Levels-Drilling

Szirtes was a family whose leader was the Earl of Migerburg. Its castle stood on land as broad as hundreds of acres.

The hut where the mother and son resided was just a tiny part of the Szirtes castle’s county.

Cultivation was not an easy path. Merlin could not drill the second level of Qi accumulation on that day as he wished.

So, the next day he decided to isolate himself to practice in a private space, and to avoid interruptions during cultivating.

If he could drill the second level, its result would make him stronger than ordinary humans.

Regarding the cultivation, if one had achieved level one of Qi accumulation, one’s strength would be increased twice as much.

For those who could get to the second level, their bodies would become strong and ready for an uncommon extent of attacks.

And level three would give him superhuman speed.

These things were the results of Taoist Xian vital essence accumulation, to rid human affairs and to become a Xian.

Merlin now, with his abilities as a first-stage practitioner of Xian energy accumulation, could lift things thrice his weight.

And just throwing his fits, he could effortlessly uproot a tree. These things were considered the training that exceeded human limits.

As for the mother and her child’s living condition, since Maye was a low-status minor wife because she used to be a servant, she was scorned and hated by the Szirteses.

After Witcher passed, she was ordered to stay in a small hut outside the castle unlike Lady Daria, the first wife, who got married appropriately as the convention.

Daria was a high-born lady of the Winser family. And because of the social status of the Szirtes’s youngest son and the Winser’s daughter, they were a match made in heaven.

How each daughter-in-law was treated, therefore, was different.

Although Maye and her child were already living in an awful condition, as the first wife, Daria treated these mother and son poorly.

When Witcher, Merlin’s father passed away, with Daria’s authority, Maye was demoted to be what she used to be, a servant. Even further, when finding a chance, Daria would always harass the two.

The most recent situation was when Merlin was sent to serve Arthur, the son of Duke Cowe. These are parts of the plans fabricated by Daria.

Not long ago, while Merlin was turning back from Duke Cowe’s castle, unexpectedly he ran into Daria and her son Claye, his brother from another mother.

Despite these two being the people Merlin wanted to avoid the most, heaven was not on his side and led Merlin to these people.

Claye, Daria’s son, had been raised with her wrath.

The resentment for her husband’s love being split was passed down to her lineage.

Therefore, whenever Claye saw Merlin, he would always bully this half-brother of his.

And this time as well, when Claye saw Merlin, running insulting words were spit out of his mouth.

Then out of the blue, he stormed at Merlin, and together with his hateful eyes, he beat him. Merlin, on the other hand, did not fight his half-brother back.

Alas...the ill fate was handed to the little one.

Merlin had been brutally beaten up by his half-brother until he lost his balance and fell down the mad, turbulent river.

The whole scene was witnessed by Daria.

Thinking rationally, if the kids were fighting, an adult like herself should not have held a grudge.

But the situation got worse: a life was in danger, while she was smirking on the carriage, at ease. Her heart was such a dark place. She did not care a bit if Merlin was dead or alive.

Daria watched the little boy’s body getting flushed down by the rapids until he was gone.

Her eyes were awfully cold. Her blood surely had to be chilly, and her heart had to be completely bleak for she could act this way.

At that time, it seemed that the boy still had some luck, his body was washed ashore.

Murrey, an elder who was a long-time butler for Earl Szirtes, rescued this kid just in time.

In the whole Szirtes castle, there must have been only Murrey, the head butler, who still got some mercy for the mother and son.

Back to the presence

After getting away from people, Merlin meditated on rock and started cultivating right away.

Magical powers in the air all around slowly flowed into the boy’s body.

Merlin would say that Qi accumulation was his best expertise. In the past, he devoted his whole life to power cultivation.

Since he had reached the border of the budding stage, for a hundred years he never stepped out of the closed-gate practice.

His life at the time was joyless, with no exciting adventures like other people!

He had never been a part of rivalries or anything of that sort.

He only gave himself to cultivation.

Therefore vital-essence accumulation was a simple task for him. He could perform this skill as if it was just taking a breath in and out--a body function.

Drilling stages, however, was a difficult thing for all practitioners. Destroying the bottleneck area of cultivation was a step every cultivator had to face.

Hours had passed.

In the air surrounding Merlin, a gust of wind formed up and blew out once like a wave. The inside of his body was shaking as though there were waves rolling within. Black liquid slowly appeared on his skin, disposing waste out of his skin. A malodorous smell breezed out of that dark waste, too foul to take a deep breath in.

These things brought happiness to all practitioners, including Merlin, although they were filthy and disgusting. He was sincerely delighted to have drilled through another level so quickly.

Level two of Qi accumulation

Merlin's body now was thoroughly covered by the dark-liquid waste that was driven out of his body.

Merlin washed it out by jumping into the canal.

While bathing in the water, he could still sense that even the canal had magical powers flowing inside. This world was full of astonishing powers.

