A Wizard’s Secret

“Let’s go, Lisa.”

Merlin stood up and woke Lisa. Although this close encounter with the head of the Sacred Lion Beast did not enhance his abilities, it helped him identify the direction in which he could boost his Supreme Talents. He had to find the skeletal remains of the Great Dragons in order to further purify his blood and enhance his Supreme Talents.

The Princess Royal looked at Merlin and asked sorrowfully, “Leon, you didn’t gain anything?”

Merlin shook his head. “I didn’t gain as much as I expected, but I did reap some benefits. Let’s go out first.”

He knew that the head of the Sacred Lion Beast was not very useful for him. Perhaps it would be of great help for those who happened to be bloodline descendants of the Sacred Lion Beast. On the other hand, Merlin needed the skeletal remains of the Sacred Dragons in order to activate the full spectrum of bloodline abilities of the Blood-eye Dragon and enhance its Supreme Talents.

“By the way, Lisa, other than the head of the Sacred Lion Beast, do you know where else the skeletal remains of sacred beasts can be found?” Merlin asked in a serious tone.

“Other than the head of the Sacred Lion Beast, where else would there be skeletal remains of sacred beasts? At least, I don’t know of any…”

The Princess Royal shook her head. How precious were the skeletons of sacred beasts? Only the Holy Dragon Empire possessed one and even established a powerful empire as a result. This spoke of the importance of the sacred beast’s remains. If any sacred beast’s skeleton had been found elsewhere, it was impossible that the Holy Dragon Empire royal family did not know.

Merlin frowned. If he could not find the skeletal remains of the Sacred Dragons, then it would be difficult for him to improve his Blood-eye’s Supreme Talents. This was completely unrelated to one’s willpower. From the beginning until that point, the bloodline of the almighty beasts had become thinner. So, no one could achieve the same level as the real ancient almighty beast; no matter how much effort was put in.

This was unless their bloodline was extremely viscous, or like Farron, their blood was purified by the skeleton of a sacred beast. Only then would their Supreme Talents undergo tremendous enhancement.

Soon, the Princess Royal led Merlin out of the chamber which contained the head of the Sacred Lion Beast and returned to her palace. Merlin glanced at the Princess Royal, he knew what she was thinking.

“Don’t worry, I will give you my full support. However, I’m still not a worthy opponent to Farron at the moment, so you shouldn’t act rashly.”

Merlin knew how ambitious this beautiful lady was. If she was desperate enough to go on a rampage, then Merlin might be implicated.

At the moment, the royal family probably still had a powerful existence hidden away. However, the power belonged to the royal family. As long as the royal family was not usurped, they would not wield their hidden hand.

After all, both Lisa and the second prince were still members of the royal family.

Thus, only Farron was Merlin’s threat!

“Don’t worry, I won’t act rashly. Farron… He’s indeed troublesome!”

The Princess Royal sighed, obviously feeling helpless to go against Farron. Merlin felt slightly conflicted. Farron had just saved his life, but he and Merlin unexpectedly stood on opposite ends. Life was truly unpredictable.

After bidding the Princess Royal goodbye, Merlin returned to the castle soon after. The moment he arrived, he saw the butler walking towards him quickly, as if there was an urgent matter.

“Honorable Count, you’ve finally returned.”

“Hmm? Butler, did something happen to our clan?”

Considering Merlin’s current position, it was easy to protect his clan inside Holy Dragon City.

“The clan is fine, but Count Altadin has sent his men here a few times. I’ve always answered that the Honorable Count has left for official matters, so Count Altadin left a message. He said that when you return, please pay a visit to Count Altadin’s castle.”

Realization dawned in Merlin’s heart. If not for the butler mentioning this, he had almost forgotten that he had a marriage contract with Count Altadin’s daughter. However, due to his stint in White Rajah City, he might have exceeded the time period stipulated in the original agreement.

Merlin did not feel anything special for Baratha, but Merlin would not object since this was decided by his father when he was alive. From his perspective, all of this would be over in just a few decades or centuries. Compared to his lengthy lifespan, this was only a negligible portion.

“I understand, I will visit Count Altadin as soon as I have time. By the way, is Lady Reese doing well?”

Upon mention of Count Altadin, Merlin was reminded of Lady Reese who stood beside him when he first occupied this ‘Leon’ body. He had not seen Lady Reese for a very long time.

“Honorable Count, Lady Reese is doing well, but she misses you sometimes.”

Merlin nodded to show that he understood. He could not imagine how to deal with these two women because he had more important things on his mind right now.

Merlin headed directly to his chamber. After the Princess Royal brought him to see the head of the Sacred Lion Beast, Merlin discovered that he would not be able to progress further without the skeletal remains of a Sacred Dragon. Even if another ten, hundreds or thousands of years passed by, he would still be stuck at this level.

“Titus.”

Merlin immediately entered the Illusory World, and Titus appeared before Merlin at once.

“Merlin, what’s the matter?”

