Merlin listened closely to the sounds in the house. Since he had practiced the posture of that mysterious relief sculpture relentlessly, Merlin's senses had been greatly sharpened. He could hear any slight sounds in the house.

"Why isn't there any sound?"

Merlin frowned. He heard a series of light footsteps just now and it seemed the person had reached the door. Suddenly, all sounds had stopped.

"Boom."

With a loud bang, the wooden door beside Merlin was smashed broken by someone, sending the broken wooden debris flying around. Following that, a hand quickly reached out from the hole made in the wooden door. A white light flashed by.

"Phew."

It was a sharp dagger headed directly toward Merlin.

"I have been found!"

Merlin immediately realized that he had been found out.

The dagger came at him at the speed of lightning. Merlin could not even defend against it. The only thing he could do was to roll sideways, barely dodging the hit.

"F*ck!"

Merlin was so infuriated that he spat out a curse. He almost got killed even before he had a clear view of the person's face. It turned out he was still too clueless.

After that, Merlin did not wait for his doom. Instead, his body curled up like a fierce leopard and dashed toward the wooden door brutally with his explosive strength.

"Ka-chak."

The wooden door was completely destroyed by this hit. Merlin felt himself crashing into a soft body, bringing the person into the wooden house.

The wooden house was dark with all the curtains shut tight. They must have been shut off by the people from the City Defense Troop. The whole house was almost sealed off. Moreover, since the place was not ventilated for a long time, the house reeked of an unbearable, moldy stench.

After crashing into the person, Merlin quickly jumped up from the ground. His alerted gaze set tightly on the person as he asked, "Who are you?"

The secret person in front of him wore a long black coat. The wide coat had covered his body shape so her figure could not be seen. Also, she wore a large, black cloak over her head so her face could not be seen.

Faced with Merlin's question, the secret person did not speak. Instead, she held up her dagger. Her wide black coat slowly began shaking. It was as though there were gusts of wind blowing beside her.

"Hmm? Wind Element? Elemental Swordsman?"

Merlin was already extremely sensitive toward Elements. The Wind Element on the person was extremely strong and surrounded her completely. She was an Elemental Swordsman. From the wave of Wind Element about her, she should just be a First-level Elemental Swordsman.

"Swoosh."

Her figure flashed when her speed had reached its peak. In the dark wooden house, Merlin still could not grasp the secret person's figure even when his senses had already been sharpened greatly. His opponent's speed was simply too quick.

Merlin could only stay still and remain imperturbable in this incident. Once he sensed some movements near him, he would send his fist that way without thinking. However, each punch seemed to only hit empty air. This made Merlin fairly upsetting because all his strength had not been put to correct use.

"Tsk."

Suddenly, Merlin felt a chill at his neck. A sense of immediate danger could be felt and he quickly turned his neck sideways. The sharp dagger directly pierced Merlin's skin.

It was great fortune that Merlin was able to dodge in time. Moreover, his body had become extremely sturdy due to the practice of posture. So, this attack only ended in a scratch.

However, this made Merlin break into a cold sweat. Just by a small margin, his neck would have been pierced.

"D*mn it. Too fast!"

Merlin cursed in a low voice. His opponent was a Wind Swordsman that specialized in speed. Her figure that came and went like a shadow was simply too quick. Merlin even had difficulty to catch the person's figure by sight, not to mention getting a hit.

The house was too dark. Under such an environment, fighting with a Wind Swordsman only put him in a disadvantaged situation.

Thinking about that, Merlin turned around abruptly and dashed outside.

"Huhu."

However, the secret person's speed seemed to be quicker. She came right in front of Merlin and stabbed at Merlin's chest.

"Got you. Go to hell!"

Merlin's mouth quirked into a smile. With the light by the door, he could clearly see the shadow in front of him. This was the time he struck.

"Fireball!"

A fireball appeared out of nowhere and flew right at the secret person. The flying fireball emitted terrifying temperature and was more apparent in the dark house.

The fireball's speed was quick. The person also seemed to be shocked by the fireball that appeared abruptly. She only managed to dodge sideways as the fireball got a direct hit on the person's black cloak.

The heat given off by the Fireball was extremely high. Without almost anything to stop it, it quickly burnt off half the person's black cloak, revealing her beautiful blonde, long hair.

The house was still dark. Although Merlin could not see the person's facial expressions, he could guess that the person must be aghast.

When the person was still in shock, Merlin dashed forward. With his hands like leaf fan, he caught hold of her long coat and smashed her onto the ground.

"Bang."

