Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 517 Summoning the Ferryman of the Underworld!
Locke summoned the Sea Gold Sand Tree Fern in front of him. The Sea Gold Sand Tree Fern is a fake wood fern, so it has a height that ordinary fern magical plants do not have, standing two meters tall.

Its shape has changed slightly, from a green spiral staircase to a shape similar to a green pagoda.

It still has regenerated pinnate leaves, and the edges of the triangular pinnate leaves are covered with golden spore powder. However, the area of ​​the triangular pinnate leaves has become larger, and the tree fern has also become taller. This results in the fact that this sea larva can produce a greater amount of golden spore powder per unit of time.

Tree ferns are much stronger than ordinary ferns.

The shimmering sea gold sand still emitted a faint golden light, a natural shimmer that appeared after the golden magic was enhanced, indicating that this sea gold sand possessed extremely powerful golden magical power.

Locke reached out and summoned it. As a magical plant with the golden magical attribute, Locke established a connection with it almost effortlessly, forming a magical grafting relationship with it, and at the same time incorporated it into his distributed psionic network.

Locke chanted a spell and used the Golden Sand Torrent spell model. Instantly, the shimmering sea gold sand transformed from a green pagoda into a golden-green pagoda, turning into a torrent of golden sand that shot into the sky, like countless condensed blades slashing forward.

Its scale is more than twice that of before.

"The shimmering sea gold sand can actually unleash the full power of my Blazing Gold Sand Stream series of spells." Locke felt the shimmering sea gold sand under his control, and with a slight thought, the gold sand blades that shot forward transformed into a storm, enveloping the entire ecological garden. However, due to Locke's control over his spells, it did not cause any damage to the ecological garden of this special-grade laboratory.

This is a botanical magic: a waterfall of flowing gold sand.

At the same time, Locke used the sixth spell of the Scorching Sand Stream series. He reached out and grabbed forward, and the storm of golden sand automatically condensed into a golden hand made of golden sand, as big as a house, and then slapped it towards a spot in the ecological garden.

Before Locke could even let the golden sand palm land, the ground was already pressed into a handprint by the magical pressure generated by this golden magic.

This is a botanical magic spell: the Golden Hand.

The fire bead tomato flower worn on Locke's right index finger automatically activated the Flame Bright Spiritual Energy, and rays of flame light adhered to his golden hand.

The original golden hand transformed into a red-gold hand, scorching hot and distorting the air.

Locke watched this scene with satisfaction. The last two spells of the Scorching Sand Stream were the most powerful spells in the entire series, and could even be used up to the first crystallization stage. However, they were quite complicated to learn, and he had never been able to fully master them.

It wasn't until recently, when he obtained the Immortal Dragon Scale, that he learned this Golden Hand technique.

The mysterious dragon bloodline with its golden attribute can enhance one's understanding of golden magic and bring a talent bonus that even a first-ring wizard cannot replicate.

Locke then tried to recite the incantation for the seventh spell. The golden hand transformed into a finger, which remained red and gold in color and was empowered by Yanming's spiritual energy.

That was the seventh spell of the Scorching Sands—a first-circle botanical spell: Golden Finger.

Golden magic is characterized by its indestructibility and susceptibility to influence, and the Golden Finger takes this characteristic to its extreme. The Golden Finger attacks the enemy, and its golden nature remains unchanged, so it cannot be easily altered or destroyed by defensive magic. Once it strikes the enemy, the heavy magical pressure will gather at a single point, completely destroying the enemy's body.

The Golden Hand is only an area-of-effect attack, while the Golden Finger is more difficult to cast and requires a higher level of magical pressure. Even with Locke's current magical pressure, he cannot use the Golden Finger too many times.

Locke did some mental calculations and realized that his normal magical pressure was only enough for two uses of Golden Finger, but with the Abyss Energy, he could use it three times.

Using the Beast Panel should allow you to stack up to six uses, or at least seven.

The Golden Finger is the most difficult spell to learn in the Scorching Sands series. Even if a wizard has become a second-circle wizard during the learning process, he still has not yet learned the last spell of the Scorching Sands series.

That's perfectly normal.

If it weren't for the immortal dragon scales, Locke wouldn't have been able to master this last spell.

"With the Golden Finger, I now have a super high-output spell for offensive magic, so I won't be at a disadvantage in battle."

Locke pondered.

He stored the shimmering sea gold in his astral ring, then turned and left the top-level laboratory, heading to the Feathered Serpent Pavilion in the middle of the night.

Quetzalcoatl is open 24 hours a day, and today I need to brew the Lord of Cinder that Leonis needs.

