Wizards: Starting as a Potions Master!

Chapter 85 Dominant Species Determinism

In the mushroom forest, Warwick was deep in thought, pondering the location of the three keys to the Tree of Life. "Young master, you don't seem to be in a hurry at all."

"If we get stuck here for a long time, we'll be in a very passive position."

Su Nan was certainly not in a hurry, because for a potion-making wizard to enter the laboratory and cemetery of a formal botanical wizard was like a dragon swimming in the ocean.

Su Nan has even used the plant information currently collected and entered to have the AI ​​deduce several potion recipes that are difficult for second-level wizard apprentices.

However, these were all auxiliary potion recipes that were not very useful to him at the moment, so Su Nan did not immediately set up the crucible and start refining these potions.

This maze also contains higher-level insects and magical plants, making it entirely possible to discover even more recipes.

Entering this maze by myself was a huge stroke of luck.

Su Nan even wanted to stay here forever.

Even the Oak Wizard, the creator of this labyrinth, probably never imagined that his ruins would attract a Potions Wizard, and that the labyrinth he set up to protect his wizard tower and tomb would help this Potions Wizard grow rapidly.

Sunan said to Warwick and Vasilyan, "I now have a pretty good understanding of the design concept behind this maze."

"Although I don't know why the Oak Wizard gave hints to solve this maze, the entire Four Seasons Garden is a giant ecosphere, forming an ecosystem completely different from the outside world. Logically, plants and fungi are producers and decomposers, and this entire ecosystem actually represents the Oak Wizard's magical path!"

At this point, Vasilyan and Warwick felt as if they were listening to gibberish.

Does this reveal the Oak Wizard's magical path?

Su Nan continued, "The Oak Wizard emphasized the importance of plants as producers, believing that plants are the most important element in an ecosystem. So you see, the sunlight here is produced by plants, and the water is also produced by some plants."

"Fungi, specifically these mushrooms, are responsible for decomposition."

"And what is another crucial element in maintaining the ecosystem? It's the consumers who consume the producers!"

"That is, the insects in this garden."

"These insects limit the number of plants by eating them, preventing them from growing too much and requiring more and more energy, which would cause the entire ecosystem to collapse. Therefore, insects are essential."

"But why would the Oak Wizard reverse the original food chain between insects and animals?"

Warwick and Vasilian were completely dumbfounded; their current situation was no better than that of the werewolf messengers and werewolf deacons transformed from hounds.

Warwick awkwardly forced a response from Su Nan, "So...so?"

Sunan said, "Because the Oak Wizard dislikes consumers—insects, animals, and so on. But because an ecosystem must simultaneously have decomposers, consumers, and producers, as well as sunlight, water, and land, he also needs to introduce consumers into this ecosystem. Therefore, he introduced insects and refused to let normal consumer animals become the dominant species."

"As a formal wizard, the Oak Wizard should understand one thing—the dominant species determines the survival of an ecosystem."

"This means that the stability of an ecosystem depends on the top predator in that ecosystem, the organism at the top of the food chain. Therefore, dominant species should be the most important part of the ecosystem."

Su Nan glanced at them and explained, "For example, we're a werewolf gang, so we'll use wolves as an example."

"On the grassland, there is a flock of sheep, a pack of wolves, and grass. But if the wolves disappear, the sheep will overpopulate, eat all the grass, and then the sheep will become extinct. So in this model, the number of wolves suppresses the number of sheep. If there are too many wolves, the number of sheep will be eaten until there are too few, and the wolves will die because they cannot catch food, until the wolf pack is reduced to a certain number, allowing the sheep to grow again."

Su Nan said, "Therefore, the dominant species determines the fate of this world, and the strong decide everything. The Oak Wizard knows this, but he is stubborn by nature. His magical path is rooted in the producers—plants, so he completely resists consumers, even though there must be consumers in this laboratory."

"He reversed the relationship between dominant and disadvantaged species."

"In the entire ecosystem of the maze, only the insects have a very abnormal position, so I can speculate that the key must be among the insects."

"In my opinion, to leave this maze, we need to hunt down a specific group of insects that eat certain plants and see if we can find the key in their corpses."

Although Warwick and Vasilyan didn't understand the details, they did understand Sunan's last few sentences: the key was to be found among the insects.

Warwick muttered, "If the Forsaken and the Cultists, along with the Church, have been trapped in the labyrinth for a very long time, then the young master solved the puzzle in less than an hour..."

"Doesn't this mean they're somewhat...?"

"Cough cough cough..."

Su Nan shook his head. "This was originally a labyrinth set up by wizards. It's normal that sorcerers and the church can't see it; they simply can't imitate the way wizards think."

"But..." Su Nan felt something was off. "The way this maze is set up is like an oak wizard choosing his apprentices."

"Let's see who can understand his path of magic."

Warwick chuckled, "Young master, perhaps this really is the test that wizard set up before he died to select his apprentices. If so, you'll surely pass."

Su Nan shook her head; she already had her own path.

Moreover, while he could guess the Oak Wizard's magical path and his magical philosophy, he simply couldn't agree with them.

No wonder he remained a first-ring wizard his entire life.

This absurd theory of magic completely contradicts the truth.

Su Nan suddenly realized something.

This is why the Oak Wizard created the Garden of the Four Seasons—he wanted to simulate an ecosystem here, to find an ecological world dominated by producers, or even one with only producers and no consumers.

But as it stands now, it seems the Oak Wizard never found such a thing until his death.

……

On the other side of the Four Seasons Garden, in a broccoli patch where each floret is as big as a small car, there are many ladybugs the size of bicycles on the broccoli.

Rachel Komnenos raises her scythe, relentlessly destroying all the broccoli around her with her indifferent winds, and killing ladybugs.

"Damn it, damn it. Three months have already passed. Three months wasted! We're still wandering around in this damned wizard's labyrinth, and I'm a three-star bloodline sorcerer, equivalent to a first-class wizard apprentice!"

"Is the gap between me and these so-called official wizards really that big?! I don't believe it, I don't believe it! I'm going to fight my way out!"

The winds of indifference formed small tornadoes that swept through the broccoli garden.

The scythe in the hands of the green-haired Rachel Komnenos simultaneously emanates the fire of anger, the water of chaos, and the earth of foolishness, along with the wind of indifference.

Four special elements belonging to the energy world have gathered on a scythe.

A one-star bloodline mage and a two-star bloodline mage hiding nearby were both startled.

The two-star bloodline sorcerer cried out in terror, "Lord Komnin, you absolutely mustn't use that spell in this place, at this time! We'll all die!"

"Lord Komnen! We're too close to you, Lord Komnen, we're comrades..."

Rachel Komnenos had intended to sneer and berate him, asking how he dared to call a three-star bloodline sorcerer his worthless comrade-in-arms.

But suddenly, she looked in a certain direction and saw the corpse of a golden-spotted ladybug that she had killed split open in mid-air, and then a small golden key fell from its body.

Rachel Komnenos immediately stopped casting her spell, withdrew her hand, and landed lightly back on the ground. Curious, she walked over and picked up the golden key that had fallen to the ground. "I've been hacking away for three months, and I've finally gotten something interesting."

"interesting."

"This wizard's ruins are the most interesting and powerful I've ever seen."

"No wonder it's the legacy of a first-ring wizard."

"It seems there are other keys among these insects."

"To get out, we need to collect a certain number of keys. I don't know how many, but it doesn't matter. We can just spend another three months cutting out those keys. Once we have a goal, all that's left is time."

"This maze can no longer hold me."

(End of this chapter)