Chapter 721: The Lunar Cultivation Method!
Locke placed the Moon of Evolution from his right hand into the rippling blue-green liquid inside the Bronze Cauldron. The Moon of Evolution rolled within it, like a leap.
Then the Moon of Evolution released a brilliant silver-blue gradient radiance. That moonlight seemed to fall into a still pond and shatter into a shimmering expanse of silver scales.
The full moon lay lazily and obliquely at the center of the water inside the Bronze Cauldron, letting ripples kiss its pristine arc one ring at a time. The full moon shed its brilliant adornment and bathed in the clear waves, sending ripples of dazzling silver-blue moonlight spreading outward.
All of the Zero Potion converged upon the Moon of Evolution.
Then Locke drew this moon from the Second Circle magical artifact Bronze Cauldron, held it in his fingers, and placed it back in the sky.
In an instant, the moon's radiance blazed tremendously. From heaven to earth, it was as though only the light of this moon existed.
At this moment, the moon's light was like the incandescent glow of a lamp in a nighttime room, so brilliantly bright that it illuminated the entire world.
The realm, the mortal world, all of it was lit by this single moon.
Locke raised his magic pressure to its absolute limit. The vast amounts of Zero Potion enhanced the stone spirit spirituality within the Moon of Evolution, and the stone spirit spirituality then enveloped all the plants in both the mortal world and the realm.
At this moment, every plant in both worlds was undergoing rapid evolution!
Equally, in the otherworldly battlefield inside the Gate of Hell at Peach Mountain, a Moon of Evolution also rose like a sun after the lunar eclipse.
Leopard Thief wizard Erlen Fox, his expression sour, had just turned to retreat, because nearly all of his magic pressure had been swindled away by Locke.
And Locke had immediately transferred the energy, making it impossible for him to steal it back.
Only, he had barely moved away from the battlefield and reached its fringe when he heard many black wizards gossiping. He turned to look, and there he saw a brilliantly bright silver-blue full moon rising. It then shone upon the Big Snow Crown Bromeliad wizard shoes worn by the five hundred Golden Crown Mountain First Circle wizards.
The Big Snow Crown Bromeliad wizard shoes were enhanced all at once in a single instant.
At the same time, every Second Circle and First Circle magical plant on the battlefield underwent high-speed evolution, with their magical plant characteristics strengthened out of nowhere.
In an instant, the Golden Crown Mountain Second Circle and First Circle wizard battlefield gained an enormous advantage.
The Twin Demon Realm's wizards were caught completely off guard by this sudden change and suffered greatly as a result.
On Golden Crown Mountain's side, the Second Circle and First Circle wizards looked at this sudden change with equal astonishment.
Quite a few First Circle wizards looked at the shoes on their feet and raised an eyebrow. "Although many shop alliances offer quality guarantees and after-sales service, the after-sales service from Augustine Wizard Shoes is almost too good, is it not?"
One of Golden Crown Mountain's botanical studies lecturing mages smiled. "From now on, every wizard shoe sold by the Augustus brand would be illuminated by that Grand Magic in battle and enhanced out of nowhere? If that is the case, I will be a loyal customer of Augustus Wizard Shoes going forward."
He looked with curiosity at the First Circle magical plant in his hand, the Blazing Blue Chrysanthemum, and saw that its magic pressure was rising at a rapid pace.
He swung the Blazing Blue Chrysanthemum in his hand, and a streak of blue chrysanthemum fire flew out and struck a black wizard nearby who had been attacking him with evocation school magic. The black wizard was hit by the suddenly enhanced blue chrysanthemum fire and in an instant their entire body was engulfed in blue-white flames, with their permanent defensive force field producing a series of cracking and shattering sounds.
The Golden Crown Mountain Second Circle wizards felt the power of the Moon of Evolution.
Wizard Kelt looked back at that moon, feeling the power within it, then turned to Team Leader Cis. Team Leader Cis gave him a nod. "This is Locke's magic pressure."
"He must be advertising his wizard shoe brand. I just do not know how he managed to use his Grand Magic over here when he is not even present."
Wizard Kelt said, "This is simply reckless. The competition is what matters. How can he treat his own future so carelessly?"
Third Team Leader, Witch Esther, smiled. "I did not expect you two to be on such good terms with him now. But I imagine he has his own reasons for doing this. Can you not see that the black wizards over there are absolutely furious? I never expected that the First Circle wizard of the past has now finally become a Second Circle wizard and entered... the true wizard world."
"Welcome, Locke Augustine."
Witch Esther looked in the direction of the Moon of Evolution and said, "On the path toward truth, another traveler has joined. I expect the wizard council will be seeking you out very soon. The world of Second Circle wizards is when the wizard world finally begins to show you part of its true face."
Wizard Kelt looked at the Black Heart Sword Peach in his hand and furrowed his brow. "Locke's Grand Magic is actually enhancing my magical plants as well. And why are my magical plants undergoing rapid evolution?"
"What is this breeding method? I have never heard of anything like this!"
Witch Esther and Team Leader Cis both looked at the magical plants they were carrying on their persons.
