Chapter Summaries

Merlin and Wizard Betton traveled to a remote nameless island where Merlin searched its hidden volcanoes for Lava Soil. Merlin found a promising deposit, but the volcano began to erupt as he tried to collect it.

• Merlin persuaded Wizard Betton to take him to little-explored volcanoes that might contain Lava Soil.
• Betton and Merlin reached the nameless island, where strange, resilient insects attacked them as they crossed the grass.
• Betton pointed out three concealed volcanoes, and Merlin entered the first while Betton waited outside.
• Merlin found fiery-red Lava Soil embedded in a hot section of the volcano wall and began cutting it free.
• The volcano trembled, rocks fell, and firelight appeared below Merlin as the heat rapidly intensified.

Merlin and Betton escaped the erupting volcano with half of the Lava Soil, but a massive sea Vortex appeared as they sailed away. The Vortex seized Betton and then dragged Merlin beneath the sea.

• Betton saw the volcano begin to erupt and flew inside to rescue Merlin.
• Merlin escaped the crater with half the Lava Soil, and Betton carried him toward the beach before exhausting his mana and dropping him into the sea.
• Merlin and Betton left the nameless island by boat, but bubbles across the sea gathered into a vast Vortex that pulled their boat toward it.
• An invisible hand seized Betton and dragged him into the Vortex despite Merlin's warning.
• The Vortex's invisible hand crushed Merlin's Extreme Ice Finger and swept him down toward the seabed.

After the Vortex swallowed Merlin and Betton, they awoke in a protected bubble beneath the sea and discovered that it belonged to mysterious Ancient Ruins. Trapped there, they agreed to face the ruins’ three trials, and the Flame Man prepared to lead them onward.

• Merlin awoke beside Betton inside a vast bubble on the seabed, where they could move without feeling the ocean’s pressure.
• Betton recognized the place as likely Ancient Ruins, and Merlin’s ice and Annihilation Flame attacks failed to break the bubble.
• Merlin and Betton entered a chamber covered in runes, where a flame entity introduced itself as Fire Seed.
• Fire Seed explained that its master had left three trials and that Spellcasters who refused them would remain trapped until they died.
• Merlin and Betton agreed to attempt the trials, and Fire Seed’s multiple flames merged into two figures before them.

Merlin and Wizard Betton faced the first checkpoint, which created a mirror opponent matching each challenger. Betton surrendered after his mirror overwhelmed him, but Merlin exploited his mirror’s inability to imitate the Dark Heart and defeated it with Dark Tide and Extreme Ice Finger.

• The Flame Man explained that challengers had three attempts at each checkpoint, could surrender, and would be sent to the Flame Prison if they failed all three times while surviving.
• Wizard Betton challenged his mirror opponent, which matched his appearance and aura but controlled spells far better, and surrendered when his defense shattered.
• The Flame Man examined Merlin and added more magic power so Merlin’s mirror could reproduce his abilities, including his two types of Pandora Demon Energy and strong physique.
• Merlin found that his mirror had not copied the Dark Heart, then cast Dark Tide to trap it in an illusion and used Extreme Ice Finger to destroy it.
• The Flame Man congratulated Merlin for passing the first checkpoint and watched him with heightened interest.

After passing the first trial, Merlin entered the second, where he had to endure flames as powerful as a Fifth-Level Spell for half an hour without defensive spellcasting tools. His first attempt failed, but he realized there might be another way to pass and declared that the trial was not impossible.

• Merlin passed the first trial by using the Dark Heart, then asked whether Spellcaster Betton could leave if he passed all three trials.
• The Flame Man said Betton might have hope of leaving, and Merlin told him to wait while Merlin continued alone.
• The Flame Man explained that the second trial required Merlin to endure blazing flames for half an hour without defensive spellcasting tools.
• Merlin's Earth Curtain and Solidifying Ice failed against the flames, and his Extreme Ice Finger only slowed them briefly, so he surrendered his first attempt.
• The Flame Man revealed that the flames matched Fifth-Level Spell power and said only three people had passed the trial, including one Seventh-level Spellcaster.
• After seeing the remains of spellcasters trapped in the trial, Merlin said he believed passing it was still possible.

Merlin cultivated Molten Earth Demon Energy and fused it into Earth Curtain, allowing him to withstand the flames and pass the second trial. The Flame Man revealed that the third trial had defeated every previous challenger and that one gifted Spellcaster had ended up in the Flame Prison.

