Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems

Chapter 652: Obtaining the Treasury and a Set of Ancient Magical Plant Seeds

King Otto paused, then turned to look at the special spirituality furnace in the shape of a human behind him, and looked toward Locke with confusion. "Wizard prison?""I don't know what the standards are in your era for capturing wizards and sending them to prison. But this is simply a special method for formulating potions in an ordinary sense. At the high-Circle potion master stage, whether in your era or in the Era of Stars, wizards should each have some of their own unique methods for formulating potions."

"What could possibly be wrong with that?"

King Otto gave Locke a puzzled look. "However, to use this method, one requires at minimum ten thousand magic pressure to formulate blank spirituality."

"In other words, only a Second Circle wizard would have the foundational magic pressure sufficient to use this Reverse Refinement Method."

King Otto pointed a finger at Locke, and in an instant, the human figure transformed into a stream of spirituality and bored its way into the space between Locke's brows.

"Spirituality is both energy and information. Therefore, I can transmit it to you and allow you to observe and experience this Reverse Refinement Method at any time. In this way, while it cannot be said that you have inherited my magic or fully mastered my potion mastery, you have at least grasped the crystallization of it."

King Otto let out a sigh. "A pity that time is limited. Otherwise, I could have settled down patiently and taught you all the magic I know in my lifetime. Though in the Era of Stars, sharing knowledge and trading knowledge were both uncommon practices."

"Everyone had their own sectarian biases, believing knowledge to be supremely precious, something that could not be bought with mere money."

At that moment, the golden hall shook.

King Otto fell into thought. "That is the rebel army attacking my palace. In the original course of history, it should have been an emissary from the Black Sun Tower who completely buried this undead avatar of mine. Because of your intrusion, that event did not occur. But this place will not remain safe for long. The rebel army will storm in here soon."

"The Mortal Age will never come, and my imperial court will be destroyed along with it."

"I had wished to give you the seed of my kingdom domain." King Otto turned over his right hand, and in his palm rested a seed. Yet the moment it had just barely coalesced, the seed bloomed into a lotus flower. Magic tides surged outward, and the entire air became a touch fresher.

But in an instant, the lotus flower swiftly withered and rotted.

It turned to decayed petals.

Witnessing this, King Otto let out a sigh. "I was overthinking it. The kingdom domain has already declined enough. With the capital on the verge of falling, what is the point of entrusting the seed to anyone?"

"From here on, you may ask me whatever questions you have. This is my way of thanking you for taking my knowledge back to the future."

Locke thought for a moment and quickly asked several questions related to kingdom domains, the Dual Movements of Sun and Moon, and certain historical details.

Unfortunately, King Otto knew some of it but was unclear on other parts.

Then Locke also asked, "What exactly are those flowers that destroyed your imperial court?"

King Otto paused. "You mean the flowers of destruction? Those are a special type of plant created through the Black Sun Tower's prophecy magic. In order to destroy my imperial court, the Black Sun Tower used prophecy magic to summon a magical plant that answered the call of the prophecy. That was the plant."

"It is an omen of misfortune. Originally, it did not exist in this world, but it was mutated into existence out of nothing by the Black Sun Tower's prophecy magic and the curse placed upon my kingdom. It is a thoroughly inauspicious thing."

"It does not fall within the scope of the breeding discipline, at least not as the discipline currently stands. Are you interested in it?"

"That magical plant can only grow when fed with the blood of the Black Sun Tower. To make the flowers of destruction bloom across my entire nation, they employed sacrifice magic and conducted human sacrifices. The blood of the Black Sun Tower fell as a rain of blood, drenching the land."

"That plant requires not only the prophetic blood of the Black Sun Tower, but also sustains itself by absorbing fragments of human souls, that is to say, by feeding on desire."

"It is extremely dangerous. Furthermore, given its deep connection to the Black Sun Tower, researching it would bring you no benefit."

Locke asked, "Your Majesty, what exactly is the Black Sun Tower?"

"I very much wish to understand what kind of connection exists between the Black Sun Tower and the Era of Stars."

King Otto was just about to speak when, in the very next moment, the entire golden hall suddenly collapsed, and the entire spatial scene began to fracture and disintegrate.

The sounds of the rebel army could be heard drawing near from not far away.

King Otto looked at Locke with helplessness. "Farewell, person from later generations. You should know the Black Sun Tower even better than I do. I am merely a king of this world, but you are the offspring of a demon dragon."