Team Leader Cis said seriously, "We can ask Locke when we get back."
On the black wizard side, Leopard Thief wizard Erlen Fox was close to losing his mind with fury. He could accept being swindled out of all his capital by Locke.
But then Locke came back for seconds, and through the Full Moon Growth he had used, descended his Grand Magic across the distance right here.
Had he known this would happen, he should have stayed in place. That way, in the instant Locke descended his Grand Magic, he could have used the Twin Siphon Organ to steal it away.
Now, Leopard Thief wizard Erlen Fox felt as though two of his friends were looking at him with suspicious eyes, though neither had opened their mouth.
They were probably wondering whether he was a spy brought in by Locke's side.
Leopard Thief wizard Erlen Fox directly used magic to teleport toward the Moon of Evolution. He pressed his palm against the Moon of Evolution and forcibly applied the Twin Siphon Organ, creating a lunar eclipse and stealing the Moon of Evolution.
After Erlen Fox successfully stole the Moon of Evolution, a smile crossed his face. He saw that all the magical plants on the white wizard side had been collectively enhanced once by the Moon of Evolution, and his fury immediately surged. He also intended to use the Moon of Evolution to destroy the magical plants in those white wizards' hands once more.
After all, Locke's Grand Magic had a special counter to magical plants.
But in the next instant, a chill ran down Wizard Erlen Fox's back. Just as he was about to use the Grand Magic, a thought suddenly struck him.
'No. This person's malice far exceeds what I imagined.'
'I cannot treat him as an ordinary white wizard. He is more like one of those truly evil individuals in the white wizard community who would strip the bones and peel the skin from a person...'
'The stolen moon can only be used once, but what if it is manipulated by him again, like what just happened?'
Wizard Erlen Fox was frightened by the thought. "Then I would truly be unable to explain which side I am on."
That would mean he had helped the white wizards twice, with distinguished contributions, only those contributions would not be on the black wizard alliance's side.
When Wizard Erlen Fox thought of this, he immediately held himself back. At the same time, he felt deeply that he was holding a hot potato.
The Twin Siphon Organ could only steal one Grand Magic at a time. If he wanted to steal another, he would have to first deploy the Moon of Evolution.
But the moment he deployed it, the Moon of Evolution would be taken back under Locke's control, which would be equivalent to being swindled of his capital again.
Wizard Erlen Fox immediately felt as though an invisible massive hand had reached across the distance and seized him by the throat, by his lifeline.
"This kind of approach... damn it, this is the most typical method used by the high-ranking white wizards. No matter how skilled we thieves are at stealing, how could we possibly match the speed at which people like them steal?"
"This feeling is so unsettling..."
Wizard Erlen Fox heard a Second Circle wizard from Golden Crown Mountain calling out his many crimes and then charging toward him intent on killing him.
Wizard Erlen Fox turned and ran immediately. After all, he had been completely outmaneuvered by Locke.
At this moment, he absolutely did not dare to release his Twin Siphon Organ.
"Ridiculous. How could I possibly compete with certain people among you white wizards over who is more evil?"
...
In the Silent Plane, the plants of the world-scale realm and the Silent Plane were undergoing rapid evolution.
The ordinary treants inside the realm were all developing in the direction of apprentice-level magical plants, while the ordinary plants in the mortal world were also evolving at a rapid pace.
At this very moment, Locke, having become a Second Circle wizard, finally realized that his past judgment of the Lunar Cultivation Method had been wrong.
And he had also come to understand why the Lunar Cultivation Method could accelerate magical plant evolution in such a short time.
He had originally thought it was because the quality of the special spirituality would forcibly elevate the tier of the magical plant, and in the process the magical plant's evolution was equivalent to being accelerated.
But this view was actually full of gaps, and was entirely the result of a First Circle wizard's failure to understand the Second Circle world.
After all, why would special spirituality combining with a magical plant's spirituality cause the magical plant's evolution to accelerate? This was essentially a claim that had been forcibly constructed from observed phenomena without actually knowing why it happened.
Having become a Second Circle wizard, Locke immediately understood why the Lunar Cultivation Method caused magical plants to evolve, and what was actually happening within it.
He could see that after the special spirituality merged with the magical plants' spirituality, the magical plants seemed to have opened some kind of special permission, continuously attracting the surrounding planar power and absorbing it into their spirituality.
Planar power was complex in type, enormous in quantity, and very high in energy tier. Many special powers belonging to the Silent Plane flowed into the interior of the magical plants.
These special planar forces belonging to the Silent Plane were driving the evolution of the magical plants, with the primary source of evolutionary energy being these planar forces.
Watching this scene, Locke thought, 'In other words, when these magical plants combine with the special spirituality I provide, they enter a state of rapidly absorbing the surrounding planar power. They enter an accelerated evolutionary state, and the results of the evolution are related to the characteristics of the planar power.'
'That is to say, under the enhancement of this special spirituality, plants will absorb certain characteristics of the Silent Plane into their own spirituality, causing a form of forced evolution.'
