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“Most probably, Count Stanwin would be happy to see that I’ve managed to reclaim the manor in Boulder City, right?”

The thought flashed unbidden in Merlin’s mind. He held great respect toward Count Stanwin. Of course, a great existence like Merlin, who could challenge a Latitude Cosmos, would not think of Count Stanwin as a father. Rather, Count Stanwin gave him a sense of nostalgia. After all, Merlin had not felt such a warm feeling for a very long time.

Shaking his head, Merlin continued to walk. Count Stanwin was dead. Merlin had not only killed Orsato but had also slain Blackbat who had previously invaded Boulder City. Now that Merlin had reclaimed Boulder City, Count Stanwin had been properly avenged.

Arriving in the basement, Merlin scanned his surroundings. He discovered that there were now many large boxes, which turned out to contain gold coins. These were the financial underpinnings that supported the entire Blackbat Militia.

In the other large boxes, there were some strange and peculiar items that Blackbat must have collected from somewhere. Merlin studied them for a long time but did not discover anything important.

“Is that all Blackbat had collected?”

Merlin had a strong gut feeling that a full-shifter such as Blackbat would not place much importance on these items. Even if the Blackbat Militia was destroyed, it did not matter to Blackbat because as long as he lived, the Blackbat Militia would eventually be rebuilt.

Therefore, Blackbat would surely treasure his own life above all. He would surely keep many precious items that would help increase his abilities. After all, once a low-tier almighty beast bloodline had achieved full-shift, there was very little room left for further enhancements.

However, the entire basement did not contain any such item. There were only some gold coins and “souvenirs” of unknown origins. How could Merlin not be suspicious?

Merlin walked around the entire basement and inspected every inch. Suddenly, he noticed some dirt scattered on the floor of the basement. Although quite unremarkable at first glance, there was some odd dirt in the corner.

“Dirt? The basement had been built a long time ago. Why would there be fresh dirt? Unless Blackbat expanded the basement?”

A flash of realization struck Merlin. Yes, while he might be irrevocably familiar with the basement, he would not know if Blackbat had remodeled the basement.

“Hmph, nothing can hide from my Mind Power.”

Merlin did not want to mobilize his Mind Power. When he fought against Blackbat, he had mobilized almost his full arsenal. So now, his Mind Power had diminished considerably. It would be impossible for him to defeat another strong contender on par with Blackbat.

The only abilities Merlin could mobilize right now were the abilities of the Blood-eye Dragon, which meant that currently, Merlin was at his weakest. Nevertheless, no one would find out.

To kill Blackbat, Merlin had exhausted a large portion of his Mind Power. Hence, he lost the last bit of his safety net. From now onward, Merlin would have to tread carefully.

“I better level-up the Blood-eye Dragon quickly. Otherwise, the powerful strength of a high-tier almighty beast like the Blood-eye Dragon cannot be unleashed.”

Merlin had a plan, which was to return to Phantom Headquarters as soon as possible, then use the contribution points he had earned to exchange for enough portions of the Nourishment Pond formula to achieve a fourth-form shift. Once he had accomplished that, he would be able to leverage the Blood-eye Dragon’s power to challenge the full-shift strong contenders.

Of course, that would only be enough to defeat full-shifters from the low-tier almighty beast bloodlines. As for the mid-tier almighty beast bloodlines, there was still a large gap that even Merlin could not possibly bridge.

Merlin used his Mind Power to scan the entire basement. Immediately, everything in the basement was covered with his Mind Power. Even the smallest speck of dust could be detected by Merlin.

Needless to say, the secret hidden doors were easily found by Merlin.

“It’s here.”

Merlin saw that behind one of the walls, there was a dark and empty hollow. That should be Blackbat’s expansion of the basement. Thus, Merlin walked right up to a thick, solid wall of the basement. Without Mind Power, it would have been extremely difficult to find.

Merlin did not know the mechanism of this structure but he did not intend to locate it. He immediately wielded his shapeshift form, and a huge beast rammed violently through the wall.

“Boom.”

The wall immediately crumbled, revealing a dark, gaping pit. Merlin was not at all concerned. Blackbat would not bother to set up any silly mechanisms in such a place, and even if he did, it would not be able to harm a powerful shapeshifter.

In the dark pit, there was a set of descending stairs. Merlin lit a candle from the basement and slowly made his way downward. The lower he went, Merlin could sense the dampness in the air.

Soon, a stone door came into view at the bottom of the stairs. It was tightly shut and covered with a thick layer of dust. It seemed like no one had been down here for some time.

Merlin came before the stone door. Without any hesitation, he shapeshifted into the third-form almighty beast and rammed brutishly against the door. Once again, the solid stone door was smashed into pieces.

Behind the smashed stone door was a medium-sized chamber. Some delicate glass cabinets displayed some precious materials.

However, the sight Merlin was most familiar with was situated right in the middle of the chamber. There was a small pond. There was nothing in it currently but Merlin was able to tell with a single glance. This was a Nourishment Pond.

This chamber was a laboratory, which was commonly used by Hosts. The materials in the glass cabinet, on the other hand, were Nourishment Pond materials which Blackbat had been collecting over the years.

There was no doubt that Blackbat also had a Nourishment Pond formula, and had intended to become a Host at some point. However, perhaps due to the risk associated with parasitism or the reluctance to let go of his current full-shifter abilities, he did not take the plunge.

Another possibility was that Blackbat merely wanted to study about Hosts. This was so that if anything were to happen to him, he could still choose to become a Host. Nonetheless, the reason was obvious. If it was not for the risk associated with parasitism, it would certainly surpass the cultivation method of the almighty beast bloodline. How would it be possible for Blackbat to find a breakthrough?

This laboratory represented Blackbat’s hope or rather, the inner conflict in his heart. Blackbat simply could not bear to relinquish his powerful full-shifter abilities, and now, it would be to Merlin’s benefit.

Merlin was ecstatic. Just as he was feeling frustrated over insufficient Nourishment Pond formulas and materials, Blackbat had left him with numerous items.

Therefore, Merlin began to search hurriedly in the drawers. Soon, he found five different Nourishment Pond formulas. All of them had been obtained by Blackbat either through killing the Hosts or forcing descendants of Hosts to hand it over to him. In total, there were five formulas.

The materials on the glass cabinets constituted the requisite materials for these five Nourishment Pond formulas, so Merlin could brew them immediately.

Merlin did not hesitate. Boulder City would peaceful for a while. His forceful tearing of Blackbat would have shocked all the surrounding factions. After all, Blackbat was a powerful full-shifter.

Hence, Merlin had nothing to fear during this period. He could brew the Nourishment Pond without any worries.

“If I can achieve the fourth-form within this period, then I’ll be much safer. At the very least, I’ll be able to protect myself!”

Only contenders who were on par with the full-shifters were considered self-sufficient in this world. Merlin knew very well that his main objective was to enhance his abilities to a level comparable to the full-shifters.

Otherwise, without any more Mind Power to mobilize, Merlin would be in trouble once he encountered a full-shifter.

With that in mind, Merlin quickly brewed the first Nourishment Pond according to the formula. Since he already had considerable experience brewing Nourishment Ponds, his attempt was very quick. In just two hours, he had completed the brew.

Looking at the freshly brewed Nourishment Pond, Merlin took a deep breath, wielded his beast form, and dived into the Nourishment Pond.