• Merlin used Lava Soil to cultivate Molten Earth Demon Energy over half a month.
• Merlin fused Molten Earth Demon Energy into Earth Curtain and found that it could withstand Extreme Ice Finger, a spell near the peak of the Fourth Level.
• Merlin attempted the second trial again and repeatedly cast Earth Curtain to endure the stone chamber's flames for half an hour.
• The Flame Man confirmed that Merlin was the fourth Spellcaster in three thousand six hundred years to pass the second trial.
• The Flame Man explained that three earlier challengers had failed the third trial, including one who possessed five kinds of Pandora Demon Energy and was sent to the Flame Prison after using all three attempts.

Merlin learned that the third checkpoint was guarded by a Flame Projection as powerful as a Seventh-level Spellcaster, leaving him convinced he could not pass it. After his mental power reached the peak of the Third Level, he remembered that Wizard Leo had given him a bracelet to save his life.

• Merlin asked the Flame Man to show him the third checkpoint, where the Flame Man identified a statue as the Master's Flame Projection.
• The Flame Man explained that the Flame Projection could rival a Seventh-level Spellcaster and had killed or defeated previous challengers.
• Merlin learned that the checkpoint's creator had killed a Seventh-level Spellcaster while only a Fourth-level Spellcaster, and Merlin doubted he could match that feat.
• Bell Space released Merlin's mental-power avatar, raising his mental power to the peak of the Third Level.
• Merlin remembered that Wizard Leo had given him a life-saving bracelet and looked at it on his wrist.

Merlin used Wizard Leo’s Dark Eye bracelet to challenge the third trial, but the Flame Projection overcame the bracelet’s attacks with its Essence of Flame. The Dark Eye phantom collapsed, leaving Merlin’s attempt unresolved.

• Merlin volunteered to face the third trial, and the Flame Man awakened the Flame Projection to judge him.
• The Flame Projection urged Merlin to withdraw because he was too weak, but Merlin insisted and activated the bracelet as the Projection attacked.
• The bracelet summoned a Dark Eye phantom, whose Illusion attack the Flame Projection tore apart.
• The Dark Eye’s Annihilate attack extinguished the Projection’s flames and began melting its body, but the Projection unleashed nearly transparent Essence of Flame.
• The Flame Projection’s Essence of Flame overwhelmed the Dark Eye’s Dispel attack, causing the phantom to collapse and disperse.

Merlin passed the third trial by using Leo’s life-saving bracelet, which unleashed the Dark Eye’s third form. The Flame Man led him to the master’s treasure, a Flame Law, and began merging into it so Merlin could inherit it.

• Leo sensed that Merlin had activated the bracelet and feared for his survival as the Dark Eye’s third form drained and injured him.
• The Dark Eye’s giant hand overcame the Flame Projection, and Merlin passed the third trial; the bracelet shattered after its single use.
• The Flame Man confirmed Merlin had passed and explained that Ofras created the seven-form Dark Eye and had slain true gods with it.
• The Flame Man led Merlin to a hidden room containing a tiny flame, which it identified as one of its master’s Flame Laws.
• The Flame Man revealed it was a fragment of consciousness from the Flame Law, merged into the flame, and urged Merlin to accept the inheritance.

Merlin inherited the Flame Law left behind by Nicolas the Legendary and learned about the spellcasters’ ancient golden age and their war against devils. The Law settled in Merlin’s Sea of Consciousness, and he began pouring his Mind Power into it to discover its effects.

• Merlin grasped the glass cover, triggering the runes to fly into his body and drawing him into a fiery space.
• Nicolas the Legendary recounted the Molta Empire’s golden age, his retreat from the devils, and his decision to leave behind the Flame Law.
• Merlin learned that the Law was a legacy from Nicolas, a Legendary Mage who had fought alongside spellcasters across countless Planes.
• Merlin returned to the room and discovered that the Flame Law had entered his Sea of Consciousness and was hovering above his Berserk Flame and Fireball Spell Models.
• Merlin poured all the Mind Power in his body into the Flame Law to investigate it.

Wizard Wu Mo learned that two Black Shark King Beasts had claimed the Kordomansla Archipelago and urged its three major powers to bargain with Great Wizard Kansu for help. Meanwhile, Merlin discovered that the Flame Law could control the seabed ruin and suppress flames, prompting him to consider integrating the Annihilation Flame into fire-element spells.

