A Wizard’s Secret

The giant python circled above in the clouds, its eyes glittering with a horrifying light of red-blood color, making everyone tremble in fear!

At the moment, almost everyone in Taran City had looked up toward the sky, their mouths agape, and their faces full of a terror they could not conceal.

“Whoosh! Whoosh!”

Two figures quickly entered Taran City. It was the two ugly Wizards who had been waiting outside the city-state this entire time. Upon seeing the giant python in the sky, their faces darkened, and they called out softly, “Snake Elder, you’re finally here. We’re not strong enough to handle this matter, so please punish us!”

“Humph! For you guys, I’ll punish you myself when we get back!”

The giant python in the air was Snake Elder of Wilson Castle. Merlin knew that Snake Elder came from a tribe of alpine Snake People, but he had no understanding of what special powers they possessed. Even the records of the Dark Magic Region only mentioned them in passing.

Now it appeared that these alpine Snake People were not merely Spell Casters. Their way of living, their anatomy, and so on, were different from most people.

As soon as Snake Elder spoke, he fixed his huge eyes on the Runic Magic Circle which sprawled across Taran City. Following that, he extended his long body slightly from the clouds.

“Bang!”

The snake’s body, which was as wide as a bucket, whipped ruthlessly toward the Runic Magic Circle in Taran City down below. The blow that carried inconceivable force landed squarely on the Runic Magic Circle.

The Runic Magic Circle, which had just suffered Merlin’s attack, was defenseless by now and was smashed to pieces. The light of the Runic Magic Disc that Merlin had obtained seemed to dim as well.

With a single attack, Snake Elder had destroyed the Runic Magic Circle that Finello had designed. His powers went far beyond the Fourth-level Spell Caster persona that he had displayed.

Perhaps Snake Elder was really just a Fourth-level Spell Caster, but once he transformed into his enormous python form, his strength was increased many times over and reached the stage of a Fifth-level Spell Caster, or even higher.

It was not surprising that the alpine tribe of Snake People was so valued by His Royal Highness the eighth prince, for they had such extraordinary capabilities. Merlin was secretly on his guard as well due to this.

Following the destruction of the Runic Magic Circle, Snake Elder seemed to notice Merlin and Wizard Finello down below. Thereafter, the gigantic python vanished without a trace, and he transformed once more into an eccentric old man dressed in a black robe.

“Wizard Merlin, are you alright?”

Snake Elder came down from the clouds and immediately went to Merlin. He swept his Mind Power hastily over Merlin and saw that he was unharmed. At this, he heaved a small sigh of relief. He had hurried so frantically because he was afraid that he would be too late.

“Hmm? Wizard Finello, how kind of you. You know that Wizard Merlin is an honored guest of His Royal Highness the eighth prince, yet you still dared to activate the Modoya Magic Circle. Did you think that you can run to the other princes and disregard His Royal Highness the eighth prince just like that?”

Snake Elder’s gaze was incomparably severe as it fixed firmly onto Wizard Finello. The admonishment in his eyes was obvious.

However, Wizard Finello only opened his mouth without speaking, his face gray as ash and filled with a powerless expression.

By this point, Snake Elder felt that something was wrong. He looked around him and saw that Taran City was reduced to crumbling walls and destroyed buildings. Even the gigantic solid ramparts were collapsed completely. Moreover, there used to be many Spell Casters in Taran City, but now, besides Wizard Finello, there were no other Spell Casters.

Wizard Finello currently was not even wearing his robe, he stood in place like a skinny sack of bones with a forlorn and abject expression. This was a shocking difference from the strong, proud Wizard Finello of the past.

“Snake Elder!”

Finally, it was Merlin who spoke. He fixed his calm gaze upon Wizard Finello and said “Snake Elder, you’ve come just in time. I’m about to present the eighth prince with a generous gift!”

“A generous gift?”

Snake Elder frowned in doubt.

“The entire Taran City!”

Merlin pointed toward the massive Taran City, including Count Taran who was huddled in the corner. When Count Taran witnessed the battle between Merlin and Wizard Finello earlier, he felt an unparalleled burst of regret. With Finello defeated, what hope did he have left?

Nonetheless, after the arrival of Snake Elder, Count Taran seemed to have regained some hope, and hastily said to Snake Elder, “Snake Elder, Taran City is willing to pledge allegiance to His Royal Highness the eighth prince.”

“Tsss…”

By now, no matter how slow Snake Elder was, he must have finally caught on. As it turned out, he had come too late indeed, except that the ending was not what he had expected but was instead Merlin’s easy conquest of Taran City.

Based on Wizard Finello’s exceptionally pathetic state, he had no will left to fight anymore and had surrendered everything to Merlin. Merlin had relied on his own strength to settle the matter of Taran City.

“Snake Elder, I’m also willing to pledge allegiance to His Royal Highness the eighth prince.”

Wizard Finello, upon seeing Snake Elder, said this hurriedly as well. He could feel Merlin’s intention to kill him, so defecting to the eighth prince was naturally his best fate.

“Burn!”

Before Snake Elder could speak, Merlin pointed at Wizard Finello from a distance. Streams of white flames instantly engulfed Wizard Finello, burning him furiously.

At the moment, Wizard Finello did not even have a robe or the Runic Magic Disc. At best, he was at the standard of a Fourth-level Spell Caster – how would he be able to withstand Merlin’s Fiery Collapse?

As such, under the blaze of the white flames, Wizard Finello’s body was quickly reduced to ashes at a visible speed.

Snake Elder looked toward Merlin with a complicated expression and said nothing. Who knew what he was thinking?

