Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems

By the time the two black wizards hurried back to the living quarters provided on the wizard airship and found their leader, the female illusionist of the Magic Thief Circus, she was wearing an unpleasant expression.

She swept her gaze over the Jester and the Puppeteer, and let out a quiet sigh.

"Did none of you notice that the lord placed a spell on you?"

"How many times have I told you, within our circus, the moment anyone suspects they have been cursed, they must never meet up with the other members, so as not to implicate them. It seems you have forgotten everything I have said."

The Jester, Puppeteer, and Beast Tamer who had been newly brought into the Magic Thief Circus all changed expressions drastically.

The Beast Tamer glared at the Jester and the Puppeteer.

"What were the two of you doing?"

The Jester spread his hands and rubbed his red nose.

"He placed a curse on us? I am a curse school wizard. No one is more sensitive to curses than I am, and my permanent defensive force field is the Multiple Secret Seal. Even if the other party is a Second Circle wizard, there is no way they could place a curse on me without my noticing."

Witch Zoe said calmly, "The Eye Demon Wizard's insight is far beyond yours."

"It is entirely normal that you could not detect his curse on you."

The Puppeteer was beginning to panic.

"Then what do we do now? Let us get the flyer out of here."

The Jester immediately objected. "We cannot. If the void warship is fully operational, the moment our flyer separates from it, one shot from the void cannon will reduce our flyer to fragments."

Witch Zoe sat where she was, waited for a moment, and then sighed.

"It seems this cannot be resolved amicably. We have not fooled him."

Witch Zoe swept her gaze over the Jester and the Puppeteer. She had not expected that these clowns had failed to mislead the Eye Demon Wizard.

At this moment, on the other side of the wizard airship, Locke stood on the deck of the airship and looked at Witch Zoe in her hawk-hat sky wizard disguise, along with the female rapid painter beside her, and said, "We meet again, Zoe."

"The first time we met, you were a holy mage. The second time we met, you were a sky wizard. And the third time we meet, what will you be?"

Witch Zoe immediately froze.

That was right. The body of Witch Zoe that had been left on the other side of the airship was not her true body. It was only a portion of her consciousness that she had sealed into another person's body using the Consciousness Seal, a sealing school spell.

She had prepared a backup plan. If Locke discovered their presence, she would use those three fools plus one controlled puppet to lure Locke away, while she and her family-servant-born female rapid painter used Dimensional Exile to make their escape.

Only Dimensional Exile required ten minutes to complete.

And so they needed to find an unoccupied location, and the female rapid painter would need to quickly paint a magical painting mimicking the surrounding environment to conceal the process of their dimensional transfer.

But she had not expected that Locke, drawing on his knowledge of the techniques she had used in the past and on the insight of his Three-Eyed bloodline, would notice these subtle abnormalities, detect her true body's magic pressure, and locate the two of them among the wizards who had separated from the crowd.

Witch Zoe sighed, knowing the situation could not be resolved quietly. She turned and bowed to Locke. "Greetings. I am Zoe. My respects to the great Eye Demon Wizard."

The female rapid painter beside her also broke into a sweat, looking nervously at Locke.

Although they had encountered Second Circle wizards before, they had always managed to calmly bluff their way through. This was the first time they had ever had the feeling of being seen completely through.

Of course, this was mainly because before making any move, they would always thoroughly confirm the identity, standing, and magical level of the passengers, to ensure the target could be acted on.

But Locke had advanced far too quickly.

They had not anticipated that on a wizard airship they had previously intended to rob, someone as extraordinarily gifted as this would appear.

Having become a Second Circle wizard in such a brief span of time.

Witch Zoe looked at Locke smiling in silence, and could only smile bitterly in response. "Great Eye Demon Wizard, what do you intend to do?"

A tiger's eye appeared on Locke's forehead, gazing down from above with a commanding air, like the king of the mountain forest assessing two pieces of prey.

"Zoe, have your handmaid stand down. She intends to give her life for the chance to successfully cast the Path of Exile on me. But that is laughable."

Witch Zoe immediately said to her handmaid, "Ernie, stop. Do not be foolish enough to directly provoke a Second Circle wizard. The reason our tricks succeeded in the past was because those high-circle wizards never treated us as enemies and had no real hostility toward us. Deception can only succeed when the other party holds no strong hostility toward us."

