Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 225 The Wall of the Believers and the Nibelung Astrological System
Two weeks later, the mortal ship, after a long voyage in the near sea, was finally about to reach its destination: Thebes.

Over the past two weeks, the mortal nobles who had just boarded the ship went from being excited at the beginning to being extremely tired every day.

Locke discovered that, apart from consuming small amounts of ordinary black bread, Captain Andy seemed to have undergone some modifications to his digestive system. He hadn't eaten or slept for two weeks.

Albert, on the other hand, simply carried a large amount of food with him in the Astral Ring. He would secretly take some out to eat each time and then put the scraps back into the Astral Ring, thinking that this way he wouldn't leave any clues.

Two weeks later, the mortal ship seemed to be about to dock, and the witches Sophia and Gabriel came directly to this small cabin.

Inside the cabin, the witch Sophia whispered, "You've all had a tough time these past few days. Because we couldn't reveal our identities, we had to use mortal methods to reach our destination, which wasted a lot of time."

"Please note that we have entered the territory of the Blood Curse Court over the sea a week ago. Soon, we will be heading to the heart of the Blood Curse Court—the Blood Raven Wasteland. It is a cursed highland region."

"Please prepare in advance, as the power of the curse will constantly invade our bodies and corrupt our magic."

Sophia the Witch said, "But that's not the most troublesome thing. The most troublesome thing is that the Blood Curse Court has a system of curse inspectors, just like our wizard lords."

“In every region and every city-state, there are some curse inspectors, as well as high-ranking inspectors patrolling different areas. Our goal is not to kill these inspectors, but to prevent them from discovering us.”

Sophia the Witch: "So it will take a little more effort."

"Besides, as everyone knows, the heart of the Blood Curse Court is filled with magical traps, sources of curses, cursed items, and out-of-control experiments that have created monsters that have infiltrated the mortal population."

"Therefore, one must be extremely careful during the infiltration process."

"Killing those monsters is relatively easy, but it will likely expose our identities."

"In addition, there is something very important: the Blood Curse Tribunal recently acquired five large-scale defense systems—the Wall of the Believers—from the similar dark wizard organization, the Corpse Control Tribunal."

Locke looked puzzled.

Clearly, among the wizards present, he was the only one who didn't know what the "Wall of the Believers" was.

Sophia the Witch explained, "The Wall of the Unbelievers is a comprehensive defense system created by the [Hall of the Dead], a hybrid of the Protection School and the Spiritualist School, using the combined power of the entire wizarding organization. It is capable of everything from resisting large-scale invasions by wizarding enemies to strategic spell bombardment and detecting invading enemies. It is very versatile."

"The most troublesome thing is the Wall of the Believers. The most powerful thing about the Wall of the Believers is that it can detect the magical pressure reaction of formal wizards who have invaded on a large scale."

“Even the best-hidden formal wizards will be detected by the Wall of the Believers defense system if they relax for even a moment. Similarly, only Locke among us is relatively safe, because the Wall of the Believers prioritizes detecting wizards with a mana of 700 or higher.”

"And Locke, your current mana is over five hundred."

“Albert and Andy, you two are also easy to detect, although the Thousand Faces Potion will make detection a bit more difficult.”

The witch Gabriel sneered, "After all, one set of the Wall of the Unbelievers costs 100,000 magic stones. Five sets would cost 500,000. This amount of money was a huge drain on the Blood Curse Court. If it weren't for the Wizarding War, they wouldn't have purchased such an expensive large-scale magical defense system from the [Hall of Bones]."

Gabriel chuckled, “Unfortunately, the ultimate control of that system is still in the hands of the [Bone Control Court], not the Blood Curse Court. Therefore, the Blood Curse Court cannot upgrade or modify that system on its own, nor can it use that defense system to fight against the [Bone Control Court].

"However, the [Bone Court] is a black wizarding territory and the main seller of large-scale magical weapon systems. It is considered the top black wizarding force in the southeastern corner of the region. Therefore, the vampire elders of the Blood Curse Court can barely accept this condition."

The witch Gabriel became serious and said, "Back to the main point, it's difficult for us to determine the detection range of the Wall of Believers. So once we set foot on land, we'll likely be within its detection range. Therefore, you absolutely cannot use any magic along the way."

"Including Locke."

Sophia the Witch hesitated, as if she wanted to say something but then stopped herself.

The witch Gabriel said, "This is just in case. What if the wizards of the Blood Curse Court reduce the priority detection range from 700 to 500? Although that would temporarily increase the consumption of magical resources, it's not impossible."

