A Wizard’s Secret

“Merlin, what happened to you?”

Beside Merlin’s ear, Wizard Luce’s voice rang. The latter was looking at Merlin with a concerned expression.

“Oh, nothing, what just happened?”

Merlin suddenly “woke up”, and realized that a crowd had gathered.

“The Illusion Monument had disappeared. I don’t know what happened either.”

Wizard Luce shrugged, indicating that he did not know the details. He had never been overly concerned with the Illusion Monument, so its sudden disappearance did not affect him. However, the rest of the Wizards in Spellcast City would not think the same way.

Merlin scanned his gaze across the crowd, and subtly shook his head. He grasped the illusion bead tightly in his hand, and returned to the Vortex Hole with Luce. Here, there was a castle. It was Merlin and Luce’s residence, so no one from Spellcast City would disturb them.

Upon returning to the castle, Merlin stretched out his palm, and revealed the white illusion bead resting in it. It was all because of this illusion bead that the entire Spellcast City had been trapped in an illusion for so many years.

Merlin carefully studied the white illusion bead and did not discover any peculiarity. At most, it was a casting tool transfigured from ordinary materials.

However, Merlin needed to make some preparations. He woke up the black cat Didimoss. Although Didimoss was sleeping, if there was an emergency, he could still be woken up.

“Didimoss, in a while, I’m going to take control of this white bead. If you sense something wrong, don’t hesitate and destroy the bead immediately.”

The black cat Didimoss nodded and said, “Don’t worry, it’s just an ordinary casting tool. Why are you so nervous?”

Merlin smiled, and did not say anything. He consolidated his mind imprint, and fiercely engraved it into the illusion bead.

“Hum hum hum.”

Taking control of a casting tool was very easy. All it required was engraving one’s mind imprint. Right now, Merlin was engraving his mind imprint into the illusion bead.

Even though Merlin was on his highest guard, taking control of the illusion bead was quite easy. His mind imprint was engraved into the illusion bead without a hitch. Moreover, Merlin had finally understood why Titus said that as long as Merlin controlled the illusion bead, everything would become clear to him.

The moment Merlin took control of the illusion bead, he could distinctly feel everything inside the illusion bead, including Titus’ Mind Power strand. If Merlin had so desired, he could immediately destroy Titus’ Mind Power.

This was because the entire Illusory World was contained in the illusion bead. After all, Titus did not manage to perfect the Illusory World. Otherwise, the Illusory World would be situated in Titus’ Awareness, and not in this illusion bead.

Nevertheless, Merlin did not destroy Titus’ Mind Power. Up to this point, everything that Titus had told him was the truth. Titus did not hide anything, so allowing his Mind Power strand to remain in the Illusory World would not pose any threat to Merlin.

Therefore, allowing Titus’ Mind Power to stay would be of great help to Merlin in perfecting the Mind Power system in the future.

“Phew…”

Merlin opened his eyes. The black cat Didimoss jumped onto his shoulder happily.

“Merlin, you’ve controlled this casting tool, right?”

“Yes, it’s controlled now. However, Didimoss, you can try out its power!”

Merlin’s lips curved into a cryptic smile. Then, he manipulated the illusion bead and the Illusory World to quickly shroud around the black cat Didimoss.

“Boom.”

Merlin only managed to mobilize the Illusory World for a split second, but he felt like his entire body had fallen into a deep swamp, and felt inexplicably exhausted.

“Mind Power, why did it consume so much Mind Power?”

Merlin was dumbfounded. He had only tried to mobilize the Illusory World for a short moment but discovered that it was incomparably difficult. Even for a split second, his Mind Power had almost been entirely diminished.

This split second did not affect the black cat Didimoss in any form. Instead, he was peering at Merlin quite curiously. Seeing that Merlin was unresponsive, Didimoss could not be bothered to rack its brains, and resumed sleeping on Merlin’s shoulder.

“Whoosh.”

Merlin’s Mind Power projection swiftly entered the Illusory World.

“Titus!”

Merlin was biting back anger as he hollered.

“Oh? Wizard Merlin, you’ve taken control of the illusion bead, so you must know that I’ve been telling the truth, right?”

Titus smiled jovially as he appeared in the sky.

Merlin’s face, on the other hand, was extremely dark. Coldly, he asked, “Titus, what’s happening? I only mobilized the Illusory World for a split second but my Mind Power is completely exhausted.”

Merlin remembered that Titus had mentioned once he had controlled the Illusory World in the illusion bead, he might even be able to trap Great Legends in the illusion.

Merlin had also personally experienced the Illusory World, so he basically agreed with Titus’ comment. Right now, however, he realized that he was completely unable to mobilize the Illusory World.

Titus shook his head helplessly, and said in an even tone, “Wizard Merlin, you should know that the Illusory World was consolidated by me. You haven’t been fully integrated into the Illusory World, so naturally, you’re unable to easily mobilize the Illusory World. You can only use the illusory bead to forcefully mobilize the Illusory World, and this would require an immense amount of Mind Power as support!”

