Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 870 Filling the Biggest Shortcoming and Returning to the Original State
At this moment, the Steel Giant was on the verge of death, and Locke's Demonic Dragon Flame struck him directly.

Locke glanced at the steel giant with surprise, because according to his prediction, his attack just now should have killed him.

But he now has a glimmer of hope.

That's right, it's the life magic contained within the Demon Dragon Rose.

Locke realized that back then, the Rose Witch, with her status as a third-ring throne wizard, had brazenly attacked him, transforming her dragon body into a second-ring magical plant and converting the essence of her dragon bloodline into the plant essence of a second-ring magical plant.

However, this also resulted in the Dragon Rose remaining just a wild second-ring magical plant that had not been carefully designed by a breeder.

Moreover, because it is not naturally grown, it actually contains contradictory forces within it.

Life and destruction?
Locke realized that while his normal magic pressure had increased to 19,000, the Beast Panel had raised his magic pressure to the normal second-ring limit of 19,999, and even exceeded that limit. Therefore, he realized that while his Demonic Dragon Rose was spewing demonic dragon flames at the enemy, it was also releasing a wisp of life force to heal the enemy.

This is the flaw in artificial/wild magical plants.

Self-contradictory.

This is also why I am currently eager to utilize the resources of the Magic Dragon Rose to further develop a powerful second-ring flying magic plant from my traditional specialty, the Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow.

Locke casually flicked his wrist, and a first-ring magical plant, the Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow, flew out from his forest sanctuary. After becoming a second-ring wizard, he gradually planted the first-ring magical plants he had cultivated in his forest sanctuary.

One reason is to preserve the offspring, and the other is to have some spare consumables during battle.

As a second-circle wizard, you can slowly accumulate some first-circle magical plants using some scraps from the laboratory.

So he didn't spend too much money on it.

At this moment, there were three adult, one-ringed Great Azure Leaf Dragon Sparrows in the Forest Sanctuary. With the support of Locke's "Single Tree Cannot Support" spell model, the three Great Azure Leaf Dragon Sparrows flew out automatically, like three bluebirds, and used their false root dragon tails to grab the steel giant's neck, waist, and feet respectively, forcibly pulling him from the ground into the sky.

The steel giant was powerless to resist.

At this moment, the Law of Steel completely disappeared. His original demonic pressure was only 15,000, and after the Law of Steel completely disappeared, it declined to its limit.

Although there is magical pressure, it cannot be invoked.

This is probably a consequence of not having one's own power.

Locke floated to his side. The steel giant's arms were hanging down, his body was facing upwards, and his head was drooping on his neck. He weakly opened one eye. "Demon God."

"The highest god will not let you off the hook."

His eyes revealed a deep fear, and because of that fear, a profound hostility toward Locke.

Locke didn't care at all, and instead said, "Tell me about Nicholas."

Tell me, and I won't kill you.

The steel giant's pupils suddenly shrank.

"How could you possibly know about Nicholas... His secret has been kept hidden by the gods..."

"Which giant told you that? No, I won't tell. I am completely loyal to God the Supreme. I am God the Supreme's die-hard follower, and I won't utter a single word."

The steel giant gritted his teeth.

Locke suddenly realized.

"I see. So some of the Giant Kings are loyal to Nicholas. Otherwise, you wouldn't have asked me which giant told me that. Even if things aren't so bad, there are still giants who remain neutral."

“Nicholas is important to you, isn’t he? Whether he’s a friend or foe, you all care about him.”

The steel giant's pupils suddenly shrank.

He didn't say anything.

However, the demon god before him still learned the crucial information.

His heart was filled with fear.

He felt that everything about him had been exposed.

For so many years, he had never felt so helpless.

No, he couldn't say a word after that, absolutely not. He absolutely couldn't let the demon god know about the existence of that forbidden thing. Once the demon god knew about the existence of that forbidden thing, the two would merge...

Locke, with his hands behind his back, glanced at him and said, "You know perfectly well that your silence will enrage me. You are filled with fear of me. You don't seem like the kind of person who would grit his teeth and remain silent, risking angering me and being killed by me, just to fight to the bitter end."

"Then there's only one explanation for this. Nicholas was indeed a very important person; he was practically a giant."

Locke gleaned everything from the expression on the steel giant's face.

"He's still alive, he's imprisoned. You're terrified someone will release him. Because you yourselves don't know who's on Nicholas's side."

The steel giant looked at Locke in horror.

In that instant, he felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

He swore to God the Supreme God that he had not betrayed Him, but he had told everything.

The person in front of me guessed everything just from his reaction.

this is too scary.

