Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 824 The Pale Giant and the Secret of Golden Wheat from Three Thousand Years Ago
Two days had passed since Locke placed the mature blue foxtail grass into the diluted yellow mushroom essence for the fifth time.

When Locke carefully placed the magical plant into the magic field to cultivate it, in an instant, the magical plant began to absorb light from the outside, plunging the entire 10th floor into darkness.

Many wizards on the 10th floor looked in the direction where Locke was.

Just a moment ago, Locke's mutated 'Green Foxtail Grass' using the Yellow Mushroom Essence actually stole the light from this place.

Locke's pupils suddenly contracted, because when the 'Green Foxtail Grass' absorbed the light emitted by the magic lamps on the entire tenth underground level, the entire 'Green Foxtail Grass' turned completely golden.

"This could be a key plant factor in golden wheat."

Locke said, "The green foxtail grass may still retain a very crucial factor of golden wheat. Therefore, when the yellow-clothed mushroom reverted to its ancestral form, at that moment, this magical plant, which I had mutated halfway, stole all the light here."

Locke raised his right hand and was quite surprised to find a problem.

"Will the brilliance of my magical power also be taken away?"

He looked around and saw that all the wizards on the tenth underground floor looked surprised.

Because the magical radiance that constantly enveloped them was now being stolen away by this 'green foxtail grass'.

At this moment, it seemed as if some ancient grandeur from the boundary between darkness and light had been revived.

The next moment, the gold of the 'Green Foxtail Grass' suddenly turned blue, and the 'Green Foxtail Grass' seemed to lose control in an instant, like an infinitely long blue dog tail, and then lashed out fiercely in the direction where Locke was.

'Boom~'

Locke had not expected such a sudden turn of events. The Life Force Field Permanent Defense Force Field Shell and the green dogtail grass whip clashed fiercely with magical sparks.

Because this magical plant had been strengthened to the point of nearing the second ring, reaching the limit of the first ring, its current loss of control and sudden attack on itself were like a wizard in the decline of his soul attacking his own spell model, only the damage conversion efficiency was not as high.

The moment the green foxtail grass whip hits itself, all the tiny needle-like conical inflorescences on it, which are the parts that resemble a dog's tail, are exposed.

Its surface was covered in bristles, which had turned almost entirely blue, and it attacked Locke.

'Ding-dong~'

Some bristles, comparable in hardness to the Time Crystal, shot directly into his pupils.

'Click~'

The permanent defensive force field shell clashed with the bristles, resulting in the bristles breaking, while the permanent defensive force field shell only rippled and soon returned to calm.

Locke was speechless.

If he weren't a second-ring wizard, but only a first-ring wizard, he would already be a one-eyed dragon.

what happened?
Locke looked at the green foxtail grass that had turned completely blue and was rapidly dying. He walked over, but the next moment, the green foxtail grass that had been lying on the ground suddenly rose up, and two green foxtail grass leaves cut towards him like propeller blades.

Locke frowned. His permanent defensive force field and life force field automatically spread out, forming a semi-circular force field that enveloped him and protected him.

The blade struck the force field and shattered weakly.

The Sith wizard's voice soon came through.

"Locke, what happened? Did someone attack you?"

Locke hesitated for a moment.

"No, the experiment went out of control."

The Sith wizard said, "How can conducting basic research on plant drought resistance mechanisms be like a battle?"

Mason Witch and two others also rushed over from the tenth underground level.

Locke blushed slightly, knowing that the Sith wizard was mocking him.

Locke said, "Team leader, don't worry. It's alright."

He looked at the green foxtail grass on the ground, his tiger eyes wide open, carefully observing the demonic plant that had suddenly gone out of control.

wrong.

something wrong.

Locke looked at the foxtail grass lying on the ground, dying.

Even now, with his tiger eyes, he couldn't see anything unusual, but Locke pondered that the magical plant characteristics that had just stolen the light from the entire first-floor laboratory must have been a combination of various magical plant factors.

There are at least three or more.

That's a special magical plant factor that can even steal the magical radiance from a wizard.

It matches the characteristics of the second-ring magic plant golden ear wheat.

According to the information about the Starfield Sea library that Witch Sophia gave me, Golden Wheat was originally a mature magical plant, specifically a Sun Ring Magical Plant. During its development, it gradually evolves from a Second Ring Magical Plant into a powerful Star Ring and Moon Ring Magical Plant.

