Merlin stood amoung corpses of various awakened beasts, his once shoulder length hair had now grown a little longer, his fine toned body was now more athletic, and his eyes had sharpened as a hunter.
It had been three months since he started hunting, he had returned to the outer settlements and bright castle a few times, he had also performed as the Wandering Magician anytime he arrived, at some point he had been deemed the most wanted person in the bright castle, but the only ones interested in capturing him were the hunters and guards, the residents of the castle refused to act against him as his performance had brought life and smiles to the castle.
After he had dropped the letter and left a few months back, he had hunted for three days before returning, as he returned he could feel the close bond that the trio had achieved in his absence, they had shared all of their abilities but with held their aspect rank and Sunny held his flaw and true name.
Merlin standing amoung the corpse bent down, in his hand was his signature katana, using the blade he went ahead to fish out soul shards, he removed a total of seven awakened shards and placed them in his soul sea.
After placing them in his soul sea he took a deep breath.
'Haa... Here we go again'
He reverted his clothes into it's previous cloak form, and he was left stark naked with the bleeze visiting forbidden areas, a few months back he had tried testing a theory, he discovered that changing the forms of the cloak required the shards but to revert it to it's original from didn't require it.
He took the cloak and draped it over a corpse, immediately the dead nightmare creature disappeared from the ground safely into his soul sea, he did the same for the other corpses leaving only three that he would take back with his echo.
As the nightmare creatures disappeared, he went into his soul sea, in the castle there was now three gray soul core suspended above, he had become a demon a few days before, and hanging from the top of the castle were over eighty nightmare creatures, these were the creatures he had hunted and taken to his soul sea through the cloak.
Looking up at the nightmare creatures he couldn't help but think.
'I am now proud to call myself a beyonder of the Fool's pathway, Zaratul would be proud'
He took his eyes away from the numerous marrionetes and turned towards the back of the high back chair, a few days ago, the illusory stairs finally gained another step, when he achieved the apprentice legacy he came back to check but the stairs remained the same so he decided to take an idea from LOTM, he had acted like an apprentice, helped Effie clean and cook, helped Sunny scout a few times and helped Nephis share things for the people of the outer settlements, after three months of acting the second step had finally come up.
Merlin made a decision to handle those later because he was finally returning to the cohort.
He left his soul sea, with a shard he changed the form of the memory back to his regular, and then summoned his echo, the spire messenger came forth, as he mounted it the echo picked up the remaining corpses and flew towards the outer settlement, after his last encounter in the sky, anytime he flew he always kept a low altitude, atleast the beast on the ground could be outrun unlike the spire messengers.
The echo flew to his regular stop and dropped the nightmare creatures, Sunny, Neph and Effie had already cleared up the previous ones he dropped, he didn't really keep much again since he usually left them in his soul sea, as for nightmare creatures he turned to meat he could bring them out, but those that had been sent to the top of the castle were stuck there until he had the corresponding ability to retrieve them.
After dropping the nightmare creatures, he then made his way to the outer settlement where he would meet with the team.
As he arrived there, the once dead settlement was now bustling with life and smiles, as he passed he heard the people call out to him as the hunter of the Forgotten Shore, a name that people started calling after Nephis had told them his good deeds, though she was pushed by Cassie.
However under the lively environment there was still a little fear, the hunters from the bright castle had been poking more at them, Gunlang had heard of Nephis' deed and proclamation, he was also enraged as the hunters failed to always catch the Wandering Magician, he highly suspected that it was the doing of the outer settlement to keep him busy so he ordered his hunters to show the people of the outer settlement his authority.
Merlin made his way through the crowds, it was still a bright morning and he still had time before he would go to the castle to restock and perform.
He arrived outside Neph's tent and knocked to notify her, after receiving a confirmation, he stepped into the room where only Nephis and Cassie sat, he waved as he walked towards them and took a seat.
"Hey there guys" Merlin said to the girls.
Cassie smiled and said "Merlin, you're back, you stayed for five days this time, did something go wrong?"
Merlin looked at her and answered.
