The monster’s overwhelming sword qi, the beautiful yet chilling scene of falling plum blossom petals, and his first experience with death…

“Ah…”

Merlin recalled the monster's unwavering stare that bore into him. He was also a person that had a steady, calculating, and piercing gaze, and when he saw the monster, he instantly recognized its strength and formidability. At this, Merlin felt ecstatic but also terrified. He had sensed something [Real]. Although he knew he was in a virtual world, what he saw and perceived seemed all too real, even the young girl who collapsed on his feet and died…

Whoosh.

A hazy aura emanated from Merlin’s hand. While he didn’t notice this, his immediate surroundings were slowly being filled with the scent of plum blossoms.

“This…”

Merlin was caught off guard by the considerable amount of internal energy gathering in his mid-dantian. Despite previously expending much of his internal force, the gathered internal energy was seemingly overflowing and swishing around.

“What a predicament; why is my internal energy….”

Merlin groaned as he fought against the mounting pressure. It was as if he was breathing in but never exhaling. The level-based ability stat restrictions were one of the more critical functions of DIO’s overall system, so disregarding it was impossible. Therefore, Merlin found a workaround. He was planning on compressing and separating his internal energy.

Whoosh!

And then, Venus opened. It was the second planet of his Golden Pill Immortal Technique, and it contained 40 points of internal energy or 20 years of internal energy. This was twice the size of his first planet, Mercury. Moreover, Merlin separated the two planets into their own systems rather than housing them under a single system.

‘I’m not sure if it’ll work, but I need to try!’

It was a concept he’d been considering for a while. The Golden Pill Immortal Technique’s first planetary golden core, Mercury, operated as an expansion device rather than an internal energy storage unit. Thus, the question was: if it wasn’t directly tied to his internal energy, why was it a part of his overall spiritual power points? This led Merlin to further consider if it was because Mercury resided within the overarching Golden Core.

Whoosh!

Merlin moved the separated Mercury into his lower dantian. Many internal energy martial artists utilized the lower dantian as a storage unit. This was because the containment size within the lower dantian was relatively spacious, and the region was directly connected with the veins that went to every part of the body. 

/Your highest spiritual power (type: internal energy) has been reduced by 20 points!/

Next, Merlin then went on to relocate Venus.

/Your highest spiritual power (type: internal energy) has been reduced by 40 points!/

Since 60 points of spiritual power, or 30 years of internal energy, had suddenly disappeared, his body rushed to fill the void left behind. Soon, internal energy started pouring into his Golden Core. If he let it continue like this, 60 points of spiritual power would rapidly fill his Golden Core, so Merlin decided to restrict his qi. 

‘This is dangerous. Since my body is trying to gather internal energy from the environment, what is currently rushing into my system is probably from the Dark Northsea Divine Technique. Even if this newly-created internal energy is compatible with what’s been formed from the Golden Pill Immortal Technique, the sudden intake of so much internal energy will undoubtedly damage my Golden Core. It doesn’t matter if the new internal energy has been purified and converted or not.’

As such, Merlin frantically worked to purify his internal energy rather than allowing the new internal energy to fill up his Golden Core. The Golden Pill Immortal Technique’s strength was that it was stable and wouldn’t easily succumb to Qi Deviation, but on the other hand, if the Golden Core were damaged in any way, it would be difficult for the technique to repair it.

/Your highest spiritual power (type: internal energy) has increased by 30 points!/

A golden aura exuded from Merlin, and his body rose a meter above the ground. It was a physical reaction that often occurred when one had a breakthrough. While manipulating his qi, Merlin gained a new understanding of his internal energy.

Plop.

Once the entire process was over, Merlin landed back on the ground.

“Woah, that was surprising, but what happened? It’s helpful, but I don’t understand how it occurred.”

Merlin whistled in admiration as he felt the solid internal energy within himself. Then, he opened his status window.

As he theorized, Mercury and Venus were no longer counted in his internal energy stat, and his 25 years of internal energy were all available and usable. 

“However, in terms of my overall internal energy capacity, it seems that it has been reduced by five years. Do I feel something solid inside of my body because 30 years or half a cycle is contained within my lower dantian?”

