Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 181 Sophia the Witch's Last Mission

Inside the shop of the Historian's House, Locke looked at the old man McCarthy's introduction and fell into deep thought.

Based on the abilities demonstrated by the old man McCarthy, archaeology is not just about exploring forgotten ancient magical knowledge.

It has a huge supporting role in various fields.

For example, in battle, one can investigate the opponent's background; in tracking and counter-tracking, one can eliminate one's own tracks or find the tracks of others; or in the fields of potion-making and breeding, one can have many methods that can be applied in different areas.

Becoming an archaeologist is entirely beneficial to me.

As for whether it will distract you, that's a matter of trade-offs and balance.

However, if archaeology is related to the ancient bloodline within one's body and whether it can enhance one's physical body to use more forbidden drugs, then studying archaeology will not only not distract one's attention, but may even accelerate one's journey to becoming a formal wizard.

Although this conclusion is somewhat counterintuitive.

Moreover, becoming an archaeologist would definitely require investing a large sum of magic stones.

Locke attempted to place the Tombstone Codex, an introductory book to archaeology, into his astral ring, but he discovered that this was an impossible operation.

Locke glanced at the Tombstone Grimoire with slight surprise. This grimoire was covered with a lot of dark magic, probably because some of the spells could not be placed into the astral plane.

'The knowledge transmission within the dark wizarding society relies heavily on spellbooks, so they use various spells to enhance ordinary spellbooks, creating what are known as glyphs.'

'This grimoire is extremely valuable; it's likely that it was deliberately enchanted to prevent any wizard from easily stealing it using an astral ring.'

Locke nodded to McCarthy and said, "Thank you, old friend. I'll return the grimoire to you in a month."

McCarthy said, "Okay."

After saying goodbye to McCarthy, Locke quickly returned to his residence.

After Locke left, McCarthy walked to the shop entrance, his gaze fixed on the direction Locke had disappeared in. "It's rare to encounter a young man in the white wizarding society who is researching the bloodlines of ancient creatures and is actually producing results."

"That's rare."

……

When Locke returned to his residence, he was surprised to find a forest elf maid waiting for him at the door.

Upon seeing him approach, the forest elf maid bowed to Locke. "Lord Augustine, my master sent me to find you."

Locke asked her indifferently, "What did the teacher want to see me about?"

Locke was puzzled. Sophia had been so busy lately, with her academy missions and the teaching qualification exams in the Starfield Sea, so why would she suddenly come to find him?

He hadn't seen Teacher Sophia for a while.

The forest elf maid said in a panic, "I don't know. My mistress said she would wait for Lord Augustine in her office."

Locke nodded slightly. He first returned to his residence, placed the Tombstone Grimoire in his study, and then left for Sophia's office.

……

In Sophia's office, a hint of joy was clearly in Sophia's eyes, and her smile widened when she saw Locke.

"Locke, you've come."

"I really have to thank you this time."

Locke asked, "Teacher?"

Sophia the Witch raised her hand, gesturing for her to finish. "In the three years since I became a formal wizard, I have applied to many wizarding organizations in the Starfield Sea, but they have all rejected me."

"It's really not easy for a formal wizard in the Southeast Corner Region to gain a foothold in such a large place. Originally, I might not have passed this recruitment assessment, because there were several formal wizards from overseas regions with similar qualifications to me, but I surpassed them in terms of talent cultivation."

Sophia the Witch's gaze was filled with admiration. "Because Locke, you advanced to become a first-class wizard apprentice within two years and passed the exams for potion-making assistant and formal breeder within six months, you have been recognized as an outstanding talent over there." "Even if the wizarding organization in the Starfield Sea doesn't recognize many things from the Southeast Corner Region, your speed of magic level advancement is real, and the exam content for potion-making assistant and formal breeder was actually confirmed by the White Wizard Association's superiors in the Starfield Sea."

"Therefore, these two exams are highly valuable and are recognized by the wizarding organizations on the other side of the Starfield Sea."

The witch Sophia smiled and said, "You've really done me a great favor this time. Research results, talent cultivation, magic level, and titles are the four key areas in the teaching staff evaluation."

"Because of you, I am considered to have special talent in the field of talent development."

Locke laughed. "Congratulations, teacher."

"Teacher, what's the name of the wizarding organization that admitted you?"

The witch Sophia produced a letter bearing a gold seal depicting numerous towers. "It is from Parthenos, the City of a Thousand Towers."

"This wizarding organization is considered powerful even in the Starfield Sea. The reason I joined this organization is that the City of a Thousand Towers is essentially a super-large university alliance composed of more than a dozen comprehensive magic universities."

“This wizarding organization places great emphasis on talent development,” Sophia the witch said with a smile. “Because of you as a student, I have a significant advantage in this area.”

“Under normal circumstances, young wizards like me, who don’t stay in this academy, rarely have students as outstanding as you. My competitors are all formal wizards from outside the Starfield Sea, so my advantage in this area is very prominent.”

"In the end, I just wanted to give it a try, but I didn't expect it to actually succeed." The witch Sophia raised her head and smiled at Locke, "The Starfield Sea is a vast place, and the Southeast Corner is just a small corner of this magical world."

"To the mortal world, this place is enormous, but to the Starfield Sea, it is just a small corner, much like the mortal world you once inhabited."

“I didn’t mean to insult your hometown, Locke, you know what I mean…”

Sophia the Witch became serious. "For geniuses like us, it's impossible to stay in one small place forever."

"We will continue to move forward along the path ahead."

"Let me, your teacher, go explore the Starry Sea for you first. I'll try to establish a career there. After you graduate from the academy, if you're interested, you can come and help me."

The witch Sophia explained, "The Starfield Sea is of an extremely high level. It is a mid-to-high magic environment, and it is considered one of the top-tier mid-to-high magic environments."

"Very close to a high-magic environment."

“Even in the wild, an ordinary creature there could threaten the life of an apprentice wizard. So, without a formal wizard's magic level, I don’t recommend you go there beforehand.”

"Moreover, the round-trip cost is extremely high. Even ordinary formal wizards may experience a financial collapse there, thus falling into poverty, having neither the money to return nor the ability to survive normally there."

Sophia the Witch said, "Wizard apprentices there can only become people under the protection of full-fledged wizards. If you were mediocre, I wouldn't think it would matter if you were under my protection. But Locke, you are not."

"Locke, I really hope you can come and help me when the time comes."

"As you've learned over this period of time, every formal wizard has a network of relationships behind them, it's just a matter of how big or small that network is."

Locke nodded and asked, "Okay, teacher."

"But the prerequisite is that I can become a formal wizard before I can go to the Starfield Sea. By the way, teacher, are you leaving now?"

Sophia the Witch shook her head. "That's why I called you here."

"I have obtained the position of official wizard instructor in Parthenos, the city of a thousand towers."

"But I still have to complete the last task that Lilith House gave me before I can leave Lilith House."

"It's reasonable, I guess. This can be considered my graduation task."

Locke asked in confusion, "Then, teacher, what is the last task?"

Sophia the Witch looked up at Locke and said, "The equivalent price for leaving Lilith's Hut as a formal wizard is to kill another dark wizard who is also a formal wizard."

"My target is Rashid Taril, a formal wizard-level cursed mage of the Blood Curse Tribunal."

(End of this chapter)