“You mean that I can’t mobilize the Illusory World?”

Merlin’s expression darkened even further. He was beginning to feel “cheated” by Titus.

“No, no, no, you can still mobilize the Illusory World but your Mind Power has to be even more powerful. Your Mind Power must grow by many folds, at least to the point of consolidating a Ninth-level Mind Heart. Then, you may be somewhat able to mobilize the Illusory World though still unable to do as you please. Unless and until you can fully control the Illusory World and integrate it with your Mind Power. This will, however, require your Hallucinating spells to achieve the stage of the Illusory Heart.”

“If I integrate it with my Mind Power upon achieving the Illusory Heart, then I won’t have a choice whether or not to perfect the Illusory World. I’ll be forced to help you perfect this Illusory World?”

Merlin immediately realized the implications.

“Of course. Wizard Merlin, once the Illusory World is integrated into your Mind Power, this world would be yours. It would no longer be related to me. I’ll be just a strand of Mind Power in it. Besides, this would help you build a strong foundation in consolidating the Illusory World because you won’t have to spend endless time and effort to construct a world from scratch. All you need to do is add your understanding into this Illusory World, and gradually perfect it.”

Merlin knew that this was Titus’ true intention. He wanted to bind Merlin to the Illusory World, so that if Merlin was able to perfect the Illusory World one day and turn illusion into reality, reversing the natural order, Titus would be resurrected!

“Hmph!”

Merlin did not speak. He gave a cold snort, and his Mind Power exited the Illusory World. Merlin knew that he must have been silently “played” by Titus. Nevertheless, even knowing this cunning manipulation, Merlin could not give up on the Illusory World.

He kept the Illusory World. Merlin’s heart was thumping strongly. After careful organization, he discovered that he had derived innumerable benefit in the Slothful Beast world. Not only did he manage to complete the God-Binding Disc but he had also fused four-elemental spells.

Additionally, he also received a complete theory of the Mind Power system, which gave him a clear direction forward without wandering aimlessly. Moreover, he had reached the second stage of Hallucinating spells, and was now able to entrap some of the ordinary Great Wizards. Subsequently, he would have to gain an understanding of the third stage of Hallucinating spells.

However, the biggest trove was still the Illusory World. This was consolidated from Titus’ life work. Regardless of now or in the future, the Illusory World would be invaluable to Merlin’s work in the Mind Power system. Although he could not use it right now, once he had strengthened his Mind Power, he would be able to forcefully mobilize limited powers of the Illusory World.

“Unfortunately, there’s still no way to open up the Vortex Hole. I don’t know when I can leave Vortex Hole or perhaps I won’t be able to leave forever!”

Merlin stared at the large Vortex Hole in the sky with a look of helplessness. Whether it was Didimoss or Titus from the Illusory World, none of them could help Merlin leave the Vortex Hole.

Merlin would only stay below the Vortex Hole. While he was exchanging knowledge of Hallucinating spells with Titus in the Illusory World, he was quietly observing the changes in the Vortex Hole, hoping to find a way out of the Slothful Beast world…

…

In the icy Void Zone, a dazzling ball of light appeared like it was “skipping”. Every skip was a leap across vast distances. In the Void Zone without any space, this was quite unbelievable.

“I can sense it. The Slothful Beast isn’t far in front!”

The ball of light consisted of three Wizards or more accurately, two avatars and the real Blackfire Lord. The three of them were the Ultimate Arcane Wizard Setoh’s spatial avatar, the Blackfire Lord, and the maxim avatar consolidated by Legend Zado.

Relying on Legend Zado’s maxim avatar, the three of them traveled an endless journey, and finally approached the Slothful Beast.

“Zado, has there been any change in the Slothful Beast?”

The Blackfire Lord asked quietly.

Legend Zado’s maxim avatar shook his head and said, “The Slothful Beast hasn’t changed. It has been moving aimlessly. Since the last time, it swallowed again once, this time consuming three empty dimensions…”

Legend Zado’s maxim avatar initially had a calm expression but suddenly, his expression changed drastically. In a deep voice, he said, “This is bad, the Slothful Beast has stopped. It looks like it’ll go to sleep again!”

“Stopped?”

The Blackfire Lord and Arcane Wizard Setoh’s faces paled slightly. They of course knew what it meant for the Slothful Beast to stop. It meant that the Slothful Beast might probably fall asleep.

If the Slothful Beast fell asleep, it would be even more difficult to save Merlin!

“Come, let’s speed up. We mustn’t allow the Slothful Beast to fall asleep!”

Arcane Wizard Setoh’s spatial avatar shrouded Zado’s maxim avatar, and the Blackfire Lord with the dazzling bright light once again and started “skipping” gently. The next moment, they had traversed across a vast distance.

“We’ve arrived!”

The white ball of light had stopped. In the pitch-black void before them, there was an unimaginably huge beast floating calmly. Its behemoth body fluttered slightly, seeming to adjust its sleeping position.

Soon, this Slothful Beast would fall into a deep slumber, and no one would be able to wake it up.