I, the wizard, the foolish Buddha.

Chapter 171 The Blind Men and the Elephant!

Between seven small hills on the plain of the lower reaches of the Teglang River, there is a beautiful and huge gem basin.

The Gem Basin's location is of great strategic value, and the surrounding land is very fertile, suitable for farming and domesticating livestock.

Not only is it close to a water source, a small tributary of the Taigelang River even runs through the city, making transportation both by land and by river very convenient.

Outside the basin are scattered clusters of large and small, colorful crystal gems, like low houses built around a city wall.

Scattered within the basin were numerous enormous crystal gemstones, each the size of a pointed two- or three-story house. In the very center lay a dazzling, enormous seven-colored gemstone, resembling a magnificent castle studded with towers, occupying nearly a quarter of the basin's surface.

This is a crystal gem vein exposed on the surface. It is like a gem basin sitting on the plain, emitting brilliant light in the sunset.

This is a magnificent wonder of nature.

The wonders of nature make it look a bit like a city from a distance, but if you get closer, it no longer looks like a city.

——The above is the information that everyone scanned using the "Bat Echo Technique".

Night seemed to come early, and the rainbow over the gem basin gradually disappeared.

Not long after, mist gradually rose around the gem basin, covering up its last brilliance.

Several shadows floated into the city cautiously. After circling the city, the shadows gathered together and slowly condensed into four young wizards.

The four wizards were all blindfolded with black cloth.

They had just walked around the city, using all sorts of magical methods to search for living people, but they didn't see a single living person.

Not to mention living people, not even crystal sculptures that resembled humans were seen.

All they found were clusters of crystals hugging each other - with a slight outline of a human figure.

This place is a treasure trove bestowed by the gods to the mortal world, filled with various priceless magic crystals and magic gems.

Almost every type of magical gemstone in the world can be found here. If someone comes here and picks up a few bags, they will definitely become rich overnight.

But these four people were sweating profusely at this moment, and they had no thoughts of greed for money.

Not to mention greed, they didn't even have the courage to touch the crystals. Four blindfolded wizards floated in mid-air and dropped a rabbit onto the crystal floor. After observing it for a while, they found that the rabbit was fine and landed on the ground.

A tall, young, blind man asked, "You didn't pick up anything randomly just now, did you?"

A blindfolded wizard wiped the sweat from his face and said, "No. But, Maester Roland, I saw you touching things a little earlier. I remind you, don't think about taking any specimens back for research."

The others all looked nervously at the first blind man. Only the people of Heiyuan could do such a thing.

As his companions 'looked' at him, he said, "Don't worry, those things are worthless. The only thing that's valuable is the rainbow, but unfortunately, I've already covered it."

Thinking of the magic that guy had just cast, everyone was terrified. According to the results of the magic exploration, the entire city was covered by a huge shadow.

Now, it must be pitch dark here.

A round-faced wizard hurriedly said, "Alright, alright. I trust Maester Roland. Let's release everyone quickly. If we don't deal with this, the entire Amir Kingdom will be transformed into a crystal kingdom!"

These four people were none other than Roland and the other four senior apprentices. When they arrived, each one boasted more than the other, believing they could handle everything here. But upon arriving at the city, they were all dumbfounded.

They stayed outside the city and discussed for two or three days, but no one wanted to come in. Finally, the White Council issued an order, bypassing the school, and they were forced to come in.

However, the council mentor offered a plan. If there were no issues with Roland's reported "insane theory" and the experimental logs, this plan would 100% resolve the situation. However, if there were any issues, it would be hard to say.

After all, Roland and his team had never entered the city, so no one knew what the situation was inside.

However, the tower masters felt that the experimental log provided by Roland was still very reliable, so overall, even without knowing the intelligence inside the city, the success rate was about 17%.

Before entering the city, Roland and his team found a crystal village and tested this plan. The results were perfect, which gave everyone a lot of confidence.

In addition to this plan, the school also offered a bounty. In addition to various rare items and magic stones, there was also a bottle of potion for advancing to the 'official wizard' level.

Under such circumstances, everyone came in reluctantly.

Roland said, "Then let's get started quickly. Let's try out the plan given by the tower masters."

Everyone unpacked the storage bags and other space items and released a dozen people.

These people were also blindfolded or blinded. Although their movements were inconvenient, they relied on some means to do their work.

Everyone started to carve a magic circle, as if they were planning to make it rain.

Several mid-level apprentices held strange jars in their hands. The jars were filled with bubbling green water that seemed to be highly acidic. There were also some strange little insects thrashing around inside.

Barnett turned towards Roland and asked doubtfully, "Will this really work?"

