Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 546 Choosing a Special Plane
Locke was somewhat at a loss. "Thank you, teacher..."

"Thank you so much. This magical artifact is so valuable, I really don't know whether I should accept it or not."

"But you do need it," said Catherine the Witch. "I can understand the pain of the superintuitive, the side effects of that inescapable prophetic ability."

“I just think that your growth requires it, so I gave it to you. You can also think of it as a loan to you, or as a gift to wizards who have the same problems as us. When one day you no longer need it, and you meet a wizard who needs it just like you did in the past, you can give it to him as well.”

The witch Catherine said, "Alright, you can modify the data a little bit before publishing it in the future, which will reduce a lot of trouble."

"You can now choose a special dimension."

"The three planes I have chosen for you are the Emerald Dreamland, the Ancient Sky Illusionary Realm, and the Rain God's Celestial Realm."

"The Rain God's Realm is a special world where potion makers like to sign contracts. By using ritual magic to borrow the world power of the Rain God's Realm, they can reduce the difficulty of most high-difficulty potions when making them."

"It can reduce the difficulty by about 10%."

"Unless, that kind of potion conflicts with the world power attributes of the Rain God's Celestial Realm."

The witch Catherine said, "The Rain God's Celestial Realm is a unique and special world in the endless void. Its formation and how long it has existed are unknown. Its specific purpose in wanting to sign a contract with wizards is also unknown. All that is known is that it desperately desires the souls and bodies of wizards."

"The world is constantly shrouded in a rain of potions, and even a third-ring wizard is in danger of perishing if he enters that world."

"But the conditions under which the Rain God's Heaven lends power to a wizard are very harsh, namely—the wizard's soul and body must return to the Rain God's Heaven after death."

Locke's expression changed slightly.

The witch Catherine said, "The Emerald Dream is a unique world where the world's will is slightly more positive. The Emerald Dream is a world formed by the accumulation of countless plant spirits. You know what a spirit is, right? It's the spirit that existed before the soul appeared; it's the primordial soul. Plants don't have souls, but they have spirits."

"The worlds formed by those spirits have made the Emerald Dream a plane with the unique attributes of both a natural plane and a spiritual plane. Sometimes, the Emerald Dream will naturally form contracts with some mortals in our wizarding world. This makes those mortals who originally had no wizarding talent suddenly have an affinity for wood element particles, and their talent level is generally low, below level 3."

The witch Catherine said, "A great figure from the Starfield Sea, through studying this mechanism, has determined that the Emerald Dream and the dreams of some people in the Wizarding World are entangled in elemental particles from a young age, creating dimensional gates."

"Their dreams are the gateway to the Emerald Dream, which is why they possess magical talent. Moreover, if any of them are fortunate enough to become a formal wizard and possess telekinesis, they will discover that they have already been born with a contract to the Emerald Dream."

Locke blinked, surprised that this special dimension would have such a unique influence in the wizarding world.

The witch Catherine said, "The Emerald Dream is a collection of natural forces and favors botanical wizards."

"Many botanical wizards like to make pacts with the Emerald Dream."

"But every time you borrow the power of the Emerald Dream, you must travel to the Emerald Dream with your mind and do some tasks for it, such as cleaning up the nightmares that pollute the environment within the Emerald Dream."

"Conversely, if you clear out enough powerful nightmares in the Emerald Dream, you can borrow enough power from the Emerald Dream."

The witch Catherine said, "Therefore, many botanical crystallization wizards will enter the Emerald Sleep through 'slumber' to accumulate more world power that can be exchanged for Emerald Dream power during battle."

"Of course, if you sign a contract with the Emerald Dream, your dream will automatically couple with the Emerald Dream plane, turning into a dream gate."

"This can slightly improve your compatibility with wood element particles, although it's a negligible benefit for a first-ring wizard."

The witch Catherine said, "The world consciousness of the Emerald Dream is influenced by life force, so it is very low in danger and has a high cost-performance ratio. Signing a [World Contract] with it is not a loss."

"The only danger is that if you overdraw too much of the Emerald Dream's power at once, you will have to fall into a long slumber to pay off the debts you have incurred."

"Therefore, there is a risk of borrowing too much power at once, and having to repay the debt over the next few hundred years."

The witch Catherine said, "And the third option is the ancient Sky Illusion Realm."

