Greatest Legacy of the Magus Universe

Merlin slowly weaved a series of hand seals, taking all the time in the world. He wanted to check something out.

Eleiney and Kahn turned to him, wondering what the madman was up to now.

Several moments later, the coppery-red-haired youth finished casting the final hand seal. Then, he outstretched his hand, palm facing upward.

A small but radiant magic circle appeared on his palm… for only a second before flickering out of existence.

Merlin's smile deepened.

Kahn and Eleiney, on the other hand, couldn't help but frown.

"What was that all about?" Asked the striking, blond young man from Coral Cove. "Did you finally run out of mana?"

"Fafafa! What a joke!" Merling laughed out loud. He turned to Kahn and added, "It wasn't funny at all."

Kahn's lips twitched, and he thought incredulously, Then why did you laugh? You damned madman!

Merlin lingered for a moment, then said in a grim voice. "My connection to the Spirit World has been severed."

"…What?" Eleiney was taken aback.

Merlin looked at the grey skies of the secret plane and mumbled, "Perhaps it's because of how young this place is. As long as we're inside, our connection to the Spirit World will remain severed. That means… no teleportation, no summoning magic."

He thought inwardly, Although… if I activate the lotus, I'm certain I can forcefully establish a connection to the Spirit World.

But things haven't gotten so dire.

Well, not yet, anyway.

He turned to the two Magi and said evenly, "It'll be impossible to use spells from the School of Summoning. You know, since they all draw from the Spirit World."

The Spirit World acted as a bridge.

When a Magus teleported or summoned creatures, items, and magical effects, the target was momentarily moved into the Spirit World, bypassing the physical space, then reappearing in the desired location.

If access to the Spirit World was disrupted, then spells from the School of Summoning were rendered useless because the transit path was cut off.

No access. No movement. As simple as that.

Merlin—or rather, Adam—specialized in the School of Summoning. Thus, such a situation was highly disadvantageous to him.

Luckily, he still had other cards up his sleeve.

"And why does that matter?" Kahn asked with an arched eyebrow. "Are you a summoner? From what I've seen, I don't think so."

In fact, none of the members of Party B—or A, for that matter—majored in the School of Summoning.

So, access to the Spirit World being restricted within the secret plane should not have been a problem.

"No, but it would have made communication easier," Merlin said with a shrug.

Kahn's eyes flashed with understanding. "You're trying to reach out to Edward's party?"

"Any party, really," Merlin said evenly.

Eleiney was deep in thought. She shifted her attention to the dozens of Mana Liquefaction-level blood beasts surrounding the base of the pillar.

Then, she turned to her party members. Each of them had severely depleted their energy reserves after having fought the beasts for several hours without any rest.

The only exception to this was Merlin. Eleiney felt that he had a bottomless pit of mana. Still, it didn't matter if the rest of the party members fell behind.

She couldn't help but recall what her Mentor had once said to her:

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

She turned to Merlin and asked solemnly, "Do you have another method to communicate with others?"

Although Merlin was strong—very strong, in fact—there was no way Eleiney was going to ask him to go alone and find the nearest party. She could not put her party member's life at risk so stupidly.

Merlin turned to her and arched an eyebrow. "I might."

Eleiney fell into deep thought once more. She had no idea how vast the second layer of the secret plane was, nor how far the nearest party might be.

But taking all things into consideration, it was wiser to regroup with the nearest party and worry about traversing the second layer afterward.

"Alright then," Eleiney spoke with conviction. "What do you need? Is there any way any of us can assist you? Be it material components or anything, just name it."

Merlin deeply looked at the young woman, his pale blue eyes flickering with approval.

Oh, Eleiney dear, one day you are going to grow up to be a splendid Magus.

Those weren't Merlin's thoughts…

They were Adam's.

Eleiney might not have been the strongest out of the group, but she was undoubtedly the most resourceful.

And in the cruel world of Magi, survival did not always favor strength… it favored adaptability.

Merlin's lips curled into a grin. "As a matter of fact, you can."

He paused for a moment, then added. "Find me a flying insect. Or a bird. No, actually, an insect would suffice."

Eleiney's lips twitched.

She turned to Kahn, who had an equally perplexed look on his face. Finally, she walked to the other party members, asking them if any of them had a flying insect.

Fortunately for them, Charlie just so happened to have several intact wasp corpses on hand. He used them as material components for a spell that allowed him to hurl venom at his targets.

"Ah, perfect." Merlin glanced at the half a dozen wasps in his hands with a wide grin.

Then, he turned around and sat on the edge, his feet dangling over the side. "Alright then, this will take a while. So until I'm done, none of you bother me, got it? Thanks in advance."

With that said, Merlin got to work, completely ignoring the strange looks his party members were giving him.

It was time to cast a spell that he had not cast in a long time.

A spell that mimicked the insidious technique of the Devil of Secrets.

After weaving a series of hand seals, a small magic circle it up above his palm. However, instead of fueling the spell with mana, he used spiritual energy.

The small magic circle lit up with a dim light, and then… a tiny white maggot made out of his spiritual energy materialized out of it.

Rank 2 Spell: Adam's Spirit Parasite!

With a simple command, the maggot crawled out of his hand and made its way towards one of the wasp corpses.

Moments later, it seamlessly merged with the lifeless insect, and then…

The wasp came to life.