Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 800: The First Second-Order Potion Created: Spirit Stabilizer
Three weeks later, in the southeastern corner of the region, Locke's clone was in the Forbidden Forest. The Demon Dragon Rose appeared on his body, and the leaves of the Demon Dragon Rose resembled dragon wings, allowing him to fly quickly in the Forbidden Forest.

"The core ingredients are drunken tomato sauce and stone fir heart, both of which are first-level magical plants and can be found deep in the Forbidden Forest."

"There are a total of one hundred types of materials, including peripheral materials, secondary materials, and auxiliary materials, but all of these materials can be harvested in the Forbidden Forest..."

"Seven-star grass, valerian leaves, taras dates..."

Locke flew through the central region of the Forbidden Forest. Since he was a guest of the Forbidden Forest at the moment, neither the dangerous magical creatures nor the magical plants chose to attack him.

Within certain limits, the forbidden forest seems to allow for picking.

Of course, this is limited to the situation of casually getting something for free, roughly like picking a few fruits to taste while passing by, which is acceptable.

But if you push your luck, the Silent Bee Fairy will come out to dissuade you.

Previously, I tried to harvest a large amount of potion-related materials from inside the Forbidden Forest at once, but the Silent Bee Fairy came to stop me.

If one persists, perhaps the King of the Forbidden Forest will come looking for him.

So, in the forbidden forest, you can pick as much as you need. Since there's no concept of private property in the forbidden forest, everyone just picks what they need.

It simply disallows storage.

Because storing unused resources is the first step in creating private property.

Locke took the materials back to his research institute in the Forbidden Forest, which was five hundred years old. At this time, there was a simple potion room that had been converted into a workshop.

In the potion room, there was a cauldron where Locke had been refining the [Stabilizing Spirit Potion] for three weeks using raw materials from the Forbidden Forest.

【Stable Spirit Potion】is a potion with two versions. Without using Spirit Macro, it is a commonly used potion for entering the Void, while with Spirit Macro, it becomes a second-level potion.

This can be considered the easiest potion to refine in the second stage.

At this moment, Locke had practiced for three weeks and felt that he had almost mastered the potion.

"It's more comfortable to use potion ingredients from the wild, even though it's a bit more troublesome to find them."

Locke lit the primordial fire and, following the steps, added the potion ingredients to the crucible little by little. On the workbench, he used the Spirit Vein Stitcher to crush the Taras dates.

Because Taras Jujube is a first-level magical plant, crushing such a first-level magical plant is equivalent to destroying its pressure-furnace-like plant cells.

In an instant, a magical light burst forth from the grafting knife.

Locke's expression remained unchanged; this was normal. After all, wizards had a permanent defensive force field, and his grafting knife was a second-circle magical artifact, so he wasn't afraid of an explosion.

Small explosions often occur when processing materials from the first-level magical plant.

There's nothing to worry about.

Locke poured the squeezed juice into the crucible, and then a flame rose up inside the crucible. When the flame reached its strongest point, Locke poured the pre-extracted tomato sauce, which had been kept relatively stable using a special potion-making spell called "Stabilizing Energy," into the crucible.

Then, as the flames inside the crucible shot out like a tongue of fire, Locke tossed the heartwood of the cedar tree, which resembled firewood, into the crucible.

At this moment, the crucible was like a fireplace filled with matches, crackling and popping. Moreover, due to the reaction of the complex natural magical components inside, colorful sparks appeared among the pile of firewood.

The sparks crackled and flew around like fireflies.

Locke's expression remained unchanged, which meant that the Spirit Stabilizing Elixir had been successfully refined, but the most important step was the final one.

Just as when painting a dragon, you need to add the eyes.

If the final step succeeds, this will be a standard second-ring potion.

This was the first potion I ever made using normal potion-making methods.

The final step was the one he had been working on for three weeks without success.

But today, Locke has a premonition that he is about to succeed.

