At this point, Merlin's entire body was covered in a layer of pale flame, but these flames had already dwindled. This was Fiery Collapse, but now it had been completely suppressed by the Flame Maxim. In addition, it was merged with the Fire-type spells in Merlin's Awareness.

"Boom!"

Finally, the pale layer of flame on the surface of Merlin's body flickered, then suddenly drew back into his body, and was no longer seen.

Meanwhile, in Merlin's Awareness, the pale flame had finally been fully integrated into the Fire-type spells too. Merlin was feeling the entire process silently although it was somewhat different from the Pandora Demon Ability, Fuse Earth which he had cultivated as this was forcibly fused into the spell.

Whether or not it would work, he would find out when he tried it.

"Furious Flame!"

Merlin swiftly released Furious Flame, and suddenly, a vigorous flame suddenly formed, burning fiercely in the void.

Originally, the flame of the original Furious Flame had been red, but now the flame was pale and emitted horrifying heat.

"Success! This is indeed the flame of Fiery Collapse!"

Merlin was delighted. Under the suppression of the Flame Maxim, Fiery Collapse was forcibly integrated into the Fire-type spell, greatly improving the power of the spell.

As for the extent to which Furious Flame could be improved, Merlin was not very clear. As for what changes that could happen if Fiery Collapse was forcibly integrated into the spell, it would require further verification in the future.

Merlin was also paying attention to the changes of Fiery Collapse all this while. Once there was something wrong, he would use the Flame Maxim to suppress it again.

Although he did not know how powerful Fiery Collapse would be after forcibly fused into Fire-type spells, Merlin could clearly feel the scorching aura of Furious Flame which was released earlier. It was much stronger than the original Fiery Collapse. It was definitely no longer just comparable to the peak power of Fourth-level spells.

"Phew..."

After merging Fiery Collapse into the spell, Merlin let out a long sigh too. Then, he began to inspect his body and the feeling of getting released from the contract earlier.

Once the contract was signed, it made the Spell Caster feel a shackle deep down in his heart. So far, Merlin had only signed two kinds of contracts – one with the Dark Magic Region and one with Fort Udon.

He could not be mistaken about the feeling of the contract termination earlier. Moreover, Merlin sensed it carefully where a contractual bond had indeed disappeared. It was the contract signed with Fort Udon which had vanished.

It was very difficult for a contract to be terminated hence Merlin never tried terminating any contracts. Even if there was such a thought, he would not be able to do that. Yet, now his contract with Fort Udon had really been terminated, so only one possibility remained – Fort Udon was the side who terminated the contract.

"What happened to Fort Udon? How could they've terminated the contract with me?"

Merlin frowned. Terminating the contract right now was entirely the loss of Fort Udon, and Fort Udon would never terminate the contract without any strong reason.

"It seems that I have to go to the Kurdmansla Islands to check out what really happened."

Merlin thought for a moment and made a decision in his heart. By relying on the Flame Maxim, he could now control the Ship of Nikola. Immediately, he steered the Ship of Nikola to turn around and rushed toward the Kurdmansla Islands at the fastest speed.

He had just only learned a little about the Ship of Nikola, but it could already be controlled easily. Merlin had also gradually studied some of the functions within.

The Ship of Nikola was quite rapid in speed as it shuttled at the bottom of the sea. It was definitely much faster than flying spells used by Fourth-level Spell Casters, but it consumed a lot of energy.

The energy that was used to support the Ship of Nikola came from the vast Fire elements absorbed by the Fire-type elemental stones from the Spatial Gap.

However, Merlin always felt that the Ship of Nikola would not be as simple. Even the Legend Nikola needed to pay an expensive price to let the alchemists build such a ship, so it was definitely not just used to shuttle under the sea at a faster speed.

"Eh? This feeling of control is really wonderful..."

Merlin was still familiarizing himself with the mysteries of the Ship of Nikola. Soon, he discovered that unimaginable amounts of Fire elements were stored on the Ship of Nikola. These were all absorbed by the Ship of Nikola from the Spatial Gap over three thousand or more years, of which the Ship of Nikola had not consumed much.

As a result, these Fire elements had condensed into dozens of incomparably huge Pillars of Flame, which were hundreds of times more powerful than the energy of thousands of elemental crystal stones.

For the first time, Merlin felt a sense of "enormity."

"So many Pillars of Flame? What's the role of accumulating so much energy? Don't tell me the Ship of Nikola has great attack power too?"

A thought suddenly flashed across Merlin's mind. He was right. The Ship of Nikola was built for the Legend Nikola as a retreat when he had returned from the strange dimension to the Glorious Land.

Since it was a retreat, it must be quite secluded, and it must be helpful to the Legend Nikola. Therefore, the Ship of Nikola likely had fearsome attack power.

Thinking of this, Merlin kept searching, but no matter how hard he looked for it, he did not seem to find the Ship of Nikola's immense attack potential.

