A Wizard’s Secret

Merlin was already greatly experienced in signing contracts. Controlling Number Three was just the same. When his Mind Power extended into the part where the puppet’s heart was, he perceived a crystal-like, transparent sphere.

“Hum.”

After Merlin’s Mind Power entered the crystal sphere, the dark red puppet lightly trembled. Merlin could also immediately feel a sense of connection to the puppet.

This was a mystical feeling. Merlin was able to discern a powerful wisp of consciousness occupying the crystal sphere. However, he could now completely control the puppet and was able to stifle that burst of consciousness in the crystal sphere.

If Merlin wanted to, he could even extinguish the consciousness of the dark red puppet. Still, this would be of no benefit to Merlin. The dark red puppet knew many secrets and could be a great help to Merlin. Now that he could control Number Three, naturally, it was not necessary to exterminate it.

“Very well, Number Three. What’s in the ancient castle?”

Since he had arrived at the ancient castle, he thought that there was sure to be something valuable in a place where a Legendary Wizard had lived. As a guardian of the castle, Number Three should have intimate knowledge of what was inside.

Number Three thought for a moment before shaking its head lightly. “Master, this was merely one of the residences of my previous master back then. In the Glorious Land, my previous master had many other residences like this. In addition, when he moved to the Ecuador Dimension, he had moved everything from the ancient castle. Thus, there’s nothing precious left in this castle.”

“It’s all been taken with him?”

Disappointment washed over Merlin’s face. He had thought that he might obtain something good from this castle but did not consider that it had been moved.

“Hold on, my previous master had sealed some items in the ancient castle. I wonder if he brought them along with him? Master, I’ll take you for a look. If he hadn’t moved them with him, it might be something good!”

The dark red puppet’s mysterious look aroused Merlin’s curiosity, so he simply followed behind Number Three and walked deeper into the castle.

As no one had moved about in the ancient castle for a long time, there was a dry, unpleasant smell of dust. There were also cobwebs in the passageway, and everything appeared to be in ruins.

Merlin followed Number Three past a few passages and through a few stone doors. At last, they stopped in a spacious hall. The design of the hall was very unusual but it was just as Number Three had said. Most items were gone, taken away by the master of the castle, leaving only empty and hollow space behind.

“Number Three, what are you looking for?”

Merlin was somewhat puzzled. Number Three seemed to be searching for something in the hall. In this ancient castle, was there something Number Three did not know about?

“I’ve found it. Let’s hope my previous master didn’t take it with him.”

A trace of a smile grew on Number Three’s lifeless face, following which he approached a wall and pressed down gently.

“Rumble.”

The wall rose up gradually, revealing a small room behind. Merlin followed behind Number Three curiously and entered the room as well.

As soon as he stepped in, Merlin saw dense runes which seemed to be suppressing something at the front. A peculiar wave of energy fluctuations was emitted from there.

“As I thought, he didn’t take it. Master, look, this is what the previous master had left behind in the ancient castle. Perhaps he overlooked it back then, so it was left behind.”

Number Three pointed to the mysterious, white thread of light that was suppressed by the runes. Merlin had never seen anything like this, and his heart brimmed with curiosity.

“Number Three, what’s this? Why does it need to be suppressed by runes?”

“Master, this is a strand of divinity extracted from a god whom Wizard Ecuador had waged a war against. Wizard Ecuador initially wanted to study it, and I don’t know what he found. Yet, he left this strand of divinity behind. This is a divinity that was painstakingly manifested by a god through the power of faith. It’s the most precious and wondrous strength of a god! Even if it’s just a strand, it possesses inconceivably miraculous effects. Divinity can be used to heal any injuries or even sharpen one’s sensitivity toward some Elements… In short, this divinity is all-powerful. Even those Great Honored Legends had studied this divinity of gods.”

Merlin fixed a firm gaze upon that white thread suppressed by runes. It was divinity, the divinity of the legends?

Gods drew upon the power of faith of living beings to consolidate this divinity. This was a power that belonged only to the gods. Gods who had divinity were extremely fearsome and were indestructible. Without eliminating their divinity, a god would not die!

The Ice Goddess that Merlin encountered had still possessed divinity. Therefore, even the Great Legend of Ice could only temporarily suppress her and slowly drain her of her divinity. This was enough to show how marvelous divinity was!

Merlin had come across such a mystical power in this ancient castle. Although it was just a strand, it was still the wonderful power of divinity.

“Master, in order to get this divinity, you have to get past the Runic Magic Circle that my previous master had hastily set up. Although he had set up this Runic Magic Circle offhandedly, it won’t be easy to break.”

In fact, Number Three did not need to tell him this. Merlin saw that the complexity of these enigmatic runes far surpassed any Runic Magic Circles he had previously seen.

