"Merlin?"

Wizard Leo halted his footsteps while the red vertical eye on his forehead blinked continuously. He glanced toward the entrance of the pitch-black Darkness Void. Merlin's figure slowly appeared from Darkness Void.

"How is this possible? Merlin has entered Darkness Void for seven full days. How did he survive?"

Wizard Hobbes was stunned as his stare glued at the figure who had just walked out from Darkness Void. Although he did not want to believe this, it was truly Merlin who had entered Darkness Void for seven days.

In other words, Merlin had gotten through the most terrifying illusion during his seventh day in Darkness Void.

"Merlin, have you finished cultivating Darkness Heart?"

Wizard Leo finally revealed a hint of elation. Thereafter, a red light flashed in the vertical eye on his forehead; Merlin was rapidly enclosed within the red light.

"Darkness Eye, delude!"

Wizard Leo directly cast Darkness Eye, causing Merlin to fall into an illusion. He knew that the Spell Casters who had cultivated Darkness Heart had a strong resistance against Darkness-type spell attacks. He only used a small amount of Darkness Eye's power to test Merlin's Darkness Heart.

The moment Merlin was enclosed within the red light, he fell into illusions. However, Merlin had experienced too many illusions by now, so these illusions did not amount to much. It was a piece of cake for him to break through such illusions with his strong conviction, although he had not cultivated Darkness Heart.

The one thing Merlin was interested in was Wizard Leo's Darkness Eye. A small amount of light from it could make him fall into illusions instantly. Moreover, this was probably just a small part of Darkness Eye's power.

Darkness Eye was truly marvelous. It was not surprising that Abyss Fort would agree to Wizard Leo's conditions just to obtain the cultivation method of Darkness Eye. They would obtain an unimaginably powerful ability should they cultivate Darkness Eye. To a certain extent, Darkness Eye was indeed more powerful than Darkness Heart.

"Teacher Leo, such illusions don't have much effect on me!"

Merlin told Wizard Leo with a smile as he stood within the red light. Following that, he closed his eyes slightly and a powerful conviction appeared in his heart. At once, the illusions before him disappeared.

Wizard Leo nodded slightly and revealed a slight smile. "Not bad. Darkness Heart is indeed remarkable. Although I've only used a small part of my ability, the illusions I cast are sufficient to delude a Fourth-level Spell Caster. However, you're not affected by it at all and can easily break out of it. Darkness Heart was stronger than what I've imagined."

After watching Merlin break through the illusions he had created via Darkness Eye, Wizard Leo was pleased, thinking that Merlin had cultivated Darkness Heart.

Merlin shook his head instead. "Teacher Leo, I haven't finished cultivating Darkness Heart. I've only experienced too many illusions in Darkness Void, so ordinary illusions can't affect me anymore."

"What? You haven't finished cultivating Darkness Heart?"

Wizard Leo frowned. He had invested so much effort in this – exchanging Darkness Heart for the cultivation method of Darkness Eye, and even sending Merlin into the sacred place of Abyss Fort, Darkness Void. His sole aim was for Merlin to cultivate Darkness Heart.

However, Merlin had not finished cultivating Darkness Heart when he came out of Darkness Void. Wizard Leo was full of doubts and shot a glance to Wizard Hobbes and the others. His first thought was that Wizard Hobbes had not told them the true cultivation method of Darkness Heart.

Noticing Wizard Leo's doubtful gaze, Wizard Hobbes snorted. "Hmph, we've told you the true cultivation method of Darkness Heart. If I'm not mistaken, Wizard Merlin has broken through the illusion during the seventh day in Darkness Void. He can cultivate the third type of Darkness Heart anytime now. Wizard Merlin, am I right?"

Wizard Hobbes and the others wore a dark expression. As the Spell Casters of Abyss Fort, they were aware of the significance of Merlin going through seven days in Darkness Void.

It meant that Merlin could now cultivate the third type of Darkness Heart. Even during the most glorious moments in Abyss Fort, there was only a small number of Spell Casters who could cultivate the third type of Darkness Heart.

Thus, when they saw that Merlin could cultivate the third type of Darkness Heart, albeit he was not a Spell Caster of Abyss Fort, they had mixed feelings about it. It was the same in the case of Wizard Leo – he had cultivated Darkness Eye even though he was not a Spell Caster of Abyss Fort.

Wizard Leo placed his doubtful gaze on Merlin.

Merlin nodded. "That's right, Teacher Leo. I can cultivate Darkness Heart now. I only need to find a time to finish the cultivation."

