Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 273 Special Permanent Defensive Field Magic
Locke fought for an unknown amount of time in the Eternal Twilight Garden, even using up all the [Skin Energy Plug], [Cycas Purple Intoxication], and [Spirit Spring Soul Surge Potion] he had prepared for the last great battle. Yet, he had left the area in front of the manor full of rubble.

Fragments of memories belonging to a first-ring wizard flooded into his mind and became Locke's own.

From these fragmented memories, Locke even pieced together what the first-circle wizard's permanent defensive field was: the first-circle magic of the Transfiguration school, [Stone Legion].

Therefore, as long as he is in a certain place, the statues and stone statues in that place will automatically be given a [continuously changing form], thus gaining the [ability to move] enough to destroy any enemy.

Even if there are no statues in a place, this formal wizard could use Transfiguration magic to easily create the statue he wanted out of thin air using the surrounding materials.

This is the power of the Permanent Defense Field spell. Even though they are both first-level spells, the Permanent Defense Field has very low energy consumption and extremely fast casting speed because it occupies an important part of the wizard's soul structure—the magical pressure level.

The type of permanent defensive force field magic often determines a large part of a wizard's combat power.

Many wizards learn and develop spells after the first level of the Path of Rebirth that are designed to enhance their permanent defensive magic.

This is something Locke realized during his battle in this secret realm.

When the clock tower chimed for the third time, time was reset once again.

Driven once again by the spell model of "All Plants Are Soldiers," the Black Lock Bamboo Sword clashed with the two-handed greatsword in the hands of the expressionless angel statue soldier.

Locke realized that the other party's overall level had indeed improved.

This makes it quite difficult for me to deal with even a small stone statue soldier.

However, as things stand, these stone statues that have been reset for the third time are still within my capabilities to deal with.

Locke retreated rapidly, but for a moment, he froze. 'This feeling is…'

'These statues have transformed three times! Is there no limit to the enhancement of the [Stone Legion], the permanent defensive force field of a first-ring shapeshifter?'

'Why can time within the secret realm be reset time and time again? This secret realm follows the magical rules of that first-ring wizard from his lifetime, and this isn't even his prime. Calm down, the Transfiguration school shouldn't have the true ability to alter time. The fact that it can now change time must be because this is a secret realm.'

"We must think calmly to find a way out; this is the true meaning hidden behind this secret realm."

During the battle, amidst the rapidly changing circumstances, a layer of invisible magic adhered to the Black Chain Iron Sword in Locke's hand. This magic acted like a rubber band, connecting the rare magical plant in Locke's hand with the two-handed greatsword in the hands of the angel statue soldier, and began to stretch as Locke retreated.

When stretched to its limit, the invisible rubber band, conjured by the transforming magic, suddenly yanked, pulling Locke himself directly towards it.

At the same time, two stone statue soldiers that had transformed into eagles attacked Locke's chest with their sharp claws, trying to kill him.

At the critical moment, Locke took out three Rotten Earth Aromatic Arums from his Astral Ring and used the [Mayfly Flower Cannon] to bombard the statue soldiers with the three rare magical plants. He also used Scorched Earth Bombs to blast away the attacking stone statue soldiers.

Locke seized the opportunity, his innate demonic eye on his forehead sweeping over the statue soldier who had used shapeshifting magic to lock himself in place, and blasted it into pieces.

In this way, the super rubber band formed by the transformation energy between it and itself can be broken without any attack.

Otherwise, it would be too troublesome to deal with; one would either have to give up the magical plant in their possession or be led by the nose by the other party.

An even larger fragment of memory fell into Locke's mind.

Locke's gaze sharpened. "I see, I understand now."

"The strength of the stone statue soldiers driven by the transformation magic has its limits. The stone statue soldiers cannot keep getting stronger. Although three transformations seem incredible, they cannot be that powerful. So, it is actually me who has become weaker."

Locke looked down at the manor and saw a huge Transfiguration magic circle rising from the ground. "The essence of Transfiguration magic is to change form, so even I am being constantly changed."

"Time holds a very unique and important place in Transfiguration magic. Time is a 'ruler' for measuring whether an object has changed shape." Locke recalled the basics of Transfiguration magic through his Lesson on All Things. "Everything changes within the scale of time; without time, there would be no change."