'This is the true nature of the Lunar Cultivation Method. The reason the fern plants on the Dune Plane were able to rapidly evolve was very likely because planar power had merged into the plant spirituality, and the Dune Plane's special planar attribute information had entered the plants' existence spirituality.'
'Using this mechanism, a great many things become possible.'
Locke calculated in his mind the upper and lower limits of the Lunar Cultivation Method, what it could do, and what it could not do.
Locke surveyed both worlds. "If that is the case, now that the disc creature is invading the Silent Plane, the planar power of the Fallen Rain Realm it has brought along, along with the planar information, will also interact with these plants."
"So the plants illuminated by the Moon of Evolution will also obtain planar power from Omega's Fallen Rain Realm. Well, that is actually rather good."
The plants of both worlds in the Silent Plane, illuminated by the moonlight mixed with the Zero Potion, were undergoing rapid evolution.
Vines became Dark Rain Ink Vines and Matte Vines. Orchids became Whisper Ink Orchids. Fir trees became Tear Lake Firs.
At the same time, many ordinary treants inside the realm transformed into apprentice-level treants such as Eavesdropper Treants, Water Mirror Treants, and Silent Tombstone Guardian Treants.
These treants absorbed the planar information of the Silent Plane and the Fallen Rain Realm and underwent morphological changes.
Many of these treants, because of Disc Creature Omega's information, gained extremely high adaptability to water and dim light, obtaining the Water Element Affinity Plant Essence, the Dim Light Conversion Plant Essence, and the Water-Type Spore Plant Essence, among others.
After all, Disc Creature Omega's Fallen Rain Realm was far more powerful than the Silent Plane, so within the Lunar Cultivation Method, the entity producing the most interaction with the plants' existence spirituality was precisely Disc Creature Omega's Fallen Rain Realm's planar information.
This produced a severe consequence.
At least from Disc Creature Omega's perspective.
Because after this happened across the entire realm, not only did the magic pressure increase out of nowhere, but the plants throughout the realm had effectively obtained the ability to adapt to the Fallen Rain Realm.
This was equivalent to the plants having obtained the adaptive capability that should normally only come from spending a prolonged period inside the Fallen Rain Realm, but under Locke's Moon of Evolution, they obtained and manifested it in an extremely brief span of time.
Locke had stolen Omega's power.
And the plants in the realm had all adapted to the great flood, which was equivalent to adapting to how to fight against Rain Realm creatures.
A Rain Mantis teleported to the back of a treant and slashed down at the treant's back, but because the treant's bark had evolved a special waterproof layer, the power of the blow was greatly diminished.
In the next instant, that Matte Treant smashed it to pieces with one punch.
In the sky above, Locke thought, "The Lunar Cultivation Method can have two modes. One is permanent evolution, and one is temporary evolution."
Because of the Zero Potion's characteristics, he could withdraw these blank spirituality energies back at any time.
From both an energy circulation and an ecological perspective, it was also best for him to restore the temporarily evolved magical plants to their original state.
Because this method of evolution was in essence a high-risk emergency evolution method with significant ecological impact.
Withdrawing it would allow him to recover his Zero Potion while also reducing the ecological impact.
Of course, the Lunar Cultivation Method was not limited to temporary evolution and granting natural ecosystems the ability to adapt to certain enemies.
Locke blinked and summoned the ten climbing ferns stored in his Forest Sanctuary's sub-planar zone connected to his soul.
He was going to truly evolve a Second Circle magical plant.
Using the Lunar Cultivation Method.
Permanent evolution!
And in the process, because of the Lunar Cultivation Method's characteristics, he could obtain a special resistance to the Fallen Rain Realm!
This was precisely the outstanding aspect of his Lunar Cultivation Method.
The moonlight of the Moon of Evolution shone upon those ten magical plants.
At the highest point of this plane, Edgar, who was in the middle of fighting Omega, looked down at Locke with eyes full of bewilderment. He was mumbling to himself, falling into the same kind of puzzlement Locke had felt over his All Things Return to the Tree's ability to convert death spirituality into life energy.
"How is he doing that?"
"Why can the magical plants evolve so quickly? What is the reason? There should be no breeding method that can evolve plants over such a wide area in such a short span of time."
A skilled breeder could indeed use certain cultivation methods to forcibly accelerate the evolution of lower-tier plants, but the area of effect of Locke's Moon of Evolution was simply too vast.
And the speed was too fast, far exceeding what a typical breeder could achieve even through combinations of botanical magic.
Most critically, Locke's Lunar Cultivation Method also caused the rapidly evolved magical plants to develop specific resistances.
'The cultivation methods of a breeder are ultimately only selection and cultivation techniques. But Locke's Moon of Evolution seems to be truly causing plants to evolve.'
'Like a god of evolution?'
Edgar quickly shook his head. "No. I should not mythologize Locke like this in my thinking."
"The Moon of Evolution is also just a cultivation method. I simply cannot see through it. In the field of breeding studies, Locke seems to be far ahead of me for the time being."
"This magic, I cannot understand it. Why can it cause plants to evolve collectively and so quickly in such a simple way? Are you actually going to use that moon to evolve a Second Circle plant?"