Chapter 366: Merlin's Sadness
"Teacher Minlur, what's going on? This reverse force feels so much stronger than before!" Moss exclaimed.
He could also sense that it was moving faster than before.
"It's the presence of wind type arcane energy," Liszt explained. "Compared to your version of Berserk God's Returning Scorched Sun, its version has integrated wind type arcane energy, which is why the reverse force and speed have both improved."
"Integrated wind type arcane energy?" Chris looked at Merlin in shock. "Could it be that it analysed and improved the skill?"
"That should not be the case. Even if it had the capability to make such observations and calculations, it would not have the ability to do so as there has never been an arcane master with such a deep understanding of the nature of all arcane skills. Even if you put all the Draconic Scholars and artificers from the Era of the War with Dragons in a room together, they would not be able to create such a puppet." Liszt shook his head with absolute certainty as he continued, "What is possible, however, is that this puppet functioned as the Corps' skill repository or recorder of skills."
"A skill repository or recorder?!" Shock appeared in the eyes of Ayrin, Rinloran and the others once more.
"It is most likely that it acted as a repository for skills as it is much easier and more efficient to learn from these images it produces than the static images in scrolls." Liszt paused for a moment and then added, "But it is also not unlikely that it was used to record the skills of others on the battlefield."
"You mean that this puppet before us might contain all of the skills that the Clockwork Corps ever possessed? Its basically a living library?!" Stingham shouted in disbelief.
"But this might not be its only ability…" Liszt thought to himself as he continued to observe Merlin.
If its only ability was to store skills, it would not have such a frightening fighting intent within its body.
"Merlin, did your Corps use you to store skills?" Ayrin couldn't help but ask.
The streams of light flowing from Merlin's hands slowly subsided. Afterwards, it looked at Ayrin and shook its head.
"It finally answered! It actually is the Clockwork Corps' skill repository!" Stingham shouted, his eyes widening.
"Then Merlin, can you show us any more skills?!" Ayrin shouted excitedly.
A repository clockwork puppet from the Era of the War with Dragons, just how many shocking skills would it have stored within it?!
Everyone stared at the little clockwork puppet in anticipation.
They watched as it shook its head.
"It only knows this one skill? No way!" Stingham shouted incredulously.
"Maybe too much time has passed, and it has forgotten them?" Ayrin suggested as he looked at Merlin. "Did Moss' display of his skill cause you to remember because it was so similar?"
"Jumping to conclusions there Ayrin? All it did was shake its head," Stingham sneered. He felt that Ayrin's suggestion was grasping at straws.
"That's not true. When it shook its head just now, it also seemed to be nodding slightly, as if it couldn't make up its mind," Ayrin replied.
"Rubbish. After all, its not human," Stingham rebutted as his view of Ayrin's intelligence dropped.
"What?!"
But to his surprise, Merlin nodded in response to Ayrin's question.
This was actually the case?!
Just what kind of strange clockwork puppet was this?
Everyone else also found the situation hard to believe.
"So as long as you see a skill contained within your memory, you can remember it? Also, doesn't this mean that today's Berserk God's Returning Scorched Sun is different from the one during the Era of the War with Dragons? Or maybe the arcane master who recorded the skill within you was the one who made such improvements?" Ayrin exclaimed.
Merlin hesitated for a second, as if it was thinking and looking into its memory, and then nodded.
"Teacher Liszt, why don't we display all of our skills before Merlin right now?" Ayrin shouted excitedly.
"As a creation from the Era of the War with Dragons, it is possible that only ancient skills similar to Berserk God's Returning Scorched Sun will trigger its memories," Liszt replied. However, he too was full of excitement. "But in the end, it all comes down to luck. As there was not much interaction between the various races during its era, arcane skills were not as widespread as they are today. Even a Corps would not have been in the possession of too many skills."
"Alright, let me try first!" Stingham shouted as he jumped up. "Watch this!"
"Water Dragon!"
The air rumbled as a massive dragon of water burst forth.
It was met with nothing but silent disappointment.
Everyone had assumed that Stingham would display some kind of ancient and powerful skill, yet he had invoked a simple skill like this.
"How was that?! Did you remember anything?" Stingham excitedly asked Merlin.
The sound of gears whirring rang out from within Merlin's body once more as if it was trying its best to remember.
A long period of time passed, but nothing happened. Merlin remained motionless as if it had run out of energy.
"Eh? Can't think of anything?" Stingham said, dumbfounded.
Before an angry Rinloran could berate Stingham, Ayrin shouted, "Let me try!"
"Skunk Devil Summoning!"
A Skunk Devil with a single white stripe running down its back dropped down from the sky.
"Ayrin!"
"Just how much do you love this skill?!"
The faces of all of the other youths turned green.
Ayrin had followed in Stingham's footsteps and invoked yet another ordinary skill.
Merlin's gears began to whir once more.