'Later, this magical plant began to be lost.'

'At the boundary between light and darkness lies a collection of lost artifacts. This demonic plant acted very strangely just now; it had clearly restored one of the key plant factors for Golden Wheat, but just as it was about to recover, it suddenly went out of control and began attacking me.'

Locke looked at the monocle of sunlight that the witch Mason was wearing, and then he said directly to her, "Mason, could I borrow that monocle?"

Mason Witch paused for a moment, but without thinking much, she immediately took off her monocle and handed it to Locke, saying, "Boss Locke, here you go."

Locke took the monocular and looked at the dying green foxtail grass. At this moment, the foxtail grass's tail-shaped inflorescence was still moving weakly on the muddy ground.

It seemed to want to attack Locke, who was approaching it.

Locke used a grafting knife to cut open the stem of the magical plant, then bent down and adjusted the magnification of the monocular lens of the Sunlight Magic Mirror. He first saw the cells inside the wound of the magical plant.

Next, Locke examined all the cells of the magical plant.

Sure enough, he discovered that the cells of this magical plant were releasing some kind of special message.

Locke frowned.

"As expected, an unexpected mechanism has occurred. Hmm? These messages... why do they seem so much like a negative energy particle field?"

What kind of magic is based on negative energy particle fields?

The only magic Locke could think of was necromancy.

Could it be that the disappearance of the golden wheat at the border between darkness and light was related to some kind of necromancy?
Even if a typical breeder discovers this anomaly, they would be helpless at this point in the short term, because they have little knowledge of necromancy.

But at this moment, Locke extended his five fingers, and a special negative energy particle field appeared on each finger, and a legendary history book appeared behind him.

The negative energy particle field combined to form a spell model.

History repeats itself!

I'm also an archaeologist!

"I can read any negative energy particle field. Let me see what this is!"

Locke stretched out his five fingers and pressed them onto the green foxtail grass.

"Borrow a day from the past five hundred years. Let me see the truth of history."

The green foxtail grass suddenly released a magical glow.

In an instant, Locke entered the past model he had constructed.

The next moment, Locke opened his eyes and found himself in a wheat field made of golden ears of wheat.

"This... is the border between darkness and light, right? No, this isn't the current border between darkness and light."

Locke looked up at the sky and saw an enormous sun hanging in the sky at the boundary between light and darkness. It looked as if it were made of gold, and it was incredibly large.

This is the boundary between the past and the future, at its most prosperous time! Back then, the golden wheat had not yet disappeared.

Locke looked at his body, his pupils suddenly shrinking.

Because he was not in human form, but maintained the true dragon form of a three-headed golden dragon.

At the same time, a rumbling sound arose from the ground, like a continuous earthquake. Locke looked into the distance and saw a 'giant' appear, a giant that seemed to connect heaven and earth, its head reaching the sky and its feet firmly planted on the ground.

But this 'giant' turned out to be a huge skeleton.

His cloak was made of white bones, his battle robes of skulls, and his crown of white bones. The giant held up two palaces in each hand.

One palace was built from piles of bones, and the other was made of obsidian.

Both palaces have plaques, but they are too far apart to be clearly seen.

The giant skeleton's jaws closed repeatedly, emitting a peculiar sound, seemingly a spell, which caused countless undead to surge towards the boundary between light and darkness, surrounding the wheat field.

The skeletal giants held up the two palaces with their bare hands, followed by a massive undead army far larger than the Scourge itself.

"this is……"

Locke's clone left the makeshift laboratory in his dormitory and used the "One Tree Cannot Support" technique to control the Demon Dragon Rose, rushing towards the library of Golden Crown Mountain like a shooting star, and found the Ackerman Troll.

Locke tossed Ackerman, the troll wizard, a pair of Bloodwave Wizard Shoes that he had crafted himself.

The Ackerman trolls rejoice at their prey.

“That’s exactly the size of my feet, Locke. I’ve never told you the size of my feet.”

Locke said, "The Pure Magic Plant Wizard Shoes have the ability to automatically adapt to the size of a wizard's feet, which is not difficult for me. Ackerman, these are the wizard shoes I made for you, try them on."

With a satisfied smile, Wizard Ackerman said to Locke, "Locke, thank you."

"You have a heart."

"No one has ever cared about the troll wizard's shoes."

