A Wizard’s Secret

“The Matrix?”

Merlin felt a jolt in his heart. Ever since he had derived the Ninth-level Spell Models, he basically had not used the Matrix anymore. The Matrix which had accompanied him throughout his journey of growth was no longer of any use.

Now that it had started up suddenly, Merlin was astonished.

After a moment of consideration, Merlin concluded that the Matrix was ultimately still an intelligent quantum super-calculator. Perhaps it could assist him in controlling this warship. Therefore, Merlin took a deep breath. “Confirm scan!”

“Beep. Starting scan.”

Following that, the Matrix began to scan. None of the information abroad the warship could evade the Matrix’s scan.

“Beep. Scan complete. A large amount of new data is available. Continue with analysis?”

“Continue with analysis!”

Merlin spoke without hesitation. He wished to see how much information and data that the Matrix had gathered on the warship.

After Merlin’s command was given, there was a long wait. Merlin knew clearly how terrifying the calculating and analyzing powers of the Matrix were. It was able to derive tens of thousands of complex Spell Models in a very short time.

The amount of data it was able to process was nearly inconceivable. However, the Matrix had been in constant operation now for a few hours but there was no sign that it was about to be done. Merlin was rather dumbstruck at this.

“How much information does this warship really contain? Even the Matrix is spending so much time…”

Merlin furrowed his brows. He had some hesitations about this now but he could not do anything. His only course of action was to wait in silence.

Time passed bit by bit. After around seven or eight hours, Merlin opened his eyes with a joyful expression. The Matrix had finally successfully received and analyzed a tremendous amount of data.

Merlin was able to control the Matrix, so at once he ordered, “Transfer data!”

“Boom.”

Merlin did not even have the chance to get used to it when he felt his boundless Awareness about to burst from swelling. There was far too much information, and even Merlin’s current Mind Power and immense Awareness were unable to stand it.

“Stop. Transfer data slowly.”

Merlin hurriedly commanded the Matrix. With this new command, the Matrix began to gradually transfer the data, and images appeared in Merlin’s mind one after another.

From these images, Merlin saw a race that appeared superficially similar to Spell Casters. These were “humans” as well but it was a peculiar civilization. They lived below a vast, starry sky in dense groups, packed into a colossal building shaped like a honeycomb. Below the starry sky, there were also Spatial Passages that were fixed in place, called Spatial Nodes.

These beings proudly called themselves Atlans, and the civilization they created was called the Atlan civilization. They were able to manufacture warships which filled the sky and innumerable powerful robots. The starry sky where they were was far too big. Merlin knew that this was, in fact, a dimension of gigantic proportions. Even Merlin himself had never seen such a massive dimension. One would need to combine dozens of dimensions at least to compare to the Atlan Dimension.

Nonetheless, Merlin astutely sensed from these images that, within the Atlan Dimension, beneath that endless starry sky, there were no Elements. This meant that their lifespans were brief, and they were incapable of becoming Great Wizards, just like Merlin in his previous life.

Perhaps it was precisely due to these unique conditions that the unique Atlan civilization was born. They had developed an utterly different civilization. They no longer fortified their own bodies but relied upon external equipment. They researched the essence of material things and mastered immense power in that manner. This was technology!

The Atlan civilization relied upon material things, investigating their essence, thus gaining control over strength which superseded the individual. This was very different from the other foreign civilizations of the Void Zone.

Regardless of whether it was the Tree Tribe, the Giant Tribe, or the Rock Tribe, no matter how unusual their methods were, they were the same as the Spell Caster civilization. The path they walked was one of strengthening one’s own self, to the point where one could create dimensions and destroy heavens.

Although the Atlan civilization was so powerful, they had not traveled beyond their dimension in general. They had conquered every corner of their own dimension but were ultimately unable to leave the place. It was like there was an invisible binding upon their dimension. In other words, the strength of the Atlan civilization was not enough to break this binding.

The Atlan civilization had even once thought that they were the masters of the heavens or of the world, that they were supreme beings. Nonetheless, one day, power of unimaginable magnitude tore apart the shackles of that dimension.

The Spell Caster civilization had arrived!

The three Ultimate Arcane Wizards had led the Spell Caster civilization to rise in the vast, endless Void Zone. They rapidly grew to become one of the strongest civilizations. They even thought that there was no dimension which was unconquerable, until one day, they found a peculiar dimension, which not even an Arcane Wizard was able to enter alone.

Therefore, the three Arcane Wizards combined their powers to break the binding. They prepared to enter, and take over this strange dimension in great excitement. Unexpectedly, what they had released was a dimension which would cause catastrophe for them.

Soon, it was a ruthless war! Two proud, autonomous civilizations which had never met before erupted into a war without warning. It was the first time the Spell Caster civilization suffered serious loses. Those warships, as wide as the sky, could smother even Great Honored Legends. Even Lords were at risk.