"No, I wanted to come back the day before, but I got sidetracked, a few more awakened beast showed up in the area, so I had to wait behind and hunt them today"
Cassie offered a nod while he continued.
"Is Sunny still in the area of the dark castle?"
Sunny had head there after Merlin told him about the place, and he was thriving in the environment.
"Yeah, he came around two days ago asking for you, but he went back yesterday" Cassie answered.
Nephis then spoke up.
"Merlin we'll need your help soon"
He thought about a few possibilities and asked.
"Is it about the memory shards?"
Cassie looked up at him surprised while Nephis seemed as if she had confirmed a suspicion of hers, then she spoke up.
"You know about that too... Yes.. Cassie had a vision about it a few days ago, do you know where they are?"
"I have a general idea.. have you told Sunny?"
Nephis answered him.
"Not yet, we were waiting for you to come back, for now only me, you and Cassie know about it"
He nodded.
"I understand.. we'll make preparations when Sunny gets back.."
While they chatted, Merlin's thoughts started to wander.
'Looks like the vision came earlier than usual, Caster's no here yet, and Sunny didn't rage off to get gutted by the black knight, things are now off script.. hope nothing changes too drastically'
After a more while of chatting, Merlin bid them goodbye and made his way to the bright castle, he moved through the wall and arrived inside the castle.
In the castle, he had already changed his appearance with a simple illusion he made his way to the book store. As he arrived there, he saw the nice looking store keeper, as she saw him walk in her face beamed at her regular customer.
"Hello Adam, how was your week?" The shopkeeper addressed him with a smile.
Merlin smiled and replied her.
""Hey there Annie, I'm good, how's the store business like"
"It's great, though being stuck in the shop every day is boring" Annie answered him as she moved around to get his regular stuff, from behind a shelf her voice resounded.
"Hey Adam.. have you heard of the Wandering Magician, I'm always busy in the shop so I haven't seen him, but the rumours say that his magic tricks are awesome, have you seen him?"
He smiled and replied softly.
"Yeah.. I guess I've seen him a few times"
She came out with three large books and dropped them on the desk, as she dusted off a few she looked at him.
"Hey.. you know, I'm wondering what you're always doing with a bunch of books, are you a writer maybe, or an artist?"
"No.. the paper works with my abilities"
"Oh okay" Annie didn't ask too much about his abilities.
Merlin picked up the books, payed with a soul shard and walked out after bidding her goodbye.
He moved to his room, spent an hour creating the figurines, his handiwork had become noticably better with practice, after he was done, he tidied up the room and went back out.
After walking down he finally arrived at the gambling house, he walked in and met with Aiko, as he arrived he visibly saw her expression do a 180, from a shrewd business manager to a polite assistant that was eager for a raise.
"Adam, long time no see" Aiko beamed as she saw him.
Merlin shook his head and chuckled.
"Aiko.. with the way you change characters I'm afraid one day you'll sell this castle for soul shards and still smile normally"
"Haha.. very funny Adam, but.. if you have enough soul shards I'll give you a discount on the bright castle" Aiko laughed with him then whispered "Hey don't tell anyone I said that out loud okay I don't wanna end up facing Gunlang"
"Sure enough no one wants that... don't worry, I'll definitely keep your secrets..." He said as he brought his finger to his lips.
Then he added.
".. for a price ofcourse"
Aiko noticably shrinked at the sound of the word 'price', she opened and closed her mouth a few times then with gritted teeth she replied.
"Ugh.. fine but only a ten percent discount, and this is only because you're my favorite customer"
"Yeah yeah... I totally understand, by the way I'm getting the usual" Merlin casually waved her off as she stomped towards the back.
She quickly brought out the cards and he payed upfront and left the shop, he made his way to his room.
...
Annie had been working in the bookstore for a long time, her usual customers were a few girls from the handmaidens, and a few people from the artificers, and there was also Adam who always brought awakened shards just for books.
Over the last few months, she had gotten more shards than she had made in a long time, as it was evident that most people would spend their time surviving this place than reading books.
