Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 601 The Power of the Peach Bow and Thorn Arrow! Six Consecutive Wins!

Ten peach-shaped white clouds appeared in the sky.

These are the ten arenas of the Spell Fighting Tournament. For the first three days of the tournament, all ten arenas will operate simultaneously in this vast Cloud Arena, and will collapse after three days.

By the time of the finals, only one of the ten arenas will remain.

By then, many matches had already begun.

When Locke heard the referee standing on the cloud whale announce his turn to go on stage, he summoned the Great Blue Leaf Dragon Sparrow and flew onto the competition stage.

Another contestant also flew up on a large bird.

A first-ring crystallized wizard referee looked at both contestants and quickly announced, "The spell-fighting tournament has officially begun. Each victory will accumulate 1 point. Losing will deduct 3 points. Once all points are deducted, you will be forced to withdraw from the competition!"

"In this competition, the player with the highest total score will become the champion."

"Permanent defensive force fields may not be used during the spell fighting tournament."

"The ceremony begins. Locke Augustine, wizard of the Golden Crown Mountain True Knowledge Institute, against Pedro Bennett, wizard of the Willow Green Gallery."

The Pedro Bennett before me was a wizard dressed in a greyish-blue robe, ornately decorated with many landscape paintings.

Pedro Bennett gave Locke a respectful fighting salute. “Mr. Augustine, thank you for giving me the opportunity to experience the gap between myself and Mount Golden Crown.”

“This is very important for wizards in small wizarding organizations like ours.” Pedro Bennett’s face showed a hint of bitterness. “I know that a wizard like me would never be able to compete against you in an event other than this.”

Ink began to appear on the body of the bird he was standing on; it turned out he was a magic painter.

The magical bird that helped him fly up earlier was just a drawing he made, which is why Locke and the other wizards didn't recognize it as a magical creature.

Locke nodded slightly to him.

The opponent's magic pressure was only 9000, which meant he was a wizard who had just reached the first stage of crystallization. Judging from his soul aura, he was probably over a hundred years old.

But to be honest, this level of magical pressure is far beyond what I can currently achieve.

Locke began to release his own magical pressure, which transformed into dragon's might and completely suppressed the opponent in an instant.

The magical bird beneath Pedro Bennett's feet suddenly exploded, turning into colorful paint.

Pedro Bennett's expression changed slightly. "So strong."

"Is this the power of a wizard from Mount Golden Crown? Just the use of magical pressure alone is enough to immobilize me..."

A magical light flashed from the ring on his left hand, restoring his ability to move freely. At the same time, he took out five tiger-themed magical paintings from the ring on his right hand.

Five lifelike tiger-like magical creatures emerged from the magic painting, baring their teeth and claws like wild beasts, their massive bodies pouncing fiercely towards Locke.

But the next moment, Locke unleashed his dragon might once more, and the five tigers let out a mournful howl before exploding again, scattering large amounts of paint across the ground.

Pedro Bennett was pale, clearly suffering a severe magical backlash from Locke's destruction of six consecutive magical paintings.

Pedro Bennett placed his palm on the ring, and instantly the paint splattered on the ground combined to form a giant tiger. The tiger raised its front paws and slapped at Locke.

Locke looked at the arena floor and noticed that, at the moment the six magical paintings were detonated by his dragon's might, the wizard Pedro Bennett guided the splashed paint to temporarily create a new magical painting on the ground in the form of ink splashes.

That's a really clever tactic.

As an illusion magic, it is almost indistinguishable from reality.

It can be described as a real illusion. No wonder he is a wizard from Yunze Wetland. Even a wizard from a small wizarding organization can use such powerful magic.

No wonder they were so confident to sign up for the magic combat tournament.

Just as the enormous tiger's claws were about to touch Locke's head, they suddenly stopped.

