The Developer Reborn As Archmage

The fog cleared as she flew near the strange island surrounded by flashing white dots in the water like hundreds of fireflies. She saw the first signs that the ‘island’ was not a real island.

What is that? The shape is all wrong.

It was a complicated mess, something that couldn’t have been made by nature. 

It looked ancient. 

She had to turn herself sideways to stare properly at what she thought was an island. It was a hull—a hull of a ship.

A hull of a ship bigger than anything she had ever imagined. She couldn’t even use the Desert Rose as a unit of measurement; this thing looked bigger than a cargo ship from Earth. 

The island was just the front half of it. The ship had sunk diagonally, tilting the bow towards the sky. That gave it a weird silhouette when seen through the fog. The stern was underwater, and she couldn’t tell how long it was supposed to be. 

How is that thing made of wood? The part sticking out could house the fucking Pentagon. 

Everything was decayed and covered in moss. The ship had indeed slowly become a floating island with debris and soil. It even had forests and a shoreline. 

She drew closer, flying low over the waves to see things better. This was an entire ecosystem, a floating terrarium. It could sustain a settlement of at least a few hundred people. 

That was the next thought she had. 

She couldn’t see any structures that looked like a settlement. Flat ground was sort of rare given the ship’s vertical tilt. 

Maybe there’s something inside the hull? Those beams look as thick as my ship. What kinda tree—wait. World trees? Someone made a ship with a world tree?

Every fantasy story needed a gigantic tree. In Vainfall, they had added several. World trees were mythical species responsible for the mana cycle.

Cutting one down was unimaginable. Not in the VRMMO, and not according to the established lore. World trees were supposed to be sacred and worshipped as much as Gods.

Building a ship with that wood as a material had to be a civilizational project. This was like building a colony spaceship out of wood. 

Darya had never felt the weight of nine thousand years of history before. Far from inducing a sense of excitement and adventure, the scale of this ship actually horrified her.

Snapping back to reality, she started observing the glowing patterns along the shorelines. They were all coming from those glowing belugas, the only sign of life or activity near the island. 

Looks like they’re doing a ring formation to keep the sea monsters away?

They were spread out from the island in all directions, concentrating around a vast circle. Inside the circle, more glowing dots roamed, but their lights weren’t as coordinated. 

Circling the island in a dive, she swept past a broken mast the size of a building and landed on a white-sand beach. 

It was strangely peaceful and quiet. The treeline at the edge of the shore looked like a proper wild forest. 

Looks like a small-scale Amazon. Why aren’t there any creatures? Birds? Hello?

It was uncanny. 

She watched everything around her, unable to decide what kind of horror movie this was supposed to be. 

She knew there had to be a catch. A forest with no creatures was a bad sign. 

The ground rumbled as if to answer her. At first, she wasn’t sure if she felt the tremor or not. Then, a gust of wind burst from the ground. 

It was like the wind, but it traveled more like sound that was too loud for human ears. It felt exactly like standing on a giant subwoofer. Dry sand flew in the distance, forming patterns mid-air. 

“What the—” Darya leapt off the ground, starting to fly again. The next second, something exploded. 

It was just like the shockwave, but it was a colossal surge of mana. It almost broke her spell that was keeping her afloat. 

The pulse passed her, rippling across the water like a wave traveling in the opposite direction. All the glowing dots in the distance flickered as it passed them. 

Hovering in place as the island turned eerily calm again, she watched Fominel coming for her in a golden arc. 

He hit the mana ripple face first and twisted mid-air like an insect caught in a gust of wind. He flapped his golden wings and quickly regained altitude before spiraling into the black waves below. 

Darya waved her Manacer while pouring mana into it, making the crystal glow. Fominel saw her and dove down. 

“Princess,” he panted with his hands on his knees as golden feathers vanished around him. “I thought you were going to fight something alone!” 

“I just saw those glowing belugas and got here,” she said with a shrug. 

“Why?” Fominel asked, trying to regulate his breathing. 

“Oh, Lurim. He was pointing in this direction. I’m guessing because he can talk to fish, or hear them, or whatever.” She waved her hand at the forest and the looming wooden mountain behind her. “What is this creepy ship, Fom?” 

