A formation? What was it doing here? It didn't seem to resemble any sort of spell I knew so chances were that it wasn't a Magic Formation. It didn't make sense for an Augmentation Formation to be engraved on a rock either since it was unreasonable to augment a rock. Was it a Grand Formation of some sort?

Rachel looked at it too but shook her head sideways. It looked like only Formation Masters would be able to decipher it.

Pulling out of the stream, I tried touching the marks.

"Try inputting your mana." Rachel suggested.

I infused it with my mana but it only ended up dissipating into the surrounding air.

Since we currently did not have the means to understand it, I placed it into my pocket and we returned to hunting fish. It was important to have a lot of food even if we couldn't finish it all. Not that that would happen with me here.

—x hours later—

It was night time already. After eating and discussing future plans, I told Rachel to head in for the night while I would follow shortly after.

We caught quite a lot of fish and even though the both of us had no idea how to start a natural fire, magic was the answer to a lot of things. The both of us had no clue how to properly prepare fish so we just straight up roasted them over a fire after cutting off the scales.

I was at first a bit worried about over-hunting but I soon came to a realization that over-hunting didn't matter as much as our survival. Unlike Earth, this nameless world was much healthier. Humans were not exactly the dominating species so Earth's logic should not be applied here. After all, anthropogenic activity here had little to no impact when magic was also accounted for. With magic thrown into the mix, it wasn't an exaggeration to say that anything was possible.

A single fish was more than enough for a single meal. I ate about four of them for dinner so I should be able to function at my best even without sleep. This sleepless skill was the most valuable skill when faced with any survival situation. I wonder if I will somehow gain more skills similar to it. The only other skill I gained naturally was the motivated skill.

Enough with appreciating my overpowered skill, I could roughly feel that I was close to breaking through the level 9 Mana Circulation bottleneck. There was no time to waste during a sleepless night.

—x hours later—

[Mana Circulation(Rare) has reached level Max]

[Ding!]

[Technique Evolution Requirements have been met]

[Mana Circulation(Rare) has evolved into Instant Cast(Epic)]

[Received: 200 Merit Points]

I could feel every part of the Mana Circuit in my body almost as if it had always been a part of my body. The mana naturally circulated everywhere acting just like blood. It was refreshing somehow.

My mana was finally full again after using the couple Flare spells before to cook. It looks like it took a much longer time for my mana to regenerate due to the low quality of the surrounding magic particles.

As I was about to get up to move around a bit, I noticed the mana in my body slowly decreasing.

Wondering what was happening, I sat back down and tried to locate the area where my mana was leaking. It seemed to be around my right thigh.

Looking at my right thigh, I noticed a natural light coming from the pocket. It was the rock.

Pulling it out, I could still feel the tugging feeling in my body which was the leaking of my mana. This piece of rock was taking my mana somehow. Before when I offered it mana, it refused it completely. But now it was leeching off of my mana supply as if it were a starving man. Did it have something to do with my mana control after reaching the Instant Cast stage?

As I continued to hypothesize possible reasons, the mana in my body stopped moving unnaturally and returned to normal. The formation engraved in the rock suddenly exploded in a giant light which devoured me whole.

I dropped the rock and covered my eyes so I wouldn't go blind.

...

"Fool, where are your manners? You dare not give me your attention? Open your eyes and greet your master properly!" A voice shouted rudely

Opening my eyes on my own accord, I looked around and I was in an old fashioned chamber of some sort. It was made of grey bricks and had torches along the sides which reminded me of dungeons. There was a middle aged man standing in front of me with a haughty look in his eyes.

Although he could be considered a middle aged man, he had black hair but also had a grey beard which I had to say paired well with the magnificent but old fashioned purple robe. If he had stayed silent, I would have even thought he was some sort of wise and ancient deity. It was made quite apparent that his disposition did not match with his sagely appearance.

"And who are you exactly?" I said, in a similarly rude manner.

"You fool! How dare you address me, the one and only 9th Circle Wizard, Merlin like this. Does your impudence have no bounds? Foolish! Even if many millennia had passed, I would expect the humans of the future to be able to recognize me. How disappointing, it seems you folks of the future have forgotten the saviors of humanity."

"Yeah yeah yeah. Blah blah blah. What's your point Merlin? Aren't you supposed to have a King Author or something?Where are the knights of the round table? And Excalibur? All I see is an old hag."

"Hero Author is a king? Haha, the funniest joke I have ever heard. Knights of the round table? Those despicable bastards betrayed humanity. As for the demonic sword of the Demon Lord; we destroyed Excalibur with our very own hands. Since you do not know of my greatness, let me enlighten you, ungrateful disciple."

'Disciple?'

"I am Merlin. Although I am a fragmented will that was left here right before the confrontation with the Demon God, it doesn't change the fact that I am one of the four founders of the Square Order. You may know me as The Father of Formation Masters, The 9th Circle Wizard. If that is not enough, our Square Order has vanquished the Demon Lord and possibly even slain the Demon God! Now kneel to your master!"

"Demon God? What the h*ll are you on about? If you are going to tell me something at least make it believable. Vanquisher of the Demon Lord? You do know that the Demon Lord is still around right? And who said I was going to be your disciple?" I retorted.

"Hmph, foolish one. If the stone has responded to you, that means that you satisfy the conditions to inherit my teachings. Be honored as many would kill for such an opportunity."

"Meh, not appealing at all, now let me back out." I said.

It was almost daytime and if I didn't make it back before Rachel woke up, something might happen.

"NO! YOU DO NOT LEAVE WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!"