Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 703 The Seeds of Civilization in the Age of Enlightenment and the Demonic Plant Legion of the Land of All Souls

With the completion of the Great Magic: Time Shadow Fern, the Land of All Spirits appeared in this world, restoring some vitality to this world that had almost no plants or animals left.

The concept of "magical plants" did not originally exist in this world, but due to the great magic of the wizard Edgar, this world was connected to the Emerald Dream, resulting in a large influx of plant spirits.

These spirits, flowing out from the Land of All Spirits, would seek out a plant to parasitize in the wilderness and factories of this world, thus giving rise to the initial concept of "magical plants" in this world.

A large number of wild magical plants have evolved.

The Land of All Souls is the underworld of plants, the final resting place of their dead bodies.

Therefore, as long as such a cycle of life and death for plants is established in this world and connected to the Emerald Dream, magical plants can be recreated in this world without magical plants.

In the 17 provinces of the eastern empire, wild grass suddenly sprouted rampantly underground in many areas. Apprentice-level low-grade magical plants such as [Nether Armor Vines], [Soul-Eating Vines], [Howling Thorns], [Soul-Stemming Vines], and [Humic Entangling Vines] appeared in various regions of this world, destroying and overturning factory foundations, sending machines flying, and knocking over boilers...

These magical vines are the ecological community guardians of the Land of All Spirits under the Time Shadow Fern Great Magic. They are guardians of the Land of All Spirits, borrowed from the Emerald Dream.

It is both a guardian and an ecological community.

These Myriad Spirit Vines, along with the Time Shadow Fern, appeared simultaneously and combined to form the Land of Myriad Spirits.

On the streets of the capital, a vine suddenly transformed into a Myriad Spirits Vine, Soul Ivy, under the infusion of the Land of Myriad Spirits. Its enormous size made it a giant gray vine that kept grabbing at any moving object around it.

But the next moment, a bolt of mental lightning struck, and the vine turned to ashes in the flames.

Locke frowned; clearly, with Edgar unleashing his ultimate magic, it could no longer be concealed.

The emperor then found his target and led his mental network to attack.

Two entities at the second-tier level clashed with each other.

The capital city began to operate, with telegrams being sent back from the rebellious provinces on the front lines, putting the entire empire into a state of total war. All manpower, resources, and troops of the empire's seventy-eight provinces and the mainland were mobilized and transported by rail to the 17 eastern provinces of the empire to eradicate these apprentice-level magical plants.

Clearly, Edgar has now become the emperor's primary target.

Locke looked at the [Soul Creeping Vine] at his feet. "This kind of apprentice-level magical plant is rare even in the wizarding world. Although it is a low-level magical plant, its growing environment is extremely rare. I have only seen it in books."

"Is this the material basis of the Land of All Spirits in this world?"

"If that's the case, then this Land of All Spirits is essentially very similar to a Kingdom Realm," Locke pondered. 'A Kingdom Realm is a special magical realm created using spell models.'

'The Land of All Spirits is also a special magical realm created using a magical model, but it differs from the Kingdom's domain. The Kingdom's domain is the product of the convergence of all its citizens and the power of the earth's ley lines, while the Land of All Spirits is the product of the convergence of ley line power and plants.'

Aside from the difference in their main components, the two are identical.

In that case, it's no wonder that the Kingdom's Domain was eliminated by the Great Magic.

Ultimate magic is compatible with the Kingdom Realm, but the Kingdom Realm is not compatible with ultimate magic.

Although the Land of All Spirits created by Shiying Fern as a Kingdom-like Realm cannot be said to be completely the same as the Kingdom Realm, the general framework is similar.

Locke looked east. "In that case, Edgar is temporarily in the lead. Being in the lead means having the initiative. Edgar could easily use this opportunity to find the three of us beforehand and attack us, driving us out of this plane. However..."

Locke looked to the east and saw the mental network that enveloped the world mobilizing a large amount of magical pressure to suppress the Land of All Spirits, trying to stop its spread and destroy it.

The Mind Network continues to suppress the world's will while simultaneously destroying the outermost regions of the Land of All Souls.

In this way, the mind network would no longer be able to completely block off the sky.

Some shooting stars are summoned down by those who pray to the stars, and occasionally a shooting star will streak across the sky and fall to the earth.

