Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 65 Rotten Fern and Parasitic Chicken Blood Vine

In the port city, Locke used a magic stone to hire a carriage driven by three centaur brothers.

The purchasing power of magic stones is extremely high in mortal society.

Because he needed to leave the port city and head to Ashgra, a city located deep in the mountains within the territory of Lilith's Hut, Locke needed some reliable stablemen.

The three centaurs each put a rein on their shoulder, then put all their strength into pulling the carriage along the country road toward the city of Ashgra.

Inside the carriage, Locke sat reading the information about the mission the academy had given him.

First, within the territory of Lilith House, there are many kingdoms, and even empires. Second, there are many lords who do not belong to any country and are loyal to Lilith House alone.

Ashgra is such a city.

Ashgra is located in the Ashgra Mountains.

The mountain range contains many rare magical plants that grow naturally, as well as three magical mineral veins, the most important of which is the Mingjin Crystal mineral vein.

That is a necessary auxiliary item for using the magic model [Explosion].

At the same time, this ore is also a key auxiliary material for the [Echo Barrier] spell in the first ring. At least in the early stages of its construction, tens of kilograms of this ore are required.

In other words, Ashgra is an important resource point for Lilith's Hut.

However, recently, the lord of this city reported to Lilith's Hut headquarters that a large number of residents in the city have developed a special condition of quadriplegia and facial deformities, and that treatments from the mortal world have been completely ineffective.

Therefore, Lilith's Hut believes that this may be the cause of the plague outbreak, which may have been caused by some kind of wild magical plant from the Ashgra Mountains invading the city.

That's why he was sent to investigate as a breeder's assistant.

To prevent Ashgra from spiraling out of control and causing the mortals who entered the mountains to pick magical plants and mine magical ores to be unable to continue their original work.

The Golden Crystal is still relatively important to Lilith's Hut, which is currently embroiled in a wizarding war.

After all, the Blood Curse Court has a large number of wizarding apprentices who have transformed their bloodline into vampires, and the Trick Model Explosion spell is precisely their nemesis.

Locke glanced at the investigation results of an ordinary second-tier wizard apprentice sent out from Lilith's Hut. The apprentice initially suspected that there might be two types of magical plants causing this situation—

One is the fern fern, and the other is the parasitic chicken blood vine.

Inside the carriage, Locke perused the report, which was riddled with errors, and shook his head slightly. "This second-class wizard apprentice is studying the body transformation magic of the Transfiguration school. She knows nothing about plant science and may not have taken any general education courses on all things. Therefore, her report is not of much value to me."

Locke pondered, “The rotten fern was completely extinct in the wild fifty years ago, and although the rotten fern can cause spores to paralyze the face of ordinary people, leading to deformities, it does not cause paralysis of the limbs.”

"As for the parasitic chicken blood vine, that's utter nonsense. That kind of demonic plant has limited reproductive and parasitic abilities. Although it can indeed parasitize the bodies of mortals, gradually replacing their spines and causing paralysis of the mortals' limbs and facial deformities, the way to identify it is too simple, and at most a few cases will occur."

As a breeder's assistant, Locke made several quick judgments and matched the two main symptoms with the magical plants in his mind.

“No wonder the academy assigned this task to me,” Locke thought. “Ordinary second-class wizard apprentices don’t have the relevant knowledge; even if they went, they would only cause trouble.”

A red glint flashed in Locke's eyes. Due to his vampire syndrome, his pupils had turned completely red, and his sense of smell and taste had become abnormal, completely different from those of ordinary humans.

But this is only temporary.

After all, he hadn't actually become a vampire. It was just that due to the effects of the Crimson Echo potion, his mental strength seemed to be fluctuating and increasing, sometimes at 195, sometimes about to break through and reach 200.

During this process, Locke felt his spiritual power and magical power being constantly compressed inward, forming something like a shell around his soul.

In other words, when one's mental strength was about to reach 200, a change occurred in the physiological structure of mental strength.

This change put a lot of pressure on him, causing his magical power to become very chaotic.

"The biggest difference between a first-class wizard apprentice and other levels of wizard apprentices is that a first-class wizard apprentice possesses magical pressure." Locke felt the changes in himself. His boiling spiritual power was like a wave with nowhere to go, searching for a direction to release that enormous power. And that direction was to make his soul generate a magical pressure structure.

"To become a first-class wizard apprentice, one must withstand this change in mental power. If I fail, I will need to break through again."

“Many second-tier wizard apprentices fail time and time again in this breakthrough process, and ultimately fail,” Locke pondered. “But with the Crimson Echo Potion concocted by my teacher, my mental strength can be increased by at least 15%, so the formation of a magical pressure soul structure is inevitable. It’s just that I will have to suffer a bit in the process.”

After all, it involves recreating the soul structure, forming a soul structure completely different from that of mortals.

Two days later, Locke arrived at his destination.

He looked toward a city nestled in the mountains, its heart a cluster of blue fortresses surrounded by streets and residences.

Ashgra has more than a dozen mountain roads connecting the city to the outside world.

At that time, the lord of this city, Lord Ashgra, was already holding a welcoming ceremony a kilometer away from the city to greet him.

The ceremony was quite grand.

Soldiers lined the road to welcome him. Lord Ashgra bowed to the carriage where Locke was and said, "Your Excellency Wizard, Ashgra City is ready to welcome you. A grand banquet has been held in the city to welcome you."

Locke stepped down from the carriage indifferently and said to the middle-aged man in formal attire, Lord Ashgra, "Take me to the plague zone immediately. Skip all the other formalities."

“I’m here simply to investigate what’s happening in your city and, on behalf of the academy, to resolve the problems within your city.”

Lord Ashgra looked at Locke with awe, and a glimmer of hope flashed in his eyes when he heard that Locke would solve the problems of his city. "Thank you, esteemed wizard."

“Thousands of people in the city have already developed that… terrible illness, as if it were a punishment from God.”

"It's as if we've been cursed by the heavens. During this time, people from other cities have stopped coming to Ashgra. Ashgra's life as a commercial city seems to have been cut off."

"Thank goodness you've come."

Lord Ashgra said excitedly, "My lord wizard, please help us."

Locke remained seated in the carriage, somewhat impatient, and said, "Take me to the plague zone immediately."

Lord Ashgra immediately dispatched soldiers to lead Locke to the quarantine zone within Ashgra city.

Locke sat in the carriage, opened the curtain, and saw dozens of wild, semi-demon plants hidden among ordinary wild plants.

"As expected of the Ashgra Mountains, it is indeed rich in wild magical plants. Perhaps I can also gain something here on this journey."

“It can’t be some kind of divine punishment. This is the territory of Lilith’s Hut. There’s nothing here that wizards can’t study and solve.”

(End of this chapter)