Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 748 The Conflict Between the Dragon Rose and the Second-Ring Wizard's Lineage
The Rose Witch plucked the magical plant from the rose family, which had transformed into a dragon rose, and sniffed it. Then she handed the plant to the Sith Wizard, much to his astonishment.

But looking at this magical plant that exuded powerful energy, he was incredibly tempted.

The Sith wizard looked at the witch Catherine, who nodded slightly.

He then gladly accepted it.

The Rose Witch looked at the Catherine Witch and smiled, "I gave this second-circle magic plant to your witch, and as Esther Witch is my last disciple, I should also take her body back to the Rose Council and place it in the final resting place of all the recognized witches in our Rose Council—the Rose Garden."

“That’s where our Rose Council wizards choose to return to after they’ve exhausted themselves exploring the path to truth. Is my request too much?”

The witch Catherine glanced at her.

"Death cancels all debts; this is the rule of the White Wizarding Association. From today onwards, there will be no more Esther the Witch in this world. I will inform the White Wizarding Association and Mount Golden Crown of this matter."

"At the same time, the Rose Council needs to provide compensation."

The Rose Witch nodded slightly. "Of course."

"We will pay the relevant compensation. Everything can be measured in money."

"This is the rule of our world."

The Rose Witch, along with Lana and Nina, returned to the airship carrying Esther's corpse. The void airship first floated up and hovered for a moment, then in an instant, it flew forward, then, like a drill, squeezed through the light, concealed its form, and disappeared from the spot.

On the other side, the Sith wizard handed the Dragon Rose to the witch Catherine and bowed, saying, "I apologize, Your Majesty, we did not stop Esther. She was too foolish to see that the Rose Witch's first goal was to obtain her; her second goal, if she could not obtain her, was to ensure her disappearance, so as to eliminate any leverage she might have against you and Mount Golden Crown."

"The mighty Sun Ring Wizard has fallen to such an end..."

The Sith wizard couldn't help but feel a little sad.

"It's also my fault. I didn't stop her at the border of the Jinmian Mountain area, which allowed her to escape into this place and seek her own death."

The Celtic wizard bowed and said, “Your Majesty, if it weren’t for the sudden appearance of that mixed-blood dragon, Esther would have been trapped at the border. Then, once you and Lord Pericles made your move, you could bring her back to Mount Golden Crown.”

On the other side, the wizard Pericles of the Academic Committee glanced at the Demon Dragon Rose, a hint of interest flashing in his eyes.

That was a magical plant created from the most cutting-edge research of the Three Rings Throne.

Amazing.

Simply by placing his hand on the dragon's forehead, he changed the dragon's nature, transforming it into a demonic plant.

The wizard Pericles remembered the most famous cultivation method of the Rose Council—the Rose Cultivation Method.

Is this the essence of rose cultivation?

Force the bloodline essence to become plant essence?
How to do it?
This is no longer just a simple "species transformation". Plants and animals are fundamentally different. This difference has been repeatedly confirmed to originate from the very beginning of the creation of the plane and the birth of life. Plants and animals separated very, very early on.

The Pericles wizard muttered to himself.

"If this is the rose cultivation method, then it is enough to support a regular three-ring system on its own. It's truly amazing."

"No wonder the Rose Council doesn't publish or publish articles about its cutting-edge theories."

The wizard Pericles came to his senses and bowed to the witch Catherine, saying, "Your Majesty, after all, a Sun Ring Wizard has died. Even if this Sun Ring Wizard was the last disciple of the throne wizard from the Rose Council, this is still a huge loss for our Golden Crown Mountain."

“I must return to the Academic Committee, report to the committee, and have the chairman convene the Golden Crown Mountain Internal Wizard Council to inform the Senate and the Deacon Group.”

"And other neutral wizards."

The witch Catherine nodded slightly and said, "I'm using my vice-chairperson's authority to have Esther buried as the Golden Crown Mountain Sun Ring Wizard, in the name of the academy's sacrifice."

"This is the right of these second-ring wizards, and even more so the right of the sun-ring wizards."

The wizard Pericles paused for a moment.

“I know… For the academy, a second-circle wizard is generally a senior researcher, or a wizarding instructor, or at least a chaired wizard waiting in line for a wizarding instructor position. They should have some kind of contract and enjoy the benefits of a wizarding instructor…”

“And Sun Ring Wizards, generally speaking, are either senior wizard instructors or chief wizard instructors, holding extremely high positions.”

"But if we follow the pattern of Rihuan's funeral, then her name will appear in the names of at least ten intermediate academies under the Golden Crown Mountain system, adding her title to those academies..."

