Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems - Chapter 853

Chapter 849 Second-Ring Medium-Level Trap and Dark Enchantment

. Locke sent the information about “Southern Gold” trying to recruit him to his senior brother and asked if it was reliable.

At this time, in the Dark World.

An unnamed wizard walked in this strange world with more than ten thousand kinds of black. His whole body was also dyed black, but there were different shades of black on his body. He looked like he had been traveling and sleeping in the open.

The blackness of this world had stained his body and assimilated his magical pressure.

A dark titan holding a skull scepter walked on the land of this world. Every step he took could shake the earth. All the demons and monsters in the darkness perished under his footsteps.

The dark titan was as big as a mountain. He was accompanied by an army of countless servants, all of whom were his followers in this world.

The dark titan suddenly spoke: “Wizard, you have been fighting with me for so long. Aren’t you tired?”

“Return the holy relic of this world to me. I will let you leave. Otherwise, I will find you sooner or later, and you will not be able to leave here either.”

The unnamed wizard’s expression did not change at all.

He looked at the small, silver flower in his hand, which resembled a tear. “If my hypothesis is true, then the [Nightfall] above Sunshadow Peninsula is connected to the Dark World. This magical plant is proof. It could at least allow one of my students to become a Moon Ring Wizard. Hmm… should I give it to my junior brother?” “

Forget it, he’s still just a regular second-ring Wizard. Even if I give him this hypothesis, he can’t use it. Am I supposed to wait decades? Besides, his teacher personally arranges his growth plan; if I interfere arbitrarily, I might anger the teacher.”

At this moment, the Dark Titan suddenly uttered terrifying demonic sounds, like countless demons wailing in hell, or like a demon god in the darkness uttering alluring words.

The entire world, under the interference of this dark, demonic chant, went into a frenzy of turmoil. One after another, demons and monsters were forced to cover their ears, lest their eardrums tear and their very existence be altered, transforming them into something else entirely…

These natives of the Dark World, unable to withstand the chant, could only travel through the dimensional portals of the Dark World to other, smaller worlds under its control.

The Dark Titan laughed heartily, his army chanting the dark chant along with him. These chants violently clashed with the nameless wizard’s enduring defensive force field.

The nameless wizard’s mind was constantly being assaulted.

He wanted to reveal his name.

He wanted to give his name to the Dark World.

“Almost all the darkness in this world is under the control of the Dark Evil King,” the nameless wizard mused. “These chants aren’t attacking my mind, but controlling the darkness that’s assimilated with me.”

The nameless wizard unleashed his ultimate magic, painting a peach tree with black, ink-like images all around it, attempting to corrupt the tree.

Everything was black, except for the peach tree, which still retained its color.

Under this influence, the nameless wizard, despite his best efforts to control himself, still managed to move his lips slightly, uttering syllable after syllable.

“Nameless…nameless…”

The Dark Evil King showed surprise, and in an instant, he stopped chanting the demonic incantation. The million-strong army of demons and monsters behind him also immediately ceased chanting the dark incantation.

The Dark Evil King said, “Nameless? A person cannot be without a name. A name is the cheapest tool for you to connect with the essence of this world. Where have you put your name? This wizard of the Nightmare Legion, I will certainly spare you.”

He continued chanting the demonic incantation, and the million-strong army behind him began chanting as well.

The darkness of the entire world chanted along.

However, as the Dark Evil King approached a certain area, he suddenly stopped, for what lay ahead was no longer his territory in the Dark World; it was the domain of other Dark Lords.

‘The Heartbreak Flower, though merely a reflection of the essence of my Dark World, ultimately contains the fundamental secrets of my Dark World.’ The Dark Great Evil King gazed into the darkness before him. “For millennia, only our Dark World has invaded other worlds; never has another world invaded ours.”

“Today, I have been humiliated by this wizard. I will avenge this.”

“He holds the [Sorrowful Flower] from my Dark Territory. He must either leave this world, abandoning the Sorrowful Flower, or return to my territory, take my Sorrowful Flower, and leave this world. I will not let you go. Nameless Wizard.” The nameless

wizard, leaning on his cane, saw the Dark Great Evil King standing motionless on the border. He knew he had won his gamble.

The Dark Great Evil King was indeed not the sole ruler of this world.

The Dark World was a world far larger than the wizarding world had imagined.

