Advent of the Archmage

Chapter 491: Thin Pieces of Time

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

The coin on the table seemed to be made of silver. One side had a silhouette while the other side was a rose. The edges were very finely made. It was clear that Skinorse had specially cleaned it; it looked as good as new.

Link studied it. He still felt that it was a regular coin. He felt for it and vaguely sensed a strange aura. It was a bit familiar, but he couldn't remember where he'd felt it before.

He was too lazy to think more. "What's it for?" he asked straightforwardly.

"Hehe." Skinorse was proud to stump Link. He took the coin and asked, "Do you think it'll be heads or tails if I toss it?"

How could one guess something that was based on chance?

Link guessed randomly. "Heads."

"Haha, wrong." Skinorse tossed the coin. He didn't try any tricks. Under Link's scrutiny, he couldn't do any tricks even if he wanted to.

Clack. The coin landed on the table. It spun and then showed tails.

"It's luck, right?" Link laughed.

Skinorse grinned. "Hehe, you'll see if it's luck after a few tries. Guess again."

"Heads."

Skinorse tossed the coin again. The result was still tails. Link couldn't believe it. He guessed again but was wrong again.

"I'll toss it myself." He suspected Skinorse's method was a trick. Assassins and thieves had quick hands. He must have practiced some cheating method and came to show off to Link.

Skinorse handed the coin to Link with a grin. "Then toss it, but you have to guess beforehand and say it out loud."

Link nodded. "This time, I'm guessing tails."

He tossed the coin without any manipulation—it was just a casual toss.

Clack. The coin landed. It was heads.

Link was intrigued. This was a bit strange. He tried a few dozen times but was wrong each time.

"Interesting, right? I found this on accident. In the tavern, I used it to win everything off a drunkard, haha." Skinorse's smile was devilish.

Link started thinking. He set up many prerequisites and started experimenting, tossing more than 100 times. He discovered that he would definitely be wrong if he didn't try to manipulate anything.

But if he used the Magician's Hand to disturb it slightly in the air, not even specifically controlling it, the coin would become ineffective. Link's accuracy returned to 50%.

"Interesting, interesting." This piqued Link's curiosity. "This coin is mine now," he said. "What do you want?"

"Aha." Skinorse looked accomplished. Chuckling, he said, "I want a ring. A really pretty ring that girls will like. Of course, the magic can't be weak either. It's best if it's at least a Level-10 Legendary spell."

Link didn't comment. He stared at Skinorse until the man started feeling uncomfortable before saying, "You… are a bit greedy."

"Then it doesn't need to be Legendary. Level-9 is okay too," Skinorse said weakly, shrinking back.

Link couldn't hold it in anymore and laughed out loud. "Which girl do you have your eyes on? Tell me the name, and I'll fulfill your request."

Skinorse scratched his head, feeling a bit embarrassed. "Hehe, you scared me. I'll tell you the truth. That female priest I've been telling you about, you know, I like her."

"Alright, I see. Come back in a week. I'll have it done."

"Thanks."

Skinorse walked away, satisfied. Link started studying the coin. It was honestly strange. He flipped it around but couldn't figure anything out. After a while, he activated the Higgs Force Field.

The silver on the surface of the coin instantly started flowing like water. Finally, it melted away like wax. A thin piece the size of a watermelon seed remained in Link's hand.

The color was strange. It was pure black but not a regular black. This kind of black practically absorbed all light. Link placed it beside the ink on the table. Compared to the thin piece, the black ink somehow looked faded.

Link scanned his table. Nothing in his room was darker than this tiny piece, not even the hole in the corner of the shadowy wall.

He then lit a small light spell beside the piece. Under the silver-white light, the piece was still black as ever. Not illuminated at all, it absorbed all light that shone on it.

This was strange.

Technically, if it was this black and absorbed this much light, the surface should be hot. But when Link touched it, he only felt room temperature.

Link tried a Modifications spell, but it was ineffective. The Higgs Force Field couldn't find anything solid.

Strange… I definitely felt this aura before… Let me think… Link furrowed his brows and pondered. Suddenly, a lightbulb went off. He knew why it was familiar.

He took out a Jogu. The two objects had a similar feel.

The Jogu was white like a Go piece. It was plain; Link never felt anything special about it. However, when placed beside the black piece, the white stone actually started glowing.

The glow was especially strange. It looked like an illusory object constructed by a ball of white light. Then it turned into a white ribbon. There was no Mana aura at all; it was just a regular object. The white ribbon floated towards the black piece and disappeared bit by bit.

Around three minutes later, the Jogu disappeared just like that. The black piece grew a bit. It was around eight millimeters long before. Now, it was around 8.5 millimeters.

Link touched it to feel its temperature, but it was still the same.

These two things were too strange.

Thinking some more, Link got another idea. He wrapped the black piece with the silver coin, with the rose on one side and the silhouette on the other. He started tossing again.

Link still guessed incorrectly every time. That wasn't what he wanted to test though. He wanted to test the piece's ability to fight disturbances.

After tossing the piece, Link used the Magician's Hand to disturb the fall. He was still wrong each time. He continued, gradually lowering the strength of the Magician's Hand.

By the 300th try, the intensity of the Magician's Hand reached a limit. The black piece could resist the disturbance. Link's next ten predictions were all wrong.

This means that the black piece can resist outside influences. It's just too weak, so it can't resist that much. If I let it absorb another Jogu, will it get stronger?

He did it without hesitation.

After feeding it another Jogu, Link started testing again. Fifty tries later, he confirmed his guess. The black piece had strengthened and was more resistant to outside influences.

This… Link was impressed. If the piece becomes strong enough, would it be able to resist everything, including Legendary disturbances… Wouldn't it become impossible to change it? How does it do this?

Link was sure that this small thing was a product of time laws. However, he didn't understand it at all. Because of that and the powerful potential, Link was extremely intrigued.

Aisenis collects Jogu. I thought they were just regular pebbles. I never expected it to have such special power. The Spear of Victory from the God of Destruction, the spell that helped the Naga priestess to escape, Elin's prediction spell, and Celine's short-term predictions all involve the power of time.

Link realized that even though the power of time was uncommon, it was not rare. He'd been interacting with it all this time. He'd just never thought deeply about it or put in the effort to study it.

Now, as Link's power grew, not understanding the laws of time became his disadvantage. He felt that he had to learn now.

He had an item to experiment with and a magic book. His learning materials were quite rich.

Link first created the ring for Skinorse. With his current level, the ring was a simple matter. Three hours later, a beautiful Legendary ring was complete.

Then Link flipped open the book again. He studied it for a long while, but he ended up with a huge headache. He wanted to slam his head against the wall!

This stuff was too hard.

After half a day, he'd only read half a page. The entire book was 200 pages. He would really have to work his brain.

Phew, this is a difficult task. I won't be able to understand it quickly. I can't rush it. I guess I'll pretend it's my spatial thesis. Slow and steady.

After that, Link started battling with this book. When he honestly couldn't figure something out, he would change his mind set and do something else, like writing enchantments, practicing swordsmanship, or helping Celine.

Half a month passed in a blink. Link finally understood… one and a half pages. The book became more difficult. Now, whenever he saw the book, he would get a headache.

Finally, Kanorse's titling ceremony arrived, and Link had a reasonable excuse to take a break. He felt like if he kept going, he might want to burn the book.