"But she is a traitor."

The witch Catherine said, "I know."

After thinking for a moment, the wizard Pericles bowed again, then summoned a small void flying vehicle, boarded it, and left.

On the spaceship, Pericles looked out the window at the flock of dragons and began to think.

The right to name a college is a privilege reserved for second-ring wizards.

Every second-circle wizard who dies on Mount Golden Crown has their name transformed into the name of a mid-level academy.

Having the right to name something gives you influence; essentially, this is a right that is quite important to the students of the "dead man's" faction.

Esther is a Sun Ring Wizard who has been on Mount Golden Crown for two hundred years.

She has a large number of students on Mount Golden Crown, some of whom are formal wizards, and formal wizards also have their own students...

Even some of the students of formal wizards have been formal wizards for a long time.

Esther the Witch is not essentially a witch, but the founder of a group whose name is used to name ten intermediate schools, which essentially means giving her students factions influence over ten mortal kingdoms.

This is a reward, or reinforcement.

Esther the Witch was dealt with as a traitor.

But right now, Catherine the Witch has instead comforted Esther the Witch's students.

The wizard Pericles suddenly had many thoughts.

"Yes. Esther the Witch is among the research groups for many of His Majesty's projects."

'She's probably trying to reassure them and prevent further betrayal.'

The Sun Ring Wizard's actions have far-reaching consequences.

Therefore, in the eyes of the Pericles wizard, Esther herself was blinded by greed and had something on her hands from the Rose Council, which led to her own downfall.

Otherwise, even if he really had an ambiguous relationship with the Rose Council, at most he would have been squeezed out of the core of power, why would he have died such a tragic death?

At the foot of the Dragon Mountains, the witch Catherine looked at the Sith wizard and said, "I also overlooked this matter. I only knew that Esther was a witch from an academy under the jurisdiction of Mount Golden Crown, but I didn't find out her specific background."

The Sith wizard suddenly realized that the witch Catherine entered Mount Golden Crown only after becoming a third-ring wizard.

That is to say, this throne holder was not very familiar with the Golden Crown system at first.

This may be why Esther the Witch was able to blend in and infiltrate the academy.

The witch Catherine looked at the wizard Sith and said, "This isn't your fault. But you need to deal with things on the Dune plane. Sith, the chaos that the wizard Zaran Bailey caused on the Dune plane, and your misunderstanding of the Rose Council's intentions that led to the current disastrous situation on the Dune plane, you need to deal with them all..."

The Sith wizard's expression was grave; he had indeed been misled by the Rose Council and misjudged the situation.

He mistakenly thought that Storm Tower and the Rose Council were targeting his Desert Rose project, but now, in retrospect, he finds the idea ridiculous.

Because what those two companies were targeting wasn't just a dispensable add-on, Desert Rose, but something far more important.

They joined forces against the Catherine the Witch.

The Sith wizard and the other wizards prepared to leave the Dragon Mountains, while the Celtic wizard looked at the dragon rose in the witch Catherine's hand and sighed slightly.

What a pity.

He had originally intended to tame that hybrid dragon that seemed to have great potential.

Although it will cost some money and resources to bring the dragon out of the Dragon Mountains.

Unfortunately, the witch from the Rose Council intervened and killed the dragon.

He sighed slightly.

The Celtic wizards and Sith wizards exchanged glances, and they all saw something in each other's eyes.

Clearly, the Rose Witches have officially declared war on their Red Dragon Throne, and Esther is just the beginning.

This is definitely not the end.

The academic war between the two throne witches will affect countless people and last for many years.

As time went by, the conflict between Catherine the Great and Anna the Witch gradually became public.

Of course, this is also due to the increased influence of these two individuals within their respective academies.

After everyone had left, the avatar of the witch Catherine spoke to the empty mountain range, "Come out, Locke."

The next moment, Locke's true form emerged from beside the Demon Dragon Rose.

At this moment, Locke was dressed in a gray wizard's robe, his posture was upright, and his eyes were bright.

He bowed to the witch Catherine and said, "Teacher."

The witch Catherine pointed at the dragon rose and laughed, "Anna killed one of my Sun Ring Wizards and allowed another Sun Ring Wizard to infiltrate my group for a long time. I will settle accounts with her for this."

"She finally angered me."

"She will get her revenge as she wishes. However, this demonic plant she left behind is quite nice; I'll give it to you."

Locke was stunned.

At the same time, he was even more curious about that Demon Dragon Rose.

It was a typical second-ring demonic plant, possessing 16,000 demonic pressure, the same as its own. Moreover, its interior was plant essence transformed from the bloodline of the World-Destroying Demonic Dragon.

