Chapter 27: Magical Pressure

    When the word “alphabet user” was uttered, it quivered the hearers, because it was a known fact that there were a few of them as fingers on one hand.

    The appearance of the alphabet users was considered the beholders’ luck. They were mysterious figures. Not everyone could see them; in this realm, everyone wanted to meet them. Even kings respected these people.

    They were simply on top of each kingdom’s hierarchy; surely, nobody dared to provoke them. Even though some of the alphabet users did not possess high-level magical powers, their real power was persuading powerful people to be their own powers.

    There was a time when something happened to an alphabet user; later on, that alphabet user convinced wizard warriors and even archwizards to join in his revenge.

    It was obvious that he did not have to handle it himself; just saying his desires and all those powerful individuals were willing to fulfill them. Everyone was glad to have a chance to please him.

    Although the actions of the boy right here were considered arrogant, unfortunately, he was qualified to do so.

    “Twisted Lazz troubled an alphabet user; he had made a mistake,” someone said.

    Milazz was shocked; it showed through the barrier. Then, that twisted face started to turn maniac.

    “Do you think this could cage me?”

    Milazz madly threw numberless punches at the wall. Nevertheless, no matter how hard he tried, there was no sign that the barrier would crack.

    People were watching with their hearts beating like crazy.

    “As expected of an alphabet user’s barrier.” Someone in the crowd gave his opinion.

    And as a matter of fact, that compliment was true. It was known that the alphabet users’ barriers were awfully strong. They were more powerful than the barriers of the normal wizards; they were used to protect cities.

    People who wanted to destroy an alphabet user’s barrier had to have much higher powers than the user.

    To break the wall of a blue-alphabet user, which was a beginner level, it required at least a wizard warrior to have a chance.

    The stronger the alphabet user was, the more powerful his or her barrier became.

    “Our child play ends now. It is clear that you are not good enough to be my partner.”

    After saying that, Merlin clenched his palm; suddenly, the barrier vanished.

    Milazz was in a state of rage when he was released; he quickly jumped up into the air with Merlin being his target.

    “Kiddo, you’re such a stubborn one,” Merlin said derisively.

    The bystanders were amazed at his word choice calling Milazz, the Twisted Lazz a kid although he was only a bit older than ten and looked like a child. Milazz, on the other hand, was big and tall; he seemed like a teenager in, approximately, the range of seventeen or eighteen years old.

    Merlin daring to call Milazz kiddo shocked people. But nobody objected or said anything against it because he had the quality good enough to say that word.

    The identity of an alphabet user was higher than any ordinary person.

    Just then, Milazz leaped at him; Merlin lifted his twig and tranquilly thrashed Milazz. Nobody else could do something like this.

    Yelp!

    Getting thrashed by Merlin’s twig, Milazz whimpered; he sounded just like a dog; his body fell onto the ground in a flash.

    BAMN!

    Seeing that, Merlin slightly shook his head, turned around, and flew to the Great Magic Tower right away.

    Milazz and everyone were amazed watching Merlin’s back.

    Merlin quickly headed to the Great Magic Tower. It was ten kilometers from where he came from to the destination. After a while, he realized that he was being followed.

    Looking behind, he found that it was Michael; the long-eared elf was flying after him.

    Fly!

    Correct. Michael was flying with his white wings that came out in the middle of his back. That must be a spell from the Naples Kingdom, an ancient land full of nature.

    Knowing who his chaser was, Merlin stopped caring and determinedly headed to the tower.

    During those several kilometers, there were beasts along the way below him. If he was not flying, he might have to waste so much time dealing with them.

    After quite some time, he arrived at the tower. This building had been here since the olden days; it oozed such archaic and sacred senses. Compared to its enormity, a human would be as big as a grain of soil. The tower was gargantuan.

    The gigantic marble door exuded a sacred atmosphere; only the door was as tall as ten or even more meters. Its width could have hundreds of people walking through at the same time. It was hard to properly describe its grandeur.

    Suddenly Merlin heard a strange noise from behind.

    BOOM!

    Looking out, he saw blue flames heading his way leaving a straight blue line behind. Those twisted eyes were shining out from afar; it was nobody else but Twisted Lazz.

    “This guy is even more sticky than a leech.” Said Merlin after he sighed.

    Merlin flew down at the entrance of the tower; he noticed that there was a group of people that had arrived before him. It was unbelievable that someone got here faster than he did but it was probably because he was being involved with Milazz so that group arrived here earlier.

    These people must be skilled or else they would not have gotten here this fast. And they were not the only group here. Possibly, there were some groups that had already got in the tower.

    Arriving here, he got people staring at him but he did not care at all.

    He did not waste any time before walking straight to the door.

    After walking past the door, Merlin found a huge hallway decorated with prehistoric patterns; they showed how old this place was. And this hallway was packed with magical flows.

    In the center, there was a grand spiral staircase that was the connection to the next floor. These stairs were the way to get up to each floor of this tower.