"Regardless of who you are, or who sent you here, none of that matters. I am grateful to you. Take the Reverse Refinement Method I have given you, along with the Bronze Cauldron."

In the next moment, the entire scene shattered.

Locke watched as all things within the entire space vanished.

He felt as though he were falling into an abyss, plummeting downward into the endless void below.

Locke hurriedly began chanting a spell.

At the core of the space, two Suzerain’s Book rested. The one belonging to him had the spell model for Summoning a Divine Spirit appear on its surface.

The Suzerain’s Book transformed into a fire-breathing dragon and flew toward him, catching him mid-fall.

At the same time, Witch Shirley's Suzerain’s Book also transformed into a fire phoenix, catching Witch Shirley who had been plummeting rapidly downward.

The paper-folded fire-breathing dragon and the paper-folded fire phoenix met in midair.

Locke asked, "Senior Sister, where did you go? Inside the space of the Historical Milestone Curse, why didn't I encounter you?"

Witch Shirley said to Locke, "I was fighting the various rebel armies of the Heliothos Imperial Court. During the fighting, I obtained a considerable amount of their records. But later, when I tried to find you, I simply couldn't locate you at all."

Locke paused for a moment, thinking it was probably because the young wizard had sent him directly to King Otto's side. It might also have been because he had been chosen within the Historical Reconstruction as a substitute for the Black Sun Tower wizard from the original history, which was why he had been separated from Witch Shirley.

Locke said, "I met King Otto."

Witch Shirley raised an eyebrow. "That's wonderful. We've each made discoveries in this historical fragment. When we get back, we should write one joint general paper together, then each write a few individual papers based on our own explorations."

"We might be able to get several first-authorship credits. That would be very useful for me in becoming a wizard mentor."

"The current exploration has been quite successful and has been a considerable gain for both of us. Although we did encounter a few genuinely dangerous moments along the way. It's a shame that the black wizards hold the key data from the early stage on how this ruin was discovered. Otherwise, there would be no need to include them in the main paper at all. We could just kick them to the curb entirely."

Locke blinked. "They also have standing within the White Wizard Association."

Witch Shirley gave a nod. "I'm just saying. I know where the line is. And besides, they hold the key data from the early stage. Without that portion, there's no way to publish a comprehensive overview paper on this ruin."

Witch Shirley mulled it over. "From the looks of it, they'd be hard to buy off with money anyway."

By this point, the entire space had fully collapsed.

The two of them found themselves in the airspace above the Abyssal River, floating in the sky above the mausoleum city. They were not in the trap they had been in before entering the Historical Milestone Curse space.

At this moment, Wizard Warwick and Wizard McKinley were nowhere to be found, and it was unclear whether they were alive or dead.

But the two of them quickly discovered that the entire mausoleum city was drifting toward a vortex within the Abyssal River.

Locke looked toward the vortex, and on the surface of the Abyssal River he saw the reflection of a dark sun.

It was the Expungement Curse of the Black Sun Tower!

Locke said to Witch Shirley, "The Expungement Curse of the Black Sun Tower is still in effect. This entire mausoleum is being drawn into some nameless space created by the Expungement Curse. We must break away from this city as quickly as possible."

Witch Shirley hesitated, turning her head to look back at the city. "But... if this mausoleum city were handed over to Golden Crown Mountain, how many papers could be developed from it, and how many projects could be launched. Even if the most essential things have already been obtained by you and me, allowing it to simply disappear would be a tremendous loss for Golden Crown Mountain."

"If it were handed to our teacher, it would be an enormous boon to her faction."

Witch Shirley cast a number of spells toward the city.

Soon, her face turned pale as she realized there was no way to stop it at all.

Witch Shirley had no choice but to give up. She looked at Locke, breathing hard. "Locke, I need to fly a full circle above this city, and copy down a complete panoramic image of it using the Historical Reconstruction spell model and the Historical Projection spell model."

Locke said, "Senior Sister, I'll help you."

Witch Shirley pointed toward the main burial chamber at the center of the city and said, "There's no time for that. We must divide the work. I'll handle the aerial panoramic scan of the city. You go check on that main burial chamber."

"Remember, if you find anything, rescue and secure it first. Don't worry about the rest."

At that moment, Locke spotted Wizard McKinley and Wizard Warwick in a corner of the city, seated atop the Divine Spirit spell models they had each summoned, flying above the city.