Seeing this, Wizard Pedro Bennett was stunned for a moment, then muttered to himself, "How is this possible? Judging from the six exchanges just now, my magic painting clearly succeeded in casting illusions on you. Even if you possess dragon's might... but the wizards of Golden Crown Mountain possess dragon's might, which I expected. That's why I needed the previous six illusions to gradually strengthen you and make you enter my illusion."

"Why...you never entered my illusion?"

Locke snapped his fingers, and the enormous tiger before him suddenly disintegrated, turning into a pool of paint. "The magic of the Illusion School is very special. Once a wizard is truly affected by its illusions, regardless of their level, they will be at a relative disadvantage. But if they are not affected in the first place, then you will be the one at a complete disadvantage."

“Pedro Bennett… Your idea of ​​gradually hypnotizing me is indeed ingenious, but in this kind of competition, it’s unrealistic to try to hypnotize other wizards. You speed painters are naturally at a disadvantage in this situation.”

"Moreover, the difference in magical pressure between you and me is enormous."

Locke had a naturally appearing demonic eye on his forehead, the eye of a three-eyed tiger cat, which possessed the power of insight.

It was this innate magical eye that allowed it to see through the opponent's magical painting.

Pedro Bennett gave a wry smile. "So that's how it is. My Five Tigers Technique actually lost right from the start."

“You didn’t even really go all out.” Pedro Bennett’s face showed a mixture of despair and awe. “Is this the absolute difference between our junior wizarding organization and your Golden Crown Mountain?”

"The difference is just too big."

Locke glanced at him. "No need to belittle yourself. I come from the southeastern corner of the region..."

“There, you were already far more powerful than other wizards of the same level.”

Ultimately, the biggest problem with this wizard from the Willow Green Gallery's junior wizarding organization compared to himself is that his stats are too weak.

The magic pressure is too low.

Without a control panel, no amount of fancy tricks will make a difference.

If his magical pressure reaches around 9600, he might actually have some chance to hypnotize himself.

Of course, all those eye-demon potions I took weren't for nothing.

My mental sensitivity is already extremely high.

Ordinary illusions are unlikely to fool oneself.

If he were to fight against a wizard in the first crystallization stage of the Southeastern Region that he remembered, such as the female leader of the Ghostly Holy Cult or the Blood Lord of the Blood Curse Court, he would likely be very strong and could beat them to the point of questioning their existence.

After all, once you are fooled by the magician's illusions, you will be at a complete disadvantage.

Pedro Bennett was stunned for a moment, and said in disbelief, "Southeast Corner Region? Isn't that a lower-level wizarding region? Impossible, absolutely impossible. You are such a powerful wizard, how could you possibly come from that lower-level wizarding region?"

"This is impossible!"

Locke glanced at him. "Nothing is impossible. Nothing is impossible before a wizard."

He summoned two luxury magical plants, one being the Golden Palace Remnant and the other the Small Vajra Jujube Hanging. His magical pressure increased, and then it was as if he had encountered a barrier. Even so, he continued to raise his magical pressure, constantly impacting this barrier.

Within the Cloud Arena, nearby wizards were drawn in by the powerful magical pressure.

Locke grasped the Golden Palace Relic Branch in his left hand, which automatically deformed and shrank into a jujube tree bow. At the same time, he picked a fast-growing branch from the small golden jujube tree with his right hand.

Then, Locke drew his bow and shot an arrow at the wizard Pedro Bennett. The powerful magical pressure transformed into a blazing golden sun, and in an instant, the arena was enveloped in a golden sun.

However, no matter how Pedro Bennett activated the magical artifacts on his body, this arrow was useless. He even felt that activating his permanent defensive field would be utterly ineffective.

The next moment, Pedro Bennett was teleported out of the ring and collapsed to the ground, panting heavily.

Pedro Bennett, the wizard, looked at Locke as he stepped off the arena with a wry smile. "The gap is just too big."

"However, he's right. It's alright to be in a low position for a while, but we can't give up trying. Since this Mr. Augustine can come all the way from the southeastern region to Mount Jinmian in Yunze Wetland, then I can also strive to reach a higher level!"

