Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 537 Disc Creatures: Gromdal and the Forest Alliance Magic

Three days later, Locke walked out of the Electromagnetic Magic Mirror room. He looked at the sunlight, which seemed as bright as yesterday, and gently exhaled a breath of stale air.

To be honest, the experience of using the third-ring magic weapon wasn't exactly great.

In order to analyze the properties of a natural magical structure, I have been working non-stop in the public laboratory for the past three days, in the three magic mirror rooms.

For a moment, Locke thought how wonderful it would be if he had three great third-ring magical artifacts that belonged entirely to him and that he could use them without any restrictions every day.

However, for now, this is something I can only dream about.

Locke pondered, "The three magic mirrors will need to be used approximately three more times to fully determine the type of the new natural magical structure within the giant yellow duck crown pineapple I cultivated."

Each use of the Three-Ring Magic Mirror actually requires a fee of 2 Magic Stones.

This price is only the internal price.

After all, the Three-Ring Magic Mirror requires a huge amount of energy to operate even once.

However, everyone has subsidies from the White Wizarding Association's True Knowledge Institute project, so they can afford to pay this amount.

"I had planned to use the 300,000 magic stones from the third-class fund to conduct more experiments. Who knew that just to determine the composition of a brand-new natural magic structure would require 240,000 magic stones."

Locke said, "Money really doesn't last long."

"While waiting for the opportunity to use the three magic mirrors, let's use the time to complete the research on the symbiotic relationship between my four pineapples—the Big Black Diamond Pineapple, the Blue Swan Pineapple, the White Pearl Pineapple, and the Big Yellow Duck Pineapple—and four specific bird-like magical creatures."

“To complete these four projects, I will also need to use the structural comparison machine and the Frost Magic Mirror. That means I will need to use the Frost Magic Mirror four more times and pay 80,000 magic stones.”

"In addition to the cost of using the structural comparison machine and other miscellaneous expenses, it will cost me at least 400,000 magic stones to complete this project."

Locke was somewhat speechless. Because he was unfamiliar with the three magic mirrors, he had misjudged the amount of money needed for his current project.

As a result, the 300,000 magic stones that the academy gave him were not enough to cover the completion of the project, and he even had to pay an additional 100,000 magic stones.

Fortunately, I still have some savings.

I currently have 57 Magic Stones in my savings account.

I can take 200,000 magic stones to cover the funding needed for my research project, and use 100,000 magic stones to complete the research on the four types of pineapples.

Take out another 100,000 magic stones to cultivate more pineapple magic plants and synthesize them. With the help of the apprentice exploration report provided by Golden Crown Mountain, discover more symbiotic relationships between pineapple magic plants and magical creatures, so as to quickly obtain the Second-Class True Knowledge Academy project fund.

Since we're doing well in this direction, let's continue down this path.

Along the way, I worked on projects funded by the First-Class True Knowledge Institute, and even special-class grants. In any case, I have now developed a method to quickly analyze symbiotic magical plants and even discover new natural magical structural components within them using synthetic cubes.

His second step is to use the Giant Yellow Duck Crown Pineapple as a base to further discover more new natural magical structural components inside the Pineapple Magic Plant.

This means Locke needs to read more about pineapple-type magical plants.

Locke walked towards his dormitory. "Although the experiments are busy, I can't neglect my meditation."

"I still need to raise my magic pressure to 9999 as soon as possible, so that I can hit... the second race's soul limit."

"Speaking of which, the strange stares I've been feeling lately have been getting more and more frequent. I should take advantage of the group meeting so I can meet with the witch Ekaterina and ask her what that special dimension is."

When Locke returned to his dormitory, he ran into the wizard Daniel.

After the two greeted each other, Locke said to him, "My Third-Class Knowledge Institute project fund is on track."

"How are you doing? Have you made any progress?"

Wizard Daniel chuckled, “I’ve also made some progress on this side. By continuously recording the mist on the canopies of different types of magical trees, I’ve noticed that in meteorology, mist is a special symbol of a natural state.”

"Different forms of fog can reflect subtle differences in the spirituality of the air in that region. In short, I have indeed made a breakthrough."

Daniel seemed completely different from his previous bewildered self. "I also want to thank you, Locke. You were the one who reminded me to find practical application in the pursuit of abstract ideas."

