Chapter 460: Taking the Bait

Unbeknownst to Cú Chulainn, his previous action consumed a third of his own magic power, but he felt no regret and even wanted to try again.

Meanwhile, the divine children were stunned by the display of power he had just exhibited.

Even their parents, the true gods, would need to expend significant effort to perform such earth-shattering magic. Yet, Cú Chulainn had achieved this just after accessing the magic web.

Eagerly, they all began chanting the registration spell, ready to experience the magic web's wonders for themselves.

Seeing the divine children's excitement, Murphy smiled brightly.

Excellent, the fish had taken the bait.

The convenience of the magic web was comparable to that of future smartphones, surpassing them in many aspects. Once hooked, it would be hard to let go.

This would provide the magic web with a continuous supply of magic power.

By observing the divine children, the gods behind them would soon realize the magic web's power. No magic user could resist such temptation. It was only a matter of time before they personally got involved.

For the gods, Murphy had also left a special surprise within the magic web.

The gods didn't make Murphy wait long.

On the fifth day after the magic web nodes were established, while Murphy was lecturing his thirteen disciples, he suddenly sensed an immense magical presence descending upon the camp.

A goddess wrapped in black gauze, covering a graceful figure, appeared among the crowd without anyone noticing. She strolled through the wizards' forges, with phantoms emerging from her body to observe the wizards reciting various spells to cast rough copper ingots into magical mountain copper from different angles. Then the phantoms returned to her body one by one.

Apparently not wanting mortals to witness her, the wizards in the camp were oblivious to her arrival.

She approached the tent where Murphy was teaching, but he didn't pause his lecture. He continued explaining how to replicate the magic web nodes.

The range a typical magic web node could influence would expand with the internal flow of magic power, but each node's coverage was limited. To use the magic web over a larger area, more nodes or secondary nodes had to be built.

This was an extremely tedious and lengthy task, which Murphy didn't plan to undertake himself. He intended to leave this world-class project to the wizards.

Murphy had embedded numerous tool spells necessary for producing more magic web nodes into the nodes, such as spells for refining mountain copper, extracting polarized magic power, combining materials into magic web node modules, and incorporating nodes into the magic web.

Murphy had planned out the construction of the magic web. The wizards only needed to follow these spells and rituals step by step to build and connect the nodes to the magic web.

Even so, building the magic web was still very complex. Murphy's training sessions had been ongoing for two or three times, yet the wizards had not managed to create a qualified secondary magic web node.

After explaining several difficult steps again and addressing the wizards' questions, Murphy dismissed them.

Then he stood up. "Honorable Lady of War, Queen of Phantoms, thank you for waiting."

As soon as he spoke, the Phantom Queen Morrigan appeared in the tent. She had long, pitch-black hair, and her body was wrapped in layers of black gauze. Her beautiful face stared at Murphy, a mix of curiosity and scrutiny in her expression.

Contrary to her appearance, her voice was hoarse and low, like the dying breaths of an old crone, making one uncomfortable. She asked, "Who are you?"

"A name is just a symbol. They call me Merlin now," Murphy replied.

"I created Merlin and endowed him with magical power. You are not him," Morrigan denied, though her expression remained unchanged.

Murphy shrugged, not arguing. If she were truly here to confront him, she wouldn't have waited outside so long.

Morrigan realized that the person before her was unafraid of her power, which didn't surprise her. She continued, "I created him and gave him the most excellent magic among all the divine children. But he is far from your level."

"Thank you for the compliment."

"Where does your power come from?" Morrigan asked.

"Knowledge and reason, nothing else."

Several phantoms emerged from Morrigan, encircling Murphy, scrutinizing him from head to toe. Eventually, they returned to her body.

He wasn't lying, but this wasn't the answer she sought.

However, she wasn't here just for an answer.

"What do you want?" Morrigan asked. "Give me control of the magic web, and I will give you everything you desire."

Murphy smiled, "That's impossible."

"Merlin," Morrigan spat the name with a hint of sarcasm, "you are powerful, but you are merely a mortal. The power of the gods is limitless. You cannot contend with us."

In fact, Murphy had acquired divinity more than once, such as becoming the "One True God" when he destroyed those nascent animal gods, or the "Awakened God" when he tried to enlighten the masses, or even the Trickster God.

However, Murphy had never let these divinities taint him, using them only as tools to store and transform spiritual energy, occasionally borrowing their characteristics to complete some concealments and arrangements.

Thus, while he could wield god-like power, even making the divine children unable to fathom his depths, he remained a mere mortal as long as he did not deliberately disguise himself as a god.

Throughout history, many powerful mortal heroes had existed, some with strength rivaling the gods. Such power might cause gods to be wary but not frightened.

This was exactly the result Murphy desired.

If his displayed power had already terrified the gods, they would naturally doubt his trap. However, as merely a powerful mortal hero, they wouldn't see him as a threat.

"You misunderstand," Murphy said. "I am merely one of the creators of the magic web, not its controller. My purpose in establishing the magic web is to help wizards better use their power, not to seize control."

"The magic web operates on a simple feedback mechanism: the more magic power you input, the more power it returns, just like sowing more seeds yields more crops. This process is automatic, not reliant on anyone's control. Therefore, I cannot hand over any so-called control. With your abilities, you can see that I am not lying."

"You are not lying, wizard, but you are hiding something. The magic web is not just as you say," Morrigan appeared behind Murphy, sniffing at his shoulder. "You have an enemy... very powerful... I smell the scent of conspiracy. This is a tool... you are using everyone... be careful, wizard, you are playing with fire..."

Murphy fell silent, frowning as if caught red-handed.

"I see it, flames, war, a cage... that image..." Morrigan's hoarse voice whispered like a witch, "Ha ha, I think I know who you are, wizard..."

"Devil, Satan, Lucifer... I see, your enemy... is Him. Ha ha..." Morrigan laughed deeply, "You have chosen an incredible enemy, wizard."

The goddess stood before Murphy again, her expression suddenly softening, her voice rapidly becoming youthful. "But you are fortunate."

"We have a common enemy," by the time she uttered the last word, her voice had become that of a young girl, "Come, Merlin, tell me what other powers you have hidden in this magic web."

"Come on, join us and I will give you eternal victory."

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