A Wizard’s Secret

“Crack crack.”

Bursts of freezing noises sounded. The white sweep of frost was easily frozen in place where the guardian puppets had been transformed from stone statues. Moreover, as Merlin’s Glacier Country was in its third form, its might was comparable to the peak of the Seventh-level. It was an extreme chill. The guardian puppets were merely made from ordinary stones, so when they were frozen by the ice crystals, many guardian puppets were unable to withstand it. Cracks ran over the surface of their bodies, splitting them apart.

“Fire.”

Merlin stretched out a palm. In that instant, a colossal palm of pale white flames appeared out of thin air in the midst of the white chill in the sky, then smacked down with a whistling noise.

“Boom.”

A tremor made the land and distant hills quake. Merlin’s spell was now extremely terrifying. A single gesture of his was similar to those powerful Great Wizards during the Spell Casters’ most glorious era, filled with fearsome might.

If this palm had smacked down upon a city, it would have been easily destroyed!

Gustin watched with mouth agape as these so-called “unrivaled” guardian puppets were smashed to smithereens under one strike from Merlin’s flame palm, turning into a pile of rubble.

“Hmm, not yet dead?”

Merlin stood in mid-air and saw that among the devastation on the ground, the giant puppet with dark red all over was still intact. However, it was scorched black entirely, and its gaze toward Merlin revealed its utmost fear.

Merlin had no wish to leave behind any of these puppets and prepared to attack once more, killing off the last of them. The dark red guardian puppet seemed to understand Merlin’s actions and immediately yelled, “O’ mighty Sir Wizard, I’m a puppet transfigured by the Great Legend Ecuador. If you’re willing to keep me with you, I’ll tell you many secrets of my previous master, the Legend Ecuador. What’s more, Sir Wizard, if you happen to leave the Glorious Land, I know of a vast dimension that the Legend Ecuador had once occupied. You may enter that dimension and obtain all that the Legend Ecuador had left behind!”

Upon hearing what the dark red puppet said, Merlin was somewhat stupefied.

Perhaps Gustin and the rest beside him were not clear about the meaning of the dark red puppet’s words, but Merlin had obtained the Flame Maxim of the Legend Nikola and knew much about the Spell Casters from the past era of the Molta Empire.

The Glorious Land that the dark red puppet spoke of referred to the entire vast continent. During the era of the Molta Empire, it was the land where Spell Casters peaked in their glory. Powerful Spell Casters, under the leadership of Legendary Wizards, exiled the gods, traveled beyond the Molta Empire, and stepped into other dimensions. Furthermore, they began to conquer one dimension after another, leading to the era of the Spell Casters’ unmatched glory.

The Legend Ecuador must be a Legendary Wizard from the Spell Casters’ most glorious era who had even occupied a vast dimension.

“Swish.”

Merlin gradually landed and began his queries with the dark red puppet. He had many questions regarding the Spell Casters’ most glorious era and might as well obtain some answers from this puppet.

“This ancient castle was left behind by Wizard Ecuador?”

Merlin raised his head and eyed the ancient castle as he spoke.

“That’s right. This ancient castle was a place where Master used to live but after he occupied the Ecuador Dimension, he stayed there. He sealed the ancient castle and never came back.”

The dark red puppet rolled its eyeballs, and it appeared very “intelligent” at one glance. At this point, it would answer in detail whatever questions Merlin posed, and dared not conceal any information.

Suddenly, Merlin turned around and stared at the three Spell Casters beside him. Up until now, Merlin had been gradually figuring out the entire story. These three Spell Casters had searched for the “hidden treasure” for many years, yet unexpectedly they had encountered him.

As he looked at them, a murderous intent rose up in Merlin’s heart.

“Crack.”

With a wave of his hand, the three Spell Casters were frozen instantly, completely losing their chance to survive.

“That’s not right!”

Merlin frowned. Normally, he would not kill people senselessly, but now he seemed to have no feelings regarding slaughtering them.

An icy force had slowly burrowed into his palm. Merlin raised his hand. The crimson Darkness Eye faintly transformed into a ghostly face and seemed to be mocking Merlin.

“It’s Darkness Eye!”

Merlin’s face gradually darkened. Even he himself had not realized that he was unwittingly affected by Darkness Eye. He did not have the slightest scruple about slaughtering and was even caught up in the thrill of it.

The more he killed, the more negative energy Darkness Eye would absorb. Darkness Eye would thus grow stronger, and it would be harder for Merlin to suppress Darkness Eye.

“It looks like I’ll have to be wary from now on. However, since the seal of the fourth form of Darkness Eye had been broken, I can only use the Maxim to suppress it temporarily. I’ll have to use my time wisely and search for a new Maxim!”

Countless thoughts flashed across Merlin’s mind in an instant but his expression did not shift. Thereafter, he walked straight into the ancient castle.

In the ancient castle, the dark red puppet led the way. Merlin was still secretly wary of this puppet. Who knew what would happen in the castle?

