Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems

Inside the train carriage, the gunfighter was about to kill the girl. She stared into the black void of the gun barrel and squeezed her eyes shut in fright.

The disciples looked on, every one of them furious yet helpless, capable only of impotent rage.

Just as the gunfighter was about to pull the trigger and kill the girl priestess, a voice suddenly sounded in his ear. "My friend, could you perhaps not shoot and kill the one who summoned me?"

The gunfighter's pupils contracted sharply.

He immediately swept his gaze around the carriage, but found no one else in the third compartment.

From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a flawless full moon, and turned sharply, only to see a full moon reflected in the window of the train carriage.

Yet only the window of the train carriage held such a moon. Outside the window, dusk was still settling over the sky, and inside the third compartment there were only the people already present. A full moon here made no sense.

The gunfighter turned back around, his pupils contracting again. "What in blazes."

He drew a pistol from his waist with his left hand and leveled it at Locke, who had appeared before him out of nowhere.

Locke before him was dressed in a close-tailored navy suit, a soft felt hat on his head, and a gentleman's cane in his hand.

It was not that he had chosen this appearance for himself. The ancient sacrificial magic had been designed by the Silent Witch, and its internal framework was long since fixed.

His true body, at this moment, was still outside this world, at the boundary where the crystal wall system met the void.

In the broad sense, he was already within the domain of this world, but in the narrow sense, without entering the crystal wall system he could not enter the primary material plane, and so could not truly be said to have entered this world.

What had appeared here was a holy avatar summoned by the sacrificial magic.

That is to say, it was similar to a special magical avatar like a nature avatar, a special magical form of presence.

And the appearance of the holy avatar had been set by the Silent Witch.

This holy avatar was condensed from planar force, and the planar laws contained within it were naturally the planar laws of this world. So there was no issue of being rejected by this world's planar force.

Locke thought, "This must be the Holy Advent state described in the competition materials."

He thought further, "My true body has not yet entered this world, which is normal. Right now I am a Second Circle wizard, and my magic pressure is approaching one-fifteenth of that of a standard small-scale plane."

"Generally speaking, a world will actively resist the direct entry of any existence possessing such overwhelming magic pressure. And since I became a Second Circle wizard through a gift from the Silent Plane, I cannot resist its will, and cannot force my true body to descend directly."

The disciples stared at Locke in astonishment, and then erupted with intense excitement and reverence, bowing to him and breaking into joyful cries.

The girl priestess, meanwhile, stared at Locke in shock, her eyes reddening.

Her deity had appeared in her dreams when she was ten years old, imparting knowledge to her, revealing secrets, guiding her growth, and inspiring her to build the congregation she now led.

For all these years, she had only been able to meet this divine being in dreams. And today, for the first time, the deity had descended into this world.

The girl priestess trembled with emotion. "You have finally come."

"The empire is an eternal nightmare, and you, the world's only savior, have come. Please save us from the nightmare, Moon of Evolution!"

Locke glanced at the group of ecstatic disciples. He could naturally understand their feelings from their perspective.

After all, this was a deity appearing directly before the deity's own followers.

Nothing could have inspired them more than this.

But the issue was that he needed to first understand the current situation.

'Dreams over many years? This is a classic method of colonization. When a wizard wishes to conquer a world where powerful forces already exist, and is unwilling to engage in direct confrontation, or has some reason not to, they create dreams and have the native inhabitants actively summon their holy avatar to descend.'

Locke thought, 'There are many advantages to this approach. The holy avatar is condensed from the world's own planar force, so it will not come into conflict with this world.'

'Furthermore, it allows one to bypass the world's barriers and the powerful native inhabitants of this world, and enter directly into the rear lines.'

'And it allows one to learn about this world, understand its civilization, avoid becoming the enemy of the civilization as a whole, and seek out potential allies within it.'

'It seems this world must have a powerful force system and powerful holders of that force. Otherwise, the Silent Witch, who was at an ordinary Second Circle level at the time, would not have needed to use this method to enter this world.'