Roland said, "The plan was decided by the tower masters. Why are you asking me? Besides, didn't we find a crystal village and give it a try these past two days?"

The tower masters carefully studied Grandpa Augustus's notes. They praised the scholar's findings and, based on Augustus's theories, perfected a new potion.

The acid in the jars, which contained insects, was personally prepared by several tower masters. The contents of these jars were not only more effective than existing potions, but also much cheaper. When combined with rain spells, they could create a special type of acid rain.

This kind of acid rain is somewhat polluting, but it won't kill you if it gets on you. It can be used as a potion for external application.

Acid rain, this is the solution proposed by several tower masters for Crystal City.

If this method doesn't work, then the apprentices will need to gather more information about the Crystal Gem City after this test.

After the apprentices have collected enough intelligence, the school will consider whether to send a formal wizarding group based on the situation.

Otherwise, even if someone comes, they will just do the work of an apprentice, wasting the human resources of the high-level wizards.

Of course, if the apprentice could handle it, the wizarding group wouldn't have to come.

Barnett now hoped more than Roland that they could handle the gem basin issue. Otherwise, once the official wizard group arrived, his plan would be completely ruined.

Barnett said, "Judging from the results in Crystal Village, the rain-inducing plan is indeed effective. But why does the Crystal Princess dislike sour foods?"

The apprentices around couldn't help but start discussing it.

Roland said, "I advise you not to think too much about this matter, or you might turn into a rainbow."

Everyone's faces froze slightly.

Everyone now understands the mechanism of rainbow disease. Although no one is sure of the specific principle, people with high cognition and low sanity will see rainbows turn into rainbows or crystals when they see them.

The mechanism of Rainbow Disease is too chaotic, and thinking too much about it will drive you crazy.

Someone laughed and said, "Everyone, there won't be any rainbows in the middle of the night. As long as we can't see it and aren't aware of it, there won't be any problems, right?"

Roland nodded, it was indeed the case.

Not only did they choose to carry out the mission at night, Roland also used the Shadow of Augustus to cover the nearby sky.

After entering the city, the four of them worked together to cover the city with fog. This fog was not ghost fog, but it was more effective in blocking light sources.

Since it's a plague of light, then as long as we block the light, there will be no problem. So there's no reason for it to be a problem.

Roland is now very confident that he can solve the problems here. In the past two days, he has had a lot of exchanges with the tower masters. These great wizards are as powerful as Grandpa Augustus, and Roland is deeply impressed by them.

The pillars said that even if the problems in Crystal City could not be solved, they would provide targeted treatment based on Roland's condition.

Of course, it would be great if Crystal City’s problems could be solved after this acid rain.

As long as the problem of the "Gem Basin" is solved, everyone can just make it rain throughout the kingdom and the epidemic in the kingdom will be suppressed.

As for completely eliminating the rainbow, let the wizards handle it. They will work out a perfect plan.

I'm afraid I don't have time to stay here anymore.

A few nights ago, Catherine had contacted Roland. The territory issue was already coming to a head, and there were several options. They all looked very interesting.

Roland planned to finish this matter and then choose a territory and his first cave.

Roland also looked at Barnett's back.

Over the past few days, Roland had studied the Crab Eye Elephant Formation given to him by Barnett. He knew more about magic formations than anyone else here, and he had discovered some of Barnett's tricks.

He could roughly guess what the guy was up to.

While he was distracted, the intermediate apprentices had already completed all the preparations. Roland and the other four advanced apprentices checked it, inserted some mid-grade magic stones, and then chanted a spell to guide the magic circle. Then, the sky was covered with dark clouds and lightning flashed.

After a while, raindrops slowly fell from the sky and the fog was slowly dispelled by the rain.

Many apprentices held up black umbrellas and used echo spells and other means to sense the entire city and the crystal castle in front of them.

Roland was drenched in the rain, his face looking a little solemn.

Judging from the echo, the crystals in the city were gradually decreasing. The crystals in his body were also decreasing, but the rainbow did not change much.

Moreover, the magic power in him seemed to be getting more and more agitated, and he felt very uncomfortable, as if it was resonating with something.

He had used up some of his magic power when casting rain. He felt relieved a lot, but it didn't take long for his magic power to return.

At this time, Matt came over and said, "Master Roland, how come these buildings have also turned into crystal?"

Roland said, "Didn't the tower masters give a hypothesis before? From what we've explored so far, it does fit that hypothesis—after the people in the city turned into crystal clusters, the crystal clusters spread to the buildings. Once the buildings turned into crystals and a rainbow appeared, the crystals would continue to spread in the rainbow's reflection."

