Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 628 The Final Four! Four School Teams!
In the courtyard of the Glass Garden Castle within the Senate, Antoine said to his grandfather, the wizard Fisher, "Grandpa, I want to go to the [Fighting Purgatory] which the Senate is in charge of."

"There are still six months until the Dimensional Conquest Tournament. Going to the Fighting Purgatory should be enough to raise my strength to the state most suitable for participating in that competition."

Wizard Fischer paused for a moment. “Antoine, you’re willing too? You are my grandfather’s most beloved grandson. Of all my hundreds of grandsons, I only love you.”

"This world was created for you. Even if the headmaster intervenes, I will not let you participate in the Plane Conquest Tournament and become Locke Augustine's foil, as long as you are willing."

Wizard Fisher said calmly, “I’ve recently sent people to investigate that wizard’s past. I just can’t believe that he was a wizard who grew up normally. His teachers, his classmates, everything from his past will be investigated and we will find out. None of his secrets can be hidden.”

"Don't worry, Grandpa will stand up for you."

Antoine glanced at Wizard Fisher but did not stop him. He was merely a reincarnation of a third-ring wizard, not the third-ring wizard he was now.

Therefore, one cannot defy the will of this third-ring wizard.

The crown magic of a third-ring wizard possesses the property of resisting the erosion of time; it will not be completely erased even after ten reincarnations.

Although the crown magic has been weathered and is now dilapidated, once a third-ring wizard, always a third-ring wizard.

Perhaps he will have to go through ten more reincarnations before he completely loses the special spirituality that the crown magic gave him.

Within a relatively short timescale (a millennium), the spirituality of the crown magic will never be completely extinguished, but will only decline to its limit.

There are only a few ways to completely kill a third-ring wizard.

He was very lucky; in his previous life, he did not encounter an enemy who was determined to make him disappear completely.

Therefore, there are only three conventional approaches to completely eliminate Third Ring Wizards.

First, continuously kill his reincarnations, more than ten times, and each time prevent them from growing to the second ring stage, because once they become second ring, they can replenish some of the spirituality missing from the crown magic, especially when they reach the sun ring, they can almost completely replenish what the crown magic lacks.

At least there is no loss in that lifetime. Even if you die again in that lifetime, there is no special spiritual loss and the number of deaths needs to be recalculated.

Moreover, if he were to become a third-ring wizard in this lifetime, he would have to start all over again.

The second method is to kill the third-ring wizard in one go using several special methods. Of course, most of those special methods have been hidden, and those that haven't been hidden are things that are very difficult to obtain.

The third and simplest method is to pretend you don't know anything about it.

In ordinary cases, killing a third-ring wizard would be the end of the feud; the third-ring wizard could simply change his name and be considered dead.

After all, having been reincarnated and reborn, he has no memories of the past and must acquire them later. He only retains the special spirituality of the crown magic from his previous life.

Therefore, many wizards generally choose the third method.

Unless there is some deep-seated hatred between them, they must kill each other.

Antoine looked at Wizard Fisher and said, "Grandpa, if you want to investigate [Loki], then so be it. But I still want to participate in the Plane Conquest Tournament."

After a moment's thought, Wizard Fisher realized that it was Antoine who had given Loki a nickname. Loki was a transliteration of Common Tongue into the pronunciation of an ancient magical language that Antoine often used.

It's also a homophone, probably meaning that the other person is a very clever wizard.

Wizard Fisher glanced at Antoine. “It’s rare to see you like a wizard so much, especially… the wizard who just took the championship from you while you were feeling unwell.”

“Antoine… since you didn’t qualify for the Plane Conquest Tournament, if you participate, you’ll only be a foil for others. You’ll expose your trump cards and your secrets, but you won’t gain anything. This doesn’t align with our long-standing philosophy of life…”

"Hide your talents!"

Antoine looked at Wizard Fisher and said, “Grandpa, but I was very happy in my battle with Loki this time. The pressure of losing was extremely painful, but also very novel. The long-awaited competition made me bring out my limits.”

“I want to feel the competition again. Maybe I don’t need to hold back. This world is very, very big. Even if I am the reincarnation of a third-ring wizard, if I were to start over and pursue a teaching career again, I might not be a match for those kids.”