Locke thought, 'But I recall that this kind of magic requires the cooperation of the world will as a prerequisite. Without that, before one's true body can even enter the primary material plane, it is nearly impossible to influence the native inhabitants there, unless one directly commits powerful forces.'

'But committing powerful forces would inevitably bring one into conflict with the powerful force holders of this plane. And so this roundabout method would lose its purpose.'

'In that case, did the Silent Witch gain the recognition of this plane's will at the time, or was she even actively invited?'

'Hmm... the competition introduction mentioned that she once attempted to save this plane but failed, and has regretted it ever since.' Locke thought. 'She was probably conducting an ecological experiment, discovered the problems of this plane, and back then wanted to prevent this plane from moving toward its destruction.'

According to the competition introduction, the main objective of the competition was to use Grand Magic to hold on to the end and become the champion.

The side objective was the reason why holding on to the end was necessary, namely that this world was moving toward its apocalypse, and with each passing period of time, it drew closer to the historical endpoint of that plane's destruction.

So as time passed, the environment of this world grew a fraction more hostile.

That was why they needed to hold out.

This competition had two gameplay approaches. The first was to build up the Grand Magic and knock everyone else out.

The second was to build up the Grand Magic and lay low, enduring to the very end under the apocalyptic pressure of this world.

But in any case, Locke needed to properly understand this world and identify its greatest threat to himself, and to understand why this world was historically destined to reach its apocalypse.

What was the force that made this world's destruction inevitable.

The gunfighter kept his gun leveled at Locke's forehead. "You... what are you?"

"By the Emperor on high, what exactly are you?"

The girl priestess and the disciples changed expressions, and in fury demanded he put down the gun and not offend the deity.

Locke gave him a cold glance, but did not respond to him directly. Instead, he first turned his attention elsewhere.

Because the moment the holy avatars of all four competitors entered this world, none of them had any concealment in place. So their Grand Magics had appeared in this world simultaneously with their holy avatars.

In a world filled everywhere with the roar of machinery, which on the surface looked like an ordinary mortal world with no extraordinary abilities, this was impossible.

The reason was simple.

First, the Silent Witch herself had been unable to enter this world directly at the time.

Second, this world had produced four World Stones to allow the four of them to become Second Circle wizards.

Factoring in the unknown number of powerful force holders in this world, as well as the fact that the world itself needed to hold at least enough to sustain one Second Circle-level World Stone, the total magic pressure of this world was truly staggering.

A world like this was either a highly advanced technological civilization, or a civilization with an extraordinarily powerful force system.

It was absolutely impossible for it to be what it appeared to be on the surface, an ordinary mortal world with low-level combat ability.

What puzzled Locke, though, was that this world had not even the slightest trace of magical tides.

It was as though it were an ordinary magic-free world.

But a magic-free world could not withstand his magic pressure.

Just as a ping-pong ball could not enter a single water droplet.

A Second Circle wizard was like that ping-pong ball. A magic-free world was like the water droplet. How could one enter?

Third, he could see the networks built from psychic energy that filled the air around him, invisible to ordinary people.

And in one direction of this world, he could see a terrifying light of psychic power.

Since the four of them had only just descended, they had had no time to conceal their Grand Magics. The moment they entered, the psychic network had immediately detected them, and the holder of that powerful psychic light had taken notice and was already moving to suppress them.

From the heart of this world, the imperial capital, from within the palace, a terrifying psychic light erupted and bore down to suppress all four of them.

The Grand Magics of Locke, Edgar, Georgina, and Wizard Smith were all pressed by the psychic light-operated psychic network, on the verge of being driven out of this world.

The Grand Magics of all four rose into the sky.

The Moon of Evolution. The Temporal Shadow Fern. The Fate Loom. The Meteor from Beyond the Heavens.

Four Grand Magics, each in a different cardinal direction of this world, north, south, east, and west. At the center was the psychic network controlled by the world's emperor with his psychic light. Using this network, he was successfully driving all four of their Grand Magics out of the high atmosphere, attempting to force them entirely out of this world.