Matt said, "I know this, and I agree with this point of view. But have you noticed a problem? It seems that the people in this city turned into crystal overnight."

Roland said, "This is indeed strange. However, from the information we have, once the Crystal People gather together, a rainbow will form in the local sky. The Comb Army entering the city will number in the tens of thousands, and wherever they go, they'll bring rainbows. If they enter the city on a clear day, a super rainbow could form."

Matt said, "That's the problem, Maester Roland. This city turned into Crystal City overnight. You may not know this, but I'm proficient in some Origin Tracing Spells. I'm certain that the incident occurred at night."

Roland looked a little strange. "How could this happen? Our theory should be correct. Without a rainbow, the crystal wouldn't spread."

Matt said, "Yeah, it turned into this overnight. What a huge rainbow it must be. And how can a rainbow form at night?"

Roland muttered, "Could it be related to the moon? There's a rainbow on the moon."

Matt nodded and said, "That's a good idea. Perhaps it's related to the stars and the moon. According to the astrological calendar, last month, there was a 'shattering of the stars'. The night was as bright as day."

Matt was also a little unsure. Judging from his magic, the time of the incident didn't match the "Star Shattering" incident. But perhaps there was something wrong with his magic.

Roland said, "Did it just happen to coincide with the supernova explosion? Well, during this spectacle, people all looked up at the sky. Then a rainbow appeared in the sky."

Matt said, "That's the only suspicion."

Roland asked, "There won't be such a celestial phenomenon tonight, right?"

Matt said, "No, no, we picked a good night. There's no moon today, and the sky is very dark. It's raining heavily now, and the thunder has almost stopped. There won't be any rainbow."

Roland breathed a sigh of relief.

At this time, Matt tilted his head and said, "The buildings in the city seem to have changed. The crystals have retreated a lot."

Everyone heard some footsteps coming from the castle, and it seemed that some crystal people were coming out.

They originally grew together with the crystals in the building. As the crystals in the building became fewer, some crystal people fell off the crystals.

Some of the crystal people have crystal clusters growing all over their bodies, making it impossible to discern any human form.

This is the Crystal Princess. Once a person becomes like this, even if they turn back into a human, they will no longer have a soul.

These crystal people are like unconscious people sleepwalking, subconsciously moving towards environments with more magical power.

With so many wizards like Roland gathered together, and the magic power of the rain formation flowing under their feet, it was a huge source of magic power.

Roland and the others didn't seem surprised. They had to stay here until the heavy rain stopped.

Several middle-level apprentices held up the jars in their arms and released clouds of acid mist from the magic potion that floated over.

After those crystal people came into contact with the fog, the crystals on their bodies began to decrease at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Soon, the seven or eight crystal men who came out fell to the ground.

Someone went over to check and found that some of them were still alive, so they put them into the bag.

This time, the school gave us a lot of large-capacity space items, and everyone also brought a lot of supplies.

Some of the supplies had already been unloaded at Green Lake Manor, leaving Alfonso and his men for disaster relief. A few of the freed-up bags were kept for the court wizards to transport the goods. The rest were carried on their person, intending to be used to transport people.

As the city became less and less crystallized, more and more crystal people wandered the streets, heading towards Roland and his group.

With indifferent expressions, everyone created some mazes on the surrounding streets, and those crystal people walked around in confusion as if they had encountered a ghost wall.

They kept shuttling through the acid mist and acid rain, and slowly turned into individuals and fell to the ground.

When a certain number of people fell, the middle-level apprentices would assign a few people to put the fallen living people into bags, so that they would not continue to fall to the ground and be trampled to death by more and more people.

Matt, who liked to join in the fun, went along for a spin. When he came back, he said with a strange expression, "Those who were particularly crystallized have lost their souls."

Roland frowned and asked, "Do they have rainbows on them?"

Matt said, "You shouldn't ask a blind person this question. I don't dare open my eyes right now. Let's wait until this is over and use the crystal ball to take a look."

Roland suddenly tilted his head, used the Bat Echo Spell to sense something, and then said, "Someone's alive. Get ready for a fight."

Soon, some aggressive crystal people appeared around. They were like living people, or like madmen, and were extremely aggressive.

Low-level spells like acid spitting are particularly effective against these crystal people, but once they are hit by this spell, they will die.

At first, everyone was still holding back, but later, as more and more of these crazy crystal people appeared, some of them would occasionally escape from the maze. So everyone stopped holding back.

By this time, some buildings had been washed away by acid rain and were gradually returning to their original appearance. Everyone was shocked to discover that there had been a huge fire in the royal city.

(End of this chapter)