Return of the last survivor - Chapter 121

“Hmm?” Dulir noticed that Merlin had stopped and turned around, and finally saw that the colour of Merlin’s face had changed.

“Does your race like to change colours?”

“…”

“My Lord’s race is called human. Their skin tends to change colour depending on their inner thoughts. When they are scared of something, their faces tend to lose blood and become lighter than the normal colour” Cortana’s slightly mechanical voice rang out to all the dwarves present, who nodded as though they were students being lectured by a teacher.

Unknown to her, Merlin’s true race was no longer human. Which only he himself, Arcania, ad The Master knew of.

“Phew~” Merlin sighed as he came back to his senses almost in sync with Cortana finishing her mini-lecture on her Lord’s race, colour slowly returning to his face as he calmed down.

“You did not need to hide your strength…” Merlin said as he looked straight at Dulir, who flinched slightly.

“You used that accursed Arcania…”

“Yes. It is very useful in times like these.”

“Hmph! That system is a curse. It might be useful now, but wait until it decided that your usefulness is over.”

Without elaborating, Dulir turned around and continued walking while using Earth Magic to increase his efficiency in walking, covering tens of meters in each step, followed closely by his students and the guards.

Merlin also followed behind, however, his mind was somewhere else.

‘My usefulness… what was my use? Why did ‘The Master’ turn back time to revive me? Was it just to have some entertainment?’

Countless questions flooded his mind for the next half a day that the group travelled until they arrived at a metal gate that completely sealed off the entire tunnel. There were a few guards in front of the metal gate which seemed like it could take on a few of Merlin’s full power punches without even getting a scratch.

It was not the material that gave Merlin this notion, but the mana that was present within the material itself. This was not the ‘engraving’ of runes that Merlin used in his Runes, but a more fundamental change in the structure of the material itself.

A simple way to describe the difference in strengthening was by taking the example of a wooden door. What Merlin’s Runes did was reinforce the wood with steel, which was rather cost effective in terms of strength achieved and the amount of time and mana used in gaining that strength.

On the other hand, this metal was essentially changing the chemical, or in this case ‘magical’ composition of the wooden door into a metal one. This was a lot stronger than a wooden door reinforced with metal.

And that was how this wall of a gate was constructed. The material used in its making was basically at the peak of Tier 4 items. Naturally, items did not have the same kind of restrictions creatures did, however, it was harder to make an item of an exceeding tier while the world had not reached that rank as of yet.

Merlin looked over at the guards and inspected them, only to realise they too were all Tier 4s, some newly advanced, but most around Lv 3 or 4.

‘This plane seems to be rich with evolution points…’

‘However, now a new problem arises. How to get these points without becoming enemies with the entire plane…?”

Merlin pushed back is now significantly longer dark grey hear which was reaching his eyes. Although he had gotten a hear-cut some time earlier, the race-evolution to [Half-Void Being (Human Form)] had not only had mutation within his own body, but also had altered his appearance in some strange ways.

Now only had his hair grown overnight a few inched, but had also permanently changed colour to dark grey similar to that of freshly made cement. All the ‘other’ hair on his body had also changed colour along with that on his head.

In addition to these changes, his eyes had also changed colour from pure black to a grey colour with hints of yellow hidden deep within.

However, nothing else had changed, and he still looked like himself, which did not change his daily activities.

But that was a thought for later, since Dulir had finished his talked with the man who seemed to be the leader of the guards present, and the gate was slowly opened, allowing Merlin to see the glory that lay within.