Chapter 188: Successive Constructions

"A promise?"

Samir was momentarily taken aback before he seemed to recall something, tapping his forehead lightly. "Seeing the Edoro Potion finally completed got me so excited, I nearly forgot. That old coot—I had to spend almost half a month trying to convince him, even offering up my secret technique for infusing mithril into an alchemical creature, just to trade for a piece of Hundred-Year Cold Essence."

As Samir spoke, he retrieved a large, sealed glass container from his ring. The glass jar, as wide as a basin, was tightly enclosed. Within the thick glass, a translucent, faintly white block of ice rested.

Merlin's eyes narrowed slightly. He had seen such glass jars in the Tower of All Things. Their fine craftsmanship and substantial thickness made them rare alchemical items, often costing over a hundred contribution points. A container like this was almost equivalent in value to a standard spellcasting tool. And now, it held the Hundred-Year Cold Essence Merlin had sought so fervently.

Samir smiled. "Inside is the Hundred-Year Cold Essence. That old coot kept it as a prized possession for more than a decade. If not for his desire for my mithril alchemy techniques, he'd never have traded it to me."

"Samir, you might want to inspect this Edoro Potion and verify its authenticity," Merlin suggested, holding out the completed potion. Samir, in turn, handed over the Hundred-Year Cold Essence.

Even through the thick glass, Merlin could feel an intense, bone-chilling cold emanating from the essence.

"Ha! It's the real Edoro Potion!"

Samir suddenly burst into laughter, examining the potion closely. It matched the description in the recipe perfectly—it was indeed a genuine Edoro Potion. However, the true efficacy would only reveal itself after he consumed it. Growing eager, Samir carefully put away the potion and said to Merlin, "Mage Merlin, I'll return once my spell model is stabilized to express my gratitude properly!"

With that, Samir turned and left, his alchemical creature trailing behind him.

Both Brunton and the old man let out a sigh of relief, quickly offering their congratulations to Merlin. "Congratulations, Mage Merlin."

Though they weren't sure what Merlin intended to do with the Hundred-Year Cold Essence, they could tell from the exquisite jar that it must be a treasure of extraordinary value.

Gazing at the essence within the glass jar, Merlin felt a surge of excitement. With the matter of Samir finally resolved, he could now focus on preparing the Phantom and Blueberry Potions to further enhance his mental power.

After explaining his plan to Brunton and the old man, Merlin returned to his room, ready to continue his alchemical pursuits.

---

A month later, Merlin gazed at the seven successfully crafted potions before him, a satisfied smile on his face.

Over the past month, he had been devoted to alchemy. Out of the twelve batches of materials for the Phantom Potion, Merlin had managed to produce four successful potions. With a success rate of roughly thirty percent for the Blueberry Potion as well, he created three potions out of nine sets of materials.

The Blueberry Potion was somewhat weaker than the Phantom Potion, so Merlin consumed all three Blueberry Potions first. Instantly, his mental power began to surge.

However, as with all potions, the effect of increasing mental power gradually diminished with repeated use. Still, Merlin's mental power saw substantial growth.

Next, he turned to the four Phantom Potions, whose effects would be even stronger than the Blueberry Potions. Over the course of four days, consuming one potion each day, Merlin's mental power soared, nearly doubling.

This was a substantial increase. His mental power now reached the peak of a level two mage, strong enough for him to construct either **Freezing Grip** or **Shadow Domain** without any issue.

However, building both spells would still be challenging. **Shadow Domain** demanded a massive amount of mental power. With his current reserves, he could certainly complete the **Shadow Domain**, but adding **Freezing Grip** afterward would be too taxing.

And since **Freezing Grip** was relatively less demanding, after constructing it, Merlin could potentially still have enough mental power to support two other, simpler level-one spells.

Additionally, with the Hundred-Year Cold Essence in hand, constructing **Freezing Grip** would allow him to begin training the Pandora Magic—**Extreme Ice Finger**.

His decision made, Merlin calmed his thoughts and activated the Matrix.

"Matrix, analyze level-one spell **Freezing Grip**."

"Beep. Task initiated. Analysis in progress."

Merlin was well-practiced in using the Matrix to construct spell models, so he quickly issued a series of commands, finally selecting the optimal model based on compatibility, stability, and power.

A complex spell model for **Freezing Grip** soon appeared in Merlin's mind.

**Freezing Grip** was highly intricate; second only to **Shadow Domain** among the spells he had learned. Naturally, its power was formidable. Constructing such a complex model required high compatibility and considerable mental power. Any small error could introduce instability, posing risks.

Fortunately, Merlin's current mental power was ample for constructing **Freezing Grip**, and with the Matrix to guide him in selecting a highly compatible model, these potential pitfalls were neutralized.

All that remained was for him to concentrate and carefully imprint the model into his mind.

Two days later, Merlin felt a jolt in his mind. A new spell model had successfully taken shape within his mental sea.

**Freezing Grip** was finally complete!

He could feel the cold radiating from within, as the spell model drew in ice-element particles from the environment to store as spell power. To speed up this process, Merlin retrieved some ice-element crystals, accelerating the model's absorption of spell power.

Next, Merlin turned to construct **Wind of Freedom**.

Compared to **Freezing Grip**, the mental power needed for **Wind of Freedom** was much lower. Merlin finished constructing this spell within a day, and his mental energy still had enough reserves.

He then decided to proceed with constructing **Thunderball**.

The mental power required for **Thunderball** was similar to that for **Wind of Freedom**, and within another day, Merlin imprinted the **Thunderball** model in his mind.

In this way, Merlin successfully constructed three level-one spells in succession. His mental sea now held the models for **Fury Flame**, **Wind of Freedom**, **Freezing Grip**, **Stone Guard**, and **Thunderball**!

Of the six schools of magic, Merlin had now constructed spells for five; only **Shadow Domain** remained. Once he completed it, Merlin would become a fully realized level-one mage, meeting the conditions for continued advancement within the Shadow Realm.

Yet **Shadow Domain** was notoriously complex, requiring extraordinary mental power. With his current reserves, Merlin estimated that he would need a mental power comparable to a level-three mage to successfully construct **Shadow Domain**.

Merlin then focused on charging his newly constructed spell models with elemental crystals, stopping once each spell held enough power for roughly ten castings—a sufficient buffer for most battles.

With that done, he retrieved the large glass jar holding the Hundred-Year Cold Essence.

"The **Freezing Grip** model is stable… it's time to train in the **Extreme Ice Finger**!"

As he prepared to begin his Pandora Magic training, Merlin felt an uncommon thrill of anticipation. Not even during the construction of his recent spell models had he felt this level of excitement.

After taking a few deep breaths to calm himself, Merlin finally unscrewed the thick, sealed lid. Instantly, a piercing chill, like tendrils of white smoke, seeped from within the jar, filling the room with an intense, bone-chilling cold.