A Wizard’s Secret

The colorful radiance of the crystal ball bathed the great hall in a myriad of colors. It was a very beautiful sight. The fat Wizard’s eyes shone brightly as he was surrounded by this colorful display. He praised in admiration, “No wonder he’s Wizard Blackcloud’s disciple. A Six-Elemental Spell Caster is rare even in Arcane City. It looks like another strong contender has emerged once again from our batch of Potential Wizards!”

The fat Wizard was called Arrot. He was a very candid person and was not too surprised to know that Saturn was a Six-Elemental Wizard. Moreover, Arrot did not hold back his praises to him even after seeing Saturn’s arrogant manner.

“Are Six-Elemental Spell Casters very rare in Arcane City?” Merlin asked the fat Wizard Arrot after mulling over the question in his mind.

Arrot took a strange look at Merlin and replied, “Of course Six-Elemental Spell Casters are rare. No matter where you are, a Six-Elemental Spell Caster is considered an absolute top-level prodigy! Arcane City is, amidst hundreds and thousands of dimensions, the place where prodigies gather together, but even so, Six-Elemental Spell Casters are a rarity. We only have a handful here! In the recent batch, we have five Five-Elemental Spell Casters. They are already considered a powerful batch of Potential Wizards. Now with Saturn as a Six-Elemental Wizard, I’m afraid that we’ll immediately become the most powerful batch of Potential Wizards in Arcane City’s history!”

Arrot exclaimed excitedly and shot Merlin a careful look. He patted Merlin’s shoulder with a smile. “You don’t have to worry too much. Arcane City may have a lot of prodigies, but the majority are Four-Elemental Spell Casters. While Four-Elemental Spell Casters are not as outstanding as the Five- or Six-Elemental Spell Casters, there’s still hope for them to become a powerful Legendary Wizard. For example, Wizard Blackcloud is also a Four-Elemental Spell Caster, but he had managed to consolidate four Maxims and become the topmost Legend!”

Merlin ignored Arrot’s ‘consoling’ tone. He focused his gaze on Wizard Blackcloud. Indeed, Wizard Blackcloud was only a Four-Elemental Spell Caster, but he had great perseverance and great opportunities that had allowed him to consolidate four Maxims. Wizard Blackcloud could no longer consolidate a fifth Maxim because four Maxims was the highest limit for him as a Four-Elemental Spell Caster.

Even so, Wizard Blackcloud had become one of the greatest legends, second only to a few rare Legends who had consolidated five Maxims and a couple of Honored Legends who had achieved enlightenment on an ultimate Maxim.

Once the white-robed Wizards discovered that Saturn was a Six-Elemental Wizard, their tone to him became much more courteous. “Next, we will test your constructed spells.”

Saturn nodded and began to follow the white-robed Wizard to another crystal ball. Testing a spell would only require the release of a spell’s power. The grade of the spell would then be evaluated by the crystal ball.

“Start with a Zero-level spell!”

Saturn released a spell soon after.

“Boom.”

A Zero-level spell was released on the crystal ball. Subsequently, dazzling light was emitted by the crystal ball. The white-robed Wizard deadpanned, “Above average.”

Most of Wizard Saturn’s Zero-level spells were tested as Above average, and only one Zero-level spell was rated as Good.

However, Wizard Saturn’s spell grade began to climb steadily from First-level spells onwards. They were all Good, and when he reached Fourth-level spells, they became Excellent.

The fat Wizard Arrot’s eyes bulged wide. His breath was becoming frantic as he trained eyes on Wizard Saturn’s test.

The progression from Above average to Good and then to Excellent was unimaginable. Furthermore, his Fourth-level spells and above were all Excellent. Saturn’s spell construction abilities were truly incredible.

Nevertheless, the surprise was far from over. The crystal ball vibrated strongly just as they were testing Wizard Saturn’s Seventh-level spells. An unprecedented ray of light shot out of the crystal ball and illuminated the entire great hall.

Those white-robed Wizards could not help but stand up with a look of excitement and disbelief.

“This… This is Perfect! A Perfect spell! His Seventh-level Spells are all Perfect!”

“Finally, we can see Perfect-grade Spells. Saturn is, at least in spell construction, the most talented Spell Caster in the last hundreds of years!”

Seventh-level spells were new spells that had to be self-derived, and Saturn’s Seventh-level Spell was all Perfect-grade which was shocking news even in Arcane City.

“Haha, Saturn, well done!”

Wizard Blackcloud was also very satisfied. Saturn’s talents were the best he had ever seen. Otherwise, he would not have used up his one and only recommendation to send Saturn into Arcane City.

“Wizard Saturn, please take a look. With these six Perfect-grade spells, you are temporarily occupying the 18th place in Arcane City’s spells ranking!”

The white-robed Wizard pointed at a white wall in the great hall. Dense writings began to appear on the wall. Saturn’s name was ranked 18th with his six Perfect-grade spells.

“Oh? Are these people all the Wizards in Arcane City?”

Saturn had taken the initiative to ask a question for the first time. He was very interested in this ranking.

The white-robed Wizard shook his head and said, “Almost all of them. It’s because only spells below the level of Great Wizards can be tested. Once someone becomes a Great Wizard, their spells have all combined into one, so naturally, they cannot be evaluated. This ranking has not been disrupted for a long time. It’s surprising that you’ve already managed to squeeze into the 18th place upon arrival. This is truly amazing! Perfect-grade spells are not easy to construct, many talented Spell Casters are unable to derive even a single Perfect-grade spell. Most of them can only derive Excellent-grade spells, which is already quite impressive.”

