Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 849 Second-Ring Medium-Level Trap and Dark Enchantment

Locke sent the message from "Southern Gold" trying to recruit him to his senior brother and asked if it was reliable.

At this moment, in the dark world...

The nameless wizard walked through this strange world with over ten thousand shades of black. His entire body was also stained black, though there were different shades of black on his skin. He looked like he had been through a lot and was covered in dust.

The darkness of this world stained his body and assimilated his demonic pressure.

A dark titan wielding a skull scepter walks across the land, his every step causing the earth to tremble and all the demons and monsters in the darkness to perish with each step.

The Dark Titan was as large as a mountain, and when he traveled, he was accompanied by an army of countless servants, all of whom were his retinue in this world.

The Dark Titan suddenly spoke, "Wizard, you've been fighting me for so long. Aren't you tired?"

"Return the sacred artifacts of this world to me, and I will let you leave. Otherwise, I will find you sooner or later, and you will not be able to leave this place."

The nameless wizard's expression remained unchanged.

He looked at the small, silvery flower in his hand, which resembled a teardrop. "If my hypothesis is true, then the [Nightfall] above Sunshadow Peninsula is connected to the Dark World. This magical plant is proof. At least it could allow one of my students to become a Moon Ring Wizard. Hmm…should I give it to my junior brother?"

"Forget it, he's still just an ordinary second-tier city resident. Even if I give him this hypothetical scenario, he won't be able to use it. Do you expect me to wait for him for decades? Besides, he has a teacher personally arranging his development plan. If I interfere arbitrarily, I'm afraid I'll anger the teacher."

At this moment, the Dark Titan suddenly uttered a terrifying demonic sound, like countless evil spirits wailing in hell, or like a demon god in the darkness uttering seductive words.

The entire world was thrown into a frenzy by this dark, demonic sound. One after another, demons and monsters were forced to cover their ears, or their eardrums would tear, altering their very nature and transforming them into something else entirely...

These natives of the Dark World could not withstand these demonic sounds and could only travel to other smaller worlds under the Dark World's control through the dimensional portals of the Dark World.

The Dark Titan laughed heartily, and the army behind him chanted dark magic incantations along with him. These incantations clashed violently with the nameless wizard's permanent defensive force field.

The nameless wizard's mind was constantly being challenged.

He wanted to say his name.

He wanted to give his name to the dark world.

“Almost all the darkness in this world is under the control of the Dark Evil King,” the nameless wizard pondered. “These demonic sounds are not attacking my mind, but controlling the darkness that has become one with me.”

The nameless wizard's immense magic caused black ink-like drawings to appear all around the peach tree, attempting to corrupt it.

Everything was black, except for this peach tree, which still retained its color.

Under this influence, even though the nameless wizard tried his best to control himself, his lips still moved slightly, and then he uttered one syllable at a time.

"Nameless...surnameless..."

The Dark Evil King showed a look of surprise. In an instant, he stopped chanting the demonic incantation, and the million demons and monsters behind him also immediately stopped chanting the dark demonic incantation.

The Dark Evil King said, "Nameless? It's impossible for a person to be without a name. A name is the cheapest tool for you to connect with the essence of the world. Where have you put your name? You wizard of the Nightmare Legion, I will definitely keep you here."

He continued chanting the demonic chant, and the million-strong army behind him also began chanting the demonic chant.

The darkness of the entire world joined in the chanting.

However, when the Dark Great Evil King approached a certain area, he suddenly stopped, because what lay ahead was no longer his territory in the Dark World, but the territory of other Dark Great Lords.

"The Sorrowful Flower, though merely a reflection of the essence of my Dark World, ultimately contains its fundamental secrets." The Great Dark King gazed into the darkness ahead. "For millennia, only our Dark World has invaded other worlds; never has another world invaded ours."

'Today, I have been humiliated by this wizard. I will avenge this!'

'He possesses the Sorrow Flower from my Dark Territory. He must either leave this world, abandoning the Sorrow Flower, or return to my territory, take my Sorrow Flower, and leave this world. I will not let you go. Nameless Wizard.'

The nameless wizard, leaning on his cane, saw the great evil king of darkness standing motionless on the border. He knew he had won his gamble.

The Dark Lord is indeed not the sole ruler of this world.

The Dark World is a world far larger than the wizarding world could have imagined.

