CH 136

Whoosh!

As soon as Diwali 11 finished speaking, the surroundings changed. The scenery transition felt similar to when a user entered a level-up test site. 

Grr!

“Oh, my! I haven’t seen you in a while!”

A wolf as big as a small calf stood before Merlin as it growled menacingly. Along with its relatively large size, the wolf constantly drooled, adding to its ferocious image as an abnormal monster. This terrifying visage would usually strike fear in users who had a somewhat low constitution. However, Merlin just smiled and stepped forward.

Bam!

Welp!

Without using any internal energy, Merlin hit the wolf with a palm strike and sent it flying tens of meters backward before it turned into black smoke. 

/You have cleared Stage 1! Another monster will appear in ten minutes!/

“They’re giving me some time to rest after defeating a Level 2 monster….”

Since he barely used any power before, Merlin was at a loss, but many users were participating in this event, so the baseline was set quite low. After waiting ten minutes, Merlin saw the next monster appear.

Whoosh!

“Oh, it’s a giant spider.”

The Level 4 Giant Spider had thick legs, with each being the same width as Merlin’s thighs, and it used its lightning-quick speed to lunge at and bite its prey’s head off. Merlin lowered himself and ducked under the attack before launching himself backward, putting around ten meters between himself and the Giant Spider.

“Gear 4!”

Immediately, a Mithril Bow appeared in Merlin’s hands. After deciding to use an item appropriate for his opponent’s level, Merlin chose to retrieve a wooden arrow.

“Burn, baby, burn. Burn and burn. Oh, so hot. It’s so hot I want to die.”

Any bystander would have wondered what kind of stupid chant Merlin was muttering, but regardless, his internal energy began to circulate through a designated system. Once this was completed, Merlin fired the arrow.

Whoosh!

Kyak!

The Giant Spider wriggled angrily as if it wanted to attack, but it was just a Level 4 monster. Since the Giant Spider was essentially a bug, it was weak against fire, so its body soon shriveled up from the heat and disintegrated.

/You have cleared Stage 2! Another monster will appear in ten minutes!/

“Hmm, it seems these battles are giving me EXP, but I guess they don’t give drops?”

Merlin mumbled to himself as he changed his gear once more and put away his bow. The wolf and spider didn’t give him any drops. Either Merlin was unlucky, or these battles weren’t programmed to drop anything. The third monster was also something that Merlin had come across before.

“Oh, I haven’t seen you in a while either.”

What appeared was a tyrannosaurus, the “king of reptiles.” This was the apex predator among all the dinosaurs that occupied the Earth during the Late Cretaceous Period. The tyrannosaurus standing before Merlin was 15 meters long and weighed over seven tons.

Bam!

Ack!

However, Merlin approached and thrust a palm strike toward the tyrannosaurus’ chest before it could even react, and the massive dinosaur staggered while moaning in pain.

Thud!

After giving out one last roar, the tyrannosaurus fell and turned into black smoke.

/You have cleared Stage 3! Another monster will appear in ten minutes!/

“Hehehe. By utilizing penetration power, I didn’t have to use much internal energy.”

Although the tyrannosaurus was larger than most high-ranking monsters and boasted terrifying power, in the end, the dinosaur species couldn’t escape their species characteristics. One key feature of these creatures was their weak spiritual defense. Any user with a strong spiritual attack ability could down a tyrannosaurus relatively easily, and this didn’t change if the dinosaur was at Level 4 or 5.

“Let’s see. The Dire Wolf was Level 2, the Giant Spider was Level 4, and the Tyrannosaurus was Level 6… the next monster must be Level 8. Probably an Ogre or a low-level demon.”

From this point, even Merlin had to focus and put in some effort, so he pulled out a short spear imbued with magic power.

“Gear 3. Gear 4.”

Merlin’s mage robe disappeared and was replaced by a complete set of Mithril plate armor. This set was designed to cover the wearer’s entire body, including their face. So, there was a 13 cm-long crystal that was installed over his eyes; this way, Merlin could see while still being protected. The design of the armor was closer to the likes of a robot than traditional armor.

“I wonder what’s next? An ogre? A minotaur?”

Expecting a giant monster, Merlin drew his Mithril bow before it appeared; however, he was met with an unexpectedly small humanoid monster. Of course, the monster’s relatively modest size was in comparison to the standard of a Minotaur or Ogre, which easily stood over three meters tall. In other words, the monster was still objectively large.

“Grr, a human!”

“And as for you, you’re a werewolf!”

Whoosh!

Merlin launched his short spear. However, his opponent’s reaction speed was outstanding. The werewolf ducked and dodged the short spear right at the last moment.

“That won’t be able to stop me!”

Boom!

As the werewolf stayed low to the ground, it launched a swift punch toward Merlin’s head. Surprisingly, it seemed this werewolf trained in boxing-related skills.

[Momentary Blink.]

At that moment, the Thousand Worlds’ second-level spell engraved on the short spear activated. Despite having previously evaded danger, the short spear jumped through space and reappeared right before the werewolf, which didn’t seem like it had any time to react.

Bam!

“Dang, you sure are sturdy!”

Yet, even in this precarious state, the werewolf used its amazing reflexes and moved to block the short spear with its head. Obviously, if an arrow hit any monster’s head, one might think that this was a successful strike, but Merlin was up against a werewolf warrior, not just an ordinary werewolf. And while the werewolf warrior didn’t use internal energy and had a predictable attacking pattern, it still had considerable combat prowess. Apparently, this werewolf was of the true-blood class.

Crack!

“Ugh!”

A golden light flashed, and despite the previous incredible display, the werewolf warrior collapsed. The result was instant death. Merlin took a step back and shook his hands.