'Second-circle Potions Mastery requires a very strong intuition. Meticulous control alone is no longer sufficient for this stage of Potions Mastery.'

'And intuition is something I excel at.'

Locke let out a breath.

"I hope I have good luck today."

Locke placed the grafting knife on his little finger, and the grafting knife rubbed intensely against his permanent defensive field, producing sparks of magic.

The moment he deactivated his permanent defensive field, his little finger was cut, and a drop of blood fell into the cauldron that was burning like a pile of firewood in a fireplace.

The next moment, purple-green cracks appeared on the heartwood of the fir tree inside the crucible.

Immediately afterwards, all the firewood from the hearth of the stone fir tree burst into flames, transforming into a streak of fire that shot into the sky, like swirling snowflakes in the wind, dancing and twirling in the air.

There was no liquid left in the entire crucible.

Locke frowned. "I still haven't mastered the last step. There's still a gap between this and the simplified steps derived from a level 10 Spirit Macro."

"But I succeeded."

The flames fell from the sky like liquid, like a torrential downpour, while some purplish-green liquid had already appeared inside the crucible.

Locke lifted the crucible and quickly poured it into the Time Crystal Potion Bottle, a standard-shaped potion bottle, and then plugged it with a birch wood cork.

Locke looked at the potion in front of him and shook it slightly. He saw that the potion did not change at all, and there was no magical fluctuation inside.

'Success! This is the finished product of the Spirit Stabilizing Potion!'

Locke felt a surge of excitement; this was the first time he had successfully concocted a second-level magic potion.

This means he is one step closer to becoming a true expert-level potion master.

Because Ling Hongxue's foundation was insufficient, but due to his "get on the train first and buy the ticket later" approach, as long as he could fully master the three types of second-level potions, he could take the certificate exam, obtain the Golden Crown Mountain reward, improve his qualifications, and become an expert-level potion master.

Unlike the plethora of first-level potion masters, expert-level potion masters can elevate their status anywhere they go.

In Golden Crown Mountain, an expert potion master can elevate an ordinary second-ring wizard to the level of a moon-ring wizard!

Locke held up the potion bottle.

"The Spirit Stabilizing Potion, after being taken by a wizard, will completely stabilize the spirituality within his body. It is used to treat the Void Aphasia that occurs when a wizard is in the Void for a long time."

Normal life forms are life forms within a plane, and are fundamentally different from life forms in the void—void creatures.

The difference between void creatures and planar creatures is greater than the difference between planar creatures and stones.

When beings from different planes enter the void, their souls cannot adapt to the environment of the void for a long time, and their spirituality will become scattered and spread into the void. Eventually, the spirituality of the weaker individuals will completely scatter and turn into fragments.

Stronger individuals may also exhibit severe physical mutations.

Of course, that was the final stage of the void disorder.

However, the initial symptoms of the malfunction certificate can also be seen in wizards or other life forms, who may experience dizziness and a decrease in magical pressure while traveling through the void.

There are also cases where wizards cannot control their magic.

This is mainly because when staying in a void spacecraft, it is easy to use some magic arrays and the world principles of the wizarding world to allow individual wizards to maintain magical tides.

But spirituality is different.

Within the Void Flight Vehicle, the Void Flight Vehicle enters the void, which is equivalent to the wizard entering a spiritual vacuum.

The void is void because the spiritual and material distribution in the Great Void is extremely limited.

Spirituality has the characteristic of spreading from highly spiritual places to places without spirituality. Therefore, if a living being stays in a spiritual vacuum for a long time, the spirituality of the living being will spread out.

The process of malfunction reaching its end is something that takes hundreds of years to happen, but certain symptoms will appear in the early stages.

Even if only a tiny bit of spiritual energy evaporates from a living organism, and it seems insignificant at first, the loss of some important spiritual energy can have a serious impact on the organism itself.

Therefore, the Spirit Stabilizer is a strategic resource and a form of hard currency.

