Chapter 359: Subtle Moves
For Leon Merlin right now, the most important magical artifact was, of course, the Arcane Wheel...
The Arcane Wheel carried Leon's entire magical journey. From its very creation, it was an Essence Relic. Once Anderson was transplanted into it, the artifact would even possess a complete magical avatar. With its innate potential for growth, Leon suspected that, one day, the Arcane Wheel might even become a transcendent relic.
So, Leon once again revised the Arcane Wheel's design.
The new Arcane Wheel would have two gem slots—one for the Starstone, one for Elemental Amber. This small change would trigger another transformation. Embedding Elemental Amber meant the Arcane Wheel would have its own mana source, no longer relying solely on Leon's supply.
But this change would also bring a headache...
Once the Arcane Wheel had its own mana source, Leon's control over Anderson would be drastically reduced. Originally, Leon could regulate Anderson via mana supply—just like he did with Lord Shaun when he was weak. Any sign of trouble, Leon could cut off the mana, turning the Essence Relic into a useless hunk of metal.
But now, with the Arcane Wheel complete and self-sufficient, Anderson could easily ignore Leon...
Mana source, relic body, magical avatar—everything an Essence Relic should have, the Arcane Wheel now possessed.
"Forget it, doesn't matter..." Leon thought for a moment, then tossed those worries aside.
Because Leon had already figured it out...
He couldn't possibly sabotage the Arcane Wheel just to guard against Anderson. This Essence Relic was the cornerstone of his magical path—its importance rivaled even the Death Tome.
Besides...
As long as he was strong enough, what did it matter if Anderson developed ambitions? Was Anderson really going to turn the world upside down?
If the day ever came when Anderson broke free of his control, he'd only have himself to blame for being too weak.
He came from thirty thousand years in the future, armed with magical knowledge far beyond this era. If even that couldn't let him control an Essence Relic—couldn't keep Anderson in line—then really, he only had himself to blame.
Once he'd thought it through, Leon didn't hesitate any longer. He embedded the massive Elemental Amber into the newly forged Arcane Wheel...
In an instant, dazzling light flared. Leon sensed a subtle, mysterious connection to the Arcane Wheel on the Alchemy Table. He knew this was a sign of relic awakening—an Artifact Spirit born within a newly forged artifact. If word got out, who knew how many people would be terrified...
Yet for Leon, this was still far from enough...
For the next dozen days, Leon poured all his time into the Arcane Wheel—even eating and sleeping in the Alchemist's Lab.
Even the tightly shut doors of the Alchemist's Lab couldn't keep out the fanatical alchemists of Mercury Tower...
No wonder—Leon’s last public appearance was just too overwhelming...
He cracked the Faise Formula in three minutes, nearly scaring Griffith half to death. Then, he unveiled two solutions for spell solidification, which the entire Mercury Tower hailed as genius. A few Grandmasters even treated those solutions as textbooks, studying and analyzing them day and night.
Mercury Tower practically worshipped Leon with a kind of feverish devotion.
More importantly, as the alchemists of Mercury Tower idolized him, bits and pieces of Leon’s story began to surface...
Gradually, people learned that this young Grandmaster—who looked barely twenty—owned a massive alchemy shop in Seaview City, almost monopolizing the eastern kingdom’s alchemy trade. In just one year, he’d overturned the entire system multiple times. All sorts of unheard-of alchemical products flowed from his shop on Triumph Avenue, each creating new miracles in the eastern market.
Unable to withstand the relentless questions, Sylas West finally let slip a few secrets...
So everyone learned that this young Grandmaster, together with Sylas West, had ventured into Vaughn's Ruins in Four Seasons Gorge. He’d cracked one alchemical array after another, defeated powerful adversaries, and even Grandmaster Fran—then a Title Archmage—had once lost to him.
And back then, this young Grandmaster was only a ninth-tier Archmage...
And so on, and so forth...
In just a dozen days, Leon had completely won over the proud alchemists of Mercury Tower...
If not for the Alchemist's Lab doors being shut tight, who knows how many alchemists would have flooded in. In their eyes, Leon's image had become nothing short of divine...
