A Wizard’s Secret

“If there’s a thirty percent success rate for these thousands of Mokra Potion materials, there’ll be at least three hundred Mokra Potions!”

Merlin was also utterly shocked by this number. Three hundred Mokra Potions was almost ten times more than the number of Mokra Potions that he had successfully prepared last time.

“Phew…”

After a long moment, Merlin gradually calmed down. With so many Mokra Potion materials, he would not have to worry about the growth of his Mind Power in the distant future.

Currently, Merlin’s Mind Power had not reached the peak of the Fourth-level, but he was not far behind. While there were still fourteen Mokra Potions from his earlier batch, it was enough to boost Merlin’s Mind Power to the Fifth-level.

Wizard Leo was still in the Tear of God spiritual retreat, in an effort to eliminate the defects caused by Darkness Eye. He would not be leaving the Imperial City anytime soon. This would be the best time for Merlin to take the Mokra Potions.

“Bammou!”

Merlin used the contract paper to summon Wizard Bammou.

“Swoosh!”

Bammou was in the eighth prince’s manor when he felt Merlin’s call, so he quickly appeared in the courtyard.

“Master, is there anything I can do for you?”

Bammou stole a glance at Merlin and asked humbly.

“Bammou, I’m going to consume potions, so I need you to guard around and don’t let anyone disturb me!”

Merlin learned his lesson from the previous time. When taking Mokra Potions and falling into a deep slumber, there must be someone on guard. Now that Wizard Bammou had arrived at the Imperial City, he was naturally the most suitable candidate for the job.

“Master, please be rest assured that no one will bother you!”

Bammou and Merlin had signed a slave contract, so Bammou’s life and death was in the hands of Merlin. Naturally, it meant that he must protect Merlin with all his heart and soul.

Merlin was very reassured by Wizard Bammou, so he nodded and closed the door. Then, he began making some preparations before consuming the Mokra Potions.

After consuming a Mokra Potion, the most dangerous aspect was falling into a deep sleep. Every time a Mokra Potion was consumed, one would have to sleep for at least three days.

However, it was not Merlin’s first time consuming a Mokra Potion. Thus, with minimal effort, he consumed the Mokra Potion and fell into a deep sleep.

His Mind Power was growing rapidly too, and the effectiveness of the Mokra Potion was taking effect.

When Merlin woke up three days later, he briefly reviewed his Mind Power and took another Mokra Potion immediately. There was no stopping at all.

One potion, two potions, three potions…

In the blink of an eye, more than a month’s time had passed. Merlin was originally left with fourteen Mokra Potions, but he had consumed them continuously for more than a month, so now, there were only two potions left.

Presently, Merlin’s Mind Power had already reached the peak of the Fourth-level. Yet, he still could not break through to the Fifth-level. This was also a quantitative accumulation. In Merlin’s quest to improve and achieve a breakthrough in his Mind Power, it had always been a wild process of accumulation and forced improvements.

This method was the most secure, but the Mind Power required was much larger. If it was a general Spell Caster, having such Mind Power in addition to time, a successful breakthrough would be in the works. However, for Merlin, he was unable to attain a breakthrough by any means. It was precisely due to the lack of time that his Mind Power could not transform as fast.

The only thing that Merlin was missing was time. Since his Mind Power had not undergone a breakthrough, it meant that further accumulation was still necessary. Looking at the remaining two potions, Merlin decided that it was better to just simply take them all.

Consumption of two Mokra Potions in a single sitting was an act that Merlin only dared to do after consuming many Mokra Potions. Otherwise, the pain alone would make any typical Spell Caster lose his sanity.

In addition, Merlin’s act of directly taking two Mokra Potions would even prolong the time of being in a deep slumber. Still, it was different from the six days of sleep that Merlin had anticipated. This time, Merlin had actually slept for ten days.

Merlin had only slowly woken up after ten full days. The moment he woke up, he had already noticed the changes in his Mind Power.

“Breakthrough?”

Merlin felt that everything in front of his very eyes seemed to have become more subtle. His Mind Power extended infinitely, almost covering the entire manor in an instant.

Fifth-level Mind Power was ten times stronger than Fourth-level Mind Power. It was not surprising that it took Merlin so many Mokra Potions before he could barely break through.

“There’s finally a breakthrough. I should be constructing all my Third-level spells next so I can become a Third-level Spell Caster!”

Merlin’s Mind Power had broken through to the Fifth-level, and now it was sufficient to construct all Third-level spells. However, he needed to understand some of the recent changes that had occurred in the Imperial City before he began the construction of Third-level spells.

“Bammou!”

Merlin called out to Wizard Bammou.

“Master, is there any order for me?”

Wizard Bammou opened the door. He had only given Merlin a brief look, but he could already feel the changes in Merlin’s body. Knowing that Merlin had taken the potions for some time, he must have achieved a breakthrough.

“Bammou, how’s Teacher Leo?”

Merlin was most concerned about Wizard Leo’s situation now. Wizard Leo had taken Tear of God in an effort to dispel some of the shortcomings caused by the cultivation of Darkness Eye, so he could successfully level up to become a Seventh-level Spell Caster. If Wizard Leo could become a Seventh-level Spell Caster, it would be great news for both the Dark Magic Region and the eighth prince, and even Merlin.

Wizard Bammou hesitated for a moment, and he whispered, “Master, Wizard Leo hasn’t come out yet. There’s also no movement from him. The defects of Darkness Eye aren’t easy to resolve. Even with the Tear of God, it’d still take a very long time…”

Merlin frowned. It had been almost two months now. Surprisingly, there was still no news from Wizard Leo yet. Besides, hearing Wizard Bammou’s tone, he did not seem to be quite optimistic with regard to Wizard Leo.

