A Wizard’s Secret

The figure was draped in a golden robe. His build was tall and slender with long golden hair casually scattered behind his head. Handsome features adorned his face, but the most prominent feature of all was the pair of deep, thoughtful eyes that looked as if they contained bottomless wisdom.

Under the continuous gathering and melding of runes, a solid figure began to take shape. This figure would not be unfamiliar to any Spell Caster in the Dark Magic Region. It was the creator of the Dark Magic Region, the Great Wizard Fidel!

As the creator of the Dark Magic Region, statues of the Great Wizard Fidel could be found everywhere in the Dark Magic Region. Therefore, Merlin was extremely familiar with his appearance. When the mysterious runes on the sixth floor began to take shape as the Great Wizard Fidel, Merlin could recognize him immediately.

“Ah, lucky Spell Caster! Very well then, I’m the guardian spirit of the sixth floor of the Runic Tower. You can call me Wizard Effidel!”

In the ancient Moltan language, the “ef-” prefix used in Effidel denoted something that was imaginary or fake. The guardian spirit on the sixth floor must have been a playful character. Not only did he assume the effigy of the Great Wizard Fidel but also gave himself a funny name.

Seeing the confusion on Merlin’s face, Wizard Effidel grinned. “Oh, it wasn’t the Great Wizard Fidel who made me like this. Actually, the guardian spirits can choose whatever forms we want to manifest ourselves into. Since I’m very grateful to the Great Wizard Fidel for creating me and allowing me to experience this wonderful world, I assumed his appearance and faithfully guard the sixth floor of the Runic Tower.”

Wizard Effidel was very peculiar indeed. It seemed that the guardian spirit had developed a complete conscience, just like Didimoss, the black cat inside the stone plaque of the Dark Magic Region.

However, Merlin was not interested in the peculiarities of this guardian spirit. He asked, “Wizard Effidel, if I want to pass the sixth floor, do I have to defeat you?”

“Defeat me? No, no, you’re mistaken. In order to conquer the sixth floor, you don’t have to defeat the guardian spirit. In fact, I don’t even have any fighting skills in me. The challenge on the sixth floor of the Runic Tower is very simple. All you have to do is break open that big door.”

Wizard Effidel pointed toward a big square door in front of them.

“Really? All I have to do is break open that door?”

Merlin was doubtful. How could the sixth floor challenge be so simple? If it was so simple, then how was it that no one, including Kleis, would be unable to get through the sixth floor?

Wizard Effidel’s figure vanished and reappeared in a flash in front of the square door. He pointed his finger at the dense runes covering the doorway. “Of course, it’s not easy to break open this door. The door is protected by five layers of Runic Magic Circles that was personally engraved by the Great Wizard Fidel, layer after layer. These overlapping Runic Magic Circles are the most difficult among all the Runic Magic Circles. You must’ve attained a requisite command of runes to be able to crack these five-layer overlapping Runic Magic Circles!”

Sure enough, breaking open the door was not as easy as it appeared. Judging from the complicated Runic Magic Circles personally engraved by the Great Wizard Fidel on the door, only a Spell Caster who was highly proficient in runes would be able to break through it.

At this point, Merlin had completely understood the Great Wizard Fidel’s intentions. His real purpose for leaving behind the Runic Tower was to find a genius Spell Caster who excelled in runes.

Moreover, Merlin could also guess that the treasures contained on the sixth and seventh floor would surely be closely-tied to runes. Thus, Spell Casters who were proficient in runes would derive immeasurable benefits from those treasures.

Wizard Effidel continued. “Not long ago, a young Spell Caster by the name of Kleis was very good. He, too, managed to enter the sixth floor, and his knowledge of runes was quite remarkable. Unfortunately, he was just one step short. He was only able to crack the first four layers of runes, but not the final layer. Otherwise, he would have succeeded in conquering the sixth floor and progressed to the seventh floor! Oh, by the way, no one has been able to claim any of the treasures on the sixth floor yet. Behind this door is where the treasures are kept, so if you can crack the five-layered Runic Magic Circles on the door, then you can open it and receive a treasure left behind by the Great Wizard Fidel.”

“Kleis? He has already betrayed the Dark Magic Region and joined Ozmu!”

Merlin’s eye twitched slightly. He did not expect that Kleis was only one step short of solving the five-layered Runic Magic Circles and conquering the sixth floor. Kleis was not only talented in constructing Spell Models but also had considerable talents in runology, alchemy, potions, and other areas.

Compared to Kleis, Merlin felt inadequate. Besides possessing the Matrix and the ability to construct Spell Models, Merlin’s other abilities were still subpar compared to Kleis.

It was not without good reason that Kleis was hailed to be one of the most talented Spell Casters that the Dark Magic Region had seen in hundreds of years.

“What? Kleis betrayed the Dark Magic Region and joined Ozmu?! That’s such a pity… He was a good lad, and I even nurtured him like a seedling. I was hoping that after a few years, he would gain a deeper understanding of runology and come back to challenge the Runic Tower again. Who knew that he would actually end up joining Ozmu…”

The look on Wizard Effidel’s face was extremely expressive, just like a normal human being. If not for the fact that Merlin had seen him being shaped out of runes, he might have even thought that Wizard Effidel was a real human Spell Caster.

Merlin ignored Effidel and headed toward the big square door. He laid both hands on the door and pushed gently. True enough, the door did not budge. Bearing in mind that Merlin had practiced the four mysterious relief sculptures, so even a heavy stone door would be easily pushed open.

