A Wizard’s Secret
chapter-286

"Hmm, you look confident. Do you have a way of getting through the second level?"

The Flame Being noticed the confident smile on Merlin's face and asked in an unconvinced tone. In the eyes of the Flame Being, Merlin had no hope of passing the second level whatsoever.

"A way? Of course, I do!"

Merlin did not say much, instead, he immediately sat cross-legged in the stone room. The Flame Being seemed to be very curious too. He did not leave this time around and opted to watch Merlin from the side.

Merlin did not seem to bother as his hand turned slightly, and a mass of soft red soil with a fiery-red hue appeared in his hands.

This was Lava Soil which Merlin had obtained in his previous narrow escape from the volcano.

To get through the second level, Merlin naturally could not withstand the Essence of Fire that could match a Fifth-level spell. Passing this level seemed to be impossible for almost everyone.

Therefore, one could only take advantage of the odds in order to pass it. Merlin only needed to persevere in the flames for half an hour. It was virtually impossible for him to hold for half an hour in the Fifth-level spell with Earth Veil, a mere Second-level spell.

However, if he possessed Pandora Demon Ability, Fuse Earth, and thoroughly integrated it into Earth Veil, things would be completely different. At that time, the defensive power of Earth Veil would be elevated innumerably, thus providing hopes of remaining in the ferociously burning flames for half an hour.

"It's not difficult to cultivate Pandora Demon Ability, Fuse Earth, but it'll take some time."

The only thing that Merlin was not lacking now was time. It was also quite safe here. Even Great Wizards would not possibly target this ancient monument, so it was naturally the safest place at the moment.

Hence, Merlin immediately began cultivating Pandora Demon Ability, Fuse Earth. He began to engrave a mysterious fire-red imprint and then forced Mind Power into the fire-red imprint as if Merlin knew Spell Models in the sea, and had a special connection with this fire-red imprint.

This was the first step in the cultivation of Pandora Demon Abilities, and the subsequent steps were to slowly begin absorbing Lava Soil into the imprint, which would require a long time.

One day, two days, ten days... Half a month later, Merlin's entire body trembled. Only a small amount of Lava Soil was left in his hand, and the fire-red imprint on Merlin's body began to slowly dissipate, and eventually disappeared completely.

"Success!"

Merlin opened his eyes and felt a peculiar feeling course through his body. He could clearly feel the existence of Pandora Demon Ability, Fuse Earth, indicating that he had succeeded in cultivating Fuse Earth.

"Earth Veil!"

Merlin promptly cast the Second-level Earth-type Defensive spell. In an instant, there was a thin khaki light veil around him, which was Earth Veil.

Compared with the previous Earth Veil, Merlin could clearly feel that Pandora Demon Ability, Fuse Earth had been fully integrated with Earth Veil as he could feel an immensely powerful force radiating from himself!

"Glacial Finger!"

Merlin thought for a moment, then decided to cast Glacial Finger onto himself. Traces of cold chill instantly froze Merlin all over.

"Ka-chak!"

However, the chill could only freeze the light veil layer on the surface of Merlin's body, and with the fragmentation of the ice crystals, there was no change to Merlin's Earth Veil.

Initially, the power of Glacial Finger could rival the peak of Fourth-level spells, but now, it could not do anything to Earth Veil. This showed that Merlin's Earth Veil had undergone an enhancement thanks to Pandora Demon Ability, Fuse Earth. The strength of its defensive powers could even compare to Fifth-level spells.

The enhancement granted by Pandora Demon Ability, Fuse Earth to spells was not as powerful as Darkness Heart. However, Darkness Heart could only be integrated into spells when one became a Fourth-level Spell Caster.

On another note, there was no such limitation for Pandora Demon Ability, Fuse Earth. As long as it was an Earth-type Defensive spell, it could be merged with Fuse Earth and the power of the spell would be significantly improved.

Therefore, even though Merlin only released an ordinary Earth Veil, after the enhancement of Pandora Demon Ability, Fuse Earth, it would reach the strength of Fifth-level spells.

Feeling the power of this light veil on the surface of his body, Merlin also seemed to understand why it was cited in some ancient literature that in the most glorious era of Spell Casters, those truly powerful Pandora Demon Abilities could all be integrated into spells.

As for those ancient Spell Casters, spells released from even the simplest of gestures could have horrible destructive powers, these spells turned out to be reliant on Pandora Demon Abilities which could be integrated into their ordinary spells.

In fact, those ancient Spell Casters did not exclusively study spells but cultivated spells and Pandora Demon Abilities together. With the two forces complementing one another, even a First-level Spell Caster could be considered powerful.

"Does it mean that only Spell Casters who integrated Pandora Demon Abilities are real Spell Casters?"

A bold thought suddenly flashed across Merlin's mind. The ancient Spell Caster system had been passed down for a long time, but the Molta Empire three thousand and six hundred years ago was undoubtedly the most glorious era of Spell Casters, almost reaching the peak.

However, with the abrupt collapse of the Molta Empire three thousand and six hundred years ago, many of the Spell Casters' heritage seemed to have disappeared, and Pandora Demon Abilities had become a rare treasure. Countless alchemy, and even spell construction knowledge had presented a wide gap of inheritance.

