A Wizard’s Secret

“Potions?”

The black-robed old man glanced at Merlin and nodded before replying, “That’s right, the potion recipe I first obtained had some effect on stabilizing the Spell Models. In fact, that’s the reason why I’ve decided to lend Count Selin my hand. One of the main ingredients in this recipe is Zigen Flower, and coincidentally Count Selin have them. However, the ingredients of this potion recipe are hard to come by. Besides, I’ve been consuming this potion for a long time that it’s starting to lose effect on me…”

The black-robed old man paused for a moment. Merlin knew what the old man wanted to ask but he shook his head slightly. “There’s no potions or potion recipes inside Merilung’s ring.”

The black-robed old man felt rather low. An obvious look of disappointment washed over his face as he ridiculed himself. “The greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment. Merilung was a Spell Caster from the Abyss Fort and even he didn’t have any potion or potion recipe. It’s only going to be harder for me to find them elsewhere.”

The black-robed old man only managed to obtain one potion recipe throughout all these years. It showed how precious these potion recipes were. Most of them remained in the hands of spell casters’ organizations or some powerful Spell Casters.

It was extremely difficult for a roaming wizard to get hold of these valuable potion recipes.

As a matter of fact, not only it was hard to acquire potion recipes but each Spell Model, casting tool, scroll, and etcetera, was not something a roaming wizard could easily possess. Many roaming wizards did not have a high capability. For instance, even an experienced and knowledgeable Spell Caster like the black-robed old man was only a Three-Elemental Spell Caster because he was not part of a spell casters’ organization. Furthermore, he had to endure the pain of having his Spell Models near the brink of collapse for many years.

However, after joining the Abyss Fort for only five years, Merilung was already a powerful Four-Elemental Spell Caster. There was a vast difference between the two.

Merlin came to the Kingdom of Blackmoon searching for a stronger power that would make him a stronger Spell Caster. Hence, the idea of joining a spell casters’ organization slowly grew in his mind.

He asked the black-robed old man who would be familiar with spell casters’ organizations, “Wizard Hill, do you have any idea how many spell casters’ organizations are there in the Kingdom of Blackmoon? How do we join these organizations?”

“Spell casters’ organizations?”

The black-robed old man glanced at Merlin. Of course, he knew what Merlin was thinking but he shook his head and said, “I’ve no idea how many spell casters’ organizations are there, but I do have some understanding about the Spell Casters in this area. The Dark Magic Region is the nearest from Prakash City followed by the Abyss Fort which Merilung was part of. There was also Fire City, Ashes region, and other spell casters’ organizations.

“Although there are many of them, it’s not simple to be accepted into one. In general, these spell casters’ organizations have some unique authenticating object, and only by these objects can they join the spell casters’ organization.

“There’s also another possibility. Some people, like Merilung, was selected and introduced into one through the recommendation by the core members of the spell casters’ organizations. Other than that, it’s out of the question.”

Merlin’s heart sank slightly as he listened to the black-robed old man’s brief introduction to the spell casters’ organizations. Indeed, there were plenty of spell casters’ organizations but as the black-robed old man had mentioned earlier, it was difficult to join one.

Otherwise, the black-robed old man would have been in one of those spell casters’ organizations after all these years.

Looking at Merlin who appeared disappointed, the black-robed old man cleared his throat and said in a hoarse voice, “Wizard Merlin, you’re still young, and you still have lots of time. You’ve a chance in joining one of these spell casters’ organizations in the future.”

Merlin could only nod. He collected himself and raised his eyes to meet with the black-robed old man’s. “Wizard Hill, although there aren’t any potion recipes in Merilung’s ring, there are indeed numerous potion ingredients. Maybe there’s something that you might need.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Merlin took out some potion ingredients from the ring.

Seeing Merlin retrieving numerous potion ingredients, the black-robed old man regained his spirit. Although there were no potion recipes, it was good for him to acquire some useful but difficult to find potion ingredients from Merilung’s ring.

As Merlin laid down the potion ingredients on the ground one after another, a puzzled look came across the black-robed old man’s face – most of the potion ingredients were new to him.

In comparison, roaming wizards were evidently less knowledgeable than Wizards from spell casters’ organizations. That was because these roaming wizards did not have a clear path that they could take to acquire knowledge aside from learning through accumulated experiences. As a result, it caused a huge gap between them and the Wizards from spell casters’ organizations, who learned through a proper system.

In the end, the black-robed old man managed to gain some Zigen Flowers.

The useful part of a Zigen Flower was not the petals but its purple stem.

Merlin found all the Zigen Flowers in the ring and handed them to the black-robed old man. Anyhow, judging from the small amount of Zigen Flowers in the ring, it seemed that Merilung was not too bothered about this plant.

“Wizard Merlin, with these Zigen Flowers, I can produce more potions that might be useful in stabilizing my Spell Models.”

The black-robed old man received the Zigen Flowers and exhorted his maidservant to put them away carefully.

Merlin hesitated for a moment but finally asked, “Wizard Hill, actually, I would like to ask you for a favor.”

“Oh, Wizard Merlin, don’t be polite with me. I’ll do anything within my capability.”

Perhaps the Zigen Flowers given by Merlin had satisfied the black-robed old man’s needs that he softened his attitude toward Merlin.

“The thing is, I’m currently lacking some Zero-level spells. Your Earth-type spell was exactly the one I’m looking for. Therefore, I want to use Zero-level Frost in exchange for Earth-type spell’s Spell Model of your possession. What do you think?”

Merlin’s gaze remained on the black-robed old man after he had finished speaking. Merlin was utterly disappointed when he did not find any Spell Model in Merilung’s ring, but fortunately, he found that the black-robed old man still had three more types of spells, namely Fire-type, Wind-type, and Earth-type spells.

Among them, the Fire-type and Wind-type spells were not of any use to Merlin. The black-robed old man’s Wind-type Offensive spell was similar to old man Etha’s Whirlwind, and Merlin did not need these kinds of spells anymore. However, the black-robed old man’s Earth-type Defensive spell which was similar to Merilung’s was much-needed by Merlin.

Therefore, after deep thoughts, Merlin proposed to use his Frost’s Spell Model in exchange for the black-robed old man’s Earth-type spell’s Spell Model. However, all this would only happen after the black-robed old man’s nod of approval.