This is truly astonishing; it means that the Rose Witch somehow managed to transform the essence of bloodline into the essence of plants.

No, this transformation should be subject to many restrictions; it doesn't happen randomly.

Based on his current understanding of botany, his knowledge of the Rose Council's areas of expertise, and his past publications, Locke realized that the Rose Council should not have the ability to arbitrarily convert bloodline essence into plant essence.

Otherwise, this would be a small, independent field of magic that could stand on its own.

But since it doesn't exist, it means that while this effect may seem so mysterious to other wizards, it actually has significant internal limitations.

Regardless, thanks to the Rose Witch, he was able to obtain a magical plant whose bloodline essence was completely transformed into a dragon's essence, a plant essence that was one-to-one with his own.

This Demonic Dragon Rose may be just a special magical plant to others, but it holds great significance for me.

Locke sensed the two second-level ancient creature bloodlines within his body. Because of these two bloodlines, his physical strength far surpassed that of ordinary wizards.

The Tower of the Black Sun clearly hadn't anticipated the special effects of the New Route World Wonder, which led to a serious misjudgment. What was supposed to be a certain death situation was now easily avoided as their dragon avatar died and their true body reappeared.

Locke looked at the magical plant in the witch Catherine's hand. The plant was shaped like a three-headed rose, with the three rose petals displaying a dark neon purple color, resembling three dragon heads.

The purplish-black main stem stands tall like a gnarled dragon's spine, and the leathery leaves of the rose resemble the wing membranes of a young dragon. The thorns along the edges of these leaves are like dragon claws. Its root system consists of both real roots and imaginary roots.

However, Locke was not surprised that the Dragon Rose possessed an imaginary root, because after he extracted the imaginary root from the Shadow Fern, he could also use the Moon Cultivation Method to evolve the magical plant and give that magical plant an imaginary root.

In the eyes of others, it is simply that when moonlight shines on a magical plant, it is bestowed with an imaginary number of roots.

This is not difficult to do.

Locke glanced at the imaginary root of the Demon Dragon Rose and knew that it was just the most ordinary imaginary root.

That's correct.

After all, the Demonic Dragon Rose only has 16,000 magic pressure, while the magic pressure of an ordinary second-ring cultivator is between 20,000 and 10,000.

To obtain a higher-level imaginary root, the magic pressure of the Demon Dragon Rose must be at least 20,000.

At this moment, Locke sensed the magical dragon rose; it was truly amazing.

Because this Demonic Dragon Rose was essentially created through the Rose Witch, a third-ring throne ruler, who transformed the world's wonder, the Dragon Eater, into a second-ring wild demonic plant.

Locke was connected to it by blood and shared the same spirituality; it was as if Locke was a plant version of himself in this world.

They are so consistent.

Locke stretched out his left hand towards it, and the thorny rose leaves of the Demon Dragon Rose trembled slightly, moving closer to him.

It seems to be a response to himself.

Locke connected his magic with it, and like water and milk blending together, the two formed a magical bond in an instant.

Locke's hand touched the demonic plant, and immediately the plant began to move, like a complete exoskeleton armor, directly covering Locke's body.

The rhizome forms the dragon's tail, and the broad, leathery leaves form the dragon's wings. There are three pairs of these leaves, followed by some smaller leaves. These smaller leaves are different from the six large leaves; they look somewhat damaged.

From afar, it looks like a tattered dragon wing; up close, it resembles a leaf bitten by insects.

A pair of demonic dragon rose roots, resembling dragon claws, rested on his shoulders. Then, three purplish-black rose petals, like dragon heads, appeared behind him, making him feel as if he were the fourth head of this demonic plant.

With Locke's magical support, the three roses all aimed at the sky and unleashed a dragon's breath of destruction—the Dragon Breath of Destruction.

An apocalyptic atmosphere reverberated as three destructive dragon breaths erupted.

Locke blinked, surprised that the wild magical plant created by the Rose Witch's magic was so powerful.

Despite showing no signs of optimization by breeders, it has been weaponized in this way.

However, Locke quickly realized that the flower's true form was himself...

My previous state was that of an incomplete juvenile world-destroying demon dragon, which was already quite weaponized.

"After I ceased to maintain my pure dragon form, I lost the ability to breathe dragon breath."

"That's an ability that only dragons can possess. But with the magical plant that the Rose Witch helped me transform, I can use the full might and breath of the dragon again."

The dragon's breath is its most powerful magical force.