The nameless wizard pondered, "That's not right. The previous explorers confirmed that there is only one Dark King in this world, namely the Dark Great Evil King whose specific title I just figured out."

"He does not consider himself a god, but rather the deepest evil in the Dark World. However, in many planes of the endless void, he is referred to as the God of Darkness by those who worship darkness. We believe that it is because of the existence of such a being that the Dark World is a large-scale plane."

"But what if he isn't the only Dark Lord here?"

The nameless wizard's face showed a thoughtful expression. "The Dark World is likely a higher-level plane. No wonder, even though I'm a Sun Ring wizard, I was chased like a drowning dog in this world. That Dark Great Evil King must be at least a Third Ring wizard in strength."

"Unfortunately, I dare not get too close to him, so I have no way to measure his specific magical pressure."

"It's hard to say whether he's a Throne-level wizard or close to a fourth-ring wizard."

Ultimately, he was a plant hunter, not someone who came to destroy the Dark Evil King, nor could he possibly do so.

This guy is backed by the power of the Dark World, a world whose depths are unknown. Even if his own teacher came here, he would probably suffer a loss on his home turf.

"Hmm? Holding this demonic plant, I can't escape the Dark World in this area? This is troublesome." The nameless wizard gazed into the distance, where he saw the Dark Evil King still leading his army, patrolling the border.

Left with no other choice, he immediately got up and mingled into the mortal caravan of this world, entering a dark village.

Although the mortals of this world are seen as evil spirits in the eyes of other worlds.

The nameless wizard noticed that Locke was contacting him, so he took out the Ganoderma lucidum plant. He frowned and found that the originally emerald green Ganoderma lucidum plant now had a hint of black.

The nameless wizard frowned, never expecting that the darkness of this world had been tainted by magical plants from the wizarding world.

The nameless wizard saw Locke's message and replied, "Locke, I just saw your message. Are all the wizards in the South? I don't know much about Southern Gold. It was probably in District 2 before, and it was only recently promoted to District 1. Apart from journals that are related to me, I rarely remember the names of District 2 journals."

"However, there's one thing you should be aware of: the wizards of the Southern Wizarding Capital are different from those of wizarding lands..."

……

Yunze Wetland, Jinmian Mountain, Locke has returned to his dormitory.

Locke saw his senior brother emphasizing to him that the wizards of the Southern Wizarding Capital were the kind who could make any kind of deal with other wizards without thinking, just to achieve their own goals.

It can't be considered a lie, because in people's subjective impression, he really wasn't lying.

He's just talking nonsense.

In the end, it all comes down to you misunderstanding, mishearing, or him not remembering, and then the matter is simply brushed aside.

Many wizards in the Southern Wizarding Capital have these habits. Of course, there are indeed some white wizards there who are righteous, but they are more impatient. If they see a swindler, they might grab the person by the collar and beat them up.

This might be because they've been scammed too many times.

Locke saw his senior's message: "My experience dealing with them is to tentatively inquire with the wizards of the Southern Wizarding Capital whether they can exchange a portion of the trade terms in advance. If they can, then they genuinely want to do business with you. But if they can't, then they're just trying to scam you."

"You said that 'Southern Gold' promised you many things, but have you considered why they dared to leave you messages directly on the Water Hyacinth System? This can only mean one thing: the wizards of the Southern Wizarding Capital are practically unrestrained. When cooperating with these wizards who don't seem to care much about rules, you must learn to protect yourself."

Locke sent a thank-you message to his senior.

Luckily, I asked my senior brother one more question, otherwise I might have really been tricked.

The senior student from the Sun Ring lineage sent him another message: "By the way, I received news that the Tianhan River has breached its banks, causing a snowstorm along its shores. I'll arrange for someone to handle this, but you're practically a member of our lineage, one of our own."

'You need to be more careful. There's nothing you need to do, just stay alert.'

Locke replied, "Yes, senior brother."

In his dormitory, Locke sent a message to the wizard Solanas Mortes of Southern Gold. "Hello, wizard Solanas. If I agree to your request for an article, could you show me some information about the Black and White Grimoire in advance? Or perhaps a picture of the Black and White Grimoire would also be helpful."

Wizard Solanas Mortes replied quickly. "This... is difficult."

"The Black and White Codex is an important treasure of the Southern Witch Capital. Not to mention the information, even the photos are not easily lent out."