Locke said, "Originally, Edgar had the lead. However, he was the first to unleash his ultimate magic, which provoked the Emperor's full-scale counterattack. Although the Land of All Spirits has been established, the Emperor has been operating in this world for many years, and the total magical pressure of his system is still the greatest."

"Therefore, it will turn into a battle between the emperor, the natives, and Edgar."

"The Emperor's native mind network... uses a lot of technology from the wizarding world, but he didn't get all of it."

"Moreover, it's a kind of outdated technology. The oversight system was inspired by it and created by him, or by some native of this world."

Locke looked at the book in his hand. "The emperor collected a vast number of books in his library, which only his closest confidants could read. No one else could see them, but this allowed me to easily access the essence of knowledge in the entire world."

"It can now be confirmed that the emperor received knowledge from the wizarding world."

Locke opened a picture book and saw a picture of a meteorite from outer space.

The meteorite fell from the sky, bringing knowledge and civilization.

Locke frowned as he looked at the unusual inscription on the meteorite pattern. "The Age of Enlightenment? This seems to be an antique artifact from the wizarding world."

Locke snapped his fingers, and his legendary history book appeared before him in the form of a giant paper dragon, simultaneously scanning the negative energy particle field information from the book into it.

Locke read the text above. 'This is the first year since the dawn of the Enlightenment. A year has passed, the wizarding world is thriving, and the total magical pressure in our world is recovering.'

This proves that our initial choice was correct.

'Now, one year after the founding of the Siming Waters Council, all members of the Wizarding Council swear an oath to the White Wizard Association—a pledge to the truth, that from this day forward, knowledge will no longer be the private treasure of the wizarding monarch.'

'To fulfill our promise, we have entrusted the meteorite sorcerer with transporting a portion of the knowledge from the Siming Waters sorcerer's land to the endless void. The place where the meteorite landed will be the place where knowledge spreads.'

'We firmly believe that knowledge should always be free and open, and that everyone in the world who wants to learn should have easy access to any knowledge they need. Following this logic, we believe that knowledge should be open to the entire void.'

If one day knowledge is no longer free and open to the public, it means all our past efforts have been in vain. Our era will come to an end.

Locke was stunned by what he saw. "Has there ever been a time in the wizarding world when all knowledge was free and publicly available?"

"The Age of Enlightenment..."

"It seems that the wizarding world is different in every era. In the modern magical age, the most precious treasure in the wizarding world is knowledge. Almost all knowledge is charged for... and much secret knowledge is hidden as the inheritance of a school of thought."

"But in the wizarding world back then, during the Enlightenment, was all knowledge free and open to the public? This discovery is quite astonishing."

"What happened next that led to charging for knowledge in the modern magical age? Could it be that the end of the Enlightenment was marked by the start of charging for knowledge?"

Locke pondered, "No, Mount Golden Crown and the Wizard Airship have free libraries."

"Knowledge is simply categorized; some is free, and some is paid."

"Therefore, in the modern magical era, the major wizarding universities no longer share their knowledge systems selflessly with all interested and capable wizards, allowing them to freely roam in the ocean of knowledge, as the wizards of the Enlightenment era did."

Locke looked thoughtful.

He incorporated this historical material into his legendary history book and planned to consult relevant documents after returning home so that he could publish an archaeological article related to it.

The wizarding civilization of the Enlightenment seems to have consciously inscribed knowledge on meteorites and sent them into the endless void, hoping to spread that knowledge.

This fulfills the "Oath of Public Knowledge" that everyone made to the truth when the White Wizarding Association was first established.

Clearly, after obtaining this knowledge, the emperor of this world did not follow the instructions on the meteorite to make it free and public, but instead decisively kept it to himself.

He placed it in his library and shelved it.

To gain access to his library, one must be a high-ranking official within the empire.

In other words, fewer than ten people within the empire can enter.

These ten people hold high positions and are bound to be busy, so they would have no time to read.

So, all the knowledge in the world gathered together has been quietly gathering dust in the library.

For some unknown reason, the emperor still allocated funds to the library every year to hire people to organize and maintain the books in this library that had no readers.

Locke said, "So that's why the Emperor's mental network has the shadow of the wizarding world's system."

"But there's still a question. Given the current emperor's personality, did he really come up with the oversight system and the mental network himself?"

Locke said, "Let's go back and take a look at the books in that library. I didn't expect to find such an unexpected treasure."