Antoine became serious. "Therefore, I want to change my mindset, truly start from scratch, and see myself as a new person."

“I hope to gain your approval, Grandpa.”

A cold glint flashed in the wizard Fisher's eyes. For a moment, he was genuinely angry that Antoine had dared to defy him.

Wizard Fisher is a third-circle wizard and holds an important position in the Senate, controlling a large amount of research resources and administrative power. Not to mention a mere second-circle wizard, even a sun-circle wizard would be inferior to him.

But then Wizard Fisher seemed to realize something and uttered a few words. "If this is Antoine's wish, then do it. Grandpa supports you. Just be careful; you are Grandpa's most beloved grandson."

“If you are at risk of death, I will not send you to the Fighting Purgatory.”

Antoine bowed to him, then walked toward an underground staircase entrance in the Glass Garden that was hidden by a magical barrier.

That's right, the entrance to the artificial supernatural purgatory, a special prison created using ancient special technology, is located in the garden of the Senate's Glass Garden Academy.

Fighting Purgatory is a region that imprisons countless criminals and many evil magical creatures, where battles take place every moment.

Some of the sages in the Senate, in order to quickly break through their limits, or to find better fighting techniques, to study fighting directions, or simply because they had been without research ideas for a long time, would enter the Fighting Purgatory in the hope that they could gain insights from other areas.

But that place can also be very dangerous.

Antoine was an important asset to the Fisher family, so the wizard Fisher originally had no intention of sending him to the Fighting Purgatory.

It's important to know that there are wizards who have completely lost themselves in the fighting hell.

Of course, the Fighting Purgatory is relatively safe, after all, it is an important asset of the Senate, so it cannot really be considered dangerous.

However, Wizard Fisher previously thought it was unnecessary, and Antoine also believed that with his abilities, there was no need for him to go through the Fighting Purgatory again.

Antoine stepped onto the rotating staircase leading into the fighting inferno, his figure gradually disappearing into the terrifying supernatural hell below.

'Loki... you said that a wizard who plays the role of a dog for too long will forget how to be a wolf. Loki, then I'll try to feel like a wolf again.'

Wizard Fisher watched Antoine enter the Fighting Purgatory with a grim expression. A Moon Ring Wizard student beside him whispered, "Lord Fisher, I will find an opportunity to enter the Fighting Purgatory and persuade Antoine to abandon this dangerous practice."

"We will also try to persuade him to give up participating in the interdimensional conquest competition six months later."

The top three contestants from the True Knowledge Academy in the Spell Fighting Tournament will all enter the Plane Conquest Tournament together, with the second and third place winners serving as assistants to the first place winner.

This is a long-standing tradition of the silent Holy Grail.

However, one can refuse, and if refused, a subsequent researcher from the True Knowledge Institute will take their place.

In any case, there will never be a shortage of people to participate in a competition of this level.

Wizard Fisher raised his right hand and waved it away, saying, "No need. When have you ever seen Antoine so serious? He even went to the Fighting Purgatory to improve himself again. I haven't seen Antoine this serious in a long time. Perhaps he has a point; he does need competition."

“Locke Augustine, you’ve given my grandson more energy. I should thank you for awakening a beast that has been sleeping for so long…”

……

Quinnjoll University, where the university's sports festival also came to a successful conclusion.

Quinnjoll's total number of gold medals still far surpasses that of other wizarding colleges in the Quinnjoll region, representing the college's overall strength and overwhelming all other wizarding colleges in the Quinnjoll area.

However, the number of gold medals won by the second-place finisher, Little Hill, has gradually increased, from less than one-third of Quinnjoll's total in the past to less than two-thirds of Quinnjoll's total gold medals now.

The gap in the number of gold medals has caused many of the higher-ups at Quinjol Academy to ponder deeply and become more wary of Little Rest Mountain.

At this moment, on the awards stage of Quinjoll University, Wizard Edgar David stood on the podium, receiving the badge representing the champion, as well as the badge of the Silent Grail Plane Conquest Tournament.