    Walking on the stairs up to each level of the Great Magic Tower was difficult because they needed to encounter the magical pressure sent down from the peak of the tower.

    Merlin did not want to waste any time; he levitated and flew to the first steps to the next floor.

    When he got to the staircase area, he could feel a slight amount of magical pressure. It was a negligible amount of testing the skills of people who were trying to get to the next level.

    It did not take long before he arrived on the first floor. There was a long tunnel up here; this area had more intense magical pressure than when he was on the stairways. However, this magical pressure had no effect on him. They could not threaten him; he was able to move as though nothing happened.

    There was a long walkway lying inside the tunnel. Walking on, Merlin found several intersections; he could guess that this tower’s test was the mazes.

    Theoretically, there must be a few obstacles testing the attendees’ skills: one of them was the magical pressure on each floor. And he could see that when getting to a higher floor, the magical pressure would be more intense and denser.

    The second obstacle was the maze on each floor. Other than the seven-day-stay condition, the magical pressure on each floor gave more brutal hardships to the participants. This was not a complicated test, or else it would not be restricted to only novices and young people like this.

    Merlin raised his right hand; suddenly, a blue magical alphabet shone out. With his skills achieving the stem-building stage, he could control objects as he desired. Magical power was no exception. Thinking about making magical alphabets, he could create them just by shaking his hand. It was even easier and faster as a thought making basic magical alphabets that did not require much power.

    A magical alphabet appeared in the air; in a short while, it disintegrated and turned into a magical hoop.

    When the magical hoop appeared, suddenly, magical waves rippled out of it like the ripples on the water surface. It covered the whole first floor of the tower.

    With the senses of this magical hoop, Merlin easily learned about this maze’s exit. He could find the staircase to the second floor as if it was just flipping his hand upside down.

    It could be said that this swindle skill was an advantage of an alphabet user.

    Someone might have to spend hours or even a day to find a way up the tower; that was not the case for Merlin. These mazes were not such worrisome obstacles; this test was even easier than breathing.

    When Merlin heard about the conditions of this test, they did not bother him; he was at ease and not in a hurry walking up the tower.

    Arriving at the intersections, he found a group of people running across at speed. They split up and headed in different directions.

    Maybe this was their formation: splitting up to find the mazes’ exits. They might have their way to assemble back when someone found a way up to the next floor.

    This method was not bad at all; but for Merlin, it was unnecessary.

    Merlin was walking on the passages he discovered; suddenly, he sensed a familiar power. And when he turned back, he found somebody.

    “It is you again, mad dog.” Said Merlin exhaustedly.

    Exactly, it was Milazz, the Twisted Lazz; he, again, followed Merlin. That face of a lunatic person was coming towards him.

    The smile, the laugh, and those eyes wide open together created insanity.

    Merlin did not really want to get involved with this mad dog; he leaped up very quickly.

    It did not take long before he left Milazz further and further behind and arrived at the first ascent to the second floor.

    To cut the annoyance regarding the mad dog, Merlin decided to continuously go up to the next floors. The higher he got, the more magical pressure there would be. But he was surprised because even though he could feel the increased amount of magical pressure, he was not affected at all.

    That was different from many people he saw on the way. Merlin could see their grimaces; the magical pressure affected them. The denser the magical pressure, the harsher their journeys became.

    Merlin could overtake a lot of people until he reached the tenth floor.

    Using his magical alphabet to check the maze on this level, he found that there was a small secret room hiding in; and this room gave off a bizarre energy aura.

    Merlin went straight to that spot. Arriving there, he found an old wall; it looked pretty normal. If ordinary people came across this, they would not give it much attention.

    But that was not Merlin who examined it with a magical alphabet. He sensed this secret room just by looking with his Lemegeton Eye; shortly, he learned about their mechanism.

    Merlin moved the two tiny stones on the wall; suddenly, the secret room’s door opened.

    Looking inside, Merlin found tons of magical-seal stones.

    Before this, he learned about the test’s details; the magical-seal stones were its objectives. They were the pieces that could make each person’s magical cloak. And these stones existed from the tenth floor.

    Wasting no time, Merlin picked one up and not more because no matter how many he brought out, he would be able to use only one of them anyway. And if he got out of this island, the stocked stones would also disappear.

    These magical-seal stones looked like clear crystals; their insides shone brightly like diamonds. They were magical objects that could combine with human bodies and turn into magical cloaks.

    Wearing a magical cloak gotten from the tenth floor, magic practitioners would be able to increase their magical powers’ damage by ten percent. Undoubtedly, if they could find the stones on the higher floors, the damage percentage would be higher accordingly.

    In the past five hundred years, there was a person who could climb up to the twentieth floor and receive the magical cloak with twenty percent-increased power.

    In the recorded history, nobody had ever gotten to the thirty-eighth floor. And if someone ever did, it would be unimaginable how powerful of a cloak that person would get.

    Merlin stopped at that secret stone storeroom for a while but then he heard a familiar, unique laugh.

    Eeeek Eeek Eeek!

