Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 776 You're not a first-circle wizard! You're a second-circle wizard!

In an instant, the witch Stephania sensed a life-or-death crisis.

At the same time, the five witches beside her all made their move and gathered around her. All six of them had bells wrapped around their wrists, and these bells were vibrating intensely, clearly some kind of magic that could indicate the level of danger they were in.

This is the unique inherited magic of the Ghostly Holy Church: the Ghostly Bell. Each bell represents the soul of a first-class wizard apprentice who studies ghostly science.

Three bells can be strung together and, without the need for complex alchemy, can be transformed into a bracelet through simple alchemical processing.

The sound of the Ghost Bell has multiple uses: it can disturb the mind of wizard enemies, it also has a certain psychic prophetic function, allowing one to judge the danger level of an opponent, and it can even be used in conjunction with a unique first-circle spell to unleash the Ghost Shock Cannon.

What made the witches of the Ghost Cult change their expressions was that the bells in their hands were being shaken wildly as if they were about to break, each sound like a death knell.

That was clearly a warning.

They need to leave quickly.

At this moment, some cunning black wizards immediately turned and fled. They had all fought their way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and their survival skills were top-notch.

If things look bad, of course you have to run away.

Regardless of the process, just run away first.

The six witches stretched out their right hands, shook bells, and unleashed a ghostly shockwave cannon at Locke, a projectile that burned soul energy to directly strike the enemy's soul.

The next moment, a magical plant resembling a rapier appeared in Locke's hand.

He waved Banxia, ​​and in an instant, layers of magical models were superimposed on Banxia. Immediately afterwards, the bodies of four of the six witches in front of him, who were at the Qi Transformation stage, all turned into red-hot matches and cracked inch by inch.

At the same time, the permanent defensive force fields of the female high priestess and another crystallized witch also sparked intensely. Unlike the four witches, their permanent defensive force fields were defensive magic, specifically ghost shields.

To the astonishment of the many dark wizards, the four vaporized witches transformed into countless sparks, soaring into the sky and dancing everywhere like fireflies.

The four streams of fiery spiritual energy generated by the explosion of their bodies not only destroyed their magical pressure, bodies, souls, and the permanent defensive force field created with offensive magic, but also directly ignited their echoes.

The crystallized witch attempted to use the first-circle Ghostly Magic spell, Model: Banshee's Lament, but as soon as she opened her mouth and burned her soul energy, her throat was destroyed by the blazing air, and she became mute.

The entire ruins of Verdandia University, which were covered in gray death energy, were now filled with the aura of fire. The magic of summer descended like a ray of summer light from afar.

The setting sun bathed half the sky in its glow.

The female cult leader, Stephania, was greatly alarmed.

"It's a second-circle wizard, it must be a second-circle wizard."

"Only second-ring wizards possess this power. Who exactly are you?"

Locke looked at her in surprise. At that moment, the headdress worn by the female priestess Stephania, made from the arm of a formal wizard, and the Hundred Souls Necklace made from the arms of a hundred wizard apprentices, all caught fire under the influence of this blazing aura.

Locke merely swung Banxia slightly and cast the second-circle spell Model: Lone Tree Cannot Stand Firm. With a single blow, he completely broke down the six first-circle wizards in front of him.

The only one who was physically unharmed was the female cult leader herself.

'The results exceeded my expectations. First-ring wizards, especially crystallized wizards, are among the best of the first-ring. I originally thought it would take three spells to achieve this effect.'

Locke thought for a flash: 'That's it. These first-ring wizards aren't from Cloudswamp Wetlands. I don't know when it started, but my perspective has broadened.'

'The dark wizards of the southeastern corner region have such poor foundations. These formal wizards might be an insurmountable mountain in the eyes of apprentices, but to me now, they seem utterly pathetic.'

Locke shook his head slightly. In his eyes now, these black wizards who had been bullying others in the southeast corner region were all poor students.

'It's not just the environment that supports my magic. My basic magical skills and understanding of magic, acquired through my interactions with Golden Crown Mountain wizards and reading their books, also contribute to this support.'

Locke looked at the female cult leader and said, "It's commendable that you survived my attack."

Stephania, the female high priestess, was horrified to discover that her wizard robes were on fire. This was a first-level crystallized magical artifact passed down through the Ghostly Holy Cult, called the Robe of a Hundred Grievances, which had consumed many of the academy's best students during its creation.

However, under the pressure of Locke's fiery aura, this magical artifact also began to spontaneously combust.

