Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 397 The Schemes of the Prophecy School

Inside the carriage, Helen immediately focused her gaze on Locke's left arm, a look of confusion flashing in her eyes. "Your Majesty, what's this on your hand...?"

Helen immediately tensed up, "Could it be that you are a traitor to the demon race...?"

Before she could finish speaking, Alicia raised her right hand, and the allure bracelet on her wrist released a strange red light towards her eyes. Instantly, the powerful human charm spell of the enchanting school penetrated deep into the brain and soul of this third-class wizard apprentice, forcibly changing her thoughts.

Helen then turned to look at the back of Locke's left hand, clearly seeing the blue cross birthmark, but said, "Oh, I'm sorry, Your Majesty, I must have been mistaken."

"I'm so sorry."

Alicia glanced at the native woman and continued, "Although she can use magic, and the power of her spells is close to that of a third-class wizard apprentice, her soul is so fragile. The power system of this world is problematic, seriously flawed, and seems to exist dependent on something else. Locke, what should we do with the back of your hand?"

Locke cast a 0.3-ring illusion spell on the back of his right hand. This was a spell model temporarily constructed based on his status as a first-ring liquefaction stage wizard, and was a magic spell of the illusion school that he forcibly cast.

Although it's only 0.3 rings, it should correspond to the magic level of a grand mage in this world, and it should be enough to deceive a few guards.

A membrane of light appeared on the back of his right hand, gradually covering his entire palm, but it suddenly shattered.

The illusion failed completely.

Alicia asked in confusion, "What's going on?"

Locke looked at his right hand and frowned. "It's the magical power of the School of Prophecy. That magical power is constantly hovering around us, trying to pinpoint the few future directions it most desires among countless possibilities."

"So this 0.3-ring spell failed completely. Because among countless future possibilities, this spell was chosen to be the worst one, and its weakest point suddenly exploded, causing the spell to lose its effect."

“Alicia, there is a very powerful first-circle wizard from the School of Prophecy who is on our opposite side. You had better watch out for your powerful charm spell. I think that under the influence of his magic, the duration of your powerful charm spell will be much shorter than you think.”

Alicia looked puzzled. "Why, Locke, are you so sure the other person is a first-ring wizard?"

The next moment, Alicia, whose mind was controlled by the powerful charm spell, suddenly struggled a few times in her eyes, and actually showed a tendency to break free of control.

At the same time, the carriage curtain was suddenly lifted, and since there was no response for a long time, the soldier actually tried to come in directly.

'Tear~'

The curtain was lifted, and the human guards looked at the people inside the carriage with suspicion. "Why hasn't anyone gotten off for so long? Is there something you need?"

"Sir, look, these are the people inside the carriage."

An old man wearing a yellow cloak, who was the mage of the Dharma Venerable level, appeared in front of the carriage, leaning on a gray staff. He glanced at the group of people: Alicia, Locke, Helen, and the other four adventurers.

"Hmm, no problem. Maybe they're just too nervous seeing a high-level mage like me."

"Let them go."

Alicia glanced over and saw Locke place his left hand inside his wizard's robes, while simultaneously having her cast a powerful charm spell on everyone around them.

This was, after all, a first-level spell, and among the people around, only one was a Grandmaster-level mage who was a first-class wizard apprentice with a magic pressure of 600.

Logically, even with the weakening effect of prophetic magic, this powerful charm spell should still be effective on these natives.

As long as you don't force these natives to see Locke's left hand, but instead change their minds so they pretend they can't see it, that's fine.

In other words, the key is the back of his left hand. So, we can solve the problem by wrapping the key area with clothing and physically isolating it.

The adventurers breathed a sigh of relief and quickly drove the carriage into the city. At the same time, Helen looked up and found that the two wizards sitting in the carriage had disappeared at some point.

After a while, Helen and the four adventurers felt that their memories of the two strange emperors they had encountered earlier were fading. Half an hour later, the five of them had completely forgotten about the so-called emperors.