The nameless wizard pondered, “That doesn’t make sense. The previous explorers confirmed that there is only one Dark Lord in this world, namely the Dark Great Evil Lord, whose specific title I just figured out.”

“He believes himself not to be a god, but rather the deepest evil of the Dark Great World. However, in many planes of the endless void, he is called the God of Darkness by those who worship darkness. We believe that it is because of the existence of such a being that the Dark Great World is a large-scale plane.”

“But what if he isn’t the only Dark Lord here?”

The nameless wizard’s face showed a thoughtful expression. “The Dark Great World is likely a higher-level plane. No wonder, even as a Sun Ring wizard, I was chased like a drowning dog in this world. That Dark Great Evil Lord is at least a Third Ring wizard in strength.”

“Unfortunately, I dare not get too close to him, so I can’t measure his specific magical pressure.”

“It’s hard to determine if he’s at the Throne level, or close to a Fourth Ring wizard.”

After all, he was a plant hunter, not here to eliminate the Dark Great Evil Lord, and besides, he couldn’t eliminate him anyway.

This guy has the world power of the Dark Great World, a world whose depths are unknown, backing him up. Even his own teacher would likely suffer on his home turf.

“Hmm? Holding this demonic plant, I can’t escape the Dark Great World in this area? This is troublesome.” The nameless wizard gazed into the distance, only to see the Dark Great Evil King still patrolling the border with his army.

Helpless, he could only get up immediately and blend into the mortal caravan of this world, entering a dark village.

Although the mortals of this world are considered evil spirits in the eyes of other worlds.

The nameless wizard sensed Locke contacting him, so he took out the Ganoderma lucidum demonic plant. He frowned, noticing that the originally emerald green Ganoderma lucidum demonic plant now had a hint of black.

The nameless wizard frowned, not expecting that the darkness of this world had been tainted by the demonic plant from the wizarding world.

The nameless wizard saw Locke’s message and replied, “Locke, I just saw your message. Southern Wizarding Capital, right? I don’t know much about Southern Gold; it was probably in District 2 before, and only recently upgraded to District 1. Aside from journals related to me, I rarely remember the names of District 2 journals.” “

However, there’s one thing you should be aware of: the wizards of Southern Wizarding Capital are different from those in other wizarding regions…”

…

Cloud Marsh Wetlands, Golden Crown Mountain, Locke had returned to his dormitory.

Locke saw his senior brother emphasizing that the wizards of Southern Wizarding Capital were the type who, to achieve their goals, could make up stories and say whatever came to mind when trading with other wizards.

It wasn’t exactly lying, because in the other person’s subjective impression, they weren’t actually lying. They were

just talking nonsense.

In the end, it would just be that you misunderstood, misheard, or they couldn’t remember, and then the matter would be smoothed over.

Many wizards in the Southern Wizarding Capital have these habits. Of course, some of the white wizards there are indeed righteous, but they are also more impatient. If they see a swindler, they might grab him by the collar and beat him up.

This is probably because they’ve been scammed too many times.

Locke saw his senior brother’s message: ‘My experience dealing with them is to tentatively ask the wizards of the Southern Wizarding Capital if they can exchange some of the transaction terms in advance. If they can, then they really want to do business with you. But if they can’t, then they’re just trying to fool you.’

‘You said that “Southern Gold” promised you many things, but have you thought about why they dared to leave you a message directly on the Water Hyacinth System? This can only mean one thing: the wizards of the Southern Wizarding Capital are almost completely unscrupulous. When cooperating with these wizards who don’t need to follow the rules, you must learn to protect yourself.’

Locke sent his senior brother a thank-you reply.

Luckily, he asked his senior brother, otherwise he might have really been scammed.

The senior brother from the Sun Ring sent him another message. “By the way, I received news that the Tianhan River has breached its banks, causing a snowstorm along its banks. I’ll arrange for someone to handle this, but you’re practically a member of our academic lineage, one of our own.”

“You need to be extra careful. There’s nothing much to do, just be vigilant.”

Locke replied, “Okay, senior brother.”

Back in his dormitory, Locke sent a message to the wizard Solanas Mortes of *Southern Gold*. “Hello, Wizard Solanas. If I agree to your commission, could you show me some information about the Black and White Codex beforehand? Or even just a picture of it?”

Wizard Solanas Mortes replied quickly. “This… is difficult.”