At this moment, the black wizards who had turned and fled were all astonished to find that, without them noticing, blood bats had appeared in the sky. These blood bats piled up together, turning into blood clouds in the sky, giving them no chance to leave.

All of them glared angrily at the Blood Lord.

The Blood Lord was also dumbfounded.

Because what prevented everyone from leaving was their Blood Curse Court's [Eleven-Draw Blood Curse].

One person will be randomly selected from ten to be killed.

This blood curse was originally used by the Blood Curse Court to prevent anyone from deserting in the face of battle. Of the ten deserters, one will die. That person will be attacked by the power of the curse and the magical pressure of the remaining nine people at the same time, so death is inevitable.

To make these cursed individuals realize this, the hearts of these ten people will even become interconnected, forming a blood vessel.

That's why the group of dark wizards didn't run away.

The Eleven Kills will continuously kill individuals among them, and once that person is killed, the remaining person will be grouped with the other nine people again and killed again.

In this way, as long as someone chooses to escape, they will continue to die.

In fact, there were some stubborn dark wizards who still wanted to gamble on their luck, and we all saw the result.

Those dark wizards who chose to flee died instantly under this exquisite blood curse.

One by one, they died.

When a wizard dies, the blood vessels connecting the other nine wizards to his heart will break on their chests. But soon, the remaining nine wizards will be connected to the heart of another wizard again.

No matter what spell models, magical items, or potions those dark wizards used, it was all useless!

With their half-baked and rudimentary spell models, they simply couldn't break Hussein's Eleven Blood Curse!
To the Blood Lord's alarm, he realized that the spell model of this blood curse seemed to be more sophisticated and powerful than the magic researched by his Blood Curse Court's Advanced Curse Spell Research Institute.

At least he couldn't do it, using a single blood curse to chain and lock down so many dark wizards, with one curse following another.

Who are they?

At this moment, the flesh and blood on Hussein's face were rolling. He had previously changed his appearance and modified his soul aura by relying on the vampire's amazing control over his body.

That's the second-circle curse spell model - a change in aura status.

[Aura] is an extension of spirituality, and this attribute is extremely important for curses.

Changing one's aura can potentially change the target of a curse.

In fact, many of the seemingly amazing effects of the first-ring blood curse are based on the capture of aura. Once you see through this, you can understand the principles of many first-ring blood curses.

The folding of advanced curse spells is merely for the purpose of better capturing the "aura." Therefore, in Hussein's view now, the biggest difference between many blood curses lies only in the different mediums of transmission.

The Blood Curse Court's Blood Curse differs from other cursing disciplines in that it possesses a unique set of folding methods. This set of basic folding methods forms Blood Curses that primarily capture bloodline energy.

And that is the core of the Blood Curse system.

At this moment, Hussein revealed his true colors, snapped the neck of a crystallized wizard from the Bone Cult, drained his blood, and extinguished his soul flame.

At this moment, the people of the Blood Curse Court were suddenly surprised.

"It's Hussein! It can't be Hussein!"

The Blood Lord's eyes widened.

"You traitor!"

At that moment, the Blood Lord looked at Locke. He remembered that because the witch Sophia in Lilith Hut had killed one of his wizard mentors from the Blood Curse Court, he had ordered the hunt down of the witch Sophia and his only student.

And now, he remembered that the powerful and terrifying wizard in front of him was none other than Locke Augustine, the first-ring wizard who came from Lilith's Hut.

The Blood Lord said in a low voice, "You two have only been away from the Southeast Corner Region for four or five years, how could you have grown so quickly?"

"What level of wizards are you now? Are you at the peak of the first ring? Or are you in the soul decay stage...?"

Inside the Blood Curse Court, after many years of twists and turns, the wizard Stanley finally used limb-splitting magic to repair his body and restore his lower body, which was the body that Locke had severed with an apprentice-level magical plant, the Black Lock Bamboo Sword.

And his missing arm was shattered by the witch Sophia using an elemental infusion of a magical plant called the Hairpin Flower.

Stanley the Wizard could never forget the harm Sophia had tried to inflict on him in the past.

Over the past four years, every time he thought about these things, he fell into deep anger and believed that his regression over the past five years was caused by Sofia and her apprentice.

He harbored resentment towards them, but now that his enemies were right in front of him, he was caught in a state of hesitation, fear, and unease.

Because he didn't know exactly how much magic pressure Locke had!
Just now, Locke killed four witches and severely injured two crystallized witches with a single blow!

Stanley the Wizard was now filled with fear and unease, because the gap between him and Locke was simply too great.

But it's only been four years.

There's such a huge difference.

