Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 954: The Birth of a Level 60 Wizard! (And the Key Laboratory)
The witch Catherine led Locke to the top of Mount Golden Crown. "I used my authority to grant you a chance to soak in the special magical spring water of Mount Golden Crown—the Spring of Purification."

"This is the third most magical spring in the Three Swamps, and the second is Quinnjoll's Spring of Wisdom."

"Ranked first is the Resurrection Fountain of the Rootcrown Royal Court. Every wizard can use the Resurrection Fountain to resurrect once. However, the special spiritual energy of the Resurrection Fountain is not only rare but also expensive. Therefore, no matter how many magic stones an outsider spends, they will never be able to buy the opportunity to soak in the Resurrection Fountain. It is not for sale. Similarly, if you enter the key laboratory affiliated with the White Wizard Association, you can also access many non-saleable items and private information that cannot be obtained on the market."

Locke realized what was happening and tentatively asked, "Teacher, my application for special funding hasn't been approved by the White Wizard Association yet."

The witch Catherine glanced at him and chuckled, "You've already guessed it, do I need to say more? I'm going to give you a sub-project of one of my key projects. Whether it's a top-tier grant or a sub-project of a key project, it will grant you access to the key laboratories at Golden Crown Mountain. Golden Crown Mountain has three key laboratories in total: one located in the Senate area of ​​the core region of the Supernatural Purgatory, another in the Academic Committee researching dragon power, and a key laboratory for breeding."

"The White Wizard Association's key laboratories are established in cooperation with local wizarding academies to tackle cutting-edge issues that are crucial to wizarding civilization. The person in charge must be at least a Truth Wizard, or a Star Scholar, or a wizard with a similar title; otherwise, the laboratory cannot be established. If the Truth Wizard in charge of the laboratory becomes unable to perform the work, and there is no other Truth Wizard to take on the relevant work, then the laboratory's quota will be cancelled."

"The reason why the top-tier grants and key sub-projects are so attractive to wizards is not because of the large amount of funding they receive, but because obtaining these two projects grants them the opportunity to enter a key laboratory. That's a place that wizards outside can never reach in their entire lives. It's something that even the Second Ring Fund cannot buy."

Locke nodded.

The witch Catherine said to Locke, "After I give you this sub-project I have, you can choose one of the three key laboratories."

Locke said, "Then I'll choose the key laboratory for breeding."

There's really not much to choose from.

Firstly, I cannot choose the key laboratory located in the Supernatural Purgatory, because I am not a power master, and Wizard Fisher has forbidden me from entering the Supernatural Purgatory again. The key laboratory researching dragon power is also not suitable for me, because dragon power is not the core of my magic at all.

Such a hard-won opportunity must be used for breeding.

Catherine the Witch nodded and said, “Okay. In a few days, I’ll have Trajan take you to that laboratory. There will be some procedures to go through and some documents to sign. If a second-circle wizard can go there, it will broaden your horizons considerably. Once you’ve settled into the laboratory environment, I’ll give you the specific information about the sub-project. I believe… both the laboratory and the sub-project will leave a deep impression on you and make you marvel at the wonders of botany.”

"And that is precisely the purpose of the White Wizard Association in designing these two special newcomer support funds."

The two arrived at the mountaintop. At this moment, in a mountain stream at the summit, a stream of water was dripping down from the celestial fire-collecting inheritance array. These liquid flames mixed together and gathered on a rock in the stream. On that rock was a miniature peach tree, about the size of a human finger, but with well-developed roots that were covered with stones.

The roots of that magical plant emitted a faint pink hue.

After the liquid flames entered the imaginary root of this miniature peach tree, they reappeared as the water of the Purifying Spring.

The witch Catherine produced an application form, the magical stamp on which shimmered with magical light, and thus the stamp opened the barrier surrounding the purifying spring.

The witch Catherine said to Locke, “Go inside. After this battle, many hidden dangers lurk within your soul. You cannot eliminate these dangers without soaking in this spring. Like that wizard named Edgar who came up the mountain with you before, his soul is almost no different from that of a being that is neither alive nor dead.”

"In addition, when you advanced to the Star Ring, Locke, you used the Great Magic of Wenwu Fire to hone your skills. Although you successfully advanced, the damage to your soul from this advancement did not completely disappear; instead, it became a hidden injury. Normally, a Star Ring Wizard needs to spend at least five to ten years to recuperate his soul after successfully advancing, but by using the Purification Spring, the hidden injury left in your soul during your advancement can be repaired as well."

Locke's eyes brightened slightly.

The witch Catherine said, "Many geniuses who can advance quickly do so because of their outstanding talent and because they have access to a lot of resources. Resources and talent are two sides of the same coin, and in the wizarding world, those with talent will never lack opportunities to obtain resources."

"Of course, there are occasionally some special wizards who possess other special resources... but that's another matter."

The witch Catherine looked at Locke and said, "Anyway, Locke, go inside."

“The wizard from the Tower of the Black Sun left a dark curse on you, which can help them locate your position. I need to remove that dark curse from you.”

"With my protection of your information, they won't be able to find you. As long as you don't do anything again to attract their attention."

Locke paused for a moment, then immediately stepped through the barrier into the fountain. After his body was completely immersed in the warm water, Locke discovered that all his clothes had automatically flown back into his Astral Ring.

He was completely immersed in the purifying spring, and the special spiritual energy contained in the spring water flowed into his body.

Locke closed his eyes and entered a state of advanced meditation. He saw that after these special spiritual energies entered his body, they were like clay, able to absorb specific substances. Moreover, they seemed to have a certain ability to judge and absorb those things that were harmful to him.