"The Ancient Sky Illusionary Realm is also a unique and special plane. It is a special plane without a ground, but it is not an elemental plane composed of air elements. Instead, it is a life plane similar to the prime material plane, so it is unique in type."

"The ancient Sky Realm is composed of parts of the sky in many extinct worlds in the endless void, where many races lived."

"The wizard forms a contract with this special plane. After death, the soul does not have to return to this world, but each time it is used, a certain organ of the body must be sacrificed. The more important the organ is to the wizard, such as the eyes or the heart, the more powerful the sky power will be."

"The ancient Sky Realm favored dragons, so if we make a pact with this plane, the sacrifices we have to make will be less."

The witch Catherine said, "You can choose any of these three special planes, but it's best to choose only one."

"Any special dimension, whether good or evil, is dangerous and extremely powerful, with too many implications, and it is of no benefit to us."

Locke sat on the stool and, after some thought, first ruled out the Rain God's Heaven.

Having the Primal Fire and the Purifying Filter Stone can increase the success rate of potion concoction, eliminating the need for dangerous ritual magic.

By borrowing the world power of the Rain God's Heaven, one's soul will inevitably belong to it after death, which is equivalent to signing a contract of servitude, making one afraid to die again.

Therefore, he directly ruled out this world.

Locke asked the witch Catherine, "Teacher, may I ask you some questions?"

Ekaterina sat back down in her office, picked up a Drunken Pear from the fruit bowl on her desk, and handed it to Locke. "Go ahead and speak, no need to be so polite."

"To me, you are not an outsider."

Locke took the drunken pear, took a bite, and discovered that the juice of this pear was a mixture of wine and pear juice with a refreshing aroma, and that eating it could increase his magical power.

No wonder this fruit deserves to be on the throne of the Third Ring Road fruit platter; besides its unparalleled taste, it is also very practical.

Locke noticed that his mana was rapidly recovering. The greatest function of this first-ring level Emperor's Elixir Pear was probably to quickly restore his depleted mana.

Locke asked the witch Catherine, "Teacher, what kind of power can the Emerald Dream and the Ancient Sky Realm grant me respectively?"

The witch Catherine quickly replied, "The Emerald Dream can enhance the power of magical plants, by at least 30%, and perhaps three times if more is borrowed. But under normal circumstances, very few wizards can borrow that much power."

"That requires slaying many nightmares."

"The ancient Sky Illusion Realm can enhance your bloodline power. Depending on the importance of the body parts you sacrifice, you can receive different amounts of Sky Power, up to a maximum of three times. In the endless void, apart from the Blood River Plane, there are very few special planes that adjust the upper limit of the world power that can be borrowed to an infinite value for an individual wizard."

Locke understood. Generally speaking, the maximum enhancement one can gain by using ritual magic from the power of the world is roughly three times.

Of course, there are special cases like the Blood River Plane. Back then, Nidhogg almost borrowed power to reach the second ring in order to defeat his own Mysterious Power, so he was directly swallowed up by the Blood River Plane.

A three-fold increase is already quite astonishing.

My current normal state has not yet reached the limit of 9999 magic pressure for the first ring.

However, if one uses borrowed world power to amplify their condition threefold, that would be an incredibly exaggerated number.

Knowing this, Locke understood why he had been overwhelmed by Nidhogg, who used ritual magic, and why even the power of Myster couldn't help him turn the tide.

Ritual magic is indeed a very important tool for a first-circle crystallizing wizard; it's something that can't be used frequently, but can be kept as a last resort.

Catherine the Witch spread her hands. "The choice is yours."

"Whatever choice you make, I think it's very wise."

Catherine the Great had a habit of never interfering with other witches and making her own choices.

She believed that freedom was the most important thing for a wizard.

Only those who can command themselves are qualified to call themselves wizards; those who can only be commanded by others are nothing more than puppets.

Locke began to ponder, even though the witch Catherine believed that both the Emerald Dream and the Ancient Sky Realm were suitable for her.

But that's probably because, in her eyes, he is simultaneously a botanical wizard and a breeding genius, and also possesses primordial dragon scales.

These two worlds have contrasting preferences: one favors botanical wizards, and the other favors dragons.

One can enhance one's magical plants, and the other can enhance one's bloodline.