Even a Rune Wizard would need to exhaust all efforts to unravel runes which had been set up hastily by a Legendary Wizard.

“I can give it a shot!”

Merlin appeared very solemn. The Runic Heartprint emerged between his brows. The complicated Runic Magic Circle, under the effect of Merlin’s Runic Heartprint, gradually revealed all its intricacies.

“I can break through it but I’ll need time!”

Through the power of the Runic Heartprint, Merlin discovered that although this was a complex Runic Magic Circle, it could still be broken. In terms of attainments in runology, the Great Wizard Fidel was terrifying indeed. Many Legendary Wizards including Rune Wizards were even unable to compare to the Great Wizard Fidel in runology.

As for the Runic Heartprint, it was the lifework of the Great Wizard Fidel, condensing comprehensively his understanding of runology. Therefore, even a Runic Magic Circle set up by the Legendary Wizard Ecuador could be broken.

Merlin positioned Number Three to stand guard outside. In the room, he began to slowly unravel the Runic Magic Circle through the power of the Runic Heartprint. This was a process that demanded great effort and attention. Merlin’s Mind Power was nearly exhausted, and he had to recover quickly to continue breaking the Runic Magic Circle.

In this manner, after repeating this for a few days, and the final rune had vanished under the effect of the Runic Heartprint, that white, thread-like strand of divinity was finally no longer under the suppression of the Runic Magic Circle.

The divinity hovered in mid-air, emanating waves of peculiar fluctuations. Without the suppression of the Runic Magic Circle, the mystical fluctuations of the divinity grew more intense.

“Swoosh.”

With a swoop of his hand, Merlin grabbed the divinity. This strand of divinity did not look very special, and there was merely a very faint trace of the “godly might”.

However, this trace of “godly might”, after a long passage of time, had faded to nothing long ago, and was of no threat to Merlin. Looking at the strand of divinity in his hand, countless ideas flashed across Merlin’s mind.

According to rumors, divinity was all-powerful, and even gods attached great value to divinity. Wizard Ecuador had used this divinity only for study because even though it was miraculous, the extent of its benefits to a Legend was limited. Perhaps only a great amount of divinity would serve a purpose for a Legendary Wizard.

Nonetheless, to Merlin, there were many functions for this. The current matter of importance was to increase his Mind Power!

Merlin’s Mind Power had just reached the Sixth-level. As the effects of Mokra Potion had gradually diminished, it was somewhat unrealistic for Merlin to rely upon Mokra Potion to quickly boost his Mind Power in the future.

Therefore, with this strand of divinity, Merlin could try and see if this all-powerful divinity would increase his Mind Power.

It was simple enough to use divinity – one just had to wrap one’s Mind Power around it. According to rumors, it was all-powerful, but rumors were rumors after all. How it was really like – whether it could increase Mind Power – these were all unknown.

What Merlin wanted to do now was to test it out!

As he thought of this, Merlin drew in a deep breath and mobilized his Mind Power to promptly surround the divinity. Using just his thought, the strand of divinity disintegrated into spots of lights which quickly burrowed into Merlin’s body.

Merlin immediately shut his eyes and carefully sensed for the effects of divinity.

“Why is there nothing?”

After a moment, Merlin did not feel anything different. His Mind Power did not grow in the slightest. Was the divinity ineffective?

However, the divinity had disintegrated indeed. This was a sign it had been used. Once it was used, it would disappear. Although it was merely a strand of divinity, it should still serve some function for Sixth-level Mind Power no matter what.

Just then, Merlin suddenly felt as if he had been completely submerged in hot water. A cozy, warm feeling diffused throughout his body, following which his mind became dazed. During this hazy period, his Mind Power was like a sapling, rapidly growing at a speed that was mind-boggling.

“It’s working!”

Merlin had only this one thought in his head.

From the exterior, one could see that Merlin was shrouded in a warm, white glow. He wore a serene expression, and a smile stretched across his face. He could distinctly feel his Mind Power fluctuating vigorously. With every fluctuation, his Mind Power would grow even greater.

The white light persisted over Merlin’s body for a time. After some time, Merlin’s Mind Power was still increasing, but the white light covering his body had gradually faded.

Following the disappearance of the white light, that full-body warmth vanished as well. His conscious mind gradually sobered up, and his Mind Power stopped growing.

He calculated the time. From the moment that divinity had vanished until the recovery of his consciousness, it was not even an hour. In such a short time, how much could his Mind Power grow?

“Let’s see how much my Mind Power has grown?”

Merlin still harbored some doubts. After all, it was too short a time. He was not clear regarding how much growth that strand of divinity would bring to his Mind Power.