On the second floor of the Feathered Serpent Pavilion, in the potion room, Locke said to Leonis, "I'm a little sorry. We agreed that I would prepare it for you in two days, but I got busy with an experiment and before I knew it, half a month had passed."

Leonis shrugged. "It's alright, it's normal. Every wizard is busy. I often encounter this kind of thing. You only made me wait for half a month, which is already good."

Leonis said, "Last time, I waited for a famous potion master to make a potion, but he stood me up for a whole year. I waited a year before my potion was finally made, and during that time, he kept saying every day, 'It will be made tomorrow...'"

Leonis said regretfully, "We don't have many potion masters in our Dark Wizarding Lands, so the number of people we can find is limited. Apart from archaeologists, other non-combat-related wizarding professions are difficult to develop in our Dark Wizarding Lands."

Locke nodded, then took out the Primal Flame from his Astral Ring. In the past two weeks, he had reviewed the recipe for the Forge Potion several times and practiced with some simple materials.

At this moment, using the Primal Flame to concoct potions is naturally a piece of cake.

Locke summoned five cauldrons, used the Primal Fire to levitate them, and the Primal Fire constantly changed, from wood elemental magic flames to metal elemental magic flames, changing seventeen times in a short period of time.

This is the difficulty in crafting potions in the furnace.

At the same time, Locke added the main and secondary ingredients for the furnace potion, then added the auxiliary ingredients to suppress toxicity, and finally the edge ingredients.

An hour later, Locke mixed the liquids from the five crucibles together, and a pot of potion liquid, resembling magma, slowly flowed out of the crucibles.

Locke poured the liquid into a Time Crystal potion bottle, and then repeated the process, spending another two hours to prepare two bottles of Furnace Potion.

Locke pushed open the door to the potion room, rubbed his temples, and explained that preparing three bottles of the highly difficult Forge Potion had taken a lot of his energy. Without taking potions to replenish his energy, he could only prepare a maximum of three bottles a day, and it would also interfere with his other tasks.

After all, time isn't the problem; the biggest problem is actually energy.

Locke drank a bottle of energy potion, which relieved some of the fatigue he felt.

Leonis stepped forward, picked up three bottles of Forge Potion, and without hesitation, drank one of them. In an instant, his clothes burst into flames, as if he were wearing a fiery cloak—the fire of the phoenix.

At the same time, there were red lines on his chest that looked like cracks, which were magical energy rippling across his chest.

Locke's guess was correct; Leonis was searching for him, wanting the Forge Potion, but in reality, he was after some kind of bloodline within him.

Locke sat on a stool next to the round table, waiting for him.

These dark wizards all have a habit: once they get their hands on something, they immediately use it for themselves.

This has been a habit they've developed over a long period of time.

Half an hour later, a look of surprise flashed in Leonis's eyes. "The Forge Potion really can accelerate the formation of the Phoenix bloodline within me."

Leonis maintained the Flame Cloak covering his skin, and due to the Phoenix bloodline modification, he seemed to possess the ability to ignore high temperatures.

Leonis said to Locke, "Thank you, Professor Augustine."

"In fact, potion studies has many fields that can complement our archaeology. Many ancient bloodlines that we have unearthed require potion studies to help them take shape. It's just a pity that because of the prejudice between black wizards and white wizards, most potion masters will not cooperate with us, nor dare to cooperate with us. And those potion masters who cooperate with us only want to extract benefits from us."

“Those difficult things, those things that you want to communicate with them in detail, you can’t ask them to do.”

Locke nodded slightly. "Alright, Leonis, as agreed, you should hand over half of the historical materials in your Fairy Book to me."

Leonis smiled. "Of course."

He opened his right hand, and a fairy book automatically appeared in his hand. "These are the historical materials I have collected over the past two hundred years. My archaeological talent is not as good as Warwick's, nor am I as diligent and hardworking as Warwick, so my efficiency in collecting historical materials is much lower than his."

The Book of Fairies emitted a beam of magical energy, which contained a large amount of historical information about negative energy particle fields. This information was then infused into the Book of Dragons that Locke had summoned at the same time.

The Book of Dragons turned its pages automatically, and a dramatic change occurred.

Three minutes later, the Book of Dragons suddenly closed, emitting magical pressure equivalent to the first stage of liquefaction.

“Historical records are the food of the Book of the Sovereign.” Locke looked at the Book of Dragons beside him.

With the half of the historical materials that Leonis had given him, he was able to reach the first stage of liquefaction in his Book of Sovereigns, even without obtaining the remaining two-thirds of the historical materials from Warwick.

With the Book of the Sovereign at this level, Locke's progress in archaeology would be rapid. He was confident that he could raise his understanding of the Modo language to the corresponding level within six months.

Archaeology is ultimately a discipline that emphasizes practice and hands-on experience.