"I not only have the possibility of completing the third-class grant, but I also have the idea of ​​applying for the second-class True Knowledge Academy grant. I believe that magical creatures and magical plants will affect the spirituality of a natural area, and thus affect the shape of the fog in that area."

"In other words," said Dr. Daniel, "I think we can use this mechanism to understand what has happened in a place by looking at changes in fog in meteorology."

"Of course, so far, this is just a preliminary idea of ​​mine and has not yet been fully formed."

"I believe that this fog—the spiritual transformation mechanism—can also be used to locate special magical creatures, special magical plants, and special magical ores. It can even be incorporated into the weather systems I have designed, making them more complex, changeable, and flexible."

Wizard Daniel sighed, “A month ago, I was lost and thought I had gone from being the chief weather engineer to a tiny cog in the machine. But a month later, I found that I had absorbed knowledge and skills from those seemingly simple and repetitive tasks, which strengthened my wisdom and solidified my foundation.”

"Therefore, the upper limit of the weather system I design can also be increased."

Wizard Daniel said, "Now my view of Mount Golden Crown has changed again. Only the knowledge of Mount Golden Crown can truly realize those crazy designs in my mind."

Locke nodded slightly. "That's good. It seems we've both adapted to Golden Crown Mountain."

Wizard Daniel chuckled, “It’s certainly not easy to adapt to this place. Everything here is different from the wizarding lands we were in before. This place is truly unique.”

Locke glanced at Daniel. Daniel was indeed worthy of being from the Advanced Knowledge Institute and also the meteorology champion of the Misawa Cup.

By using the Rubik's Cube, one can quickly discover the symbiotic relationship between magical plants and magical creatures, and further be confident in turning the discovery of new natural magical structural components into an assembly line.

But Daniel, through his own efforts in repeatedly recording the structure of fog, discovered the relationship between fog and the spirituality of all things, and further explored the potential of this mechanism, finding various directions for development.

To some extent, the True Knowledge Academy is indeed a gathering place for countless super geniuses.

Especially among the researchers in the Advanced Knowledge Institute, none of them are simple characters.

Locke asked, "By the way, Daniel, did you go to listen to the songs of the Archmage Mira and her sisters the other day?"

Daniel looked puzzled. "A song? What song? The wizards at Golden Crown Mountain are all so busy, how could they possibly have time to listen to any songs? I'm sure I haven't listened to any."

Locke: “…”

That night, I clearly saw the researchers from Daniel's group enjoying the music in the audience.

Well, it seems I'm not the only one being ostracized.

Wizard Daniel was clearly completely unaware that Golden Crown Mountain had hosted a team-building event a few days prior.

Locke offered a brief explanation, which made Wizard Daniel turn green with anger, especially after he heard that Locke had advanced to the Crystallization stage during that concert.

"That's outrageous," said Wizard Daniel angrily. "When we're working, everyone asks me for help, but when it comes to team building, I'm the only one who wasn't invited."

"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't even know this happened."

Wizard Daniel turned his head and thought for a moment, then trembled with anger. "For the past three days, those people have been unable to finish their own work and have been asking me for help, and I've been helping them with all my might."

"It's utterly absurd."

"I was even happy for a long time because they shared a bottle of energy potion with me. I felt that the atmosphere in our group was great and everyone was a good person."

"Why is no one in my group calling on me?!"

Daniel looked puzzled. "I was so enthusiastic."

Locke sighed, "Well, this is a tragedy."

Locke exchanged a few more words with him before entering his room, at the same time sensing that someone had contacted him through the Gray Mist Slab.

Locke summoned the Gray Mist Slab and discovered that it was Albert contacting him. At the same time, Albert sent him the detection records from the Magic Pressure Mass Spectrometer.

Locke frowned when he saw the pattern displayed on the magic pressure mass spectrometer. A normal magic pressure mass spectrometer reading would be a continuous line, representing the continuity of the wizard's magic power.

But on the mass spectrometer in front of us, there is a series of discontinuities, with many broken lines, and these lines are not continuous, but rather rise and fall.

This scene proved that there was indeed something foreign inside Albert's soul.

Albert requested a video call with Locke, and after Locke agreed, Albert asked Locke anxiously, "Locke, how is it? Are you sure?" "Mentor Harlen Vera and Lady Morgana both said that my magical pressure is indeed wrong."

Locke said, "Yes, it's confirmed. There is a foreign object in your soul. Your magic pressure diagram shows that there are two kinds of magic pressure with very different properties in your soul."