After a long moment, Merlin gave a slight smile, and said to Snake Elder, “Snake Elder, Taran City is the first gift that I shall present to His Royal Highness the eighth prince. Following this, there’ll be more gifts, but I’ll need your help to send over someone to receive these gifts. Otherwise, I’m afraid that things will descend into inevitable chaos.”

After a pause, wisps of Wind Elemental fluctuations emerged around Merlin.

“Swish!”

Merlin immediately flew into the air, his figure twinkling as it disappeared into the distance. All that was left behind was his indifferent voice, saying, “Next, Guinomi City!”

Wizard Bammou followed after Merlin respectfully and was gone from Taran City in the blink of an eye.

After waiting for Merlin to leave, the two ugly Wizards asked Snake Elder carefully, “Snake Elder, Merlin has gone on to Guinomi City. His abilities are far beyond our expectations. Do we follow him?”

Snake Elder cast a deep look at Merlin’s disappearing figure, and pondered for a moment before he gradually spoke, “It seems like even His Royal Highness the eighth prince was mistaken. A Six-Elemental Spell Caster, whom the Dark Magic Region fostered with special attention, who is known to be even more of a prodigy than Kleis – how could someone like this possibly be that simple? What’s more, even a Spell Caster like Wizard Leo, who is well regarded by His Royal Highness the eighth prince, has his eye on Merlin…”

After a pause, Snake Elder seemed to have arrived at a decision. He said in a low voice, “The both of you stay on in Taran City and take over its operations. Don’t make any more mistakes. Otherwise, when you return to the clan, you’ll never be allowed out again. Heh heh, what an unexpected bonus this is. Perhaps Wizard Merlin himself is worth our efforts of enticement. I want to head there and see how strong Merlin really is so that I can provide His Royal Highness the eighth prince with more information to help him make a decision.”

A strange light twinkled in Snake Elder’s eyes, and a strange monstrous force could be felt. Thereafter, he soared into the air and headed toward where Merlin had gone.

…

“Master, Snake Elder is following behind us.”

Beside Merlin, Wizard Bammou spoke softly. They were currently on their way to Guinomi City, which could be considered to be relatively far away. Even if they flew, they would need a good period of time.

“Ignore him.”

Merlin had already guessed that Snake Elder would follow them closely. His Royal Highness the eighth prince only wanted to win Wizard Leo over through Merlin, but now that Merlin had displayed his true strength which far surpassed the estimation of His Royal Highness the eighth prince, Snake Elder would naturally follow behind to ascertain the truth.

Nevertheless, this was also what Merlin needed. He wanted the Wilson clan to become a Spell Caster clan without a hitch, a clan that had a degree of influence. Other than relying on the advantages of being in the Dark Magic Region, it was more important that his own abilities were recognized by a majority of other Spell Casters.

When he had killed Weiss and Bluebird, his influence had only grown within a small circle of Spell Casters. After all, only those Wizards within the spell casters’ organizations who kept tabs on Ozmu would know who Bluebird and Weiss were.

There were even some Spell Casters who gave the credit to the Dark Magic Region. To them, Merlin was merely a lucky one who had benefited from the privileges of being in the Dark Magic Region and under Wizard Leo.

This time, Merlin wanted to act as a dominating force, sweeping all obstacles out of the way, in order to establish his reputation and make the name of the Wilson clan one that was well known in the Spell Casters’ world.

“How far away are we from Guinomi City?”

After flying for a long moment, Merlin felt that the Wind-type Magic Power was almost about to give out. After all, he was flying thanks to the Flying casting tool and was using up a tremendous amount of Magic Power. His store of Magic Power as a mere Second-level Spell Caster, of course, was no match for those Spell Casters above the Fourth-level.

Wizard Bammou thought about it for a short moment before he said, “We would still need about one or two hours before reaching Guinomi City.”

Merlin nodded. With such a long journey ahead, he was no longer in a rush to get there. Instead, he slackened his pace and began to sort out his harvest from Taran City.

His biggest harvest was undoubtedly Wizard Finello’s Runic Magic Disc. He would just need to be adept in runes to bring out the power of the Runic Magic Disc, and his abilities would be significantly boosted.

Of course, this Runic Magic Disc required the assistance of many Spell Casters, failing which its powers would be lessened by a great degree.

“Bammou, how much do you understand about runes?”

Merlin was not adept in runes, and naturally, he thought of Wizard Bammou.

Wizard Bammou shook his head with a dismal expression. “Master, the field of runology is deep and extensive. Most Spell Casters can become very powerful simply by focusing on one field. I’m no genius, so I don’t have much understanding of runology.”

Merlin felt rather frustrated. He wanted to give the Runic Magic Disc to the Wilson clan as a sort of trump card so that if they encountered a strong enemy, the Runic Magic Disc could be activated to protect the clan.

However, not even Wizard Bammou was proficient in runology. Even if Merlin had the Runic Magic Disc, he was not able to unlock its powers.

‘It seems like in the future, when I’m selecting people with Spell Caster Quality in the clan, I’d have to keep an eye out for any talents in runology or alchemy.’

Many thoughts flashed across Merlin’s mind. In order for a Spell Caster clan to enjoy long-term peace and stability as well as prosper constantly, it would need the support of all sorts of talents.

…

Who knew how long it was before Merlin lifted his head to see an immense city that had a distinct design. It looked more like a fortified stronghold.

A wide stone pillar slanted into the skies, looking as if it would topple over at any time. It was a strange sight, but this was a landmark of Guinomi City – something completely unique and easy to recognize.

“Master, we’ve arrived at Guinomi City!”

Wizard Bammou looked at the peculiar city-state before him as he said in a calm tone.