Mage's Profound Truths

Chapter 24: Encounter (Part Two)

Merlin tilted his ear, carefully listening to the sounds inside the room.

Because he insisted on practicing the movements from that mysterious relief sculpture, all of Merlin's sensitivity had greatly improved; any slight sound in the room, he could hear.

"Why is there no more sound?"

Merlin frowned. He had just heard faint footsteps, seemingly having reached the door, but suddenly there was no sound at all.

"Bang."

With a loud crash, the wooden door beside Merlin was suddenly smashed apart by a punch, sending splinters flying in all directions. Right after, a hand quickly reached through the hole in the door, followed by a flash of white light.

"Whoosh."

It was a sharp dagger, stabbing directly at Merlin.

"I've been discovered!"

Merlin immediately realized that his whereabouts had been exposed.

The dagger was incredibly fast. Merlin had no time to block and had to roll on the spot, narrowly avoiding the strike in a rather awkward manner.

"Damn."

Merlin was furious inside and couldn't help cursing. He hadn't even seen what the attacker looked like and had nearly been killed. He had been too careless.

After cursing, Merlin didn’t just wait for death. Instead, his body suddenly tensed like a fierce leopard. With explosive strength, he charged hard toward the wooden door.

"Crash."

The wooden door was completely smashed this time. Merlin felt himself crash into a soft body, directly knocking the other person into the wooden house.

The wooden house was very dark. The curtains had been nailed shut, likely by the city guard squad. The small house was almost completely sealed, and because of long-term lack of ventilation, it reeked with a musty and unpleasant smell.

After knocking the opponent away, Merlin immediately jumped up from the ground, eyes alert as he stared at the other person, and asked in a low voice, "Who exactly are you?"

The mysterious person in front of him was wearing a black robe. The loose robe obscured their figure, and a large black hood covered their head, hiding their face as well.

Faced with Merlin's question, the black-robed figure did not reply, but raised the dagger in their hand again. Their wide robe even began to sway slightly, as if gusts of wind were circling around them.

"Hmm? Wind element? An Elemental Swordsman?"

Merlin was already highly sensitive to elements. The wind element fluctuation around the other person was strong, completely enveloping them. They were definitely an Elemental Swordsman, and judging from the fluctuation, probably just a first-rank one.

"Whoosh."

The black-robed figure moved in a flash, their speed reaching the extreme. Even in the dim wooden house, Merlin’s sharp senses couldn't track them. Their speed was simply too fast.

Merlin could only stay still, responding to all changes with no change. As soon as he sensed movement around him, he would throw a punch without hesitation. But every strike seemed to hit empty air, leaving him frustrated and powerless.

"Chss."

Suddenly, Merlin felt a chill on his neck, accompanied by a strong sense of danger. He hurriedly tilted his neck slightly, and the sharp dagger grazed his neck.

Fortunately, Merlin dodged in time, and because his body had become tough from training with the mysterious relief, the attack only cut his skin.

Even so, Merlin broke out in a cold sweat. Just a little more and his neck would have been slashed open.

“Damn it, too fast.”

Merlin cursed softly. The opponent was a Gale Swordsman, specializing in speed. Their ghost-like movements were too fast, and Merlin couldn't even track them, let alone land a hit.

The room was too dark. Fighting a Gale Swordsman in such an environment would definitely be a disadvantage.

Thinking of this, Merlin suddenly turned and ran crazily toward the outside.

"Whoosh whoosh."

However, the mysterious figure seemed even faster, cutting off Merlin ahead and stabbing his chest with the dagger once again.

"Got you, die!"

A faint smile appeared at the corner of Merlin’s mouth. By the light at the door, he clearly saw the black shadow in front of him—this was his chance to strike.

"Fireball!"

A fireball appeared out of thin air and roared as it shot directly toward the mysterious person. The high heat it emitted was strikingly evident in the dark room.

The fireball was very fast, and the opponent seemed slightly stunned by its sudden appearance. Only having time to dodge sideways, the fireball crashed into the black hooded cloak.

The fireball's temperature was extremely high. With almost no resistance, it burned off half of the cloak, revealing a head of beautiful golden hair.