However, this square door did not budge even the slightest, proving that it would be difficult to rely on physical strength to open it.

Unfortunately, since Merlin only had a very rudimentary understanding of runology, it would be next to impossible for him to crack the overlapping Runic Magic Circles that were personally engraved by the Great Wizard Fidel.

“No matter what, I still have to try!”

Merlin placed his hands on the door again. Immediately, rows of mysterious-looking runes began to appear on the door. He could see that the runes were extremely special and complex, also known as the legendary overlapping Runic Magic Circles.

The arrangement of the overlapping Runic Magic Circles was extremely complicated and required extreme caution, otherwise, the Runic Magic Circles would collapse and cannot be rebuilt.

Overlapping Runic Magic Circles were commonly used as a test subject to gauge the knowledge of Rune Masters in runology, so it was truly amazing that the Great Wizard Fidel was able to lay down five consecutive layers of overlapping Runic Magic Circles!

Merlin did not understand runes at all. Despite spending a long time groping at the door blindly, he still had no idea how to crack the Runic Magic Circles. Therefore, he decided to go back to basics – break them using brute force!

Even if he failed to break the Runic Magic Circles by force, the worst that could happen was only for him to be ejected from the tower.

Thinking along those lines, Merlin decided to cast Perfect Armor to protect his entire body.

First of all, Merlin tentatively released a small wisp of his white Fiery Collapse. Immediately, the fire traveled toward the door and slammed into the Runic Magic Circles.

“Crack.”

Exceeding Merlin’s expectations, the first layer Runic Magic Circle broke easily upon impact. However, the spell was blocked by the second layer.

At the same time, the second layer Runic Magic Circle rebounded Merlin’s Fiery Collapse back at him. Fortunately, Merlin was protected by Perfect Armor, and the amount of fire he released was relatively small, so it did not cause any damage.

Nevertheless, this attempt gave Merlin a fresh glimmer of hope. It showed that the Runic Magic Circle was actually capable of being broken by force.

“Forcibly breaking the Runic Magic Circles?”

Wizard Effidel frowned slightly as he watched Merlin’s destructive attempts. Within his long existence, he did encounter a few unorthodox Spell Casters who had tried to break the Runic Magic Circles on the door using physical force.

Perhaps the Great Wizard Fidel had already anticipated this to happen back then, thus there was another special feature of the Runic Magic Circles. As long as the spells did not break the Runic Magic Circle, it would be bounced back to the Spell Caster with equal force.

Therefore, most Spell Casters who tried to break the Runic Magic Circles by force were usually “defeated” by their own spells in the end.

“Lucky Spell Caster, it’s completely impossible to crack the Runic Magic Circle by force. There have been Spell Casters who tried what you’re planning to do, but all of them ended in failure…”

However, nothing Wizard Effidel said was getting through to Merlin. Once he discovered the possibility of breaking the Runic Magic Circle by force, the cogs in his head were turning at full speed as new ideas began to appear.

Judging by the strength of the first layer Runic Magic Circle, the defensive powers of the five-layered Runic Magic Circles were surprisingly strong. Moreover, any spell that failed to break the Runic Magic Circle would be rebounded toward the Spell Caster and inflict harm on the Spell Caster himself.

Merlin hoped to avoid this type of damage as much as possible. Otherwise, even though the spirit guardians did not harm him, he might end up getting killed by his own spells instead. After all, his own actions were separate from the Runic Tower.

If Merlin was actually “killed” by one of these spells, he would become the laughing stock of the entire Dark Magic Region.

“Alright, I’ll just increase the power a little bit at a time. Even though it would consume more time and Magic Power, I cannot afford to act too hastily. Hopefully, my Perfect Armor would be able to withstand the rebounded spells!”

Merlin clenched his teeth and sealed his determination.

“Whoosh.”

Another burst of white flames flew toward the square, rune-covered door. This time, Merlin had increased the power of the Fiery Collapsed slightly, so the flames’ power and speed were also increased.

“Crack.”

The second layer Runic Magic Circle was broken upon impact, but the flames of Fiery Collapse were stopped by the third layer Runic Magic Circle and came hurtling back toward Merlin, setting Perfect Armor ablaze.

Fortunately, Perfect Armor was still capable of resisting this level of attack, only that it consumed his Magic Power faster than usual.

Merlin increased the power of Fiery Collapse again and subsequently managed to break the third layer Runic Magic Circle. However, he encountered difficulties with the fourth layer, forcing him to release all his Pandora Demon Abilities.

“Condensed Fire!”

Finally, pale white fireballs appeared beside Merlin. This was the strongest spell Merlin had under his belt, which was infused with Fiery Collapse, thus it was capable of breaking even some Sixth-level defensive spells.

“Hiss hiss hiss.”

With a swish of Merlin’s robes, instantly a few pale white fireballs began flying toward the big square door. Upon hitting the fourth layer Runic Magic Circle, there was a suspense-filled pause; followed by the fireballs carving their flight path further inside toward the fifth layer Runic Magic Circle.

Back during Kleis’ attempt, he had been stumped by the fifth layer Runic Magic Circle. Since he was unable to crack it, he had no choice but to leave the Runic Tower.

This time, it was Merlin’s turn to challenge the fifth layer Runic Magic Circle. It was from this moment onward that really counted as the indirect showdown between Kleis and Merlin!