Essentially, that is the most powerful dragon language magic. What looks like just a ball of energy being ejected outward is actually a very sophisticated energy-spitting magic from the Evocation school.

In terms of the quality of spell models, few spell models of the same level within the Evocation school can compare with it.

Therefore, possessing dragon breath greatly enhances one's combat power.

Moreover, Locke flapped the wings of the dragon rose and used the second-circle spell "A Lone Tree Cannot Support a Mountain," a common botanical spell, and he actually flew up from the spot.

"I was right. This Dragon Rose, in essence, can give me all the abilities of a dragon with 16,000 magic pressure, including the ability to fly. That's great, teacher, now I have a second-ring level flying magical plant."

After Locke became a second-circle wizard, he could no longer keep up with the Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow he carried on his back, which had been completed in the Land of Six Towers.

In fact, during the Silent Holy Grail Tournament, this magical plant was already dispensable, merely an extra item.

It did not bring them any advantage.

The Dragon Rose filled the gap in his lack of flying magical plants.

Moreover, this is an unmodified wild magical plant. If it could be combined with the Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow using the finite element cultivation method...

Alternatively, you can use a synthesis cube to synthesize and accelerate research, cultivating a magical plant that combines the advantages of two magical plants, thus creating a second-level Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow!

Locke thanked Catherine the Witch, saying, "Thank you for the gift, teacher."

The witch Catherine laughed and said, "This was originally your own."

"Moreover, with it, Anna will find it even harder to realize that the dragon is you. Even if you use abilities related to the dragon in the future, she will only think it's because of this magical plant."

Locke hesitated for a moment before asking, "Teacher, may I ask you one more question? Is Senior Esther a spy or not?"

Catherine the Witch said, "She is. She was sent by the Rose Witch, and she told me that a hundred years ago."

Locke was filled with utter shock.

No.

This is too complicated.

Because Catherine the Witch had just told the Sith wizard that she had only just learned of this matter herself, but Catherine the Witch was now telling herself that she had known about it for a hundred years.

That means……

Esther may not have betrayed Golden Crown Mountain.

But why did the witch Catherine kill her?

Was there any behind-the-scenes deal involved?
Locke looked up at Catherine the Witch, and seeing that his teacher was not going to explain further, he had no intention of asking any more questions.

Catherine the Witch was satisfied that Locke did not ask any further questions.

"Locke, have you been competing with the Wizard Shoe Shop Alliance lately?"

Locke nodded and said, "Yes, teacher."

The witch Catherine said, "Well done. The wizard shoe market in Yunze Wetlands is, to a large extent, the private property of the Rose Witches' lineage. If you touch this market, you will offend them. If it were any other mentor, you would have already been warned by now."

"The reason why there isn't is because the Rose Witch and I are inherently enemies. My students and her students are always in conflict."

Locke then realized that this was how it was.

No wonder that when he tried to enter the wizard shoe market, unlike the previous No. 2 Overlord Element, the witch Catherine did not intervene.

Last time, regarding the No. 2 Overlord Element, the witch Catherine immediately took action, negotiating with the high-level breeders who had vested interests on her behalf, and resolving the matter in her name.

But she never cared about the wizard shoes.

It turns out that the interest group behind the Wizard Shoes is her enemy, so there's no need to ease the conflict between her and them.

Because they were enemies to begin with.

The witch Catherine said, "Soras's Barefoot and Melochy's Magic Step are the properties of two third-ring wizards of the Rose Witch. Of course, after many rounds of property rights dilution, agency and transfer, there are relatively few wizards who know this."

"But with careful examination, traces can still be found."

“Your witch agent, Scarlett the witch, knows this. She’s very clever.”

Catherine the Witch gave a simple explanation.

"When that witch wanted to obtain a key raw material related to making your wizard shoes, she used my name to intimidate others. That matter was quickly reported to me by someone with ulterior motives."

“It is common for low-ring wizards to try to borrow the name of a high-ring wizard to gain influence. Generally, a wise wizard will observe the reaction of the high-ring wizard whose name is being used in order to observe the true connection between them.”

The witch Catherine said, "However, I did give a response."

"I didn't tell you these things before because you were only a first-ring wizard, which meant you only needed to focus on your research and competitions at the academy. But now you're a second-ring wizard. No matter where you go in the future, Mount Golden Crown is still your best foundation."

"Furthermore, as a second-ring wizard, you will be forced to join the academic lineage competition even if you don't want to. First-ring wizards also have their advantages; the academic lineage competition won't affect them because they will be deliberately ignored."

"Just like when people cut leeks, they deliberately avoid the leeks that haven't grown up yet."

(End of this chapter)