"Once hostility arises, a moment of violence can effortlessly tear apart any deception."

At this moment, Locke's superintuition, which did not appear at all times, surfaced. In the next instant, the tiger's eye on his forehead suddenly lifted its gaze toward the magical lamp on the ceiling, where a gecko was clinging.

In the next moment, that gecko was crushed by his magic pressure. The gecko turned to ink and dripped down to the floor.

The female rapid painter's face immediately drained of color as the magical backlash struck her severely. "A great Second Circle wizard... is truly powerful."

Witch Zoe also went pale, because her last contingency had failed.

The insight of the person before her was simply too terrifying.

Locke smiled to himself. The Witch Zoe before him was truly a consummate deceiver. Even the words she had spoken to her own subordinates were meant to lull him.

What she said about deception having no effect once the target had developed hostility toward her.

That line was simply meant to lower his guard.

After all, that was only true of crude, low-level deception.

The gecko just now had contained an enchantment spell within it. It presumably could have, in a single instant, amplified the magical lamp's light to produce a flash-grenade-like effect, and then they would have seized the moment to flee.

Locke pointed at his own eyes and said, "My eyes have a pupil technique. Even if you create a magical flash, I can use my pupil technique to see through the light."

Of course, a Second Circle wizard would have a number of methods to adapt their vision to a flash of light, but those would require spellcasting time.

And it also depended on which category of magic they were proficient in. If someone was proficient in force magic or constructionist magic, they truly might be briefly blinded by an intensely brilliant light.

They had presumably been hoping to seize this last opportunity and stake everything on one final gamble.

Locke looked at Witch Zoe with a faint smile.

"Done playing?"

Witch Zoe let out a sigh and bowed to Locke again.

"Great Eye Demon Wizard, we are only trying to put food on the table. We mean no offense to you. Killing us would bring you no benefit, and we have no bounties on our heads..."

"I would like to propose a transaction in exchange for allowing us to leave."

Locke said, "I only came over because I saw an old friend. Nothing more."

"I just did not expect your gang to have turned over so many new members."

Apart from Witch Zoe and the female rapid painter, everyone else in the Magic Thief gang was a new face.

Witch Zoe nodded. "Yes. The death rate in the wizard airship piracy business is very high. Get caught and you are dead."

"White wizards on airships rarely send black wizards to wizard prison. Usually it is catch and execute on the spot."

Locke gave a slight nod.

"You are a sealing school wizard, correct? Where are you from?"

Witch Zoe said, "From the Western Border Region's leading wizard land, High Heaven Plain. The sealing magic I use comes from the Purple Path of Exile."

"Great Eye Demon Wizard, do you have any seals that need to be broken? I specialize in unlocking all manner of magical locks and magical seals."

"I also specialize in designing corresponding magical locks and magical seals."

Locke said, "Give me a complete set of materials on sealing magic, and give me a magical item that you think could convincingly let me pretend I never saw you."

He had no intention of killing Witch Zoe. For one thing, Witch Zoe was only a First Circle wizard. For a Second Circle wizard to kill her would yield nothing.

And secondly, there was someone behind Witch Zoe. Without any real material benefit to justify it, there was no need to kill and make an enemy.

There were presumably some high-circle white wizards behind her.

Hearing this, Witch Zoe felt a wave of relief wash through her, confirming that Locke had no intention of killing or arresting her.

But in the next instant, looking at the faintly smiling Locke before her, she found him somewhat shameless. She had only deceived him once in the past, and now it seemed she was going to be robbed because of that one deception.

He could actually try to dig out items useful to a Second Circle wizard from a mere liquification-stage First Circle wizard. Truly a remarkable capacity for squeezing resources out of others.

Witch Zoe took out a set of spell books and handed them to Locke. "These are a set of Purple Path of Exile spells I have collected. These are all publicly shareable spell models. The great Eye Demon Wizard may browse through them freely."

"As for whether I have anything on me that would be useful to you... I am only an ordinary First Circle wizard. I am even just a liquification-stage wizard. What could I possibly have that would be of use to you?"

Witch Zoe looked at Locke with some distress.

A liquification-stage wizard was several major levels below a Second Circle wizard, separated by an entire soul limit breakthrough.

Even just within the crystallization wizard stage alone, there were distinctions between ordinary crystallization wizards, First Circle peak magic pressure wizards, and the soul declining period.