    “That mad dog is following me again.” Merlin almost cursed when he found out his follower was Milazz.

    How was he so fast?

    Merlin did not waste much time thinking about it; he leaped out of there immediately.

    And on the way, he was figuring out how that mad dog got up to this floor so quickly; not only that, he could always find Merlin so precisely that it seemed strange.

    Although the mad dog could endure these magical pressures, the maze on each floor was supposed to give him much harsher hardship. But he could catch up with Merlin so fast.

    Realizing that something was off, Merlin stopped and checked his body.

    After a while, he found that the bottom edge of his cloak was burning with blue flames. They did not spread to the other parts of his cloak; staying on his cloak like dog fleas, they were undying.

    “So, it is his spying magic.” Said Merlin while smirking then continued,

    “Nice, nice. It seems he’s kind of smart after all. For the sake of your brain, I will let you be a flea sticking on me. Let’s see how long your skills will let you keep up with me.”

    Merlin did not put out that fire; he left it burning the cloak’s hem just the same.

    The boy leaped ahead with a smile on his face; he was thinking about doing something fun with Milazz.

    Then he kept going up without taking a rest. It was not that he never thought about resting but being a stem builder, he did not need to take a break to eat or drink anything. Being a practitioner had really helped him.

    After some time, he had reached the fifteenth floor; the magical pressure was even denser. And being on this floor made his breathing harder and his movement obviously slower.

    The magical power started to affect him on this floor.

    “It was no surprise that a lot of people could not go past floor twenty-five,” said Merlin.

    His traveling was noticeably slower. With its difficulty, he spent so much time on the fifteenth floor; and finally, he got to the sixteenth. The magical pressure was even heavier; it made him extremely uncomfortable.

    As if he was in the water, Merlin was moving with difficulty on this floor. It was inert and sluggish.

    Even more so, Merlin also felt that Milazz, the loyal dog flea, was following him obstinately. That guy was quite hardy and tolerant.

    Following Merlin so closely to this floor, that man was pretty great.

    On the second day, Merlin was on the eighteenth floor; Milazz, the Dog Flea, was still close behind him.

    Merlin could no longer run on this floor; barely walking was already hard enough. He felt like he was walking through an erratic flood right now. The strong, intense magical power made it hard for him to balance.

    The same went to Milazz; it seemed like he was clenching his tenth fighting this power. That twisted face looked bitter; his body seemed like it was about to explode.

    This was the real test of the Great Magic Tower.

    Although this test’s obstacles were merely the mazes and the magical pressure, on the higher floors, they would have to face the true brutality. And this was the Great Magic Tower’s cruel test.

    Seeing Milazz’s painful face, Merlin shouted,

    “You crazy dork! Go down! If you push yourself harder, you will die and return with nothing.”

    Because of their odd bond between them, Merlin decided to warn Milazz.

    Ereeek…Ereek…Eeek

    Hearing Merlin’s warning, Milazz laughed in his weird voice. It was not that he did not want to talk to Merlin but he just could not. Saying a word was extremely hard so he could only laugh bitterly.

    If Milazz forced it so hard that his body disintegrated, he would be sent out of the tower right away. Moreover, he would lose the stone he had gotten and half of the magical power he had been cultivating.

    Dying in this tower was considered a cruel thing for a wizard.

    “Such a stubborn flea. Go back before you lose it all!”

    Finally, he had to help Milazz, raising his hand and throwing Xian vital essence at his body.

    BAMN!

    Merlin did not have any bad intentions in doing that. After receiving that palm attack, Milazz’s body flew back to the entrance of this floor. He was floating like a kite with a broken string.

    “That was all I could do to help you. And if you die after this, it is your business.” Having said that, Merlin continued his walk.

    Because of this massive amount of magical pressure, walking was profoundly hard for Merlin. This was only the eighteenth floor; clearly, he would not be able to get to the thirty-eighth floor in five days.

    Almost five hours had passed, Merlin was still unable to get to the ascent of the eighteenth floor to the next. But luckily, he had already reaped this floor’s magical-seal stone. With this dense magical pressure, he could not walk as fast as before. It was too dense as if he was walking in a sticky flushing river.

    Walking up to the next floor, he would have to encounter even denser magical pressure.

    Merlin was thinking, being stuck in the reverie for a few breaths.

    “Dense! Right! Density!” It seemed like he had just figured something out.

    “That time, this is just like that time when I was stuck in the black-magical-alphabets barrier.”

    Like a light shining down on Merlin, he just realized that the thing that helped him get out of the barrier was the “Lemegeton Eye.”

    Wasting no time, Merlin immediately sealed the magical power at his right eye.

    And when that eye was fed with magical power, there came the mysterious energy.

    As expected, when Lemegeton Eye received the magical power from Merlin, there was suddenly a strange magical pressure covering his body.

    Merlin’s body now was glowing and full of mystical auras.

    Just after that energy came out, Merlin was able to move freely as he wished. The magical pressure of this tower no longer had any effects on him.

    These magical pressures were sterile facing Lemegeton’s power.