Wizard Leo nodded, and his expression returned calm. Thereafter, he said to Wizard Hobbes, "Wizard Hobbes, please prepare an anechoic chamber for Merlin to cultivate Darkness Heart."

Before this, Wizard Leo had argued with Wizard Hobbes and the others due to Merlin. However, the conflict was now resolved when Merlin walked out of Darkness Void. Moreover, they would still want to have Wizard Leo's cultivation method of Darkness Eye, so they had to put up with Wizard Leo's attitude. Wizard Hobbes replied in low voice, "Abyss Fort has many anechoic chambers. Wizard Leo, I hope you can keep your promise this time. We, Abyss Fort, have limited patience, after all!"

Wizard Leo remained silent. Instead, he and Merlin simply trailed behind Wizard Hobbes and left Darkness Void.

…

"The third type of Darkness Heart. Let's see how terrifying it's illusions are going to be."

In the anechoic chamber, Merlin immediately chose the third type of Darkness Heart. After all, he had successfully broken out of the illusions during the seventh day in Darkness Void. Since the difference between the third type of Darkness Heart and the previous types was too large, Merlin naturally chose the third type without the slightest hesitation.

To cultivate the third type of Darkness Heart, Merlin had to etch mysterious darkness markings on his body. He gave it some thought before doing it. He had the markings of Fiery Collapse and Glacial Finger on both his palms. Although he was not sure of the effect of etching markings of two Pandora Demon Ability at one place, Merlin did not do it for safety purposes.

Merlin took off his robe to reveal his muscular chest. This was the result of practicing the posture of the mysterious relief sculpture for a long time. Hence, his physical attributes were excellent; he had reached the peak of a Third-level Elemental Swordsman now.

If he continued to practice for one more year, he would be able to improve his physical attributes to that of a Fourth-level Elemental Swordsman.

Merlin began to move his hands around and rapidly pressed his palms on his chest. Gradually, a strange dark marking appeared on his chest.

Following that, Merlin's Mind Power extended to simulate the marking on his chest. At once, Merlin shivered as if his entire being was dragged into an endless darkness; it was as if he had become one with darkness.

However, the sensation disappeared in a flash. He lowered his head to look at the ink-black marking on his chest. It appeared as if his fair skin was stained with a drop of ink. However, if one looked close enough, there was a sort of strange aura from it that could attract the attention of others intensely.

Merlin took a deep breath. He knew that this was only the beginning. Next, he would go through endless illusions. The cultivation of Darkness Heart was not completed in an instant. Some would require one or two days to cultivate it while some Spell Casters would take a longer time to wake up from the illusions.

Although Merlin was confident, he had no idea what the illusions of the third type of Darkness Heart would be, so he would need to be cautious.

After etching the strange marking and activating it with Merlin's Mind Power, he noticed that there was some sort of connection between the Spell Models of Dark Mist and Dark Light Realm with the strange marking.

It was the same when Merlin had cultivated Fiery Collapse and Glacial Finger; knowing this made Merlin relax just a little.

"Boom!"

Suddenly, Merlin felt that his world was spinning. It was as if his mind had exploded and felt that he was in the clouds.

"It's the illusions!"

Merlin stiffened. He was prepared beforehand, but he did not expect that the illusions would hit him so suddenly. However, no matter what illusions there were, his strong conviction would be able to get him through. As long as he remained cool-headed, his strong conviction could stand against any illusion.

Once, twice, thrice…

Merlin had lost count of the illusions that he had experienced. However, Merlin's strong conviction had broken through the illusions each time it hit him; he did not even have the chance to be deluded when the illusion had disappeared.

With time, these illusions had grown increasingly powerful. Finally, the illusion became as powerful as that during his seventh day in Darkness Void.

Fortunately, Merlin's conviction was indeed powerful since it was built up through countless illusions. Otherwise, he would have fallen into the strong illusions by now.

Time slowly went past. The process did not take a long time since it was only half a day's time. Merlin opened his eyes again. Although he had experienced many illusions, the time spent in the illusions was not long. Often, he broke through a few illusions only in an instant.

"The illusions of the third type of Darkness Heart are indeed powerful. Without breaking through the illusion during the seventh day in Darkness Void, it's really easy to lose myself in the illusions."

Merlin finally understood the significance of spending seven days in Darkness Void. It was as if the illusions in Darkness Void were specially made for the cultivation of Darkness Heart.

Without Darkness Void, even Spell Casters with a strong heart would be flustered by the powerful illusions presented by the third type of Darkness Heart, and at last, lose themselves in the illusions.

After Merlin had gone through all illusions, the strange marking on his chest began to let out a cool aura. Merlin quickly lowered his head to look at the marking.