"Bang."

The black puppet's figure was a blur as it forcibly broke free of the white-robed Wizard's seal. It came before the Wizard and delivered a blow.

The Defensive spell covering the white-robed Wizard shattered in an instant, and he was immediately sent flying. He crashed heavily into the ground. Fortunately, he was only injured and did not die.

"He's failed again…"

The surrounding Glorious Wizards all shook their heads. They all knew the white-robed Wizard. It was not his first time challenging the Third Puppet but he had failed every time.

"What's going on here?"

Merlin could not help but ask the Spell Casters standing beside him.

These Spell Casters turned around and were slightly stunned upon seeing Merlin. Nevertheless, they saluted Merlin respectfully. "Ah, it's Wizard Merlin."

The news of Wizard Mogan's fourth disciple had already spread throughout the Glorious Palace. Although Merlin had only stayed inside his residence, almost every Glorious Wizard had, in fact, taken note of him. Therefore, these Glorious Wizards recognized Merlin instantly as soon as they saw him.

Although Merlin was not a Ninth-level Spell Caster, these Glorious Wizards did not dare to underestimate him, much less snub him. Any disciple of Wizard Mogan enjoyed a position and status that was comparable to the Great Wizards of the Glorious Palace.

"Wizard Merlin, Wizard Hodge was challenging the Third Puppet but he had failed once again. Wizard Hodge had been in the Glorious Palace for three years, yet he hadn't improved much. Of all the times he challenged the Third Puppet, he had never succeeded." The one who spoke pointed at the white-robed Wizard before them with a puzzled expression.

Merlin fell into deep thought, then continued his questioning. These Glorious Wizards were happy to become acquainted with Merlin, so they gave him a detailed explanation. It turned out that fighting was not allowed in the Glorious Palace, not even as a way to swap pointers. After all, it was difficult to control a spell after it was cast, and the spells of these Ninth-level Spell Casters had extraordinary might. It was difficult to avoid injury or death even during a practice.

Therefore, Wizard Mogan had stipulated that the Spell Casters of the Glorious Palace were not allowed to fight. If they wanted to test their abilities, it was simple enough – they could challenge these puppets.

Wizard Mogan, as a master of puppet transfiguration, could even transfigure puppets on par with Great Wizards. Of course, it was not so easy to transfigure puppets like these, and Wizard Mogan had not transfigured many of these puppets over the years.

However, Wizard Mogan had transfigured many puppets below the level of Great Wizards. These puppets started from the First Puppet – from the weakest to the strongest – and they could be compared to a Seventh-level Wizard, an Eighth-level Wizard, and a Ninth-level Wizard respectively.

The First and Second Puppet were Seventh-level and Eighth-level puppets. In the Glorious Palace, most Spell Casters were of the Ninth-level, so no one would challenge the First and Second Puppet. Mostly, they would fight the Third Puppet.

Nonetheless, this puppet was not so easy to challenge. Most Ninth-level Wizards were no match for the Third Puppet. Wizard Hodge was one such case. Even after becoming a Glorious Wizard for three years, he had not improved and was unable to defeat the Third Puppet.

"A puppet? I'll like to give it a try!"

Merlin became fired up when he saw these puppets. He was now able to fuse spells, a fusion between two types of Fifth-level spells. Therefore, he wanted to see how powerful the spells were, and whether they were on par with Ninth-level Spell Casters.

After all, the strength of Merlin's Fifth-level spells was already comparable to most Eighth-level spells. The might of two types of spells fused together would increase multiple times over, and Merlin was unsure how great this power would be.

Hearing that Merlin wanted to challenge the puppets, the surrounding Glorious Wizards revealed curious looks. Merlin was only a Fourth-level Spell Caster yet he was accepted by Wizard Mogan as a disciple. Although they had great faith in Wizard Mogan's judgment and knew that there must be something unique about Merlin for him to be accepted as a disciple, they still wanted to see for themselves what Merlin's abilities were.

"Wizard Merlin, if you want to challenge the puppets, I think you can begin with the First Puppet. The First Puppet isn't that easy as well."

"That's right, you may challenge the First and Second Puppets."

These Glorious Wizards felt that it would not be easy for Merlin to challenge the First Puppet. As for the Second Puppet, there might be some difficulties. Furthermore, they had not even considered that Merlin would be able to challenge the Third Puppet.

Merlin appeared to be cautious too. He eyed the First and Second puppets. The First Puppet was comparable to a Seventh-level Wizard. No matter how careful he was, Merlin would not challenge the First Puppet for it would be meaningless.

As for the Second Puppet which was on par with an Eighth-level Wizard, he could give it a go.

"Alright, I'll challenge the Second Puppet then!"

Following that, Merlin took a few steps forward and came before the Second Puppet. He flashed his nameplate and said to the puppet respectfully, "Merlin of the Glorious Palace invites the Second Puppet to a challenge!"

The Second Puppet's eyes flashed with a red glow and it stood up abruptly. In a cold, mechanical voice, it said, "Identity verification approved. Challenge accepted!"

One would need a nameplate to challenge a puppet, so only the Spell Casters of the Glorious Palace could do so.

Merlin glanced around. Not only did the surrounding Spell Casters stay on but there were even more who gathered around. Even Merlin was astonished at some of these Spell Casters as they were evidently at the peak of the Ninth-level.

