Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems

With Locke breaking the Black Sun Tower's prophecy, reconnecting the severed road, and advancing his bloodline power to the Second Circle level, his body within the flesh passage of the Death Dragon's tail completed its full transformation into the juvenile form of a three-headed World-Annihilating Demon Dragon, radiating from every part of him the dragon authority of a true dragon.

Within his sea of consciousness, Locke gazed ahead and saw the road stretching out smoothly and broadly beyond the gap he had just crossed.

This meant that going forward, he only needed to use other bloodline powers to fill into this demon dragon bloodline, which would gradually push it to higher power levels.

Becoming a star ring-level existence, a moon ring-level existence...

Only, far in the distance, Locke noticed that this road was still a severed road. In the extremely remote distance, he could still make out another gap, and the road ahead remained broken.

This indicated that the Black Sun Tower's sealing of the demon dragon bloodline appeared at each critical and important turning point along the way.

By this logic, the Black Sun Tower seemed to be refusing to allow a fully complete demon dragon bloodline to come into existence. And so the closer the demon dragon bloodline drew toward a higher circle, the greater the recoil he might face.

Locke looked at the road before him and sank into deep thought.

He had not expected that simply carrying out a private task for his teacher would result in the demon dragon bloodline being completed to Second Circle level, and would even provoke a direct targeting from the Black Sun Tower.

It was easy to foresee that if he continued down this path, and if the Black Sun Tower still existed somewhere out there, what he would face would no longer be the obliteration that had been pre-placed within the demon dragon bloodline in the past, but a direct pursuit and killing in the present.

Locke thought of what his ordinary-human father had once told him, that his birth mother was a witch being hunted by the Black Sun Tower. Could it be that the Black Sun Tower truly still existed?

Locke thought to himself, "That gap is not the transition from Second Circle to Third Circle. Based on a rough estimate of the distance, it is more likely a gap existing somewhere in the middle segment between moon ring and sun ring. That is to say, the upper limit of my current bloodline is moon ring, and because of the missing portion of crucial bloodline essence, my three-headed demon dragon bloodline cannot advance to sun ring-grade."

"To push the three-headed demon dragon bloodline toward its moon ring ceiling, I would first need to use the most primitive method of eating, consuming various magical potions, magical plants, and magical creatures to push it toward moon ring level. Or I could use archaeological methods to transplant certain ancient creature bloodlines into my body and merge them with the demon dragon bloodline, which would both complete the demon dragon bloodline and accelerate its evolution. The resources that would consume are unknown, but at least before the sun ring stage, there is still a road to walk."

"But at the sun ring stage, another severed road like this one will appear."

Locke's expression was not pleasant.

Because the shock of just now had left him shaken even now.

Had things gone even slightly worse, his life would have been extinguished, his spell models all destroyed, and he would have been forced to start over from the first-class wizard apprentice stage.

Fortunately, he had managed to weather the tribulation by relying on Wizard Kelt's power and the power of archaeological magic.

Only, this would apparently have to happen all over again at the sun ring stage.

This time, he had used the element of timing to evade the Black Sun Tower's prophecy. What about next time?

If the conditions for lifting next time's prophecy could not be satisfied, he would truly die.

Locke thought to himself, "Does the World-Annihilating Demon Dragon bloodline path have enough value to continue excavating?"

Locke quickly laughed at himself.

"What am I thinking? As a Golden Crown Mountain researcher and Silent Chalice champion, the question of whether to pursue it is not one that needs to be considered from the start."

"Any wizard with real ambition could not possibly pass up a project that so obviously conceals an enormous secret. After this project, I can look into whether there are suitable funding grants to apply for, using the Association's money, personnel, and equipment for my own work."

"I can also look into whether there are any related prizes to apply for."

"Not to mention the high-quality journals and literature I could publish afterward."

Locke thought to himself, "Even if nothing else works out, it will not be wasted."

Locke gave a cold laugh.

"If I can keep excavating down this road, perhaps I can uncover the vast hidden truths of the Age of Stars, the secrets behind King Otto and Princess Loom, and obtain a Second Circle-level Istoria Archaeology Award."

"And if I encounter a danger or threshold I cannot cross, the worst case is that I use the demon dragon bloodline as fuel to feed into the Three-Eyed Tiger Cat bloodline, looking for a path to advance it to Third Circle level. That would not be a bad outcome either, and would instantly resolve the entanglements that come with the demon dragon bloodline."

In the real world, the Death Dragon felt the aura of a true dragon emanating from within its tail and immediately shuddered. This was an instinctive response from deep within its genes, one of fear, avoidance, and awe. Then the Death Dragon shook its tail, forcibly contracting its muscles and sending Locke and the others flying out.

Its original plan had been to use the parasites on its body to neutralize Locke's resistance, then use the muscles within its tail to seal off Locke's movement and gradually crush him to death, directly digesting both the Sun-Herding Dragon and that wizard with its muscle tissue.

