Chapter 48: Oh! This? It's simple, I'm no longer human~

POV of Leylin Blight

"Who are you?? And why are you familiar to me?" The Collector's voice seems wary.

She must have understood that I'm not like the weaklings she usually encounters from the Titan. I simply smiled slightly as I approached the shadow.

It was a projection of her consciousness, an ability that many powerful beings can execute. I remember that at one time, I wanted to try to reproduce this through oracle magic.

The time when I studied the magic of the Boiling Isles seems so distant. I should still continue to study it. There are really so many possibilities. I remember that Luz was able to physically enter Belos' mind.

I can do something similar thanks to Bill Cipher's power, but my body will remain in the physical plane.

Magic is truly incredible...

"I am Leylin Blight, a magus. And you?" I just wanted to talk, I don't need to scare this "child" with my knowledge.

"I... I am known as the Collector," he introduces himself, hesitating a bit.

"Don't be afraid, Collector. I have no intention of hurting your 'friend'. I just want to talk, and if possible, make a friend." I glanced towards Belos' location.

The Collector looks in his direction, visibly worried. He must have understood that I can kill Belos at any moment.

After my words, she lets out a sigh of relief before a smile slowly forms on her face.

"You want to become my friend too?!" He rushes towards me in his shadow form before coming to rest on my shoulder.

She had no weight, she is literally an energetic or spiritual entity in this form.

"Of course, but... I want you to do me a small favor, or to be more precise... to make me a little promise."

I say it in a serious tone. The Collector seems to roll his eyes with an air of "here we go again" upon hearing my words.

"What do you want from me?? A special spell, like Belos?"

"No, haha, I've moved past that." I would have been interested before my stay in Gravity Falls, but now things are different.

"I want you to become friends with my daughter too. But before that, you must offer her a little fight."

I showed an illusion of my daughter Evy. The Collector looked at her for a moment before having an expression of realization.

"You're the father of that person!!!"

"Uh... yes, I already said that, didn't I?"

She started asking me various questions about Evy, like her favorite colors and other things.

I answered patiently and found myself, surprisingly, playing a bit with him.

"Well, I'm going. I can't stop time for too long."

I could keep it suspended if I really wanted to, but there would be various consequences on the reality of this universe, like a temporal fracture resulting from the discord between my time and that of the universe, as well as other complex phenomena.

I don't want to deal with beings from the 4th dimension coming to correct my mistakes.

(Image)

I erased Belos's memories of me and opened a portal to leave.

"Hey!! Will you come back to play with me?"

Faced with this sudden question, I stopped my walk towards the portal. I wanted to refuse at first.

You have to understand that I have a ton of experiments to accomplish and various realities waiting for my visit. But I simply couldn't refuse this creature's request.

It seems that playing with him slightly soothes me...

"I'll come regularly." I smiled as I took his finger to perform his little promise ceremony.

The Collector was slightly surprised by my gesture before displaying a wide happy smile. I crossed the portal a few minutes later.

Yes, I'll come back to play with you, Collector.

Now that I think about it, it would be interesting to combine my lineage with that of the Collector... Nah.

I have enough trouble with Evy. I'm not going to add more, and his childish appearance prevents me from crossing that line.

That doesn't prevent me from realizing that I've been a virgin for a few centuries... I really hope Merlin will have more success on his side.

....

POV of the narrator

"Fascinating..." resonated an immature but strangely inhuman voice at the same time.

"The experiment is a great success. I can clearly feel that I'm no longer human." Merlin was lying in the remains of the clearly damaged capsule.

He didn't yet know how long he had spent inside, he had just woken up.

*Brink*, the sound of breaking glass.

He slowly got out of the damaged capsule that contained him before heading towards a mirror not far away that was still intact. Before him stood a child with golden eyes and white hair.

This child had the peculiarity of reptilian eyes or similar to those of a cat, and two horns slightly protruding from his beautiful short hair.

There were also various scales on his extremely pale skin.

(Image)

"I can also feel that my soul itself has undergone overwhelming changes. The spiritual energy emanating from me is enormous."

He knew that a baby dragon equals a rank 1 magus. Although Merlin isn't really a true dragon, his DNA literally screamed "dragon".

He is literally an artificial humanoid dragon. If the magi of the South Continent discovered this kind of method, then the problems related to certain advanced meditation techniques would be solved.