At that moment, Locke seemed to have three separate perspectives at once. One was his true body outside the plane's crystal wall system. One was his Moon of Evolution Grand Magic, which had been forced up into the high stratosphere by the psychic light network within this world. And the third was his holy avatar within the industrial city of this world, surrounded by the disciples and the gunfighter.

His true body was like a figure overlooking the world from outside, looking down from above.

Standing at greater heights allowed one to see further.

He could see the entire layout of the psychic network, which filled heaven and earth, driven by that psychic light.

His holy avatar was in conversation with the gunfighter before him. Locke pushed the gun barrel aside with his hand and said, "There is no need to be so hostile. I am nothing like this uninformed girl."

"The fact that you stayed and let her keep talking suggests that you yourself have begun to doubt the emperor. My friend, this gunfighter."

Locke's holy avatar was condensed from planar force, so through planar force communication, he could gain access to a great deal of common knowledge about this world.

Of course, this acquisition of knowledge was not a matter of having everything poured into his mind at once. It was triggered. Similar to seeing something and thereby knowing what it was, but requiring that he first observe it, encounter it, and think about it to a certain degree.

In truth, this was essentially equivalent to being in a perpetual state of unity between himself and the natural world, which allowed him to know a great deal about things related to this world.

The gunfighter's pupils contracted sharply, and then he lowered both pistols. "I do have some doubts about the emperor. I have done a fair amount of dirty work for him, and I know he is no good man. But what exactly are you?"

"At least as things stand, the emperor looks more human to me than you do."

"Convince me."

Locke gave him a glance. "I have no need to convince you. You are the one with doubts, not me. So it is you who needs something from me. If you want to know the truth, then let us make a deal. You protect this girl."

"In return, I will let you see the truth."

The gunfighter narrowed his eyes.

At the same time, Locke's Grand Magic was locked in fierce collision with the emperor's psychic network.

Locke's true self was communicating with Antoine and Witch Preston, both of whom were also outside the plane's crystal wall system but within the bounds of the plane.

Antoine said, "So the current construction of the Grand Magic is only enough to allow your holy avatar to go down there? Then find a way to build the total magic pressure of the Grand Magic greater, and get me down there too."

Witch Preston argued for herself. "Why you first? The second person to go down should be me."

Antoine said, "This is not the time for that. I am the reincarnation of a Third Circle wizard. My going down there is more useful than yours. In this round we are support. We need to help Locke with wisdom, not brute force."

At the same time, high in the stratosphere of this world, Locke's Grand Magic had exchanged blows with the emperor several times and was consistently at a disadvantage.

The reason was simple. First, the emperor of this world had been operating within it for many years, while the Grand Magics of Locke and the others had only just been established.

Grand Magic had two key metrics.

The first was the quality of magic pressure.

The second was the total volume of magic pressure.

Although their magic pressure quality was roughly comparable, and because it was a Grand Magic, their usage efficiency exceeded the emperor's, the problem lay in total volume.

The emperor was drawing on this world's force system to maintain the psychic network and wielded all manner of extraordinary abilities, and his total magic pressure had long since exceeded normal bounds.

Meanwhile, the four competitors' Grand Magics had not yet had any time to begin construction. They had only just entered the competition, and the game had only just started.

So at the start of the game, being collectively suppressed by the most powerful force holder in this world was to be expected.

But the emperor could not drive them away either.

Because they were not invaders. They had achieved their Grand Magics using this world's own World Stones.

At this point, Locke no longer wanted to keep engaging. 'Continuing to fight this fellow here is pointless. I should first hide my Grand Magic, then go down and build the Moon of Evolution's ecology, accumulating the total magic pressure volume of my Grand Magic. Just like the Forest Sanctuary.'

'As long as the total magic pressure volume rises, the balance of power between me and the emperor will shift. As it increases for me, it decreases relatively for him.'

'Wearing myself down fighting him here is just wasting time. He cannot drive me away, and I cannot beat him. If he seizes an opportunity to seal my Grand Magic, that would be a serious problem.'

Locke erupted with magic pressure, reinforcing the Moon of Evolution.

