Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems - Chapter 867

Chapter 863 Do you know who you are?

At this moment, Locke sensed a mortal cavalry force rapidly approaching in the forest. The hooves of the warhorses trembled on the ground, even a hundred meters away.

The boy and the middle-aged man immediately reacted, turning back to see their former city-state’s cavalry appearing on the distant hillside.

The middle-aged man immediately tried to flee with the boy, but they had few options, as two legs couldn’t outrun four, and there was no other cover in sight.

Thus, the lush forest became their only choice.

The two rushed into the forest, found the largest tree, and hid behind it.

The cavalry soon arrived at the riverbank, their horses searching the area.

“There are footprints by the river, the footprints left by the shoes worn by the nobles of Terella. Those two sinners must be nearby. The priest said they must be killed to appease the wrath of the god of war.”

“They’re here, not far,”

said a cavalryman, wielding an iron sword. “They have limited hiding places. I reckon they’re hiding in the forest ahead. Let’s dismount and search that forest; they’re sure to be hiding behind that tree.”

There were six cavalrymen in total. Another heavily armored cavalryman said, “These sinners who have angered the god of war are laughable. Do they think there’s anywhere left for them in this world? I heard their whole family has been executed, and everyone connected to them is dead.”

“The city-state of Terella will be under a new rule, the rule of the god of war’s chosen ones.”

The cavalrymen all dismounted and entered the forest to search.

The middle-aged man hiding behind the tree plunged his dagger into the soil, then gritted his teeth, his eyes wavering, wondering if he was already among the sinners.

He knelt on the ground and prayed.

“Unconquerable charioteer of flames, god who commands charge and the clash of shields, forgive our sins and give us another chance. We are willing to offer you our finest sacrifices…”

“Forgive my young master, Orion, all the sins he has committed, just as you have blessed his family with victories in every war. We have never harbored any disrespect for you; please do not let wicked people cloud your judgment… We beg you to look upon us once more…”

“My young master, Orion, will become your best hunter, capturing all those who betray and provoke you…”

The middle-aged man heard the knights’ footsteps drawing ever closer, and despair crept onto his face. Terella’s heavily armored knights were guardians of the gods, clad in heavy armor, representing the will of the god of war.

Was he to fight these guardians of the gods?

Even if he could overcome his psychological barrier, could he truly defeat six of these warriors who had received military training since the age of ten, warriors who could take on a hundred men single-handedly in both naval and land battles?

How could he possibly be such a person?

At this moment, in this man’s heart, the only hope for turning the tide was the will of the God of War, the chief god of the city-state of Terella.

That was the great god who could control world wars; wherever his gaze fell, war would break out.

The middle-aged man turned to Orion and whispered, “Young master, what are you doing? Quickly pray to the God of War!”

Orion grabbed his dagger. “We only have one dagger now, but there are two of us. I’m going to cut off a branch from this tree and carve it into a weapon.”

“That way, both of us will have weapons.”

The middle-aged man found it absurd.

“Young master, those are Terella’s heavily armored knights, the best warriors. Even if you and I both have weapons, what can we change? Prayer is the only useful action now.”

Orion’s eyes hardened.

“The God of War has abandoned us, Selenos. Now we can only rely on ourselves.”

“We need weapons now!”

Orion struck the branch of the tree in front of him with his dagger, sparks flying from the friction.

Orion looked at the web of his right hand in shock.

His hand went numb.

The dagger in his hand fell to the ground.

From a young age, he aspired to become the finest warrior in Terella, to don the heavy armor that symbolized glory, so he honed his skills and physique from childhood.

His father had once said that he was also Terella’s best hunter, possessing a special talent that allowed him to navigate complex paths with unerring intuition, and to easily tame beasts that others could not.

Whether it was warhorses, dangerous creatures of the forest, or even a dire wolf he had once subdued—a legendary offspring of a demonic wolf from the underworld and a common wild wolf from the surface world—

he felt capable of severing a tree branch with a single dagger, but reality was that his hand went numb, and the dagger fell from his grasp.