Edgar glanced at the badge with four hands clasped together, a confident smile playing on his lips.

When it was his turn to give his acceptance speech, Edgar turned to the megaphone in the hands of the wizard hosting the ceremony and said, "You want to ask me how I became number one? Ask me about my experience? Want to learn from me? But I regret to tell you that the strong will always be strong, and being strong for one lifetime will make you strong for all eternity."

“The strong always get stronger. Before I entered Quinjol, I was the most talented genius on the Sunshadow Peninsula. In Quinjol, it took me half a year to finally become an excellent first-ring wizard.”

"I have only failed three times in my life, and I will not allow myself to fail a fourth time. Therefore, I have no experience of turning the weak into the strong, but I will tell you that my existence represents Quinnjoll's magical level!"

Edgar, a third-circle wizard standing nearby, greatly admired him and kept clapping.

It can only be said that Edgar, as the runner-up of the Cloud Cup, had the right to choose, and he was outstanding enough that he did not encounter a wizard whose personality clashed with his. Instead, he encountered a third-ring wizard who was relatively introverted and low-key.

Looking at Edgar David, who was shining brightly on the stage, the witch felt no aversion to his arrogance. Instead, she felt that this young first-ring wizard was very energetic and had a vibrant life force that she had never had in her youth.

Throughout the Golden Bridge competition venue, many wizards were discussing in hushed tones.

The wizards outside Quinjol whispered among themselves, "Is this the most powerful young wizard in Quinjol right now?"

"I heard that he teaches open classes in Quinnjoll about cultivating tree people and magical plants. The quality is very high, and students love listening to his lectures. Every time he teaches, the classroom is packed with students."

"He must be from the outer lands of wizards, right? It seems he came from the Sunshadow Peninsula. When did the Sunshadow Peninsula become so powerful?"

"That's normal. How could we possibly support all the industries in Yunze Wetland with just the local geniuses? Yunze Wetland is so powerful precisely because it can absorb most of the talent from the Eastern Boundary. The number of wizards is key. The more wizards there are, the more top geniuses a wizarding land will have, and the higher the quality of those top geniuses will be."

"Well, he probably won't be returning to Sunshadow Peninsula now. He'll likely stay in Yunze Wetland to develop his career, so he can be considered a wizard of our Yunze Wetland."

At that time, the high-ring wizards at Quinnjoll University were also discussing it.

Several Sun Ring Wizards were looking in the direction of the podium, discussing in hushed tones.

"When that wizard Edgar David first enrolled, he was quite unremarkable, wasn't he? Although he was excellent, he was just an average genius. I never expected that he could achieve such great things in just six months." "Hmm... his growth rate is indeed very abnormal. Others progress linearly, but he has made leaps and bounds. I heard that the headmaster has sent people to investigate his past, trying to confirm some things, but they haven't found anything unusual."

"If he's alright, then Quinjol University has really struck gold this time!"

"I just don't like his personality. Didn't his mentor try to toughen him up? With a personality like that, he'll suffer a lot sooner or later."

“I remember his mentor was Lady Candice. Lady Candice was a humble woman, the most modest third-ring wizard in the academy, and had a nickname, Lady Silver Thread. Who would have thought that the student she trained would turn out like this.”

At that moment, on the podium, Edgar hugged his championship badge and laughed heartily, extremely pleased with himself.

The second place winner was a witch, who looked helpless and covered her ears with her fingers to muffle Edgar's piercing laughter.

The architect witch glanced at Edgar. 'Has this guy modified the Sirens' singing voice in his bloodline? His laughter is so grating. It's unbearable that someone like him became the champion. My witches of Quinjol have been known for their humility for millennia…'

'If he were to represent us in the Dimensional Conquest Tournament and become the leader of our school team…'

The architect witch was speechless at the thought of that scene.

Edgar has probably distorted the style of this year's Quincy University team participating in the Silent Grail War.

Edgar put his hands on his hips and burst into laughter. "Hahahaha..."

The architect witch looked utterly hopeless.

……

At Bonifacius University, on the awards stage, everyone watched the silent champion of the spell-fighting tournament, a witch wearing a wooden mask, and whispered among themselves.

