A Wizard’s Secret
Chapter 23: The Incident I

"V-room!"

A huge yet heavy noise rang. It was as if the whole basement was shaking.

After a while, Merlin stood up from the ground. He patted his head slightly to find that his head and clothes were covered with dust. The place where the large fireball collided with directly caused a gigantic hole, almost half a meter in diameter. It only showed what terrifying power was contained within that fireball just now.

Merlin quickly checked his Awareness. He noticed that the frame had turned grey again. Meanwhile, the Spell Model remained the same except that it had exhausted its Magic Power.

Looking at the gigantic hole, Merlin still felt overwhelmed. The power of that fireball was out of his expectation and its appearance must be closely related to the horizontal frame that appeared out of nowhere in his Awareness.

After that, Merlin tried all ways to observe the change of frame in his Awareness. Finally, Merlin found the usage of the frame.

It turned out that after Merlin had cast Fireball for three times, the color of the frame would turn from grey to red. At this time, once he used Mind Power to stimulate the frame, the Spell Model would be triggered and released a gigantic fireball. Its power was terrifying and at least three times stronger than the normal fireball.

Merlin could not understand the reason behind the appearance of the frame. Maybe it was because "The Matrix" had redesigned the Spell Model. Or maybe it was because Merlin had passed through from another life.

However, no matter what, this frame at least brought a great advantage to Merlin. It could bring out a spell which had a force three times greater than that of any normal Zero-level spell. Even though Merlin did not know how strong a First-level spell was, the fireball created from triggering the frame would not be any less than the First-level spell.

Moreover, this was Merlin's hidden power. He could use it as his trump card.

With the gigantic fireball released by the frame in mind, Merlin named this triggered Fireball as Large Fireball since the name fit the image well.

Merlin then continued his Fireball practice in the basement.

When the night had fallen, Merlin was bending over his writing desk under the weak candlelight. He was flipping through the final volume of the Spell Manual carefully.

Old man Etha's Spell Manual consisted of three volumes. The first volume talked about his introduction about Spell Casters and his experience of casting spells.

The second volume recorded all sorts of Spell Models in which old man Etha had spent years to create relentlessly. Merlin had completed reading the first two volumes of the Spell Manual. He had rebuilt his Spell Model and even simulated the Spell Model of Fireball in his Awareness. However, during his practice of Fireball in the basement, he found some weaknesses he had currently.

The most crucial weakness was his lack of Mind Power!

Spell Model determined whether a person could become a Spell Caster while Mind Power determined whether the Spell Caster could become a strong one. So, a strong Spell Caster must be excellent in both creating Spell Model and using Mind Power. Only with this, he could be able to overcome all difficulties and become the ever-strong Spell Caster.

To increase his Mind Power, his only way was to meditate.

Merlin's current Mind Power could barely control a Spell Model. If he wanted to construct a second Spell Model in his Awareness, he would not be able to do it. Thus, Merlin decided to read through old man Etha's Spell Manual. He believed that old man Etha must have left a Mind Meditation Method in his Spell Manual.

Merlin slowly flipped the mysterious third volume open. From just a few pages, he found a few Mind Meditation Methods, but according to these notes, these were only beginner methods where their effects were limited.

These methods had their own specialties. Some specialized in Mind Power recovery. Once he had exhausted his Mind Power, he could recover himself quickly through this method.

Some could increase Mind Power. This was what Merlin needed – Mind Meditation Method that could increase Mind Power.

After careful consideration, Merlin chose a beginner Meditation Method and began to do as this method told. He closed his eyes and maintained the steady state of his Mind Power.

Mind Meditation Method like this had to be practiced for a long time to properly induce a change. So, after Merlin had grasped the steps of this method, he opened his eyes and stood up. He did not check the state of his Mind Power since he did not expect the method to have any immediate effect.

"Young Master Merlin."

Outside his door, Lucia's voice reached him.

"Come in."

Merlin had already woken up and dressed properly by now.

Lucia pushed the door open and entered the room with her head lowered. She said to Merlin, "Young Master Merlin, the butler asked me to take Young Master's body measurement so that we can make some clothes for you."

Merlin lowered his head to look at his body. He felt it too recently. The clothes on him seemed to be slightly smaller. For some reason, his body shape had turned muscular rapidly in these few months as if he was an inflated balloon. His usual clothes seemed to be ill-fitting and restricted his movement greatly.

"Alright."

Merlin hesitated for a moment but he still took his coat off. Wearing only a thin shirt, he opened his arms wide and signaled for Lucia to take his body measurement.

Lucia came forward hurriedly. With a body tape measure, she measured Merlin's height.