“The Black and White Codex is a vital treasure of the Southern Wizarding Capital. Not to mention information, even a picture is hard to lend out easily.”

Wizard Solanas Mortes quickly sent another message. “If you submit an article to *Southern Gold*, I can pay you 500,000 magic stones in advance.” “As your reward, Wizard Locke, what do you say?”

Upon seeing this, Locke immediately understood the other party’s intentions.

If the Black and White Codex was such a precious treasure of the Southern Magic Capital that even a photograph couldn’t be shown, then even if he submitted his work to Southern Gold and it was accepted, the chances of the other party giving him any information from the Black and White Codex were extremely slim.

Moreover, even if he were given some, it would likely be some useless scraps.

However, the other party wasn’t entirely a fraud, because there was a part of them genuinely sincere.

Their willingness to offer a more conventional submission reward showed that they weren’t entirely without sincerity,

just not that much.

Or perhaps, this was a characteristic of some wizards in the Southern Magic Capital—they tended to exaggerate their abilities when trading. Locke guessed that it was questionable whether the other party, as a Moon Ring Wizard of Southern Gold’s journal, actually had the ability to borrow the Black and White Codex from the Southern Library.

Perhaps, from the very beginning, they simply didn’t have that ability.

After he actually submitted his work, he thought he could complain to him later. Was he really going to buy a ticket and head straight to the Southern Wizarding Capital to settle scores with a Grand Wizard of the Moon Ring?

Locke sent a message to Wizard Solanas Mortes. “Oh, I see. That’s good. I’m just busy with two second-ring level competitions and other things to take care of lately, so I don’t have much energy. I hope we can have a chance to collaborate in the future,”

Wizard Solanas Mortes replied a while later. “Alright. We in the Southern Golden Age often open our doors to you; we need high-quality articles from wizards like you.”

Locke put down the Ganoderma lucidum plant, unaware that a black patch had appeared on it, quickly fading away as if it had lost its color.

Locke left his dormitory, mounted the Rainbow Sparrow, and headed towards the Feathered Serpent Pavilion. “It seems I can’t expect to obtain the Black and White Codex through the *Southern Gold*. But the good thing is, at least I know the exact location of one Black and White Codex.”

“Furthermore, I don’t plan to delve deeper into my archaeology at this time. It’s not the right time yet.”

Archaeology, potion-making, and breeding—the content of these three disciplines at the second ring stage is simply too vast, so he can only study potion-making and breeding simultaneously first, and then consider studying the others.

Moreover, he’ll focus on breeding as his primary discipline and potion-making as his secondary.

After all, he didn’t have a good Potions lineage.

Therefore, since the Southern Gold Alliance had no intention of actually giving him a copy of the Black and White Codex, he didn’t have an immediate need for it.

He could learn it now if he got it, and if not, he could work on it later.

At least, the forging of his ultimate magic required sufficient skill in Potions and Breeding, so improving these two areas was his biggest goal at the moment.

Of course, archaeology involved ancient botany and the bloodlines of ancient magical creatures, as well as the secret of the unknown disaster that wiped out most ancient life forms 500,000 years ago.

Therefore, he couldn’t give that up either.

Locke, sitting on the Rainbow Bird, thought of something else. “The Starfield Sea has once again increased the overall magical tide in the Eastern Boundary, which is absolutely beneficial to me. First, it will be easier for me to advance to a Star Ring Wizard. At the second ring stage, the speed at which I increase my mana is at least twice as fast as before.” “

Also, the principle of the Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow is that the plant mimics the dragon race, gaining the dragon race’s ability to control the magical winds. And now, the magical tide concentration gradient has increased by three levels… This means that the Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow’s basic abilities have risen several levels out of thin air.”

Locke pondered, “The Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow is the best flying magical plant I cultivated at the first ring stage using the finite element cultivation method. Who would have thought that my technical route at that time would happen to catch the east wind because of the Starfield Sea’s magic ascension plan, and become perfectly correct out of thin air.”

“If that’s the case, then my chances of winning the Golden Cup are even greater. Moreover, after the magical tide concentration gradient increases, it might even increase the mutation speed of plants and shorten the growth cycle.”

No, not just might, it’s certain.

Under the current magical tide concentration gradient, apprentice-level magical plants at the first-class wizard apprentice level will likely become much easier to grow.

With more apprentice-level magical plants, the number of first-ring and second-ring magical plants will also increase.