Wizard Ackerman asked Locke, "Locke, is there anything you want to know?"

Locke asked, "I want to ask if there are any skeletal giants that support the palace, standing tall and firm, whose every sound causes a chain reaction of dimensional power, and whose every step feels like death is approaching."

Wizard Ackerman tapped his head with his thick blue fingers.

“I do recognize the thing you’re describing. I remember now, the Pale Giants, the Pale Lord’s personal guard.”

"Yes, that's what you're talking about. Those pale giants were all modified from the Titans of other worlds. Titans are a kind of divine life form born from a part of the Heart of a Plane, and they are born with some of the authority of gods. The Pale Lord once transformed a group of powerful Titans into his personal guard, which is the Pale Giant Knights."

"These pale giants usually appear carrying magical palaces crafted by the Pale Lord, palaces that are themselves top-tier necromancers. However, pale giants haven't appeared in the wizarding world for a long time. Where did you read about them?"

Locke paused for a moment, then nodded.

It's not wrong to call it a book.

The only difference was that what I was reading wasn't a magic book or a grimoire, but rather the book "Negative Energy Particle Field".

The Ackerman troll wizard said, "Under normal circumstances, the Pale Giant Knights will only appear when the Pale Pilgrimage activates the [Pale Catastrophe]. The Pale Giants lift up those great undead palaces as if they were lifting up the Root Realm with one hand."

Locke instantly realized the significance of those words.

Because the root realm of Yunze Wetland is not something that an ordinary second-ring wizard can lift up.

It is the Root Realm that is supporting the Wizard, not the Wizard that is supporting the Root Realm.

But the Pale Giant is essentially a Root Realm that holds up a single hand, and the Root Realm then supports the undead.

Locke asked, "A double lift?"

Wizard Ackerman's eyes lit up. "It's so easy talking to smart people. Do you want to read the book 'Double Lift'? Oh, by the way, there's no such material in the free zone of the Second Ring Road; that's third-ring level material. In the Second Ring Road, almost all the materials are paid. And they're among the most expensive materials."

“Dual support, which is to support the same root realm or another root realm on the basis of a root realm, is something that at least a Sun Ring Wizard can do.”

Do you want to know?

Locke quickly replied, "No need. But Ackerman, when was the last time the Pale Pirates sent a Pale Giant into the Wizarding World?"

Wizard Ackerman said, "If the information I've read is correct, it was three thousand years ago. During those three thousand years, the Pale Pilgrimage has remained a low-intensity activity in the wizarding world. This is probably because the White Wizarding Association has become increasingly powerful recently, and the main area of ​​activity for the Pale Pilgrimage has shifted from the wizarding world to the various colonized worlds."

Locke asked, "When did the Border of Darkness and Light lose its status as the leader of the wizarding lands?" Wizard Ackerman replied, "Golden Crown Mountain doesn't have much research on this. It was at least ten thousand years ago, most likely fifteen thousand years ago."

"I don't know the specifics."

Locke asked, "Has the Boundary Between Darkness and Light ever clashed with the Pale Pilgrimage?"

The Ackerman troll wizard began to ponder.

"Why ask that? These are two completely unrelated things. The Pale Pilgrimage's main area of ​​activity is the Eastern Boundary, and their base is the Cloud Marsh Wetland. They were formed by necromancers who were ostracized by the White Wizard Association ten thousand years ago."

"He is a marginal wizard of society."

"The peak of the boundary between darkness and light occurred at least 10,000 years ago."

"The Wizard of Locke, the Boundary Between Light and Darkness, and the Pale Pilgrimage are products of two completely different eras. There should be no overlap between them."

Locke's expression changed slightly, and he calmly asked, "Does the library have any illustrations or detailed descriptions of the Pale Giant? I want to see it with my own eyes."

Wizard Ackerman chanted a spell, and a magic book flew into his hand automatically.

Yes, there is. You'll see.

Locke looked at the diagram in his hand.

That's right.

That was the Pale Giant.

Wizard Ackerman said, "By the way, all the Pale Lords are wizards who appeared within the last ten thousand years. And the first Pale Giant also appeared within the last ten thousand years. Locke, the Pale Giant and the peak of the Boundary Between Darkness and Light are two beings who could never come into contact."

Locke's eyes turned strange.