• Wizard Wu Mo told representatives of the Gray Feather Alliance and the Tower of Mages that two Black Shark King Beasts had joined forces and claimed the Kordomansla Archipelago.
• Wizard Wu Mo argued that the three major powers should offer valuable treasures to persuade Great Wizard Kansu to defend the archipelago rather than abandon their foundations.
• Merlin stimulated the Flame Law with his Mental Power and discovered that it let him control the ruin, a powerful alchemical construct that drew fire elements from spatial cracks.
• Merlin found that the Flame Law suppressed the Annihilation Flame and considered forcibly integrating it into fire-element spells.

Merlin tried to fuse Annihilation Flame into his spells while studying Nicola's Ship, then sent Wizard Betton back to the Kordomansla Archipelago. Betton arrived as a massive sea beast assault began, leaving the archipelago's defenders facing two powerful Black Shark King Beasts and a battle that had only just started.

• Merlin used Flame Law to suppress Annihilation Flame and began merging it with the flames in Berserk Flame and Fireball.
• Merlin examined Nicola's Ship and used its Rune Formation to send Wizard Betton to the Kordomansla Archipelago.
• Wizard Betton arrived on a beach and saw a vast wave of sea beasts heading toward the islands.
• Wizard Wu Mo asked Archmage Kansu to fight one Black Shark King Beast while the factions restrained the other, but Kansu warned that the two beasts might be too powerful.
• The Tower of Mages' Blackwater Formation crushed the first sea beasts that reached shore, but more charged onto the beach as Wizard Wu Mo warned the attack had only begun.

The Black Shark King Beasts shattered the beach’s defenses and overwhelmed Great Mage Kansu and the Ninth-level Spellcasters. Wu Mo ordered Udon Fort’s contracts dissolved and its members to flee, while Merlin sensed the contract’s release aboard Nicola's Ship.

• The two Black Shark King Beasts broke the Blackwater Formations and attacked the shore.
• Great Mage Kansu used a Fusion Spell against one King Beast while Wu Mo and eight Ninth-level Spellcasters surrounded the other.
• The King Beast injured two Ninth-level Spellcasters with a single tail sweep, and Wu Mo realized they could not win.
• Wu Mo announced the defeat and dissolved every Udon Fort contract so its members could flee.
• Deep beneath the sea aboard Nicola's Ship, Merlin sensed that the contract had been dissolved.

Merlin merged Annihilation Flame into his fire spells and discovered Nicola's Ship could unleash a strike comparable to a Legendary Mage. He found two King Beasts attacking the Kordomansla Archipelago and resolved to face the disaster threatening Udon Fort.

• Merlin used the Flame Law to merge Annihilation Flame into Berserk Flame, greatly increasing its power.
• Merlin sensed that Udon Fort had dissolved its contract with him and turned Nicola's Ship toward the Kordomansla Archipelago.
• Merlin discovered that Nicola's Ship was a powerful casting tool capable of rivaling a Legendary Mage, though activating it required law power and enormous energy.
• Merlin saw countless sea beasts attacking the Kordomansla Archipelago and two King Beasts ravaging the shore near Wu Mo and other Spellcasters.
• Merlin remembered Wu Mo and Betton, decided Udon Fort should not fall, and the Flame Law in his Sea of Consciousness began to change.

Great Mage Kansu's Earth Giant failed to defeat the Black Shark King Beast, and the spellcasters began fleeing as the Kordomansla Archipelago fell. Just as Udon Fort's three lords prepared to make a last stand, a colossal flame giant appeared, and Mage Betton recognized its face as Mage Merlin's.

• Great Mage Kansu summoned an Earth Giant to fight the Black Shark King Beast, but warned Mage Wu Mo and the others that he could not win and prepared to leave.
• Spellcasters from the Tower of Mages and the Gray Feather Alliance fled, while Mage Wu Mo, Mage Deep, and Mage Feir chose to stay behind and buy time for Udon Fort's younger spellcasters to escape.
• Mage Wu Mo, Mage Deep, and Mage Feir joined their spells through Udon Fort's Rune Formation, but an invisible force suppressed their fire spells and those of the other spellcasters.
• Flames erupted across the sea and suppressed fire-element Spell Models as a towering flame giant began to form above the ocean.
• Mage Betton recognized the flame giant's face as Mage Merlin's and was stunned by his immense power.