On the other side, Locke noticed that many people were looking at him.

He had no intention of hiding his strength, especially since the Peach Bow Thorn Arrow was originally an ancient ritual magic of the Cloud Marsh Wetlands.

Locke planned that in this competition, no matter what kind of opponent he encountered, he would draw his bow once, and if the opponent could withstand it, he would draw it again.

Until a wizard breaks his Peach Arrow Thorn Arrow, he has no need to change his spell.

In the magical combat tournament, since the use of permanent defensive force fields is prohibited, the damage of the Peach Arc Thorn Arrow can easily knock a wizard in the first crystallization stage out of the arena with a single blow.

Beside the arena, Mason Witch and her two companions were already waiting.

Mason Witch clapped her hands and said, "Locke, that's amazing. I never expected you to have learned the Peach Blossom Arrow. Even among wizards at the first crystallization stage, not many know this spell because it's quite difficult."

“My teacher, Ekaterina, wanted to arrange for me to study, but I studied for a long time and still couldn’t learn it.”

Locke paused for a moment, then realized that if there were too many distracting thoughts, learning the Peach Bow and Thorn Arrow technique would indeed be very troublesome.

Therefore, not every wizard can learn it.

However, if that's the case, then the current Mason Witch isn't even suited to learning advanced meditation techniques.

Freya the witch gave Locke a thumbs up. "Team leader, you're really great."

Locke looked at the three of them with a puzzled expression. "Didn't any of you register for the competition?"

Freya the witch shook her head. "Of course not. We've been busy with experiments. If we signed up for a competition, we'd have to spend extra time preparing. If we spent all that time preparing and still didn't get any ranking in the competition, that would be an even bigger waste of time."

Wizard Barrett scratched his head and added, "In short, none of us are very confident."

Locke nodded, indicating that he understood.

The four of them returned to their seats. Many of Locke's colleagues from the True Knowledge Institute congratulated him, saying that they had never imagined that Locke was so strong, and that he had even learned the Peach Bow Thorn Arrow magic.

Locke exchanged a few polite words with them. Within the Institute of True Knowledge, his closest relationships were with Mason Witch and others; he had only exchanged a few words with the others and met them a few times.

but……

Locke frowned when he didn't find Daniel, wondering how he was doing. As his neighbor and the first friend he made on Golden Crown Mountain, he hoped Daniel could pull himself together.

On his way to his seat in the corridor, Locke saw Griffin, a fellow member of the Advanced Institute of Truth. He paused for a moment, but before he could greet him, Griffin scoffed and turned away.

Locke frowned at this, but said nothing.

Because another old acquaintance of his, the witch Diana, came over. "Locke, you've grown again. Your magical pressure is even stronger than it was half a year ago when we fought."

"My magic pressure is only 9600, but yours can reach 9999."

The witch Diana looked puzzled, as if she were trying to find out why Locke's magic pressure was increasing so quickly.

Diana the Witch shook her head slightly. "Never mind, I won't ask anymore. It's nothing more than a lucky encounter, hard work, and talent."

"If I were to participate in this competition now, I probably wouldn't be a match for you."

Diana the Witch was very self-aware.

She paid close attention to Locke, so she watched Locke's first match in the magic combat tournament very carefully.

To be honest, Locke's previous performance was one thing, and although his magic pressure of 9999 was high, it didn't make her give up on competing with Locke.

But Diana realized from Locke's last arrow that Locke's Peach Blossom Thorn Arrow magic had far surpassed the instantaneous output capability of all her current normal magic.

This should have been her biggest advantage when fighting Locke.

But unexpectedly, a few months later, Locke had grown to the point where he surpassed her in her area of ​​expertise.

For the first time, the witch Diana experienced what defeat truly meant.

She rarely loses.

But at this moment, she had a strange feeling that she couldn't keep up with Locke's growth rate.