“I—” Fominel patted his chest and swallowed. “I keep forgetting that you forgot everything. This is the First Emperor’s Behemoth. It’s very old.”

“That’s all?” Darya asked, squinting at him. “Why is it here? How did it sink?”

“…it didn’t,” Fominel said with a slight smile. “It’s floating.”

“Fair enough.”

“It floats with arcane magics. Only merfolk can dive deep enough to see what’s keeping it afloat. The mana pulse is coming from down there.”

“It’s a regular pulse?” Darya asked, suddenly intrigued. 

“It happens every few minutes, I think four. It keeps the sea monsters away. This is why Cartogar gather nearby. They’re safer here.” Fominel waved his hand at the glowing dots in the distance.

Makes sense. They’re pulsing their own mana against those sea monsters. Are they copying what they see here? 

“So, that little boy can actually sense them?” Fominel asked. 

“I think so; he was damn near ready to jump off the ship. I told him I’ll go check first.”

Fominel looked at the Desert Rose, which was a tiny black dot on the horizon. 

“We should bring the ship here. We can use a break. The hull’s damaged too.” He said. 

“Oh no!” Darya didn’t want to see her precious ship ever take any sort of damage. In a way, it was her second baby after Enta. “How bad was it?!”

“Not too bad. Master Lam’s taking care of it.” Fominel burst with golden mana, casting his flying spell again. “I’ll bring the ship,” he said as he took off.

Darya thought about following him back, but then she didn’t want to waste mana on her flying spells again. She was using the precious mana given to her by Enta, the wisp baby with three stamina points. It was special mana. 

I could jump the distance if they got into trouble with a creature. I could also get there faster if I could spot Fominel from here. 

She had a pretty clear line of sight on the Desert Rose. Fominel made a good target as a glowing golden dot. 

She waved at Fominel, signaling that she was going to be on the island. He waved back and flew off towards the Desert Rose. 

Once he was gone, Darya paced the beach, periodically watching the horizon. The belugas resurfaced now and then, spurting white columns of water before diving again. 

The second mana pulse also caught her by surprise, but she knew not to panic this time. She watched the dry sand rise and fall.

She could see the mana surge clearly. It was more wind than mana. In fact, the mana mixed in the rippling shockwave wasn’t concentrated enough to be absorbed. 

It’s crazy powerful, whatever that is. This is residue mana. It’s like a spell on a timer to create a shockwave. 

Suddenly, her ears picked up some sounds that she hadn’t expected to hear. 

It sounded like footsteps, but she knew it wasn’t actually sound. It had brushed past her ear, like a soft gust of wind. For a split second, she had felt a presence. 

“Who’s there?” She muttered, carefully looking at the distant treeline. 

The hair at the back of her neck stood on end when she spooked herself by imagining someone standing there. 

Realizing it was just a stump between the trees, she blew air out of her mouth to calm herself down. 

She felt another soft gust of wind yet again, just when she was releasing her grip on her Manacer.

It came from behind her, dissipating before she even turned. 

Something’s here. Someone’s watching. I can feel it on my skin. 

She almost wanted to fly off before she remembered she was an archmage. She had enough spells to deal with whoever it was. 

“Hello?” she yelled like a typical idiot in a horror movie. “Anybody here?” 

There was no reply. She was ready to freak out if there was. 

Turning back, she observed the Desert Rose heading her way. It was no longer a dot on the horizon. She could see the sails now. 

A hand touched her back. 

“Aah! Who the fuc—”

Darya leapt off the ground with a yelp, almost tripping on her feet. 

She swung her Manacer around. Someone was nearby. She could feel their movements. 

“You know what!” She yelled, falling to a crouch as she slammed her gauntleted left hand on the sand. 

She had a spell to trap everything within a circle, the one that she had used on Sarka. 

[Pillars of Erisoth] 

Mana burst from the scales of her gauntlet, rippling away in a circle. Nine pillars materialized around her. 

She saw a figure standing about three feet away. It was glaring at her with a pair of glowing dots where the eyes should be. 

Is that a fucking…

“…Ghost?” Darya mumbled, glaring back. She was more confused than scared. “At daytime?”

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!