The gap between Witch Zoe and Locke was enormous. So as a liquification-stage wizard, she racked her brains but could not think of anything she had that would be of use to Locke, anything that could persuade him to let her go.

As time passed, Locke's expression gradually grew impatient.

Witch Zoe felt a jolt of anxiety, fearing Locke might hand her over to the airship's captain.

"Wait, great Eye Demon Wizard, let me think a little longer. Let me think whether I have anything that would be of use to you."

"Oh, wait..."

Witch Zoe's eyes brightened, as though something had come to her. "Information. It is information. I have a piece of information in my possession that would be useful to you."

She hurriedly produced a map.

Locke accepted the map with a mage's hand. Witch Zoe watched this and her eyelid twitched. She naturally had no intention of scheming against Locke now. Locke had seen through three of her plans. She had long since given up on the idea of escaping danger through cleverness.

But she still could not help the corner of her mouth twitching at Locke's caution.

A great Second Circle wizard like yourself, needing to use an apprentice-level spell, the Mage's Hand, to accept a simple map from a mere liquification-stage wizard's hands?

Was that not being a little overly cautious?

Witch Zoe looked at Locke, taking in his youthful face, and felt a quiet surge of admiration for his talent.

Back when she had first met Locke, he had been nothing more than a gasification-stage wizard. He had been skilled in combat even then and was quick to adapt, but that was all.

And now, Locke was already a great Second Circle wizard, while she was still a liquification-stage wizard.

Such a young Second Circle wizard.

Even in High Heaven Plain, he would be considered exceptional.

For one brief moment, Witch Zoe's composure wavered, and then she pulled herself back together.

"Great Eye Demon Wizard, this is a treasure I obtained when I was robbing a wizard airship."

"When I first got this map, it was sealed by some kind of sealing magic, making it look like a fake map. But after years of slowly breaking the seal bit by bit, the seal on this map has been mostly lifted, revealing its true appearance."

"Based on my reading of what is on it, this appears to be a wizard treasure map from the Pure-Blood Human Era. It shows that a Second Circle wizard concealed their treasure in a place beyond the reach of the Pure-Blood Cult."

Locke looked at the location marked on it and found that it was in the ordinary mortal island cluster of the southeastern quadrant.

Locke asked, "Why have you not gone to find it yourself?"

Witch Zoe swallowed. "Great Eye Demon Wizard, a Second Circle wizard's treasure is not something a small wizard like me can touch. I know my own limitations."

"My original plan was to find a channel and sell it at an auction."

"Besides, I am a wizard airship pirate. I only do the business of robbing airships and wizard ships... that is enough to satisfy me."

Locke swept a glance over Witch Zoe, looking at her steadily and for a long moment.

"You are searching for something specific, are you not?"

In an instant, a chill ran through Witch Zoe's body.

She had not expected that the Eye Demon Wizard before her had such powerful insight and such sharp thinking that he had actually guessed her true purpose.

Locke smiled. "You are this obsessed with robbing airships and wizard ships, so the reasoning is clear enough. You are looking for something that only appears on airships or wizard ships."

"I have no interest in that. That is your business."

"All right. What you have given me is satisfactory."

Locke turned to leave.

Witch Zoe was also wrapped up in her own complicated situation. He had successfully robbed her once, and had somehow managed to extract a Second Circle wizard's treasure map from a liquification-stage wizard.

Along with that stack of sealing magic materials.

He had indeed made a considerable gain, so there was no need to wade into murkier waters.

Witch Zoe watched the retreating figure of Locke, feeling simultaneously grateful that he had kept his word and a sense of stifled indignation.

A liquification-stage pirate, having been thoroughly squeezed of useful valuables by a white Second Circle wizard?

Witch Zoe stamped her foot.

"That wretched Locke Augustine."

"The first time I met him, I thought with those thick brows and big eyes he was an honest person."

"I never expected he would be so cunning and crafty, just like those insatiable old scoundrels in white wizard society who chew people up and spit out nothing but bones."

Her handmaid Ernie said quietly, "My lady, as long as you find that thing, you will have the hope of becoming a Second Circle wizard."

"Once you are also a great Second Circle wizard, you can settle the score then. It will not be too late."

Witch Zoe hesitated. "Will we be able to find it?"

"Never mind. He let me off this time, so I already owe him a favor. The next time we meet, I will probably have to repay it."

Witch Zoe clenched her teeth.