Waldecian Academy

Arthur’s expedition took seven days to get to Waldecian.

Waldecian was the city under the rule of the Church of Light, a place comparable to one of the kingdoms in this realm.

Even though the Church of Light did not possess such great expanses, this place was not any weaker than the great five kingdoms. Also, the church was located at the center of all kingdoms, and it gained respect from the five.

They drove into this kingdom-like city; it was not inferior to any kingdoms’ capital cities. This place had people walking everywhere as well as a lot of outlandish establishments.

Waldecian was an open city; it became a trading place since it was located among several lands. So, it was known as the center of this world.

Every inch of the city was filled with trading areas where people came to trade things. Big markets in the city allowed citizens to buy, sell, or trade almost everything. Tons of goods were sold in this city.

The currency used for trading was called “Zeni.” If a transaction requiring a lot of money took place, they would use gemstones to trade instead. These gems were “crystals,” “rubies,” and “diamonds.”

One crystal could be exchanged for ten thousand zenis.

One ruby could be exchanged for one hundred thousand zenis.

One diamond could be exchanged for one million zenis.

Not only that, but this realm also had a magical gizmo that helped manage things; it was called “a magical ring,” a magical tool made by an alphabet user.

Alphabet users were able to “carve magical alphabets” onto tools.

And in Merlin’s perspective, making a magical instrument was not so different from making an occult one. The only difference was that they required different sources of power.

For he was a mere servant, it was certain that Merlin could never attain a magical ring, unlike Arthur and Ameria, a son of a duke and a daughter of a well-off merchant. Those rings were the essentials they had to carry with them all the time.

Apparently, both Arthur and Ameria were not carrying any belongings on them as they had already put their stuff in their magical rings.

While their carriage was moving past the crowd, Merlin in the driver seat at the front could clearly see the city’s scenery. He found a lot of strong wizards along with some non-human beings here and there.

Correct. Millions of species existed in this world and humankind was one of them. In the city that was the center of the world, it was no surprise to find different species of beings.

This city had tons of wizards; they were all strolling around the place. And many of them were wearing eye-catching red and gray cloaks.

Finally, they arrived in the Waldecian Academy’s area. This school was packed with gigantic buildings and magnificent architecture.

But the most striking thing stood at the front of a huge building: an enormous statue, over thirty meters tall. It was a statue of a great man wearing a brilliant golden priest outfit. His right hand was holding on to a massive cane while his left hand was holding a strange-looking book.

This statue sent out such a powerful, archaic sense.

Seeing it for the first time, everyone praised how gracious and majestic the statue was.

And regarding the wizards who wore golden cloaks, in this place, only “the Holy Priests” wore them because golden cloaks were the symbols of the wizards possessing the supreme-wizard level of power.

The Holy Priests were the Church of Light’s most powerful figures; their powers were on the same line as the guardians of the five great kingdoms. Because of the existence of these figures, this city was seen as a sacred place; nobody dared to provoke them.

Merlin drove the carriage past the statue to the inside, which was almost one kilometer. Then he stopped at a huge, grandiose building.

Compared to Duke Cowe or the Szirteses’ castles, this place was so much bigger. Dazzling and luxurious, the building boasted its wealth and grandeur.

There were a lot of people in front of the building. A man said…

“Look at that pillar! It was made of marble and carved with such splendid traceries. It is so massive! We probably need at least ten people to go around it. And it’s as tall as a hundred meters!”

“Oh! Heaven! Seems like it’s reaching heaven. Extraordinary!”

Voices were praising this place!

Thousands of people were moving into the center of the hallway like ocean waves. Because today was the last day of enrollment.

Arthur had the privilege of being a royalty from one of the great kingdoms. He did not need to enroll or take any examinations for he was already accepted by the king of Aragon.

Walking into the building, they were politely welcomed by the officials and then were brought to the residences.

But the girl who stuck along was merely a daughter of a merchant not of royal blood like Arthur, she got on her way to enrollment just like everyone else.

And the guards, who had been guarding Arthur’s expedition, went back as soon as they had finished their mission.

Merlin came here as Arthur’s follower and had to take care of him, so he also got the privilege to enter the academy.

Although he was able to enter the academy, Merlin was not here as a student. He had no privilege to study here—he was just a servant.

With some memories that the old Merlin had left behind, having arrived at Arthur’s room, present Merlin performed his job smoothly just like how he used to do.

He took all of Arthur’s belongings out of the magical ring; then neatly organized them into the room. He, after that, prepared warm water for Arthur to bathe in and went down to the academy’s cafeteria to order Arthur some food. These were Merlin’s routines.

After he had finished all his work and made sure that Arthur was resting, he slipped out to look around the academy.

Outside the student accommodation area, Merlin was now moving swiftly. As he was leaping, his feet only had to touch the treetops lightly, and he soared.

Exactly! This was levitation art!

It was his original levitation technique, “Moon Spring.”

How could Merlin levitate?

Because he had already achieved level three of Qi accumulation.

On the fifth night of the trip, after everyone had gone to sleep, Merlin snuck out to a quiet, isolated space and mediated to accumulate Xian energy.

As a matter of fact, his calculation was wrong. At first, he thought that he would be able to reach the third stage on the first day of the journey. But it seemed like he had underestimated the cultivation. It took him five days to have eventually drilled it.

A practice was still a practice. Even if there was a marvelous power resource, its difficulty stayed the same. Anyway, he could still cultivate faster than he used to. Magical powers tremendously advanced his cultivation.

When Merlin had achieved level three of Qi accumulation, his body changed. Every tendon and sinew in his body was twisted and rearranged. The torment for level-drilling was as harsh as ever.

But after achieving it, the result was worthwhile. Now his body had gained such tremendous speed.

He could do his practice every night. He did not need sleep because the practice revived and freshened up his body and made it feel like he had been resting for nights.

The Xian-vital-essence cultivation was more phenomenal than any typical sciences. Ones who could cultivate Xian energy were no longer considered ordinary humans.

Then Merlin revived his arts.

The levitation art, “Moon Spring,” was one of them. Skilled since his past life, he was able to understand and practice the technique fast. It only took him a short while to revive all his arts.

Because of the restrictions of his cultivation level, he was still unable to utilize some arts or the higher techniques of those arts.

At this point, Merlin was able to levitate adeptly. He could even run on water surfaces or treetops.

If his cultivation level got higher, he would be able to even walk in the air.

Despite being great art, it would only be special during the Qi accumulation process. If he got into the stem-building zone, these arts would no longer be necessary because practitioners in the stem-building stage would be able to fly and walk freely in the air.

Flying was not restricted to this art or cultivation only. There was also another way to fly: utilizing an occult instrument.

Occult instruments were special treasures of the practitioners. Besides being used for fighting, they were capable of other things as well. And one of those was flying.

It was easy to say that, for ascetic practitioners, flying and walking in the air were as easy as pie.

Merlin continuously used his Moon Spring levitation art to leap around the place.

This night was showered in the moonlight. When he arrived at a place that he guessed was a botanic garden, his eyes spotted three individuals doing something suspicious.

They were sneaking into a geodesic dome in that botanical area.

Suspecting something, Merlin followed those people closely. But heaven did not move for him for a flock of birds on the tree that he was hiding behind got alarmed.

The wing-flapping sound made one of them shout out

“Who’s there!”

After saying that, someone mumbled something. And at the end of the sentence, he said,

“Waterball.”

Magical energy in the air was turned into the shape of a spiraling sphere.

As the guy shook his hand, the magical sphere raced in the direction Merlin was standing.

That ball moved fiercely and powerfully.