Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 671 The Rose Ecological Corridor Curse and the Insomniac

Locke then realized that this was Lana, the witch of the Rose Council, whom he had consulted about her research on ecological corridors in order to create the Forest Alliance Spell.

The two corresponded for at least two months.

However, he had never actually met this powerful Sun Ring Witch in person, which is why he didn't recognize her immediately.

Locke said, "So it's you, Lady Lana. What brings you to Mount Golden Crown?"

The witch Lana said, "Let's go to a private room. It's not proper for you to talk outside. Locke, your soul is steadily declining."

The witch Lana turned to Locke and said, "Congratulations."

Locke gave a wry smile.

The flower language master beside Lana the witch looked at Locke with a complicated expression, her eyes filled with jealousy and envy, as if she had thought of something.

From the first ring to the second ring, there is a very special hurdle—the period of spiritual decline.

Many wizards who do not understand this knowledge may think that they have gone astray or have contracted some serious illness, thus wasting a lot of time during this period of soul decline, or even causing problems by over-treating themselves.

But for the shamans of Yunze Wetland, this profound knowledge is not a secret to most people.

After all, they have daily contact with high-ring wizards.

Therefore, the witch Sueira Sharp immediately understood what Teacher Lana meant.

The young wizard before me has entered the period of soul decay, and is only one step away from becoming a second-circle wizard. If he doesn't cross that line, he will die; if he does, he will achieve great success.

Sensing Locke's excessively youthful soul aura, the witch Suera Sharp even felt a pang of jealousy, thinking that God was being too unfair. She had worked so hard for so long, and was already fifty years old, yet she still hadn't entered the period of soul decline.

Inside room number 3, the witch Lana spoke directly: "Locke, I'll get straight to the point. I ask you, why was only one of my seven students able to leave after entering the River Abyss and that tomb city?"

The witch Lana looked at Locke and said, "Don't even think about lying to me. If you try, I can still find out. Then you'll have to bear the wrath of a Sun Ring Wizard."

Locke frankly stated, "Exploring the Abyss Ruins is inherently dangerous. And those Abyss Ruins aren't my home. What can I do?"

"At that time, we used an archaeology spell, which created a magical coupling with a spell that existed in the Abyss Ruins themselves, resulting in a complex chain reaction."

The witch Lana didn't seem surprised by this answer, or perhaps she had expected it. She said, "Yes. This responsibility doesn't lie with you. I just wanted to confirm, after all, these are the lives of six students. I need to explain to the academy."

“Moreover, the enrollment quota is extremely valuable to me. Six people died at once…” Witch Lana said, “There are two researchers from the Institute of True Knowledge and four chair mages among them. The responsibility is heavy. Therefore, I must come to find out on behalf of the Rose Council.”

"This is a huge loss for me, even an unacceptable loss."

Locke nodded in understanding.

This is different from the death of the first-ring wizard in the small wizarding organization of the Thunder Demon Society. The wizards lost by the Rose Council in that abyss ruin all held teaching positions or were members of the Academy of True Knowledge. Therefore, the Rose Council must investigate this matter thoroughly.

It's likely that the relevant investigations were already conducted before they came to ask me; this is just a final confirmation after the fact.

However, I did not do anything inside the Abyss Ruins except explore them, so I have a clear conscience about this matter.

Otherwise, the ethics review committee would be coming to question me.

The witch Lana changed the subject. "After investigation, I also feel that this matter is not entirely your fault. That abyssal ruin is inherently dangerous, and you won the Starfield Sea archaeology award by exploring that ruin?"

“That ruin is far more complex than you think.” The witch Lana poured herself a cup of peach blossom black tea. “In fact, the six people who died in the Rose Council incident have been classified as war casualties.”

Locke looked at the witch Lana with a puzzled expression.

The witch Lana said, "According to the Rose Council's investigation, the Abyss War is about to begin. The Rose Council's opponent in this extraterritorial war is the Endless Abyss. And the Endless Abyss is fighting three against one. The one presiding over this war is the Abyss Demon King, Alaric."

"The strategist of the Abyss this time is the Abyss Werewolf King."

"This time, it was he who dropped ten Apocalypse Stones into the sky above the wizarding world. Wizards pursued those special stones, causing various upheavals. In essence, the Rose Council, Storm Tower, and Golden Crown Mountain have already experienced serious conflicts in your generation because of this one Apocalypse Stone."