The room was dark, and although Merlin couldn’t see the expression on the opponent’s face, he could guess—it must have been one of shock.

While the opponent was still stunned, Merlin lunged forward, his big hand like a fan grabbing the opponent’s robe, and fiercely slammed them to the ground.

"Bang."

Merlin’s strength was formidable—this slam sent the opponent reeling—but the mysterious figure was indeed an Elemental Swordsman, with excellent physical qualities, still managing to raise a hand and stab toward Merlin's neck.

“Hmph!”

Merlin snorted coldly, grabbed the opponent's hand with his left, then seized the mysterious person’s hair with his right hand and, without hesitation, smashed their head hard against the wall.

“Bang bang bang.”

After slamming three times and seeing the mysterious person stop struggling and collapse limply to the ground, Merlin finally stopped.

Merlin panted heavily; this was his first time facing such a dangerous opponent, and it was a fight to the death.

Though in terms of strength, Merlin was a powerful mage capable of defeating any first or second-level Elemental Swordsman with ease, he had still nearly died just now.

If one couldn’t apply magic effectively in real combat, then no matter how powerful the spells were, they were useless.

Old man Aeta had only mastered two zero-level spells, just like Merlin—both of them were novice spellcasters.

In the spellcaster ranking, novices were considered substandard, even not real spellcasters yet.

Only those who mastered three zero-level spells and upgraded them all to first-level spells could be considered first-level spellcasters.

Even though Aeta was just a novice, he had easily handled a Guardian Swordsman from Gran City.

Even a second-level Elemental Swordsman like Borg was no match for him, showing that spellcasters’ power far exceeded that of Elemental Swordsmen.

But today, Merlin was nearly killed by a first-level Elemental Swordsman—this showed that his combat experience was seriously lacking.

He hadn’t even found the chance to cast a single spell at first, a fatal flaw for a spellcaster.

Merlin touched his neck and found sticky blood on his hand—it was just a surface wound, and the bleeding had already stopped.

This was a serious lesson!

“If I had cast Fireball from the start and blown the door open, no matter how fast he was, he couldn’t have harmed me.”

Merlin reviewed his shortcomings during the fight; he was still not accustomed to the mindset or combat habits of a spellcaster.

A spellcaster should deal with enemies using spells from a distance, not engage in close combat with an Elemental Swordsman.

The black-clad person still lay on the ground; after being slammed a few times by Merlin, they wouldn't be waking up soon.

So Merlin stood up and walked over, reaching out to remove the half-burned black hood from their head.

Even after fighting for so long, Merlin hadn’t gotten a clear look at the enemy’s face.

The hood was lifted, revealing long golden hair that had been partially burned and gave off a charred smell.

“What a pity, such beautiful hair.”

Merlin shook his head slightly, praising the golden hair—though a fireball had burned some of it, leaving the once golden hair partly scorched and blackened.

The black-clad person lay sideways, their hair covering their face. Merlin gently brushed the hair aside to reveal the face beneath.

“Hm?”

Merlin narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze sharpening instantly.

“Jia?”

The black-clad person lying on the ground was actually Jia, the history teacher.

Merlin remembered that even Gutt had used his family’s influence to investigate Jia’s identity, but found nothing—yet here she was.

Moreover, Jia’s actions earlier were clearly far beyond what a normal teacher was capable of.

As Merlin pondered Jia’s relationship with old man Aeta, he heard a soft groan from her nose—she was waking up.

Merlin stepped back and fixed his gaze on her.

After a moment, he heard her breathing quicken and smiled faintly: “Stop pretending. You’re awake—why not open your eyes?”

Sure enough, upon hearing Merlin’s words, Jia opened her eyes and looked at him calmly.

“Wilson Merlin? I didn’t expect Mr. Aeta would actually accept you as a true disciple.”

Just as Jia tried to struggle to her feet, Merlin raised a hand, and a fireball appeared and struck the floor beside her.

“Boom.”

The fireball exploded on the wooden floor, blasting a large hole that still emitted black smoke.

“Don’t try anything funny, or next time the fireball will explode on you.”

Merlin warned Jia with his actions. After a month of training in mental meditation, his spiritual strength had improved, and more importantly, his control over Fireball had become more precise—he would no longer lose control.