Merlin used Nicola's Ship and the Flame Law to briefly wield Legendary Mage power, destroying the sea beasts and the two Black Shark King Beasts. Afterward, he saw Archmage Kansu searching for the source of the phenomenon and submerged Nicola's Ship to keep it secret.

• Merlin activated Nicola's Ship with the Flame Law and took control of the flaming giant, though the process rapidly consumed the ship's fire pillars and the Law.
• Merlin's flaming palm destroyed the island, annihilated the sea beasts, and killed the two Black Shark King Beasts as the surrounding seawater boiled and evaporated.
• The surviving Spellcasters watched the flaming giant vanish, and Archmage Kansu recognized its power as that of a Legendary Mage before flying toward where it had stood.
• Merlin discovered that one-third of Nicola's Ship's fire pillars and one-third of his Flame Law had been consumed.
• Merlin spotted Archmage Kansu searching for the ship, then submerged Nicola's Ship into the sea to hide it.

After Merlin’s Mental Power broke through to Level Four, he constructed all four remaining Second-Level Spells and searched the remains in Nicola’s Ship for Elemental Crystals. He discovered a cyan belt that responded to his wind-element mana by lifting him into the air.

• Merlin fused with the Mental Power avatar in Bell Space and broke through to Level Four Mental Power.
• Merlin used Matrix to construct Hellfire Sea, Windlight Technique, Flashing Lightning Light, and Frozen Area, completing his Second-Level Spells.
• Merlin found his Elemental Crystals running low and used Nicola’s Ship to reach the first and second trials, where he collected rings from fallen Spellcasters.
• Merlin examined a cyan-patterned belt from one ring and activated it with wind-element mana.
• The belt lifted Merlin into the air, revealing that it was a flying casting tool.

Merlin found the hidden Flame Prison aboard Nicola's Ship and entered it by using his Flame Law to suppress its flames. Inside, he discovered an aged Spellcaster who had survived there and demanded to know who Merlin was.

• Merlin tested the flight belt he had taken from the second checkpoint and flew toward the third checkpoint.
• Merlin found no bones or rings outside the third checkpoint and realized the Spellcasters who failed there might have been sent to Flame Prison.
• Merlin searched for the hidden prison by locating the densest concentrations of fire elements and found a concealed metal door among the flame pillars.
• Merlin opened the door with his Flame Law, entered Flame Prison, and suppressed its flames as he explored.
• An aged Spellcaster beneath the thirteenth pillar saw Merlin withstand the flames and demanded to know who he was.

Merlin demanded that Spellcaster Bamu sign a Slave Contract in exchange for release from Flame Prison, then intensified the prison’s flames while he waited. As Bamu endured the torment, Merlin tested his newly constructed Hellfire Sea spell and noticed something troubling about its flames.

• Spellcaster Bamu revealed that he had waited for decades to find Nicolas the Legendary’s Flame Law but had failed the third trial’s Flame Projection.
• Merlin rejected Bamu’s offers of three promises and ten years of protection, insisting that Bamu sign the highest-grade Slave Contract.
• Merlin left Bamu in Flame Prison and used the Flame Law to control Nicola’s Ship, causing the prison’s flames to burn more fiercely for three days.
• While Bamu resisted the intensified flames, Merlin inspected his spells and cast Hellfire Sea for the first time.
• Merlin observed Hellfire Sea’s flames and furrowed his brows, apparently dissatisfied with what he saw.

Merlin fused the Annihilation Flame into his Hellfire Sea spell while waiting for Mage Bamu to surrender. Bamu agreed to become Merlin’s slave for one hundred years, and the contract revealed that his Spiritual Power had reached the level of an Eighth-level Spellcaster; Merlin then asked how long he had been trapped in the Flame Prison.

• Merlin activated the Annihilation Flame and confirmed that it had fused with and strengthened his Hellfire Sea spell.
• After enduring the Flame Prison, Mage Bamu agreed to sign a Slave Contract with a one-hundred-year limit.
• Merlin weakened the prison’s flames, accepted Bamu’s demand for a term limit, and asked him to provide Contract Paper.
• Merlin infused the Contract Paper with Flame Law, making the agreement effectively unbreakable, and Mage Bamu signed himself over as Merlin’s slave for one hundred years.
• Through the contract, Merlin sensed that Bamu’s Spiritual Power matched that of an Eighth-level Spellcaster, then asked how long Bamu had been in the Flame Prison.