walked straight out of the city gate.

"Tch." The Desert Hunter curled his lips, respecting the mage too much to say anything on the surface, but internally he was snarking, "An Earth Fire Mage without any bodyguard, no Flame Warrior protection, no Desert Hunter escort, just entering the Inner Sea Desert alone? And with the Sand Tide approaching? He’s... courting death!"

What the Desert Hunter didn’t know was that as the young mage exited the city gate, he actually smiled.

It felt like going home, a long-lost sense of intimacy.

"Just now, that Desert Hunter elder must be cursing me in his heart, saying I’m courting death, right?"

The young mage smiled slightly, "It’s understandable for him to think that way. But I’m not an ordinary Fire Mage; the Sand Tide is nothing to me. Because..." he pursed his lips, quietly chuckling to himself, "I am the Sand Tide."

He walked leisurely, his figure slowly disappearing into the desert night.

...

...

Wildfire Town.

With Andrew killing Hubert, Ivan moved to take down the magic apprentices who were stubbornly resisting.

The battle finally came to a complete end.

"Wow, that was fast."

Andrew had just snapped out of his upgraded state, only to see Cook, Sally, and other magic apprentices tied up securely with the help of camp residents and guests from the cemetery by Ivan.

He scratched his head, feeling a bit embarrassed.

Ivan, An Ya, and the others looked at him, thinking, don’t act all innocent! You just killed Hubert and blew away his body with such a terrifying method, so stop pretending to be cute, you bastard!

Daring to resist the Magic Guild’s malicious fire and actually succeeding in rebellion are two entirely different matters.

Andrew proved with his actions: Even someone as powerful as Hubert can be killed!

In fact, at the moment Andrew took down Hubert, everyone present—not just Hubert’s apprentices, but also Andrew’s side—felt deeply impacted at the core of their deep-seated beliefs.

"What do you intend to do with these people?" Ivan asked.

Pointing at Cook, Sally, and the other magic apprentices.

Sally was already awake by then; as a Flame Warrior, she had a resilient physique. Hearing this, she shouted angrily, "If you have the guts, just kill me! Andrew, you bastard, you... you actually killed Teacher Hubert!"

Andrew flung out a "Water Ball Technique," sealing Sally’s mouth.

In the previous battle, he had acquired three substantial fire extinguishing values.

The first was used to enhance the Big Kill Move.

The third was for passing the evaluation and transformation.

The second was actually saved up, just for immediately consuming it to unlock new magic skills after the evaluation.

And the "Water Ball Technique" is a very basic Water Magic, not belonging to any series, just a Water Ball Technique.

It requires only a small amount of fire extinguishing value to unlock.

Although not very powerful, it is very versatile.

So after sealing Sally’s mouth with a Water Ball Technique, Andrew didn’t answer Ivan’s question.

Instead, he looked around and asked, "Where’s little Sophie? And Ivan, where’s your... friend?"