Locke perused the Book of Dragons and discovered that the historical materials collected by Leonis were biased differently from those contained in Warwick's Book of Demons. Warwick's Book of Demons contained fairly balanced historical materials, while Leonis paid more attention to information related to the Fairy Wilderness of the Outer Dimension and various ancient tombs.

Locke glanced at Leonis, who was wearing a harmless smile and looked like an honest man.

But after reviewing the historical information he had collected, Locke became suspicious; this old man Leonis seemed to be a tomb raider.

Come to think of it, wasn't the first time he saw me wearing a newly unearthed 'artifact'?

Locke opened his right hand, fingers pointing upwards, and moved it slightly. Instantly, the Book of Dragons folded itself, transforming into a paper dragon—a lifelike red dragon—emanating a magical glow. Locke chanted a spell, then said, "Borrow a ferryman from the past five hundred years!"

Instantly, the negative energy particle field gathered together like countless chains, forming a black eggshell as tall as a person. Then, the eggshell suddenly cracked, and a ferryman whose entire body was as black as ink appeared, with a black ark at his feet.

This is already considered a relatively advanced first-level spell in the Wizard King's Codex. Locke had been unable to learn it before because his Book of Sovereigns was of a lower level.

This is a ring of archaeological magic: Summon the Styx Ferryman.

This is a historical phantom, supported by a wealth of historical materials, that conjures up the image of a real ferryman on the River Styx, but it does not actually exist.

It's just that while the spell's effects are active, this ferryman of the Styx will believe he truly exists.

At this moment, the ferryman of the River Styx looked at Locke and said, "One Underworld coin."

"I can take you wherever you want to go."

Locke frowned. He had no idea what Underworld Coins were, but they should be mentioned in the Wizard King's Codex that Warwick had traded with him.

Leonis tossed him a Netherworld coin.

"Give."

"How can we just summon the Styx Ferryman like that? Although the Styx Ferryman is the best means of transportation for us archaeological wizards, if we don't pay a single underworld coin after summoning him, the ferryman will turn against us and attack us."

"Even first-line archaeologists are just users of historical materials, so they still need to abide by the rules within those materials," Leonis said.

Locke caught the Underworld Coins and then handed them to the ferryman of the River Styx.

When the ferryman of the Styx saw the gold coins in Locke's hand, a greedy look immediately appeared in his eyes. He took the gold coins and then asked, "Where are you going?"

Locke recalled the rules of the River Styx ferrymen. The real ferrymen could naturally take them through most of the areas the River Styx flowed through, but this was just a historical projection of the River Styx ferrymen, and there was no place in the wizarding world through which the River Styx passed, at least he did not know where it existed at the moment.

This historical projection of the ferryman doesn't actually possess any great supernatural powers, but it would be a very useful means of transportation.

Locke said, "Take me around. Let me see how fast you are."

Locke jumped onto the ark behind the historical projection of the ferryman of the Styx. The ferryman did not stop him, but simply picked up an oar and prepared to leave.

At that moment, Leonis also jumped onto the ark and tossed a Netherworld coin to the Styx Ferryman summoned by Locke. "This spell model for summoning the Styx Ferryman is really useful. I used to like using this spell when I was escaping."

"Moreover, it can also be used to carry people, but it costs one Netherworld coin for each person who goes up. It's a bit expensive."

"The ferryman's boat automatically enters the [spirit realm] state, so as long as we board the ferryman's boat, we will enter a situation that other wizards cannot observe with the naked eye. At the same time, the ferryman's boat is also fast, and the shuttle speed is very fast."

"Its only drawback is its lack of agility. It can move very fast in a straight line, which is very suitable for escaping and short- to medium-distance travel. However, in combat, due to its limited agility and defense, its effectiveness is limited, and it is easy for opponents to target it."

"Of course, because of the existence of the spirit world's invisibility ability, it is still very difficult to deal with as long as the enemy does not understand it."

Locke was also eager to test the power of this ferryman of the River Styx. "How are Underworld coins obtained?"

Leonis immediately said, "Netherworld coins are currency from the underworld. Do you know the River Styx? The Styx plane is part of the underworld. The underworld is a super-large-scale, unique, and special plane in the endless void."

"The underworld is where many souls go after they die."

"There are still many secrets about the underworld, and not all souls go there. These secrets between life and death are even conflicting with each other, and seem contradictory. But in short, underworld coins come from the underworld and are the hard currency of the underworld."

“We archaeologists can trade with the beings of the underworld and the Styx plane to obtain underworld coins. The contact information for those underworld creatures is easy to obtain; your grimoire should have records of it, and there are several first-level minor spells that can contact them.”