“One is your magic pressure map, and the other is that of the disc-shaped creature. The magic pressure map can accurately describe the magic pressure properties of an individual life form. I can use this map to pinpoint the approximate identity of that disc-shaped creature.”

Locke flipped through the books he had borrowed from the library's free section. "Found it. The earth wizard of Yunze Wetlands did indeed record the magical pressure of this disc-shaped creature."

Disc-shaped organisms are collective life forms, unlike humans who are dispersed life forms. In other words, a single disc-shaped organism is itself and its entire species.

Therefore, for all the disc-shaped creatures to enter the prime material plane, they cannot occupy the body of just one organism; they must occupy the bodies of at least an entire species.

Therefore, the earth wizards of Yunze Wetland could certainly detect the magical pressure of the disc creatures invading the southeast corner region, because the disc creatures invading the southeast corner region would not enter the wizarding world from just one location or through one life form.

Locke frowned as he read the record. "The situation is worse than I thought."

"The opponent is an existence equivalent to a second-ring True Forging Wizard, a disc-shaped creature called Gromdal."

Locke remarked, "You're eight major levels below him."

Albert gave a wry smile.

He hadn't even become a formal wizard when his soul was invaded by a wisp of the soul of a second-ring level being.

This is truly unfortunate.

Locke flipped through the magic book and said, "According to this magic book, [Gromdal] is suspected to be the resentment formed by the long-term destruction of the grassland. In a geological disaster that even the earth wizards of the Cloud Marsh Wetland could not fully determine, a grassland that had been damaged by the disaster for a long time was in a permanent process of elemental splitting, which generated extreme natural forces. Then, in an even longer period of time, and with some misfortune that is still uncertain, the disc-shaped creature [Gromdal] was born."

"Gromdal represents the grasslands covered by inorganic matter. It is one of the most active disc-shaped creatures and longs to return to the Wizarding World. Moreover... Gromdal is believed to have been born in the Wizarding Lands, the southeastern corner of the Wizarding World."

Albert asked in surprise, "But the southeastern corner region is a continuous coastal area, there are no grasslands."

Locke shook his head slightly. "In the ancient era, the terrain and phenomena of the wizarding world were not similar. In fact, the Southeast Corner did not even exist at that time. Gromdal was born in the Southeast Corner. It was determined by the earth wizards of the Cloud Marsh Wetland through special methods and research."

"This project was undertaken by the Earth Wizard Academy of Quinnjol Prophecy Mystic University, one of the seven top universities in Yunze Wetland."

"It took fifteen years to uncover Gromdal's origins. You're lucky, Albert." Locke glanced at the documents and said, "Quinjoll prophesied the two most powerful magical categories at the Mystic University: the Prophecy School's future prophecy and the Life School's earth magic."

"The information here indicates that a sacrifice can be made to Gromdal to make him give up his parasitic relationship with you."

Locke said, "Gromdal is nature that has been covered by inorganic matter for a long time, which has given rise to an extreme hatred for living beings and this world. It is twisted and hates both living beings and our world. It envies the grasslands, yet it also loathes them. So if you can offer it some grassland creatures of the second ring level, it might be able to get it to let you go."

The glimmer of hope that had just appeared in Albert's eyes dimmed again. "A creature from the second-ring grasslands?"

Locke said, "It doesn't have to be a living creature. You only need some biological materials from a second-ring level grassland creature, such as a horn, or even just a little bit of hair. Then, ask a first-ring crystallization wizard to perform a ritual spell for you to communicate with Gromdal and ask him to let you go."

Albert said, "He parasitized me, caused me so much loss, and I still need to perform ritual magic to please him?"

"Moreover, even the cheapest second-circle magical creature materials, Locke, you know, are beyond my means."

Locke frowned as he looked at the documents. "I stopped Gromdal before, but then the Blood Lord's curse magic came down. It seems that the Blood Lord was completely deceived by Gromdal."

"It seems that Gromdal must have remembered me too."

According to the information, Gromdal would use various methods to deceive beings in the Prime Material Plane into actively summoning him, possibly to help that person take revenge, or to disguise it as a magical breakthrough that would tempt certain wizards.

In short, this thing is a cunning fraudster with a bad reputation, and is being closely guarded against by the wizards of Yunze Wetland.