What was more frightening was the nearly endless offensive capacity of the Atlan civilization. They were able to mass-produce martial arts robots comparable to Great Legends. This was a majestic force, relentless and overwhelming, immediately spreading the fires of war to the origin of the Spell Caster civilization, the Glorious Land!

That war was the cruelest of all. The Glorious Land was grievously damaged, and the Molta Empire founded by the Spell Casters, at the pinnacle of its might, collapsed within a night. Great Legends and Honored Legends were lost one after another.

This was a war more terrible than the war between the Spell Caster civilization and the gods.

The information ended here. After all, back then, this warship had merely lit the fires of war in the Glorious Land before it was annihilated by the Origin Lord.

In the data supplied by the Matrix, the Atlans naturally labeled the Spell Casters as intruders and fiends. In short, all these various names embodied the mutual hatred of both parties without exception.

As for the subsequent developments, naturally, Merlin was unclear. Nonetheless, he knew the ending. Currently, there was one Ultimate Arcane Wizard who was expressly keeping watch over the surroundings of the Atlan Dimension. The war with the Atlan civilization had carried forward up until the present.

Evidently, even though the Atlan civilization was powerful, Spell Casters still gained the upper hand, suppressing the Atlan civilization firmly within the Atlan Dimension.

As to why the Ultimate Arcane Wizard had not acted to thoroughly wipe out the Atlan civilization, Merlin was in the dark as well.

“Phew…”

Merlin heaved a long sigh. This was only a small part of the vast amount of information. The rest of it was the records of the warship on the mystical technology of the Atlan civilization. These records comprised more than ninety percent of the tremendous data. Of course, for those who had no understanding of the Atlan civilization’s technology, even someone like Merlin, this data was quite useless.

Having understood the general situation of the Atlan civilization, Merlin turned to look once again at the control center of the warship. If he had no way of starting up the control center, he would be unable to control the warship.

“Matrix, is there a way to control this warship?”

The Matrix was intelligent. Now that it had received so much information, Merlin had guessed that the Matrix might be able to control this warship. Even if it could not control all of it, even a part of the warship would do.

“The central intelligence of the warship has been damaged. It’s possible to attempt gaining the highest-level access of the warship!”

When he heard the response of the Matrix, Merlin felt a burst of elation. He realized it was true after he gave it careful thought. If this warship still had any intelligent procedural control left, it would not be in such a state. Moreover, the Matrix would not possibly be able to have obtained so much information easily. After all, this information was the core secret of the warship.

“Beep. Success in gaining highest-level access to the warship!”

Upon hearing the familiar voice of the Matrix, Merlin finally stopped worrying and nodded. “Activate the warship!”

“The warship has sustained significant damage. Activation might induce unforeseeable dangers. Confirm activation?”

Without missing a beat, Merlin replied, “Activate the warship!”

To the current Merlin, what danger could he possibly encounter in this damaged warship?

“Rumble.”

The entire warship began to shudder, and bursts of light flickered across the pitch-darkness of the warship. Nonetheless, after a short moment, the warship fell into complete silence once again without the slightest movement.

“What happened?”

Merlin frowned, not knowing what had just happened.

“The power source of the warship is exhausted. There’s no backup source. There’s no way to activate the warship!”

“Power source?”

Merlin suddenly recalled the previous information. There was a passage which mentioned that the Atlans had practically conquered the entire starry sky with a highly developed civilization. However, a technological civilization was very reliant upon its power source. Without a source, those warships, giant cannons, and robots were nothing but scraps.

Therefore, although the binding of the Atlan Dimension was broken by the three Ultimate Arcane Wizards, the Atlan civilization itself wished to go beyond its dimension, to gain an endless energy source.

“What energy is required to start up the warship?”

Merlin was too lazy to go through the information in his head. After all, there was way too much data. Merlin did not want to bear that anguish again. Asking the Matrix was evidently the quickest way.

“The warship contains a high-powered engine furnace, which can break down most minerals and materials, turning them into the energy required by the warship.”

The Matrix replied.

“A high-powered engine furnace? I wonder if it’s able to break down elemental crystal stones.”

Merlin thought about it and finally decided to give it a go. If it could transmute this energy, of course, that would be the best. This warship had immense value, especially in a place like the Glorious Land where Spell Casters had fallen behind. The warship and the robots on board could be of great assistance to Merlin.

Thus, following the directions of the Matrix, Merlin came to a high-powered engine furnace located at the deepest core of the warship. Its position was strictly guarded as well. Even the Origin Lord back then, upon slaying all the Atlans aboard the warship and destroying the robots, had left right away. As a result, this high-powered engine furnace was completely undamaged.

It was because of this that Merlin had a sliver of hope to start up the warship. Nevertheless, this was assuming the engine furnace could function as usual, and that it was able to break down and transmute the elemental crystal stones into energy required by the warship.

“I might as well try!”

Merlin opened his Spatial Ring and instantly tossed over ten thousand elemental crystal stones into the high-powered engine furnace, which was pitch-black and covered in dust.

Following that, he stood beside the high-powered engine furnace, waiting wordlessly.