Merlin's strength was exceptionally strong. She was immediately thrown into a state of confusion from this smash. Still, she was an Elemental Swordsman nonetheless. Her physical attributes were still excellent, so she still had the energy to stab at Merlin's neck.

"Hmph!"

Merlin groaned as his left hand grabbed the person's and his right hand grabbed her hair. Without the slightest hesitation, he smashed her head into the wall.

"Bang bang bang."

After smashing her in the wall consecutively for three times, the secret person no longer struggled and went slumped. Merlin only stopped after seeing that.

Merlin took in large mouthfuls of breath. This was his first time facing such a dangerous opponent. Moreover, it was a matter of life and death. Although in terms of their actual strength, Merlin was a strong Wizard who could easily win against any First-level and Second-level Elemental Swordsman, he almost died in the person's hand just now.

If he could not apply his spells in real battles, then it would be totally useless even if he got hold of strong spells.

Old man Etha had only grasped two Zero-level spells back then. He was the same as Merlin, an Entrance-level Spell Caster. Amongst the ranking of Spell Caster, Entrance-level could be counted as non-professional. Those Entrance-level Spell Caster could not even be counted as true Spell Caster. Only those who had grasped three Zero-level spells and had upgraded all three into First-level spells were able to become First-level Spell Caster.

Even if old man Etha was only an Entrance-level Spell Caster, he still dealt with the Guardian Swordsman from Grand City with ease. Even Second-level Elemental Swordsman like Swordsman Bogg was far from being his opponent. This also proved the strength of the Spell Casters. It was not something that could be compared to Elemental Swordsman.

However, Merlin was almost killed by a First-level Elemental Swordsman today. This showed how alarmingly lacking he was in terms of battle experiences. In the beginning, he did not even have a chance to cast his spell. As a Spell Caster, this was a deadly weak point.

Merlin touched his neck with his palm. He could feel some thick blood flowing out of it, but it was simply a small cut on the surface. Moreover, there was no more blood, so the figure was fine.

This was a great lesson to be learned!

"If I have cast Fireball and blasted the door open in the beginning, he won't be able to hurt me regardless of his speed."

Merlin was concluding his weakness from the battle just now. He had not gotten used to his identity as Spell Caster and his habit to attack first. Spell Caster should finish his enemy off from afar, not fighting close combat with an Elemental Swordsman.

The woman in a black clothing was still lying on the ground. Since she was smashed by Merlin for a few times, it might still take a while for her to regain consciousness. Thus, Merlin stood up and approached her. He uncovered half of the black cloak that remained on her.

After fighting for such a long time, Merlin had not gotten a close look at her face.

The black cloak was uncovered, revealing her blonde hair in which a part of it was burnt. The hair was still releasing a burnt odor.

"Too bad she had such a beautiful hair."

Merlin shook his head slightly as he praised this beautiful, long hair. It was a shame that Merlin's fireball had burnt a part of such beautiful hair. The blonde hair also appeared slightly black and extremely odd.

The person was lying on her side with her hair covering her face. Merlin put her hair slightly off her face and looked at her.

"Hmm?"

Merlin's eyes squinted. His stare became sharp immediately.

"Gia?"

The person lying on the ground was, to his surprise, Gia who taught his history class.

Merlin could still recall that even Gutt had not found Gia's true background with his family's influence back then. He did not expect to see Gia at this place.

Moreover, according to how she acted, she was not a normal teacher. It was not as simple as that.

Just when Merlin was guessing the relationship between Gia and old man Etha, Gia groaned slightly and was about to wake up.

Merlin stood up and took a step back, with his eyes staring dead at Gia.

After a while, Merlin heard Gia's breathing became rapid, so he pulled a light smile. "Stop pretending. Why don't you open your eyes if you're awake?"

Hearing Merlin's words, Gia opened her eyes as expected. She looked at Merlin and said in a calm tone, "Wilson Merlin? I can't believe Mr. Etha has really taken you as his true disciple."

Just when Gia was struggling to stand up, Merlin waved his hands. Following his motion, a fireball appeared and directly collided towards the ground beside Gia.

"Boom."

The fireball hit the ground and exploded directly. It blasted a hole off the wooden floor, leaving black smoke sizzling above the hole.

"Done with the game. Otherwise, the fireball will be exploding on your body the next time."

Merlin warned Gia directly with his action. After a month of an excruciating practice of his Mind Meditation spell, his Mind Power had finally improved. Most important of all, he was even more skillful in manipulating his Fireball so the situation of fireballs going out of control would not happen again.