Titus still remained unchanged. However, ever since Merlin perfected the Mind Power system, Titus could no longer provide much direct assistance to him. Nowadays, Merlin simply treated Titus as an old friend.

After all, in this new Almighty Beast World, there was only Merlin and Titus.

“Titus, this time I’ve seen the head of the Sacred Lion Beast. Unfortunately, I discovered that unless I can find the skeletal remains of a Sacred Dragon, it would be difficult to enhance my abilities. How is the condition of the Illusory World?”

Merlin had evaluated the Illusory World cursorily. There was not a lot of change, except for solidifying a little more. It still had a long way to go compared to its peak condition.

Titus considered for some time and said, “It will take a very long time for the Illusory World to recover, and you haven’t found a way to restore it quickly. You can’t cultivate Mind Power in this world, otherwise, the Illusory World can recover completely in just a few decades.”

Titus also seemed helpless. He was merely a ‘parasite’ in the Illusory World, with Merlin’s consent. He could not make any changes to the Illusory World.

“Can you find the skeletal remains of a Sacred Dragon, then?” Titus asked.

“If it was so easy to find, then it wouldn’t be a sacred beast. Even the royal family’s Princess Royal does not know of any other sacred beast’s skeletons, let alone that of a Sacred Dragon.”

Merlin shook his head. Although he had not checked Doomsday’s background information, the possibility of him obtaining the skeleton of a sacred beast was extremely low. Most probably, Doomsday bloodline was very pure to begin with, so when he became a full-shifter, he was able to quickly hone his Supreme Talents and finally possessed the terrifying Soul of Light. Hence, he was able to surpass most of the other powerful full-shifters.

Nevertheless, Merlin did not have such a pure almighty beast bloodline. Rather, he did not have any almighty beast bloodline. Instead, he relied on the will of an almighty beast. He was a rare Host!

“Wait, Merlin, you’re a Host, right? According to rumors, a Host can make use of the most powerful almighty beast will as his or her primary form, and then devour the will of various other almighty beasts. This would enable the Host to achieve a formidable level, or even give birth to a whole-new almighty beast!”

Titus piped up. He had heard Merlin mention this before and suddenly remembered it.

“Devour the will of other almighty beasts?”

Merlin was slightly stunned. He also recalled in his memory, there was indeed such a rumor about Hosts. Nonetheless, it was just a rumor, because no one had ever succeeded. Most of them were Hosts who did not have any hope of achieving a full-shifter, so they cast one last desperate attempt to devour another almighty beast’s will. In the end, they could neither suppress nor merge the will and were killed by the backlash of having too many almighty beasts’ will.

However, the backlash of an almighty beast’s will was the least of Merlin’s fears.

“Host, I’m a Host. I can try to devour and merge more almighty beast will. Currently, I can’t find any Great Dragon remains to enhance my Supreme Talents, so this is the only way I can try to improve my abilities.”

Merlin was starkly reminded by Titus that he was a Host. He was not like other heirs who inherited the almighty beast bloodlines. He could devour the will of other almighty beasts to improve himself.

For the people in the Almighty Beast World, devouring the will of almighty beasts was riddled with danger, but for Merlin the creator of the Illusory World, it was a breeze.

“There are many more almighty beasts’ will inside the Bead of Infamy!”

Merlin had not returned the Bead of Infamy to Count Altadin. Initially, he had planned to do so, but now he needed a large number of almighty beast will. Hence, he would use the Bead of Infamy to devour the remaining almighty beast will.

“Hum”.

Merlin retrieved the Bead of Infamy. It looked like an ordinary pearl, but countless powerful almighty beasts’ will were suppressed and trapped inside it.

Merlin Awareness quickly entered the Bead of Infamy. This was not the first time he entered the Bead of Infamy, so he was well-versed.

The Bead of Infamy was divided into three layers of subspace. The first layer trapped and suppressed numerous low-tier almighty beast will, which constituted the largest group. Meanwhile, the second layer trapped and suppressed many mid-tier almighty beasts’ will.

As for the third layer, there was only one high-tier almighty beast will, which was Merlin’s current Blood-eye Dragon. This was the only high-tier almighty beast will which Merlin had encountered so far.

“Swish”.

Merlin immediately came to the first layer. He randomly picked a Two-tailed Mamba. As it was only a low-tier almighty beast, its attack was not very powerful. Its main weapon was its venom, but currently, it was suppressed inside the Bead of Infamy.

Merlin had never devoured or merged the will of an almighty beast. This was his first time.

“You’re the one!”

Merlin did not know what would happen after he devoured the will of another almighty beast, so he could only test it out on this weaker Two-tailed Mamba.

As soon as the thought appeared in Merlin’s mind, his own will immediately shapeshifted into a large mouth and devoured the will of the Two-tailed Mamba. Soon, it reached the depth of his Awareness.

“Roar…”

Seemingly discovering a foreign almighty beast will, the Blood-eye Dragon inside Merlin’s Awareness let out an ear-piercing roar. Then, it stirred up a storm that swept violently towards the Two-tailed Mamba.