A Wizard’s Secret

Merlin wandered around the Spell Library of the royal family. Even though he had seen the mountains of volumes of spells inside the Resource Tower, the sight before him still astounded him.

Volumes and volumes of books were piled upon the rows of vermillion bookshelves. They were also tagged clearly – Zero-level spells, First-level spells, Second-level spells, Third-level spells, Fourth-level spells, Fifth-level spells, and Sixth-level spells.

These spells were further divided into Wind-type, Fire-type, Water-type, Thunder-type, Ice-type, Earth-type, Darkness-type, and so on. It could be said that the types of spells were incomparably comprehensive, and there was a great number of them too.

Merlin picked out one of the Darkness-type spells at random. Darkness-type spells were hard to come by. Even when he was in the Resource Tower of the Dark Magic Region, the number of Darkness-type spells could be counted on one’s hand, and the spells were not that powerful.

Merlin’s Darkness-type spells were obtained strategically by Wizard Leo from Abyss Fort. However, the Darkness-type spell that Merlin now picked up casually was the spell that Merlin had painstakingly searched for in Abyss Fort – the Fourth-level spell Darkness Nightmare.

Darkness Nightmare was a Fourth-level spell, known to be the pinnacle of Hallucinating spells. Merlin’s current Mind Power was still a long way from being able to construct Darkness Nightmare, so naturally, he had not constructed it. Nevertheless, Merlin also possessed the Spell Model of Darkness Nightmare.

Therefore, Merlin compared the Spell Model of Darkness Nightmare from Abyss Fort to the one from the Spell Library. He found that the two Spell Models were more or less the same, which meant that the Darkness-type spells in the Spell Library of the royal family were genuine, and they even had a more complete selection of Darkness-type spells than Abyss Fort.

“It wasn’t surprising that they’re compared to a large spell casters’ organization. The resources of the royal family is inconceivably extensive!”

Merlin murmured in a low voice. What a large number of spells – he estimated that there were more than ten thousand spells or even more. This would be of enormous help in populating the database of the Matrix.

“Select the spells at your own pace. Remember, you can only be here for eight hours. Once the time is up, I’ll come and get you!”

Wizard Fosse reminded Merlin, following which he hid in the darkness in a flash. Nonetheless, Merlin did not get the feeling that he was being watched as if Wizard Fosse was not concerned about Merlin stealing a spell.

Merlin heaved a small sigh. Of course, he would not steal a spell because he did not need to do something like that. He planned on using the Matrix, employing every spell here to populate its database. In other words, he was going to duplicate the entire centuries-old collection of the Spell Library of the royal family.

“Matrix, prepare to scan all the spells in the books!”

“Beep, task received. Begin scanning. Please be patient!”

The Matrix began its scanning. Not even a Great Wizard would be able to find out about the Matrix. Therefore, Wizard Fosse would not be able to discover the Matrix even if he used his Mind Power to spy on Merlin.

Scanning such a tremendous number of books would require some time. Thus, Merlin began to wait patiently, occasionally flipping through some spells at random, acting as if he was looking for a spell.

Although Wizard Fosse was not spying on him with Mind Power, Merlin knew that there was surely another more hidden method that would allow Wizard Fosse to monitor his every move.

This was, in fact, true. Presently, Merlin’s every movement was known to Wizard Fosse. His task was to guard the entire collection of the Spell Library. As the eighth prince had brought up the queen consort’s kindness toward him in the past, Wizard Fosse had reluctantly agreed to let Merlin enter the Spell Library.

However, if Merlin really dared to steal a spell from the Spell Library, he would show no mercy.

From the looks of it, Wizard Fosse saw that Merlin was well-behaved, only looking through the Spell Models. Perhaps he was memorizing the complicated Spell Models, but he did not try to steal a spell.

“Humph, how deep is the collection of the Spell Library? How vast? The higher the level of a spell, the more difficult it would be to memorize the Spell Model. This Merlin is futilely trying to memorize Fifth-level and Sixth-level spells – what a waste of time and opportunity! With a one-in-a-million chance like this, and only eight hours, he might get something out of it if he commits to memorizing some Fourth-level spells. However, since he’s biting off more than he can chew, his success will be limited!”

Wizard Fosse saw that Merlin had begun looking at the Fifth-level and Sixth-level spells and thought that it was because Merlin was “biting off more than he could chew”, wasting his time and opportunity.

After all, it was common knowledge for Spell Casters that if one’s Mind Power had not broken through to a similar level, one would be unable to simulate more advanced spells, and it would take a great effort just to memorize it alone.

Merlin currently only possessed Fourth-level Mind Power. So naturally, if he wanted to memorize those Fifth-level and Sixth-level Spell Models, it would be an arduous and useless task. Wizard Fosse mistook this as Merlin “biting off more than he could chew”.

However, in reality, Merlin was only putting on a show, looking through the Spell Models at random. He did not need to strain his Mind Power to memorize those complicated Spell Models at all. With the Matrix scanning every spell in the Spell Library, he could look through them at his leisure after he had gone out.