"But you can use enchanted items, potions, enchanted plants, etc. on the road... as long as you don't use your own magic."

The witch Gabriel said, "We have conducted many tests and investigations and confirmed that the Wall of the Believers system can only detect the magical fluctuations generated when one uses their own spells. Even if you can use the passive bloodline spells because of the Thousand Faces Potion, it will not trigger the detection mechanism of the Wall of the Believers."

"Similarly, to further prevent accidents, you should also wear this."

The witch Gabriel produced three gold rings. "These are astrological rings, sub-connection devices of our academy's astrological system, the Nibelungen system."

“By wearing it, you will be protected by the Nibelungen Astrological System. This can, to some extent, further counteract the detection accuracy of the five Walls of the Unbelievers in the hands of the Blood Curse Court.”

Locke, Albert, and Andy all accepted the seemingly ordinary multicolored gold ring. Only on the inside side of the ring was inscribed a short message: "All the decisions you borrow from time will become fixed when the hourglass turns."

These words flashed briefly inside the ring and quickly disappeared without a trace.

The witch Gabriel looked at Locke with certainty. "Locke, put it on, and you can temporarily access a self-use astrology system that our academy developed with an investment of at least 30 magic stones. It is also the highest magical achievement in the astrology sub-discipline of our academy's divination school."

The witch Gabriel curled her lips into a smile. "Currently, the people in charge of operating this system are my students. Although they are based in the rear, they will provide us with full support through the Nibelungen Astrological System for this operation."

The moment Locke put the ring on the middle finger of his left hand, many illusory images appeared before his eyes. He looked up and seemed to see the ceiling of a dark room with countless special devices emitting faint points of light, each point of light representing a star in the sky.

The pattern formed by the stars on the ceiling of the room is constantly changing.

Meanwhile, on chairs floating in mid-air above the room sat first-class wizard apprentices, and even second-class wizard apprentices who were studying. They were all waving in this direction, and there were more than twenty of them. Clearly, these were all the first-class and second-class wizard apprentices from the astrological direction of Lilith's Hut.

What caught Locke's attention was that Lady Morgana was also part of this system. Although she was not in charge of the main operations, she was clearly one of the main planners of this operation.

Lady Morgana's voice simultaneously reached the ears of the five people in the mortal cabin. "Sophia, Gabriel, Albert, and Andy, with the four of you working together, killing a formal wizard or dark wizard should be a piece of cake."

“Locke, you can learn a lot from them. These four are my students.”

Lady Morgana's warning voice rang out, "Gabriel, something unexpected has happened. Someone is using divination magic to search for your location."

"Interesting. It seems that some of the functional indicators of the Wall of No Believers are fake. Its actual search performance is probably more than double what the data shows."

Gabriel and Sophia exchanged a glance. Fortunately, they had given the Nibelungen Astrology System sub-rings to Locke and the other two in advance.

Of course, this wasn't really luck; it was Gabriel who seized the opportunity.

Gabriel possesses a passive spell called Arcane Prophecy, which forms her permanent defensive field. Therefore, Gabriel can always sense danger before it occurs.

As a trade-off, her Permanent Defensive Field is not a direct defensive magic, making her considerably more vulnerable than a typical first-ring wizard.

Lady Morgana's warning came from beside them. "The Wall of the Unbelievers' detection is coming, and a dark wizard ship patrolling the sea has appeared ahead. Do not reveal any weaknesses."

"Sigh, the academy's astrology system did indeed cost a lot of resources, but the result is only so-so."

"After all, our academy isn't good at this type of magic."

Among those present, the witch Gabriel, a high-ranking prophet, clearly didn't look too pleased. After all, it was something she was proud of, and to have it directly criticized by Lady Morgana for being just an ordinary thing, she was naturally unhappy.

The Witch Gabriel could only say to her students who ran the system, "This can be considered your research topic. Do this well, and you can publish countless high-quality articles. Don't you always complain that I don't find resources for you?"

"Astrology has no practical application and is significantly underrated in various comprehensive evaluations, indicating an unreasonable allocation of resources."

The witch Gabriel said coldly, "Now is your chance to perform well, seize the opportunity, and publish articles on the astrological applications of the war strategy."

"Let those laymen see for themselves the superiority of the Nibelungen astrological system."

The first-class wizard apprentices within the Nibelungen astrological system, namely Gabriel's students, immediately expressed their willingness to diligently manipulate the astrological system to assist their teacher, Gabriel, and Sophia.

Then, silence fell over the cabin.