With a newfound lightness in his step, Merlin entered the [Rescue] test. Generally, it wasn’t the best idea to immediately start fighting after circulating one’s qi, but Merlin stepped into the test room without any hesitation. A sense of warmth spread through his body. Though he didn’t know why he felt like this, Merlin was filled with confidence.

“They’re pretty strong. It seems the test doesn’t need me to face them head-on.”

He arrived in a forested area. When he looked around, he saw four knights and one man. It seemed that he needed to rescue the man from the four knights.

“You there, stop.”

“Who are you?”

“To appear so suddenly in a place like this… you’re suspicious.”

While Merlin didn’t do anything in particular, the four knights approached him of their own accord. The killing intent in their eyes didn’t make Merlin feel like they were coming toward him to have a pleasant conversation.

“Heh. It’s great that things are progressing quickly.”

Merlin smiled as he raised both his arms. In his mind, this was a positive course of events. Since his Golden Pill Immortal Technique seemed to be in an explosive state, he was itching to release some internal energy.

“Hmm? What’s that smell?”

The knight who was closest to Merlin stopped with a confused expression as he sniffed the air. It was a scent that he had never smelled before. The aroma was quite memorable. Yet, before he could truly appreciate it, he pulled out his sword. The young man in front of the four knights gave off a monstrous aura.

“What say you, guys? Are you willing to attack me?”

“He’s lost his marbles. Die.”

With a commanding aura, one of the knights swung his sword. The slashing blade made a neat, forceful arc. However, at that moment, the scent of plum blossoms wafted and spread throughout the air.

Ping!

A single hand movement soon broke into twenty-five different off-shoots before transforming into one plum blossom flower. The surrounding area was saturated with the scent of plum blossoms, and once the plum blossom’s petals opened up…

Plop.

The four knights crumpled onto the ground at the same time. While they were experienced and capable knights and swordsmen, they were no match for Merlin. Up to the time they died, they had no idea what had happened to them.

/Clear!/

After finishing the last test, Merlin looked down at his hands. The skill he’d just used wasn’t something that he read in any martial arts manual or book. Instead, it was based on the Immortal’s Solitary Plum that the Orc swordsman, Sungmuk, had used. Sungmuk had applied the skill to his sword, but Merlin had used it with his hands.

“I need to purchase a volume of Plum Blossom Swordsmanship later on. Even though the skill isn’t based on hand skills, it may eventually help me to create an ultimate-level skill.”

Merlin sat cross-legged and started meditating. He was inspecting himself to see how his Golden Pill Immortal Technique had changed.

“Venus…”

Despite how brief the fight was, Merlin was able to tell just how much power an additional planet provided him. Furthermore, the explosive quality of his power was heightened by the connection between his two planets, Mercury and Venus. When he circulated one year of internal energy through Mercury, the internal energy expanded to two years, and when these two years went through Venus, four years of internal energy was outputted. Hence, by utilizing these two expansion planets, he was able to increase his internal energy by four times.

“Unfortunately, there’s a delay.”

Although it wasn’t a significant delay, it did not exist when he was only using Mercury. It started when his internal energy went through Venus, and it delayed him by about half a second. This wasn’t too long of a time, but if he needed to suddenly use a skill, this slight delay might be detrimental.

“Good. It seems the Golden Pill Immortal Technique has been mostly organized. It’s time to go through the [Joint Warfare] test and get this level up over with.”

Yet, before proceeding, Merlin took out the small crossbow and the 30 quarrels that he’d collected from the failed [Escort] test, as well as the two long swords that the knights in the [Rescue] test dropped. Obviously, he had more items than just these. From the Bloody Fist guild members, Merlin had collected some tough-looking leather gloves, leather clothing, and leather boots. He had essentially revamped his wardrobe. He wore the long mage robe over everything, so it didn’t seem like much had changed, but his equipment had definitely been upgraded.

“Sadly, they’re all 9th tier.”

He clicked his tongue at not having picked up a single 8th tier item, but at the very least, what he did obtain was sturdy. 

“Since I don’t have much magic power, I need to focus on creating an efficient internal technique. After casting just two enchantments, I essentially have no magic power left.”

Grumbling to himself, Merlin took out some tyrannosaurus blood from his inventory. He had about 15 liters with him, so he didn’t think that he’d run out anytime soon.