Wizard Solanas Mortes quickly sent another message. 'If you submit your work to Southern Gold, I can pay you 500,000 magic stones in advance. As your reward, Wizard Locke, what do you say?'

Upon seeing this, Locke immediately understood the other party's intentions.

If the Black and White Codex is a very important treasure of the Southern Magic Kingdom, and they can't even see a picture of it, then even if I submit my work to Southern Gold and it gets accepted, the chances of them giving me some of the information about the Black and White Codex are extremely slim.

Moreover, even if it were for oneself, one could simply give some useless scraps of information.

However, the other party wasn't entirely a scammer, because part of them was genuine.

His willingness to offer more conventional submission rewards shows that he is not entirely without sincerity.

It's just that their sincerity wasn't that great.

Or perhaps this is a characteristic of some wizards in the Southern Wizarding Capital—they tend to exaggerate their abilities when trading with others. Locke guessed that it was questionable whether the other party, as a Moon Ring Wizard from the Southern Golden Journal, actually had the ability to borrow the Black and White Grimoire from the Southern Library.

Maybe he never had that ability in the first place.

Once I actually submit my work, he can confide in me. Does he really think I can just buy a ticket and head straight to the Southern Witch Capital to settle scores with a Moon Ring Great Wizard?
Locke sent a message to Wizard Solanas Mortes: "Oh, I see. That's good. It's just that I've been busy with two Level 2 competitions and other things to take care of lately, so I haven't had much energy. I hope we'll have the opportunity to work together in the future."

Wizard Solanas Mortes messaged him a while later. "Alright. We in the Southern Gold Kingdom often open our doors to you; we need high-quality writings from wizards like you."

Locke put down the Ganoderma lucidum plant in his hand, but he didn't notice that a black mark appeared on the plant, and the black mark quickly faded away, as if it had faded.

Locke left the dormitory, mounted the Rainbow Sparrow, and headed towards the Feathered Serpent Pavilion. "It seems I can't expect to obtain the Black and White Grimoire through the Southern Gold. But the good thing is, at least I know the exact location of one of the Black and White Grimoires."

"Furthermore, I don't plan to delve deeper into my archaeology at this time. It's not the right time yet."

Archaeology, potion-making, and breeding are three disciplines whose content is too vast at the second stage, so he can only study potion-making and breeding at the same time first, and then consider studying the others.

Moreover, his primary focus is on breeding, with potion-making as a secondary skill. After all, he doesn't have a good potion-making apprenticeship.

Therefore, since Southern Gold has no intention of actually giving him a copy of the Black and White Magic Codex, he doesn't have a real need for it in the short term.

If you can get it now, then learn it now; if you can't get it now, then work on it slowly later.

At least for the sake of his own ultimate magic, he must rely on a sufficient level of potion-making and breeding skills, so improving these two aspects is his biggest goal at present.

Of course, archaeology involves ancient botany and the bloodlines of ancient magical creatures, as well as the secrets of that unknown catastrophe that wiped out most ancient creatures half a million years ago.

Therefore, I cannot give up.

As Locke sat on the Rainbow Bird, another thought crossed his mind. "The Starfield Sea has once again boosted the overall magical tides of the Eastern Realm, which is absolutely beneficial to me. First of all, it will be easier for me to advance to the Star Ring Wizard stage. At the second ring stage, the speed at which I increase my mana is at least twice as fast as before."

"Furthermore, the principle behind the Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow is that it mimics the dragon race by using plants, thereby gaining the dragon race's ability to control the magical winds. And at this moment, the concentration gradient of the magical tide has increased by three levels... This means that the Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow's basic abilities have risen several levels out of thin air."

Locke pondered, "The Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow is the best flying magical plant I cultivated at the first stage using the finite element cultivation method. Who would have thought that my technical approach at the time would happen to catch the right wind because of the Star Domain Sea's magic ascension plan, and suddenly become absolutely correct."

"If that's the case, then my chances of winning the Golden Cup will be even greater. Moreover, after the concentration gradient of the magic tide is increased, it might even increase the mutation speed of plants and shorten their growth cycle."

No, it's not just a possibility, it's a certainty.

Under the current high concentration of magical tides, apprentice-level magical plants at the first-class wizard apprentice level are likely to grow very easily.

As the number of apprentice-level magical plants increases, the number of first-ring and second-ring magical plants will also increase.

This means that the collective cost of magical plant cultivation for breeders will decrease significantly in the future.

