Little Pink Starfish

In the original timeline, Pei Sen’s main account had never managed to break through to become a Legendary Mage—though he had already touched the threshold.

Different classes had entirely different requirements for advancement. The difficulty of advancing to a Legendary Mage lay in its terrifyingly high demand for magical knowledge.

To become a Legendary Mage, one needed not only to master magic, but also to have a broad and deep grasp of various magical disciplines. That critical point was exceptionally high, and it was what stopped the vast majority of players from advancing.

At times like this, Pei Sen couldn’t help but feel grateful for the secret-rune ring Eagle had once given him. If that ring hadn’t come from a Legendary Mage who, out of guilt, bequeathed his most valuable legacy to Eagle, Pei Sen wouldn’t have had such smooth progress rising all the way here.

“Is it really that hard to advance to Legendary Mage?” Eagle asked curiously.

Across all of Yali Continent, Legendary Mages were exceedingly rare, and the number of High Mages was several times that—possibly even dozens or hundreds of times more.

Did those High Mages not want to advance? Of course not.

Every High Mage dreamed of becoming a Legendary Mage! Yet, 99% of them never succeeded.

Unlike players, who only needed to fulfill a fixed set of conditions to advance—and thus could strive directly toward that goal—natives didn’t have it that easy. Most of them couldn’t cross that threshold in their entire lives. Even if told exactly what the player advancement conditions were, even if they met those requirements, the invisible barrier between them and advancement remained extremely difficult to overcome.

Players didn’t have that problem at all.

“For us Bix people, it’s a little easier,” Pei Sen finally said.

Eagle nodded thoughtfully. “No wonder.”

“No wonder what?”

“Ichabod reported to me about the Bix people,” Eagle said, chuckling. “And I think his mental state’s a bit shaken.”

Pei Sen was surprised. “Shaken?”

“Have you not noticed? The Bix in my territory are getting stronger. In just one year, many have risen from low-level Transcendents to high-level ones. For someone like Ichabod, who’s been a level seven swordsman for years, that has to be a serious blow.”

As Transcendents, they all desired to grow stronger—even someone as steady as Ichabod was no exception.

Pei Sen instantly understood. The leveling speed of players was, frankly, bug-like.

In most games, Bix Magic Cube was considered pretty slow to level in—but to the natives, it was frighteningly fast. And even more alarming, these geniuses weren’t one or two isolated cases—they were appearing in batches. No wonder Ichabod went out of his way to report it.

“Ichabod’s worried that too many high-level Transcendents might pose a security risk to the territory,” Eagle added.

Pei Sen laughed. “Tell him not to worry. Most of the Bix who advance to high-level will head off to adventure elsewhere. Even if they occasionally come back, they’re unlikely to cause any trouble.”

High-level Transcendents weren’t exactly rare on Yali Continent—but they weren’t common either.

They weren’t revered the way Legendary Mages or Sword Saints were, but they were still treated with significant respect. Some lords—or even kings—would offer substantial rewards to recruit them.

But in the Duchy of Lanno, high-level Transcendents were popping up one after another. That kind of situation had never been seen before. Ichabod’s concern was understandable.

After saying that, Pei Sen even felt a little regretful. Right now, there still weren’t that many players who had reached level 60 and completed the advancement. While it might seem like a lot locally, it wasn’t enough to even make a splash in Gate of Eternity. It was just too few.

After all, the first closed beta only had 200 players. It wouldn’t be until the second batch started reaching level 60 that high-level Transcendents would begin appearing in large numbers.

“They’re going to the world of Gate of Eternity, too?” Eagle asked thoughtfully.

“Yes,” Pei Sen admitted frankly. “Young master, you know—when it comes to understanding and power in the Transcendent realm, that side is much more advanced.”

Eagle nodded. “Perhaps I should consider bringing Ichabod a gift from there.”

As they chatted, Pei Sen listed more mage and swordsman magic stones.

Though his swordsmanship wasn’t high-level, it happened to match the average player level perfectly. And since there were so many swordsman players, his returns in that area were especially generous.

Opening his character screen, Pei Sen was delighted to see the XP bar nearly full.

Each time he leveled up, it came with a genuine sense of satisfaction.

“Pei Sen.”

“Hm?”

He had just glanced at his character sheet when warm, slender fingers gently lifted his chin—and Eagle’s kiss fell upon his lips.

Pei Sen sighed, muttering, “Young master, in the few days since we got back, I’ve hardly done anything productive!”

Well… to be fair, he had done some things. Just putting those stones up for sale, Bix Magic Cube and the territory handled everything else.

Still… whenever something happened, and he met those teasing, ambiguous stares from people in Red Maple Castle, he couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed.

But then he looked at Eagle—his golden hair catching the sunlight streaming through the window, strands gleaming like dancing gold, casting a glow on his deep green eyes and that exquisitely handsome face, one too perfect for any artist to truly capture.

And the way he smiled—gentle, affectionate—at times like this, Eagle was the very embodiment of irresistible charm. Even without the deep affection in his eyes, he was enough to make anyone’s heart race.

