A Wizard’s Secret

“Hehe, if you train in Arcane City, you’ll find that we have an endless supply of resources. Regardless of whether it’s spell construction, alchemy, runology, puppets, or the rest, you would progress much faster if you train in Arcane City. Still, Arcane City won’t provide access to these resources so freely. You’ll need something called Adventure points. To get Adventure points, you would’ve to help Arcane City solve some problems that may or may not be dangerous. Only then can you’ll be awarded a small sum of Adventure points. There’s no other alternative to this. Arcane City won’t ever just give them out as a reward to any Spell Caster.”

Arrot gave a detailed explanation of the ways to gain Adventure points. One could only go on adventures outside. An example would be when a Great Legend in a certain dimension felt that there was insufficient manpower and they would need a few powerful Spell Casters to control the dimension.

One would also be awarded Adventure points by killing some powerful foreign tribes. However, one would get the most Adventure points by discovering a dimension with no master, as long as it was not a barren dimension and Elements still exist there. One did not have to control the dimension but merely provide its specific coordinates to obtain a large sum of Adventure points. At that point, Arcane City would automatically send a Great Legend to take over that dimension with no master.

In short, one would have to venture outside to gain Adventure points, and there would always certain risks one would have to take.

Of course, one would receive tremendous benefits in Arcane City with Adventure points. This was a cultivation environment admired by even the Great Honored Legends. It existed only in Arcane City.

Merlin had no Adventure points at all. He heard Arrot mentioned that the Mind Tower was very useful for honing one’s Mind Power, but he had no Adventure points and could not enter the Mind Tower.

“That’s right, has Wizard Saturn really gone on adventures already? Otherwise, how would he have Adventure points to enter the Mind Tower?”

Merlin and Saturn had entered Arcane City at the same time, but Saturn had already attempted the Mind Tower and had surely gained some significant benefits. Merlin began to feel invigorated, wishing to venture outside and gain some Adventure points right now.

However, Arrot hurriedly shook his head. “Wizard Saturn hasn’t gone out on any adventures. He was able to enter the Mind Tower because it’s open for free to Spell Casters who are attempting it for the first time. No Adventure points are needed.”

Merlin was slightly taken aback. Arcane City would not provide Potential Wizards with any Adventure points but would provide certain things for free without Adventure points. This was in fact indirectly aiding Potential Wizards.

“Since it’s free, there’s no time to lose. I’ll give it a shot right now.”

Merlin was already getting impatient. He wanted to challenge the Mind Tower right now.

Arrot hesitated before finally saying, “Wizard Merlin, you should think about this carefully. You only have one free chance to attempt the Mind Tower, and the stronger your Mind Power is, the more benefits you will reap from entering the Mind Tower. Many Potential Wizards would wait until their Mind Power has reached a capable stage before using this free chance to attempt the Mind Tower.”

“Haha, there’s no need to wait for so long. If it’s effective, I’ll just get some Adventure points in the future.”

At the moment, Merlin needed his Mind Power to grow. How could he wait patiently? Therefore, he quickly flew towards the Mind Tower with Arrot’s guidance.

“Swish.”

Merlin and Arrot landed before the Mind Tower. This Mind Tower only had sixteen floors ¹ , but each floor took up a great height. With sixteen floors in total, one could not even see the top clearly when one looked up.

“Arrot, you’ve attempted the Mind Tower before, right? What floor did you reach?” Merlin turned and asked Arrot while he was looking at the Mind Tower soaring into the clouds.

Arrot scratched his head slightly. He thought about it for a while before finally saying, “I’ve attempted it indeed, but I only reached the eighth floor.”

“The eighth floor. What about Wizard Saturn?”

Merlin was curious about which floor Saturn had reached in his challenge. After all, Wizard Saturn was a Six-Elemental Spell Caster as well and the amount of Mind Power he needed was similar to Merlin’s. As a Seventh-level Spell Caster, Wizard Saturn’s Mind Power must at least be on par with Ninth-level Spell Casters.

Of course, Wizard Saturn had not condensed a Mind Heart, so the level of Mind Power required of him was naturally very high. Merlin possessed a powerful Mind Heart which was able to store much more Mind Power. He naturally did not need to constantly break through the levels of his Mind Power.

Once Merlin reached the limits of the Seventh-level Mind Heart, he would be very formidable. If only he could fill his Mind Heart to the brim, he would be able to construct six Sixth-level spells all in one go then. If that were to happen, he could have become a Sixth-level Spell Caster in just a short period of time!

Wizard Arrot considered the matter before saying in a soft voice at last, “Wizard Saturn is impressive indeed. He actually managed to reach the eleventh floor of the Mind Tower!”

“The eleventh floor?”

Merlin did not know what the eleventh floor signified. He would still have to attempt the Mind Tower himself to know how challenging the eleventh floor was.