Now all she could do was sit back behind her desk as the minutes slipped by, after what seemed to be like forever, there was finally a movement, lots of movements rather, a crowd was slowly beginning to form right outside her shop.
Curious to see what was going on, she stepped out and stood at the front of her door, from her position she could see him , the most wanted man in the bright castle, the rumours of the people, the Wandering Magician, he stood there wearing his signature clothes with a smile and doing a bow while holding his top hat to his chest.
'Huh.. I thought he always performed in open spaces, the street here can't hold the crowd he attracts'
'But.. this is better, this way I can finally watch his performance'
She stood infront of the door watching as he finished his bow, from his hat he pulled out an entire black curtain material, he draped it over himself and the next second the curtain that outlined his figure fell to the ground, his disappearance earned gasps and cheers from the crowd.
Within the crowd, multiple white doves flew abruptly attracting the crowds, the magician reappeared with the doves, he walked back to the cloak, folded it and tucked it into his hat, he then pulled out three soul shards, upon seeing the shards the crowds echoed, some out of happiness while some out of greed, he juggled them smoothly, and he threw them towards the crowd, before it could land, the shards disappeared into a poof replaced with a playing card that burnt off leaving ashes to the wind.
The once silent magician now spoke through his mask, his voice sounded like a soothing melody.
"For my next act, I'd love a representative, I have already made my choice, and in your hands you'll find a playing card"
The crowd erupted as they searched themselves, upon instinct she also looked at herself and she was surprised as in her right hand there was now a card that depicted the joker.
She waited for a while amused as how it had gotten there then seeing no one speak up she decided to raise her card.
"Uhm.. I have a card..."
The crowd turn in her direction and cheered, the magician spoke up again.
"Step right up miss lucky lad" He extended his hand as if inviting her for a dance "you'll be my guest of honor for today".
As she walked to the center, she could feel the stares and expectations of audiences.
'Ugh... I'm embarrassed, how can he even do this under this much pressure'
Her thoughts were cut short as she arrived at his side, the magician placed his hand into his hat again and pulled out the previous black curtain, he glanced at her and spoke in a low voice only the two could hear.
"This might feel weird but please bear with it..."
She nodded slightly to his words, the magician wrapped the curtain around her and by the time he pulled it off, the crowd exploded into cheers and applause, she stared at them and turned to look at herself, the light armour she wore was now replaced with a flowing white dress, she could still feel her armour on her body and she guessed that the dress was just an illusion, but she still smiled as the new look was refreshing, she twirled a bit and the dress followed smoothly, her actions earned another rounds of applause from the crowd, the magician then wrapped her again and undid the illusion returning her to the original appearance.
As she walked to return to her previous position, she caught site of the guards who were rushing towards the crowd, then the magician's voice sounded again.
"Seems like my time is up, till next time..." And with a snap, his body transformed into countless black crows that took off to the sky before exploding into fireworks, the Wandering Magician had made his exit.
Annie watched the performance with joy, then the guards arrived, they searched thoroughly for the magician and warned the people about him, she wasn't interested in them so she walked back into her store with a smile.
As she got to her desk on top her chair was a small sack and a letter, instinctively she picked up the letter which read.
[Here's a little gift as thanks for participating in the show, your performance was wonderful, it was nice working with you... -From the Wandering Magician]
She opened the bag and saw three soul shards, corresponding to the number he had juggled, she smiled and kept them away as she looked at the letter again, although it was just a few minutes she had enjoyed the show.
...
Merlin who now stood outside the castle checked his remaining shards, a total of three awakened, two fallen and the two transcedent shards.
"I have truly become broke, I'm definitely going hunting again, I will break the curse of poverty of the seer pathway holders"
He shook his head as he searched his top hat again, as it was inevitably part of the cloak, it had access to his dimension space that's why his tricks were outstanding, from the hat he brought out a fruit and bit into it, feeling the soul fragment, he reserved himself and used one awakened shard to change his clothing and then he turned to walk to the outer settlement, he was going to meet with Sunny.