Merlin could not move so he just lay silently on the ground. The flame sprite watched Merlin and quietly said, "You're gravely injured. I'm not sure how long I can wait for you to recover."

Merlin's heart was pounding. His wound was extremely serious, and it would take a long time for his strong physique to recover even slightly.

So, Merlin said to the flame sprite, "If there's any way you could help me recover quicker, I could start cultivating Fiery Collapse sooner. Once that's done, I could reach the second form of Fiery Collapse and you'll finally be able to leave this flame-shaped statue and be free."

Merlin knew that this flame sprite was wise but it was no more intelligent than an average person. It had been trapped in this ancient tower for over three thousand years and would want to leave. However, no one has ever met the requirements of the master of the ancient monument, let alone cultivate the second form of Fiery Collapse.

The flame sprite listened to Merlin's request but hesitated before it said, "Your injury is truly grave but I'm afraid I can't help you. I don't have the healing potions you require for your wound."

"You don't have healing potions?"

Merlin shook his head slightly and he seemed helpless. Without the healing potions, it would require a couple of months for him to fully recover his strong physique.

"No, I don't. However, over the years, many Spell Casters have entered the ancient monument but a large portion of them was killed by the patterned spiders that protect the entire ancient tower. Why don't I send out the patterned spider to search for the Spell Casters' rings and bring them here? You can look through them to see if there're any healing potions?"

The flame sprite finished speaking and Merlin immediately felt a strange fluctuation in his Mind.

The fluctuation was, in fact, emitted by the flame sprite. The flame sprite was composed entirely of flames but still possessed the same Mind Power as a Spell Caster. This surprised Merlin.

The Mind Power of the flame sprite spread and the huge patterned spider that sat in the corner had gotten up and began to crawl through the black hole.

Merlin laid still on the ground but he had expanded his Mind Power to investigate his surroundings.

The large hall was very quiet but it felt cold and the air was dry. This could have been below the first floor of the ancient tower.

Inside the large hall were a few strange tools. Merlin was unsure what they were but guessed they were alchemy tools. Merlin and the others had battled against the powerful guardian puppet and had not truly defeated it. They just depended on the guardian puppet to deplete its elemental crystal stones – that was how they won.

This proved that the master of the ancient tower was, indeed, an exceptional strong alchemist and this was the secret place he kept his alchemy tools.

Moreover, a place as spacious and secretive as this would ensure that no one from the outside would be able to hear a single sound. The master of the ancient tower could have used this place to test out a couple of puppets.

Merlin held his thoughts silently and suddenly, a rattling sound came from the black hole and out came the huge patterned spider.

Soon, more patterned spiders followed one by one. These patterned spiders were not as big as the first patterned spider and were more similar to the one's Merlin and the others had encountered in the ancient tower.

The patterned spiders came before Merlin and each opened their mouth to spit out one or two rings. Each ring was different. It was clear that they were once owned by Spell Casters who had entered the ancient monument and were eventually killed by the patterned spiders.

A dozen patterned spiders each brought one or two rings, and eventually, there was a pile of twenty rings next to Merlin. The patterned spiders began to retreat into the black hole and left only the larger patterned spider as it returned to its spot in the corner of the hall.

Merlin slowly began to inspect each ring. It seemed that the flame sprite, who had truly controlled the patterned spider, was able to control the entire ancient monument. No one could enter it without being noticed by the flame sprite.

This was not done by the flame sprite all by itself. In fact, it was the dense runes upon the flame-shaped statue. The flame sprite could read the runes to fully understand the situation in the ancient tower.

"Well, there're many rings you can search through. Do you think you'll find a healing potion?"

The flame sprite gestured at the rings as it asked Merlin.

Merlin nodded. He used his Mind Power to search through one ring. The ring contained a couple of potion ingredients but they were quite common ingredients. It also contained a few dozen elemental crystal stones.

One by one, he searched through the rings…

Merlin had searched a few rings but still had not found any healing potions. However, the potion ingredients and elemental crystal stones he found could be added up to amount a great value.

Finally, as he searched the tenth ring, he finally found a healing potion, and there was plenty of it. Merlin was shocked by Wizard Riesen's Fourth-level spell that he kept in his Spell Scroll. It had wounded Merlin's body horribly and required a healing potion like this to restore his flesh and blood.

After taking the potion, Merlin immediately felt its effects. Warmth filled his body but at the same time, it also felt crisp and numb.

The potion was extremely effective as Merlin felt his flesh and blood recover. What could have been months of recovery could be reduced to a dozen days to fully recover.

"Are there more rings, flame sprite? Send more patterned spiders out to look for more rings. If I find more healing potions, I could recover even sooner."

Merlin smiled as he asked the flame sprite.

The flame sprite nodded and ordered the huge patterned spider to search for more Spell Caster rings.

…

Fifteen days passed in the blink of an eye and more than half of Merlin's body had recovered. He started to tidy up the rings that the patterned spiders had brought him.

For the duration of half a month, Merlin was "surprised" with a ring from the patterned spiders. Each ring was from a Spell Caster who died in the ancient monument.

After all, the ancient monument had existed for over three thousand six hundred years. An unfathomable number of Spell Casters could have entered the ancient monument, only to be killed by either the patterned spiders or the guardian puppet.

Hence, Merlin had accumulated a vast wealth from the rings; it was almost immeasurable. He had a large number of elemental crystal stones and potion ingredients, both rare and common. Merlin had even found enough rare ingredients needed to prepare at least ten portions of Phantasmal Magic Potion.

In addition to the elemental crystal stones and potion ingredients, there were also a large number of spells. Most of the spells were Zero-level spells, but occasionally he would find a First or Second-level spell.

However, there were very few Second-level spells. Amongst the pile of rings, he only found two Second-level spells within on ring.

Unfortunately, Merlin did not even need these two spells. Merlin had before him a large number of spells, so he used the Matrix to record them.

Merlin's ring was now filled with different types of spells, potion ingredients, elemental crystal stones, and more. He never would have thought that being trapped in the ancient tower would bring him such rewards.

Merlin was very wealthy now. Even a Fourth-level Spell Caster who established the Wizard Tower in the Dark Magic Region could not match his wealth.

"I shall leave now."

Merlin whispered. He had been trapped in the ancient tower for half a month where he consumed a potion every day to recover his body.

Now, the wound on his body was almost healed, and Merlin decided it was time to receive the treasure from the master of the ancient tower and leave the tower.

"Flame sprite!"

Merlin shouted at the enormous flame-shaped statue.

Immediately, a ball of flame floated from the flame-shaped statue and quickly transformed into the flame sprite.

"Flame sprite, did you not say that I met all the requirements to cultivate Fiery Collapse? My body has healed quite a bit and I can now leave the ancient tower. Please give me your master's treasure and allow me to cultivate the second-form of Fiery Collapse. Then, I'll return to set you free from the ancient tower!"

Merlin had thought about what he intended to say and spoke calmly.

"You want to leave the ancient tower now?"

The flame sprite asked with a hint of surprise in its voice.