This means that the collective magical plant costs for breeders will see a significant decrease in the future.

Locke pondered this for a moment, but the impact on magic weavers and alchemists would be much smaller. For them, the cost reduction wouldn’t be too noticeable.

This is because the magical ore materials mainly used by alchemists are hidden deep underground, requiring a long time to form and materialize. The current temporary increase in magical tide concentration gradient is unlikely to have much impact on alchemists’ materials science.

Similarly, magic weavers cannot reduce costs overnight, whether using underground ore materials or biological materials.

The growth cycle of magical creatures is much longer than that of plants.

Plants are the first energy level recipients in the entire ecosystem, self-sustaining, and the first energy-locking structure of the ecosystem.

Locke’s expression became strange. “In other words, is the current policy in the Starfield Sea favorable to botany and breeding? There should be at least one high-ranking botanical wizard in the Starfield Sea, right?”

“Never mind. The current situation is in my favor anyway. Next, I just need to keep competing, winning championships, and publishing articles to increase my magic pressure.”

“I can’t forget my teacher’s task. It’s time to release the second wizard shoe design. And I need to keep releasing new works to ensure my Augustus Wizard Shoe Shop Alliance remains in everyone’s memory.”

Because of the Starfield Sea’s magic ascension plan, his originally tentative wizard shoe shop alliance has become a real and practical future development direction.

This luck…

Locke thought. If he had chosen to focus on negative energy back then, learning the doctrines of curse masters or mediums, wouldn’t he have missed this opportunity?

Choices are so important.

The key is that sometimes choices are right in the short term but wrong in the long term.

Sometimes choices are right in the long term but wrong in the short term.

Truth and falsehood, reality and illusion, until the very last moment, no one knows who the victor will be.

He landed in Dragonblood Market and entered the Feathered Serpent Pavilion. The green dragon half-dragon shopkeeper immediately became extremely respectful upon seeing Locke enter. “Congratulations, Mr. Augustine.”

“You have become a second-circle wizard, and in the near future, you will also become a respected second-circle potion master.”

“Please. I am no longer qualified to receive you.”

Behind him stood a silver dragon half-dragon woman, even taller than him. This silver dragon half-dragon shopkeeper was also a second-circle wizard, and she nodded slightly to Locke. “Hello, Mr. Augustine, I am the person in charge of the second-circle wizarding area of the Feathered Serpent Pavilion on Mount Golden Crown. You may call me Lady Tataroni.”

Locke nodded to her and followed her up the stairs to the second-circle area. “Hello, Mrs. Tataroni,”

Mrs. Tataroni smiled. “I noticed you when you were just a first-ring wizard, and I had high hopes for you even then.”

“I just didn’t expect you to become a second-ring wizard so quickly. A second-ring wizard, what a great achievement!”

Mrs. Tataroni sighed deeply. “I’m not a native of the wizarding world; I’m from a colony. That world, during the enlightenment era of the wizarding world, received the gift of knowledge—a gift that fell from a meteor. Therefore, that world also has many who call themselves wizards.”

“That world, even for a long time, and even now, refers to itself as the wizarding world, both internally and when facing other weaker colonies.”

Locke’s eyes widened in surprise.

Was this a reversal of the natural order?

Lady Tataroni said, “That world is called the [Great World of Ostia], and it calls itself the Void Lesser Wizarding World.”

“For a long time, Ostia had no contact with wizarding worlds, so based on its existing wizarding civilization, it created a wizarding hierarchy from level one to ten. But ultimately, it’s just a system for first-ring wizards and below.”

“For a long time, they mistakenly believed that the highest level of magic was the limit of magic pressure at first-ring crystallization, which is 9999 magic pressure, and entering a period of soul decay, calling this state a level 10 wizard. Level 10 wizards became legends in Ostia, once the goal of every Ostia wizard. Until later, some people believed that there should be an eleventh level above level 10.”

“That’s easy to understand. Since they had already deduced to level 10, soon the civilization wouldn’t be satisfied with that, and would continue to advance beyond the level 10 framework, becoming that legendary eleventh level.”

“So, Wizard Locke, you’re so young, yet you’ve already broken through to become a level 11 wizard in the Great World of Ostia. I’m quite impressed.”

Locke asked with some curiosity, “So, how many levels of wizards are there in the Great World of Ostia now?”

Lady Tataroni sighed, her expression revealing a complexity far beyond what one would expect from a half-dragon. “Level fifty-five,”

Locke coughed.