Merlin had become a lot taller in these few months, so Lucia was unable to reach his head. She could only stand on tiptoe and stood lightly against Merlin's front chest and measured Merlin's height in difficulty.

Lucia was raising her head as she measured it. She wore her white maid uniform and the neckline was rather wide. Merlin could see her fair skin the moment he lowered his head for just a little.

Lucia was a beautiful woman to begin with. She had freckles on her face which did not affect her beauty but it made her look fetching. Merlin squinted his eyes while his unscrupulous gaze fell all over Lucia. Suddenly, even if it was freezing outside of the castle, Merlin felt a scorching heat rising in his body.

"Young Master Merlin, I'm done."

Lucia seemed to notice Merlin's stare and she looked nervous. She took a few steps back and lowered her head. She did not dare to look at Merlin.

"Alright. You may go now."

Merlin waved his hand and asked Lucia to leave. He walked in front of the mirror and stared at his young face. Merlin smiled a little and mumbled to himself, "It seems I've abstained for too long…"

Since Merlin had arrived in this world, he had always felt a sense of danger. No matter what he did, he did it carefully and because of that, he seemed meticulous and cautious.

Then, he found Magic and immersed himself in it.

However, this body was only sixteen years old. It was the age that was filled with passion and excitement. Even if he did not have those thoughts, his body would react nonetheless.

Merlin wore his coat back and went downstairs but he did not find Macy anywhere in sight.

"Butler, where's Macy?"

"Young Lady Macy had left for the church."

Merlin nodded. He had been busy practicing Fireball for this whole month, sometimes not even seeing Macy at all. However, since Macy had been going out early and coming back late every day, it seemed like she had not overcome the barrier to become an Elemental Swordsman.

Merlin only knew a little about Elemental Swordsman. To overcome the barrier to become one, Merlin was unsure about the exact ways as well.

However, he knew the most important thing to be an Elemental Swordsman was the accumulation of Element. Only when the Element had been stored in the body to a certain extent, she could become an Elemental Swordsman.

Macy had an affinity to Fire Element so she needed to accumulate Fire Element. Merlin's Spell Model in his Awareness also absorbed Fire Element. Both matters should have something in common.

"When Macy is back, let's find a time and test it out. Let's see if I can help her to overcome the barrier to become an Elemental Swordsman."

Merlin decided in his heart.

After having breakfast, Merlin wore a grey scarf and headed straight out of the castle.

The butler asked in surprise, "Young Master Merlin, you're heading out?"

"I'm going out for a walk."

"Young Master Merlin, please wait. Let me call Moss."

Merlin shook his head. "Don't have to. I want to go for a walk by myself."

After that, he left the castle directly despite the Butler's surprise.

Merlin walked for a while and reached old man Etha's small wooden house.

Staring at the small house, Merlin had a complicated expression.

The small house had been abandoned completely because this was the place where the evil heretic had lived so there was no one around. The garden in front of the small house still had some flowers but they were covered by snow at the moment where it formed a blanket of whiteness.

Merlin stuck his hands into his pocket. With a hat on him, he looked around the place. After making sure there was no one around, he pushed the rusty iron fence open and climbed the wooden stairs.

Merlin took off his hat and gently brushed the snow off. He raised his head and took a glance at the second floor. When he was about to go upstairs, suddenly his expression stiffened as he squinted his eyes.

"Footsteps. Someone's here."

Merlin said it softly. He noticed a series of clear footsteps on the supposedly dusty staircase. Moreover, the footsteps were covered in moist mud. Obviously, these footsteps were not left here a long time ago. Someone was here. The person might even be upstairs now!

So Merlin looked upstairs cautiously. Then, he wore his hat lightly and went up softly and quietly.

The footsteps still seemed clear as no one had cleaned the house for a long time. So, the stairs were exceptionally dusty. That was how he was able to spot the footsteps so clearly.

Reaching the second floor, Merlin checked the door handle carefully. There was almost no dust on it. Someone had opened this door by this handle.

"Who is it?"

Merlin did not enter the room bluntly. He squinted his eyes. In his mind, multiple familiar figures flashed across his eyes. The footsteps looked small. Rather than a man's footsteps, it seemed more likely to be a woman's.

"Could it be Miss Carice?"

Merlin could not help but think of Carice. After all, old man Etha was the evil heretic. People of Blackwater City would not come to this place at all. The people who were friendly with old man Etha and used to frequent this place was Merlin and Carice.

Right at this time, Merlin's sharp hearing suddenly caught the soft sound of footsteps outside of the house. Someone was heading toward the main door.

Merlin responded swiftly and hid on the left side of the main door. His eyes stared at the main door sharply.