Archlich Calypsoe.

The rest of the day went by rather quickly. Nothing special happened. Zagan kept practicing magic and other spells.

Just because he was a mage he didn't neglect physical training though. He regularly did 1000 push-ups, 1000 sit-ups, and 1000 pull-ups every day without fail. His logic behind this was, 'If someday I get cornered and don't have enough Mana to cast any spells, at least I can run away with a fairly fit body.'

After all of the relentless practicing and working out, the time had flown by in a blink of an eye. It was already night time, and he could see 2 blood-red moons in the sky.

'Ominous.', thought Leon as he admired the 2 moons.

One moon was smaller than the other.

'Maybe someday I'll have enough power to bring down the two moons to the planet and destroy it...? who knows... If I someday do need to destroy the planet, I'll use the 2 moons to do it.', Leon thought about pointless things as he prepared to go out.

He wore the Blue Enchanted Robe he got from the dead mage in the secret Library, and jumped out of his room, to fall to the roof of another room that was below it.

The Crimson palace was massive, and had thousands of rooms. Although, in the game only about 20 rooms were available to the player.

"Illusory Self.", Zagan chanted as his body slowly disappeared from vision.

'Illusory Self' was a spell to make the caster invisible for a period of time. The spell would immediately lose its effects if the caster attracted too much attention or attacked anyone.

"Haste.", Zagan chanted again. This was a buff-type spell that increased one's agility.

After carefully avoiding the residence of the court mages, he made his way outside of the palace walls.

If he got too close to the Court mage's residence, he could be easily spotted by them, as most of them were 7th to 8th circle mages with tremendous firepower. The head of the Court mages was a 9th circle, the only one other than the future MC and Zagan to have achieved such a feat in the entire Asherion Empire.

'Finally made it...', Leon sighed in relief at the fact that he had gotten out of the Palace. It would have been impossible to do so without the knowledge of the best possible way for infiltration that he acquired through playing the game. Leon knew that the Crimson Palace was as safe as a prison, so not only was it secure, but also a place where the imperial family members would be sealed in, for their own safety.

Of course, it wasn't flawless, because if it was, the game would've been unbeatable. Leon had to watch countless youtube videos and tutorials and had to restart the quest multiple times to figure out the perfect way of infiltration.

He then ran as fast as he could towards the location in his mind. He was sure the Archlich would appear there tonight.

After an hour of running at top speed, he finally reached the place.

"Huff Huff Huff", Zagan huffed and gasped after running for so long, although his expression was as cold as ever.

'The caravan should be arriving soon...', Leon thought to himself.

Soon after, the air changed around Zagan.

'Miasma...', Leon thought as he recalled the particle effects he witnessed only in the game.

He could see in the distance, a carriage being pulled by a single horse with a knight on top of it.

As the carriage got closer, Zagan felt shivers run down his spine and he shuddered. Even the ever-cold expression of Zagan, became wary and a bit fearful.

The carriage was completely black, and the horse that was pulling it was skeletal. It had blue ethereal flames burning in the place of there its hair and tail would be. Riding the horse, is a knight wearing black armor, with a sinister-looking sword scabbard hanging from his waist. And the most terrifying and unnerving thing about the knight was that it was headless. Blue Ethereal falmes were raging in the place of where his head should have been in.

'What a terrifying sight. I saw them in the game so many times, and I just thought they looked cool, but now seeing them in front of me, I can now feel just how terrifying this Archlich is...', Leon thought.

He knew he was safe and that the Archlich wouldn't do anything to harm him, but he still couldn't calm down under so much pressure.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Zagan raised his hand and waved at the Caravan. The knight rode to Zagan's position and stopped the carriage.

The blue ethereal flames were raging, but it made almost no sound. It was beautiful to look at. If there wasn't a headless knight in the scene, it would look just like an abstract painting.

As Zagan was admiring the knight, the carriage door opened, making Zagan flinch. Soon after, a figure opened got out of the carriage.

The figure was robed in an elegant-looking dark green robe with runes all over its arms, shoulders and even chest. It wore black trousers and a pair of black boots. The palms were covered with black gloves.

The figure was slightly taller than Zagan, at 6'2ft, and looked very lean.

"Why did you stop us, child?", the robed figure spoke up.

"I-I wish to buy some things.", Zagan said after gulping down his own saliva.

"Hohoho... so you wish to buy something from me...", the robed figure laughed.

"Do you know who I am?", the robed figure said in a playful, but threatening way.

"Of course. How could I not know about the great Archmage Calypsoe! You are one of the pioneers of advanced summoning magic. I had read about your amazing accomplishments from a book in the great library of the Crimson Palace.", Zagan said with confidence.

The robe figure stayed silent for a few moments after hearing this.

Then, it took down the hood that was hiding its face.

Zagan's legs almost gave out as he shuddered so much. Almost. The hood revealed a head that had neither skin, nor and muscle. It was a skull.

'Fucking hell! Thats scary looking ai it in real life! Maybe its because of the intense Miasma he's radiating, but I hate standing in front of this guy.', Leon thought to himself.

"You're an imperial?", Calypsoe asked.

"Y-yes. My name is Zagan Von Asherion. The youngest prince of the Asherion Empire.", Zagan replied.

"Hohoho... Interesting... It seems your body is also blessed by mana...", Calypsoe continued.

"yes, it indeed is. I am looking for allies but I can't seem to trust anyone from my family or my father's employees. So I have decided that I will create my allies on my own using my own power and authourity as a mage.", Zagan elaborated his reason for seeking out Calypsoe.

"Hmm... First of all, you are half right about my identity. I 'Was' Calypsoe, the Archmage. But now, I am nothing more than an empty shell of the great mind that once was...", Calypsoe said while looking up at the sky with his non-existent eyes even though he was a skeleton, Zagan could feel that Calypsoe, or his echo, was rather sad and lonely.

"Anyways, I don't want to waste the time of a young and promising mage, so I'll give you the list of my stock. Pick any one of them, and I will sell it to you for an appropriate price.", Calypsoe said, diverting his attention from the sky and putting in on Zagan.

'Hmm... its the same as the game...', Leon thought after looking at the piece of paper Calypsoe had given him. There were many different things, and many different products, but Leon knew what he wanted.

"I'd like to buy this product." Zagan said, pointing to a product in the paper with his index finger.

"hmm... Interesting...", Calypsose nodded.