Metamorphosis!

His ragged breaths gradually calmed.

Merlin and Yol had stopped sparring.

The Equipment Slot appeared before him.

Synchronization Value: [24%]

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A week passed, and his Synchronization Value with the Lynx had increased significantly again.

At this moment, Yol, standing before him, looked at Merlin with flushed cheeks. Her slightly parted red lips closed, and her panting also began to subside.

"I've noticed your speed and burst have become more and more incredible recently!"

Her eyes held a sense of urgency and helplessness. She had thought that after learning swordsmanship, she could efficiently utilize her body's potential and become stronger than Merlin.

Merlin's lips curled into a smile as he noticed the dejection in Yol's eyes.

"Want to surpass me? Yol, don't dream during the day. Save your dreams for when you sleep at night!"

Hearing this, Yol immediately rolled her eyes in annoyance and gritted her teeth.

"Don't get cocky. I've already visualized a greatsword in my consciousness.

I feel my consciousness is becoming more condensed. I can also become more focused when I practice sword fighting. My efficiency is very high now, and soon, my swordsmanship will surpass yours.

Just you wait, I will definitely crush you in swordsmanship in the future."

Merlin's eyes showed a hint of speechlessness upon hearing this. "You're crossing the bridge and burning it behind you. Without me, could you have visualized it so successfully?

You're like a reckless madwoman. When you get tired from practicing sword fighting, you visualize. After visualizing, you start practicing again. If I hadn't absorbed your fatigue Calamity, even with your good physique, you wouldn't be able to withstand this kind of training.

Moreover, even after I absorbed this Calamity for you, training like this still has some impact on you.

If you don't know how to balance work and rest, you're depleting your future potential. It's like only consuming without replenishing. Do you think your body is an infinite perpetual motion machine?"

Criticized by Merlin, Yol couldn't help but turn her eyes away, feeling a bit helpless.

"I'll be careful from now on, okay? Besides, aren't you doing the same thing?"

"..." Merlin was speechless. Calamity was his Ability. Using it consumed his stamina and energy. Once he reached a certain level of exhaustion, Merlin would rest.

He knew how to manage that balance.

"We are different."

As Merlin said this, a deep determination flashed in Yol's eyes. She then smiled and said, "Alright! I get it. I'll replenish a lot of nutrients and get plenty of sleep after my Cultivation.

Can't the physical and mental fatigue be replenished this way? And doesn't this high-intensity training also allow me to grow faster?"

Merlin shook his head. Seeing that she had said this, he didn't press the matter further.

As long as she understood the dangers of excess and was willing to change, that was enough.

He took out his pocket watch and checked the time. "It's already twelve o'clock. Let's go eat!"

Upon hearing this, Yol, who was stretching her shoulders, causing her chest to tremble slightly, nodded.

She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, then smiled and said, "Let's go then! After lunch and a nap, we'll continue our Cultivation!"

Merlin smiled and nodded. He found Lami with Yol and took her with them to the student cafeteria.

Before long, they walked through the cafeteria entrance.

At this moment, Merlin was surprised to find that most of the students in the cafeteria were focused on a table near the front.

There was a table for two, where a young man and a young woman were eating.

The man had purple hair cut to his neck with a middle part, and a strand of hair naturally fell over his forehead. His sharp, dark gold eyes appeared somewhat gentle as he chatted with the woman opposite him while eating.

The woman had wheat-colored blonde hair and purple eyes as clear as a spring. Merlin vaguely sensed a presence around her that was both light and heavy.

They appeared to be around eighteen or nineteen years old.

They had delicate features and tall figures, dressed in the dojo's purple and black training uniforms. However, at this moment, her eyes looked somewhat helplessly at the slightly older youth opposite her, who bore a four-part resemblance to her.

Lami noticed Merlin's gaze drifting over there and whispered, "These two are Teacher Fiore's children. They visited our training grounds this morning. The senior sister, Teresa, even gave a basic swordsmanship lesson herself!

Her teaching was much better than Senior Brother Orr's."

After Lami's explanation, a look of understanding flashed in Merlin's eyes. No wonder his keen senses had detected a somewhat dangerous aura from the two of them.

Like father, like son!

Merlin thought to himself, then stopped paying attention to them. He and Yol went to the cafeteria's food counter to get their meals.

Lunch today was particularly abundant, perhaps because Fiore's children had returned.

The main dish looked like the meat of some sea beast. It tasted exceptionally delicious, and as it filled his stomach, he could feel a warm current spreading within him.

Therefore, Merlin ate five large plates, until he could eat no more.

After Merlin began his cultivation, the Calamity Fruit's Ability consumed a significant amount of energy. Coupled with the Lynx Equipment, Merlin's appetite grew with each passing day, showing signs of developing into a peculiar creature known as a "bottomless pit."

Merlin felt helpless about this.