Hence, Merlin’s gaze froze slightly, and he said in a low voice, “Bammou, to be honest, what do you think about Teacher Leo having the Tear of God? Is it capable of resolving the defects of Darkness Eye?”

Merlin knew that Wizard Bammou had a certain understanding about Darkness Eye.

Wizard Bammou took a deep breath, but he had to answer Merlin anyway. “Master, Darkness Eye is a cursed power. The Tear of God may be precious, but there’s still a limited amount of it from the Church of Light. In the past, some people have gotten it before but after so many years, I’ve not heard of anyone who could cultivate Darkness Eye to its fullest…”

Although Bammou did not directly answer Merlin’s question, the meaning of his words was already clear.

Merlin could not help but frown. Even he did not expect that Darkness Eye was so much of a nuisance, that even Tear of God could not resolve its defects. In addition, Bammou was not optimistic about Wizard Leo’s situation.

However, Merlin could not be of much help in this matter anyway. He could only wait quietly, hoping that there would be good news.

“Alright, you continue guarding outside. Inform me right away if you have news about Teacher Leo.”

Almost immediately, Wizard Bammou silently left the place again, leaving only Merlin in the room.

Merlin took out a thread-bound book from the ring. It contained many Third-level spells. These were some of the spells that the eighth prince gave to Merlin previously – spells that only the royal family could construct.

These spells were actually stored in the database of the Matrix too. Merlin had compared them and found that they were exactly the same. It showed that the eighth prince had indeed given his all and really retrieved all the royal spells in a bid to win Merlin’s support.

Merlin flipped through the spells in the book, then put it back into the ring and started pondering.

Now, in Merlin’s Awareness, three Third-level spells had been constructed – Condensed Fire, Darkness Vortex, and Perfect Armor. He still needed to construct the remaining three elements, Ice-type, Wind-type and Thunder-type Third-level spells. Only then, he could become a Third-level Spell Caster.

Merlin’s Mind Power was already enough to support six Third-level spells, but now, he was facing another dilemma – the choice of spells.

The data integration of the Matrix had been able to derive a new spell. Since Fourth-level spells could be derived, then Third-level spells could surely be derived too.

Therefore, Merlin had two choices now – to choose the newly-constructed and derive Third-level spells or to use the ready-made Third-level spell.

Using derived spells naturally had many benefits such as increased spell power, higher compatibility, and so on. The benefits were indeed many, but the Matrix would need to consume power from the Flame Maxim when deriving spells.

Right now, Merlin was most lacking of power from the Flame Maxim. There was only a small amount of Flame Maxim left. If it was consumed too much, it would be very difficult to derive a second Fourth-level spell in the future.

“For Third-level spells, even if I use derived spells, the power may be increased a little, but it’ll not make much of a difference. Only constructed spells of the Fourth-level show a qualitative difference! Why bother consuming the precious Flame Maxim now just to increase a small amount of spell power and compatibility?”

Countless thoughts swirled around in Merlin’s mind. He was also carefully thinking about it. The more he organized his mind and thought about it carefully, the more he felt that he should not waste the power of the Flame Maxim to derive Third-level spells.

Merlin would need to construct a Fourth-level spell in the future. Now that the power of the Flame Maxim was too low, and if there was not any left, how would he be able to derive a Fourth-level spell?

If he could not derive Fourth-level spells, he would lose much more than he would gain. After all, Fourth-level spells were the real qualitative change. The overall power of the spell would be greatly improved.

After a long moment of careful consideration, Merlin finally made the call. Instead of using the precious Flame Maxim to derive Third-level spells, he decided that he would use the royal spells given by the eighth prince to construct the remaining spells.

He had already made up his mind, so the question left now was which spell to choose. This was much easier. Merlin had carefully filtered them and selected the Third-level Wind-type spell Shadow Gust, Third-level Thunder-type spell Infinite Thunder, and Third-level Ice-type spell Frozen Space.

Whether it was Shadow Gust, Infinite Thunder or Frozen Space, they were all spells that were extended from the basis of secondary spells.

These spells were actually of the same origin. This would be an advantage too as there was higher compatibility between each of them. With that, the Spell Models could be more stable in the Awareness too.

In the future, when Merlin would derive brand-new Fourth-level spells using the Matrix, he should also choose spells with almost a hundred percent compatibility based on these spells. When he leveled up into a Great Wizard in the future, it would be easier to fuse Spell Models together only if spells with higher compatibility were chosen.

Many Spell Casters had already considered the possibility of becoming a Great Wizard in the early days when they construct low-level spells such as First-level, Second-level, and Third-level spells. Otherwise, even if they had more outstanding talent, their quest to become Great Wizards would not be a bed of roses, much less condensing Maxims and becoming Legends.

Even though Merlin did not deliberately control the compatibility of his spells, by relying on the Matrix, his spells still had higher compatibility than those genius Spell Casters.

After selecting the spells, Merlin immediately started the Matrix. He began to analyze the spells step by step, proceeding to choose the best Spell Model, and then simulating them into his Awareness.

A process like this was extremely easy for Merlin!

For the next few days, Merlin had been constructing spells. The moment the last spell, Frozen Space, was simulated into his Awareness, Merlin felt his entire body tremble. It seemed that all the Spell Models had reached an equilibrium point.

That wonderful feeling had clearly let Merlin know that he was already a Third-level Spell Caster!