The steel giant had never felt such utter terror from the absolute gap in intelligence; he felt as if he were a naked man walking in the snow in winter.

He felt once again the powerlessness he once felt as a mortal.

In Locke's presence, his strength offered no solace to his inner self.

Locke glanced at the Iron Giant, observing the defeated expression on his face and his speechlessness, waited a minute, and then sighed.

"It seems you don't know any more information. Otherwise, you would either tell me or reveal it to me in exchange for me not killing you. Or at least you would show some signs to buy yourself time."

"Even if you were truly ready to die, you would be eager for me to kill you, or you would be afraid of revealing your secrets, instead of looking so devastated right now. I am very disappointed in you."

The steel giant's lips trembled.

"sorry."

The Iron Giant was stunned for a moment. He didn't know why he should apologize to Locke, but Locke's few words had won him over.

It made him feel as if he were a mortal standing before a god, as he stood before Locke.

That enormous gap made him feel a sense of submission to Locke.

At this moment, the steel giant sensed the change in the laws of the planes. He looked up and widened his eyes, for he saw that the entire laws of light in this world were responding and vibrating.

The steel giant screamed in agony.

"No, God, please don't kill me. I am loyal to you."

"I will continue to fight. I did not betray you. I did not!"

"I will fight this demon to the very end!"

"Do not kill me!"

The next moment, the principle of light condensed into an arrow, which then fell towards his body. As if the light of the entire world had gathered together, the whole world dimmed in an instant.

Only this one ray of light remains in the whole world.

It is a ray of light, and also an arrow.

The target of the attack was the Iron Giant, who had been severely injured by Locke.

Just as the arrow of light was about to strike the giant, Locke suddenly reached out his left hand and grasped the arrow that embodied the light principle of the entire world.

As the arrow of light was rubbed together in Locke's hand, sparks of magic appeared and flashes of magical lightning appeared.

The Light Principle of the entire world collided violently with the Permanent Defensive Force Field Shell on Locke's left hand.

The permanent defensive force field shell is three-dimensional plus one unknown dimension.

As a result, the Light Principle that had condensed the entire world suddenly shattered, and the Light Principle of the Three Cave Worlds was even affected, causing the entire world to remain in darkness for 7 seconds.

The light only started to return after 8 seconds.

Locke looked up at the sky; this was another test.

On the surface, he wanted to kill the Iron Giant who had revealed the secret, but in reality, he was actually attacking himself.

That 'God above Gods' wanted to test the limits of his power.

That old Deng is really cunning.

It's unclear what kind of enemy this is from the wizarding civilization in the endless void.

Ordinary natives don't have such thoughts; they even have problems with their cognitive abilities and don't even know what power is.

Their definition and understanding of power are both problematic.

Only with sufficient knowledge can one make correct judgments.

That's why we need to stand tall, because if we don't stand tall, we can't see far.

'It seems that the "God Supreme" hasn't dared to leave the Heavenly Realm and enter the mortal world lately.'

Locke made his judgment.

He turned the heavens into a tortoise shell.

'However, he also has an advantage. He has cultivated this world for a thousand years, thus gaining a high enough position—currently, relative to my saintly incarnation—to stand even higher and see further. He can see more than I can.'

'Therefore, theoretically, as long as he maintains that height, remaining above the celestial realm, he might find an opportunity to deal with me. This should also be his plan.'

Locke thought to himself, "If only I could trick him into leaving that tortoise shell in the heavens."

“Actually, as long as he leaves the Heavenly Realm, his current position of being higher than my incarnation will disappear, and he will lose all his advantages.”

Locke looked at the afterlife of the Three Holes World.

"Judging from the exchange just now, the so-called supreme god has not even fully mastered the sun and moon of this world. Otherwise, the demonic pressure of that attack just now should have reached the star ring level, or even the moon ring level."

Then you will be in danger.

Therefore, the rank of that supreme god should be the limit of the ordinary second ring.

Therefore, he dared not or could not allow the giants to receive a complete response to the principles of the world and obtain a status that surpassed that of ordinary second-ring beings.

At this moment, Locke floated in mid-air and glanced at his three large blue-leaf dragon sparrows, which resembled bluebirds.

The three large blue-leaved dragon sparrows with a ring immediately took flight, lifting the giant into the sky and carrying him at high speed toward the city-state of Antori in this world.

Locke crossed his arms and said, "The concentration of mortal magic tides in this world is a bit low. But it's okay, with the verdant spiritual energy I discovered replenishing the magic power of my Forest Sanctuary, I can fish for magic power from the Forest Sanctuary to support myself."