So, why would a pale giant appear in the negative energy field hidden within the plant factor sequence of that green foxtail grass?
I originally just wanted to participate in a small-scale competition, but I never expected that I might be able to publish a paper in a top-tier archaeology journal.

……

History is being reenacted.

Locke's physical body precisely controls the Modo language.

The pale giant standing on the horizon seemed to be charging towards the golden wheat field, and as he transformed into a golden dragon, a group of other golden dragons appeared around him.

The golden dragons seemed to be discussing something.

"We can't run anymore. No matter how much we run, we've been caught. Their persecution of us will never stop. The border between the Dark and the Bright took us in, but now they've even implicated us."

"Golden Ear Wheat is irrigated with the blood of the Golden Dragon and bred by the Golden Breeder in the borderland between darkness and light. As long as the wheat field exists, it will continue to protect our people."

"No. This is... Golden Wheat is degenerating. Impossible, this is the work of the Golden Breeder. Unless someone has betrayed us, why would Golden Wheat betray us?"

“We cannot run away. The border between darkness and light is the territory of the leader wizard of the Eastern District. We have no room to retreat.”

Suddenly, in this reenactment of history, all the golden dragons turned their gaze toward Locke.

"A three-headed golden dragon? Among dragons, the more heads a dragon has, the closer its bloodline is to that of the creator dragon."

"A three-headed golden dragon actually exists?"

Among the golden dragons was an unusual dragon with a dark gold body, which looked at Locke with greedy eyes.

"If I drink the blood of the three-headed golden dragon, my mixed blood will be purified, right?"

The next moment, a Sun Ring Aberration Dragon looked at Locke with malice, suddenly opened its mouth and bit at Locke.

Locke realized that the second-level historical reenactment spell model was getting out of control.

The special necromantic energy hidden within the blue dog's tail that caused the golden wheat to degenerate seems to have invaded its own historical reenactment spell model, causing the model to be inherently flawed and resulting in the inclusion of a character that should not have appeared in the spell model.

This is precisely where the risk lies in the historical re-creation of this spell model.

No magic can be without risk.

Before he could completely lose control of the historical reenactment and potentially perish in this field of negative energy particles, he abruptly interrupted the spell model.

"Goodbye."

Locke's figure was suddenly pulled out of the three-headed golden dragon's body, and his soul took human form and flew towards the sky.

Enraged, the aberrant dragon of the Sun Ring level stomped on the empty shell left by Locke and shouted to the sky, "Don't even think about escaping!"

Give me your bloodline!

'This is terrible. It's completely out of control.'

Locke realized that the historical reenactment before him was completely out of the control of his legendary history book.

Normally, an archaeological wizard wouldn't be able to make a spell model go out of control so easily.

It must be the intervention of that special necromantic energy that caused the golden wheat to degenerate that led to the extremely rapid loss of control. The mutated dragon in front of us was essentially evolved from that energy, and was not originally part of this negative energy particle field.

That day, the Ring-level mutated dragon suddenly became enraged, whipping away the golden dragons that were trying to stop him and protect Locke with its tail. It stretched out its dragon claws towards the sky and chanted an ancient dragon language magic spell.

Locke noticed a golden cloud appearing in the sky above him.

And from within the golden clouds appeared a golden palm with five fingers.

The golden palm fell from the sky.

This golden magic has a unique feature: it doesn't conceal its spell model structure at all, just like a game that has its source code open.

The golden palm seemed capable of intercepting souls. Locke was struck by it and felt as if he were standing on it. The next moment, the world turned upside down. When he opened his eyes, he found that the physical laws around him seemed to have been completely reversed.

Heaven is earth, earth is heaven, head is feet, and feet are head.

Everything was overturned.

This is a Sun-level Gold Magic: Sephiroth's Grip!

Locke looked down and saw greed in the eyes of the Sun Ring-level aberration dragon.

"I knew you were suspicious a long time ago. You're actually a human with the power of a true dragon, hahaha, eating you will greatly benefit my bloodline."

Locke's expression changed slightly. Within Sephiroth's Grip, everything was reversed, so all his power was reversed, making it impossible for him to use his power at all.

and many more.

Locke realized that this magic could not reverse his Great Magic and Permanent Defensive Field Shell, seemingly because the foundation of both spells was that World Tree Leaf.

At the same time, the pale giant in the distance suddenly stretched out an arm toward them, "Sin Dragon. From the past, present, and future, you should not exist."