Saturn glanced at the top 20 Wizards on the spells ranking and nodded internally. All the Wizards up there had had a lot of Perfect-grade spells, so many that even he found the number to be a little bit impossible. He had personally derived the Seventh-level spells, so he naturally knew how difficult it was. He had spent several decades just to derive these six Seventh-level spells.

After continuous perseverance, he had finally built the six Perfect-grade spells. If he were to derive Eighth-level spells in the future, he was not confident that he would still be able to derive Perfect-grade spells.

“Incredible, truly incredible. Perfect-grade spells, how did he derive it? Although I’m a Seventh-level Spell Caster as well as a Five-Elemental Wizard, I only have four Excellent-grade spells.”

Arrot shook his head slightly. His talents were actually considered good enough already. Having four Excellent-grade spells was considered not bad in Arcane City. He would be graded an average Wizard. Anyone who had personally derived spells would know how difficult spell derivation was. Especially deriving powerful spells, which was essentially an uphill battle. Producing Perfect-grade spells no longer hinged on ability, but also luck.

“Wizard Merlin, it’s your turn! You should undergo the assessment, but don’t worry if you don’t perform as well. These assessments are only a point of reference. It’s a battleground for the true top-level prodigies but does not serve many purposes for us.”

Wizard Arrot pushed Merlin gently forward and gestured for him to undertake the assessment.

Wizard Mogan also came to the white-robed Wizard and showed his Legends’ Accord badge. Upon verifying his identity, the white-robed Wizard began to ask Merlin to put his hand on the crystal ball.

Wizard Blackcloud and Wizard Saturn also did not leave because they had to wait until Merlin finished his assessment so they could leave together.

Merlin stopped before the crystal ball and took a deep breath. Then, he put his hand on the crystal ball. The crystal ball began to emit colorful rays of light instantly.

One, two, three, four…

The crystal ball continued to emit beams of light. Up until the fourth beam of light, it did not attract the attention of the white-robed Wizards. After all, Arcane City was the gathering place of prodigies among the hundreds and thousands of dimensions. In other places, a Four-Elemental Wizard might be considered a prodigy, but they were painfully common in Arcane City.

“Zap.”

Another light ray radiated out. Five beams of light blended with one another, illuminating the entire great hall with a multitude of colors. It was truly beautiful. The white-robed Wizard glanced at Merlin. Five-Elemental Wizards were considered much more outstanding in Arcane City.

“Five-Elemental Wizard!”

Just as the white-robed Wizard was prepared to confirm Merlin’s identity as a Five-Elemental Spell Caster, another ray of light suddenly emerged from the crystal ball. This rich light remained focused and did not disperse, shining straight up towards the highest point of the great hall.

“A sixth beam of light. Are there six Elements?”

“Another Six-Elemental Spell Caster?”

At this moment, not only the white-robed Wizards but Arrot, Wizard Blackcloud, and Wizard Saturn were also staring at Merlin in surprise. If people were not familiar with the situation inside Arcane City, they might have been mistaken and thought that Six-Elemental Wizards were found commonly in Arcane City. After all, two of them in a row were found to be Six-Elemental Wizards.

The fat Wizard Arrot looked at Wizard Mogan and stuttered, “Wizard Mogan, is Wizard Merlin really a Six-Elemental Spell Caster?”

Wizard Mogan nodded with a satisfied expression. “How can this be fake?”

“Incredible, truly incredible! Looks like Wizard Mogan must be truly skilled in mentoring disciples. After all, you’re to be able to mold a Six-Elemental Spell Caster out of him!”

Naturally, Arrot assumed that Merlin becoming a Six-Elemental Spell Caster was a result of Wizard Mogan’s careful guidance. Wizard Mogan certainly would not try to explain himself out of this kind of a ‘misunderstandinag’. Instead, he beamed.

Although Wizard Blackcloud appeared to be very surprised, his expression remained calm. He muttered under his breath, “Arcane City truly is something. It would be difficult to encounter one Six-Elemental Wizard in tens or hundreds of dimensions. It’s so unexpected to find that any one of the Legend’s ordinary disciple can be a Six-Elemental Spell Caster. However, he’s still not as good as you. He’s only a Fifth-level Spell Caster and still doesn’t have the ability to derive spells. It might be relatively simple to become a Seventh-level Spell Caster, but to derive Perfect-grade spells is not as easy.”

Wizard Blackclous was still very confident about Saturn because Saturn he derived six Perfect-grade spells. Even the highly talented Spell Casters could not be compared to him.

“Boom.”

Merlin began the spell testing. He immediately surprised everyone because the first Zero-level spell was already an Excellent spell.

“All Zero-level spells, Excellent!”

“All First-level spells, Excellent!”

“All Second-level spells, Excellent!”

“All Third-level spells, Excellent!”

…

A series of ‘Excellent’ made everyone’s jaws dropped in shock. Such astonishment was almost comparable to when Wizard Saturn’s spells were found to be Perfect-grade spells earlier. It should be noted that as long as a spell was not self-derived, it was impossible to have a Perfect-grade spell. This was because the spell was not derived according to the Spell Caster’s own body condition, so no matter how good the construction, there would always still be some tiny flaws that made it unable to achieve Perfect-grade.

Even then, very few people would be able to construct all of these spells into Excellent ones.

The white-robed Wizard inhaled deeply and looked at Merlin warily. “Wizard Merlin, please cast your Fourth-level spell.”

Merlin’s heart was thumping as he began to test his Fourth-level spells. He had used The Matrix to derive all the spells from the Fourth-level onwards. He did not know what grade would the spells derived by The Matrix achieve.

‘Even if it’s not Perfect, it should be able to achieve Excellent. If not Excellent, then at least Good!’ These thoughts flashed in Merlin’s mind. Then, he gently raised his hand and released the Fourth-level spell.