The so-called spiritual breath is the hidden vitality of all things. So this is equivalent to the purifying spiritual breath of the purification spring entering one's own vitality. When the two vitalitys intersect, the purifying vitality actually picks up all the negative substances in one's own vitality.

The Purifying Spring was like a great river of life, washing away the latent life force within him. At the same time, a dragon's roar suddenly came from the life force hidden within him, and then a large black snake emerged from this river of life force. Because this level was so deep, Locke would not have been able to detect the existence of this venomous snake if he had not been immersed in the Purifying Spring.

The venomous snake had been lurking in his life force without him noticing.

Locke opened his mouth and immediately gagged, spitting out a large amount of still-warm embers of the era. These embers were absorbed by the special spiritual energy of the Purifying Spring and then disappeared.

Catherine the Witch seemed to have anticipated this, so she was not at all surprised by the turn of events.

“Past wizards simply couldn’t stand on the shoulders of giants, so they lacked some common sense about this era. But lacking common sense doesn’t mean they couldn’t do certain things. Because of their personal talent, or the so-called secret techniques left behind by a certain court school of wizards, they might be able to create some spell models that require a lot of theoretical deduction to uncover.”

"Therefore, I believe that during your battle, he must have left some of his magic within your life force, even though he himself was unaware that this was a profound application of spiritual energy." "Spiritual energy is the hidden life force of all living things, the breath of all things, and thus all things can exchange breath. Sacrificial magic is inherently adept at exchanging breath between all things. It's just that spiritual energy was not studied separately in ancient times."

Locke finally expelled the ashes of the era from his body.

"Teacher, if I still have these ashes of the past inside me, will Edgar also have them inside him?"

The witch Ekaterina said, "I don't know. But probably not. He's not the target of the Tower of the Black Sun, so there's no need for him to expend a lot of energy in the battle, leaving magical power in his life force. The Dragon Wizard's technique is not mature, so it shouldn't be something he can do easily. It's not the same as how I used the Heart Spell to scheme against him several times."

Locke nodded slightly.

At this moment, the black venomous snake was absorbed into the purifying vitality of the Purifying Spring, and it immediately let out a miserable cry, as if it were wailing.

Despite its reluctance, it was still absorbed by the purifying energy, and then detached itself from its own energy and entered the purifying energy.

Locke saw the purifying life force clinging to the venomous snake, flowing upstream, and then entering the stone entwined with the imaginary roots of the miniature peach tree. Immediately afterwards, a special tumor-like object at the root of the miniature peach tree, which seemed to be a special energy-locking structure—a plant organ—directly 'surged' and opened its internal digestive opening, swallowing the venomous snake whole.

Ekaterina explained to Locke, "Longshan Xiaotao is a carnivorous magical plant. The reason why the Purifying Spring can purify the hidden injuries on your body is because it needs to release special spiritual energy to capture special life forms and then prey on them."

"That's good. All your problems will be cleared up."

Locke immediately felt relieved. Many of his hidden injuries seemed to have been completely healed, and even the slight damage to his soul caused by his rapid advancement had been restored.

Soaking in the purifying spring this time felt like being reborn.

Unfortunately, the abyssal energy cycle within his eyes was not washed away.

It seems the Spring of Purification doesn't consider it a negative thing to itself.

As Locke soaked in the spring water, he saw some blood trickling from his body.

This is...

Locke recognized that it was the residual curse power left in his body after Hussein used the Blood Curse of Death on him several times. It seemed that the Blood Curse was indeed very dangerous. Even if Hussein did not intend to harm him, the Blood Curse had still mixed a trace of curse energy into his life force several times.

At the same time, something unexpected flowed out from his life force—a blood-red eye. The eye seemed to be a living being, staring wide-eyed as if trying to communicate with him.

Locke raised an eyebrow.

"The Blood River Plane?"

The Eye of Will in the Mini Blood River Plane seems to possess independent intelligence.

“Locke Augustine…do not remove me, your soul belongs to our Blood River Plane…”

Locke reached out and picked it up, then threw it onto the special tumor-like structure at the root of the Longshan Peach. The tumor-like structure immediately swallowed it.

Go to hell.

This purification spring is truly powerful; it actually removed the karma left on me by the will of the Blood River Plane and that trace of world power.

In this way, I won't have to worry about the Blood River Plane's will constantly targeting me; I should be considered completely refreshed in its view.

The witch Catherine said to Locke, "I've applied for a 24-hour soak in the Purifying Spring for you. You have plenty of time; you can prepare any experiments that might corrupt your soul now. If I hadn't exploited a loophole in the rules to give you this opportunity, I should have waited until you made some preparations before entering. But you got this opportunity because someone suddenly withdrew, and the Purifying Spring happened to be ready. Canceling it would have wasted those resources. So, I applied for this opportunity for you."

"Fortunately, the college administration approved our application."

Locke nodded, realizing he had gotten a good deal.

No wonder the academy suddenly provided me with such high-level magical resources out of thin air.

The witch Catherine smiled and said, "You did very well this time, and you've done a great job. I have another reward for you. A top-level laboratory in the Great World of Ostia recently successfully raised their wizard level from 55 to 60."

"So, to celebrate, we've invited wizarding universities, including Golden Crown Mountain, to send delegations to visit. This is an exchange between civilizations, and the delegation represents the wizarding civilization. As is customary, this is an opportunity to acquire many valuable items. The Great World of Ostia has prepared a grand reception for you. I have a delegation spot available, so you can go there to broaden your horizons, see what this derivative civilization of the wizarding civilization is like, and expand your thinking and knowledge."

"Staying at home all the time will make you closed-minded."

　The author has a fever; there will be one more chapter today, and another update tomorrow.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)