……

In the viewing area beneath the Silent Throne, the seven Sun Ring Wizards of the tournament committee whispered amongst themselves.

"In previous years, although many contestants guessed that the Emperor natives had come into contact with the wizard civilization in some way, no one really uncovered the secret. Unexpectedly, it turns out that the seeds of the Enlightenment civilization once fell into that world."

"During the Enlightenment period, a large number of Void Dimension civilizations that were close to wizard civilizations were born."

"The Enlightenment...it was indeed a great age, and also a foolish one. In any case, that era has ended. Knowledge for free? That's impossible..."

“None of the previous contestants helped the emperor spread his teachings. Naturally, they couldn’t have entered the library. After winning the competition, they naturally didn’t have time to go to the library to read a few books to pass the time.”

“Look at the other three contestants, aren’t they all working diligently, outwitting and outmaneuvering the emperor’s henchmen, scheming against other contestants and developing their own maximum magical pressure?”

"But this athlete from Mount Jinmian... he hasn't moved from his position in so long. Is he really competing?"

The audience was also dumbfounded and started discussing it.

Although Locke managed to infiltrate the Emperor's camp and enter the library, uncovering the origins of the Emperor's mental network and oversight system, thus solving a secret that the contestants had never cracked before.

But Locke's total magical pressure has never changed since he entered it.

On the contrary, through his constant preaching, he was actually increasing the emperor's demonic pressure.

Originally, the Emperor's total magical pressure should have been on the verge of collapse under the dual pressure of the apocalyptic crisis and Edgar's immense magical attack. However, through Locke's cult, his magical pressure became increasingly stable, and he instead became embroiled in a deadly battle with Edgar.

On the viewing platform, Camilla, the witch of Nexus, looked utterly frustrated. "What on earth is Locke doing? Is he doing some archaeological dig over there?"

On the other side, Hussein frowned, then suddenly relaxed. "The onlooker sees most of the game. So that's what you were planning. You're quite the schemer, Locke."

The senior partner of the Mithril Law Firm next to him, a Sun Ring Wizard, looked at Hussein and said, "Young Hussein, do you know that contestant from Golden Crown Mountain?"

Hussein nodded and said, "Yes, we are friends."

The senior partner at Sun Ring Wizards said, "Then you're in luck. Golden Crown Mountain is full of trouble, so you won't be short of work from now on. That's good, our Mithril Law Firm has indeed been looking to expand our business to Golden Crown Mountain recently..."

In the audience area of ​​Golden Crown Mountain, some wizards were looking at their own contestants with suspicion. They were all confused and couldn't understand what Locke was going to do.

Meanwhile, in the spectator area, the barefoot wizards Solas and Melochy with their magic steps were the happiest after observing Locke's inaction. Several wizard agents from the Wizard Shoe Shop Alliance were secretly laughing down below.

“This person is allied with us shops to compete for the market. The more successful he is, the better his products sell. The more we lose money, the worse he performs, and the more secure we can be.”

"If Jinmian Mountain ranks last this time, that would be fine too. It would suit our wishes perfectly."

Similarly, on the other side of the field, Wizard Zaran Bailey was coming over from the Group 2 Research Institute.

Because the Silent Grail War has a long duration, many wizards don't stay here the entire time. Instead, they do their own things while having their students come and film the event.

And have these students stay here and inform them of important milestones in the competition so they will come from other places.

For example, the week that Locke and his group spent infiltrating the Silent Dimension wasn't very interesting, so at least half the number of people in the spectator area were gone.

At that moment, as Edgar's immense magic descended, many wizards, after quickly watching the videos recorded by their students at ten times the speed, immediately took transportation to come and prepare to watch the match.

Zaran Bailey looked up at Locke's magical pressure, a look of fear and unease flashing in his eyes.

Because Locke's magical pressure in the competition had completely overwhelmed him, exceeding his by a full two thousand!

In other words, if Locke had just a thousand more magic pressure, he would have one more extremely powerful magic rune than him.

For a second-ring wizard, the difference in combat power resulting from an additional large magic rune is enormous.

Zaran Bailey sat on the stool, somewhat restless, but Locke's inaction at the moment brought him a slight sense of relief.

"Don't be afraid. If this pace continues, he'll be last. That way, he won't be able to compete with me for the top scholarship."