"If any of the three parties is unreasonable and seeks revenge at will, this matter will develop just like the Abyss Werewolf King's plan, turning into a war between at least two of the top wizarding academies in Yunze Wetland."

"In this way, before the Abyss War even begins, their Abyss army has already won without a fight."

Locke looked at the witch Lana with surprise.

He never expected that the competitors he and Warwick encountered while exploring the Abyss Ruins would all be those involved in the five major external wars that were about to break out in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands.

“The Abyss Werewolf King… Alaric…” Locke murmured to himself. “Is Alaric one of the Seventy-Two Demon Gods?”

The witch Lana nodded and said, "Yes, the Abyss Grand Commander who has presided over the Abyss Wars in the past has always been one of the Seventy-Two Pillar Demons."

"Before joining the Abyss, Alaric was a third-ring earth wizard with significant research achievements in grassland science. He had no hope of advancing to the fourth ring, and coincidentally, during a journey, he encountered the Mother of Desire, a deep-sea lord of the Abyss. The Mother of Desire tempted him with the pursuit of truth. Although he was unwilling to fall into the Abyss and have his soul tainted by its mark, making it impossible for him to escape its power, he ultimately could not resist the path shown to him by the Mother of Desire."

"So he went into the abyss and became a fourth-circle wizard there."

"Alaric heavily relies on the Abyssal Werewolf clan, preferring to win without fighting before launching a war."

"This person is treacherous and cunning, and he is also an earth wizard, familiar with the mountains and rivers of the wizarding world." Witch Lana spoke of this person with considerable apprehension. "He once managed to enter the Cloud Marsh Wetland alone and plunder seventeen large magic mine veins there."

"He can split the earth with a single glance, turn mountains and rivers into different realms, and reverse the heavens and the earth. The White Wizard Association has listed him as a war criminal. Any wizard who encounters him can kill him on the spot and receive a reward from the association."

The witch Lana looked at Locke and said, "Locke, do you have any Apocalypse Stones? The Rose Council has a large project that requires a lot of Apocalypse Stones. If you have any, we can trade."

Locke said regretfully, "I'm sorry, Witch Lana. If you had told me earlier, there might still have been a chance. Just now, I traded the Apocalypse Stone with Wizard Smith of Storm Tower."

The witch Lana sighed, "Oh, I see. Did we miss it?"

The witch Lana said, "Then forget it. The main reason I came here is to represent the Rose Council to understand the situation clearly, clear up any misunderstandings, and prevent Golden Crown Mountain and the Rose Council from falling into the Abyss Werewolf King's scheme and causing a meaningless conflict."

"Locke, are you still researching ecological corridors?"

Locke originally intended to use the Moon Mirror to reflect the forest as the basis for the Forest Alliance Spell, but he suddenly remembered that whenever he mentioned this concept in his previous correspondence with the witch Lana, she would become very stern.

Moreover, she herself seemed to dislike the ideas of young wizards in the first ring who conflicted with her, so Locke swallowed back all the words that were on the tip of his tongue, and after concealing his latest discovery, he explained his understanding of the ecological corridor.

The witch Lana nodded with great satisfaction. "Very good. Your understanding of the ecological corridor is spot on."

“By using trees as the material medium for ecological corridors, as I have taught you, you can create forest sacred paths.”

The witch Lana reached out and brushed her hand across the table, and instantly rose bushes appeared on the table, two clumps of rose bushes resembling a divine path, one end connected to the other.

The witch Lana glanced at Locke, then tossed him a spellbook.

Locke looked down and saw that it was a magic book called "The Rose Ecological Corridor Spell".

It was the spell model that the witch Lana had previously concealed from him.

Previously, the two had only exchanged theoretical concepts of magic without discussing any practical magic models. Locke never expected that when he met Lana the Witch in person, she would actually give him the specific magic model of the Ecological Corridor.

Locke looked at Lana the Witch in surprise.

The witch Lana said, "I am extremely satisfied with your research and in-depth understanding of the ecological corridor, but this spell is just a common second-circle level spell model. It is expensive if you want to, but cheap if you want to."

"Since you're so interested in the ecological corridor, I'll let you learn this spell model. It's just an outdated spell model; I have a better one now."

The witch Lana said, "Giving it to you as a reference is enough."

Locke said, "Thank you, Lady Lana."

The witch Lana sat on the sofa in the private room, arms crossed, and said, "To be honest, you've caused quite a bit of trouble for our Rose Council lately. Even among the second-ring wizards, we occasionally hear your name mentioned."

