This was quite an understated hillside. There were no dense trees or bushes growing around the area except for some wild weeds. Even then, the weeds were sparsely scattered all over.

Wizard Darknight led the men toward the hillside. He was not an expert at mine exploration, so he could only use the simplest method, which was to dig a large pit.

Generally, a truly rich elemental crystal stone mine could be discovered at a level close to the ground surface. Therefore, it was quite easy to find as long as its specific location could be identified. All that was left to do was to dig downward.

Instantly, Wizard Darknight cast a spell. Countless Ice Elements melded together into a large knife, and with terrifying power, drove straight into the ground.

"Bang!"

The entire hillside seemed to be shaking after Wizard Darknight's wild display of spells. Finally, a deep pit appeared on the ground. Even without approaching the site, Merlin and the others could clearly sense the concentrated elemental aura which wafted out from the pit.

"Sure enough, it's an elemental crystal stone mine. Even at such a shallow depth, the contents are already so impressive. I wonder how big is this mine?"

Wizard Darknight was very excited and could not help but shout in Merlin's direction.

"Swish swish!"

Merlin stepped forward in a flash and reached the large pit. Sure enough, the pit contained many shimmering elemental crystal stones, which seemed to be Earth-type elemental crystal stones.

Most of the elemental crystal stones that were buried underground were Earth-type elemental crystal stones. However, if one were to proceed deeper, there might also be a large quantity of Fire-type elemental crystal stones.

Some colder places might contain Ice-type elemental crystal stones whereas damp places might yield Water-type elemental crystal stones. Only Wind-type and Thunder-type elemental crystal stones were quite rare.

Here, the elemental crystal stones should mostly consist of Earth-type. The fact that they could be mined at such a shallow depth was a testament to the abundance of this type.

Nevertheless, it was still undetermined how huge was the size of the mine. They still had to continue to search the perimeter, especially to roughly determine its boundaries.

Hence, Wizard Darknight circled around the mine, and searched around the area. Finally, the boundaries of the mine were determined. Its diameter spanned over fifty miles across.

Such a huge mine! Regardless of Merlin, Darknight or Lady Phillie, all of them sucked in a cold breath. It was just overly huge. If such a huge elemental crystal stone mine had appeared in the Glorious Land, both the southern and northern Spell Caster world were sure to react insanely.

"Good. Very good. Such a huge mine! Darknight, from today onward, mobilize all the power you can to exploit this mine at full capacity!"

"Lady Phillie, follow me to Bisque City. All the big and small businesses in Bisque City will be placed under your control. I'll set up a trade association with you as the president to manage everything!"

Lady Phillie and Wizard Darknight nodded excitedly. From today onward, they were people with the highest authority in the sphere of influence in Bisque City, excluding Merlin himself. This was a feat that they could not even hope to achieve in the past.

Subsequently, Merlin entered Bisque City without a hitch. Upon receiving verified news that Tambert was truly dead, Bisque City was very welcoming toward Merlin.

In fact, this was understandable as Tambert had also previously used the same method. He defeated the former Spell Caster from Bisque City and took control over it. Since he was greedy by nature, his death did not stir up much sentiments.

Coupled with the fact that Merlin had managed to kill Tambert, and must be very powerful, naturally, Bisque City was not so ignorant to resist Merlin.

After taking over Bisque City, Merlin took a proper stock take of the strength of Bisque City. He counted a total of thirty-nine small towns and cities. Among them, there were about nine cities with a flourishing trade like Boulder City.

Overall, the cities were relatively affluent, only that Tambert had not managed them well. Instead, all he did was search and snatch from these cities, so their degrees of development were worse than before.

Merlin employed Lady Phillie and established a trade association to handle all the issues arising from the trade of these thirty-nine cities. Once the trade began to flourish, then the elemental crystal stones Merlin could obtain would be insurmountable.

The resources left behind by Tambert in Bisque City were also quite abundant. Back when Merlin killed Tambert, he naturally did not leave behind his ring. Inside Tambert's ring were mountains of elemental crystal stones, up to tens of thousands in number. Additionally, there were various precious potions, and alchemy materials.

"Tambert is rich, much richer than me!"

Merlin carefully examined Tambert's ring. Most of the contents were elemental crystal stones. In addition, there were some potion and alchemy materials as well as some that Merlin did not recognize.

After putting the items aside, Merlin summoned Lady Phillie.

Lady Phillie stood before Merlin respectfully. Her entire person looked radiant, and the charm of a matured woman became more pronounced.

"Lady Phillie! You have an assignment. I'm going to isolate myself for some time. You need to mobilize all your resources and help me find some potion, potion formula or other prized items that can increase Mind Power. Even just a lead is acceptable. Do you understand?"

Lady Phillie nodded thoughtfully. "Please don't worry Wizard Merlin. I'll pay close attention in this matter."

"Very well, you may leave."

After Merlin had sent Lady Phillie away, he focused his attention on his Mind Power. Truth was, his Mind Power had achieved the peak of the Sixth-level.

However, advancing from the Sixth- to the Seventh-level was a substantive transformation. Many of Sixth-level Spell Casters would be affected by the illusion in Merlin's Darkness-type spell whereas Seventh-level Wizards would not be affected much.

The Mind Power of Seventh-level Spell Caster was a substantive transformation. Therefore, if Merlin did not have a large amount of Mind Power, it would be difficult to forcibly upgrade to the Seventh-level.

His Mind Power would not be able to undergo a transformation for the time being. Next, Merlin could also construct the remaining Fire-type, and Wind-type spells. These two types of spells had been derived by the Matrix, so all Merlin had to do was to introduce a suitable Spell Model into his Awareness.

Constructing spells was already a familiar process to Merlin but it required some time.