Locke didn't hesitate much. Although he possessed the Scorpion Woman's Ring and had three drops of true blood in his body, his foundation was still that of a botanical wizard.

Therefore, if I had to choose a special dimension to sign a contract, I would definitely choose the Emerald Dream.

Moreover, the ritual magic in the Ancient Sky Realm, which often requires sacrificing vital parts of one's body, is far more terrifying than completing quests in the Emerald Dream.

The Emerald Dream, on the other hand, appears to be much milder in nature.

Locke said to the witch Catherine, "Teacher, I choose the Emerald Dream."

The witch Catherine nodded and said, "Yes, that's a good choice. But it also means that you've chosen botany over bloodline studies."

"If you choose the Ancient Sky Illusion Realm, you will find out just how much that special realm favors the dragon bloodline."

"You gave up on exploring the dragon bloodline. In fact, if you used the dragon bloodline as the core, explored its potential, and built your own bloodline system, it would be easier for you to become a second-circle wizard."

Locke shook his head slightly.

There are many secrets hidden behind his dragon bloodline, and he would not want to place all his hopes on it unless absolutely necessary.

On the contrary, botany, which he has mastered step by step, is very solid and has a high degree of compatibility with his golden touch.

The witch Catherine curled her lips and said, "Actually, I made a similar choice before, and I made the same choice as you."

For some reason, Locke felt that the witch Catherine's gaze towards him had become softer.

"Between exploring the dragon bloodline and developing breeding and botany, I chose the latter," said the witch Catherine. "Actually, I later discovered that choosing the latter made it easier to become a third-circle wizard. If I had delved deeper into the dragon bloodline at the time, it would have indeed made it easier for me to become a second-circle wizard, but that bloodline would have become an insurmountable barrier preventing me from advancing further at the second-circle stage."

Locke didn't quite understand; after all, this part of the knowledge was too far removed from his understanding. "Teacher, why did you let me choose freely before?"

The witch Catherine said, "I want to see your choice. Moreover, a wizard who goes against his own choice is even less likely to become a third-circle wizard."

"Moreover, for many wizards, becoming a second-circle wizard is already satisfactory. Therefore, it's hard to say whether these two choices are right or wrong."

The witch Catherine took out a contract from her astral ring. "This is the Book of Ritual, made by a third-ring wizard of the Summoning School. Although there are other methods of signing contracts using ritual magic, using the Book of Ritual is currently the safest method of all."

"This is a path that countless wizards explored at the cost of their lives."

"Take a look at the contract. If there are no problems, sign your name in the bottom left corner."

Locke read the Book of Ritual several times to make sure there were no problems, then used the magic quill pen to write his name in the Book of Ritual.

The next moment, another string of mysterious characters appeared next to his name.

Locke immediately realized that it was the name signed by Emerald Dream as the other party, but he couldn't recognize the words at all.

That is one of the world's most profound secrets, the world's earliest writing system.

As the contract was completed, Locke sensed a peculiar world power descending upon this space, expressing joy and extending an invitation to him.

This joy quickly turned into extreme enthusiasm in a moment, as if yearning to immediately travel to the Emerald Dream.

The witch Catherine frowned. "Hmm? How can the power of the world be so active... The Emerald Dream's favor towards you is actually this great..."

Locke suddenly felt drowsy, and a ball of emerald-colored magical light appeared deep within his consciousness. "Teacher..."

The witch Catherine frowned, hugged Locke, and whispered, "Don't be nervous. This is the Emerald Dream inviting you to participate in the Emerald Trial. Usually, only special wizards are chosen for this. Ordinary botanical wizards and breeders would never encounter it."

"Wizards who pass the Emerald Trial will be able to borrow special power from the Emerald Dream Plane in the future. You can think of it as opening up special borrowing privileges."

The witch Catherine had intended to offer a few more words of advice, but found Locke already dozing off. "But why is it that my student... has garnered such favor from the Emerald Dream Plane?!"

The witch Catherine frowned, gazing at Locke's forehead, lost in thought. "He must possess something that intensely attracts the Emerald Dream Plane."

　The author had something to do today, so I can only update 11,000 words. I was originally supposed to update 15,000 words normally, but I found a problem with the outline halfway through writing it, so I had to rewrite a chapter and it was too late.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)