Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 548 Nightmare of Life [Isisdal]

Locke heard it: in the jungle of the Emerald Dream, birds and beasts were fleeing and scattering in flocks, as if there was a terrible thing in the distance.

Before he could react, he saw a living tree-man walking towards him from afar.

Locke was taken aback. He hadn't expected to encounter the Tree of Life here. But upon closer reflection, it wasn't surprising that the Emerald Dream, as the underworld of plants and one of the planes with the most concentrated natural forces, possessed a Tree of Life at the first level.

But the next moment, Grace looked at Locke and said, "Fly upwards, don't hesitate, don't think."

As she spoke, she shook the [Wind Chime Dandelion] in her hand, which jumped off the apple tree leaf and flew into the sky.

Although Locke did not understand the meaning, he immediately used the Plant Mimicry Technique: the green dragon took flight, and the immense mental dragon's might descended upon the surroundings.

At the same time, he looked down and saw that the sacred Tree of Life in the distance was projecting a spear of life, formed from branches of the tree's canopy, toward him and Grace.

The spear of life destroyed the canopy of the apple tree they were standing on, and at the same time summoned a spiritual spring. However, the spiritual spring was not a life-nourishing spring, but a special kind of spiritual spring water that was completely black and emitted a foul stench.

Locke stared in astonishment at the pool of black spiritual water surrounding the Spear of Life beneath his feet, finding it hard to believe that this was magic released by the Ancient Tree of Life.

On the Yunze Cup, I saw Edgar's Tree of Life, which released the spring water of the Fountain of Life. That spring water could restore the life force of living beings at all times, making it a divine artifact.

The filthy pool before us is the opposite.

Locke and Grace developed skin rashes simply by flying above it; the edges of Locke's large green-leaved dragon sparrow's banana leaves began to curl inwards, and the roots of Grace's wind chime dandelion began to wither and turn yellow.

"Such powerful malevolence." Locke's expression changed slightly as he sensed the power beneath his feet. It was very similar to natural forces, yet completely different, which made his life magic extremely susceptible to contamination.

He looked up into the distance and saw that the enormous ancient tree of life, upon discovering their target, had risen from the ground at a speed impossible for a tree being and was rushing towards them at breakneck speed.

Like a thirsty person trapped in the desert, who, upon discovering a water source, rushes frantically towards it.

At the same time, the appearance of the ancient tree of life changed. It transformed from a beautiful, powerful, sacred and perfect ancient tree of life into an ugly, mutated tree-man with ugly, short, and thick roots, all of which looked like deformed roots, and withered and yellow branches.

However, one can still vaguely see from its outline that it was once the appearance of an ancient tree of life.

A terrifying force has twisted the original life-giving ancient tree.

Locke immediately used the wizard's [Spiritual Vision] and discovered that the ancient tree of life was still formed from the essence of plants, and was not a true magical plant.

Therefore, there is no common weakness of tree people being slow.

It is not the Tree of Life at all, or it may have been the Tree of Life, but it is not now.

"They destroyed me, they destroyed me for their own sake, they ignored my pleas and destroyed me." Suddenly, a red eye grew out of the trunk of the strange being transformed from the ancient tree of life, and then one eye after another emerged from its trunk.

Like a beautiful dream turning into a nightmare.

The eerie entity uttered a strange tone. "In the end, they destroyed themselves too. Hahahaha~"

"This land deserves to be destroyed. Nightmares will destroy all that is beautiful."

The nightmare that the ancient tree of life transformed from was no longer surrounded by the spring of life, but by turbid and foul-smelling black water. This black water, with its strong acid properties, caused the soil to harden and crack when it touched the ground, and plants to turn yellow, wither, turn black, and develop mold.

The originally benevolent magical creatures in the Emerald Dreamland, upon touching the black water, find that the black sewage transforms into tiny black worms that burrow into the magical creatures' pores, plunging them into an abnormal state of frenzy.

The once gentle Purple Demon Leopard King suddenly turned black in the eyes, then revealed its crazed claws and fangs, staring at Locke and the witch Grace.

Locke realized that the strange creature, whose predecessor was the Tree of Life, was, at present, nothing more than a nightmare.

However, this was his first encounter with Nightmare, and he only felt that Nightmare possessed a terrifying evil nature.

Moreover, his own life magic was corrupted by the evil nature of the creature as soon as he got close.

Locke maneuvered the Great Azure Leaf Dragon Sparrow to dodge the Purple Demon Leopard King that pounced on him. The leopard king transformed into streaks of purple afterimages in mid-air, moving through the air like a sharp blade.

