The Blackfire Lord just lowered his head, and did not speak for a long time. The dilemma on his face was clearly visible.

After a moment, Wizard Setoh shook his head helplessly and sighed. "Very well, this is your own choice! However, my real body is in the Seely Dimension. The Rock Tribe seems poised for another attack, so I have to hold the fort here! I'll send a spatial avatar to go with you but I can't guarantee that it'll be able to successfully rescue your disciple!

Upon hearing that Wizard Setoh finally agreed to mobilize a spatial avatar, the Blackfire Lord was ecstatically happy. After all, he was quite familiar with Arcane Wizard Setoh. Arcane Wizards had many avatars as their understanding of the elements and the Maxims have achieved the optimum, and could be created at will.

Therefore, the avatars were constructed with every type of element as their foundation. Then, with tremendous effort, they were consolidated into avatars that were comparable to the most skillful Lord!

In fact, as it was Arcane Wizard's avatar, it would also comprise some of the Arcane Wizard's techniques and abilities, which were endless. Being able to dispatch an avatar was considered the best possible outcome.

"Wizard Setoh, please don't worry. If we fail to rescue him, then it shall be Merlin's fate!"

The Blackfire Lord was acutely aware that it was impossible to kill the Slothful Beast. Back then, the three Great Arcane Wizards had joined forces but were unable to catch the Slothful Beast, not to mention kill it.

All they could do was to allow Wizard Setoh's avatar to see if he could find any breakthrough points to rescue Merlin.

"Alright, the happenings in the Seely Dimension are truly complicated, and the Rock Tribe is poised for another attack. My real body cannot leave this place but if there's a glimmer of hope to rescue your disciple, I can transfer some of my real powers through the avatar!"

The "commitment" shown by Wizard Setoh was simply because the Blackfire Lord was his one and only junior disciple. After their teacher had disappeared, he had activated the power of the Arcane Wizards, but still could not find their teacher. Therefore, Wizard Setoh would give his best for his one and only junior disciple.

The Blackfire Lord's lips quivered like there were some words he was wanted to say.

After a long pause, the Blackfire Lord seemed to make up his mind. In a deep voice, he said, "Thank you, senior disciple!1"

"Ever since teacher disappeared, this is the first time you're calling me brother. It appears that this disciple truly occupies a special place in your heart… Now, I'm curious to see this disciple whom you're willing to sacrifice so much for."

"Swoosh."

This dazzling ball of light wrapped around the Blackfire Lord, and then, in the blink of an eye, vanished without a trace…

…

Days turned into months, and months turned into years. By this time, Merlin had been inside the Slothful Beast world for over thirty years. In these thirty years, the Giant Mountain had completely flourished into a place controlled by the Spell Casters.

Spellcast City was now located in the Giant Mountain. Right now, there was no longer any protection from the Runic Magic Circle. Any Spell Caster could enter and exit freely. It was the most developed place among the Spell Caster civilization.

In the past thirty over years, due to Merlin's presence, coupled with the migration of the giants as well as the spreading of news, the Spell Caster civilization had once again become the most powerful civilization in the Slothful Beast world. Generally, none of the tribes dared to attack them any longer.

Of course, in reality, the Spell Caster civilization was only strong on the outside, and hollow on the inside. It was entirely dependent on Merlin. Even after some thirty years, they have not been able to produce a single Mind Power Master who could rival a Great Wizard.

However, the number of Ninth-level Mind Power Masters had increased slightly. With more time, perhaps it would have been possible to produce a Mind Power Master who could rival a Great Wizard.

Nevertheless, just because the other tribes did not initiate any attacks, it did not mean that Merlin was twiddling his thumbs. The black cat Didimoss would wake up once every few years, and the first thing he would do was swallow.1

Therefore, the black cat Didimoss would stir up upheaval in the Slothful Beast world every couple of years. The entire Slothful Beast world was like a paradise for the black cat Didimoss because he could swallow as much as he liked.

At the same time, Didimoss' abilities were improving rapidly. Finally, a few years ago, the black cat Didimoss' power leveled-up to be equivalent to a Legend with two Maxims!

Such speedy progress surprised even Merlin. Once again, he witnessed the unlimited potential brought about by reversing the natural order. In any case, while the black cat Didimoss was improving, Merlin was not left completely empty-handed either.

In the Slothful Beast world, Merlin made use of the elemental crystal stones in his collection to acquire casting tools on a large scale. The prices were extremely low, so just a few hundred elemental crystal stones were enough to acquire a good casting tool.

Previously, Merlin merely wanted to give it a try, and did not hold any hopes whatsoever. He disseminated a message among the Spell Caster civilization, saying that he would like to acquire the components of the legendary God-Binding Disc belonging to Wizard Bell of the Molta Empire.

The Spell Casters who entered the Slothful Beast world were very close to the era of the Molta Empire, so they were not unfamiliar with the God-Binding Disc.

Nevertheless, even Merlin could not have anticipated that a blessing would appear so unexpectedly. A Spell Caster brought with him two components of the God-Binding Disc.

Judging from the vibration emitted by the seven components of the God-Binding Disc in Merlin's collection, they were the final two components of the genuine God-Binding Disc!

In the end, Merlin only spent two hundred elemental crystal stones to acquire the final two components of the God-Binding Disc. Subsequently, an ecstatic Merlin restored the God-Binding Disc. This was a powerful casting tool which used to be able to suppress the gods!

However, it seemed that Merlin's luck had run out. He tried using the complete God-Binding Disc to fight some of the foreign tribes who were comparable to the most skillful Great Wizard but found that it was ineffective, and could not suppress them.