"Therefore, all the time changes I felt before were hints of magic within this secret realm, and my perception of time was subtly altered within this magic circle."

“Similarly, my strength and speed have been slowed down by this magic circle’s continuous alteration of my form.” Locke pondered, “This is an advanced application of shapeshifting magic. It’s a first-circle spell called ‘Weakening Array’ that this first-circle wizard used to strengthen his permanent defensive force field magic, ‘Stone Legion,’ before his death.”

"Unfortunately, even within this echo, this first-circle spell is incredibly weak. It's so weak that even I can't handle it."

Locke is now very excited. In this secret realm, it's as if a first-ring wizard is fighting him in a mentoring battle, inspiring his thinking, forcing him to think, and unlocking his wisdom.

In a way, this is the true meaning of this secret realm to the wizards.

Locke, too, only realized it without realizing it.

First-circle wizards' time is precious, and not everyone can enjoy it. A first-circle wizard dissects his own magic and wastes so many resources on himself, just to teach himself the way of first-circle magic.

Locke enhanced his flying magical plant by harnessing the bloodline of ancient creatures, increasing its flight speed. He then circled the manor three times and ceased all attacks.

This unusual behavior left even the watchful wizards observing in secret feeling somewhat bewildered.

"What's going on? What's that kid up to now? Has he given up?"

"That saves me the trouble."

"It's already transformed three times. This time, the Wizarding Realm has consumed a lot of magical resources. Trouble. If it weren't for Harun Vera's sake, I would have kicked him out long ago."

"That little girl didn't even make it past the first round. That's more like the fighting level of an ordinary white wizard. This kid's fighting level makes me think he's an undercover agent from the black wizards' side."

The guardian wizard saw Locke circling in the air several times, and the group of stone statues flying behind him was getting faster and faster, about to catch up with Locke and leave him with no way to avoid it. Suddenly, Locke made a sharp turn and crashed directly into... the clock tower in the center of the manor!
The guardian wizard was alarmed. "Oh no, what is he planning to do!"

"stop it now!"

At this moment, above the secret realm, Locke's eyes were resolute, his pupils had completely turned into vertical pupils, and his combat intelligence had been activated to the limit.

While comparing himself to this first-ring wizard from afar, Locke pondered the crux of transfiguration magic—the ruler.

Every shapeshifter has a yardstick to measure whether they are changing. Without this yardstick, they cannot tell whether they have actually changed.

Only if this ruler still exists will the shapeshifting magic not go out of control. Many shapeshifters have been permanently transformed into some kind of magical creature because their ruler has disappeared.

The invention of the ruler in Transfiguration magic greatly enhanced its combat effectiveness and safety. However, destroying the ruler would severely disrupt or even destroy the magic. Locke, during the battle, was constantly thinking about how to destroy his opponent's ruler.

And the ruler the other party is most likely this clock tower in front of them.

With its own offensive power, it is very likely that it will not be able to destroy the clock tower, so it will rely on this army of stone statues that no longer have anyone to operate and are running automatically.

Locke's burning pea bullets were all blocked by a magical shield on the surface of the clock tower. Seeing that his magical attack could not break through the clock tower, Locke deliberately canceled his flight spell, causing him to fall directly from the sky and plummet to the ground.

Like a meteorite.

However, this also allowed them to avoid the stone statue army that was chasing them from behind in the air. Because Locke was very close to the clock tower, the raptors that the stone statue army had transformed into were unable to stop and, with their momentum and stone claws, attacked the clock tower directly.

'Boom~'

The stone claws of the stone statue legion collided with the clock tower.

The wizard guarding the magical mist was practically seething with rage. "I'm doomed! He's a student. Even if he damaged the secret realm, does he really have to pay for it? Impossible. But I'm the one who has to pay."

"Is this kid going to smash up the secret realm I'm guarding?"

"Is he still the honest, law-abiding white wizard?!"

The guardian wizard hurriedly used magic to try to maintain the secret realm, and continuously activated the magic circle to draw more magic power from the Sunflower Garden into the secret realm, attempting to maintain it with a large amount of magic power.

The strain of this moment was almost driving the guardian wizard mad.

At the same time, Locke had instantly dispelled his flight magic while high in the air, so he essentially fell directly from a height of 100 meters. He climbed out of the mud pit and rubbed his face.