The golden wheat fields were tinged with green, and the green fields covered the hillsides, indicating a severe degeneration of the magical plants.

The degenerated magical wheat field seemed to make the Sun Ring-class aberrant dragon very uncomfortable.

Moreover, the pale giant and the golden dragon were fighting, which gave Locke an opportunity.

'Why did that pale giant suddenly help me? No, he wasn't helping me; he was afraid that the mutated dragon would eat me, enhance its bloodline, and increase its power.'

'Or rather, the forces behind these giants and the forces behind these mutated dragons should be two separate forces. This historical reenactment appears to be a war between the Golden Dragon Clan and the Pale Giants, involving two opposing forces, but in reality, three forces should be hidden behind the scenes.'

Locke deduced from this strange behavior that there must be three forces at play, otherwise such a bizarre situation would not have occurred.

Locke reacted quickly, rapidly assessing his current power—those that hadn't been affected yet, and those that had been reversed.

Next, he readjusted the spell model of the historical reenactment, forcibly controlled the spell model, and terminated the spell.

Within the Grip of Sephiroth, Locke summoned the Demon Dragon Rose, which flew swiftly within the golden hand, searching for any opportunity to escape.

Finally, he managed to fly out through the gaps between the fingers of that golden hand.

At that moment, Locke's consciousness traversed the bizarre and fantastical [History Reenactment] spell model and returned to reality.

"Cough cough cough..."

Locke coughed up some blood. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and found that the blood had turned a pale gold color.

He looked at the green foxtail grass in the magic field over there.

The demonic plant had completely withered.

'Damn stupid dragon.'

Locke frowned.

"I remember that golden spell was Sephiroth's Grip. I read about it in a book before. It's an extremely powerful golden spell, belonging to a secret lineage. However, I just remembered the spell's model roughly."

It was mainly recorded through archaeological magic.

Mason Witch, Barrett, and Freya approached.

The witch Freya asked Locke, "Team leader, are you alright? We just saw you walk into a magical light, and when you came out again, you seemed to be injured?"

The wizard Barrett looked at the withered magical plant, then at Locke, marveling at the wonder of archaeological magic.

Locke shook his head.

"I'm fine, there was just a slight mishap during the experiment."

The ancestral green foxtail grass unexpectedly encountered something it hadn't anticipated.

The degeneration of golden wheat into green foxtail grass seems to be not a natural occurrence, but rather an artificial one.

Locke guessed, "Plans can't keep up with changes. This is troublesome."

"The green foxtail grass contains a mechanism that suppresses the expression of plant factors in golden wheat. Yellow-skinned mushroom extract can disrupt this mechanism to some extent, but not entirely... Should I start with the golden foxtail grass?"

Golden foxtail grass is a second-level magical plant.

To make the experiment easier and save money, I initially planned to start with green foxtail grass.

But now it seems that this plan is not feasible.

"I have an agreement with the Xiaoxi Cup tournament committee office. Therefore, this project must be completed within three months and submitted to this year's Xiaoxi Cup."

Locke's expression changed slightly. There was nothing he could do; that's how research is—it's always full of surprises.

Locke pondered, 'But conversely, why did the green foxtail grass later evolve into golden foxtail grass? What happened in between? Perhaps if I figure this out, I can successfully achieve atavism.'

Locke said to Mason Witch, "You two should go and work on your pineapple magic plant project first."

The three of them also needed to select useful air plant varieties for themselves, which was very important as it concerned their future plans for wizard shoes and was also related to their first-class foundation project.

Locke said, "Don't worry. I can handle this."

Mason Witch nodded. "Okay, Locke. By the way, Locke, a second-circle wizard named Droma came looking for you earlier. He seemed to want to meet with you."

Locke glanced at Mason Witch.

Zhuoma?
Is he the villain that Brandy mentioned, the one who likes to secretly sabotage other people's experimental results and trick them into leaving the station?
However, that's just one person's opinion, and it shouldn't be taken as gospel.

Locke nodded.

Did he say anything?

Mason Witch said, "He said it. He wants you to design a pair of second-ring wizard shoes especially for him."

"That's a very strange request, isn't it?"

Locke nodded.

"It's not that strange. Although I'm a breeder, a lot of my recent research has been on making pure magical plant wizard shoes."

(End of this chapter)