Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Atop the three-headed dragon stood Merlin and another Great Wizard, an old man who looked aged, with white hair. He was one of the elders of the royal family, Wizard Byron.
Currently, they were a long way from Light City, heading toward a remote area within the Kingdom of Blackmoon. This place was not very distant from the previous Imperial City of the Kingdom of Blackmoon.
“Wizard Byron, the Kingdom of Blackmoon is now the Blackmoon Empire. The world is unified, and it’s the second major empire after the Molta Empire. As an elder of the royal family, you must be delighted?”
Merlin asked with a smile.
“Delighted? That’s right. His Majesty Bhutto XVII has been crowned the emperor, leading the Kingdom of Blackmoon to unify the entire world. As a member of the royal family, of course, I’m delighted. However, now that the royal family has lost the purple gold crown, behind this flourishing scene are many hidden dangers. Fortunately, His Majesty has clear judgment, so he asked me to bring Wizard Merlin to the secret place.”
Merlin bobbed his head. It seemed like every member of the royal family knew that they were crisis-ridden. Any carelessness of their part could lead to an ending more miserable than their previous one.
“Oh right, you can enter the secret place of the royal family?”
“As a Great Wizard, naturally, I can. However, I’m unable to go very deep. I wonder how the Great Wizard Blackmoon had done it back then?”
When Wizard Byron talked about this, he felt a wave of helplessness as if this was something he did not wish to face. If it were not for Bhutto XVII’s direct order, he really would not like to return to this secret place.
“Hoo…”
The three-headed dragon’s wings stirred up a windstorm as it swiftly glided into a jungle. Before this jungle, there was a secluded valley.
“It’s in this valley. Wizard Merlin, please follow me. There’re actually Runic Magic Circles hidden here, set up by successive generations of the elders of the royal family. Some of these are even more impressive designs in order to prevent unnecessary trouble. Wizard Merlin, don’t follow too closely behind by any means.”
In fact, there was no need for Byron’s reminder. Merlin had already discovered through his Mind Power that the valley’s surroundings were packed with Runic Magic Circles, some of which concealed deadly traps. A moment of carelessness could lead to one being trapped in an extremely terrifying Runic Magic Circle.
These were no ordinary Runic Magic Circles. Some of these Runic Magic Circles were especially scary, that even Great Legends would be trapped. After all, generations of the royal family’s elders had done their best to design such frightening Runic Magic Circles. The defensive measures of this secret place were even more comprehensive than the Imperial City. This was enough to show how highly valued this secret place was to the royal family.
Merlin followed Wizard Byron to the bottom of the valley, where there was a pool. Wizard Byron started to wield the Runic Magic Circle, firmly imprinting it into the pool.
“Rumble.”
It was as if the entire valley was trembling. Merlin saw that the pool began to split into two, revealing a gigantic, dark entrance.
Merlin raised an eyebrow. He looked around him, and made a bold guess. This valley and this pool had not come into existence naturally but were manmade.
With that, Merlin asked softly, “Wizard Byron, this valley as well as this pool here, even this passage – surely they aren’t natural structures?”
Wizard Byron glanced at Merlin in astonishment, then smiled and nodded. “That’s right, Wizard Merlin, you have a good eye indeed. These aren’t natural at all. The valley, the pool, the passage, and the Runic Magic Circles that surround us on all sides, were created painstakingly by generations of the royal family. This isn’t the secret place – the true secret place is behind the passage!”
The royal family had spent so much effort to obscure the true location of the secret place. Merlin was now more and more curious about this hidden spot, and what kind of place it must be for the royal family to spare no effort in guarding it.
“Wizard Merlin, let’s go. The passage is very long, and requires some time to go through!”
Wizard Byron led the way into the passage below the pool, and Merlin followed as well. The passage was pitch dark, and slanted downward, disorienting one’s sense of direction.
Nevertheless, what one learned was that this passage would “mislead” others, causing intruders to have no way of knowing the real place. This is because the passage even had Runic Magic Circles within, preventing the probing of Mind Power.