Because of the ancient biological bloodline modification he underwent, he wouldn't die even if he fell from a height of 100 meters, and he wouldn't even suffer fractures, only soft tissue contusions in many parts of his body.

He looked up and saw that the clock tower at the highest point of the manor was indeed beginning to collapse.

Locke watched this scene with great interest. "What will happen?"

"This shapeshifter is a formal wizard. Does he have any other tricks up his sleeve?"

"Sparring with a first-ring wizard was so much fun and broadened my horizons."

Because the clock tower was partially collapsed, the stone statue army's magic went out of control. The foundation of modern shapeshifting magic is different from that of ancient shapeshifting magic. Ancient shapeshifting magic did not have a ruler system, but the current shapeshifting magic system has a [ruler].

As soon as the ruler fell, the transformation magic began to collapse on a large scale.

The individual statues of this legion began to shatter one by one.

Countless crystals burst forth from the bodies of these stone statue soldiers; some were triangular, some were cubes, and some were polygons.

At the same time, fragments of memories flooded into Locke's mind as if they were free, greatly enhancing his understanding of first-ring wizards in a short period of time.

In fact, because so much information flooded in at once, a lot of information was lost.

Locke had a sudden inspiration. He took out the bottle of Eye Lord Potion from his Astral Ring and drank it directly.

I've already memorized the recipe and cooking process for the Eye Demon Lord's Potion, so there's no point in keeping it. I might as well drink it and boost my mental strength.

Moreover, the Eye Demon Lord's Potion has a side effect: it can enhance one's mental sensitivity and perception to a greater extent than the Eye Demon Potion itself. This is precisely what will be useful when one is processing these numerous memories.

In an instant, Locke suffered the immense side effects of the Eye Lord potion. His perception of himself completely changed to that of an Eye Lord floating in mid-air, and he quickly acquired all of those memories.

With the help of the Eye Lord's potion, Locke noticed many fleeting, tiny fragments of memory that would otherwise be impossible for a wizard apprentice to detect.

"Ok?"

"Is this the Variable Ring Permanent Defense Force Field Research Project? A top-tier research project from Lilith's Hut five hundred years ago?" Locke seized the fleeting moment and quickly grasped the important information from this complex and fragmented information.

"This is a wonderful surprise. I never expected to have such a gain."

Locke, amidst the infusion of this vast collection of memory fragments, supplemented his perception with an unusual fragment, thanks to the extremely enhanced senses provided by the Eye Demon Lord potion.

Locke learned from this fragment of memory that five hundred years ago, Foucault had worked with a first-ring crystallized wizard from Lilith's Hut on a dangerous but interesting project: to develop a shapeshifting, permanent defensive force field for first-ring wizards.

By combining shapeshifting magic with plant magic, they are attempting to find a type of permanent defensive force field magic that can, to some extent, alter their own botanical defenses.

This project is very meaningful. If it succeeds, it will be an experiment that changes the existing pattern of the southeastern region.

The significance of a permanent defensive force field spell that can relatively change itself is unimaginable; it could completely transform Lilith's Hut into a sanctuary of botanical magic.

However, the experiment in this project ultimately failed.

Moreover, that top-tier project caused a huge ethical crisis.

Because in that special project, Foucault and another first-ring wizard, Clive Reeves, actually used a large number of first-ring wizard apprentices' souls for experiments, and even experimented on the souls of some of their first-ring wizard colleagues without their knowledge.

This led to a serious incident in which several wizards died, and the laboratory was eventually sealed off.

However, Locke learned from Foucault's memories that their experiment was very close to success, but they could not solve the last problem [the problem of a closer connection between magical plants and wizards] until the very end, so the experiment kept failing.

In addition, the serious ethical crisis at the time ruined their reputations, and they could only die in despair amidst the failure of their research, a fact that Foucault regretted until his death.

Furthermore, according to the association's requirements, his memories of this experiment were originally to be erased by a first-ring wizard of the Mind School using special magic.

This is the association's punishment and requirements for him.

But Foucault, using a special first-order transfiguration spell, managed to transform and hide this part of his mind, and also concealed the specific location of his and his colleague Clive Reeves' research site within this memory.

(End of this chapter)