That gap was even greater than the gap between an apprentice and a full-fledged wizard.

No way……

An idea was lingering in Stanley's mind.

He forcefully suppressed this idea; it was impossible.

It's only been a little over four years. How is that possible?

Meanwhile, among the official wizards of the Ghostly Holy Church, the witch Veltani screamed in fear, looking at Locke not far away, her whole body trembling.

When the Eye Demon Wizard became a first-ring wizard, the first witch he killed was his sister, the Brittany Wizard.

She was able to escape with the help of the cult leader, Stephania.

Every time she thought of Locke's ferocious appearance wielding that mushroom plant, she was filled with immense fear. She dared not harbor any resentment anymore; at most, she would show off her power in front of those dark wizard apprentices and curse Locke.

At that moment, the witch of Veltani saw Locke reappear before her, and was even more powerful than before. She was so frightened that she trembled all over.

Hussein roared, his body expanding continuously. His permanent defensive force field was the [Vampire Transformation Blood Curse], so his permanent defensive force field shell was completed even earlier than Locke's.

He was like a demon god from the abyss, standing tall in the world, surrounded by mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and blood-red demonic power. Amidst the boundless blood energy, this blood demon god strolled leisurely, capable of suppressing all demons and monsters in this world.

Hussein had no intention of letting the wizards of the Blood Curse Court go. He grabbed a full-fledged wizard from the Blood Curse Court and put him in his mouth to chew.

Its ferocity terrified the group of black wizards in the southeastern corner of the region.

Meanwhile, the female cult leader Stephania looked at Locke with a dazed expression, and then asked incredulously, "Are you the kid I almost drowned in the River Styx back then?"

"How is this possible? Who are you?"

"Four years ago, you were just a weak, ordinary first-ring wizard. How could you become such a powerful wizard in such a short time?"

The female cult leader Stephania was both shocked and furious. She seemed to feel that Locke had challenged her common sense. As she chanted a spell, long, white, ghostly death-eating worms appeared around her and then attacked Locke.

Locke didn't even bother to lift a finger and simply stood there.

Before the insects even got close to Locke, they were infected by the fiery power of the magical plant, Pinellia ternata, and burst into flames, turning into ribbons of fire.

On the edge of the forbidden forest near the ruins of the University of Verdandia, a figure with large feet reappeared.

The female high priestess Stephania summoned another ghostly infant, but before the summoned creature could fully stabilize its soul, it was burned away by the intense heat of the flames.

The entire surrounding area seemed to have turned into summer.

It was the middle of the night, but it looked like the sky was ablaze at dusk.

Stephania swallowed hard. Only now did she accept that the little wizard she could have easily crushed with a single spell back then had now grown into a being with terrifying magic.

The female cult leader looked at Locke with incomprehension; such a rate of growth was beyond the comprehension of a wizard who remained in the southeastern corner of the region.

The female cult leader immediately gave up resisting and said to Locke, "Wait, Lord Augustine."

"You are already so powerful, why kill me? Whatever you want, as long as I have it, I will give it to you."

At this moment, Locke smiled and said, "Child's play."

He reached out and grabbed a black thread, which was wriggling between his index finger and thumb like a worm.

At the end of this black thread is a ghostly firefly, which is invisible.

It clearly used the power of ritual magic, existing in a dual state of dimensional power and biological form. If it weren't a second-circle wizard with the naked eye to directly see dimensional power, then only a first-circle crystallized wizard with a special spell model that enhances perception would have a slight chance of seeing this insect.

"Back then, in my understanding, I was cursed by you after killing your official wizard, and then suddenly pulled into the River Styx by you. So that's how it is. When I was chasing the two witches, Veltani and Brittany, these insects hidden in their souls... flew out and scattered in the air of that underground research institute."

"As time goes by, the number of these insects will increase and gradually enter my soul, and then you will pull my consciousness into the River Styx."

"Of course, since I killed the Brittany witch, the worm that was hiding in her soul would surely fly out and into my soul."

Locke deliberately forced the female leader of the Ghost Cult to perform the ritual magic from years ago once again in order to save her life, and then he saw the cause and effect of what happened back then.

The ritual magic I encountered back then was far less magical than it appeared.

It's full of little tricks.

Like a magic trick, it is so wonderful before the principle is understood, but once the principle is understood, the experience is different.

Locke followed the black line formed by the vengeful spirit and grabbed the translucent soul worm.

“I see. This insect is the core of your ritual magic, and you minimize the time required to cast ritual magic by inscribing the rituals required for ritual magic into the scepter in your hand that symbolizes the authority of the Ghostly Holy Church.”