It was clear that the two of them had also been making emergency records around the mausoleum city.

Locke had no time to say more. He gave a nod, and immediately used the Large Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow to fly toward his destination.

The flight speed of the paper-folded fire-breathing dragon compared to the Large Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow was like the difference between a bicycle and a car.

So Locke directly used the Plant Mimicry Technique, transforming into a green dragon and flying over.

Locke looked toward the main burial chamber at the center of the city and saw that it was the princess's bedchamber. He landed outside the palace hall.

A statue of the princess stood within the hall, and the statue of the princess was cradling several seeds in her hands.

Locke landed on the ground, waved a hand, and in an instant all the seeds fell into his grasp. "These are... those ancient flowers... seeds of the flowers of destruction."

Surprise flashed across Locke's eyes.

He had actually thought he would have no chance of ever coming into contact with that plant.

After all, he had been unable to bring out the seeds of the ancient flowers from within the Historical Milestone Curse, but he hadn't expected that here in the mausoleum city on the Abyssal River, he would still manage to encounter seeds of the ancient flowers.

The ancient flower was a prophetic bloom that had destroyed a powerful magical kingdom of the Era of Stars. It possessed a special mechanism, everything about it was shrouded in mystery, and it was not a magical plant born naturally.

Being able to obtain it might serve him in other ways.

Moreover, he had previously observed that this thing could enrich soil and increase magic tides. Researching this magical plant might prove highly beneficial for his Tier 1 Funding Project in Group 2, or even for a Special-Grade project.

Of course, once he returned this time, he would first need to spend some time digesting everything he had gained from this mausoleum.

Since four wizards had explored it together, they would likely need to remain in the Jade Splendor Enclave for a period of time first, to complete the joint paper, then submit it, and afterward participate in award evaluations.

If this mausoleum city had not been swallowed by the Expungement Curse, they might have been able to publish more papers and receive more awards.

Of course, there was actually something to be said for things turning out this way.

Because Locke had already mentally prepared himself beforehand for the possibility that this mausoleum city could very well lead to a falling-out between himself and Warwick and the others.

After the dangers of this city had been cleared, Warwick would no longer need him for any follow-up development work.

And as for the ownership of this mausoleum city, Witch Shirley would certainly not relinquish her claim, and Golden Crown Mountain, once it found out, would not give it up either.

The black wizards' side would be no different.

So in the end, it would be extremely easy for things to fall apart due to an unequal distribution of benefits.

Locke looked toward the main burial chamber door behind the princess statue, and on the stone tablet above the door he saw inscribed, "Only when my vision has been realized will this treasury appear."

"Thank you for helping me achieve victory. Whoever you may be, the contents of this treasury are a gift of gratitude to you."

Locke used the Suzerain’s Book to scan all the information here, and then walked into the treasury.

Inside the treasury, many sealing spells had been set in place. On the floor and on the shelves, many magical items were displayed. Unfortunately, the passage of seventy thousand years had caused the vast majority of the magical seals to have been eroded and broken over time.

Locke looked at the seeds stored in several magical canisters on the shelves. "Anhydrous storage? That's actually a fine method for preserving magical plant seeds."

Locke looked at the boxes on the floor, where several usable magical items were also laid out, and packed them all into his astral ring together.

He gathered up as many still-usable magical materials from the area as he could, along with a number of items that might have historical or archaeological significance.

Ten minutes later, he sorted through everything and found that the most valuable was a complete set of ancient magical plant seeds. It seemed that because the nameless king had been a botany wizard, a complete set of ancient plant seeds had been stored here.

At least a small portion of them were still alive.

Of course, this complete set of seeds was likely just a popular magical plant series from that era.

Almost all of them were First Circle magical plant seeds.

But among them were three seeds of different varieties of living Second Circle magical plants.

At the same time, Locke also discovered a gel-like water droplet substance stored in a sealed spell on the shelves. He had no idea what it was used for, but some of the containers were undamaged. It even came with an instruction manual, so he packed it all into his astral ring together.

Beyond that, there was also a complete set of Transmutation School equipment and grimoires, along with a Transmutation School-dedicated wand, which appeared to be a wand the princess had once used.

Locke said, "Although the passage of time has rendered many things here unusable, the overall haul is still quite substantial."

"These ancient seeds, along with these ancient artifacts, their most important value lies not in their utility but in their research value."