“It’s really strictly guarded!”
Merlin could not help but gasp in astonishment. Generations of elders from the royal family seemed to have thought about every possible scenario and had prepared countermeasures. Even Merlin did not know where this passage was leading to exactly.
However, one thing was for sure. They were heading downward, so it must be underground.
Merlin brushed his hand across the walls of the passage. They were solid, without any hint of dampness. This cold touch seemed steeped in ancient years.
The passage must have been here a long time ago.
After walking for around an hour, Wizard Byron stopped in front, arriving at a large stone door.
“Open!”
Wizard Byron flung a mysterious runic imprint, following which the gigantic stone door opened with a shudder. The smell of dust pervaded their nostrils.
Behind the stone door was a secret chamber filled with elemental crystal stones, alchemy treasures, and so on. There were even advanced Mind Meditation Spells, Pandora Demon Abilities, and more.
In short, this was a land of treasures.
“Is this the secret place?”
Merlin furrowed his brows, and asked. Although there were many elemental crystal stones and casting tools here, even Pandora Demon Abilities, a treasure like the purple gold crown would not appear here. To Merlin, there was nothing here that was of any worth.
Wizard Byron smiled mysteriously. “Of course, this isn’t the secret place. However, if someone else barged in, they might think that this is it!”
Upon hearing Wizard Byron’s words, Merlin was hit with a realization. Everything here was prepared by the royal family, designing this to seem like a treasure trove. However, in reality, it was not even worth a mention. It was merely to confuse any Spell Casters who happened to come in this place.
The secret place was somewhere else!
Wizard Byron finally came to an unremarkable statue in the secret chamber, then produced some mysterious runes. This statue immediately began turning, and another passage appeared before the secret chamber.
“They had taken great pains to hide the place. Even if someone were to come in, they can’t locate the actual secret place.”
Merlin’s heart gave an involuntarily tremble. This secret place, for it to be guarded so strictly, must be extraordinary. The royal family had used their full effort.
Merlin followed behind Wizard Byron, and entered another passage. This passage seemed to slope upward and turned many corners.
Suddenly, there was firelight before them, and Wizard Byron in front began to slacken his pace.
“What’s going on?”
Merlin asked. He looked at the ground, where wisps of heat were rising. The closer they got, the hotter it became.
“We’re here at the secret place!”
Wizard Byron’s expression was incomparably serious. Merlin followed his gaze and saw that they had reached the end of the passage. Beyond this end, there was a massive underground palace.
This underground palace was fiery red all over. It was blazing hot, and Wizard Byron and Merlin had no choice but to cast spells in protection.
“This is the secret place?”
Merlin asked curiously. Byron seemed rather apprehensive about this place. Merlin paid him no mind, and stepped boldly into the palace.
This underground palace appeared extremely lavish. The ground was inlaid with transparent crystal while on both sides of the palace, there were enormous puddles. However, these were not puddles of water, but thick scorching viscous lava.
This lava was constantly boiling, containing a terrifying power within that would scare anyone witless. Even an ordinary Legend would be frightened of this lava.
Nonetheless, what really surprised Merlin was that he had sensed a trace of the Origin’s force here. In other words, it was the Elemental Origin.
In the Void Zone, any dimension that had life on it would have an Origin. A Dimension’s Origin was the core of the dimension. Anyone who controlled the Dimension Origin would become master of the dimension, in full control of it.
When Merlin had first returned to the Glorious Land, he had thought about controlling the Dimension Origin, thus controlling the Glorious Land, becoming master of the Glorious Land.
It was just that after he had returned to the Glorious Land, he searched around but found that the Dimension Origin seemed to have vanished, gone without a trace.
It did not mean that the Dimension Origin had disappeared. This would be impossible because once that happened, the Glorious Land would become a dead ground. However, even though the Glorious Land had fallen into decline, it had not become a dead ground. Conversely, it was flourishing with life.
Therefore, Merlin suspected that the Dimension Origin of the Glorious Land might have been hidden by the three Ultimate Arcane Wizards.