“Ah, that was a surprise. In the end, it made me use a palm strike.”

/You have cleared Stage 4! Another monster will appear in ten minutes!/

Merlin caught his breath as he watched the werewolf warrior’s body disperse into black smoke. His inner qi entered his dantian and circulated throughout his body as he operated the Golden Pill Immortal Technique. Merlin started to slowly recover the genuine qi that he had just used.

“Since my opponents have been coming at me one-on-one, my hand skills have come in handy.”

Though the Golden Pill Immortal Technique decreased the user’s genuine qi capacity and recovery rate, it made up for it by increasing the output of genuine qi that could be used in a single strike. Moreover, No Living World allowed Merlin to unlock Mercury, Venus, and Earth, but he also had a mandatory cooldown period and couldn’t launch consecutive attacks. However, his first planet, Mercury, had almost no cooldown time, and in Venus’s case, it was only half a second. Alas, Earth needed 30 seconds in between each use. If Merlin attacked continuously, he wouldn’t be able to properly amplify his internal energy each time.

“Come to think of it, I should work on Mars soon… based on how things went for Earth, it seems like I’ll need at least 80 years of internal energy to create Mars.”

As he looked within himself, Merlin analyzed the current state and mechanism of No Living World after extracting its data. Originally, the Golden Pill Immortal Technique’s No Living World was limited to possessing only one or two planets at best, but Merlin opened his third planet by combining both his magic power and internal energy.

Roar!

“Dang! Has it been ten minutes already?”

While he was analyzing the data, the next monster appeared. It was an undead lich that circulated a substantial amount of magic power around its skeletal frame. One peculiar aspect of this lich was….

“Huh? Why did it spawn so far away?”

Oddly enough, the lich appeared more than 100 meters away from Merlin. Additionally, the lich immediately started chanting a spell as if it knew it would spawn far from Merlin.

“Ah, I see. The previous monsters kept appearing in front of me, so I thought these types of battles would put mages at a disadvantage. Now that I think about it, the system is spawning monsters at a distance where they have an advantage.”

Whoosh!

Unfortunately for the lich, Merlin’s long-distance attacks weren’t too shabby.

Boom!

Merlin’s metal arrow clashed against the lich’s defensive magic barrier. Though the arrow didn’t penetrate the shield, the sheer physical force eventually caused the lich to stop chanting. Merlin prepared another attack as he ran towards the lich. Like the previous one, he was shooting a metal arrow, but this time around, Merlin notched two at once.

Bam!

Boom!

Once more, the lich raised its magic barrier and blocked the attack, but the arrows exploded. The explosive force wasn’t enough to collapse the shield, but it stopped the lich from chanting as well.

Bam!

There were many different types of undead, from vampires said to have existed since ancient times to zombies or ghouls with decaying bodies, skeletons, and ghostly wraiths and specters. Nevertheless, amongst the undead, the most powerful were the liches and death knights.

Although it was difficult to qualify them as a species due to their unique individual origins, liches and death knights were a species that possessed a species level of 10. In other words, the lowest level member of these species possessed master-level combat power, swordsmanship, and magic ability.

‘Now that I recall, this guy is Level 10, right?’

As he ran, Merlin gauged the lich’s magic power. Of course, at Level 10, the lich’s magic power capacity and level were greater than Merlin’s, so it had the advantage. Yet, being Level 10 also meant that this lich was the weakest among its species. When someone thought of a lich, they would probably imagine a fallen great mage, but a measly fifth-class wizard could become a lich. Also, many sword masters can be reborn as Death Knights, although none would become a death knight of their own accord.

‘This should be fine. Level 10 means that the lich is just slightly stronger than the mermaid prince. If I can launch the Great Strength Vajra Hand at the right moment, then….’

Before Merlin reached the lich, it finished chanting its spell. Despite Merlin’s efforts to throw off the lich’s timing with neverending arrows, the undead had somehow successfully completed its spell chant.

“Freeze right there, you weak mortal!”

“Ack!”

Merlin had been sprinting towards the lich when he suddenly stopped. The lich’s restraining spell had broken through his resistance and taken his body’s freedom. Merlin’s magic resistance stats were quite low, so he was susceptible to any spells that specifically targeted him. This was even truer when his opponent was a high-ranking lich mage. When Merlin stopped moving, the lich started to chant its next spell.

“Black lightning that destroys souls! I command you to strike upon the spot I designate! All shall fear….” With a roaring chant, an unusual magic power started to gather. Dark spiritual qi rose from the lich’s skeletal body as the surrounding mana began to resonate.

‘Dang it! If this continues, I’ll be dead after one shot!’

Merlin screamed internally as he tried to circulate internal energy throughout his body. Despite his Mithril armor being acclaimed for its magic resistance stats, Merlin didn’t enchant it with any additional spells, so he’d inevitably succumb to the next attack.

Woong!

However, at that moment, the internal energy originating in his mid-dantian region moved down towards his lower dantian, which commenced the amplification process. Ten years of internal energy was amplified by his first planet, Mercury, and instantly became 20 years. Then these years went through Venus and became 40, and doubled into an output of 80 years after going through Earth.

Crack!

Underneath the lich’s black robe, all its bones cracked and splintered. Though the lich had mustered a defense by raising its defensive magic barrier once more, Merlin had already analyzed the lich’s magic barrier and effortlessly bypassed it. His Great Strength Vajra Hand strike, which could surprise the heavens and shake the earth, had completely circumvented all the lich’s defenses and landed squarely on its skeletal frame.

/You have cleared Stage 5! Another monster will appear in ten minutes!/