The Purple Demon Leopard King possesses a spell-like ability from the Power School, which is the innate spell ability of magical creatures. It can transform into a Power Blade similar to that of the Power School in mid-air, moving rapidly through the air and attacking enemies.

Possessing speed, strength, and attack power, but with relatively weak defense compared to others of the same level, it has always been a highly efficient killer in nature.

But at this moment, it encountered not Locke in the outside world, but Locke in the Emerald Dream, a natural avatar empowered by the power of the Emerald Dream and possessing infinite magical power.

Locke raised his hand and unleashed a killing move, transforming a stream of Myster power into a giant axe that annihilated the magical creature controlled by the power of nightmares.

Locke saw the nightmare of life rushing towards him, "Doomsday, when will you arrive! That is the end of all life!"

Black sewage streams rushed toward him as Locke removed the Angel's Tear bracelet that Catherine the Witch had given him.

It's best to remove this during combat.

Although my super intuition hasn't truly awakened yet, what if it suddenly comes in handy during battle, and I'm shielded from it because I'm carrying a second-ring magic artifact?

At this moment, Locke used the power of Mister to block the black sewage cannon fired by the opponent.

To his surprise, he discovered that the sewage that the Nightmare of Life was launching at him could assimilate the power of Mist. Although the speed was slower than that of normal natural forces, it was still happening.

Locke quickly retreated.

At the same time, when Grace saw Locke actually use his Permanent Defense Field to withstand the Ring Element Particle Sewage from the Nightmare of Life, her pupils suddenly shrank. "How is this possible?"

"That's Nightmare's Ring Element Heavy Particle Sewage. Can a wizard's permanent defensive field really stop it?"

Grace the witch looked at Locke with suspicion and uncertainty.

She hadn't expected that someone would be so formidable, actually using their own permanent defensive force field to withstand the Nightmare's heavy particle sewage of the Ring Element.

Are all the wizards in the Land of Three Swamps so excellent?

The witch Grace said to Locke, "Locke, this is the Conscription Battlefield. In the Conscription Battlefield, there are special beings that are at the same level but cannot be easily dealt with. For example, this Life Nightmare, which is transformed from the Ancient Tree of Life, possesses power that is difficult for ordinary botanical wizards at the first level to deal with."

"We, the Hand of the Jungle, have a contract with the Emerald Dream. We will enter the draft battlefield and deal with the problems that ordinary botanical wizards of the same level cannot solve."

"We, the Hand of the Jungle, will be the cleaners of the Emerald Dream."

"In order to obtain the special privileges granted by the Emerald Dream to the wizards of our collective Hand of the Jungle."

"That's why I need to represent the Hand of the Jungle and enter the conscription battlefield to fulfill my contract. What's your situation?"

Locke then distanced himself from the Nightmare of Life, which turned to attack the Witch Grace.

The witch Grace used a magical plant and a botanical spell model that Locke had never seen before. A potato shield appeared on her left side, and the potato quickly grew to be as tall as a person, blocking the Nightmare of Life's attack.

The next moment, the potato exploded.

From where the branch of the Nightmare of Life broke, a large amount of dark blue-green viscous liquid, resembling blood, sprayed out. The liquid clung to the potato, causing it to wither and shrink instantly. Grace the witch's expression changed slightly, and fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.

She seemed to be in great pain. Even without contact with the dark blue blood of the Nightmare of Life, she still suffered tremendous damage, and her permanent defensive field could not withstand this power.

The Nightmare of Life burst into laughter. "Our time is coming to an end."

"We destroyed ourselves!"

The next moment, Nightmare of Life was about to continue its attack, but Locke timely transformed the power of Mister into an axe and chopped it down.

The natural force field slashed into its branches and trunk, and the life force field, harvest force field, and withering force continuously transformed to fight against the strange physical force within the Nightmare of Life. The seasons changed, the force field continued, and it became a cycle. Then, the Nightmare of Life's branches snapped with a 'crack'.

A large portion of its branches simply fell off, and a large amount of dark blue-green viscous liquid dripped from its branches.

The nightmare of life made him writhe on the ground in agony. "It hurts, it hurts!"

Locke gave him a cold look. "I've had enough of your nonsense."

"Could you please shut up?"

Locke looked at the witch Grace and said, "I was summoned here by the world will of the Emerald Dream."

"However, if you have any information about Nightmare, could you share it with me? If the Emerald Dream summoned me here to kill Nightmare, then the more information I have, the better."

Grace the Witch seized the opportunity, using the Wind Chime Dandelion to shake it six times in succession, thus creating distance between herself and the Nightmare of Life.

