I awoke suddenly, startled because something was shaking my right shoulder. My eyes turned and saw the perpetrator: Bjoukia.

The beautiful elven maiden had a mischievous grin on her face. "Did you have a nice dream about me?" she teased.

I rubbed my eyes. "What time is it?" I asked.

"Almost seven past noon," she answered. "You napped for a good three hours!" Bjoukia shook her head. "I came up to get you unless you want to skip your dinner?" she said. The elf hoped that I would skip the meal because it meant more significant portions for the rest of them.

I shot her a dirty look. "No, I'm hungry," I smirked at her. I rose from my seat and followed Bjoukia down two flights of stairs to reach the ground floor.

Rijana smiled at me. "Ah, I see you're awake!" She turned toward Bjoukia. "I hope it wasn't too difficult to make him wake up," she said and winked.

"Nah, Lord Mulligan awoke before I had a chance to punch him in the gut," the elf grinned.

I ignored the two and looked at Bjoukin, who was using a long, wooden spoon to stir the contents of the pot. "What are we having?" I asked him.

"Rabbit stew," he replied.

"We managed to catch one while hunting in the woods," Bjoukia explained with a dose of pride.

I sat on a couch and waited patiently until the stew was ready.

Bjoukin gave me a generous portion of the stew.

I ate slowly and enjoyed the taste of the meat. It was the first time I had rabbit stew. The chef added plenty of carrots, herbs, and salt into the stew and the flavor was rich. I also received a small bread roll the size of my fist to eat with the stew. The bland taste of the bread was a nice complement to the salty soup.

After we finished eating, Rijana asked me a question. "Are you leaving tomorrow?"

The elves turned their attention toward me.

I nodded.

"What can you tell us about it?" Bjoukin asked.

"I'm going to visit the home of my predecessor, Merlin," I revealed.

The listeners gasped. Rijana recovered first. "Are you referring to Merlin the Sorcerer Supreme?"

"The founder of the kingdom?" Bjoukia inquired.

"He was a Player Character?" Bjoukin added.

"Yes, yes, and yes," I replied with a nod.

Rijana leaned back in her seat. "You'll have to fight him?"

I nodded again.

"Why?" Bjoukia blurted out.

"I need to take his staff to convince the Regent to support my candidacy for the crown," I explained.

Bjoukin shook his head. "Regent Paget is a very stubborn man."

"Agreed. But if I possess the Staff of Merlin, even he will have no choice but to recognize my qualifications as Merlin's Successor. That's why the Gods gave me this mission. And I have to complete it solo," I continued.

My magic instructor looked at me for a moment. Her lips turned into a frown. "Assuming that you plan to challenge Merlin to a duel with his staff as the prize, I recommend that you avoid engaging him in a magical duel. Instead, you should ask for a no-holds-bar duel," she suggested.

"Yes! You're a swordmage, and it's only fair for you to use all your abilities to fight him!" Bjoukia agreed.

Bjoukin folded his arms across his chest. "Don't forget about your access to Matter and Anti-Matter. They could be your trump cards," he observed.

I looked at each person directly in the eyes and then bowed deeply. "Thank you for your advice."

"I'm sorry we can't offer you more help than this," Rijana said softly. She turned toward her elven companions. "We should let Lord Mulligan rest now," she said.

The two nodded in agreement. "We'll head back out to the woods," Bjoukia said.

"I'll be in my workshop," Rijana replied.

"May Gaea guide you to victory tomorrow." Bjoukin patted my shoulder and then left the mage tower with Bjoukia, who kissed me gently on the cheek before leaving.

Rijana offered a friendly wave and then climbed the stairs.

Finding myself suddenly alone, I decided to meditate. Since I slept a few hours already, I wasn't tired right now. But meditation would help clear my mind.

From my interactions with HiDeHo77 in the online forums, I knew that Merlin possessed a creative mind bound by an overwhelming sense of ego. The only way for me to win in a duel against him was to use unusual, unconventional tactics. Thus, it was critical for me to enter the fight against Merlin with a fresh mind.

I closed my eyes, gazed inward to my inner soul, and spent the rest of the night staring at it until I fell asleep.

***

I opened my eyes. Something was different today. Ah! No one was slapping my face or poking my shoulder to awake me. Back on Earth 1, I lived alone, and this was customary. Being a creature of habit, returning to my old customs was reassuring and it brightened my mood considerably.