“Creating an internal technique within an object so that it can carry magic… I received a brush after completing the [Art] test, so I can use that to write the runes- no, wait.”

After sticking the brush into the tyrannosaurus blood, Merlin momentarily stopped and tilted his head to one side.

“Does it have to be runes? If runes carry meaning, then other characters have a meaning as well, right? I don’t think I need to specifically use runes.”

Of course, Merlin was correct. Yet, the basic magic system operated under runes, so utilizing other characters would clash against the traditional magic system.

Without a doubt, it would be a thousand times easier to follow a developed system than to create an entirely new system from scratch. There was a vast expanse of magic knowledge and internal technique systems, so it was difficult for someone to master what already existed, let alone make something completely new. One misstep in the creation of a new branch would cause a magic user to face an insurmountable barrier.

“Let’s try using Korean.”

Unperturbed, Merlin continued nonetheless.

“Hahaha! This is a remarkable and noteworthy idea! I must be a genius, right?”

In reality, his idea wasn’t that remarkable. If a hundred magic users were asked about his concept, ninety-nine would say that he had lost his marbles, and the remaining one would say that he was an idiot. However, the truth was that Merlin was indeed a genius.

Swish.

With magic power, Merlin started brushing text onto the long sword that was 1.6-meters in length, using the tyrannosaurus blood as a medium to write the text. As his magic power took effect, the text sunk deeply into the blade.

Using his brush, Merlin filled the long sword with red words, spending ten minutes to finish writing. And once he completed the creation of his system…

Rumble.

He imbued magic power into the long sword.

/Your long sword has upgraded to the 8th Tier!/

“Okay! Done. Dang, that was tiring.”

He had used almost his entire 20 tetra of magic power. Though he felt a bit lightheaded, it wasn’t too exhausting, and the following text made his efforts more than worth it.

/Enchantment skill has increased to Rank 5!/

/You have acquired the title, ‘Advanced Enchanter!’/

/You have acquired a special skill, ‘Magic Power Efficiency!’/

“Ooh, magic power efficiency, that’s a useful skill.”

Merlin wanted to strengthen his spell a bit more, but he was unfortunately restrained due to his limited magic power. When using Enchantment to cast a spell, Merlin could instantly deplete 15 tetra in a matter of one or two seconds, so he was skilled in creating internal magic systems. Yet, rather than hurriedly creating an internal magic system on the long sword, he had taken his time to make it efficient and robust. With this, the output from his long sword would be that much greater.

“Hmm, I need to increase my magic power capacity as well.”

The restrictions put on his magic power capacity due to his level had essentially stunted his growth. A majority of his points were going into his Golden Pill Immortal Technique, so Merlin couldn’t really focus on other areas. There were positives and negatives to operating in various spiritual power specialty areas. Even though he could utilize skills from many fields, he was limited in how far he could develop a single area.

“Well, let’s recover my magic power first.”

Unlike the Golden Pill Immortal Technique, which operated around the clock to replenish internal energy, magic power recovery was carried out through meditation in the Seven Jewel school of study. Of course, magic power would recover naturally, but it was slow and would take a protracted amount of time.

“Since the efficiency of my magic power use is so low, I don’t think it’ll be possible to enchant the arrows. Also, I can’t sit here and waste any more time taking this damn level test.”

Merlin put the crossbow and the quarrels into his inventory and sat down cross-legged to meditate. He didn’t do this for too long, just around five minutes. This wasn’t because his meditation was highly effective; his magic power capacity was just small.

“What should I do with this remaining sword?”

Merlin lifted the leftover sword that he didn’t have a chance to enchant. It was a solid reinforced iron sword, but he wasn’t attached to it in any way. After all, he wasn’t knowledgeable in swordsmanship, and the sword was 9th tier. It was only a drop from one of the knights he defeated in the last test, and since even Level 2 users were given 8th tier swords, the 9th tier sword was essentially just a hunk of metal. No one would want to purchase it.

“I won’t care if it’s ruined, so….”

Merlin took out the painting that he received as a reward after completing his [Art] test. The title of his piece was [Iced Over Lake]. Merlin imbued magic power into the painting and placed it atop the sword.

Whoosh.

/Your long sword has upgraded to the 8th Tier!/

With a faint noise, the image on the painting engraved itself onto the long sword. The experiment was a success.