The discovery of the Verdant Spirit Ore was crucial. Otherwise, even if he descended in his Saintly form, he would be affected by the lack of magical tide concentration resources.

Locke's Evolution Moon appeared in the sky. As the full moon appeared, the mortals of the mortal city-states on the land of the Three Caves World all looked up at the moon that had suddenly appeared in the sky.

My ultimate magic has officially entered this world!
My own Great Magic Rune didn't increase, because due to the Beast Panel, I actually always had the Great Magic Rune slot that I could get when I used 19,000 Magic Pressure in advance.

With the appearance of the Moon of Evolution, its immense magic is rapidly illuminating the mortal realm, transforming it into its own ecological community.

Almost instantly, all plants in the mortal realm transformed into their own powerful magical ecosystem.

From all corners of the mortal world, seeds of magical plants drifted from their respective forest sanctuaries.

Locke extracted the verdant spirit ore he had discovered, transforming it into a rain of spirit energy that showered down upon the entire world, instantly creating vast forests of apprentice-level magical plants.

The concentration gradient of magical tides in the Three Holes World has increased.

It changed from a magic-free environment to a low-magic environment with a slightly lower concentration of magical tides.

Locke could not have done this on his own, but the problem is that the magical tide concentration gradient in the mortal world of the Three Holes should not have been so low.

The huge gap is entirely due to someone constantly moving resources from the mortal world to higher planes.

Therefore, he simply restored some of his original mortal state.

At this moment, Locke threw the Steel Giant in front of Orion and said to Orion, "Orion, what you see now is my true form. I have always been able to meet you only outside the world, through a downgraded Red Holly Tree."

"Orion, I now demand that you fulfill the promise you made to me. Kill this giant."

Orian was taken aback for a moment, but he wasn't actually surprised by it.

Because Locke had never hidden this fact from him during the three years he studied under him, he had long suspected that his treant teacher came from outer space.

Now, Locke himself has confirmed his guess.

Regardless, Locke remained his benefactor and teacher who taught him the true nature of things.

He remains a forest ranger.

Orion asked Locke, "Then how should I address you?"

Locke said, "You can call me Teacher Augustine."

Orion immediately bowed to Locke and said, "Teacher."

He lowered his head, his expression full of respect. "Teacher, I will kill this giant."

Locke looked at him. "I originally thought that after experiencing the betrayal of the gods, you would be wary of anyone who could impose their will on you. Why are you so obedient to me?"

Orion looked at Locke intently.

"You didn't impose external ideas on me; you simply guided me to discover the true meaning of nature. For three years, you never directly told me what something was; all you did was guide me to discover myself, to uncover my own secrets."

"Only now do I realize that when you told me three years ago that you were the forest, you weren't exaggerating."

"You are a forest."

“The days I spent learning from you have been a tempering of my mind and soul, and I am walking on the path I want to walk.”

Orion looked up at Locke, who was standing in front of him in a wizard's robe, and he seemed to see an endless forest.

Locke is the forest itself.

And these forest rangers are communicating with the Rock Forest.

Locke looked at him and asked, "Then I'll ask you for the third time now, who are you?"

Orion thought for a moment, then looked up at Locke and said, "I am who I am."

“I am no one, I am myself. I am neither Orion of Terella nor a follower of the gods. I am not anything that can be pointed to by any superposition of external concepts. I do not need any external things to explain myself. I am who I am.”

Locke nodded with satisfaction.

In this way, Orion roughly achieved the advanced meditation requirement of "seeing oneself clearly and not letting one's thoughts stop."

Although this state is still far from the advanced meditation method's requirement of "I am not myself, yet I am still myself".

But it's enough to support one link in the chain.

However, this state of his was actually modified by himself, turning it into a natural version.

Orion is actually in a special state of "not using an outside name" within the Forest Path.

And this concept of "not relying on external names" was something I came up with myself, and it was accomplished through him.

Without using pseudonyms, there are not many complex and abstract concepts in the forest. Therefore, the prejudices that arise from complex and abstract concepts naturally disappear, leaving only the balance of nature and the way of survival. Everything returns to the original state of living beings.

I am who I am, and I don't need any abstract concepts to define me.

Locke called this special meditative state "Return to the Original State".

This is an advancement he achieved at the level of meditation, combining wizarding meditation with the natural way of nature as a guardian of nature.

Orion's ability to grasp this point was not essentially due to his own enlightenment, but rather because he grasped it first and then used it as a test to prove it.

Locke spread his right hand to Orion and said, "Then please, my student in the Three Holes World."