Only now the Death Dragon had sensed the aura of a true dragon. Although still so feeble, it was nonetheless the dragon authority of a true dragon.

The Death Dragon completely abandoned any thought of lingering in the vicinity in hopes of an opportunistic meal, shook its tail to send Locke and Wizard Kelt flying, then turned without looking back and flew away.

At its core, the Death Dragon was merely the most outstanding among the great dragons, possessing the potential to contend with a Third Circle true dragon, but great dragons were still suppressed by the dragon authority of true dragons.

Beyond that, this place had become far too dangerous.

And so it simply left.

As for Locke, he and Wizard Kelt were thrown together into a hillside. When Locke crawled out from the rubble, he casually reached out a dragon claw and pulled Wizard Kelt out of the debris as well.

Wizard Kelt coughed repeatedly. "Cough, cough, cough..."

He looked at his newly enhanced Grand Magic with great satisfaction.

His gains from this encounter had been enormous.

Wizard Kelt looked at the substantially transformed Locke, feeling a mix of mild astonishment and subtle unease.

"Hmm? This is not the dragon authority of a great dragon."

"What level of dragon authority is this?"

"What exactly is this three-headed dragon?"

Wizard Kelt thought for a moment, then said to Locke, "I am Kelt, a wizard instructor from Golden Crown Mountain. Fellow dragon, our cooperation just now was a pleasure. You appear to have completed your bloodline transformation."

Wizard Kelt looked up at the top of Locke's dragon forehead, where the black light cross had already vanished.

"Fellow dragon, if you are not averse to it, you are welcome to visit our Golden Crown Mountain. We have Dragon Viewing Peaches there. After a dragon-kind creature consumes one, they can acquire the quality of humanity and come to possess a human soul."

"Once a magical creature eats that Dragon Viewing Peach King, they can call themselves human."

Locke swept him with a glance, paid him no attention, and flew to one side.

Wizard Kelt, seeing this, frowned slightly.

Refused?

Fine, then.

It had only been a momentary impulse on his part anyway. Perhaps that dragon had been exploiting him from the start. Now that everyone had gotten what they wanted, there was truly no need for further dealings.

Only, Kelt could not help thinking back to the black wind that had blown out from within Locke's dragon body, and licked his lips.

That thing had benefited him enormously.

On the other side, Locke smiled bitterly.

The Black Sun Tower.

Truly ruthless.

The self-generating black wind from within his own body was terrifying enough.

But the road collapsing right at the moment of completing the transformation was even more terrifying, the prophecy from the Black Sun Tower striking like a curse.

And yet now, the Black Sun Tower had left behind a third hidden contingency.

At this moment, the black wind had already disappeared and the prophecy had been broken, but from deep within his demon dragon bloodline, countless insects were still swarming out.

It seemed to be a form of ancient sacrificial magic, though he had not been able to make sense of it.

These small black insects appeared in every cell of his body, gnawing and devouring his flesh and blood, and had consumed a great deal in the blink of an eye.

"In other words, any creature whose demon dragon bloodline advances to the Second Circle is guaranteed to die."

Locke understood it now.

The Black Sun Tower had left layer upon layer of contingencies precisely to ensure the demon dragon bloodline would not spread beyond its control. He had previously been wondering how to cross the severed road at the sun ring level, when in fact he had never actually crossed the severed road at the Second Circle level.

"But fortunately, this body is only a body constituted by the world marvel, the Dragon-Tasting Marvel. And so these insects can only kill this body, and furthermore the insects cannot enter the soul level. Which means they only need to ensure the dragon body bearing the demon dragon bloodline is destroyed."

That way, he would not have to be trapped in that situation where the special black wind would blow apart his many spell models, Grand Magic, and permanent defensive force field.

The Black Sun Tower had presumably not anticipated that this body had been obtained through a tool.

Locke looked inward. "The insects are gradually decreasing. These insects that emerged from the demon dragon bloodline appear to be finite in number. By this calculation, they probably cannot even destroy the dragon body completely, let alone kill it outright. They can only bring the dragon body to a severely injured state where it might die at any moment. The bloodline is severely declining. Interestingly, these insects seem capable of devouring bloodline power."

That is to say, this was presumably an insect species that the Black Sun Tower had specifically used during the Age of Stars against bloodline school wizards.

And what was even more interesting.

What was the Black Sun Tower's primary source of power?

The holders of the demon dragon bloodline.

And the Black Sun Tower held this species of insect specialized in devouring bloodline power. Its greatest use was presumably not against the Wizard Kings of the Three Hundred Million Magic Kingdoms, but against the holders of the demon dragon bloodline.

Locke tried various methods, but none of them were effective against these insects. They seemed capable of completely ignoring all of his magical attacks.

Realizing he had no way to stop them, Locke could only give up.

This temporary body dying was of no consequence.

As long as his spell models were not affected.