"The Ship of Nikola… Could it be that the entire Ship of Nikola is actually a powerful casting tool itself?"

Merlin controlled the Ship of Nikola and could see every nook and cranny of the ship. He had naturally examined the overall structure of the Ship of Nikola too.

Which was why he had produced such a seemingly ridiculous idea. How frightening it would be if this huge Ship of Nikola was really a casting tool?

This theory may be ridiculous, but the more Merlin thought of it, the more likely it seemed that he was right. Thus, he quickly focused his Mind Power to fiercely simulate the Flame Maxim. Merlin also knew that he was able to control the Ship of Nikola due to this Flame Maxim which was left by the Legend Nikola.

As the Flame Maxim was simulated by Merlin's Mind Power, Merlin's control over the Ship of Nikola gradually became more and more dexterous. Finally, all the secrets on the entire Ship of Nikola were all exposed before Merlin's very eyes.

"Sure enough, the Ship of Nikola itself is a powerful casting tool, but the only thing that could steer the Ship of Nikola was the power of the maxim!"

Merlin seemed to have obtained some information from the Flame Maxim. Back at the time when the Legend Nikola got the Ship of Nikola and steered it using the maxim, the resultant power was enough to rival a true Legendary Wizard!

Merlin also felt deeply shocked in his heart. It was surprisingly comparable to the legend. If the Ship of Nikola was really activated, although the energy consumed would be infinite even up to the point of exhausting the Pillars of Flame that were accumulated over the past thousands of years, it would be a blow that could rival a Legendary Wizard.

"It's a pity that it could only be activated with the Flame Maxim. The Flame Maxim left by the Legend Nikola was not left with much. If it was used to activate the Ship of Nikola again, a huge amount of energy will be consumed."

Merlin highly valued the Flame Maxim. He may not be able to refine and cultivate the maxim now, but in his Awareness, the maxim was good for him in constructing Fire-type Spell Models and to comprehend the Essence of Fire in the future.

Even if Merlin hoped to become a Seventh-level Spell Caster, he could use the Flame Maxim to derive and construct all new, immeasurably powerful Fire-type Spell Models.

As for after becoming a Great Wizard, cultivating and refining this Flame Maxim had laid a solid foundation for the promotion to become a Legendary Wizard in the future, but this was an event that was too far-fetched for Merlin. He would never consider such a distant matter.

In acquiring the Ship of Nikola, Merlin seemed to have possessed a strong reliance, but unfortunately, the Ship of Nikola could not be taken away as it could only remain at the bottom of the sea.

The shuttling speed of the Ship of Nikola was incredibly fast at the bottom of the sea, but the Ship of Nikola, which had always been stable, encountered a bumpy ride suddenly. Merlin hurriedly extended his Mind Power out there.

After controlling the Ship of Nikola, Merlin found that he was able to scour the situation around the seabed through the Ship of Nikola.

"Eh? Such violent waves..."

Merlin saw that around the Ship of Nikola, there seemed to be continuously tumbling waves that rushed out of the surface of the sea, forming a huge sea wave.

However, when Merlin examined it carefully, he inhaled sharply, because he saw that on the surface of the sea, there were dense hordes of sea beasts within the violent waves. These sea beasts exuded a ferocious atmosphere which rushed to the beach.

"The sea beasts attacked the Kurdmansla Islands?"

Merlin immediately thought of this possibility in his mind. After all, before he was drawn into the sea to the Ship of Nikola, he had single-handedly killed many sea beasts that attacked the Violet Flame Island.

These sea beasts may be strong, but Merlin did not think that the Kurdmansla Islands would not be able to cope. There were three Ninth-level Spell Casters in Fort Udon alone, and there were rumors that there was a Great Wizard settling on the island. Even though the sea beasts came in large numbers, the Spell Casters on the Kurdmansla Islands should still be able to cope easily.

However, when Merlin extended his Mind Power out of the sea and looked at the situation on the island, his facial expression suddenly changed. He whispered in a low voice, "That... Are those two king beasts? The king among the sea beasts could rival the Great Wizard among the Spell Casters!"

Merlin saw the two gigantic sea beasts which were wreaking havoc on the beach. In addition, in front of the two sea beasts, he also saw Wizard Umo and many other Spell Casters.

There was a decisive look on Wizard Umo's face, and Merlin faintly understood why the contract on his body was terminated. It was feared that not only him but all members of the entire Fort Udon have had the contracts on their respective bodies terminated.

Merlin knew very clearly what two king beasts meant. To the entire Kurdmansla Islands, it was an almost devastating blow.

"Fort Udon shouldn't disappear just like this... I still have the gold-lined robe!"

Merlin lowered his head slightly and glanced at the gold-lined robe on him. Shadows of Wizard Umo and Wizard Bayton kept flashing across his mind.

After a long moment, Merlin slowly raised his head, a relaxed smiled etched out at the edge of his lips.

"Boom!"

That Flame Maxim inside Merlin's Awareness started experiencing a change!