<b>Chapter 960: The Secret Chamber</b>


    Merlin strode toward the basement. Regarding this manor, Merlin was undoubtedly familiar. This was his home when he first entered this world.


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


    The thought shed 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 in ckbat who had previously invaded Boulder City. Now that Merlin had reimed Boulder City, Count Stanwin had been properly avenged.


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


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


    “Is that all ckbat had collected?”


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


    Therefore, ckbat 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 nce, 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 ckbat expanded the basement?”


    A sh of realization struck Merlin. Yes, while he might be irrevocably familiar with the basement, he would not know if ckbat 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 ckbat, 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 ckbat.


    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 ckbat, Merlin had exhausted arge portion of his Mind Power. Hence, he lost thest bit of his safety. 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 n, 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 form to achieve a fourth-form shift. Once he had aplished 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 arge 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 ckbat’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. ckbat would not bother to set up any silly mechanisms in such a ce, 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 thickyer 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 ss cabs disyed 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 nce. This was a Nourishment Pond.


    This chamber was aboratory, which wasmonly used by Hosts. The materials in the ss cab, on the other hand, were Nourishment Pond materials which ckbat had been collecting over the years.


    There was no doubt that ckbat also had a Nourishment Pond form, and had intended to be 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 ckbat merely wanted to study about Hosts. This was so that if anything were to happen to him, he could still choose to be a Host. Nheless, 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 ckbat to find a breakthrough?


    Thisboratory represented ckbat’s hope or rather, the inner conflict in his heart. ckbat 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 forms and materials, ckbat had left him with numerous items.


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


    The materials on the ss cabs constituted the requisite materials for these five Nourishment Pond forms, so Merlin could brew them immediately.


    Merlin did not hesitate. Boulder City would peaceful for a while. His forceful tearing of ckbat would have shocked all the surrounding factions. After all, ckbat 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 levelparable 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 ording to the form. Since he already had considerable experience brewing Nourishment Ponds, his attempt was very quick. In just two hours, he hadpleted the brew.


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