Locke looked at the Spirit Stabilizer in front of him. "The effect of a second-circle Spirit Stabilizer potion, I remember, is a semi-permanent effect."

"Ordinary spirit-stabilizing potions can only sustain one journey. Coincidentally, my main body went to the Demon Hunter Division of the White Wizard Association with my senior brother Trajan a week ago to accept a mission, and I will be going to carry out the mission on a small void flying vehicle in the next few days."

"That way, I can try out my Spirit Stabilizing Potion."

Locke thought for a moment and immediately decided to take advantage of his remaining energy to refine another bottle, because his senior brother Trajan would also be going up on the flying machine at that time.

Since this time you specifically brought yourself.

Then I'll brew a bottle of Spirit Stabilizing Potion myself.

In any case, I also need to refine magic potions to improve my proficiency and enhance my perception of Ling Hong.

Moreover, one can use the materials to brew potions in the Forbidden Forest.

"I wasn't satisfied with the last bottle, so I'll make some improvements this time."

Locke pondered, "With my current magical power and energy, I can probably only refine it one more time. Then I'll need to take a long break."

"With the influx of primal force from the natural primal plane, my recovery speed far surpasses that of a typical second-circle wizard. Therefore, my clone only needs to rest for a day or two to basically restore its peak magical pressure."

Locke raised the crucible and spent another half a day working hard before he finally finished refining the second bottle of Spirit Stabilizing Potion.

Just as Locke put away the Spirit Stabilizing Potion, he heard the roar of some kind of wild beast, the sound of chains dragging on the ground, and the roar of the King of the Forbidden Forest from within the Forbidden Forest.

Locke, inside the research institute, was unfazed by such sights.

He has heard this kind of voice many times in the past three weeks.

At first, he even asked Silent Bee what had happened to the King of the Forbidden Forest.

Later, he got used to it.

"The high magic plan in the Starfield Sea seems to have caused a lot of unrest."

Locke pondered, "Take this Forbidden Forest in the southeast corner of the region, for example. Silent Bee told me that it's because the concentration of the magical tide has been increasing too quickly recently, causing some things that were originally sealed to start to stir."

"If it's like this inside the Forbidden Forest, what about other places?"

Will there be more riots in other places?

Locke recalled that when the Holy Grail was silent, Mystic Heaven had not sent any wizards to observe the competition.

This is extremely unusual. It seems the chain reaction triggered by the High Magic Project is beyond my current comprehension.

Locke walked out of the research institute and looked at the two bottles of potions in his hands. He saw a powerful Potions Mastery Realm appear in the Forbidden Forest, supporting the two bottles of potions.

"The Forbidden Forest contains the Root Realm."

Locke looked toward the source of the sound of chains dragging on the ground, the place where the King of the Forbidden Forest resided.

"There must be a high-level potion master in the Forbidden Forest, either the King of the Forbidden Forest or someone else. His existence has caused the Forbidden Forest to develop a Root Realm."

"However, the King of the Forbidden Forest is full of secrets. He himself does not like others to pry into his secrets. So let's leave it at that for now."

During this time, Locke attempted to make contact with the King of the Forbidden Forest.

In any case, befriending someone suspected to be at the third-level (in the Three Rings) level is definitely not a bad thing, especially since he plans to use the Forbidden Forest to build his own research institute base here.

But the King of the Forbidden Forest never showed his face.

He had only met him once.

After that, it was always the Silent Bee Fairy who communicated with her.

The King of the Forbidden Forest seems to resist meeting outsiders, and he is uninterested in anything outside the world except his own secrets.

Although he didn't want to admit it, Locke found that even as a ferocious beast, it was difficult for him to arouse the other party's interest.

I don't know if it's because of the other person's personality, or because I'm only from the second ring road.

Locke sensed a disturbance from a second-level magical pressure not far away.

"Hmm? Jugglus has finally arrived. He's so fast, he just got off the wizard airship and came here."