Locke clearly sensed something sweeping over his head, and at that moment he felt uneasy, as if something bad was about to happen around him.

"this is?"

Locke didn't use his magic, but he currently has the ability to read the language of Modo. At this moment, he saw one crystal skull after another floating in mid-air. It seemed that no one but him could see these crystal skulls.

But the first-ring witch, along with Albert and Andy, clearly sensed that something had entered the air.

Locke's eyes raced with thought. "Is this an invisible skull, a spiritual manifestation, or a projection? Hmm... it feels more like a projection combined with a spiritual manifestation spell from the psychic school. The real bodies of these crystal skulls shouldn't be here; they're just patrolling."

“No, I can’t appear to be looking at them.” Locke immediately pretended to look at Albert and took a die from his pocket, pretending to gamble with Albert.

Albert paused for a moment, then his eyes lit up with genuine interest. “Play dice? What are we betting on? Let’s bet on the cargo we have on the ship. I want a few of your female elven slaves.”

Albert licked his lips, looking eager.

For a moment, Locke was unsure whether this was Albert's true nature.

But the two actors were very good at acting. The crystal skulls spun around above their heads for a moment, as if judging something, before turning around and passing through the wall to explore other cabins.

Fifteen minutes later, a crystal skull suddenly passed through the wall and re-entered the room, only to find Locke and Albert gambling wildly at a table. The two were clearly caught up in the excitement, and the stakes were getting higher and higher.

Andy and Sophia are trying to persuade the two to stop gambling, while Gabriel looks very angry with Albert.

The crystal skull then dissipated, and the unease that had lingered in everyone's hearts finally vanished.

All five of them paused for a moment, but the witch Gabriel gestured with her eyes for them to continue and not to say anything unnecessary.

Even though the Wall of Believers has left this place, there is still a Black Wizard Ship outside, and they may still have the magic to hear their whispers.

However, if magic is used to shield it, the other party's curse inspector will be able to detect it using special methods.

Of course, the Blood Curse Court's testing methods, unless they are purchased from outside sources, are generally mediocre.

Dark wizard organizations like these are usually very powerful in their area of ​​expertise in magic. After all, they have the moral high ground and can conduct human experiments at will, which is indeed commendable.

The others are really just average.

Deep within a cursed academy in the heart of the Blood Curse Court, on the Blood Raven Wasteland, a group of dark wizards remained inside a sealed stone chamber, surrounded by countless crystal and agate skulls. These skulls hung above and beside them, forming an invisible wall.

The group of dark wizards were exchanging ideas with each other.

“Previously, a magical pressure signal suspected to be from a formal wizard was detected in that area, but when we used the Eye of the Believer to investigate, we couldn’t find any suspicious persons.”

"Has any divination magic been used to investigate?"

"Hmm, we've already connected to the root of the Wall of the Believers, obtaining countless pieces of information from the ocean of souls of tens of millions of believers from the past, thus acquiring prophetic resources, but we haven't discovered anything unusual through prophetic spells. Hmph, the prophetic magic of those guys in the Corpse Control Court is really just so-so, they're not professionals."

"Should we raise the alert level for that area? Or should we murder all the outsiders in that area?"

"Wait a minute, this is bad! We've fallen for a diversionary tactic! A legitimate wizard from Lilith's Hut has launched an attack on us from another direction. He's planted a high-level magical plant—the [Giant Whale Demon Flower]—in a city to our southwest! Wherever that magical plant appears, an ecological disaster will occur! It must be the accompanying first-stage spell [Ecological Destruction]!"

"What! There's an important project of ours in that direction. Immediately notify the nearby high-level curse masters to go and stop it."

……

On the other side, in front of Locke and his mortal ship was a black wizard ship, which they had originally intended to intercept the smuggling vessels.

After all, regardless of whether there's anything wrong with the smuggling vessel, now that they've spotted it, they can just take it.

But at this moment, the black wizard ship suddenly changed its mind, set sail, and began to head in one direction.

On the deck, many dark wizard apprentices were running at full speed. "A one-time use high-grade magical plant, the Giant Whale Flower, has landed in our territory. Hurry back and provide support!"

"Oh my god, it's that terrifying thing again. Wherever that thing lands, it will drain all the valuable things and nutrients from that land in a short period of time, and then explode all at once, producing countless flower seeds. The flower seeds will grow into various flowers in this area, completely destroying the entire magical ecological environment and draining all the magical tidal energy."

"Those hypocritical white wizards, we're just their killers. They're going to turn our territory into ruins!"

(End of this chapter)