According to the records, a first-ring crystallized wizard from the Cloudze Wetland School of Life once discovered a new life form disguised as Gromdal—an unknown life form composed entirely of energy—while exploring a colony plane.

The first-ring crystallization wizard was incredibly excited. He immediately grabbed the unknown life form, intending to explore it thoroughly upon returning home to see which known energy life form it resembled and whether it was a variant of some kind of energy life form.

Who would have thought that it was actually Gromdal's clone in disguise?

Looking back now, it's clear that Blood Lord fell for Gromdal's scheme, which is why he brought that guy to the Prime Material Plane.

If the Blood Lord had continued his research instead of going to war with the White Wizards Association in the southeastern corner, this lightning bolt would have exploded in his own hands sooner or later. He was just lucky and managed to detonate it at Lilith's Hut.

Locke said, "But it's not a big problem. As long as I become a second-circle wizard, even if Gromdal remembers me for a thousand or ten thousand years, it doesn't matter."

It has no impact on me.

Locke looked at Albert and said, "I have a new guess: it might be possible to negotiate with Gromdal without using ritual magic. Gromdal is a twisted grassland that has been covered by inorganic matter for a long time, and it is naturally hostile to normal natural phenomena."

"If you can transform yourself into a natural ecosystem, perhaps it will make him retreat on his own."

"Of course, there's no rush. Anyway, I've already decided that you can use the Forest Sanctuary to become a formal wizard."

Locke said, "And only by becoming a strong, mature forest can you make Gromdal retreat voluntarily. Otherwise, you'll only provoke him, which won't do you any good."

Albert asked, "Locke, how powerful a forest would it take to make that... Gromdal... leave my soul?"

When Albert said this, he felt a throbbing in the depths of his soul, like a traveler who had been away from home for a long time suddenly hearing the sound of his hometown.

But Albert's expression was serious, because this was definitely not his feeling, but the feeling of Gromdal, who resided in a part of his soul.

Locke said, "At least the second ring."

"It must be at least equivalent to the magical pressure of a second-ring wizard," Locke said. "Therefore, it must be a forest with at least one second-ring level magical plant."

"But don't be discouraged yet. There is a special method in the magic of the Forest Sanctuary that can connect the forests to each other and form a hierarchical relationship."

"This magic has a name—[Forest Alliance]. It makes one wizard's forest sanctuary an affiliated forest of another wizard's forest sanctuary."

"In this way, when multiple wizards who use the Forest Sanctuary as a permanent defensive force field form an alliance, they can form a forest community, and the relationship between them can be that the top forest is greater than the ordinary forest."

Locke looked at Albert and said, "But if I can become a second-circle wizard, and my forest becomes a second-circle forest, then you can use the [Forest Alliance] magic to join my forest community. In that case, you should be able to resist Gromdal."

"First, you must become a first-ring wizard."

Albert's eyes widened. "Really? If so, I'd love to. First of all, Locke, you're a reliable wizard, secondly, you're my friend, and it would be an honor to form a forest community with a second-circle wizard."

Locke nodded slightly.

This matter is also beneficial to me.

If Albert becomes a formal wizard and adds his forest sanctuary to his forest community, he can increase the total number of organisms in his forest out of thin air.

At the same time, it will create more complex forest relationships and bring us closer to nature itself.

In the future, he himself will form such complex ties with many wizards in the sacred forest, becoming a forest lord in another de facto sense.

Of course, one thing Locke concealed from Albert was that the Forest Alliance magic was just an idea from Dean Levi; it was not yet complete, only a prototype, a framework.

Locke was confident that he could perfect the magic.

Locke relayed some of Albert's words, instructing him to cultivate his own forest sanctuary within the territory of Lilith's Hut.

Then, he released the summons of the Gray Mist Slab and went into his study to begin thinking.

The Forest Alliance is clearly a second-circle level magic, so Dean Levi's idea back then was just an idea.

But this is indeed a brilliant framework, and I can complete it on my path to becoming a second-circle wizard.

Once completed, one's own forest sanctuary will be strengthened like never before.

For me, learning the wizarding skills of the Forest Sanctuary is probably the better, as much as possible.

If I can gain the allegiance of many first-ring wizards to the forest sanctuary, my forest will become the "Forest of Crowns" envisioned by Wizard Levi!
Locke tapped his fingers on the table. "Thinking about it carefully, I was a bit crazy. A first-ring wizard, starting to think about this."

"I don't know if it will succeed."

(End of this chapter)