Wizard Fosse misunderstood Merlin’s intentions and paid him less attention. He also did not disturb Merlin at all. He hoped for the eight hours to pass by as quickly as possible so that Merlin could be sent away, preventing any unnecessary trouble.

After all, Wizard Fosse was breaking the rules. If this was discovered by the elders of the royal family, Wizard Fosse would be heavily punished even though he was an elder himself.

…

“Beep, scan completed. There are thirty-five thousand four hundred and eighty-nine spells in total. Should this all be stored in the database?”

In just one hour, the Matrix had finished scanning all the spells of the Spell Library. Still, the number of spells had dumbfounded Merlin for a moment.

There were over thirty thousand spells. Merlin was somewhat taken aback. Initially, there were only two hundred or so spells in the Matrix. According to his deductions and estimations, a thousand spells or more should be enough to derive a new spell.

However, now he had no less than over thirty thousand spells to populate the database. Did this mean that he would be able to derive a new spell right away? As he thought of this, Merlin’s heartbeat sped up involuntarily.

“Matrix, begin data integration process and derive a new Fourth-level spell!”

Merlin drew in a deep breath and forced himself to calm his restless emotions, then gave the Matrix this command.

“Beep, processing data integration. Derivation of new Fourth-level spell in progress… Beep, command error. Please input command in detail and bind with Mind Power!”

The command voice of the Matrix rang out suddenly. Merlin’s second attempt at processing data integration was still unsuccessful.

“Command error? I need to bind with Mind Power?”

Merlin furrowed his brow. The Matrix was merely an ordinary quantum calculator and was a product of the pinnacle of science development in his previous life when there was no such thing as Mind Power. Nonetheless, the Matrix now requested the binding of Mind Power, which might mean that the Matrix had undergone a change when it had crossed over with Merlin back then.

The Matrix was now no longer just a simple “calculator”.

Although he did not know what had happened to the Matrix, Merlin knew that if he did not follow the steps of the Matrix, he would never be able to derive a new spell.

Therefore, Merlin responded softly, “Bind Mind Power!”

“Beep, binding of Mind Power successful. Please input task!”

“With the spells in the database as a foundation, derive a new Fourth-level spell…”

After a pause, Merlin felt that something was not right. After he thought about it, he realized that the scope of Fourth-level spells was far too wide. Even if the Matrix had outstanding operational abilities, this command was too vague. In addition, it would need to derive based on over thirty thousand spells. The amount of calculation required would be astonishing.

Therefore, Merlin corrected himself and went on. “With the spells in the database as a foundation, derive a new Fourth-level Fire-type spell!”

“Beep, task received! Analysis is in progress…”

After having done all this, Merlin began to wait nervously. Without realizing it, several hours had passed since he entered the Spell Library.

Whether or not he could derive a new spell was of utmost importance to Merlin. During the most glorious age of Spell Casters, a few truly prodigious Spell Casters were even able to construct their own spells alone from the Fourth-level onward.

Merlin naturally was not gifted in spell construction. He was able to achieve what he had today thanks to the Matrix. Therefore, the Matrix was the foundation of his success.

In the past, the Matrix only derived the stability, compatibility, power, and other aspects that made up a relatively decent and well-rounded Spell Model. This was in fact already a huge benefit which pleased Merlin greatly. His present success was inseparable from the assistance of the Matrix.

However, the Matrix seemed to have undergone some form of change now. It was no longer just for simple calculation and analysis of Spell Models. Merlin also wanted to use it to derive new spells.

For this goal, Merlin had made numerous sacrifices and had gone to great lengths to obtain this chance to enter the Spell Library, collecting over thirty thousand spells for the Matrix. This resulted in over thirty thousand reference points, enough for the Matrix to continue its data integration process.

This was all conjecture on Merlin’s part, which was to say he was just simply estimating. Whether or not the Matrix could derive new spells – for now, there were no examples of success.

Four hours, five hours, six hours, seven hours…

The time slipped by quickly. Without realizing it, Merlin had been in the Spell Library for over seven hours. There was not much time left in the eight hours set by Wizard Fosse.

Wizard Fosse had even begun focusing his attention on Merlin, silently waiting for the end of the time limit!

“Whoosh.”

The space before Merlin’s eyes flashed suddenly. Wizard Fosse appeared without warning, mysteriously popping up before Merlin once more.

“Your time is up. You should leave!”

Wizard Fosse fixed his cold gaze upon Merlin.

Disappointment washed over Merlin’s face as he mumbled, “It didn’t work? Or was my idea too simplistic, to derive a new spell…”

With a bitter smile, Merlin stood up slowly, and followed behind Wizard Fosse, traveling once more through that mysterious and deep-reaching passage of stone stairs.

“Beep, data integration process successful!”

The detached mechanical female voice rang out once again in Merlin’s head. However, this time Merlin trembled all over, and irrepressible expression of glee instantly appeared on his face.