She looked at Locke and said, "I see. You are indeed special, possessing the power to resist the erosion of heavy particles from the element of celestial metal. Although the heavy particles are still eroding your power, the erosion is very slow, and your permanent defensive field exhibits the characteristic of purifying these special heavy particles in turn." "No wonder the world's will of the Emerald Dream wanted to summon you in."

“But…” Grace the Witch hesitated, “These are top secrets of the Jungle Hand, and in principle, they shouldn’t be shared with non-Jungle Hand members. How about you join the Jungle Hand and become a member, and I’ll share the information with you immediately?”

Locke was speechless. Both the witch Grace and the Salvadoran wizard in front of him were trying to pull him into the jungle.

Locke thought for a moment and tentatively said, "I need the Nightmare's data because I want to eliminate Nightmares. Even if I'm not a member of the Hand of the Jungle, it shouldn't affect my ability to actively eliminate Nightmare contamination, right?"

Grace the witch paused for a moment, then her eyes blazed with fervor. “You’re right, protecting the environment is the responsibility of all wizards. Compared to your awareness, I was indeed too selfish just now, I shouldn’t have thought of keeping this environmental protection information for myself. I will go back and apologize to our Third Ring Mentor, and write a self-criticism!”

"I will tell you everything about nightmares now."

“We just need to isolate ourselves from the Nightmare of Life for now; it’s more terrifying than I thought.” The witch Grace coughed weakly. “I came here to kill it, but during our exchange just now, I sensed the [Beast Soul Avatar]. I can’t defeat it.”

"In fact, its name is [Isisdal], and it has already killed five members of the Jungle Hand who came to clean it up. If I fail again this time, the next one that comes will likely be a second-circle wizard!"

Locke hadn't expected that he had only intended to test the waters and was prepared to find another way to make a deal with the witch Grace if he failed.

Who knew that a casual remark I made would actually work?

In a way, the wizards of the Hand of the Jungle can be considered to have put their beliefs into practice.

At that time, the nightmare of life had risen from the ground, it seemed to have become very angry, and the land and plants around it had become a wasteland.

This desolate power, in turn, nourished it, allowing the part that Locke had just cut off to quickly repair itself.

The nightmare of life, Isisdal, rose from the ground, its branches twisting like veins. Suddenly, it used the palms formed by its branches to dig open its own trunk and unearth a beating heart.

That's an animal's heart.

But it wasn't a normal-colored heart; it was a dark bluish-black.

Upon seeing the heart, the witch Grace closed her eyes in despair. "Damn it! What have the wizards of the Prime Material Plane done? They've turned the once kind and beautiful Tree of Life into what it is now."

Locke frowned, trying to guess what the so-called nightmare was from Grace the witch's words.

At the same time, the Nightmare of Life roared, "I feel it! I remember you all! This power... I come from the same world as you. I am the spirit of the dead plants from the Great World of Truth!"

"In the endless void, the nightmares that your plants from the Great World of Truth transform into when they die are the most powerful type."

"Hahahaha... I finally remembered."

The Nightmare of Life dropped the heart on the ground, and instantly the ground was corroded into a pool of dark blue wastewater. Then the heart was pierced, and a strange and ugly sapling sprouted from it.

Locke had a bad feeling. "If Edgar saw this, he would be very angry. Hopefully, even if he made a contract with the Emerald Dream, he won't be summoned into the conscription area."

Suddenly, a new tree-man rapidly grew from that heart; it was a war tree-man.

The magnificent image of the War Treant lasted for less than 5 seconds. With a roar from the War Treant, it was as if a beautiful dream had turned into a nightmare. The War Treant's beautiful image changed into a short and ugly little stump, very low, with only thick branches.

The war tree has become a nightmare of war.

Locke was speechless. "I knew it."

He picked up the sea gold sand, summoned countless plant spirits to gather together, amplified the shimmering sea gold sand, and at the same time used the botanical spell model [Gold Sand Waterfall].

The wizards' battles are battles of information.

Now that he has access to information about Nightmare, Locke has no intention of fighting Nightmare of Life head-on in advance. After all, the other party's special power is indeed strange, and he doesn't dare to be reckless without understanding its details.

With the blessing of plant spirits and the amplification of the golden sand of the Tree Fern Sea, in an instant, the sky full of golden sand covered Locke, Grace and the two nightmares.

The nightmare of life sneered. "You can't escape."

The canopy of the War Nightmare tree emitted billowing blackish-green smoke, which was extremely pungent and contained a strong acid that corroded anything it touched.

At the same time, the War Nightmare expands its battlefield domain, attempting to lock onto Locke's hostility and pull him into the battlefield domain, preventing him from escaping through illusions.

Just half a minute later, the large eye on the War Nightmare Tree showed a look of doubt, because it had failed.