Orion raised his dagger and walked toward the Iron Giant. The next moment, he plunged the dagger into the giant's neck, as the Iron Giant was already on the verge of death.

The moment Orian attacked him with his dagger, all his previous injuries were instantly aggravated, and he died immediately.

His death strengthened the Path of Nemesis: Leaf of Power for the second time, stabilizing the Leaf of Power system.

At the same time, this finally completed the entire process of the Power Leaf system automatically deducing new Power Leaves.

The dagger in Orion's hand was covered with red blood patterns.

"Ah~" Orion screamed in pain.

At this moment, Locke frowned, opened his right hand in front of him, and a golden oak leaf fell into his hand, on which appeared a first-circle spell model.

"There is such a thing."

Locke's expression was strange.

"It's unbelievable that such a thing could happen. Discoveries and research in this direction shouldn't be published casually."

"It would be too wasteful to use it for applications for top-tier grants."

Locke noticed that a certain aspect of Orion's soul was being absorbed and assimilated by the Leaf of Power system, so he deliberately placed that power onto a half-finished Leaf of Power.

Thus, this unfinished product immediately absorbed Orion's power and transformed into a ring-shaped spell model: Hunter's Knife.

Locke activated the Hunter's Knife - Leaf of Power, and the spell model automatically evolved.

"This is to complement the Path of Nemesis: Leaf of Power."

"By activating this spell model, one can use life magic to make a hunter's dagger continuously increase its power by hunting a selected enemy, and inflict specific damage on that creature."

"If you choose to switch rivals, the accumulated energy and special attack of the Hunter's Dagger will disappear instantly."

"We need to start accumulating again."

Locke was stunned.

This kind of thing can't believe it happened.

The next moment, Locke immediately realized the key to the problem. The key was not that his power system had actually generated a Leaf of Power without his help.

The key is that I made up for the biggest weakness that had always limited me!
Botanical Spell Model!
I have always been able to use the Synthesis Cube and the Evolution Moon to develop a large number of advanced magical plants and potions.

However, I have always had shortcomings in the development of botanical spell models.

Since it is difficult to quickly develop spell models that match magical plants, I can only use a general second-circle spell model like "A Lone Tree Cannot Support the Whole Plant" to drive the magical plants I have developed.

In this way, it is impossible to fully utilize the power of the magical plants that you have developed.

I do have a significant weakness in the development of botanical magic.

However, at this moment, I have found a way to solve this problem.

This Leaf of Power system, which mimics the leaves of the World Tree, possesses the ability to grow alongside the Ranger, absorbing certain qualities from his soul, and then evolving its own spell models.

Locke's eyes were subtle.

If he develops a tree that can grow semi-finished leaves of power on its own, and then brings in a large number of rangers, he can deduce new botanical spell models for himself.

Locke tried putting the Leaf of Power into the Cube of Synthesis. Sure enough, the Leaf of Power was judged to be a level 7 crafting item. He could even copy it to craft it into level 8, 9 and 10 items.

Through extensive synthesis, one can even obtain leaves of second-circle magical power that are useful to oneself.

and many more.

Locke realized that this wouldn't work.

Because the core of his current Power Leaf system is on the Path of Nemesis: Power Leaf, he cannot synthesize a Power Leaf that exceeds the level of the Path of Nemesis: Power Leaf.

That would cause the precious system that I have worked so hard to build to collapse.

He checked the level of his Nemesis Path - Leaf of Power, and the Synthetic Cube rated it as level 8.

'In other words, to realize my idea, I must quickly bring my power system up to my magic level, achieving full Star Forging. This way, I can synthesize without any restrictions.'

'By developing this botanical spell model, my biggest weakness will also be overcome.'

Orion looked at the dagger in his hand and asked Locke, "Teacher, this dagger seems to have changed?"

Locke snapped out of his daze and nodded to Orion.

He had already memorized the spell model of this Leaf of Power, so he handed the Leaf of Power over to him directly.

"Take it."

“Orion, I have something very important to do. Therefore, I need your protection to prevent the gods from potentially influencing me.”

Orion said to Locke, "Yes, teacher. I will kill any intruders!"

Locke nodded, his gaze falling on the verdant Spirit Breath Mine in the forest.

Since I can't get into that tortoise shell in the Heavenly Realm for the time being.

Then let's take the Azure Spirit Ore and complete my first Spirit Cultivation Method.

By completing my second second-circle wizard shoe creation, I will acquire the breeding skills of a second-circle breeder!
Of course. If, during this process, the supreme god is led down the mountain by himself, that would be fine too.

(End of this chapter)