Locke looked at the witch Diana strangely and asked, "Didn't you sign up for any competition, Diana?"

Diana the Witch shook her head. "I was merely co-trained; I don't truly belong to your Institute of True Knowledge."

"Being able to watch the game is already a great achievement; I definitely can't participate."

Mason Witch and the others greeted Diana Witch.

But the Witch Diana merely nodded at them indifferently and with great distance.

Diana the witch continued enthusiastically to Locke, "I'm watching the competition. The magical combat tournament is closely related to extreme magic."

Locke looked at her in surprise. "Oh? I'm not really sure about that."

The witch Diana smiled. "According to the information I've gathered, the focus of the spell fighting tournament is on the first-ring crystallization stage. The higher-ring competitions that follow were added later to promote commercialization as the tournament grew in scale."

"The core of this competition is to help wizards understand various offensive spells. The creator of this competition is a wizard from the Starfield Sea. He noticed that many first-ring wizards are very keen on studying defensive spells."

"He neglected the study of offensive magic. As a result, he held the first spell fighting tournament at his university. Who knew that this tournament would become so popular later."

Wizards from all over flocked to his magical combat tournament.

"However, there are indeed objective reasons related to fire. Great magic must be based on offensive magic. And because of the permanent defensive field, many first-ring wizards do not focus on understanding offensive magic."

"So, they were just watching the magic combat competition between the first and second rings from the sidelines, which can be considered a form of learning."

Locke nodded slightly.

After Diana said that, I wholeheartedly agreed with her.

I just witnessed the Five Tigers Technique of that magic painter.

No wonder the Spellfighting Tournament forbids wizards from using permanent defensive fields.

It turns out that this was to make the contestants focus more on various attack spells.

Without the permanent defensive force field, the combat logic between first-ring wizards completely changes.

More powerful attacks are more important than more powerful defensive magic; no defensive magic can protect a wizard like an everlasting tortoise shell.

Therefore, the participants in the magic combat tournament will inevitably pursue more and more powerful offensive magic.

This competition does have a strong basis in reality; it complements the ecological niche of the wizarding world.

Locke brushed past a witch, then suddenly looked at her, who was dressed in a black wizard's robe and holding a wizard's sword.

At the same time, the witch Sera glanced at Locke, her eyes sharpening instinctively. She then noticed the badge on Locke's body, gave him a friendly look, and then brushed past him.

Sera the Witch licked her lips. "That... wizard... um... I almost thought he was a dark wizard."

"Only a dark wizard can legally kill him. However, he is indeed a dangerous character."

"He has murders on his hands!"

Meanwhile, Locke's actions on the field, which triggered the Peach Blossom Thorn Arrow, also attracted the attention of many wizards participating in the magic combat tournament.

Nelson, the wizard who had just stepped off the arena, scratched his bald head. "Peach Blossom Arrow? I can't believe someone still plays with such an old spell. But his magical pressure is very strong. It seems he'll be one of my opponents in this match."

Julian, the witch of the patrol team, was followed by a thundercloud, which swiftly defeated a breeder.

She gave the defeated breeder a dueling salute before stepping off the arena. "Peach Blossom Arrow? Without unwavering conviction and absolute confidence, most wizards wouldn't choose to learn this magic. He's a formidable opponent, just like those two third-generation ones."

"As expected of a magic combat tournament! There are so many formidable opponents."

Meanwhile, in the No. 1 arena, Antoine Fisher clapped his hands, and in an instant, he blasted his opponent down with more than a dozen magical weapons.

"Peach Blossom Arrow? Pshaw, what era are we living in? People still use such outdated magic. What a piece of trash."

"When will we run into those two third-generation fighters? Let's finish this quickly and call it a day."

At the same time, all sorts of wizards were silently remembering who their enemies and opponents were, and constantly analyzing them.

Over the next day, Locke went into battle four more times, using the Peach Bow and Thorn Arrows four times, defeating his opponent in one blow with the Peach Bow and Jujube Arrows.

