Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 323 The Apology from the Secret Fire Academy
Locke first returned to his residence. Now that he was a formal wizard, he no longer needed to follow his wizard mentor's advice in everything, as he had during his apprenticeship.

Locke first returned to his residence and received a complete set of supplies related to the Sea Gold Sand Magic Plant, which had been delivered by the White Wizard Association.

Inside the makeshift laboratory, Locke ordered a minotaur slave to carry a wooden box onto the workbench. He opened the box, revealing a two-meter-long Sea Gold Sand Magic Plant, along with a stack of magic books and several copied articles next to it.

This Lygodium japonicum plant was cultivated in a pure gold flowerpot the size of a washbasin, which contained a mixture of high-grade nutrient soil and gold sand.

The fern, *Hydrocotyle vulgaris*, is still green overall, but there are golden lines between its stems and leaves, giving it an air of nobility.

Ferns have only three core structures: hairless roots, stems, and leaves.

Therefore, if sea lynx wants to climb, it can only deform its leaves into a shape that is easy to climb.

Unlike vine-like magical plants, its climbing ability, which utilizes suckers, tendrils, and air roots, is different.

The leaves of the sea holly are triangular, very large, and the stems of the leaves are also quite long.

The three sides of the triangular leaf are covered with fine, golden threads. These threads are extremely sharp and can be used for climbing or to injure people.

Its overall shape resembles a golden-green spiral staircase, solemn, luxurious, and extremely beautiful.

The moment Locke tried to touch the magical plant, the entire Sea Gold Sand plant immediately activated its automatic defense mechanism. Its triangular feathery leaves secreted golden spore powder, which enveloped the entire plant. In an instant, the green spiral staircase transformed into a golden spiral staircase.

Its air of preciousness became even stronger.

Locke had read some of the literature on sea spores before and knew that this was sea spores' automatic defense mechanism. If he insisted on touching it with his palm, sea spores would attack him with these golden spore powders.

They would also use the gold thread along the edge of the triangular feather to cut themselves.

Once cut by those gold threads, one's pain sensitivity will be ten times greater for a period of time, and even the slightest sting may turn into an unbearable, intense pain.

At the same time, Haijinsha possesses the ability of [Elemental Infusion], just like the Blue Iris used by the Witch Sophia. It can infuse gold elemental particles into a wizard's body the moment it harms them, causing an imbalance of elements within the wizard's body.

This strategy is a common one for the first-stage magic plant.

Because a single-ringed magical plant possesses countless miniature high-pressure reactors, it may automatically tend to evolve this [Elemental Infusion] damage mechanism.

Locke looked at the sea ginseng with satisfaction, and at the same time activated the Forest Sanctuary, allowing the Red Holly Forest to bless him, transforming him into a forest ecosystem, and releasing his magical pressure to force the sea ginseng to give up its resistance.

After persisting for three minutes, the golden spore powder on the surface of the sea spores disappeared, and it returned to its green color.

"To master the Sea Gold Sand, I'll need to read some documents and spellbooks." Locke opened the first spellbook in the Scorching Gold Sand Stream series with satisfaction—the first half of which discussed the offensive spell [Gold Sand Torrent], and the second half discussed [Gold Sand Bullet].

Locke quickly skimmed through the seven thick magic books and discovered that the Scorching Sands series of spells was a complete set, actually consisting of seven spells.

This is because the research on sea ginseng has been quite in-depth, resulting in a large number of related spells that can fully unleash the power of sea ginseng, the king of magical plants with gold attributes.

From the roots and spores of Lygodium japonicum to its climbing leaves, there are special spells used to develop its uses.

Its level of perfection is extremely high.

"Sea Sands is a long-standing flagship project developed by the University of Verdandia. The University of Verdandia truly deserves its reputation as the top wizarding force in the Southeastern Region," Locke exclaimed. Because Sea Sands has been a project for a long time, many of its research findings have already been published by the University of Verdandia.

Of course, some of the most cutting-edge research is still in the hands of that research group and has not yet been published. But the [Burning Gold Sand Flow] series of magic, composed of the current seven spell models, is already quite complete. The seven attack spells correspond to various situations, which is enough to enrich one's spell pool and make up for what one currently lacks the most.

“I’ll read the relevant literature when I get back,” Locke said. “I also need to learn the two first-level spells related to the Execution Hammerhead Mushroom as soon as possible.”

The Execution Hammerhead Mushroom is actually a rare magical plant.

The reason it's so rare isn't anything else, but because this thing needs the energy it receives when you advance from apprentice to full wizard to take shape, and then it's bound to the wizard's soul aura, so it can't be traded.

Therefore, unless a formal wizard has the strain of the Execution Hammerhead Mushroom when they are promoted, it is impossible for them to possess the Execution Hammerhead Mushroom.

As a result, the Execution Hammerhead Mushroom has become a rare magical plant.

This mushroom is indeed powerful. This time, I used the "All Plants Are Soldiers" technique to force it to work, and it actually managed to kill a first-ring witch. It's really impressive.

Locke tidied up the lab, then rode the Engel Spiraling Snail to Harun Vera's office.

Locke pushed open Harlen Vera's office door. "Teacher, you wanted to see me? Is there something you need?"

"Hmm? Professor Harlan, do you have any other guests? I seem to have arrived at an inopportune time."

Locke walked into the office and paused for a moment, realizing that there were other people in Harlan Vera's office. They were wearing red wizard robes and were from the House of Secret Fire.

Harlan Vera said, "No, it's the perfect time."

"This is Melanie Carlisle, a witch of the House of Secrets, a witch in the liquefaction stage, and the inventor of the String of Fire spell."

"They came to our academy this time because they were involved in the White Wizard Association's aid to Lilith's Hut. These are her students, and today... they've come to apologize."

Melanie Carlisle, the witch, coughed, then looked at Locke somewhat awkwardly and said apologetically, "Witch Augustine, these foolish students told me yesterday that they had actually trespassed into the Forbidden Forest and attacked you."

“This is absolutely foolish. I am very sorry, so I wanted to bring these students to apologize to you and give you a gift to maintain our friendship.”

Locke had already spotted several first-class wizard apprentices from the Secret Fire Institute in the crowd, including the wizard seed named Wayne Acosta.

At this moment, several of the previously arrogant wizard apprentices from the Secret Fire Academy lowered their heads guiltily under Locke's calm gaze, not daring to look Locke in the eye.

After this incident, they realized that this was not something they could solve on their own; they had to seek help from their wizard mentor.

Melanie Carlisle was also taken aback when she learned of this. She did not want to make an enemy of Locke Augustine, the bewitching wizard who had just made a name for himself a few days ago, because of the foolish behavior of a few students.

No matter how you look at it, this wizard's methods are very powerful. Although he is only at the vaporization stage now, there is still a big gap between him and her.

But he had only just become a formal wizard.

Melanie Carlisle, as a veteran and officially recognized witch, is not afraid of Locke, and as a powerful incinerator, she is not afraid to fight.

However, she didn't want to make an enemy of such a powerful and formal wizard for no reason, just because of the foolish behavior of a few students. So, when she found out, she immediately brought people over to apologize.

(End of this chapter)