"This person must be the most powerful magic weaver witch in our Boniface University in the last five hundred years."

"Pretty much. This is the first time I've seen such a powerful Magic Weaver Witch... I've heard that this year's Plane Conquest Competition will be the most important step for the Dean of the True Knowledge Academy to revive the Magic Weaver Academy. The future direction of research funding for the entire Boniface University will change to some extent."

"My God, doesn't that mean the Silent Grail War has become a very important tournament?"

"That's utter nonsense. Even those students know that the Silent Holy Grail Competition is the most prestigious commercial competition in our Yunze Wetland. Just wait and see, the Silent Holy Grail Competition is unlike any of the previous fake competitions. In that competition... people are allowed to die."

"I've heard that the Silent Witch of Starfield Sea will be paying attention to this competition, and she will invite high-ring wizards from Starfield Sea, Mysterious Heaven, and Green Steel City to come and watch the competition. The scale of the event is unimaginable."

A Moon Ring Wizard entered and whispered, "To be precise, it was actually a massive magical simulation competition. Well, my fellow Bonifaces University students who have only been here for less than ten years, I can assure you that the Silent Grail Tournament is a competition of extremely high caliber."

"Watching this game is a huge benefit in itself."

The Moon Ring Wizard wore the badge that signified an expert-level magic weaver. The lecturers who had been whispering amongst themselves earlier now looked on with trepidation. The Moon Ring Wizard, meanwhile, gazed at the witch with the wooden mask and ethereal eyes, his eyes filled with immense expectation. "Georgina Witch, if it's you, you can definitely do it."

"The power of a person with a dream is infinitely strong. Georgina the Witch, you should understand this."

"Use this competition to become a second-ring wizard."

"There will be no enemy in your path. Your achievements will become the achievements of us magic weavers, no... of our Boniface University."

On the awards stage, Georgina the witch's ethereal eyes flickered slightly as she looked at the wizards cheering her on. She thought to herself, "My parents were wanted for siding with dark wizards. My mother was imprisoned in a wizarding prison, and my father died in the pursuit. My life has become a joke, yet these people are cheering for me."

'My life cannot be confined by my parents' status. My dreams will also blossom brilliantly on this barren land. The Plane Conquest Tournament is where I will become a second-circle wizard, be reborn, and regain my honor. Twin Demon Realms… I am your sworn enemy, I will personally slaughter you all!'

……

At the easternmost edge of Cloudze Wetlands, near the Thunderze Lowlands, next to a branch academy of the Rootcrown Royal Court stands the Storm Tower, a building that rises into the sky and is composed of six rings.

A pillar-shaped lightning bolt runs through the center to ensure that the six rings rotate in mid-air, and the Storm Tower is the opposite of the ordinary wizard tower.

Ordinary wizard towers stand on the ground, while the foundation of the Storm Tower is located in the sky, with its top being the closest to the earth.

Like a tall tower hanging down from the sky.

There are numerous buildings within the six circular rings, and the surface of the six circular rings itself is a large ecological space.

Below the Storm Tower lies a massive lava pool, the Molten Iron Mountain, one of the seven famous mountains of Yunze Wetland.

Tieshan (abbreviated as Tieshan)!
It also contains a large amount of liquid magical metal, which is flowing hot within it, along with fire lotuses, forming a unique ecosystem.

In the region where thunderstorms are ever-present, the sports festival has come to an end. The storm mages of Storm Tower won with an absolute advantage, overwhelming the wizarding academies of the Storm Tower region, who were almost unable to compete with them.

Unlike other regions, the Storm Tower region has the fewest independent wizarding colleges. Most of these colleges exist in cooperation with the Storm Tower, becoming subordinate units that provide resources and various other services to the Storm Tower.

With the power of this land, it sustains the storm tower in the sky.

The winner of the spell-fighting tournament at Storm Tower was a wizard dressed as a nobleman, followed by a large number of servants and students. His students presented him with a magic wand crackling with lightning.

The wizard, who resembled a young nobleman, looked at the wand the student had offered him with a hint of disdain. "Another cheap knock-off..."

