As Merlin was meditating, he ended up going into his own soul. As he realized that he wasn't in a mental space, he began to look around, yet all he saw was an endless horizon, and a floor that seemed like water. He began to imagine flowers, and the entire landscape began to sprout an endless amount of flowers, lightly glowing with energy and shimmering with colors. He walked around, trying to see if the inside of his soul ever curved, or had a boundary. Eventually he found an ending, and surmised that it was basically a massive spherical shape, which would make sense since souls usually took a spherical shape. He then saw his Gate of Phantasma, it looked formless, like it was just air with a coloration to it. Chyribdys appeared into his soul, but in his adult form. "Hello young Merlin. Let's begin your training! I activated a spell called Soul Link, all for the sake of training you. In here, it may seem like years, but it'll actually be a whole night. Now, come at me young wizard!!" he roared, causing Merlin to rush at him, attacking in his usual style, but it seemed to be adapting with each strike. "Yes, good Merlin. Very good indeed. Let us see you handle heavy attacks!" he said excitedly as he started to throw multiple punches and slash with his claws. Merlin managed to turn his attack on itself, and combine his force with the force of the attack. All Chyribdys did was smile and get back up. "The Water and Air God Style combined I see. That's called Typhoon Hand you know. You should apply Haki to it too. It's basically your natural spirit energy. Your chromization is that technique but more physical as your cells are being filled with the energy of steel you see.
Merlin seemed understand what he meant by Haki, and focused his energy into his hands, arms, and legs. He then sped towards Chyribdys, countering his moves with his own constant flowing movements, and starting to enjoy it. The rush of adrenaline, the feeling of his fists connecting, it was thrilling even though he was in his own soul. Time seemed to accelerate, and with the time he began to gain more skills. Then it was time to upgrade his magick. "This gate is incomplete. It's only in it's base formation. In order to gain strength, you must use it more and advance. Now come, let us summon the most elegant creations!" he yelled in happiness as he started to create an energy construct of a dragon's head from his feet. Merlin began to counter by summoning twin serpents, but they were barely able to be seen at all, and they were destroyed almost instantly. As Merlin kept trying, the creations just kept getting destroyed by the same dragon heads. "Why do you hide your creations so? In fact, why do you hide your face at every opportunity?" Chyribdys asked. Merlin couldn't give an answer, and just attacked him again. However the attacks just bounced off an invisible barrier as Chyribdys wasn't moving at all, and his face showed pity. "Look just...I don't want to see my own face alright? I'm ugly so just keep fighting!" Merlin yelled as he kept attacking, by Chyribdys held his arms with a firm, yet gentle grip. He looked at Merlin dead in the eyes, checking to see what he's talking about. "I see no ugliness from you. You're a very handsome person, even in your previous life. Where did this negative view of yourself and your world come from?" he asked. Merlin then relaxed, but still had a saddened expression as the world around him changed into a city, but it looked like it was full of fog, cars, and few organic wildlife. "In my previous life I grew up thinking that the world would somehow get better. I was wrong. I just ended up seeing wars across the world, people starving in many countries, laws that only favor the rich rather than the poor. Humans.....they made me hate my own human body. I felt trapped in a shell I couldn't even escape, and I gave up. I walked through life sick and tired of feeling everyone's problems like they were my own, abandoned all my friends, rejected love. But there was one person who never gave up till I died. I just...can't remember his name now." he explained, turning the landscape back to normal. Chyribdys was crying massive tears from his eyes at Merlin's story. "Sweet innocence corrupted by greed and hatred of a world devoid of color, if only you kept your optimism. Let's fix that right now!" he yelled out as he made a shadow copy of Merlin, embodying his negative emotions, looking at him with blank eyes. It then kicked out, causing Merlin to attack back, but it blocked the strike and started speaking. "I hate this world. Screw everything, I prefer dying than dealing with all this bs. People just want to act like idiots, I'm smarter than all of them." it said. Merlin just got mad and kept attacking, but the shadow kept talking and saying negative things about wanting to die, yet being afraid of a painful death. Merlin just had his eyes closed the whole time, but then got a hand on his shoulder that made his eyes open. However there was no one there, so he looked around to see who touched him. All he saw was his shadow, and he got angry and lashed out at it, venting all his pain and hatred for looking at his own pained reflection, his inadequacy, his misanthropy, his loneliness. He had pained tears in his eyes as he summoned a massive ball of energy and condensed it into a small point, creating an intense amount of pressure in his hand. The shadow did the same thing, copying him move for move, and both of them clashed. The waves of energy echoed throughout the soul space, and the pressure started making their attacks repel each other, but Merlin refused to give in this time, and overpowered the shadow. The energy ball expanded, causing the shadow to vaporize and disappear. Chyribdys smiled and patted Merlin on the back. He was still sad, but finally remembered his friend's name and where he was going to appear.
After what seemed like almost a year, and Merlin's hair had grown out while maintaining his haircut, and he had grown some muscle. He was also as tall as an 18 year old, and his Gate now turned into a Forge. "Such incredible growth. A prodigy magician, and so close to being an Adeptus too. A Merlin Child through and through." he said while cutting his hair a little bit. Merlin then got back up, and hugged him with a confident and goofy smile. "Thanks for the lessons. Especially all in one night technically. I can't wait to see every one else. But eh...how do I wake up from here? I don't think my alarm is gonna work." he said. Chyribdys then clapped his hands, and Merlin awoken in his bed, wrapped in his covers and in an 18 year old body. "Wow. I'm tall. And I have muscles. I should get dressed first." he said as he got a different outfit on, that was just chaps and a black g-string with fishnet socks that attached to shoes, and had a longcoat with hanging sleeves and a beanie. He went to his parents who had a snack bag ready for him. "My boy here looking more grown every day. Have fun, and remember, kick anyone who touches without any class. Oh and eh, make sure to eat good okay? Me and mom have to go out for about a week, so take care of the house, feed Cusith, only six people in the house, and go easy on the sweets. Now go have fun, your friends are outside." Roxin said as he rubbed Merlin's head. Merlin giggled, hugged his parents, and went outside to see Morgan, G, and Shikom waiting outside. G was in a full anthro-shark form, with his eyes mimicking an orca's eye spots, and he had a ripped jean shorts and a shredded kimono on. Morgan was dressed in all black, her pants legs stopped halfway down her calfs and showed her midriff, and she had only a bra that attached to sleeves. She also had a wolf-like appearance, and had an arrow staff on her back. Her hair was also longer, and pink, tied in a waterfall style. Shikom was still wearing his g-string garment, but his forearms and forelegs were that of a werewolf, and he had fur going all over his body except his chest and stomach, and he had some muscle to him, despite being chubby still, and he dyed his hair black. He also had a hagoromo that gently floated over his head, and a black kimono with pink flower petals on the back. Merlin went to hug all of them, impressed they grew so much. Shikom also introduced his new step brother, who was a monkey beastman with crimson red fur, and was only wearing the g-string garment. He also had a bare chest and stomach, and red markings around his eyes. He gave a thumbs up, and a cocky smile, and brandished his iron staff. "Nice to meetcha, I'm Wuku Ukog, and I'll join your group starting today. Now let's go kick some ass!" he yelled as he ran to the school, with everyone running after him.