"If you fulfill some of their small requests, they might offer to trade Netherworld coins with you," Leonis said.

At this moment, the small boat beneath their feet, supported by the ferryman's oars, swiftly glided forward.

Then, they, the ferryman, and the entire small boat entered the spirit world, thus entering a semi-ethereal and visually invisible state. They ignored the walls in front of them, passed through them, and traversed obstacles as they wandered through the White Dragon Street.

At that moment, a series of highly sophisticated protective magic traps sounded warnings, but the wizards on White Dragon Street were all puzzled because they could not see Locke and Leonis with their naked eyes, so they did not know why the magic traps were sounding warnings.

Upon seeing this, Locke immediately realized that this was an amazing escape technique.

With this spell model, archaeology wizards at the first level of liquefaction or higher can easily escape.

As for why archaeological wizards need this kind of escape skill, it's not hard to guess.

Locke even noticed that when the ferryboat passed through some magical defenses, it could actually pass directly through them because of the ethereal nature of the spirit realm.

Only some advanced defensive magic arrays can be blocked outside.

Locke tested the speed of the ferryman's boat and found that the boat's straight-line speed was extremely fast, only slightly slower than his own Great Azure Leaf Dragon Sparrow. Although it was extremely inflexible when turning, its speed would suddenly decrease.

The problem is that the ferry boat can only enter the ethereal state of the spirit world, and generally speaking, there is no need to turn around.

His own Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow is the top-tier flying magical plant among the first-level magical plants, so it's normal that when combined with his plant mimicry technique: Green Dragon, its flight speed is even faster than the Ferryman's.

However, the ferryman's advantage lies in minimizing the loss of his own magical power, while also possessing the ability to etherealize the spirit world.

After playing with Leonis for a while, Locke ordered the ferryman to cross the White Dragon Tower and try to leave the White Dragon Tower directly by boat.

The two, along with the ship, passed through the outer wall of the White Dragon Tower.

"I just wanted to try it out, and it actually worked." Locke was stunned for a moment, because the ferryman's boat had actually passed directly through the outermost layer of the White Dragon Tower's wall. "If that's the case, it's indeed a good escape spell. Wait... something seems off."

Locke frowned. After passing through the walls of the White Dragon Tower, they did not appear outside the tower as expected, but instead flew in mid-air.

They entered a dark space.

This space is shrouded in darkness above and an endless abyss below.

In the darkness, there is a vast expanse of countless elements undergoing constant fission reactions. Powerful energy surges wildly through the space, even distorting it and causing it to slightly fracture.

Locke pondered deeply upon seeing this scene.

Leonis's forehead was covered in sweat. "The six towers of the Six Towers are wonders of the world created by ancient wizards stained with the blood of the ancients. It is impossible to pass through them directly with a single first-circle spell."

"However, I only wanted to give it a try, so I didn't stop you. Now it seems like you've gone too far. Where is this place?"

As Leonis watched the terrifying elemental fission taking place in the depths of darkness, he involuntarily activated the Permanent Defense Field [Blessing of the Fairy King].

A crystalline green magical shield enveloped his body.

Locke immediately activated his life force field.

Even though they had all entered the ethereal state of the spirit realm, they were still under immense demonic pressure around the ongoing elemental fission, and their bodies were experiencing tremendous stress.

Every moment they are here, every cell in their bodies is subjected to terrifying radiation pressure.

“This should be the location of the Elemental Fission Pool in the Land of Six Towers,” Locke said. “We crossed part of the barrier of the Land of Six Towers, but not completely, so we entered this hidden space.”

Archaeological magic models, as expected of the most secret-exploring magic, have helped them discover the location of the elemental fission pool.

Locke felt the terrifying power of the elemental fission. The space here was distorted and turned into rings that intersected with each other. Some spaces were even divided into Chinese knot-like shapes by the gravity of the elemental fission.

“The gravity in the elemental fission pool is too strong,” Locke judged. “The ferryboat beneath our feet is locked by the fission gravity and is heading deeper into the elemental fission pool, to be turned into fission raw materials within it.”

"It's unbelievable. This is far beyond the power of a first-ring wizard. Even the total magical pressure of a second-ring wizard I've seen before is like an ant trying to shake a tree compared to this."

They've now driven themselves to the edge of a black hole, as if they'd stepped on the gas.

Leonis's face turned pale. "What do we do now?"

Locke looked at the ring on his hand; the White Dragon Ring was emitting a magical glow. "It's alright, I have the authority."

"It's unlikely that anything will happen to me inside the White Dragon Tower."

“I have priority control over this ancient wonder.”

The next moment, a huge external force surged from the depths of the elemental fission pool, propelling the ferryboat beneath their feet and shoving them out of the water.

(End of this chapter)