"This way, a ritual spell can be cast in less than half a minute."

This is also the earliest origin of the magic wand.

In Yunze Wetlands, the earliest wands were originally used to reduce the cost of using ritual magic for crystallized wizards and to shorten the time required to cast ritual magic.

Stephania the Witch essentially created a primitive version of the wand herself.

Of course, it's also possible that it was an original version of the wand passed down through the Ghost Cult.

Stephania the witch looked grim. Locke had actually seen through her last trump card: the legacy staff of the Ghost Cult and the chain magic attack of the Ghost Fireflies.

Then she was at a loss.

Just when Stephania was at her wit's end, Locke, to her astonishment, placed the silken threads of the ghostly fireflies that she had previously dodged onto his shoulder.

Thus, the interrupted ritual magic was activated once again.

Locke was eager to test the principles of this spell model and see if it could help him solve the problem of imaginary root cost, so he used the most efficient method.

Try it yourself.

'The Celtic team leader kept nagging me for ages, which really motivated me.'

Locke pondered, "Since it's just an avatar anyway, and merely a ritual spell cast by a crystallizing witch, I'll experience it firsthand to see for myself."

At the same time, the magical pressure and the number of ghost fireflies required to pull the consciousness of a second-ring wizard's clone into the River Styx are extremely terrifying.

The witch Stephania could only forcibly activate her backup plan, which she had left within the souls of many official wizards of the Ghost Cult. One by one, those dark wizards felt their bodies heat up, and then their souls spontaneously combusted, sending out ghost fireflies one after another.

This single act resulted in heavy casualties among the official wizards of the Ghostly Holy Cult, with at least a quarter of their souls spontaneously combusting.

Charge the ghost fireflies.

This wasn't because the female cult leader was selfish and therefore took such action; rather, it was simply because the Ghostly Magic system of the Ghostly Holy Cult was designed in this way.

Once the ritual magic begins, in order to pay for pulling the other party's consciousness into the River Styx, a corresponding number of ghostly fireflies must be paid!
These ghostly fireflies contain a trace of Styx power.

It possesses immense power.

Locke opened his eyes, his expression turning strange. At that moment, both his main body on Golden Crown Mountain and his clone in the southeastern corner of the region stood up.

The main body said, "As I expected, it did not affect my main body. However, this magic did allow a part of my consciousness inside my clone to enter the River Styx."

"This mechanism is indeed very interesting. It pulls the consciousness into the River Styx, and then affects the body that the consciousness is inhabiting. My clone felt a chilling sensation as if it were being immersed in the River Styx."

Locke's true form is in the research institute on the Dune plane.

The Sith wizard who happened to be passing by was very pleased.

"Locke's clone said he was going back to visit family, but he actually went back to look for projects and ideas. That's what you call dedication."

He said to a newly arrived crystallization wizard from the True Knowledge Academy behind him, "See this? This is the standard of our Golden Crown Mountain."

"This second-circle wizard is a senior researcher here. But after becoming a second-circle wizard, he not only didn't slack off, but he also works forty-eight hours a day!"

"Time is life. Research is all about the return on investment; the more time you put in, the more you get out. As long as you can spend 168 hours a week in the lab, you're guaranteed to get a third-class grant, a second-class grant..."

The crystallization wizard who had just entered the station had eyes filled with emotion and passion.

"Researcher Augustine is really working very hard."

In the southeast corner, Hussein turned to look at Locke with a strange expression.

"Locke is going too far. Even I wouldn't be so reckless as to take a ritual spell head-on."

"With such friends, I feel I need to work even harder."

"This lineage of knowledge left behind by the Ancestral Wizard in the Southeastern Region must either be controlled by me or destroyed. That damned Ancestral Wizard, his legacy was a trap!"

At this moment, Locke's clone's consciousness successfully merged into the River Styx, and he once again felt that cold, suffocating sensation.

Countless water ghosts in the River Styx were pulling on their own legs, trying to drag themselves down into the deep river.

Locke's body suddenly disappeared, and then turned into a bright moon, a full moon floating in the River Styx!
Stephania the witch instantly felt the crushing pressure of the second-circle magic on her soul. Her expression changed drastically, her face filled with despair and her eyes filled with horror.

"You are not a wizard in the soul decay stage."

"You are not a first-ring wizard."

"You are a second-ring wizard."

For a moment, all the dark wizards in the room fell silent.

The Blood Lord seemed to realize something and looked at Hussein in horror.

At this moment, these dark wizards finally realized what genius and terror truly meant!
(End of this chapter)