But the wizard glanced at the sincerity in his student's eyes, and suppressing his discomfort, forced a smile. "Thank you, Bazel."

"I never expected that even after you became a formal wizard, you still wouldn't forget your teacher."

Wizard Bazel looked at the wizard, bowed respectfully, and said, “Sir Smith, you gave a wizard like me, who comes from a common background, an opportunity. I am even a wizard from out of town, but you did not discriminate against me in the slightest. You helped me within the research group.”

Wizard Smith smiled politely, but he never took the wand from the student's magic box. He simply gave the butler beside him a look and ordered him to put it away.

Wizard Smith smiled gently and said, "Bazel, I am very pleased to see your efforts. It is my responsibility to take care of you weaklings."

“Your wand is wonderful. Teacher, I will give you this as a gift and place it in my most treasured collection room. May our teacher-student relationship last forever.”

Bazel's eyes were filled with excitement.

Wizard Smith said, "Alright. I still have some research to finish in my lab. I have to go."

Wizard Smith looked at the two powerful Stormcasters from Storm Tower who had been defeated by him this time and said, "Gentlemen, we will be counting on your help in the upcoming Plane Conquest Tournament."

"Thank you both. I wonder what kind of wizards are leading the teams from Golden Crown Mountain, Bonifacius University, and Quinnjoll University this time."

"There are still six months left, which is the perfect time to improve myself."

The second and third place winners of the spell-fighting tournament exchanged glances. Both of them were descendants of second-circle wizards from the Storm Tower, belonging to middle-class families within the Storm Tower.

Wizard Smith is a descendant of the wizards of the Third Ring Throne.

It's understandable that the two lost to him this time.

The two had often lost to this wizard Smith in other competitions, project applications, and journal submissions.

In Yunze Wetlands, Wizard Smith even had a nickname: "Thor Wizard".

His qualification to participate in this dimensional conquest competition was entirely expected.

……

In the castle of Dragonblood Market on Golden Crown Mountain, Locke put on contact lenses in the witch's glasses shop.

He didn't feel that anything special had happened.

The cosmic invisibility lens looked like an ordinary lens, but shortly after he put it on, he suddenly discovered that in the magical galaxy model within his sea of ​​consciousness, his consciousness represented the sun.

The permanent defensive force field is Jupiter, the abyssal energy is Saturn, and the bloodline power is the location of Mars.

At this moment, within this galaxy, a spell model the size of Saturn has once again appeared.

Locke activated the spell model, blinked his right eye three times, and instantly his eye transformed into an entrance to a demiplane, where he could seemingly see the vast land within.

The witch Victoria straightened her wizard hat and then laughed, "The idea behind the Druid Ring is that there is a limit to how many planes it can carry. A wizard carrying a demiplane around, at the first and second ring stages, no matter how good the magic ring is, it is impossible to carry too large a demiplane."

"But my Cosmos contact lenses were made by taking a shortcut and going down a different path."

"It links your eyeballs to a demiplane within the subspace. The lens itself doesn't carry space; it's merely an entrance. The plane itself is located in a very dangerous and special area within the void—the subspace zone. Normally, the subspace zone is inaccessible to void warships; it's a demiplane that exists in the void but is untouchable by anyone."

The Victoria Witch said, "This can be done by using elemental particle coupling. Moreover, the demiplanes in the subspace are very special. The advantage is that, because no one can enter the subspace, not even void behemoths or void calamities, the demiplanes inside are very stable."

"There is almost no chance of being attacked."

"Take a look, is there enough space inside?"

Locke peered into this plane and looked down at it from the sky through his right eye, discovering that this demiplane was much larger than the one crafted within the Druid's Ring.

It's about the size of an island.

The plane itself covers an area of ​​30,000 mu, but 20,000 mu of it is a simple ocean filled with water, while there is a flat land of 10,000 mu in the middle.

The whole thing is a circular plane.

The surrounding ocean is constantly flowing out, but due to the special nature of the subspace zone, this seawater will automatically flow back.

In a normal void region, such a plane would have long since disappeared due to its small size and lack of a sufficiently powerful plane crystal wall system, with its resources constantly evaporating, or it would have become a dead star.

(End of this chapter)