A month later, the Arcane Wheel was complete.
Even with Leon deliberately suppressing it, the Arcane Wheel’s Essence Relic-level arcane resonance still alarmed quite a few people—Sylas West and Griffith among them. The two were in the Mercury Tower library when they sensed the surge. They glanced at each other, faces pale with shock, then quietly lowered their heads and pretended nothing had happened, burying themselves in their books...
Just a week later, Mercury Tower finished processing six magical materials. That night, the Doombringer Staff ascended to Essence Relic status. Sylas West and Griffith were busy in the upstairs Alchemist's Lab when the magical surge hit—both dropped their beakers in shock...
The next day, Leon finally left Mercury Tower.
Sylas West and Griffith personally escorted him to the door, followed by a crowd of Grandmasters and master alchemists...
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When Leon returned to the Merlin Family, it was already noon. William Merlin and Ross Merlin were there, and beside them lay a Dragonblood Orc, snoring away.
Speaking of which...
Ever since Hubert absorbed that drop of Golden Three-Headed Dragon's Blood, his sleep time had doubled—from six hours to twelve. Sometimes Leon even wondered if that dragon blood had a hypnotic effect...
But the results were obvious...
Since arriving in Auckland, Hubert spent most of his time sleeping, but his power skyrocketed day by day. He was now a third-tier Swordmaster—and with the blood of both dragon and orc flowing in his veins, a true master of both magic and martial arts. In terms of raw combat strength, even most fifth-tier Swordmasters couldn't compare.
Leon estimated conservatively that Hubert now matched a seventh- or eighth-tier Swordmaster.
Once Hubert broke through to the fifth tier, he could even go head-to-head with a Sword Saint.
By comparison, William Merlin was lagging a bit behind...
No help for it—William Merlin had received the soul inheritance from that damaged crest, but it would take time to absorb. He couldn't just sleep his way to power like Hubert. At present, William Merlin had only just become a second-tier Archmage, with a long way to go before reaching the fifth tier.
Still, William Merlin had made impressive progress with Bloodstone. Leon checked his work and was quite satisfied—he was even considering giving William Merlin the eleven-formula Meditation Codex ahead of schedule.
The three found a spot to sit. Leon asked Ross Merlin to fetch the sorted meditation codices, while he chatted with William Merlin about recent events in the Merlin Family. When Ross Merlin returned, he overheard their conversation and couldn't help but interject.
"By the way, cousin, in a few days, the Merlin Family Elder Council will convene. You'd better be careful..."
"Hm?" Leon had just taken the sorted meditation codices from Ross Merlin when he heard this, his eyebrows knitting slightly. "What's wrong?"
"Well..." Ross Merlin hesitated for a moment before continuing, "I've heard that lately someone has been making subtle moves behind the scenes, trying to persuade others to stir up trouble for you at the Elder Council..."
"Stir up trouble?"
"That's right..." Ross Merlin nodded. "After all, your Gilded Rose is making a lot of people jealous. It's basically monopolized the alchemy business in the eastern part of the kingdom, and may soon expand into Auckland. A shop that churns out massive wealth every day is bound to attract envy, and on top of that, you dropped thirty or forty million gold at last month's Blackhorn Auction—that drove some people absolutely mad with jealousy..."
"So you're saying, at this Elder Council, someone will try to force me to hand over the Gilded Rose?"
"That's about the size of it..."
Leon simply nodded, not saying a word. But William Merlin, overhearing this, let out a disdainful snort. "Are they looking for death?"
William Merlin had never been much valued by the Elder Council. It was only after he left for Seaview City that he met Leon, and everything he had now was thanks to Leon. So, when he heard the council was scheming to seize his cousin's assets, his first reaction was to wipe out those people without hesitation.
"That's not necessarily the case..." Ross Merlin was different—he actually held a seat on the Elder Council and had access to far more inside information than William Merlin. So when he heard this, he shook his head. "The Elder Council is backed by the Ancestral Lands. Otherwise, those money-grubbing old men could never have stood up to Lord Hofland for this long."