Zhalan Bailey exhaled a breath of stale air.

A wizard beside him looked up at the scene in Edgar's direction and said, "That native emperor is so powerful that he can actually withstand Edgar's complete Great Magic."

Zhalan Bailey, the wizard, looked over there. "That native emperor possesses some knowledge from the Enlightenment era, which is probably why he can become a second-ring being."

"He has been running that world for many years, while the wizard Edgar, though indeed powerful, has only just arrived."

At this time, in the rebellious province, the wizard Edgar summoned a large number of [Vine Servants] directly from the Land of Spirits to attack the emperor's army.

The two armies remained locked in a stalemate for a full week.

The two sides fought countless battles in the rebellious provinces, and the emperor's inspectors were given the right to learn how to unlock the genetic lock.

Each time they unlock a gene lock, their physical functions and mental power increase. After unlocking three times, they can even slightly distort reality with their will.

That would be equivalent to a second-class wizard apprentice, the level of a gunslinger in this world.

As time passed, Edgar felt a slight headache coming on. "Why is the Emperor's magical pressure so stable?"

Edgar complained to the gunslinger and priestess beside him, "Originally, I summoned the Land of All Spirits in the east of this world, causing panic among his people, which would naturally disrupt his mental network system. His total magical pressure would continue to decrease, allowing me to immediately suppress the emperor and put pressure on the other three contestants."

This was also the fighting style that Quinnjoll had instructed him to use.

This is a speedrun method that Quinnjoll had a Moonshade witch research and perfect over ten years.

The problem is that the Emperor's demonic pressure is not dissipating; instead, it is continuously channeling demonic pressure into the inspectors through the mental network, thereby raising the level of the world's power system they possess in a short period of time.

Edgar, not daring to use powerful magic directly, could only use the ecosystem of the Land of Spirits to attack the Emperor.

Because if he were to use a powerful magic directly, given his current level, a single strike would surely shatter the emperor and his mental system.

However, in that case, his total magical pressure would be depleted in an instant. If Locke, Smith, and Georgina joined forces and attacked him during this time, he could be eliminated from this plane immediately.

The wizard Edgar fell into thought, wondering if he should take a gamble and, while he still had the upper hand, use a powerful spell on the emperor to instantly crush him and his ridiculous army.

But there are still three contestants watching from the sidelines.

Edgar's eyes sharpened. He decided to ignore everything and use overwhelming magic to crush the native army in front of him.

In any case, he is the only one who has unleashed a powerful spell so far.

If he's already in control and he's still hesitant and timid, then what's the point of the competition?

At this moment, in an abandoned factory within the rebellious province, countless Thousand Spirits Vine Servants crawled out from the corners of the factory and launched an attack on the inspectors.

The inspector, as if he had eyes in the back of his head, raised his hand and fired a shot behind him. The bullet, accelerated by his telekinesis, directly blew up a humus vine.

Then, a wailing thorn suddenly crawled out from the ground, grabbed the inspector's right leg, and dragged him to the ground.

The inspector screamed in agony as he was dragged into the ground by the Howling Thorns, whose leaves resembled black steel needles and whose movements sounded like wailing.

The inspectors raised their muskets, using their telekinesis to accelerate their bullets, firing shot after shot, piercing through the vines.

Their objective was to strike at the heart of the rebellious province, at the foot of the Shadow Fern.

As long as the Shadow Fern is cut down, the Land of All Spirits will naturally collapse, the Great Magic will break down, and the Emperor's crisis will be resolved.

A severely wounded inspector climbed to the top of the abandoned factory, his eyes blazing with fury, shouting, "For His Majesty the Emperor!"

Driven by a sense of responsibility and extreme rage, he broke through the genetic lock, unlocking the fourth-tier genetic lock from the third tier, and his magical pressure instantly reached the level of a first-class wizard apprentice.

Then, he burned all his mental energy, sacrificing his life in an instant, and fired a shot at the Time Shadow Fern in the distance.

This is the inspectors' gunfight technique: sacrificing bullets!

The bullet, imbued with the psychic power he had condensed from his life force, shot towards the distant Shadow Fern, which was over a thousand meters tall, like a magnetic field.

But in the inspector's desperate eyes, his life-giving shot, before it even reached the Shadow Fern, was enveloped by the Land of All Spirits, and then a first-ring Thorn Queen descended.