I looked around and saw that I was still alone. The bright light shone into the mage tower from a smaller slit of a window. The sunlight appeared more radiant than usual for my wakeup, meaning that it was already eight or nine in the morning. Again, also customary for me back home.

I decided this was the perfect moment for me to leave the mage tower. I grabbed my messenger bag off the floor and hung the strap across my chest; the weight of the pack rested against my left hip. I wore my small potions bag; it pressed against my left ribs. I held up my right hand and stared at Ring of Power on my pinky finger. I invoked the word of power: "Carmarthen!"

I suddenly teleported out of the mage tower. I stood on a desolate cliff. I peered down, and I saw a long drop; at the bottom was a lake. Looming above me was a mage tower made entirely of stone. The stone was worn and withered by the elements. I stared at the tower with awe and wonder. The tower stood at least ten stories tall; its height was far above that of the other mage towers I had visited so far.

Furthermore, what I found most disconcerting was the eery silence. There were no signs of life nearby--no birds and no animals. The scenery before me was indeed isolated.

I became concerned about my predecessor's mental health. How long had Merlin stayed in this environment? And how much had his seclusion damaged him mentally? My mind flashed back to Jack Nicholson typing "redrum" over and over again on his typewriter in "The Shining." From a cursory examination of this environment, I realized that my task of convincing Merlin to give up his staff became infinitely harder.

Finding myself depressed by this thought, I decided to break my fast. I sat down, took out travel rations from my pack and started chewing on some dried fruits and nuts. As I ate, I looked around. The entire area was full of cliffs which appeared challenging to climb. If Merlin had been in seclusion inside this mage tower, then he did not want to be disturbed.

Once I was full, I took a drink of water from my waterskin and then returned everything inside my messenger bag. I stood up, patted the dirt off my white robe, and began to walk in the direction of the mage tower. After about a thousand feet, I slammed into an invisible barrier. "-1 Health." Ouch. I reached out with my hand and felt the barrier.

I took a step back and activated my Magic Sense. I immediately saw the magic barrier; it had a purple hue and took the shape of a sphere surrounding the mage tower. I was VERY impressed because I knew how much mana it cost to create a small wall. For Merlin to create this massive barrier, it meant that he had access to a lot of mana. Since it was impossible for any Player Character to possess a million points of mana, the only way for Merlin to create and maintain this barrier was to tap into a ley line or two.

I examined the barrier again, this time as a Spirit Magi who merged the Spirit Sense and the Magic Sense. I saw TWELVE ley lines running through this barrier! I was both astonished and upset with this revelation: astonished because the use of so many ley lines showed that Merlin was far above my skill level as a Spirit Magi; upset because it will be difficult for me to take down the barrier. To accomplish this, I will need to cut off every ley line. How? With Anti-Matter.

I took several steps back away from the barrier. I focused my attention on the ley line closest to me. I closed my eyes and imagined the Anti-Matter as a piece of eraser; I cleared a portion of the ley line and disrupted the flow of energy to the barrier. I opened my eyes and saw that I had succeeded! "Anti-matter use SUCCESSFUL. +100 XP." I gave myself a fist pump.

I erased the next ley line without trouble. Encouraged by my success, I proceeded to delete the rest of the ley lines. When I wiped the final ley line, I heard a loud "BOOM!" The force of the blast knocked me back a few yards. "-10 Health." I immediately used Minor Heal on myself.

As I pulled myself off the ground, I kept my eyes on the mage tower. I knew that by taking down the magic barrier, I had launched an assault on Merlin's home. Therefore, I had to be wary of any magical retaliation from the Sorcerer Supreme. Sure enough, I heard a rumble in the sky, and I saw massive dark clouds forming above me. Realizing that the clouds were created with magic and will be used by Merlin to attack me, I immediately activated my Sprint skill and ran toward the tower.

*CRACKLE KABOOM*

A moment later, a massive thunderbolt struck the spot where I had just stood. I continued draining my Stamina to feed my Sprint. *KABOOM-KABOOM-KABOOM* Thunderbolts kept hitting the ground behind me.

Before I knew it, I entered a courtyard next to the tower. However, I was not alone. There was an army of skeletons awaiting me! It was now apparent to me that Merlin had used the lightning bolts to shepherd me into his trap. He probably recognized the skill I used and realized that I had to drain a ton of Stamina to keep running. He assumed that I was a fighter or a paladin and decided to make me fight and use up the rest of my Stamina. This trap was the sort of devious thing that HiDeHo77 would do!