Many truths had been drowned in the long river of history. The difference between a current Spell Caster's strength from the First to the Ninth levels seemed to be too wide compared to that of the ancient Spell Casters vaguely mentioned in ancient literature.

Some ancient Spell Casters, even if they were only First-level Spell Casters, could kill countless powerful monsters alone, and even conquered the endless vast ocean.

However, on the Kurdmansla Islands, when faced with some low-level sea beasts, many Spell Casters could not even cope with them, which formed a stark contrast to ancient Spell Casters.

With the fusion of Pandora Demon Abilities into spells, the Spell Caster's strength would vary greatly, and it would increase by a few folds. Each Spell Caster would be capable of wiping out an army of powerful sea beasts.

Therefore, Merlin's mind had produced these bold thoughts. Perhaps the ancient Spell Casters cultivated spells together with Pandora Demon Abilities, and those were the real Spell Casters!

This was merely Merlin's speculation. The overnight collapse of Molta Empire three thousand and six hundred years ago seemed to have buried countless secrets. To figure out these secrets, one must first figure out what happened to the Molta Empire back then.

Merlin took a deep breath and then stood up, pushing aside the flight of thoughts in his mind. The most important thing now was to get through the second level.

"I want to attempt the level again!"

Merlin said to the Flame Being.

The Flame Being floated in mid-air. He noticed that Merlin's eyes looked a bit complicated, and he suddenly said, "Oh, the lucky one, you've constructed another Pandora Demon Ability in the past ten days or so, right? However, the second level is no easy game. Are you sure you want to continue?"

Merlin ignored the Flame Being and answered with a firm tone, "Let's begin!"

The Flame Being nodded, then closed the door of the stone room. The flame totems on the surrounding walls seemed to come "alive" again and began letting out traces of flame.

The temperature of the entire stone room got higher and higher, and Merlin took a deep breath. He may be very confident about Pandora Demon Ability, Fuse Earth, but whether or not he could hold on for half an hour, he still had to try to find out.

"Earth Veil!"

Merlin stood in the stone room, and instantly a thin layer of khaki light veil appeared on the surface of his body.

"Chi… Chi… Chi…"

The flames kept burning, and Merlin could clearly feel the raging flame constantly consuming his Earth Veil. The layer of khaki light veil was also reduced little by little, and then the light veil began to lose its stability.

Merlin knew that his Earth Veil could only match Fifth-level spells, and the flames in the stone room also had the power of Fifth-level spells. Not to mention that there was a huge amount of flames surrounding him for a long time, naturally, he would not be able to resist it.

However, Merlin did not expect to be able to hold on for half an hour with a single cast of Earth Veil. Therefore, watching the light veil begin to dissipate completely, he cast Earth Veil once again.

One time, two times, three times…

At this moment, Merlin had also released an enhanced version of Earth Veil, and the defensive capability had seemingly increased as the amount of time before it would begin to dissipate had now stretched out much longer. However, the flame in the stone room was powerful. Its intensity alone made Merlin feel like he could not hold on anymore.

Fortunately, it was only half an hour. After half an hour, the flame in the stone room instantly disappeared, and the temperature quickly returned to normal.

The Flame Being had been watching Merlin all along. After seeing the flame disappear, Merlin was still standing in the same place, only his face was slightly faint and pale. There were no damages to him at all.

"You've actually passed..."

The Flame Being was a little moved. This was the fourth Spell Caster who had passed the second level in three thousand and six hundred years!

With elemental crystal stones, Merlin quickly recovered some of his Magic Power and then looked at the Flame Being. He smiled as he asked, "This means I've passed the second level, right?"

"Of course you've passed! Yes, you're the fourth Spell Caster who passed the second obstacle with the last one getting through three thousand and six hundred years ago. You really do have great potential. Now you're still a First-level Spell Caster. If you can concentrate your cultivation here for several decades cultivating until the Fourth-level, Fifth-level or even the Sixth-level, perhaps you have hope of getting through the third level."

There was a slight change in the Flame Being's tone where Merlin sensed it sharply. It seemed that the Flame Being had a slight expectation of Merlin.

"It takes decades? And one must cultivate until they become a Fifth-level or Sixth-level Spell Caster?"

Merlin's eyes froze slightly, listening to the Flame Being. It seemed that this third level, which was also the final level, simply could not be overcome with his current strength.

Was the third level really so difficult?

As if seeing through Merlin's doubts, the Flame Being sneered. "Heh heh, how can the third level set by Master be easy for an average Spell Caster? Before you, three people had already reached the third level. However, none of them could pass, and their potential was no lower than yours.

"There was even one person, who possessed five types of Pandora Demon Abilities, all of which could be integrated into spells, but even such a genius could not pass the last level. In fact, if he could withstand loneliness and focus on cultivating for a few more decades, maybe he could have stood a chance. Unfortunately, he used up all three chances eventually and was thrown into the Flame Prison..."

There seemed to be a hint of regret in the Flame Being's expression.