"The Second Puppet isn't that simple. I wonder how long Wizard Merlin will be able to last?"

"Well, Wizard Merlin is Wizard Mogan's disciple after all, so there must be something special about him. Since he dares to challenge the Second Puppet, his abilities must be at the Eighth-level at least. Otherwise, there would be no point in challenging the second puppet."

"That's true, that's logical analysis. We'll see how long Wizard Merlin can hold on. Perhaps he might actually perform a miracle and defeat the Second Puppet?"

A few shrewd Spell Casters had started to analyze Merlin's capabilities, thinking that Merlin might perform a miracle and defeat the Second Puppet.

Even so, defeating the Second Puppet as a mere Fourth-level Spell Caster would be rather astounding.

"Enervating Halo!"

Merlin dared not act carelessly, and first cast Enervating Halo, protecting his entire body. Nonetheless, the Second Puppet did not make its move. A red glow flickered in its hollow eye sockets as if it was observing Merlin.

"Whoosh."

The Second Puppet moved suddenly with incredible speed, and one could only make out a blur.

Merlin narrowed his eyes. He had expected this from the start. There was nothing wondrous about these puppets. It was just that they were fast and strong with excellent defenses. Thus, they were a difficult opponent.

"Glacier Country!"

Merlin cast Glacier Country quickly. It descended instantly, its translucent light twinkled incessantly. There was a faint trace of a frigid chill, suffused throughout the translucent light which blanketed the Second Puppet.

"Creak."

The puppet's speed was somewhat affected, and a layer of ice crystals began forming on the surface of its body. However, the Second Puppet had boundless strength, and with a slight tremble of its body, the ice crystals were crushed to bits.

Glacier Country could merely slow the Second Puppet down but was unable to halt it, let alone confine it. After all, Glacier Country could only bind a Spell Caster at the peak of the Seventh-level at most.

With this in mind, Merlin knew that unless Glacier Country could be upgraded to its fourth form, it would not be of much use against Eighth-level Spell Casters.

"Violent Ice!"

Merlin then cast Violent Ice, which was a Fifth-level spell combined with Binding Ice Pandora Demon Ability. Its power had surpassed Glacier Country, reaching the stage of an Eighth-level spell.

Thus, once Violent Ice was cast, it greatly impeded the Second Puppet's speed. Moreover, layers upon layers of frost kept on forming. The Second Puppet was merely less than ten steps away from Merlin but this short distance was like a chasm that the puppet was incapable of crossing, no matter what.

Violent Ice had served its purpose but Merlin did not slow down. He pointed a finger toward the sky.

"Rumble."

The sky instantly flashed with thunder and lightning. A gigantic thunderbolt descended from above. The white-hot lightning brought with it a destructive force as it immediately struck the Second Puppet's body viciously.

A cloud of black smoke emerged from the Second Puppet but the red glow in its eyes still did not vanish. Instead, it grew stronger. Nevertheless, Merlin had unleashed Destructive Thunder, which was merged with Pandora Demon Ability Thunder Fury, and it was assuredly on par with the higher levels of Eighth-level spells. Therefore, with the binding of the Ice-type spell, the current Second Puppet was nothing more than a sitting duck, receiving strike after strike of terrifying thunderbolts.

After a mere dozen or so strikes of thunderbolt, the Second Puppet could withstand it no longer. The red glow in its eye sockets flashed faintly before it faded completely. The big, sturdy puppet fell to the ground without a single twitch.

"What a powerful spell that can defeat the Second Puppet!"

The surrounding Glorious Wizards all wore looks of utter amazement. The power of the spells that Merlin had cast truly surprised them. These were not Fourth-level spells at all, but Fifth-level ones.

It was then that these Glorious Wizards realized that Merlin's force had grown much stronger. He had now truly leveled up to a Fifth-level Spell Caster!

"Congratulations Wizard Merlin! So, you've already become a Fifth-level Wizard!"

Merlin heaved a sigh of relief. His Fifth-level spells might not be on par with the might of certain formidable Eighth-level spells but if they were fused, they would become truly powerful.

Furthermore, he still had not used his Fire-type spell and Wind-type spell. Not even Ninth-level Spell Casters could catch up with his Wind-type spells. Naturally, these puppets would be unable to do so as well, so he was nearly invincible.

With this in mind, Merlin looked toward the Third Puppet with an eager intention of giving it a go.

"Eh, Wizard Merlin, don't act brashly. The Third Puppet is still on par with Ninth-level Spell Casters, and most Ninth-level Spell Casters aren't even a match for it. Earlier, Wizard Hodge was defeated by the Third Puppet. Although the puppet would not kill a challenger on purpose, it's difficult to avoid injuries if the disparity in strength is too great."

Seeing that Merlin was staring at the Third Puppet, appearing eager to challenge it, a gray-robed Wizard stepped forward to advise Merlin. The Third Puppet was hugely different from the First and Second Puppet. Merlin might be able to defeat the Second Puppet but it was almost certain that he would fail in challenging the Third Puppet, and there was a great risk as well.

"Rest easy. I won't act brashly! Even if I can't defeat the Third Puppet, I won't get hurt!"

Following that, Merlin stealthily cast Traceless Wind. In the blink of an eye, he had come before the Third Puppet, and even the surrounding Ninth-level Wizards were unable to follow his figure.