That was the same kind of magical plant that Locke's Forest Sanctuary had also planted. It was somewhere between a vine and a tree. The Thorn Queen was transformed from the Land of All Spirits by Edgar using a large amount of magical pressure, and at the same time, she was enlightened into a tree person.

As soon as the Thorn Queen Treant appeared, she slapped the ridiculous bullet away.

Before he died, the inspector roared, "No!"

For a time, on the battlefield, tens of thousands of inspectorate troops also felt grief and anger at the deaths of their comrades.

On the battlefield, there are many who, amidst life and death and a sense of responsibility, unlock higher-level genetic locks.

There were even inspectors who, under the magical pressure of the mind network, risked their lives to temporarily unlock the seventh-tier gene lock, which is equivalent to the magical pressure level of a first-ring wizard.

In their confrontation with Edgar's Land of Souls, the inspectors, instead of being defeated by these inhuman opponents, were awakened to their sense of responsibility and courage as human beings.

Under these circumstances, these inspectors broke through the genetic lock one by one.

The will of the world is embodied in them, and that increasingly clear will of the world comes alive at this moment, moving in accordance with their will.

Even though the world's will is currently biased towards the four wizards, these inspectors are the most outstanding people in the world. Their anger, their hopes, and their desires can, to a large extent, influence the world's will's choices.

When they faced the ecological community of the Land of All Spirits, they were forced to unite as one during the war. Even Edgar noticed that the world's will was increasingly resisting helping him.

Inside an abandoned factory, Edgar stood with his hands behind his back, muttering, "The strong always get stronger. Alice."

The young priestess hummed in agreement. "God."

Edgar smiled. "Alice, I like that name. Alice, Tommen, I promised you I would show you the truth of this world."

"So, watch closely, this is my ultimate magic."

Edgar opened his left hand, palm up, about to unleash a powerful spell to command the Land of Spirits to launch a direct attack on the Emperor, but at that moment, a tremor came from within the Land of Spirits.

Edgar decisively stopped. 'The spell model for the Shadow Fern developed by my senior sister incorporates a portion of Quinnjoll's strength in group divination. In other words, my Zone of All Spirits possesses a certain divination ability, capable of providing early warnings, albeit not a powerful one, but it undeniably exists.'

'At this moment, the Land of All Spirits is warning me, urging me to cease using powerful magic. Does this mean that if I use powerful magic now, I will be trapped in a desperate situation? How could that be?'

Edgar thought for a moment; he wasn't a fool.

Edgar chose to stop. "That native army is still constantly increasing its power level, putting my ecosystem at a disadvantage."

"Although it was a powerful spell I didn't put my heart into... Damn it, who is helping the Emperor stabilize the magical pressure! If it weren't for you, this Emperor wouldn't be a match for me."

Just after Edgar stopped, the sky suddenly went dark again.

Then, countless shooting stars fell from the sky.

One after another.

The total magical pressure in this world has increased once again!

A second, extremely powerful spell descended.

It was a meteor from outer space, like the work of Wizard Smith.

Edgar suddenly realized. "So that's how it is. If I hadn't been able to hold back and had used a powerful spell, and Smith had unleashed another powerful spell, then at this critical moment, I would have been eliminated from this plane by Wizard Smith because I had exhausted my magical pressure."

"I was so close to being eliminated."

Below the Silent Throne, in the audience area of ​​the Storm Tower, applause erupted. It wasn't just the wizards of the Storm Tower, but also the wizards of the affiliated wizarding organizations under the Storm Tower; everyone applauded.

The Smith family's second-circle wizards were all beaming with joy.

"It has finally arrived. Haha, the second great magic to arrive is not bad, and the timing is just right."

"Haha, everyone, this is our Storm Tower's ultimate magic, Meteor from Outer Space. This construction is a little different from the last one, so please watch carefully."

Meanwhile, the Moon Witch on Quinnjoll's side was getting anxious.

She looked at the arena in confusion. "Edgar, what's wrong with you? Why didn't you send one of your two teammates to that world after you've already constructed the ultimate magic?"

"That way you could potentially defeat the emperor ahead of time, seize the initiative, and expand your immense magic. How could I possibly let you fall into such a predicament where you can neither advance nor retreat?"

Why don't you send yourself, or one of your two assistants, down?

(End of this chapter)