A leaf fell, a lush, verdant oak leaf, like a piece of jade.

Its edges were golden, possessing a sacred quality.

Orion couldn’t help but look down at the leaf.

The next moment, the roars of six heavily armored knights rang in his ears.

“He’s here! I see him! The sinner is right here!”

“His blood must be offered to the God of War. Seize him!”

Selenos was deathly pale. “Young master, you must go. I’ll hold them off. Remember, you must escape. The God of War and the priests have been deceived. As long as you live, we will one day clear our names.”

Orion’s eyes were filled with despair. He never imagined he would fall into such despair and helplessness.

His trusted friends had betrayed him.

His former subjects had become his executioners.

Even the god he worshipped had judged him a sinner.

And to this day, he didn’t even know what he had done wrong.

The next moment, a tree in front of them suddenly stood up. Using its branches as hands and roots as feet, the tree moved across the ground. It raised a hand and slapped three of Trilla’s best heavily armored knights away. Then, roots rolled across the ground, binding two of the heavily armored knights.

Next, Locke manipulated his tree-man avatar, reaching out and grabbing the last heavily armored soldier before him.

The soldier was horrified to find himself being lifted up by Locke, exclaiming, “A tree…a tree can move?”

“Gods of the crater, am I seeing things? The trees are moving? God of War above.”

Locke glanced at him, and the heavily armored soldier instantly felt a strange sensation, as if he were being watched by some colossal being.

It wasn’t the treant watching him.

It was Locke watching him.

And Locke’s magic pressure at this moment was 18,500; Locke’s magic pressure alone was equivalent to about one percent of the world’s total.

This is world-class magical pressure.

Therefore, this heavily armored soldier experiences the illusion of being targeted by a gigantic object, yet unable to accurately judge its size.

Locke glanced at it and judged, “This soldier is human; his soul structure isn’t much different from that of mortals in the Wizarding World. Only the plane principles within his body are different.” “

But there’s one thing about him that differs from the Wizarding World. And this difference is also a characteristic of this world.”

Locke realized something: the time flow in the Three-Dimensional World.

The time flow on the crater is roughly 2:1 different from that in the Wizarding World.

But the time flow on the surface of this world seems different from that on the crater.

Approximately one day on the crater is equivalent to one year on the surface.

He immediately realized this the moment he entered this world using his Treant avatar. The information collected by the Void Cube was only a partial and incomplete understanding of the plane principles of this world; therefore, he directly entered the present world and only then noticed the characteristics of the Three-Dimensional World.

“This mortal has almost no magical energy. The entire land is a mortal world, and the Three-Hole Plane is very close to a medium-to-large-scale plane. How could it not have magical energy?”

“The magical energy is absorbed by the plane above the crater.”

This is quite consistent with the capabilities of the higher plane.

The higher plane above the crater is probably the root cause of the lack of magical energy on the land. Because the higher plane at the top of the crater absorbs almost all the magical energy of this mortal world, this causes a difference in the flow of time between the two.

“That is, one year on Earth is one day on the mountain. The true flow of time within the Three-Hole World is more complicated.”

Although it seems that a person has more time in the mortal world of the Three-Hole World, in reality, because the mortal world is a near-magic-free area, it would only be a waste of time, or even a regression in power.

So having more time is actually a disadvantage.

This is also true for wizards. First, it is difficult to maintain magic pressure here. Second, if you want to conduct experiments, there are not many materials here. Even if you bring experimental materials to this region, the magical energy concentration gradient of the materials will continue to decrease over time.

This place is unsuitable even for wizards to conduct thought experiments, as it’s a magic-free region. At higher magic levels, even thought experiments require a certain amount of spiritual light.

However, for someone like him who wants to evolve a power system and forge powerful magic, the time difference between the present world of the Three Caverns and the sacred realm on the crater is actually very advantageous.

Perfectly, he needs a considerable amount of time to evolve his power system, and he needs to find a place to organize his thoughts on botanical magic.