"You can tell he's in a hurry."

Locke donned the Dragon Rose, which clung seamlessly to his body, strengthening his dragon bloodline. He then flew swiftly toward that location.

"Silent Bee Fairy, please have mercy, this person is my... student."

In the distance, three ancient tree-people of the second ring level could be seen; they seemed to be the talking trees.

They possess a mysterious energy.

When the wizard Jugglus Juggler fought against them, that strange energy, like some kind of vibrant wild energy, kept flowing into his spell models.

The wizard Jugglus looked terrible because his spell model couldn't withstand that kind of energy for long before it shattered.

This place is like a resistance against civilization.

The orderly spell model will soon fall into chaos under the impact of that energy.

This made him fight cautiously, even afraid to use his ultimate magic, lest the energy surge into it and cause serious consequences.

That would really kill you.

Because of that strange energy, who knows if it will be difficult to remove after entering into a powerful magic spell, or even be strengthened.

The wizard Jugglus's face was extremely grim. He was afraid that Locke had tricked him and wanted him to come to this infamous special forest to die.

The mysterious Forbidden Forest has caused countless wizards from afar to perish.

One more of him is not too much, and one of less of him is not too much.

Upon hearing Locke's voice, Wizard Jugglus was overjoyed, for this at least confirmed that Locke was not deceiving him.

Wizard Jugglus looked at Locke and said, “Researcher Locke, these tree-men are really strange. They have a special energy flow, and my spell models simply cannot stabilize in this environment. Because they are so special, I dare not use powerful magic.”

"Even my permanent defensive field was affected by it."

Locke glanced at him, his forehead revealing tiger eyes, looking down at him as if gazing at prey.

Ok?
The symptoms are similar to those of aphasia, except that aphasia is the spread of one's own spirituality to the outside world, while in this case it seems that one's own spirituality is being affected by some very powerful natural force from the outside world.

'The Forbidden Forest has been able to exist independently for so long, resisting the invasion of high-ring wizards; it must have its own trump cards.'

Locke pondered, 'However, judging from the situation, it seems that giving him a second-level Spirit Stabilizer might solve his problem. But perhaps it's better to pass; potions are too expensive.'

'I just wanted to use him to help me solve the death energy pollution problem in the Forbidden Forest, and to get him to help me get a blessing from the Tree of Words from the fairy. Let him overcome it himself.'

Locke glanced at the three-headed tree-man and thought, "I've struck gold."

If Jugglus Juggler really helps her and solves the problem, according to the agreement, the fairy will bless her tree spirit once, and then she will be able to obtain a tree spirit with this special energy.

That's incredibly powerful.

Even if it's just a blessing for myself once, I've already gained something.

At this moment, when the wizard Jugglus looked at Locke, who was draped in the Demon Dragon Rose and resembled a four-headed black dragon, he shuddered slightly. For some reason, when he looked up at Locke, who was towering above him with tiger eyes on his forehead, he felt a little afraid.

Like prey being targeted.

'It's probably just my imagination.'

The wizard Jugglus Juggler pondered, "I'm being far too sensitive. I suspected Locke was setting me up the moment I entered the Forbidden Forest. Now I even suspect Locke is using me as prey."

Locke said to the three tree-people, "These are my students. Please step back."

The three tree-people immediately exchanged glances, then looked at Locke with awe, sensing the aura of World Tree leaves emanating from him.

The three tree-people immediately said, "Respected Lord Locke, we are very sorry for mistaking your student for an intruder. We are truly sorry for saying a lot of threatening things to him earlier."

"We're leaving now."

The three tree-like figures slowly departed.

The wizard Jugglus Juggler was stunned.

what's the situation?
Can tree-people talk?
What the heck is going on?

Although second-circle wizards have a whole host of spells to enlighten treants, those spells only grant treants their bestial nature, not the most important 'human' soul.

'Language is a hallmark of civilization. Are the Shuren people civilized? Are they an intelligent race?'