Locke pondered for a moment, but for magic weavers and alchemists, the impact would be relatively small. For them, the cost reduction wouldn't be too significant.

Since the magical minerals primarily used by alchemists are buried deep underground and require a long time to form and materialize, the current temporary rise in magical tide concentration is unlikely to have much impact on the alchemists' materials science.

Similarly, whether magic weavers use underground mineral materials or biological materials, they cannot reduce costs overnight.

The growth cycle of magical creatures is much longer than that of plants.

Plants are the first energy receivers in the entire ecological environment, as well as autotrophs, and the first energy-locking structure network in the ecological environment for intercepting energy.

Locke's expression turned strange. "In other words, the current policies of the Starfield Sea are favorable to botany and breeding? There should be at least one high-level botanical wizard in the Starfield Sea, right?"

"Forget it. The current situation is in my favor anyway. Next, I just need to keep playing matches, winning championships, and then publishing articles to increase my magic pressure."

"The teacher's task cannot be forgotten. It's time to release the second wizard shoe design. Moreover, I need to keep releasing new works to ensure that my Augustus Wizard Shoe Shop Alliance will remain in everyone's memory forever."

Because of the Starfield Sea's Ascension Plan, what was originally a tentative alliance of wizard shoe shops has actually become a real and practical future development direction.

This luck...

Locke pondered that if he had chosen to focus on negative energy back then, and studied the doctrines of curse masters or mediums, he would have missed out on this current opportunity.

Making the right choice is so important.

The key is that sometimes the choices we make may seem right in the short term, but wrong in the long run.

Sometimes, a choice may seem right in the long run, but wrong in the short term.

Truth and falsehood, reality and illusion, until the very last moment, no one knows who the victor will be.

He landed at Dragonblood Market and entered the Feathered Serpent Pavilion. The green dragon half-dragon shopkeeper immediately became extremely respectful upon seeing Locke enter. "Congratulations, Mr. Augustine."

"You will become a second-circle wizard, and in the near future, you will become a respected second-circle potion master."

"Please go ahead. I am no longer qualified to receive you."

Behind him stood a silver dragon woman, even taller than him. This silver dragon woman, the shopkeeper, was a second-circle wizard. She nodded slightly to Locke. "Hello, Mr. Augustine, I am the person in charge of the second-circle wizarding area of ​​the Feathered Serpent Pavilion on Mount Golden Crown. You may call me Lady Tataroni."

Locke nodded to her and followed her up the stairs to the second ring area. "Hello, Mrs. Tataroni."

Lady Tataroni smiled and said, "I noticed you when you were just a first-ring wizard, and I thought highly of you even back then."

"I just didn't expect you to become a second-circle wizard so quickly. A second-circle wizard, what a great achievement."

Lady Tataroni sighed deeply. "I am not a native of the wizarding world; I am a wizard from a colony. That world, during the enlightenment era of the wizarding world, received the gift of knowledge—a gift that fell from a meteor. Therefore, there are also many people in that world who call themselves wizards."

"That world has even referred to itself as the Wizarding World for a long time, and still does so now, both internally and when facing other weaker colonial worlds."

Locke looked surprised.

Is this the reversal of Tiangang?

Lady Tataroni said, "That world is called the Great World of Ostia, and it calls itself the World of the Void Wizards."

"For a long period of time, Ostia had no contact with the wizarding world, so it created a wizarding hierarchy from level one to level ten based on its existing wizarding civilization. But in the end, it was just a system for first-level wizards and below."

"For a long time, they mistakenly believed that the highest level of magic was the limit of magic pressure at the first crystallization stage, which is magic pressure of 9999, and entered the period of soul decay, which they called level 10 wizard. Level 10 wizard became a legend in Ostia, and was once the goal of every Ostia wizard. Until later, some people believed that there should be an eleventh level above level 10."

"This is easy to understand. Since we have already deduced up to level 10, civilization will soon be dissatisfied with this and will continue to move forward on the level 10 framework, becoming the legendary level 11."

"So, Wizard Locke, you're so young, yet you've already broken through to become a level 10 wizard in the Great World of Ostia, and become an 11th-level wizard there. I'm quite impressed."

Locke asked with some curiosity, "So how many levels of wizards are there in the Great World of Ostia now?"

Lady Tataroni sighed, her expression revealing something far more complex than that of a half-dragon. "Level 55."