Merlin imprinted the fact that Saturn had reached the eleventh floor into his mind. Then, he showed his identity and stepped into the Mind Tower.

“Although Wizard Merlin’s Mind Power is very strong, can he reach the eighth floor? Perhaps even the eighth floor would be difficult for him…” Arrot muttered to himself quietly.

Nonetheless, one could not see the situation inside the Mind Tower from the outside, so Arrot could only wait quietly.

“Swish.”

Once Merlin stepped into the Mind Tower, his Mind Power began inspecting his surroundings instantly. He realized that three other unknown Spell Casters had entered the Mind Tower at the same time as him.

All these three unknown Spell Casters had relatively powerful Mind Power. It looked like it was their first time attempting the Mind Tower as well since they appeared rather cautious.

“I’ve heard that there are strange things within the Mind Tower. We’ll have to be careful even if it’s just the first floor!”

The three Spell Casters seemed to know each other. They stood back to back, looking very cautious of their own surrounding. They seemed to notice Merlin but did not intend to invite him to go through the tower together.

Merlin did not waste much time on those three. He began to meticulously examine the first floor of the Mind Tower. The first floor was dim and empty and appeared rather spacious, but he did not sense anything special about it.

“The honing of Mind Power. What could that mean?”

Merlin was still dwelling on the function of Mind Tower that Arrot had mentioned just now which was to hone one’s Mind Power and allow it to grow rapidly.

“Ouch, that hurts!”

Merlin’s mouth twisted in one corner. In that instant, he felt a faint sting in his mind and his expression changed immediately. The pain did not vanish but spread gradually throughout Merlin’s body instead.

It was not just Merlin who was experiencing it. The other three Spell Casters now were wearing identical agonized expressions as well. They felt as if their Mind Power was being torn apart.

“I can still take it. Endure, we must endure!”

The three of them began to howl softly. They knew that this might be the test of the first floor. Merlin had actually recovered from the pain as soon as he had experienced the pain. His Mind Heart was incomparably powerful. Besides being able to store Mind Power, it had protected his Mind Power as well.

Unparalleled agony beset the three of them until Merlin could hear dull moans coming from them. Those were moans of suffering.

Merlin frowned. Other than the beginning pang of unbearable pain, his Mind Power now was only aching just a little. This was the Mind Heart fulfilling its function.

“It’s just pain? This is stimulating my Mind Power. Is the Mind Tower that simple?”

Merlin was somewhat taken aback. The Mind Tower was using the crudest method to stimulate Mind Power directly, inflicting unbearable agony on the Spell Casters. However, their Mind Power would rapidly advance if they had managed to withstand it.

Although Merlin was protected by his Mind Heart and was not in much pain on the first floor, he was able to detect that the slight growth his Mind Power had experienced.

Merlin was not in a hurry to enter the second floor of the Mind Tower and waited instead for the other three to gradually recover. Their expressions were that of relief and glee after that.

“It’s increased. My Mind Power’s really increased! The Mind Tower is so wonderful!”

The three of them were in high spirits. Their Mind Power had grown a great deal on the first floor of the Mind Tower. The agony they had previously experienced had been forgotten completely.

“Swish, swish.”

After that, the three of them went to the second floor, with Merlin following close behind.

On the second floor, they quickly felt an acute sensation. This time, it was agony as well, but it was many times worse than what they had felt on the first floor.

Even Merlin, who had the protection of the Mind Heart, felt as if his Mind Power was being ripped out and forcibly torn apart.

Pain like this was hard to put into words. It was like one’s brain was being physically lacerated. This sort of direct agony immediately stimulated the Mind Power to grow frantically.

Mind Power had always needed to be stimulated in order to grow quickly. For example, Merlin had taken some potions before to stimulate his Mind Power, causing him intolerable suffering but which had provoked a soaring growth in his Mind Power.

Now, his Mind Power seemed to be controlled by an unseen force in the Mind Tower. There was no need for him to take any potions this time for his Mind Power to experience such unmatched agony. As a result. his Mind Power was honed.

The other three were already howling in pain constantly. Although they were making a supreme effort to endure it, their bodies had begun to tremble as if they would collapse at any moment.

Merlin, on the other hand, drew in constant deep breaths. He bore the pain of his Mind Power being ripped apart. His willpower was extraordinary. He showed no signs of collapsing even though the whole process was unbearably agonizing.

As time passed, Merlin felt the pain gradually subsiding, and his Mind Power had undergone another spurt of growth. However, this growth was far greater than the one he had experienced on the first floor.

“Surely the third floor won’t be more painful?”

Merlin glanced up at the Mind Tower. There was a limit to everything, even for stimulating one’s Mind Power. Once that limit had been violated, not only would one’s Mind Power gain no growth, it would collapse instantly instead.

Therefore, Merlin was somewhat hesitant as he stepped into the third floor of the Mind Tower.