Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 352 Obtaining the Druid's Ring

After Locke escorted Albert out of the Forbidden Forest and returned to the port city of Lilith's Hut, he opened the Gray Mist Slab and saw the message Peggy had sent him—

“Junior Brother Locke, my steward has contacted me. He has arrived at your school’s location.”

"He also brought the Druid's Ring; he's waiting for you at the port now."

Locke thought for a moment and then chose not to reply.

Since I haven't purchased a membership and can only send a limited number of messages per year, I shouldn't reply to messages casually.

The main issue is Peggy. Over time, I've noticed that no matter what I say, she listens very little, and even if I don't reply, she doesn't seem offended.

Perhaps it was because this was how she lived in the land of the Six Towers; only others listened to her, and she never listened to others.

Locke quickly arrived at the port of Lilith's cabin.

At the port, stood an elderly wizard wearing the Philaid family crest on his robes. He looked plain and lacked the wisdom and cunning expected of a first-ring wizard.

After Locke landed, he walked towards him and said, "I am Locke Augustine. Peggy sent you to give me the Druid's Ring, didn't she?"

"You must be Lord Augustine." The old wizard's eyes lit up immediately. Without even trying to confirm Locke's identity, he took out a small box made of adamantite from his astral ring, opened the magic lock inside, and revealed a wooden ring lying inside.

On the wooden ring is an inscription in Ogan script: "Decay is the beginning of prosperity."

Locke took the ring from the old wizard's hand. Legend has it that the Druid's Ring must be forged from the core section of the Tree of Life. It is a masterpiece of alchemy and is considered rare even among first-ring magical artifacts.

And today, he got it.

The old wizard glanced at Locke with fear, sensing the powerful magical pressure emanating from him. "Mr. Augustine, Miss Peggy has already bought two tickets for us. Please come with me to the Land of the Six Towers."

Locke gave a casual "hmm". "Okay. But before I leave, I need to make some arrangements. I also need to ask if anyone here would like me to do anything for them."

It would take at least half a year to travel back and forth between the two wizarding lands, and Locke didn't want to waste that time.

Although the wizard airship is said to provide meditation and magical resources, which doesn't particularly affect magical research, it certainly has some impact, as traveling between the two wizarding lands is not easy.

He could inquire about Harlan Vera's network of connections to see if anyone wanted him to do something for them that was on their way, so he could earn two sums of money.

The old butler wizard of the Philaid family seemed to lack strong opinions, and when faced with Peggy's guest's request, he could only reluctantly agree.

After all, Locke was a fellow disciple of the wizard Anthony, who was the husband of the next head of the Philaid family and the current de facto leader of the Philaid family. Therefore, Locke's status was far beyond that of a high-ranking servant who was dependent on the Philaid family.

These high-ranking servants of the Philaid family already had more than a dozen contracts to restrict and constrain them. In addition, their abilities were average, so they naturally had no ambition and dared not rebel against the Philaid family.

The old butler wizard bowed to Locke and said, "Then we'll do as you say, Lord Augustine. I am Wizard Cord."

Locke asked him, "Where would you like to stay? I can arrange a place for you at my residence."

Wizard Cord quickly waved his hand and said, "You are a guest of the Philaid family. How could I presume to stay with you?"

Locke frowned, seemingly unconcerned, and said, "Then I'll arrange a place for you to stay in the wizarding quarters of Lilith's Cottage. By the way, Wizard Cord, what area of ​​research does the Philaid family primarily focus on?"

When Wizard Cord spoke of the Philaid family, he proudly puffed out his chest. As the two walked and talked, he said, "Lord Augustine, the core members of the Philaid family are almost all wizards of the Conjuration School, mainly researching the bloodline modification sub-direction of the Conjuration School. The Philaid family is most skilled in modifying the bloodlines of raptor-like magical creatures."

"Have you heard of the Flaming Golden Swallow Eagle? That's one of the masterpieces of the Philaid family, a bloodline modification that only core members can possess."

"It is a bloodline modification technology unique to the Philaid family."

Locke asked, "Are most of the wizards in the Land of Six Towers from the sorcery school?"

The old wizard Cord said to Locke in surprise, "Lord Augustine has heard of our Land of Six Towers? Otherwise, how could you have guessed that the wizards of our Land of Six Towers are mostly from the school of sorcery?"