“What’s your name?”

In the pitch darkness of the ancient castle, Merlin asked the dark red puppet.

“I have no name, only a code name. Sir Wizard may address me as Number Three.”

“Number Three, since you’re a puppet, can you really disobey your master as you wish?”

Merlin felt that it was odd. Wizard Ecuador should by right be the master of a puppet like this but the puppet’s current words and actions did not seem to be controlled by Ecuador.

Number Three did not stop walking, and said in a calm tone, “As a puppet, of course I’m bound by Master’s control. However, many years ago, I had sensed that Master had died! The control mechanisms he left behind had all vanished along with his demise. Therefore, I’m now under no one’s control.”

“He’s dead?”

Merlin was slightly taken aback. Nevertheless, a few thousand years have passed. No one knew what would happen in the end. Perhaps something unexpected had happened to Wizard Ecuador in the Ecuador Dimension. That would not be surprising.

Since Wizard Ecuador was dead, did that not mean that the entire dimension he occupied was now a dimension without a master?

Merlin knew what a dimension was. It was an enormous world. Currently, the entire continent including the Holy Light Empire, the Kingdom of Blackmoon, and many other large and small nations in addition to Subzero Snowfield, the endless ocean, and other mysterious places – all these combined to form one complete continent. This could be referred to as one dimension.

Wizard Ecuador had occupied a dimension, which meant he was nearly equivalent to a god, and a sole god at that, who was able to reap all the resources of that dimension.

Even Legendary Wizards longed and hoped to possess an entire dimension. This was the fundamental reason the Spell Casters, after banishing the gods, had traveled beyond the Glorious Land to conquer one dimension after another.

Merlin’s desire began to burn fervently. A dimension without a master – just the thought of it made one felt extremely excited.

As if it knew what Merlin was thinking, Number Three turned around to say, “Sir Wizard, I believe you understand well the value of a dimension. In order to occupy this dimension, Master had battled against the gods of the dimension for a hundred years before finally wiping them out and occupying the entire dimension. What’s more, I know the exact coordinates of this dimension. If Sir Wizard is able to leave the Glorious Land and reach the Ecuador Dimension, you might be able to obtain a prosperous dimension with no master!”

“How does one leave the Glorious Land?”

Merlin asked in a low voice. This was a crucial question. The Glorious Land they spoke of was the entire continent. Even with the position Merlin was in, he had never heard of how to leave this continent and travel into other dimensions.

Nonetheless, the seemingly all-knowing Number Three now shook its head. “I don’t know how to leave the Glorious Land either. After all, I’m just a puppet transfigured by my Master to guard the castle. However, I’ve heard Master inadvertently mentioned that in order to leave the Glorious Land, one had to be a Great Wizard at least. Otherwise, one would not be able to leave the Glorious Land and set foot in other dimensions.”

“At least a Great Wizard, huh?”

Merlin was rather disappointed but it made sense after careful thought. Even during the Spell Casters’ most glorious era, many Spell Casters had to become Legends and had exiled the gods before they learned of the many dimensions. Only then could they travel beyond the Glorious Land and set foot in other dimensions.

Therefore, it was surely not a simple matter to set foot in other dimensions after leaving the Glorious Land. Perhaps only by becoming a Great Wizard could one find a way to do so.

Even though Merlin was disappointed about this, he was not too sorry about it. He was currently just a Fourth-level Spell Caster and was still a long way from becoming a Great Wizard.

“Hold on!”

Merlin suddenly stopped in his tracks and his eyes flickered ceaselessly. He glared at the dark red puppet before him. “Number Three, what do I do to control you? You should know that without control over a puppet, I have no way of trusting your words. In that case, I only have one choice – which is to destroy you!”

Merlin extended one hand which shone with pale white flames, illuminating the pitch-black passage as if it was daylight.

The dark red color of Number Three was now lighted up by the pale white firelight, and it appeared incredibly weird. It wore no expression, and a red glow twinkled in its eyes.

After a long moment, Number Three answered slowly, “O’ powerful Sir Wizard, it’s easy enough to control me. You just have to engrave a Mind Branding and you’re done!”

“Engrave a Mind Branding? Just like signing a contract?”

Merlin had no experience in controlling puppets.

“That’s right, just like signing a contract. After engraving the Mind Branding, you can control me completely. However, I plead that Sir Wizard don’t destroy me upon controlling me. Although I’m just a puppet, I long to see the outside world!”

This puppet appeared to be rather sentient, unlike the dead stiffness of other puppets.

Merlin nodded. He had no intention of destroying this puppet. With it around, he could learn much more about the matters of the Spell Casters’ most glorious era.

Furthermore, Merlin had set his heart on the Ecuador Dimension that Number Three had mentioned. If he really became a Great Wizard one day, he would not let a prosperous dimension slip through his grasp.

With that, Merlin began to fan out his Mind Power which promptly extended toward the place where Number Three’s heart was. Its control core should be where its heart was located.