And talking of magical powers, if someone could sense the energy of elements around, they would be able to utilize that element’s power.

Anyway, Merlin did not feel right to learn magic right now.

Also, the previous owner of this body was just an ordinary kid who could not use any magic.

If he rushed it when he was not strong enough, it would possibly bring him troubles in the future.

Even though right at the moment Merlin really craved the new knowledge called magic, cultivation in the Qi accumulation stage could not mix with any other sciences. It was a strong foundation for the practice.

To build a decent practice base, there had to be no defects. To have other energy contaminated within would put a risk of blemishing the practice’s foundation. If a mistake happened, it might affect the practice in the future.

Merlin was so scared that history would repeat itself if he cultivated to the highest point and started removing his soul again. The defective foundation would be the reason for a failed Soul Removal.

If he still wanted to be Xian, he needed to be calm and thorough in cultivation.

For this reason, Merlin was now resolute. If he still could not achieve the stem-building stage's border, he would not practice any other sciences along the way to avoid any future mistakes.

Having finished cleaning himself, Merlin continued the cultivation again.

Hours had passed. At one point he felt that his cultivation was getting close to the final part of the second level of Qi accumulation’s border.

Just a half step away and he would be at the bottleneck of level two’s maximum limit.

Suddenly he heard a voice calling out his name.

“Merlin! Merlin… where are you? Merlin...are you around?”

That was Murrey, one of the Szirtes family’s four head butlers.

Murrey was a benefactor of this body; he was the one who rescued the boy.

“I am here, Uncle Murrey.”

Merlin answered Murrey because he trusted this old man.

From the memory of the previous body’s owner, this old man was someone who was truly kind to this little one. He was also the one that helped Merlin from the water.

When the old man heard the response, he walked straight to where the boy was.

“Oh, you’re here. I have been looking for you.”

Murrey quickly showed himself in front of Merlin. This elder moved fast; he also never showed even a bit of weariness. It seemed like this head butler had some sort of skills in him.

“You seem to be in a hurry, what’s the matter uncle?”

“There was a speed letter from Duke Cowe’s castle stating you needed to get back there now. Waldecian Academy is opening in a few days. You, as Arthur's follower, need to be there too.”

“But I’ve just got here.” Merlin persisted because he knew that the body's old owner had just arrived home a few days back.

“That is not a reason. Master’s orders are for the servants to follow. This is, on the contrary, the reason.” Murrey paused then continued “Merlin, I truly pity you, but our fates are all different. It depends on how far you could go.”

The old man let out a long sigh. Murrey’s eyes were full of empathy.

Merlin stayed still for a while and said,

“I understand now uncle. I will pack my things and head out now.”

Hurriedly, after giving his words, Merlin walked away.

Murrey watched his small back with commiseration.

When Merlin arrived home, he told Maye the news he had received.

As soon as Maye heard it, she rushed in and hugged Merlin, sobbing.

Maye’s sob made Merlin’s heart tremble.

Maye had not seen her child for years. He came home just a few days ago and there was already an order summoning him back.

Inside the embrace of the old body owner’s mother, Tian Long whiffled. His heart felt indescribably warm.

The love that Maye, a mother, had was transferred into the boy’s body. It was a feeling he had never experienced before because, in the past, Tian Long was an orphan, deserted by his parents. Fortunately enough, he was saved and raised by the master. This familial bond was never something he had felt before.

After saying goodbye, Merlin needed to leave immediately due to the rushing order.

Traveling to Duke Cowe’s castle took three days. That meant as soon as Merlin arrived, he would have to set out with Arthur right away.

Regarding the relationship between Merlin and Arthur, they were three years apart.

Merlin was seven while Arthur was ten. And it seemed like Arthur did not care much about this follower.

Arthur always found a reason to bully Merlin whenever there was a chance. And many times, he got physical although it was a childish hitting.

Since Arthur was the son of one of the two great Dukes of Aragon, he was spoiled growing up. That was why he was somewhat self-centered.

However, Arthur was a good-looking boy. His appearance was incredibly beautiful—godlike. And as in his mastery, he was excellent at sword art and magical powers. With his skills and talent, Arthur was set as the hope of this realm.

Looking back at the old Merlin, with his skinny frame along with the lack of magical and sword skills, the only thing the little one was good at was being a servant. Due to the absence of talents, not so many people knew that he was a Szirtes heir.

Tian Long in Merlin’s body was, however, happy with this fact since living under the radar was an opportunity for him to avoid difficulties regarding cultivation.

Although lowering himself to become someone’s servant upset him, for the path ahead, it was acceptable for him.

While he was powerless like this, acting ordinary was the best choice.

As said in the summon letter, this time he needed to follow Arthur to Waldecian Academy, a school established by the Church of Light, a land as powerful as the five great kingdoms.