I took a moment to catch my breath. I opened my potions bag and drank a Potion of Stamina. My green bar immediately refilled.

Abruptly, the skeletons charged at me!

I debated whether to continue pretending to be a fighter. I realized that Merlin was watching me and using his minions to learn more about me. Heck, I would do the same thing if our roles were reversed. I was attacking his base, and he needed to figure out my strengths and weaknesses to defeat me.

I decided that I didn't have the luxury to fool my nemesis. Five dozen skeletons were running toward me, and I was doubtful that I could fight them all with only my sword skills. Merlin saw that I came alone and probably decided it would be best to overwhelm me with the quantity rather than the quality of monsters.

I had no choice but to start casting my spells if I was to survive this attack! I calmly cast a Protection of Undead and then launched as many Fireballs as I could before the monsters reached me.

Fortunately, the formation of the skeletons was tightly packed, and each Fireball took down at least a half-dozen of them via impact and explosion. Furthermore, it appeared that their bones were very dry because the skeletal frames caught fire quickly. The scattered bones lit the nearby monsters on fire and caused the flames to spread. Before long, a wall of fire surrounded me!

The air in the courtyard quickly became filled with smoke. I covered my nose and mouth with the sleeve of my robe as I laid my head on the ground. I was no longer concerned that the skeletons will reach me because the raging fire will burn them to death sooner or later. But I could suffocate from smoke inhalation in the meantime. Therefore, I tried my best to lay low and focus on the act of breathing.

As I waited for the flames to burn out, I activated my Spirit Sense. As each skeleton "died," its black aura was snuffed out. After a few minutes, my aura was the only one present within the courtyard. Additionally, I hoped that by laying on the ground, Merlin would mistakenly believe that I was dead. In other words, I was playing possum.

While I was on the ground, I took the opportunity to clear up my in-game notifications. I received 100 XP for using Sprint. I earned 50 XP for each skeleton that I defeated or 3,000 XP in total. I had cast ten Fireballs and one Protection from Undead; I received a total of 800 XP for casting my spells. Finally, I received 200 XP for using my Spirit Sense.

I waited on the ground until my mana bar was filled. It took an hour and a half for this to occur. By then, the flames had been extinguished, leaving heavy smoke which hid my body from sight. I activated my Spirit Sense in search of any additional monsters nearby. However, I found none.

I cast Invisibility and sneaked across the ash-filled courtyard. My target was the door at the bottom of the mage tower. To my relief, I reached the door without triggering any traps.

I stared at the door, which was composed of oak wood. On the door was a carving of a sword stuck in a large stone. I smiled. The decoration was obviously about Excalibur stuck in the rock. It was a legend where whoever was able to pull the sword possessed the birthright to become the King of Britannia.

It took me a moment to understand why HiDeHo77 added this reference to the door. He was brought to Britannia and managed to claim kingship through his magical might alone. Thus, the Legend of Excalibur either didn't exist in this world, or the Church conveniently ignored it. But only a person from Merlin's homeworld would appreciate this point.

I reached out with my left hand to pull on the door handle, but I immediately snapped my hand back. Given Merlin's nasty character, I wouldn't be surprised if he placed the carving on the door to lull me into relaxing my guard--namely, there was a trap on the door!

I dropped my Invisibility and cast Detect Trap on the door. Sure enough, the door emitted a blood red aura. I quickly skimmed my in-game notifications to read the latest one: "Detect trap SUCCESSFUL. +50 XP. Trap effect DISCOVERED: Petrification. +100 XP."

My jaw dropped upon reading this message. Merlin tried to turn me into stone! It was just like him to make my mission as painful as possible. He was probably watching me and hoping that I would fall into his trap. I was very tempted to give him a middle-finger salute, but I remembered that the Gamemaster and his Gods were probably watching, too.

I took a few steps back and inhaled deeply. I cast Create Earth Elemental.

A humanoid figure made of stone appeared before me.

I pointed at the door and said, "Please open it."

My minion grabbed the door handle and pulled.

A red light flashed and stuck the elemental. But nothing happened to it.

I smirked. The Earth Elemental was immune to earth magic, including petrification. Thus, the trap did not affect my minion. I dismissed the creature.

I peered inside and cast Detect Trap again.

However, a male voice said with irritation, "It's about time."