In the end, Pei Sen gave in… honestly, who could resist that face?

Probably no one.

Pei Sen obeyed his heart very honestly. Humans were visual creatures. He admitted he loved Eagle—but ever since the boy had grown into a young man, he’d taken a lot of damage from those looks. And even now, he still hadn’t fully adapted.

No wonder love at first sight was such a common thing. As he sighed and returned Eagle’s kiss, Pei Sen thought, If I hadn’t already fallen for him before… I probably would’ve fallen in love with him the first time I saw him.

Love, after all, was always both complicated and simple.

Three days later, Pei Sen successfully broke through level 80.

And another day after that, without a sound, he advanced to Legendary Mage. Other than Eagle, who shared his bed, no one knew.

If Ichabod heard about it, he’d probably have a breakdown.

He knew Pei Sen had started learning magic using Bersa’s notes—the student of Kesso. And now, how long had it been? Bersa was still just a low-level mage, but Pei Sen… was already a Legendary Mage?

That was terrifying.

“Young master, I’m planning to return to Gate of Eternity tomorrow.”

“Alright.” Eagle’s rush-ordered alchemy carriage had already been delivered. But this time, he still had a mountain of luggage to bring. Pei Sen couldn’t figure out where he’d gotten so many things.

He really lived such a refined life. The young master had far too many items he would never reuse, to a point that Pei Sen thought was borderline excessive.

On the side, Peks was snoring away, having completely given up resistance. Fine, wherever the master goes, I’ll go too. Just passing the time anyway.

Lately, it had been living a very relaxed life—its shadow-diving skills had become quite polished.

Whatever. Anywhere I go, it’s still just eating and sleeping.

The cat had made peace with its fate.

It lifted its eyelids lazily to glance at the flitting little light sparrow dancing on Eagle’s shoulder, then curled its itchy paw beneath itself and shut its eyes. Out of sight, out of mind.

Just as they were finishing up their preparations, Jekko came running.

“Your Grace!”

Eagle thought for a moment before remembering who he was. Aijin and Ichabod had said he was decently useful. “What is it?”

“Uh, the local branch head and his people from the Mage Association have been locked up for a while now. I was wondering if you planned to do anything about them?”

As Jekko brought it up, Pei Sen suddenly remembered those poor guys. What was that branch head’s name again—oh, Finn Rein! Back then, he’d lied to Eagle, claiming he could fix his condition. But Eagle hadn’t even listened to the full speech—he’d launched a direct assault, capturing most of the Mage Association mages, who had remained imprisoned to this day.

Honestly, after players had killed so many of the Association’s mages, tensions had become irreparable. What surprised Pei Sen was that, even after all this time, the Association hadn’t made a move.

As if reading his mind, Eagle said, “Probably because they heard I attacked and wiped out the Church of Light. That’s why they haven’t dared to act.”

The Mage Association and Church of Light had always been at odds. They’d had countless clashes over the years. As enemies, the Association understood the Church’s power even better than its allies did. And they knew they could never wipe the Church out.

But Eagle had done it.

So now, even though they knew Finn Rein and the others were his prisoners, they didn’t dare stir trouble.

“Your Grace, the Mage Association is willing to pay a substantial price to ransom them,” Jekko said, handing over a parchment letter. “This just arrived.”

Eagle narrowed his eyes. “They’re well informed.”

He hadn’t been in the Duchy of Lanno recently. Though his return wasn’t exactly a secret, it hadn’t been widely broadcast either. He hadn’t been back long—but clearly, the Association had gotten wind and delivered this message at just the right time.

Pei Sen shrugged. “Probably sent someone to lurk nearby again. Want me to ferret them out?”

“Lord Chamberlain,” Jekko added, “if they’re hiding in Red Maple City, it’d be best to locate them.”

Pei Sen nodded. “Got it.” Getting players to root out red-named spies? Easy work.

Eagle glanced over the letter and smiled faintly. “Very generous of them—but too generous. Probably hiding some nasty little scheme. Annoying.”

Whatever the Association was planning, Eagle wasn’t worried. Yes, they had Legendary Mages—but so what? Those arrogant old mages were nearly impossible to mobilize. Pei Sen, on the other hand, was a Legendary Mage who actuallyfought. He didn’t have any prideful hang-ups.

“Young master, I’ll go to the Mage Association’s headquarters myself,” Pei Sen said. “Bring back that ransom in person.”

Eagle looked up. “I’ll go with you.”

Pei Sen thought about it and didn’t refuse. Instead, he joked, “Let’s treat it as our dress rehearsal for storming Gate of Eternity together. I hope the Mage Association doesn’t disappoint me.”

A Legendary Mage who never neglected any school of magic, especially spirit arts. A half-divine being of the light, with vast vitality, healing, and resurrection abilities.

Together, they were enough to sweep across all of Yali Continent.

Pei Sen thought about it… and couldn’t help getting a little excited.

Even if it was just a rehearsal, he intended to give it his all.

The Mage Association… now that was a worthy opponent.