"I can let the rest go, but lately have you been making some kind of wizard shoes?"

Locke hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "Yes. I want to earn more money."

The witch Lana said, "I am a flower language master, so this matter has nothing to do with me. I just find you rather pleasing to the eye, so I'm giving you a little pointer."

"Be careful lately. Behind the various wizard shoe brands in Yunze Wetland are actually high-ring wizards from various wizarding academies."

"The Rose Council's magic weavers are extremely stingy; even we flower language masters can't stand it. You'd better be careful." Locke thanked her, "Thank you for reminding me, Lady Lana."

The witch Lana nodded. "Alright, I'm quite busy too. Now that things are cleared up, I'll be going."

Lana the Witch stood up, and Sueira Sharp the Witch whispered beside her, "Teacher, we've lost six people this time. Are we just going to let it go like this?"

"Six wizards have died on our side. Even if he wasn't primarily responsible, he still bears some responsibility."

The witch Lana gave her a cold look. "When have you ever had the right to interrupt me?"

The witch Sueira Sharp was startled and immediately realized that she had been too anxious and had inadvertently offended the witch Lana.

The witch Lana looked at her coldly. "It's not that I want to let it go. It's that the Rose Council wants to let it go. The whole incident is being considered an extension of the Abyss War by the Rose Council. Sueira Sharp, so what do you want? Do you want the Academy to hold Golden Crown Mountain accountable on your behalf?"

"If Locke Augustine has ever attacked you even once, the Rose Council can hold him accountable. So I ask you, has he ever attacked you?"

The witch Suera Sharp wanted to say something, but realized that Locke and the others had indeed not attacked them first.

The witch Lana glared at her, her anger blazing. "You fool! You're inferior, yet you expect me to come out and embarrass myself with you. Why wasn't it you who died?!"

The witch Sueira Sharp gritted her teeth, and with no other choice, could only bow her head and apologize to the witch Lana. "I'm sorry, teacher, I was wrong."

"It's my incompetence..."

The witch Lana gave her a cold look.

Seeing this, Locke thought to himself that he was wise not to mention the Moon Mirror. If he had, not only would the other party have given him an Ecological Corridor Spell, but he would have been the one getting a severe scolding from the wizard.

Locke kept in mind the principles for dealing with the witch Lana.

The witch Lana turned to look at Locke, a smile instantly spreading across her face. "I'm sorry you had to see this, Locke. Locke, if only my students were as clever as you, and as easy to manage as you are."

"Sigh, my student enrollment has been getting worse every year, I don't know why."

“I was quite optimistic about a researcher from the Institute of Truth this year, but who knew that he would suddenly refuse the Rose Council just when he was about to join the Institute of Truth,” said Witch Lana. “What a pity, I thought my group would get a reliable wizard this year.”

Lana the witch looked at Locke with resentment.

The witch Sueira Sharp swallowed hard. She actually knew what had happened, but no one dared to tell the witch Lana.

The wizard who was about to join the Rose Council's Academy of True Knowledge this year immediately requested to be replaced after hearing that she was a co-wielder. However, the academy refused to replace her, so he left the council.

But no one dared to tell the witch Lana about this.

Locke blinked, because by observing the expressions of Lana the Witch and Sueira Sharp, he instantly guessed the truth of the matter.

He thought for a moment and said to the witch Lana, "That's a real pity for that wizard, losing a mentor like Lady Lana."

The witch Lana smiled, clearly pleased, and said, "That's right. It is indeed his loss."

"I'm leaving, Locke."

After exchanging a few more words, the witch Lana left.

Locke breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her leave. In this way, he had managed to deal with a third-ring wizard and a second-ring sun-ring wizard in a short period of time.

Locke whispered, "There's a trick to dealing with this witch Lana. If you can master the technique, she'll be very easy to talk to."

"But if you disagree with her even slightly, she gets very angry. I've figured it out; once she's angry, she'll find fault with everything you do. Once you get into this vicious cycle, it's very possible that she'll see everything about a wizard as wrong."

"No wonder some wizards would try to leave the station after they found out she was a partner wizard mentor."

If you encounter a mentor who is incompatible with you within the next five years, you will truly lose both time and money. Not only will you waste your time, but you will also be suppressed for five years for no reason.

Locke sat in the private room and sighed, because the moment he sat down on the sofa, he immediately felt very tired.