Outside the city, Locke and Alicia walked in the middle of the road. Alicia said to Locke, "I have done as you asked and used a powerful human charm spell to force them to forget all memories related to us."

"My first-level magic weapon works quite well as long as it doesn't involve the birthmark on your left hand."

"This should reduce the interference from that school of prophecy wizards."

Locke nodded and said, "You asked me before how I could be sure the other party was a first-circle wizard. I deduced it from the degree of interference of the other party's prophecy magic. I forcibly used a small illusion spell of 0.3 circle, and the illusion spell immediately lost its effect, but your first-circle magic was able to maintain its effect for a period of time when used to cover up the birthmark on the back of my hand."

"From the interference the other party caused to your magical artifact, you can deduce their approximate level, which is roughly at the first-ring crystallization stage."

A look of seriousness flashed in Alicia's eyes. "A crystallized-stage prophetic wizard is opposing us? No wonder. This is troublesome. Who exactly is he? And what does he have to do with my grandfather's illness?"

Locke pointed to the road ahead and said, "I have had you use a powerful human charm spell to control the mind of that mage and implant a concept in his brain that would allow him to return to the Hall of the Mage to report to his superiors."

"I believe that as long as we go to that so-called Hall of the Holy Law, the whole truth will come to light."

"Now it seems that this plane is not a free plane. A wizard from a main plane has deeply colonized this place and assimilated the natives. Almost all the natives are just tools for the wizards who control this place."

"The mage system here is a ridiculous ecosphere created by a wizard who has reached the first stage of crystallization."

Locke and Alicia secretly followed along the way back to the so-called Hall of the Holy Law. Along the way, they overheard many passersby discussing a prophecy—that a demon spy disguised as a human would kill the Great Wizard Sura and lead the demon race to complete victory this year.

Three days later, following behind the Dharma Venerable-level mage, they finally arrived at the so-called Dharma Saint Hall.

It was a city located in a forest, with a white tower shaped like a white dragon in the center of the city, and many wizard towers of all sizes within the city.

Locke looked at Alicia with a strange expression. "Alicia, did your grandfather move a miniature version of the White Dragon Tower and the Wizard's Tower into this medium-sized plane?"

Alicia looked at what lay before her—a miniature version, to put it nicely, a shoddy version of the White Dragon Tower—and was slightly speechless. "Such a massive project, how come I knew nothing about it before? What was my grandfather doing behind the scenes?"

Locke looked at the city of the Holy Temple and saw many caves on the ground. The caves were dark inside, but there seemed to be some kind of echo coming out of them.

"Those elemental particles controlled by those mages all emerged from the caves in this city..." Locke understood. "I see. Those elemental particles that those mages could control in that ridiculous way all originated from that cave. Those mages thought they could control all the elemental particles in the world, but that was just an illusion. Only the elemental particles that came out of these caves were under their control and became what they called elemental spirits."

"In other words, this Hall of the Holy Law is the very source of power for this world. Your grandfather built a city here that could serve as the energy source for this world's power system?"

“Hmm…this city also referenced a lot of mage tower technology,” Locke said. “Look, the trees growing next to the surface caves in this city are the source of the staff. The staff is a locator; only mages who hold a staff can control those elemental particles.”

"In a sense, the magic hidden behind those caves is almost becoming a natural cycle in this world... Wait, isn't this what your grandfather wanted?"

Alicia looked puzzled. "Why would my grandfather want to turn his magic into a natural cycle within a colonized world?"

"However, the power attribute of that cave... does indeed resemble the [Dark Cave Scorpion Woman] that my grandfather researched over fifty years."

Locke felt a sudden, burning pain on the back of his left hand.

He looked ahead and saw a massive, dark army of demons appearing in front of the city of the Holy Temple.

Even more demons are emerging from the ground. They seem to have come from a distant place, digging all the way down from underground, intending to launch a surprise attack on the city.

Those demon races seem to want to attack this city.

The leading demonic giant, over ten meters tall, roared incessantly, demanding that the city hand over one person—Alicia Edwards.