The wizard Jugglus Juggler was dumbfounded.

"Impossible, that's...it's highly unlikely."

"Unless you use the Master's Dragon View Peach King, who can bestow humanity upon a beast!"

The Silent Bee Fairy's apology came from beside Locke.

"Ah, I'm so sorry. Because of the large number of dark wizards entering the Forbidden Forest before, I strengthened the treants in the Forbidden Forest and almost accidentally killed your student."

“Those are the Wild Surge, energy stored deep within the Forbidden Forest from ancient times of barbarism. Wild Surge energy can increase the number of wild beasts, but it suppresses the power of humanity. Alas, if I hadn’t suspected that the little wizard was related to you, Lord Beast, and thus slightly blocked these talking trees, I fear that the little wizard would have died.”

Locke nodded slightly, not telling Jugglus Juggler what the Silent Bee Fairy had said.

After all, it wouldn't be appropriate to tell Jugglus Juggler that he had almost died.

'I never imagined the Forbidden Forest would be this dangerous.'

'In other words, the very heart of the Forbidden Forest is likely teeming with primal, untamed energy—the raw, untamed state of civilization. Even an ordinary wizard would likely face death simply by venturing into its core.'

Locke looked at the wizard Jugglus Juggler, "Jugglus, you've arrived. I've reached an agreement with the Forbidden Forest; it took some effort."

"There are also some considerable costs involved."

Locke waved his sleeve, and the wizard Jugglus Juggler's eyes immediately filled with self-reproach and guilt.

Yes, Locke managed to keep him safe and conduct research in such a dangerous place. How much effort did Locke put in behind the scenes?
The wizard Jugglus even thought Locke was incredibly generous.

Locke said to him, “You may move freely in the central area of ​​the Forbidden Forest, but you must not damage a single tree or blade of grass here, and you must not do anything unnecessary. Otherwise, the Forbidden Forest will rage, and you and I will both lose our lives.”

The wizard Jugglus immediately assured him, "Okay."

He was still shaken by the three-headed tree-man he had just encountered.

"Wizard Locke, don't worry, I know what's important. The first rule when venturing into the wilderness is to follow the rules."

"Don't worry. I know. Locke, you're so generous. I never expected you would actually provide me with such a research environment. From now on, you're my friend, Jugglus Juggler. You must share in any articles I write because of this."

The wizard Jugglus followed behind Locke, and the two freely traversed the Forbidden Forest.

Looking around at the forest, which had returned to peace and seemed completely safe, Jugglus was filled with admiration.

At this moment, some second-circle spell models within his sea of ​​consciousness actually malfunctioned.

That mysterious energy was really strange.

When it filled the air, it seemed as if some functions of his soul were suppressed.

This terrified him.

It felt like a fish coming to land, or a bird landing on the ground.

He couldn't wait to get out of that environment.

Locke smiled at Wizard Jugglus and said, "We are all researchers at Golden Crown Mountain, students of the same teacher, and people from the same academic lineage. Your well-being is my well-being. Classmates don't lie to each other."

"Jakula, this is where the death energy pollution occurred. You can investigate it."

The wizard Jugglus looked longingly at the land, while putting on a small, portable breeding device—an electromagnetic magic mirror monocle.

Locke glanced at the equipment.

The wizard Jugglus explained, "I borrowed this equipment from the group leader of Group 1. This way I can make better observations. There's no other way; it's impossible to bring the electromagnetic magic mirror over when conducting field research."

"This function is a bit weak, but it'll do for now. After all, it's the wilderness, so the conditions are a bit harsh. However, only second-ring wizards are qualified to borrow it, and there's a long waiting list. The usage fee for one use is 500,000 magic stones."

"The advantage is that I can borrow it for a long time, and since I'm not going back, I don't have to pay it back."

"True death energy pollution falls under the category of elemental soil evolution. Excellent! Excellent!"

(End of this chapter)