1 Judgment Day

Muguang City, Federal Building, Mage Guild Headquarters Hall.

The large venue was filled with five hundred of the highest-ranking members of the Mage Council. None were absent. 

The gorgeous robes of the members of the council symbolized their noble status, and these mages were all elites among the humans. However, at that moment, all eyes were on the person sitting on the rostrum with solemn expressions.

A young man in a black cloak leaned lazily against the back of his chair, playing with his finger with interest. He wore a pure black ring on his index finger, and there was a flowing light revolving around the ring. It gave off a noble aura, as if it had some kind of magical power.

The black-robed young man seemed to be completely oblivious to the solemn atmosphere around him. He continued to play with the pure black ring. Through his every move, he seemed completely immersed in his own world, without a care about the high-level councilmen on the stage.

"Lin Feng, correct your posture!"

"The voting has ended. Here are the following results."

"500 votes in favor, zero votes in denial, zero votes forfeited!"

"On behalf of all the members of parliament, I hereby announce that the Federation's highest-level trial motion, code name: 'Expel Archmage' has officially been passed!"

 …

Ren Qiu, the chairman of the Federation's highest mage guild, stood abruptly from the adjudication platform. With a condescending attitude, he sternly berated the black-clothed youth below the stage and read out the adjudication result like a string of cannonballs.

 "The Archmage in question—Lin Feng.

"We have pieces of evidence that you committed multiple massacres during the war. In many instances, you deliberately cast large-scale spells to injure the innocent under the pretext of killing the enemy, causing more than two thousand deaths…

"Not only that, but you've also disobeyed the Federation many times, resisting orders with violence. You've disobeyed orders and have even spread rumors that the higher-ups of the Mage Guild had improper dealings, seriously affecting the reputation of the Mage Guild and destroying the image of heroes in the hearts of the people…"

After a slight pause, he immediately announced many "malignant cases", accusing Archmage Lin Feng of such crimes. It was only after three minutes that he announced the final verdict.

"Given the serious crimes mentioned above, the Supreme Council of the Mage Guild should have sentenced you to death.

"But…

"On account of the many times you've resolved the invasion of the Buried City's magical beasts and the great contributions you've made to mankind during the war, our parliament has decided to temporarily exempt you from the death penalty. However, we will punish you accordingly.

"Lin Feng's contributions to the war shall be attributed to our Mage Guild. At the same time, all rewards obtained by Lin Feng during the mission will be confiscated as well as the personal assets Lin Feng placed in the warehouse."

"Lin Feng will bear all casualties and adverse effects of the Mage Council during the war.

"Finally, the Mage Council represents all of humanity to strip Lin Feng of his title as Archmage and expel him from the Mage Guild.

"After being expelled from the guild, Lin Feng will be a supernumerary member. He will have to listen to the Federation's orders and guard the Buried City. Moreover, he must deal with the magical beasts in the dungeon regularly to ensure the safety of humanity's rear and continue his path as a hero."

Ren Qiu read out the series of punishments, causing the hearts of many representatives on stage to palpitate. They vaguely knew that this meeting was an internal conflict between the Mage Guild and represented the victory of Ren Qiu's faction and Lin Feng's faction's defeat and that Lin Feng himself would be the target of the punishment. However, no one expected the verdict to be so severe.

After all, it was the Archmage Lin Feng!

The strongest hero who had once held up the sky alone during the dark years when humans and magical beasts were at war!

Twenty years ago, a cataclysm completely changed the world's structure.

The game fused, the Heavenly Axiom had been reorganized, and all kinds of disastrous magical beasts invaded.

Each of them possessed extraordinary abilities. They came out from the underground world in full force and invaded the mortal world crazily, wreaking havoc in cities and destroying everything.

Those were the darkest periods. Under the claws and hooves of the magical beasts, cities fell every second. Corpses were everywhere, and countless people were killed or injured. It was a time when despair and helplessness enveloped all.

The civilization that mankind was so proud of was torn to shreds like fragile paper in front of them and collapsed in the blink of an eye.

However, there was always a way out. While the Cataclysm gave mankind destruction, it also gave them a chance of survival.

Due to the reorganization of the Heavenly Axiom, the laws of the world had changed, and the entire world was digitized like an online game. Furthermore, everyone could change their profession at eighteen and obtain extraordinary power. It was why humans had the strength to fight against magical beasts.

Class advancement players could obtain EXP by killing magical beasts to increase their levels and strength. They could even obtain precious tools and equipment.

Classes were divided into two categories: lifestyle and combat. The lifestyle classes were usually support classes like chefs, farmers, craftsmen, and so on. They were in charge of human logistics.

Then, there were swordsmen, assassins, priests, archers, pharmacists, grandmasters of combat, firearms masters, and so on in the combat class. They often went to the frontlines to survey dungeons and slay Magical Beasts. Their status was very high, and they were the most popular class.

However, among the combat professions, the most powerful were mages. Mages could easily perform powerful elemental magic. As long as they chanted for some time, they could cause three to four times the damage of the same class. They were often the core of a combat team and had noble statuses.

If one were to say that a mage was the most dazzling profession among all the class advancers, then it would be the same for the mages. Lin Feng was the brightest star among mages. He was the only Level 91 Mythical Mage among humans, and his codename was 'Archmage'. This was enough to show how powerful he was.

Under his leadership, class advancers successfully repelled the magical beasts and forced them back to their nest. They also built cities deep underground, sent people to guard them strictly, and regularly cleaned up the magical beasts to prevent them from escaping to the surface, posing a threat to the human rear.

These class advancement players, who guarded the frontlines of the Buried City to protect the safety of mankind and continue the fire of civilization, had a common title— Heroes.

That was right. Under the pressure of the apocalypse, humans quickly reached an unprecedented unity. They established the federal government, organized a class advancement association, and unified the management of all class advancement members.

Here, there was no country, no culture, and no race. There were only heroes who risked their lives and fought on the front lines.

It was the tireless struggle of the heroes. In the darkest years of human civilization, they raised their torches high and fought side by side. Even if each of them only had a faint flame, countless people joined hands and gathered together. It was a spark that could start a prairie fire and illuminate the cruel night to welcome the dawn of victory.

Without these heroes, humanity would not be where it is today!