If they do not hand over the goods, they will immediately attack the city, and according to the prophecy, the demon with the birthmark on his hand will, as prophesied, kill the Grand Mage Sura.

Alicia Plutarch stood right beside him, and Locke looked at her with a puzzled expression. "Did your grandfather create a clone of you while colonizing the world?"

"He has two homes?"

Alicia quickly shook her head. "How would I know, Locke? This city might not have been built by my grandfather."

"Who exactly is Alicia Edwards?"

A cold voice suddenly appeared beside them, and a mage wearing a yellow cloak and surrounded by a special power appeared next to the Dharma Master.

“Alicia Edwards is my teacher, the prized disciple of Archmage Sura, and will become the thirty-second Sorcerer Saint in our mage plane today.”

"She was also the teacher's most beloved person, like his granddaughter. And as she becomes the thirty-second Archmage of this world today, my teacher, Archmage Sula, will also become a God of Law."

"But at that time, all of you demons will die."

A native sorcerer suddenly appeared beside the sorcerer. The sorcerer glanced at the sorcerer coldly and said, "You were followed by those demons the whole way, and you didn't even notice?"

The Dharma Master turned around in shock and saw Locke and Alicia standing brazenly behind him.

Locke smiled and said to the Archmage, "You don't need to blame him. After all, he's just a first-class wizard apprentice. It's you who should be blamed..."

"I see, no wonder it's immune to powerful human charm spells."

It turns out that the Sorcerers of this world are indeed equivalent to the formal wizards of the wizarding world.

Moreover, the native in front of them was shrouded in a unique power. He did not break through the limits of his race to become a transcendent being through a permanent defensive force field, but rather used another method.

The mage's eyes flashed with a cold light. "Foolish demons, how dare you appear before us again? Have you forgotten that twenty years ago you were utterly defeated and nearly wiped out by us?"

"We have something you'll never have: the domain!"

The next moment, the depths of the Archmage's soul suddenly surged, and a domain of about 1000 meters in area unfolded around him, enveloping Locke and Alicia. At the same time, the elemental particles that had emerged from the caves in the Archmage's Hall filled his domain.

Every elemental particle within his domain has been completely transformed into one that can obey his every word and be manipulated by him.

Thus, a unique field was formed.

Alicia was still puzzled, after all, she was only faster than Locke in terms of potion-making, and her talent in other areas was just average.

Locke, however, reacted quickly. "So that's how it is. This is what's called a domain. Using this domain to replace the permanent defensive force field creates a special field that envelops one's soul. Within this field, one can break through racial limits and raise magic pressure to over a thousand."

"Moreover, this field is different from the permanent defensive force field, so it can have many wonderful uses. But the problem is bigger. First, it completely depends on the giant magic circle under the Hall of the Holy Law, since the entire mage system depends on that magic."

"In other words, everyone in this world who becomes a mage will become a tool of that wizard hiding in the shadows, his student, to help him establish this power system and contribute to his magic."

"Secondly, this domain and the soul are two different things, so it is not safe at all and belongs to external objects."

"Third, the domain seems to be weaker than the permanent defensive field, and its strength is limited, which restricts the upper limit of the mage system."

In a flash, Locke quickly thought.

At the same time, the Archmage fixed his gaze on Locke's left hand, his eyes narrowing instantly. "Damn demon, are you the Child of Prophecy? Then I will definitely kill you! My teacher is the great sage and scholar who brought magic to this world."

"I won't let you threaten my teacher."

Locke, facing his murderous intent, coldly replied, "Can you do it?"

The next moment, centered on the domain of this Archmage, the sky darkened, and darkness enveloped the domain. "God said, 'Let there be fire, to light the world,' and there was the first fire."

In the darkness, a flame appeared, and countless forces converged towards that flame.

All the elemental particles in the entire field have been fully manipulated.

Therefore, the situation within this realm changed according to the thoughts of this Dharma Saint.

(End of this chapter)