Thinking about it carefully, organizing his thoughts on Golden Crown Mountain is indeed quite expensive. Not only is land on Golden Crown Mountain incredibly valuable, but time itself is also incredibly valuable.

Golden Crown Mountain can’t be used solely for this.

Locke casually tossed aside the mortal who possessed a certain amount of the God of War’s divine power.

At the same time, Locke turned to look at the middle-aged man and the young man, Orion.

Locke began, “You are incredibly rude. The first time you saw me, you hid behind me without my permission. Then, you even tried to cut off my branches.”

The middle-aged man raised his dagger, trembling as he pointed it at Locke.

“We…we meant no offense. Who are you?”

“You just killed six loyal guards of the God of War, you have offended the God of War…”

Orion said, “Tree man, we meant no offense. You are so powerful, we can leave immediately if you wish. I apologize for trying to cut off your branches.” Orion was

somewhat terrified.

He had actually tried to wound such a powerful…creature?

Locke chuckled, then said seriously, “I am the forest. I am part of nature. You ask me who I am, I should be asking you who you are.”

“I know very well who I am, but do you know who you are?” As he

spoke, the dagger in the middle-aged man’s hand rusted rapidly, and with a gust of wind, it turned into a pile of dust and vanished in his hand.

Faced with Locke’s question, the middle-aged man stammered, “We are Terella people… no…”

A look of confusion crossed his eyes. He claimed to be Terella people, but now the Terella people were hunting them down, trying to kill them all.

A flicker of doubt crossed the middle-aged man’s eyes. “Who… are we? I am the young master’s guard, a loyal subject…”

Orion said, “We are followers of the God of War! We were betrayed by a villain, my family was massacred, we are going to seek refuge with a city-state that is close to our family, then regain our power, return to Terella, kill that evil person, have the High Priest cleanse our sins, and have the God of War forgive us.”

Locke sighed. “Alas. You see, I knew it, you can’t answer who you are. What you say are merely your outward identities. So I ask you, after removing these outward identities, can you still clearly say who you are?”

The two looked at each other, then stared blankly, speechless. They had thought they would have a lot to say, but after opening their mouths, they found they couldn’t say anything at all.

Orion’s expression shifted, and he asked Locke, “Lord Treant, you are so powerful and strong. The God of War will surely like you. Why don’t you help us retake Terella? As long as I restore my family’s glory and status, Terella will forever be your ally.”

“Terella is the God of War’s city-state; you will gain the God of War’s friendship,”

Locke scoffed again.

He said to Orion, “Interesting little fellow. I won’t help you. I am part of nature, part of the forest, and I have no interest in your city-state’s internal strife. However, I just heard someone next to you say that you are an excellent hunter? Then you can try picking up that leaf over there. That’s a Leaf of Power. Only the forest rangers chosen by the forest can obtain it.”

This leaf did not fall of its own volition; it was cut off by Orion with a dagger.

Because the Leaf of Power system is already a complete system,

it does indeed respond automatically, dropping a Leaf of Power to those with suitable aptitude, absorbing external talent.

Orion immediately looked at the leaf.

Locke said, “I can train you inside this forest, so you should be able to return to your city and avenge your enemies.”

“But it’s a deal. In return, you must kill someone for me in this world.”

Orion didn’t realize that Locke’s choice of words was precise—it was “this world,” not “other worlds. “

Of course, in his understanding, “this world” meant the entire world.

He immediately bent down to pick up the fallen leaves, while the middle-aged man beside him glanced at Locke’s treant avatar with horror and then advised, “No. This treant is likely from the Demon Wolf clan… We are followers of the God of War; we cannot accept his power.”

Orion had already picked up the Leaf of Power, the Path of Nemesis, from the ground and turned back to whisper to him, “But we do need power now. Only with enough power can we return to take revenge. Only then can we kill the evil ones and make the High Priest and the God of War understand our piety.”

“The God of War will forgive us,”

Orion said to Locke. “Tree Man, I accept your deal. Please train me! In return, I will help you kill one of your enemies.”

(End of Chapter)