Whispers

Mei Xue came in from outside, her face red from the cold. She patted the snowflakes off her body, then hurriedly came to the fireplace and rubbed her hands together to warm up.

"Mei Xue, back so early today?"

Merlin also came to the fireplace and asked casually.

Mei Xue gave Merlin a surprised look, then said in a low voice, "Pero the swordsman said it was too cold, so he let us come back early these days."

Merlin nodded faintly, but didn't say anything more. He also sat by the fireplace, seemingly warming himself, but actually, he was paying attention to the fire elements on Mei Xue's body.

Now Merlin had already constructed the spell model of the Fireball in his Sea of Consciousness, so he had become sensitive to fire elements. He could clearly feel the surrounding fire elements drilling into Mei Xue's body bit by bit.

This was the special feature of Mei Xue's fire-attuned constitution, which could attract fire elements into the body. If the accumulation of fire elements in the body reached a certain level, then Mei Xue would be able to communicate with the fire elements in her body and burst forth with the powerful strength of fire elements.

However, Merlin now noticed that although many fire elements drilled into Mei Xue's body from the outside, just as many fire elements flew out from inside Mei Xue's body.

In other words, Mei Xue's current situation was that she simply could not retain the fire elements that drilled into her body. This was also the biggest difference between elemental swordsmen and spellcasters.

As for spellcasters, as long as they constructed spell models, these spell models would forcibly absorb the surrounding elements and bind the elements within the spell models to become the spellcaster's mana, making loss completely impossible.

As for elemental swordsmen, they could not forcibly retain elements; they could only rely on the attraction of a special constitution to gather more elements. The difference between the two was naturally self-evident, having a world of difference, and simply could not be spoken of in the same breath.

Merlin originally wanted to see if he could help Mei Xue break through to become a true elemental swordsman! But after careful observation, he found that standing by Mei Xue's side, his spell model would instead forcibly suck away the surrounding fire elements, and even some fire elements within Mei Xue's body would be forcibly sucked into the spell model.

Therefore, not only could Merlin not help Mei Xue, but he would instead interfere with Mei Xue's accumulation of fire elements.

Merlin had no way to deal with this situation, so he could only shake his head helplessly, stand up, and say, "Mei Xue, since it's so cold, go rest early too."

With that, he turned, went upstairs, and returned to his room.

Sitting in Moss's carriage, Merlin closed his eyes and meditated.

After these few days of cultivation, his Mental Power had made substantial progress, but wanting to construct a second spell model in his Sea of Consciousness was still somewhat a stretch.

"Young Master Merlin, we've arrived."

The carriage stopped, and Moss lifted the door curtain and spoke.

The Mental Meditation Method could be practiced anytime and anywhere, and one could wake up anytime and anywhere; it didn't require a dedicated quiet room for cultivation. Therefore, upon hearing Moss's words, Merlin opened his eyes and jumped down from the carriage.

Today Merlin came to attend etiquette classes. He found that practicing the Fireball in the ancient castle no longer held much significance; he was already able to use Mental Power to control the Fireball very precisely, so long periods of practice were unnecessary.

Merlin walked straight in and saw Gute and Anson on the second floor, but they didn't seem to notice Merlin, instead staring at Tilafa in the distance.

Tilafa held stacks of invitations in his hands, busily distributing them all around to the people who had come to attend the etiquette class.

Merlin stepped forward, patted Gute's shoulder, and asked in a low voice, "What is Tilafa doing?"

Gute was given a big fright, but upon seeing it was Merlin, he breathed a slight sigh of relief, curled his lips, and said, "What else could he be doing? Today is Tilafa's birthday, and he's bustling about everywhere, inviting people to attend his birthday ball."

"A birthday ball?"

As soon as Merlin heard this, he lost interest. Anyway, given his relationship with Tilafa, the other party certainly wouldn't invite him.

"Hehe, Merlin, you wouldn't know about this, but the good show is yet to come. Tilafa has specifically come to invite Teacher Jia today."

The chubby Gute let out a cold sneer. As soon as his voice fell, Jia came up from downstairs.

Merlin's eyes narrowed slightly. Jia had not been lightly injured yesterday, so her complexion still looked somewhat pale, but the red mark that Merlin had bumped onto her forehead had actually disappeared now. He had no idea what medicine Jia had used to recover so quickly.

When Tilafa saw Jia, he hurriedly greeted her and, using noble etiquette, solemnly presented the invitation with both hands, handing it toward Jia with a smile as he said, "Teacher Jia, today is my birthday. I've organized a birthday ball, and I hope to invite you to attend my ball!"

"Your ball?"

Jia raised her head, glanced at Tilafa, and immediately her expression turned cold as she said faintly, "Sorry, I still have matters today, and I'm afraid I cannot attend."

With that, ignoring Tilafa's stunned expression, she actually walked toward Merlin.

"Mei Xue, follow me. There is a very important matter concerning you."

Jia leaned close to Merlin's ear and spoke in a low voice.

Merlin's expression changed slightly, but he quickly returned to normal. He saw that the people around them all had dumbfounded and shocked expressions. Jia's burst of "whispering" to him, contrasted with her coldness toward Tilafa just moments before, obviously gave rise to some misunderstandings among certain people.

"Let's go."

Merlin's expression was very calm, and subsequently he followed behind Jia and left the small building.

Tilafa gazed at the vanishing backs of Merlin and Jia, his face livid. He stood in place for a long time, the invitation in his hand dropping to the ground. Never in his wildest dreams would he have thought that Merlin had quietly gotten mixed up with Jia.

"Haha, Tilafa got snubbed. I didn't expect this, truly didn't expect that Merlin quietly got his hands on Jia. Judging by their appearance, I'm afraid their relationship isn't shallow!"

The chubby Gute laughed in a low voice, but there was also obvious doubt on his face, so he asked Anson beside him, "Anson, do you have any idea when Merlin and Jia got together?"

Anson's expression shifted uncertainly. For a long time, he let out a long sigh, shook his head slightly, and said, "I don't know either. How many times has Merlin even come here?"

Anson's heart was also very complicated; after all, ever since he laid eyes on Jia, he hadn't been able to get her out of his mind. But now the relationship between Merlin and Jia had become so intimate, making it somewhat difficult for him to accept.

Merlin followed behind Jia, coming directly to the spacious courtyard. The field of vision here was very broad, and one could tell at a glance whether anyone was around. Speaking here, there was no need to worry about being overheard.

"Jia, speak. What on earth is the matter?"

Merlin gradually stopped in his tracks and asked with a calm expression.