At the same time, the other three competitors came to roughly the same conclusion and also began building their magic pressure.

What was interesting was that as their Grand Magics appeared in this world, the total overall magic pressure of the world began to double.

Grand Magic was truly something extraordinary.

Its existence benefited all three parties.

The wizard world gained indirect control over the world in question. The wizard personally became a Second Circle wizard. And this colonized world, because the World Stone had fused with the Grand Magic, also experienced a rise in total magic pressure, with its laws becoming more complete.

The world will of this world, which had been suppressed by the emperor's psychic network, actually began to recover some capacity to resist the emperor's psychic dominance.

Locke and the three other competitors exchanged a brief communication high in the atmosphere.

"This fellow's power has some resemblance to the psychic magic sub-branch of the psychic school, the psi-force direction."

"Only a resemblance. There is no spell model, no meditation method, no consciousness sea. It is not a magical framework. It is this world's native force framework, with just a hint of the psi-force magic sub-branch's shadow within it."

"All truths lead to the same destination. As long as one is walking the right path, some similarity is perfectly normal."

"His method of reaching the Second Circle seems to involve replacing the world's consciousness with his own. He appears to be trying to substitute the world's will with himself entirely. He is almost turning this world into a zombie. What a rough approach. And this method has an upper limit. He is stuck at that very step right now. If it were not for the fact that his system's total magic pressure temporarily exceeds ours, we could already topple him."

Locke thought, 'Could the emperor be the very source of why this world was destined to reach its apocalypse? No, that alone would at most cause this world's progress to slow.'

'But slow progress does not equate to destruction.'

'Those are two entirely different concepts.'

'Let's continue watching. Perhaps the emperor has other outrageous things he is doing.'

The Grand Magics of all four descended toward the earth and began rapidly shifting positions, preventing the emperor from pinpointing their locations, and concealed themselves.

In the steel capital of this world, the imperial capital, from within the palace, a voice rang out. "Treacherous rebels!"

"If that is how it is, then you should cooperate with me instead, to face that disaster together."

"You cannot hide. This world is mine. I am the civilization. One man is an entire civilization!"

On the train, Locke had just begun to feel free of the emperor when he saw the emperor's psychic network conduct a collective scan of the entire plane, attempting to locate all four of them that way.

A bolt of psychic lightning appeared inside the train carriage and came crashing toward everyone inside. Locke saw this and let out a cold laugh. "Child's play."

"Did you think I would fall for that?"

The psychic lightning vanished before it could make contact with anyone.

Though they had only just begun fighting, Locke could already see from the emperor's force system that his construction of power was quite crude and lacked precision control.

If he launched a psychic scan of the entire world, there was a real chance that ninety-nine percent of the population would be rendered into vegetables in an instant. So the emperor dared not directly use his psychic light to scan the minds of every human in the world.

Instead, he had deployed a deceptive psychic lightning attack with worldwide coverage, but he dared not actually let it land.

Because if it did, this entire civilization would be destroyed, the world would regress and degrade, and that would undermine his own dominion.

So just now, he had merely been trying to frighten them into acting to block the lightning. The moment they revealed themselves to stop it, he would be able to locate their concealed Grand Magics.

But Locke had already seen the construction of the psychic network system during their earlier clash. It was as simple as boiling water to make a machine turn. There was no way it could execute any kind of precise operation.

Otherwise, the emperor would simply use the psychic network to silently take control of every person in this world and monitor their minds directly.

The fact that he could not do this meant he was structurally incapable of it at the foundational level of his system.

That was how Locke had determined, moments ago, that the emperor was simply bluffing.

Most importantly, this holy avatar had a very robust constitution. Even if the lightning had struck, it would not have amounted to much.

Locke thought, "So in this world, in addition to the other competitors, there is one great enemy, the representative of this world's native force, a one-man civilization, the emperor."

Locke looked at the gunfighter and the girl, and smiled. "My friend, the gunfighter. Are you willing to serve me, for the time being?"

The gunfighter said, "Not serve. I am simply following you to see the truth."