Suddenly, he felt overwhelmed with anxiety. He felt that the future was so hopeless, the Silent Holy Grail Tournament was so difficult, and he had no hope of winning.

The next moment, Locke realized what was happening, and all the confusion and despair that had suddenly arisen in his heart vanished.

"The most terrifying thing about the decline of the soul is not that my power is declining, nor that my condition is declining instead of improving, but that my mind is affected."

"This is what is meant by being so wise that one becomes muddle-headed and confused."

Locke waved his right hand in front of him, and a bright moon immediately shone on him, his image appearing in the full moon.

In the full moon, he saw himself looking listless, like someone suffering from insomnia.

It is indeed insomnia.

Because his magical pressure had gradually exceeded the limit of his soul, and the limit of the soul could not be broken, the magical pressure could only flow out through the cracks in his soul. The more his magical pressure increased, the larger the cracks in his soul became.

During the period of soul decay, there is another special feature: one's magical pressure will gradually increase from 9999, infinitely approaching 10000.

Because the gaps in the soul rift will widen, as long as the gaps are large enough, the magical pressure will also increase accordingly.

It can be argued that the emergence of the soul gap is not only due to the soul's inability to withstand its own magical pressure, but also a corresponding change in the soul in response to the wizard's attempt to break through.

This change in the soul's structure, however, will lead to the destruction of a wizard's soul.

Locke looked at himself in the moonlight and said, "I must advance to become a second-circle wizard as soon as possible. Otherwise, my magical pressure and mana will increase every day, while I myself will decline."

"Moreover, within this special state, my temperament will be worn down."

"The longer it drags on, the harder it is to get out of this state."

Locke opened the Rose Ecological Corridor spell and, after spending an hour skimming through the spellbook, nodded and said, "I see. This spell model is indeed much more complex and complete than the rudimentary divine path I created before. Although it's an outdated version, it's the research result of the Sun Ring Wizard, and it's profound enough for me."

“It’s fortunate that I haven’t seen this magic book before,” Locke thought. “If I had read it, my thinking would have been limited by the magical framework within the book.”

"This spellbook is the result of the Sun Ring Wizards' team, and it is a towering mountain to me. At that time, my understanding of the Forest Alliance Charm was rudimentary, and I had not yet formed my own opinion. If I had come into contact with this spellbook earlier, I would probably have been completely misled."

"But now that I have my own ideas, looking at this magic book again is like taking something out of a bag, using other people's ideas to fight my own. For me, it not only has no impact, but is full of inspiration that can be learned from."

Locke sat on the sofa and pondered, "I just want to establish a hierarchical relationship between different forests, forming alliances."

"But what the witch Lana wants is to connect the ecosystems of different regions and form an ecological alliance. I want to learn this Rose Ecological Corridor Spell, which will require a lot of time and effort. It should take more than half a year and a million magic stones to learn it."

“Therefore, there is no point in me studying,” Locke said. “Right now, I am about to participate in the Great Magic Modeling Competition, time is extremely precious, and I have already entered the period of soul decay, so it is even more impossible for me to learn anything more.”

Locke realized that his learning ability was also declining.

This is the horror of entering the period of soul decay.

However, every wizard who wants to become a second-circle wizard must go through this stage.

Locke pondered, “But the key to this Ecological Alliance Spell is to create ecological corridors between different ecosystems in order to establish an alliance. And my Moon Mirror can establish connections among all things.”

"If we use this connection as a foundation and this magic spell model as a prototype, perhaps my Moon Mirror could become an ecological alliance?"

The idea in Locke's mind was becoming more and more concrete.

That will be the first time my great magic has fully taken shape.

It would be ideal if the entire concept could be finalized before the Grand Magic Modeling Competition.

Locke used the Ganoderma lucidum plant to open the water hyacinth network, then clicked on Camilla the witch's avatar. "Do you have time? I have a deal. Are you in? If so, come to Dragonblood Market soon."

I need more of my own natal witch porcelain to create porcelain moon growth and synthesize it.

I've tried it before. Porcelain Moon Growth is only a level 7 crafting item, so if I can create three Porcelain Moon Growths, I can perform the corresponding crafting.

In addition, the inspiration from the Rose Ecological Corridor and the various discoveries made within the Historical Boundary Marker Spell suggest that perhaps his first major spell can be fully completed and reach the heights he desires.

(End of this chapter)