Based on the sound, the gears were going faster and harder than before.
It was as if Merlin was pushing itself to its limits.
Before long, Merlin slowly raised its hands.
"Could it be that it actually has this skill?" Everyone thought to themselves.
But in the next moment, cracking sounds rang out from within its body, causing everyone to jump in shock.
Merlin stiffened, and then began flailing its limbs.
Clouds of blue smoke and pale dust began to leak out from its head and the gaps between the strips of metal which made up its body.
"Stingham, Ayrin, look at what you've done! How could you use such ordinary skills? You've broken it!" Chris couldn't help but chastise.
Stingham and Ayrin looked on in silence.
Smoke continued to emerge from Merlin as its head abruptly dropped down as if it had died.
"Whoosh!"
But right at this moment, countless streams of light shot forth from its hands once more, forming another image before them.
"Which skill is this?"
Ayrin's eyes widened.
The skill displayed before them was clearly not Skunk Devil Summoning as the flow of arcane particles in the image before him was completely different from the flow of particles within his body when he used Skunk Devil Summoning.
It looked to be an extremely complicated and difficult skill.
Almost unconsciously, Ayrin began to circulate his arcane particles in accordance with the image.
"Hmmm?"
A look of disbelief flickered through Ayrin's eyes.
He had failed to invoke the skill with a small number of arcane particles. In fact, he hadn't even been able to complete the path.
Furthermore, as he had attempted to invoke the skill, it gave him the same sensation as World of Water and Water Rendering Boundary.
"Could it be a domain?"
A strange look flashed through Ayrin's eyes.
"Boom!"
Powerful arcane energy fluctuations arose around him.
"He's using Gate of Life!"
"Just how shocking is this skill's consumption?"
Ayrin's arcane energy fluctuations caused Rinloran and the others to cry out in shock.
"Domain energy?"
Liszt, Ciaran and the other teachers exchanged looks.
The unique sensation of a domain descended over them.
Countless black and yellow lights criss-crossed in the distance not too far before them, forming a massive domain about forty meters in diameter!
Within the domain, countless bubbles of varying sizes began to form.
A bubble about the size of a fist floated to the top of the domain and burst with a pop.
"This…!"
"Ugh!"
Everyone retched, their hairs standing on end, as they were suddenly assailed by a stench which was hard to describe in words.
It was a stench several times worse than the one produced by the Skunk Devil.
"Ayrin you wretch! Hurry up and stop cut your flow of arcane particles!" Stingham screamed as he bent over and began vomiting.
"What domain is this?"
Assaulted by the stench, Ayrin felt the world before him turning.
Even when the domain finally disappeared, he was still affected and full of the urge to vomit.
"It doesn't matter what domain this is! Ayrin, I swear. If you dare to use to domain randomly like Skunk Devil Summoning, we are through!" A pale faced Rinloran shouted at the top of his lungs as he ran far away.
"Could it be the legendary Death by Puking domain?" Liszt exclaimed, still pinching his nose.
"Death by Puking domain?" Ayrin looked dizzily at Liszt, "What kind of domain is it?"
"It is a domain which, as implied by its name, can cause people to puke until they die because of how smelly it is. Furthermore, the stench it creates will permeate into one's body and linger for several days afterwards, assailing everyone around them as well." Liszt continued pinching his nose as he added, "Because of how hard it is to remove the smell, this domain was used as a method for tracking others and hiding secrets during the Era of the War with Dragons."
Rinloran, Chris and the others were completely speechless.
Just the stench which had escaped the field was enough to send them into such a state. How terrifying would it be within the domain?
Ayrin's eyes lit up as he asked excitedly, "Merlin, is this the legendary Death by Puking?"
Merlin's head quivered, as if it was trying to answer.
But in the next moment, a screech rang out from within its body as another plume of smoke erupted from it.
Merlin lurched. It would have fallen over if not for the massive case it was carrying.
Afterwards, it remained completely motionless.
It was as if it had died.
"It's over. Ayrin, you've broken it," Stingham cried.
"Merlin!" Ayrin shouted.
Although it had only been a short time since they first encountered the little clockwork puppet, Ayrin had already begun seeing it as a part of the team.
"Normal questions and operations should not have caused such damage to its internal structure." Liszt couldn't help but sigh as he observed the clockwork puppet and continued, "It must have suffered severe internal damage during the battle."
"Merlin!" Ayrin shouted once more.
Because at this moment, the faint sound of whirring emanated from within its body once more.
As if in response to Ayrin's shout, Merlin began to move once more and slowly staggered to its feet.
Merlin slightly shook its head as if trying to clear its mind.
"Is this internal damage the reason why you cannot remember anything?" Ayrin abruptly asked.
Merlin's small action had caused him to feel an enormous sense of sadness.
It seemed as if it had forgotten everything, its friends, its comrades, and its skills, because of the injuries it had suffered.