Locke shook his head slightly. "It's nothing, just a guess." The Conjuration School is indeed more suitable for modifying bloodlines. Even though he used potion-making and archaeology methods, he was only trying to faithfully replicate the bloodlines of ancient creatures.

However, certain sub-fields of the Conjuration School can use the power of spells to forcibly alter the bloodline of magical creatures, strengthening or weakening the power of a particular magical creature's bloodline, creating magical creature bloodline modifications that do not exist in this world.

Moreover, this explains why the land of the Six Towers places such importance on bloodlines.

Because that place was originally a place where bloodline studies were prevalent.

Locke glanced at the old wizard Cord, who followed behind him, not daring to take a step ahead, and who strictly adhered to so-called etiquette. If his guess was correct, the determination of the so-called operating authority of the wizard tower might be related to some specific bloodline.

Therefore, in the Land of Six Towers, special bloodlines can manipulate wizard towers, which explains why wizard families there can defeat wizard academies.

Blood ties triumphed over the master-disciple relationship.

Of course, using archaeological methods to modify the bloodline of ancient creatures is something that the bloodline modification science of spell magic cannot do.

Because the sorcery school has no way of obtaining information about ancient creatures from hundreds of thousands of years ago.

Locke looked at the Druid's Ring in his hand, but none of this mattered to him anymore; he was just going there to make money and plunder resources anyway.

What's over there like? What does it have to do with me?

The highest authority in the Land of Six Towers is only a first-ring wizard at the Crystallization stage. To some extent, this means that the area is relatively safe for them, and an outside formal wizard can really run rampant there.

After arranging accommodations for Wizard Cord, Locke quickly returned to the research institute in the Forbidden Forest.

Meanwhile, inside the research institute, he probed his mental power into the Druid Ring, imprinting his mental mark into it, thus becoming its master. At the same time, Locke opened the Druid Ring.

Suddenly, a huge life space appeared before Locke's eyes. Due to the pressure difference between the inside and outside of the air, a gale howled out from it, and huge life energy even gushed out, turning into green mist that swirled around Locke.

Locke snapped his fingers, and the torrent of leaked life essence was restrained by Locke's magic. It then lingered around Locke, turning into a light green mist, and returned to the space within the Druid's Ring.

"Legend has it that the crafting of the Druid's Ring requires two important items: the first is the trunk of the Tree of Life near its center, and the second is a small fragment of a plane."

"Both are extremely difficult to obtain in the Prime Material Plane. They can only be obtained by exploring the void outside the Prime Material Plane, and also require an alchemist skilled in this field to craft them."

"The advantage is that when I wear this Druid's Ring, it's like I'm carrying a small world with me."

"This is very beneficial to botanical wizards who study ecology. This thing may be of average value in other regions, but in the southeastern region where botanical wizards have gathered, I'm afraid its price could really double at the potion auction."

Locke was somewhat relieved that he had obtained the Druid's Ring through Harun Vera's network of connections.

Otherwise, even if he received news of the Druid's Ring at the potion auction, he might not be able to buy it.

There are a lot of botanical wizards in the southeast corner region who need it, and I can't guarantee that I'm the richest among them.

Speaking of which, I spent 170,000 magic stones developing the first-ring magic plant, and I only have 150,000 magic stones left in my savings.

Of the 120,000 spent on materials, 50,000 magic stones were spent on purchasing information on advanced breeders.

Regardless, the investment was worthwhile because it improved his breeding skills and allowed him to develop his first One-Ring Magic Plant, which was even more powerful than those commonly found on the market.

Of course, in terms of price alone, my current expenses are quite high, because the price of a fully grown flying magical plant on the market is about 30,000 to 50,000 magic stones, which is similar to the price of defensive magical artifacts.

From a purely usage perspective, choosing to develop your own technology instead of buying it is relatively unprofitable.

However, in terms of other aspects, independent research and development is an essential path. Otherwise, how can one reach the level of an advanced breeder, how can one obtain more powerful flying magical plants, how can one gain a high mobility advantage among wizards of the same level, and how can one launch one's first-ring magical plant to make money?

The gains and losses involved need to be carefully calculated and balanced.

(End of this chapter)