…

Six days later, Merlin opened his eyes. At this moment, there were four Fifth-level Spell Models in his body. First, there was Shadow Assassin and Enervating Halo. The newly-constructed Wind-type spell was called Traceless Wind. Its speed was faster than Rainbow Wind, completely silent and very subtle.

Besides Traceless Wind, there was also Destructive Flame. This was a Fifth-level spell, so the strength of the flames was increased slightly. Nevertheless, it still could only defeat a peak Seventh-level. Defeating an Eighth-level would still be a challenge.

After all, if Merlin encountered someone who had Fusion Pandora Demon Ability, and cultivated it to the third form, then it would be a peak Seventh-level Spell Caster like Tambert. Merlin was completely unable to defeat him, and could only rely on the fourth form of Darkness Eye to kill him.

The biggest advantage that Merlin had over an average Seventh-level Spell Caster was that his spells were all self-derived. However, this advantage in terms of spells would be offset by the opponent's Seventh-level spells. So ultimately, it would become a competition of Pandora Demon Abilities. In this regard, Merlin did not have a clear advantage.

Therefore, despite having constructed Fifth-level spells, based on Pandora Demon Ability, he was only able to compete against a peak Seventh-level Wizard. In other words, his ability did not improve greatly.

However, this was already anticipated by Merlin. From Seventh-level onward, every level-up would bring about a tremendous change in abilities. Especially since he came to this new dimension, it was like returning to the Spell Casters' most glorious era. Thus, Spell Casters with Fusion Pandora Demon Abilities were not rare. Back in the Glorious Land, Merlin had the advantage of possessing Pandora Demon Abilities. However, in this new dimension, his advantage of possessing Pandora Demon Abilities had almost disappeared into nothing.

Now, Merlin had Fire-type Pandora Demon Ability, Darkness-type Pandora Demon Ability, Wind-type Pandora Demon Ability, Ice-type Pandora Demon Ability, and Earth-type Pandora Demon Ability. He only lacked Thunder-type Pandora Demon Ability.

It was not that Merlin did not have Thunder-type Pandora Demon Ability. What he lacked was the time to cultivate it. With a bright flash, the third volume of the Neverending Book appeared in his hand. In the third volume of the Neverending Book created by Wizard Saitu, there were many Pandora Demon Abilities in it.

Moreover, there were also several Fusion Pandora Demon Abilities with considerable power. Previously, Merlin had taken a cursory glance. Among the Thunder-type Pandora Demon Abilities, there was a Fusion Pandora Demon Ability called Thunder Fury.

It also had three forms, and its power was quite formidable. By nature, Thunder-type spells contained very powerful attacking force. Coupled with Pandora Demon Ability Thunder Fury, Merlin's arsenal of Offensive spells would become even more complete.

Perhaps, the combination of Thunder-type spells and Fire-type spells together with Glacier Country would be enough to compete with an Eighth-level Spell Caster.

Nonetheless, cultivating Thunder Fury would require a Thunder Stone. This type of Thunder Stone was unheard of by Merlin back in the Glorious Land, so there was no way for him to cultivate it. Now in this new dimension, Merlin would get people to look out for the Thunder Stone.

Merlin now possessed several Pandora Demon Abilities such as Wind-type, Fire-type, and Darkness-type, which are all Fusion Pandora Demon Abilities. Only Ice-type, and Thunder-type did not have Fusion Pandora Demon Abilities.

While he had Pandora Demon Ability Glacier Country as Ice-type, it was actually a special Pandora Demon Ability, and not a Fusion Pandora Demon Ability. Thus, it could not be incorporated into other spells as it existed separately from spells. Therefore, Merlin still had to cultivate an Ice-type Pandora Demon Ability.

There were many types of Pandora Demon Abilities though it seemed like many of them were not very useful such as the Ice-type Pandora Demon Ability. Now that he already had Glacier Country, even if he had cultivated a Fusion Pandora Demon Ability, it would be impossible for its power to surpass that of Glacier Country. Hence, he would be unlikely to use it and it would not be highly useful.

However, Merlin was planning even further ahead. His objective was not just to become a Seventh-level Spell Caster but a Great Wizard or a Great Legendary Wizard.

Once a Spell Caster became a Great Wizard, there would be a crucial turning point where all his spells would fuse together. As Fusion Pandora Demon Ability would fuse seamlessly into spells, all the Spell Models in the Awareness fuse together to form a single Spell Model. As a result, the ability of the Great Wizard would depend on the strength of the fused spells, the number of fused Spell Models, and the number of Fusion Pandora Demon Abilities.

No matter what, the spell fusion of a Three-Elemental Wizard would be far lesser than a Four- or Five-Elemental Spell Caster. Moreover, for Spell Casters with Fusion Pandora Demon Ability, the greater the number of Fusion Pandora Demon Abilities, the more powerful he would become. Thus, upon leveling-up to a Great Wizard, and at the instant the spell fusion occurred, the Spell Caster's ability would surge rapidly.

Since Merlin was a Six-Elemental Spell Caster, he was already very powerful. So, if he had a Fusion Pandora Demon Ability for every element, upon fusion, he would become even more formidable than before.

Merlin contemplated for a long time. Although the Thunder-type, and Ice-type Pandora Demon Abilities would not increase his abilities by much, it was his preparation for the future to become a Great Wizard!

Therefore, no matter how difficult it was to obtain the Thunder Stone, Merlin must still search for it. As for the Ice-type Fusion Pandora Demon Ability, Merlin carefully searched through the Neverending Book and found a few Ice-type Fusion Pandora Demon Abilities. Nevertheless, they also required some Ice-type treasure that Merlin did not have.

The cultivation of Thunder-type, and Ice-type Pandora Demon Abilities had to be set aside temporarily. All he could do now was to wait quietly.