This is the last match of the day. Locke is facing a wizard mentor from a medium-sized wizarding organization of the Weather Tower, a weather master at the first crystallization stage, with a magic pressure of 9700 and an age of about three hundred years.

At this point, after both sides had performed the duel ceremony...

A look of eager anticipation appeared in the weatherman's eyes. "Everyone says that your Golden Crown Mountain is a prestigious school with a thousand-year history, while our Weather Tower is just a second-rate, or even third-rate, wizarding organization in Cloud Marsh Wetland."

"But I refuse to accept this. As a fellow first-ring wizard, let me experience the magic of a wizard from a prestigious thousand-year-old university!"

After he finished speaking, he summoned six thunderclouds behind him. The six thunderclouds floated behind him and formed six musical instruments similar to taiko drums. The six fireballs transformed into hammer drums and struck the six thunder drums behind him.

Instantly, the six Thunder Drums unleashed six bolts of lightning crackling with flames.

Locke frowned. He immediately recognized it as a mainstream magic spell used by the weathermen of Yunze Wetlands, which he had read about in a book before. However, it was very difficult to learn and extremely powerful—the Thunderfire Drum!
That is, Yan Lei!
Once hit, the electric current will instantly bring a massive amount of fire energy into a living organism's body, causing an explosion within a very short time.

Locke frowned, raised the peach bow transformed from the Golden Palace Remnant Branch in his hand, and gently drew a line on the ground. Instantly, a ray of sunlight fell, forming a simple barrier around him.

Instantly, the six arrows of blazing lightning were blocked by this barrier.

The weatherman looked surprised, clearly not expecting that his confident attack would be so easily blocked by Locke.

He clearly hadn't calculated the difference in magical pressure between Locke and him, nor had he calculated how high the conversion rate of Locke's magical pressure into actual spell damage was with the ancient yet entirely new spell, Peach Arch Thorn Arrow.

It wasn't until now, after fighting six times against the small and medium-sized wizard organizations in Yunze Wetland, that Locke realized just how powerful the education he had received there truly was.

A single Peach Blossom Arrow spell was a mountain blocking the way for these wizards!
The weatherman twirled his left thumb, and his magic ring flashed with magical light. Then, his figure vanished from the arena.

Locke watched him disappear. "Invisibility? Etherealization? Spatial teleportation? Hmm... it's spatial teleportation."

The next moment, the weatherman appeared behind Locke, and the Thunder and Fire Drum behind him released six arcs of electricity at Locke.

Locke looked at him coldly, raised the peach wood bow transformed from the Golden Palace Relic in his hand, and immediately the six bolts of lightning struck the peach wood bow.

But all of them were blocked by the barrier power that bound the peach wood bow.

Locke said, "A trivial skill."

He summoned Little Golden Jujube Hanging, and to the astonishment of the weatherman, he took a branch of a fast-growing tree, drew his bow and arrow, and shot it directly at the weatherman's face at close range.

'Boom~'

It was as if Locke had shot out a great sun.

The next moment, the weatherman was teleported out of the arena, and thanks to the magic protection, he was unharmed.

However, he was still immersed in the terrifying power of Locke's arrow. "This... even if I encountered other first-ring wizards from Mount Golden Crown, even if I were to lose, it would take a long time to fight them. They wouldn't be able to use the Permanent Defensive Field, so the gap between us wouldn't be that big."

"That wizard... is so powerful."

"It's almost as powerful as the last disciple of the Throne Wizard."

The weatherman shook his head slightly. "I see the gap between Jinmian Mountain and me. I'd better just stick to teaching honestly and diligently."

"That might still offer a glimmer of hope for becoming a second-ring wizard."

Of a hundred first-ring wizards, not even one may eventually become a second-ring wizard.

The difference between a second-ring wizard and a first-ring wizard is no longer a difference between major levels; it is the constraint of the limits of the race's soul!

(End of this chapter)