Locke turned to look into the distance, where the Rose Witch and Witch Yekaterina were still locked in a magical exchange across the sky.

Only the situation appeared to have changed.

Under the suppression of the two Third Circle spells, the cracks in Witch Esther's magic pressure shell had multiplied. At this moment, Witch Yekaterina acted again. She extended a finger and pointed forward, and Witch Esther's face began continuously growing younger.

Her age regressed back to her youth, and before long her face had become smooth and fair-skinned, with the delicate and supple complexion that only a young girl in the bloom of youth could possess.

In the blink of an eye, Witch Esther continued to change. She became a small girl, her clothing loose and hanging off her.

At this moment, Witch Esther's expression changed drastically, because it was not merely her body that had become a little girl's. Even her state had become a little girl's.

She had no magic pressure.

She was like an ordinary person.

The Rose Witch's eyes lit up slightly, and she said with a smile, "Is this not the Third Circle botanical spell I developed, Return to Youth? Katya, you always love to copy my work."

Witch Yekaterina let out a quiet sigh. "This is the botanical spell I independently developed, Revisit Springtime. Anna, it is you who loves to learn from me, and you should be careful not to get that mixed up."

"I recall that your Return to Youth does not have a permanent effect, whereas my Revisit Springtime is a permanent-effect spell."

A subtle change came over the Rose Witch's expression, and for a brief moment she thought deeply.

"On this one point, you have indeed beaten me by a small margin."

Because she could not do it.

Or rather, it seemed inconceivable.

Simply unbelievable.

But the Rose Witch immediately thought of the fact that Witch Yekaterina had recently obtained, through the Three Kings Tournament, a special resource from along the Celestial River, the Other Shore Flower.

If that Third Circle magical plant had been of assistance, achieving this seemed not entirely impossible after all.

In the next moment, Witch Yekaterina raised a finger and drew it through the air.

Witch Esther opened her mouth. "Throne..."

In the next moment, her throat was cut.

Killing a sun ring wizard was extraordinarily difficult. But killing a girl who was now an ordinary human required nothing more than the lightest touch.

Esther was dead.

Wizard Kelt closed his eyes, unable to watch.

Wizard Cis gave a cold snort. "Traitor."

The other Golden Crown Mountain wizards all closed their eyes as well, but everyone understood this was the fate a traitor deserved.

The moment she had fled into the lawless territory of the Dragon Mountain Range of her own accord, she had nearly equated herself with a black wizard.

Had this happened in the outside world, moving against a sun ring wizard would not have been so simple.

The path she had ended up on had been narrowed by her own choices.

Locke watched this scene with his dragon eyes wide.

She was truly killed.

This...

Locke found it strange to see the Rose Witch curving the corner of her mouth upward, appearing in quite good spirits.

Wait...

Why would the Rose Witch not be angry but pleased? Could there be something in this that he did not know about?

In the next moment, the Rose Witch suddenly appeared right in front of Locke.

Locke's pupils contracted sharply.

In that moment, he faced the full terror of a Third Circle wizard head on.

And most critically of all, he still could not feel any magic pressure from this Third Circle wizard.

Locke instantly realized that in everyone's eyes he was nothing but a dragon. He was completely on his own right now.

No one would come to his aid or stand on his side.

Locke was just about to fly upward, but in the next moment the Rose Witch's palm had already pressed against his forehead.

The Rose Witch said thoughtfully, "What a shame. That Sun-Herding Dragon was so adorable earlier. I truly wanted to bring it back and keep it as a pet. But it has become quite ugly now. Ugly things have no business thrashing about in front of this Throne."

Locke was just about to protest, but he did not even have time to react. That hand pressed down onto his dragon head.

Locke found in horror that he was not only unable to move, but that every inch of his flesh and blood was transforming into a plant.

What kind of spell was this? To be able to transform the flesh and blood of a Second Circle demon dragon into a plant.

A blood-colored demon dragon rose bloomed in that spot.

Wizard Kelt was indignant. He had only just built up an initial rapport with that foolish dragon, and perhaps with a few more nudges he could have obtained a decent mount.

At the very least, he could have sold it to the beast-taming magic sub-branch wizard instructors at Golden Crown Mountain in exchange for research funding.

But now...

That foolish dragon had become a flower.

The Rose Witch turned and looked at Witch Yekaterina with a smile. "This is a spell I developed recently, Fate Turned to Flowers."

"What do you think of it?"

The power of a Third Circle wizard was truly inconceivable to this extent.

The Rose Witch clasped her hands behind her back and said with a smile, "The timing of this dragon's appearance was too much of a coincidence. So I decided to act and test the waters. But since no one stopped me, that means either it was not important to your Golden Crown Mountain, or it had nothing to do with Golden Crown Mountain at all."

"Now that it is dead, all my suspicions are laid to rest. Everyone, our dispute has been resolved. The Rose Council welcomes all of you to come to our university to give open lectures or seminars."

"Katya, I will be going ahead. No need to see me off."