Locke coughed.

Lady Tataroni said, "The Great World of Ostia has entered a very strange state. They are unable to break through from the second ring to the third ring. So they keep creating new levels within the second ring system."

"This has led to the entire civilization falling into a dead end. And the more levels are unlocked, the lower the chance that the entire civilization can break through to the third circle. In the sociology of our wizarding world, this is called the 'second circle intermediate level trap'."

"If a civilization opens up too many levels within the second ring framework without actually breaking through to the third ring, then a wizard who has just become a third ring may not be able to do anything to a second ring being who has opened up countless levels. In fact, he may be far inferior to a second ring being. However, the difficulty of breaking through to the third ring is far greater than opening up new levels within the second ring framework."

"As a result, more and more people believe that opening up a new level within the second circle system is a more realistic and reliable choice than trying to break through to become a third circle wizard."

"They are not even aware that they are on the wrong path, or they believe that what they are doing is right."

"In this way, the more new levels this civilization opens up within the second ring system, the more restricted this civilization will be."

"Finally, path dependence led to the continuous development of new second-ring levels, and the entire civilization completely lost its motivation to move forward."

Lady Tataroni sighed and said, "Alas, I think it will be difficult for the Great World of Ostia to have its own third-circle wizards. I heard that they are planning to create five new levels based on the fifty-fifth-level wizards, making them sixty-level wizards."

Locke was speechless and thus remained silent.

It seems that Ostia has turned the wizarding world into a game with levels, and as time goes by, it might push the Wizarding World to level 100.

Tataroni, the silver dragon half-dragon lady, said to Locke, "I miscalculated before. According to the hierarchy of the Great World of Ostia, Mr. Augustine is not an 11th-level wizard, but a 16th-level wizard."

"I am a level 19 wizard. A Star Ring Wizard starts at level 20."

Locke nodded. "So, for every thousand magic pressures, you gain one level?"

What exaggerated level of magical pressure did that level 55 wizard have?

What about a level 60 wizard?

Or perhaps the increase in magical pressure from opening up new levels within the second ring will reach a limit at a certain level, and then the increase in magical pressure will gradually decrease...

In that case, the magical pressure intensity and total magical pressure of a level 55 wizard shouldn't be as exaggerated as I thought. Although the second ring can infinitely increase strength, the efficiency should decrease as you go higher, eventually leading to higher costs and slower progress.

The second ring road area of ​​the Feathered Serpent Pavilion.

Lady Tataroni bowed gracefully to Locke, her eyes even showing a hint of adoration—not adoration for Locke, but adoration for the bloodline of the true dragon—and then said, “Lord Augustine.”

In a secluded place, she, a great wizard with a magical pressure of 19,999, the limit of an ordinary second-ring wizard, actually used a respectful title for herself.

"Is there anything you need from our Feathered Serpent Pavilion?"

Locke glanced at her, his face expressionless, and said, "I need a good potion master's inheritance. Can the Feathered Serpent Pavilion provide one?"

Lady Tataroni gracefully tilted her head back and greedily inhaled the scent of true dragons in the air. Some half-dragons deeply hated true dragons and the dragon race, while others had a strange worship of true dragons.

She said, "Of course. But you need to exchange the legacy of a potion master of the same level."

"Alternatively, the Feathered Serpent Pavilion can provide you with an expert-level Sun Ring Potions instructor. However, to activate this service, you must restart the Ladder Test, and once the Ladder Test is activated, you can only proceed through the Ladder Test or fail and be eliminated. The Ladder Path will be forcibly interrupted."

"Furthermore, we can only suggest that the potion master teach you. If the potion master shirks his teaching contract with us, there is nothing we can do about it."

"Of course, since you are a B-level talent of the Feathered Serpent Pavilion, if you choose this service, we will upgrade the expert-level Sun Ring Potions Master we invite to a Master-level Potions Master!"

Locke's pupils suddenly contracted.

Master level, that's the third ring.

That could be considered a truly outstanding potion master in the wizarding world.

Lady Tataroni said to Locke, "It just so happens that I have been very good friends with a potion master for a hundred years. And her teacher is a master-level potion master from the Southern Realm, the Xiangshan Islands."

"Perhaps I can help you invite her."

　The author asked for monthly votes at the beginning of the month, and today will continue with an update of 12,000 words~ Thank you to all the readers.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)