It's really a precious method and information, but Merlin doesn't plan to disclose it in this world.

This would lead to a massive hunt for all creatures descending from a mythical being. So, an extinction of various races.

Merlin didn't want to attract the attention of the Will of the World of magi in such a stupid way.

"My spiritual energy must be around rank 3 acolyte judging by strange runes in my mental space. I burned through the stages, but it doesn't matter, because I'm currently on a path similar to that of the Warlock."

The path that Merlin has taken is the draconic way. He will literally have no bottleneck in his evolution towards the top, just like Leylin Farlier and the Warlocks.

Dragons are the cherished children of the world in every reality. They become stronger with time.

He didn't even need to create his own runes in his mental space, they formed themselves thanks to the power of his lineage.

It's a case similar to the inner spell that warlocks obtain by evolving each stage in the path towards a higher rank.

That's why Merlin had chosen this gamble. Currently, he has already won his bet at 60%, he just needs the rest of his meditation technique to guarantee him an assured path to rank 6, alias an immemorial dragon.

If he succeeds in reaching this stage, then he will only need to dig deeper into his lineage to become a mutation, like Leylin Farlier when he became a ruling variant: "The Kemoyin Serpent Emperor."

Thus, he will reach rank 6 of the red dragon race which originally reaches maturity at rank 5.

"I have a method to find the rest of my meditation technique, but... I'm going to need Grimm to do the job."

He's not worried about reaching rank 7, once at rank 6. He'll just need to complete his law.

He even had in mind a perfect target for a rank 6 fire dragon who desires to complete his fire law.

....

"I feel that master Kroft is really going to kill me this time," Bradley muttered, looking out the window of the manor.

It's been more than two weeks since young master Merlin left the manor without leaving too many explanations.

Bradley had a little idea of his current location, but it's a place where Merlin has strictly forbidden him to enter, even in case of important emergency.

"You really think master Kroft is the only one you owe explanations to?" Circe was sitting elegantly on a chair, but any magus could feel the wild fluctuations of her spiritual energy.

Bradley, being a great knight, couldn't perceive the elemental particles or the magical energy present in the room. Yet, he clearly felt the danger emanating from this young girl.

"I've already told you, Circe... sigh, master Merlin has strictly forbidden me from entering or disclosing information about this place."

Bradley was neither afraid nor offended by the behavior of the young girl who had studied the art of the sword under his tutelage. He even saw this behavior as a good sign.

'The young master has really managed to gain the upper hand over acolytes while he's so young.' Bradley couldn't help but smile involuntarily, which exasperated Circe even more.

Bam — the sound of a door slamming.

"Calm down, Circe. If Bradley didn't want to tell us anything, it's because Merlin was extremely strict about it."

Grimm didn't really appreciate his brother and friend Merlin's attitude, but he knew he never did things without reason.

"I know, but..." Circe began, before Grimm silenced her with a simple burst of his rank 3 acolyte aura.

"I advise you to go train rather than threaten the staff or doubt Merlin."

Although Grimm was usually friendly, he always adopted a different tone with people when he judged they were taking a dangerous path for their own good.

This is also why Merlin had already decided not to grant too much power to Grimm. He was a good friend, but not a good servant.

"You're really making noise ~", a relaxed voice resonated behind Grimm.

'How did he get behind me? Is he a magus or what?' Grimm was on guard against this intruder, but he took on a shocked expression when he recognized him.

"... young master?"

"Yeah, you should train your sensitivity to spiritual energy," Merlin said, nonchalantly passing Grimm before sitting down and signaling Bradley to bring food.

Grimm quickly pulled himself together, and Circe did the same. Only Bradley had adapted in a few seconds after a few glances.

'As expected from the one who practically raised me, he quickly recognized me despite my new appearance.' This made him slightly happy.

"Young master, where were you? And what's with this appearance? And how did you hide your presence?...", Circe chained, asking her questions one after the other without giving him time to breathe.

Merlin smiled slightly before gently tapping her forehead, in the manner of Itachi.

"Calm down, you can ask me your questions one by one. I'm not going to run away, haha." This act of Merlin brought a bit of relaxation to the tense atmosphere of the manor, as well as a touch of amusement.

"I know it's a slightly impolite question, but... why do you have this appearance?", asked Grimm, asking the question that really interested everyone.

"Oh, this? It's simple, I'm no longer human ~"