It was supposed to be a casting tool that could suppress the gods yet it failed to suppress even the most skillful Great Wizard. This caused Merlin to wonder if a large portion of the God-Binding Disc had been destroyed over a long time, and no longer had its suppressing abilities.

However, after careful studying, Merlin was faintly able to draw an inference. The God-Binding Disc was specifically transfigured by Wizard Bell to fight the gods, so perhaps its suppression power was only effective on the gods.

This was purely Merlin's conjecture. If he wanted to verify his inference, he would have to test it on a real god. Unfortunately, there was no real god in the Slothful Beast world.

Besides the God-Binding Disc, Merlin's spell fusion had also achieved a breakthrough. His Fire-type, Thunder-type, Wind-type and Ice-type spells had finally achieved perfect fusion.

The fusion of four-elemental spells boosted his powers tremendously. Originally, he was only infinitely close to a Great Wizard, but now, he had grown to become comparable to a Great Wizard.

This was Merlin's most powerful ability besides Darkness Eye! With this successful four-elemental spell fusion, Merlin had also laid down a solid foundation for his Spell Model fusion when he became a Ninth-level Spell Caster in the future.

As for the remaining Earth-type and Darkness-type spell fusion, it would have to depend on his luck, and plenty of practice. It was not something that could be achieved overnight.

Merlin only put some of his energy into spell fusion. Once he managed to achieve Ice-type spell fusion, Merlin could no longer spare any energy. He devoted his entire attention to perfecting the Mind Power system.

In particular, Merlin was now in the first step of Hallucinating spells, which required more refining. Thus, in this period, he had spent almost all his time underneath the Illusion Monument, accumulating understanding about the essence of Hallucinating spells.

Hallucinating spells were also divided into a few steps. Currently, Merlin was only at the most basic first step. His Mind Power also did not improve by much. If he could gain a more advanced understanding of Hallucinating spells, perhaps it would help improve his Mind Power.

However, understanding Hallucinating spells also required large amounts of energy. It was not a result that would manifest overnight.

Merlin had integrated the previous method of Darkness-type spell illusion with the Mind Power Hallucinating spell, and also combined the illusion from the Blackfire Lord. Gradually, Merlin's understanding of Hallucinating spells began to deepen.

In the past, Merlin could only entrap Spell Casters like Wizard Luce who did not have strong Mind Power. Trying to entrap a Mind Power Master who had consolidated a Mind Heart was almost impossible.

Right now, however, with the steady improvement in Merlin's Hallucinating spells and his enormous Mind Power which far exceeded the Mind Hearts of the average Mind Power Masters, his Hallucinating spells began to improve tremendously.

Even a Ninth-level Mind Power Master who had consolidated a Mind Heart, if he was not careful, might fall prey to Merlin's illusion. Nevertheless, this was still far from what Merlin had envisioned to achieve.

Merlin's target was the second step of Hallucinating spells, which could entrap Great Wizards! Back then, the Blackfire Lord's Hallucinating spells were at this level. He was able to entrap some of the powerful Mind Power Great Wizards.

However, despite staying underneath the Illusion Monument for such a long time, there was no way for him to proceed further. There were also other Seventh- and Eighth-level Mind Power Masters under the Illusion Monument who were frowning hard, and could not progress.

Understanding Hallucinating spells was simply too difficult and challenging. Even equipped with theory, and the fact that Titus had undergone this path, it was difficult for anyone to follow in his footsteps.

"What more is needed?"

Merlin was frowning tautly. This time, he had set his gaze on the huge Illusion Monument. It was unknown what material was this Illusion Monument was made of. Even Merlin could not tell.

Moreover, there seemed to be a strange force field around the Illusion Monument. Anyone who entered this place would be affected by it, which was quite extraordinary.

Merlin extended his Mind Power to the Illusion Monument but could not find anything out of the ordinary. Did Titus leave behind this Illusion Monument merely for such a simple purpose, just to let people learn some theories about his Mind Power system?

Somehow, Merlin felt that there was more than meets the eye with this Illusion Monument. However, he was unable to decipher its secret.

Slowly, Merlin shut his eyes, and extended his Mind Power, shrouding everyone who was inside the Illusion Monument. Naturally, he began to wield his Hallucinating spells.

Underneath the Illusion Monument, there was a strange force field. It required large amounts of Mind Power in order to wield Hallucinating spells in this force field. This was also the first time Merlin was wielding Hallucinating spells within the vicinity of the Illusion Monument.

Moreover, the Mind Power Masters who were learning underneath the Illusion Monument were all somewhat accomplished in Hallucinating spells, so they would not be entrapped by ordinary Hallucinating spells. This time, Merlin had put in maximum effort, and a strange, peculiar Mind Power fluctuation began to ooze into the vicinity of the Illusion Monument.

Merlin saw that almost everyone had been entrapped in some form of illusion. A smile appeared on his face. Although he had yet to achieve the second stage of Hallucinating spells, he was able to entrap some Spell Casters who had already consolidated a Mind Heart, including some Ninth-level Spell Casters.

"All trapped in an illusion… Perhaps they are unable to tell where, whether it was underneath the Illusion Monument or somewhere else, that they fell into an illusion? They cannot differentiate reality and illusion…"

Merlin mumbled under his breath. Seeing these Spell Casters entrapped in an illusion, he violently raised his head to stare at the humongous Illusion Monument.

Earlier, when he had used the Hallucinating spells to entrap these Mind Power Masters, he suddenly realized that the Illusion Monument also became unreal. It was as if the Illusion Monument did not exist at all!

"Illusion? Reality?"

Looking at the close-up, lifelike Illusion Monument, a storm began to crash down on Merlin's heart…

Literally, the term senior disciple may be translated as "brother disciple", so he is calling Wizard Setoh "brother".Original text said "every few days" but based on the following paragraph this was likely a typo.