In the secluded library, Merlin once again restricted his hand, feeling completely exhausted. Just trying to connect with this vast knowledge source in itself was draining his spirit.
"I wonder just how he created it." Merlin mumbled under his breath, looking at the sphere with surprise.
"If he possessed such vast knowledge that I can't even begin to grasp, it really makes me wonder what brought him to a place where he had to stand against the entire world."
He had a lot of questions about the sphere, and especially about the owner of this item.
"From standing at the top of this world, to dying with the curse of Gaia... What a turn of fate for the once invincible."
He used his magic to remove his exhaustion again, before placing his hand on the sphere. However, even he hadn't noticed that there were subtle changes to the illusory sphere.
It was as if the sphere had sensed a familiar presence, that made it more active.
....
Raven had passed through the entrance of Merlin's territory. Even he could feel a rough location of the item he was looking for, as if it was actually here.
His eyes gazed in the direction of the palace in the distance. Unfortunately, the mist made it extremely hard to see anything.
At the same time, the voices around him were getting louder. Raven even started feeling sharp nails caressing his throat. With just the slightest of force, he could've been killed.
As the nails caressed his throat, one of them managed to scratch him, letting a drop of blood trickle down.
Raven kept walking forward, not reacting. Even as he felt pain, he didn't react. He didn't show any fear on his face, as if he didn't even care about the beings that were haunting him.
His own history was so haunting, that these specters felt like children before him.
Fortunately, the specters didn't actually hurt him seriously.
Before long, Raven managed to reach the actual threshold of the Palace. It was only now that the screeching sound disappeared from around him.
Raven placed his finger on his throat, clearing the trail of blood.
"You're quite courageous. To walk the path of fear without failing. I am quite impressed."
A voice came from nearby. The mist around Raven disappeared, revealing the palace clearly.
Right at the entrance of the palace, Raven saw a middle aged man whose face carried a long scar.
"Then again, it's quite troubling. Since you didn't show even the slightest of fear, how am I supposed to grade you?" The man scratched the back of his head.
Although he was impressed at Raven's display of courage, he also felt a headache since there was no precedent for this level of achievement.
"Looks like you'll be the first person to receive a perfect score."
In the end, the man stopped thinking about it. He waved his hand, healing the small injury around Raven's throat.
At the same time, he also placed a small insignia on the young boy's chest. The insignia was the size of a small shield, with a strange character carved in the middle that looked like a magical character.
"Welcome to the House of Courage. You will be our first Excellent Rank member since the establishment."
Hearing the man's words, Raven understood a lot of things about this place. He also pieced the rest of information from what he had heard about this place.
It was just like the old man had said. The three paths weren't tests that decided if they were to be admitted or not. After passing the illusion test, they had already become members of this place.
The test of the three passages was just to decide which of the three houses they were going to become a part of, and what their rank was going to be.
"Since you're the highest ranking newcomer, you'll receive quite a lot of privilege. But before I tell you everything, I'll escort you inside and show you where you'll be staying."
The middle aged man placed his hand on the entrance door. The same symbol as the insignia appeared on the door. Once the man's aura was verified, the door opened, revealing a long magical corridor inside.
"Welcome to Academy of Magical Excellence!" The middle aged man smiled as he stepped inside the hallway.
As the middle aged mage led Raven inside, he kept talking about the history of this place.
"This Palace was created by Great Sage Merlin himself. As for why he made his home so far from the Camelot Capital, no one knows."
Raven walked behind the man, realizing that most of what the man was telling him was something he already knew. The man was only telling him generic things, and none of the secrets.
Almost everyone had heard rumor about Merlin's Palace as it had attracted quite a lot of attention at that time.
Since Merlin was so close to Arthur, no one understood why he would live in the farthest corner of Camelot on this frozen mountain. There were a lot of rumors about the reason as well.
Some rumors said that he wasn't as close to Arthur as everyone thought, and he wanted to maintain his distance. Some said that Merlin didn't trust Arthur.
There were even some rumors that said that Arthur didn't allow Merlin to live in the capital because he was worried about Merlin's growing influence in the capital. To cut Merlin's influence, Arthur sent him to this place.
And lastly, there was one rumor that it was because Merlin had discovered something special on his mountain, and to protect that thing, he had created his Palace here.
No one knew what the truth was. Even now, many people could often he heard guessing the reasons. However, everyone knew that only Merlin could tell the real reason.
Raven followed the man inside, observing his surroundings. He didn't care about the place or the reasons behind its establishment. All he was interested in was to retrieve what belonged to him, even if he had to snatch it from Merlin himself.