Now, within this massive, splendid palace in the secret underground space, there was a trace of the Dimension Origin’s force, guarded by the royal family for a thousand years. This caused Merlin great excitement.
The Glorious Land was a dimension where the Spell Caster civilization began. If he could obtain its Origin, that would even be a great help for Merlin in terms of directly condensing an ultimate Maxim.
Merlin shut his eyes lightly, his Mind Power starting to carefully seize the force of the Dimension Origin. The Dimension Origin of the Glorious Land could not be captured, not even by an Honored Legend or a Great Lord.
Only when one was in this secret place could only capture a hint of its force.
Merlin followed the force of this Dimension Origin and continued forward. After more than ten minutes, however, he heard Wizard Byron’s unsteady, bewildered voice. “Wizard Merlin, how come you are so familiar with the secret place?”
“Familiar?”
Merlin opened his eyes. Before him was a plain, large door. By his side was Wizard Byron who wore a shocked expression. Earlier, he had not led the way. It was Merlin who found this place himself.
“Wizard Merlin, the treasures are inside but to enter, you must defeat the guardians. Back then, the Great Wizard Blackmoon had used some unknown methods to enter.”
Wizard Byron pointed at this large door, his eyes shining in anticipation.
Merlin stared at the door with burning eyes as well. Of course, he was not familiar with the secret place. He was able to find his way here only because he had traced the force of the Dimension Origin.
Now, before this large door, the Dimension Origin’s force was more intense. Evidently, the Dimension Origin might be behind that door, the place where Wizard Byron said contained the treasures. In the past, the purple gold crown of the royal family had been retrieved from there.
“There are guardians? Where are they?”
Merlin looked around but did not see any guardians.
“They are those two statues!”
Byron pointed at the two stone statues flanking the door.
Merlin looked toward those two statues as well. As Wizard Byron spoke, the two statues began to transform, “coming alive” at a visible speed.
“Someone has finally arrived…”
The two guardian statues were armed with pikes. Their manner was stiff and slow but the intense vitality of their bodies indicated that they were certainly alive.
In this instant, Merlin saw something that was inconceivable in the Void Zone – a non-living thing transformed into a living thing. This was even more astonishing than the black cat Didimoss’ transformation.
From statues that had no trace of life to two “alive” living bodies. Moreover, their appearances were not that different from Normies. This was far beyond Merlin’s realm of knowledge.
It was also clear that Wizard Byron was oblivious to its significance.
“You can come alive at will?”
After a long moment, Merlin gradually calmed his emotions, and asked softly.
“Hmm? There’s someone who knows about the transformation of life? It looks like the newcomer this time isn’t like those ignorant Spell Casters last time.” The eyes of the two guardian statues brightened, and they fixed their gaze upon Merlin.
“What do you wish to obtain? As long as you defeat us, you’ll receive anything you want.”
“What is this place? Who are you two?”
Merlin could not help but ask.
“Haha, defeat us, and you shall know the answer!”
The two guardians did not give anything away. They must be defeated before they would answer those questions.
“Wizard Merlin, if you defeat them, you can enter to pick out the treasure. The purple gold crown was a treasure the Great Wizard Blackmoon had selected back then.”
Wizard Byron spoke with an excited look.
“Oh? It’s this fellow again… Two hundred years ago, you and a few others came here, wishing to pass through. However, you were far too weak, not even able to pass this stage. So, you’ve brought someone else now?”
The two guardians recognized Wizard Byron. Merlin noticed Wizard Byron’s embarrassed expression, and instantly knew that Wizard Byron had come here indeed, only he had failed, and did not obtain any treasure.
“So, I just need to defeat both of you?”
“That’s right, defeat us!”
Merlin drew in a deep breath. Regardless of whether he did it for the increasingly intense force of the Dimension Origin or for the contract he had signed with the royal family, he would have to defeat these two strange guardians and pass through this mysterious stone door.
“Alright, I’ll attempt the challenge!” Merlin’s voice was steady as he replied.
As for Wizard Byron, he swiftly retreated, his eyes expectantly gazing at Merlin.