But he could only bear it with a mix of pain and pleasure.

After all, being able to eat well was a good thing.

There were simply too many delicious ingredients in this world. Without a good appetite, he would be quite pitiful in the future.

Yol, standing beside him, had a similar experience. As she cultivated, her appetite also began to change significantly.

As a result, their dining table gradually became piled with two stacks of plates, attracting quite a bit of attention.

Next to the two people not far away, Monde sat eating. Upon seeing Merlin and Yol's still considerable appetites, envy flashed in his eyes:

"It's great that you can eat so much. Merlin, you and Miss Yol truly live up to the 'genius' title our teacher speaks of!"

Monde spoke without thinking, but his words piqued Fulvio's interest. The purple-haired Fulvio turned his head towards Monde and asked with a light laugh:

"Monde, are they the new students my old man just took in?"

Monde blinked and looked back at Fulvio, who was speaking to him. A hint of excitement appeared in his eyes:

"That's right, Senior Fulvio. Merlin and Yol are the VIP students I met and who the teacher just accepted half a month ago.

They are both very talented. They've already finished their basic training and have started cultivating on their own!"

"Mer...lin?"

Fulvio smiled and nodded, a glint appearing in his eyes. He then looked at Teresa, a brilliant smile forming on his lips:

"Sister! Are you interested in going to find them later? VIP students, you know!

It's our duty as siblings to help our old man guide them!"

Teresa rolled her eyes at her brother, "You usually don't like teaching these VIP students at all, do you?"

Fulvio shook his head gently, glancing at Merlin with a meaningful look:

"That young man is not simple! If I'm not mistaken, he should be..."

He stopped speaking, a flicker of an unreadable expression in his eyes.

Hearing his words, Teresa's eyes also narrowed. She looked at her brother with confusion, but a similar curiosity began to bloom in her own eyes.

After lunch.

Merlin and Yol brought Lami to an indoor VIP training area not far from the ginkgo forest training grounds behind the manor.

The environment here was spacious and quiet.

The three sat on the wooden floor.

Merlin dissipated the Black Flame in his hand. Lami hummed comfortably and hugged Merlin's arm, giggling:

"As expected of my Brother Merlin, with you here, Lami feels like she has infinite energy."

Yol's eyes were gentle and smiling. She pointed her index finger at Lami's forehead and then repeated what Merlin had told her that morning to Lami.

Lami looked at Merlin with a pained expression:

"Brother Merlin, you're not wrong. Sister Yol really is like my mother."

"Pfft!" Merlin couldn't help but laugh out loud. Seeing Yol's face suddenly turn bright red with a cute expression, he chuckled:

"It seems Lami is a bit asking for it today! If I were you, I wouldn't be able to stand it."

Lami blinked and immediately shrunk her neck, looking at Merlin with tears welling up. She let out a mournful cry:

"Brother Merlin, how could you do this?"

"Sister Yol, I was wrong! You..."

But at this moment, Yol's hands had already grabbed Lami's cheeks and were pulling them outwards.

"You little Lami, you've gotten brave now! How dare you make fun of me!"

"Wuwuwu... I was wrong!"

Merlin watched their playful antics, a smile appearing on his lips. He then sat down to the side, closed his eyes, and began to breathe rhythmically.

The method of visualization guidance that Fiore had initially taught, which involved slight poisoning through oxygen intake, was crude but effective.

However, once visualization was successful, that crude method was no longer necessary. Once the "seed" of visualization appeared, one only needed to calm themselves down to enter that state of visualization anywhere.

Breathing was merely an aid.

An aid to calm oneself.

The purpose of visualization, as Yol had said, was to condense consciousness.

By consuming one's own mental energy, one continuously sketched and filled in the details of the visualized object within their consciousness, thereby strengthening their mental will and fortifying their mind from the outside in.

At this moment, a powerful lynx with a majestic countenance appeared in his mind.

It lay crouched, its throat vibrating, its muscles and sinews rippling as if it were about to pounce forward at any second.

Consuming his mental energy, Merlin visualized the lynx in his mind. The lynx's every movement and posture manifested vividly within his consciousness. At the same time, Merlin didn't notice that as time passed, the image of the [Lynx] in his Equipment Slot began to gradually flicker with a hazy azure light.

Unknowingly, Merlin's consciousness fell into a peculiar state. He felt as if he had become a lynx, freely roaming and hunting in a vast mountain forest.

He lay in silent ambush, his entire body rippling, waiting for prey to approach, then pouncing with lightning speed. In an instant, the hunt was successful under sharp fangs and claws.

His body and mind filled with joy, he let out a low growl.

Meanwhile, Deep within his consciousness, in the Equipment Slot.

Streams of hazy azure light points quietly flew out from the lynx's image, merging into the void of his consciousness.

At the same time, In every corner of Merlin's body, specks of azure light began to emerge.

A wondrous transformation was occurring.