Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 179 Tombstone Grimoire
McCarthy shook his head slightly. "I don't know either. After all, I'm just a beginner in archaeology and ancient biological bloodlines. I haven't seen the special bloodline you have either. It should be an ancient magical creature with very powerful metal as its main element and compatible with elemental particles."

"In the end, the bloodline of someone who possesses a high degree of compatibility with gold element particles cannot be simple."

"That's not exactly a common talent."

Old man McCarthy sensed Locke's magic power and was slightly taken aback. "Your magic power has improved remarkably in the past six months."

"By the way, what brings you here today? Is there anything I can do to help you?"

Locke stated his purpose directly. "It's like this, I have a high compatibility with negative energy particles, around level 3."

"That's why I want to study archaeology. You know, I'm particularly interested in figuring out what the ancient biological bloodline in me is, and I'm also very interested in transplanting ancient biological bloodlines."

Locke gave a vague answer.

McCarthy was, after all, just a shop owner at Chimera Market, not a first-class wizard apprentice at Lilith's Hut, so Locke didn't want to reveal too much of his own information to him.

As for the compatibility of level 3 negative energy particles, most people cannot distinguish whether it is Locke's primary compatibility attribute or secondary compatibility attribute.

It might even be argued that this is Locke's general compatibility attribute.

After all, to those who don't know the inside story, Locke's advancement speed is very fast, and he may have level 6 or even level 7 aptitude.

Therefore, the fact that the dark attribute energy particle only has a level 3 aptitude is likely because it is just a general compatible attribute particle for Locke.

McCarthy nodded. He ran a crash course in archaeology, so he often encountered white wizard apprentices with a slight affinity for negative energy particles.

This is not surprising.

However, white wizards generally do not have a high degree of compatibility with negative energy particles.

McCarthy said, "Well, level 3 aptitude is enough if you don't want to specialize in it and just want to get a general understanding."

"I also have some apprentices here who have level 2 or even level 1 negative energy particle compatibility talents."

"Old friend, if you want to understand the bloodline within you, or if you want to transplant more ancient creature bloodlines to enhance your combat power, or even some of your talents, then studying archaeology is definitely the right choice."

McCarthy seemed to have found a kindred spirit, and he spoke at length. "For researchers of ancient biological lineages, archaeology is definitely the most efficient research method."

"But in the end, it's just a research method."

McCarthy said, "The main content of archaeology, a magical discipline, is to explore the magical knowledge that has been left behind in history and has never seen the light of day."

"From sealed ancient ruins to buried magical knowledge, or ancient magical devices, ancient biological fossils, and ancient plant specimens hidden in seemingly ordinary deserts, these are all within the scope of our archaeological research."

McCarthy said with great interest, “I once found the magical tomb of an ancient first-ring wizard in the Black Wizarding Lands—no, I once found it in some remote and desolate place in the southeast corner of the region, while I was exploring.

"That's a legendary story. We archaeologists are here to outwit and outmaneuver the wisdom of the ancients, and then unearth it from the ancient tombs, so that this knowledge can be revitalized in this era!"

Locke raised an eyebrow, a strange expression on his face. "Found the magic tomb?"
Good heavens, this archaeologist is practically a tomb raider from the magical world! Locke volunteered, "I'll pay you a thousand magic stones."

To be honest, the cost of this crash course for archaeologists is indeed quite expensive.

A course costs 1,000 magic stones, which is equal to the total cost of eight courses at the second-level wizard apprentice level, and equal to the total cost of two courses at the first-level wizard apprentice level.

McCarthy waved his hand. "What's the point of talking about money? That's just how I am. If I like someone, I won't take a penny. If I don't like someone, even if they offer me money, I won't want to take it."

“You are an old friend of mine. I rarely encounter wizards who study the bloodlines of ancient creatures in the White Wizarding Society, so I won’t charge you. If you are interested, you can come to my accelerated learning class.”

McCarthy said, "If I have to give you anything in return, it's that you have any research findings that we can discuss together."

"In the White Wizard Society, there is relatively little research data on this topic, and research has stagnated. If this continues for too long, the level of research may even decline to some extent."

"I need a friend who is at a similar level to me, to discuss and compete with me. Of course, it is difficult to find such a kindred spirit in the white wizarding society."

Locke hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

McCarthy clearly possessed a unique quality that distinguished him from ordinary dark wizards and ordinary white wizards.

White wizards generally don't do work for free.

Locke said, "Alright then."

McCarthy laughed, “I’m delighted to have another wizard in this chimera market who could potentially become a fellow professional.”

McCarthy handed Locke a spellbook shaped like a tombstone. "This is an introductory book for archaeologists. In the dark wizarding world, it's called the Tombstone Grimoire."

"I'll lend it to you. Take it back and take a look first, but remember to return it to me after a month, and you can't show it to just anyone. The Tombstone Grimoire contains special black magic that can only be opened by one person. If it is opened by a second person other than you, that person will be cursed by the black magic hidden inside."

“Similarly, you can’t copy any words from the Tombstone Codex,” McCarthy said. “The first step in learning archaeology is to learn the language of negative energy—Modo.”

Seeing Locke's questioning look, McCarthy extended a finger, where a great deal of negative energy gathered. "The reason why negative energy particles are the most likely to leave behind information among all magical particles is because negative energy particles are the most inclusive type of magical particle."

"It is also the magical particle most easily affected by external factors."

"You must be very curious about what negative energy particles are, and in the white wizarding community, there are basically no courses that explain this clearly."

McCarthy confidently stated, "The foundation of negative energy particles is the dark element particle, one of the seven fundamental particles. There are seven basic particles in this world: wind, water, fire, earth, light, darkness, and then ether. These seven particles can combine with each other, or one type of particle can form different composite large particles, to create all sorts of particles."

"Negative energy particles do not refer to a single type of particle, but rather to a class of particles. There are a great many types of these particles, with about 210 common ones."

"The Tombstone Codex contains a periodic table of 210 types of negative energy particles. Dark energy particles are the most easily affected by external pressure, temperature, and magical energy. Therefore, each type of energy will cause corresponding changes in the dark energy particles."

"So-called archaeology is a magical discipline that has been developed using this property of dark element energy particles as its core."

(End of this chapter)