Lady Tataroni said, “The Great World of Ostia has entered a very strange state. They can’t break through from the second ring to the third. So they keep creating new levels within the second ring system.”

“This has led to the entire civilization falling into a dead end. And the more levels created, the lower the chance the civilization can break through to the third ring. In our wizarding world’s sociology, this is called the ‘Second Ring Intermediate Level Trap.’”

“If a civilization creates too many levels within the second ring framework without actually breaking through to the third ring, a newly-minted third-ring wizard might be no match for a second-ring being who has created countless levels. They might even be far inferior to a second-ring being, yet the difficulty of breaking through to the third ring is far greater than creating new levels within the second ring framework.”

“Therefore, more and more people will believe that creating new levels within the second ring system is a more realistic and reliable choice than trying to break through to become a third-ring wizard.”

“They might not even realize that they’ve gone down the wrong path, or they might believe they are doing the right thing.”

“In this way, the more new levels this civilization unlocks within the second-ring system, the more restricted it becomes.”

“Ultimately, path dependence sets in, and with each new second-ring level unlocked, the entire civilization completely loses its drive to progress.”

Lady Tataroni sighed, “Alas, I think the Great World of Ostia will have a hard time having its own third-ring wizards. I heard they’re planning to unlock five new levels on top of the level 55 wizards, making them level 60 wizards.”

Locke was speechless and remained silent.

It seems Ostia has turned wizard levels into a video game level system; as time goes by, it might push the wizarding world to level 100.

Lady Tataroni, the silver-dragon half-dragon, said to Locke, “I miscalculated before. According to the levels of the Great World of Ostia, Mr. Augustine isn’t a level 11 wizard, but a level 16 wizard.”

“I’m a level 19 wizard. Star-ring wizards start at level 20.”

Locke nodded. One level for every thousand magic pressure?

What exaggerated level of magical pressure had that level 55 wizard reached?

What about a level 60 wizard?

Or was it that opening a new level within the second ring caused the magical pressure to reach a limit at a certain level, and then the rate of increase would gradually decrease…

If that were the case, the magical pressure and total amount of a level 55 wizard shouldn’t be as exaggerated as I thought. Although the second ring could infinitely increase power, the efficiency would decrease as one went higher, eventually becoming more costly and slower. In

the second ring area of the Feathered Serpent Pavilion,

Lady Tataroni gracefully bowed to Locke, her eyes even showing a hint of admiration—not admiration for Locke, but admiration for the bloodline of the true dragon—and said, “Lord Augustine.”

In a secluded place, she, a great wizard with a magical pressure of 19,999, the limit of an ordinary second ring, actually used a respectful title for herself.

“You’ve come to our Feathered Serpent Pavilion, is there anything you need?”

Locke glanced at her, his face expressionless. “I need a good potion master’s inheritance. Can the Feathered Serpent Pavilion provide that?”

Lady Tataroni elegantly tilted her head back, greedily inhaling the scent of true dragons in the air. Some half-dragons deeply resented true dragons and the dragon race, while others held a strange reverence for them.

She said, “Of course. But it requires an exchange of potion master’s inheritance of the same level.”

“Alternatively, the Feathered Serpent Pavilion can also provide you with instruction from an expert-level Sun Ring potion master. However, if you activate this service, you must restart the Heavenly Ladder test. Once the Heavenly Ladder test is activated, you can only pass through it, or fail and be eliminated. The Heavenly Ladder path will be forcibly interrupted.”

“Furthermore, we can only suggest that potion master teach you. If that potion master slacks off in fulfilling their teaching contract with us, then there’s nothing we can do about it.”

“Of course, because you are a B-level talent of the Feathered Serpent Pavilion, if you choose this service, we will upgrade the expert-level Sun Ring potion master we invite to a master-level potion master!”

Locke’s pupils suddenly contracted.

Master level, that’s the third ring.

That’s considered a truly outstanding potion master in the wizarding world.

Lady Tataroni said to Locke, “Coincidentally, I’m a very close friend of a potion master, a friend of over a hundred years. And her teacher is a master-level throne potion master from the Southern Realm, the Xiangshan Islands.”

“Perhaps I can help you invite her.” (

Author’s note: This is a request for monthly votes at the beginning of the month. 12,000 words updated today! Thank you to all the readers!)

(End of Chapter)