Meanwhile, Locke summoned the ferryman of the underworld from within the Golden Sands Fall, and after paying two underworld coins, he took the witch Grace into the illusory state of the spirit world and left.

Archaeologists possess a unique escape technique—summoning a ferryman from the underworld. Once in a phantom state, they gain resistance to most magic and enter a semi-invisible state, allowing them to quickly retreat from a storm of golden sand.

When the golden sand waterfall stopped, the two nightmares, seeing the wizards who had vanished without a trace, were enraged.

The Nightmare of Life whispered, "The desire for revenge will never cease."

"Wizards, I will find you."

“I will kill you, kill all of you. I am the enemy of life, I am the nightmare of life.”

As the power of nightmares corrupted the surrounding flora and fauna, the Emerald Dream, which was originally a paradise, instantly turned into hell.

Moreover, as the pollution spread, the once sunny and bright Emerald Dreamland became dark and terrifying.

Lightning flashed across the sky.

Inside the hollow trunk of a giant baobab tree, Locke deactivated the summoning of the ferryman of the underworld, sent him away, and looked at the witch Grace, saying earnestly, "Witch Grace, now you can tell me what a nightmare really is, right? My current understanding is that a nightmare is the spirit of a plant that died for some special reason, and it comes to this place of death of the plant, forming a power because of some special resentment."

The witch Grace nodded and said, "Your understanding is correct; you have spoken the essence of the nightmare."

"Moreover, nightmares are special within the Emerald Dream. The Emerald Dream has no ability to eliminate nightmares on its own. Therefore, nightmares can grow rapidly within the Emerald Dream, and some special nightmares, especially those with extremely high innate racial soul levels, can rapidly gain power and increase their level at the same time."

Locke immediately realized the key point.

The Tree of Life can only reach the second-level high stage when it matures, and it may even reach the third-level stage after maturity.

That means that if Nightmare of Life is allowed to move freely in the Emerald Dream, it is very likely that it will become a second-ring level existence in a short period of time.

No wonder the Emerald Dream needs to establish a recruitment battlefield.

It's no wonder that the Emerald Dream needed to establish a partnership with the wizards of the Hand of the Jungle, inviting them to become the cleaners of the place and granting them special privileges.

Locke asked, "Then, what is the source of those nightmares...?"

The witch Grace nodded, confirming Locke's guess. "As you guessed, the predecessors of those nightmares were plants that died due to severe pollution caused by the development of various civilizations in the various worlds of the endless void."

"Those plants endured ways of dying that did not exist in nature, thus accumulating immense rage. If they were just ordinary grasses in life, that would be one thing. But some of them were demonic plants that had accumulated a large amount of plant essence. These demonic plants that died due to environmental pollution have a certain probability of turning into nightmares in the Emerald Dream."

“Nightmares are born with absolute pessimism.” The witch Grace shook her head, revealing a look of pity. “Nightmares have suffered the damage caused by development, so they mistakenly believe that development will inevitably bring harm, and that development is the instinct of civilization and life. Therefore, they mistakenly believe that the future of all civilizations is destruction.”

Grace the Witch said, "The nightmare is misled by its own tragedy."

"One of the core tenets of our Jungle Hands is that we believe environmental protection and the development of civilization can coexist and complement each other, rather than be in opposition to one another."

"That's why I said that if your Three Swamps Lands accept the theoretical guidance of our Hand of the Jungle, you will definitely be able to triple the output of your magical heavy industry within five years, quintuple it within ten years, and tenfold it within thirty years!"

Locke coughed awkwardly. "Who told you that?"

Grace the Witch said proudly, "That's what my third-circle mentor in the Hand of the Jungle said."

Locke nodded, then quickly changed the subject. "So those two nightmares were the reincarnations of the demonic plant spirits killed by environmental pollution in the Emerald Dream?"

"But what about the evil power within them?"

The witch Grace said, "That's exactly what I wanted to ask you. How can your permanent defensive field directly withstand the heavy particle sewage from the Ring Element?"

"Those are heavy elements that only exist in the early days of the world, under high temperature and high pressure environments."

"Moreover, nightmares are already vicious enough. But the life nightmare you just saw is probably even more vicious. According to our Jungle Hand's investigation, the life nightmare Isisdal was formed during the Blue Rice Plague event in the Spiral Basin."

"That was the major, heinous incident that resulted in the deaths and maiming of over five thousand wizard apprentices of various levels due to illegal dumping by the magic heavy industry!"

"Countless mortals died or were injured. Only after that incident was the Hand of the Jungle able to forcefully enter that wizarding land."

(End of this chapter)