Chapter 65

Chapter 65: Rot-faced Fern and Parasitic Millettia

In the port city, Locke used a magic stone to hire a carriage manned by three centaur brothers.

The purchasing power of magic stones is very high in mortal society.

Because he was leaving the port city and heading to Ashgra, a city located deep in the mountains and forests under the jurisdiction of Lilith’s Hut, Locke needed some reliable grooms.

The three centaurs each put a rein on their shoulders, then exerted full power and pulled the carriage along the country road towards the city of Ashgra.

Locke was sitting in the carriage, reading the mission information given to him by the academy.

First of all, there are many kingdoms and even empires within the jurisdiction of Lilith Hut. Secondly, there are many lords who do not belong to any country and are only loyal to Lilith Hut.

Ashgra is such a city.

The city of Ashgra is located in the Ashgra mountain range.

There are many rare magical plants growing naturally in the mountains, as well as three magical veins, the most important of which is the Mingjin Crystal Vein.

It is a necessary auxiliary item for using the magic model [Explosion].

At the same time, this ore is also a key auxiliary material for the first-level spell [Echo Barrier]. At least in the initial stage of construction, dozens of kilograms of this ore are needed.

In other words, the city of Ashgra is an important resource point for Lilith’s cottage.

But recently, the lord of this city reported to Lilith Hut headquarters that a large number of residents in the city had special illnesses such as quadriplegia and facial deformities, and that the treatment methods used in the mortal world were completely ineffective.

Therefore, Lilith Hut believes that this may be some kind of wild magical plant in the Ashgra Mountains that invaded the city and caused the outbreak of the plague.

Only then did he ask me to go and investigate as the breeder’s assistant.

To prevent the city of Ashgra from getting further out of control, causing the mortals who entered the mountains to pick magical plants and collect magical minerals to be unable to continue their original work.

Mingjin Crystal is still relatively important to Lilith’s Hut, which is currently in the midst of a wizard war.

After all, there are a large number of wizard apprentices in the Blood Curse Court who have transformed their blood into vampires, and the magic model explosion technique happens to be their nemesis.

Locke glanced at the investigation results of an ordinary second-class wizard apprentice sent out by Lilith’s cottage. The apprentice initially suspected that there might be two kinds of magical plants that caused this situation –

One is the rot-faced fern, and the other is the parasitic chicken blood vine.

Inside the carriage, Locke flipped through the other person’s report, which was riddled with errors and omissions, and shook his head slightly. “This second-class wizard apprentice is pursuing the Transfiguration School’s body transformation sub-training. She has no knowledge of magical plants and likely hasn’t taken a general education course on everything. Therefore, her report is of little value to me.”

Locke pondered, “The rot face fern was completely extinct in the wild fifty years ago. And although the rot face fern can cause mortals’ faces to be parasitized by spores, resulting in deformities, it won’t cause paralysis of the limbs.”

“As for the parasitic chicken blood vine, that’s even more nonsense. That demonic plant has limited reproductive capacity, and its parasitic ability is also limited. Although it can indeed parasitize a mortal’s body, gradually replacing their spine, causing quadriplegia and facial deformities, it’s too easy to identify, and there are only a few cases at most.”

As the breeder’s assistant, several judgments flashed through Locke’s mind in an instant, and he matched the two main symptoms that had appeared at present with the magic plants in his mind one by one.

“No wonder the academy gave me this task.” Locke pondered, “An ordinary second-class wizard apprentice doesn’t have the relevant knowledge. Even if he goes, he will simply cause trouble.”

A red light flashed in Locke’s eyes. Because of vampire syndrome, his pupils have now turned completely red, and his sense of smell and taste have become abnormal, completely different from those of ordinary humans.

But this is only temporary.

After all, he didn’t really become a vampire.

It was just because of the properties of the Scarlet Echo Potion that his mental strength seemed to be growing in a fluctuating manner, sometimes at 195, and sometimes on the verge of breaking through and reaching 200.

During this process, Locke felt that his mental strength and magic power were constantly compressing inward, surrounding his soul to form something like a shell.

In other words, when his mental power was about to reach 200, changes occurred in the physiological structure of his mental power.

This change puts a lot of pressure on me, making my magic power very chaotic.

“The biggest difference between a first-class wizard apprentice and wizard apprentices of other levels is that a first-class wizard apprentice will possess magical pressure.” Locke felt his current changes. The boiling mental power was like waves with nowhere to vent, looking for a direction to release the huge power, and that direction was to let his soul produce a magical pressure structure.

“To become a first-class wizard apprentice, I need to endure this change in my mental strength. If I fail, I will need to break through again.”

“Many second-class wizard apprentices fail repeatedly during this breakthrough, and ultimately fail,” Locke pondered. “But with the Scarlet Echo Potion refined by my teacher, my mental strength can be increased by at least 15%, so forming a soul structure of magical pressure is inevitable. It’s just that I have to endure some hardship in the process.”

After all, it is to recreate the soul structure, forming a soul structure that is completely different from that of mortals.

Two days later, Locke arrived at his destination.

He looked at a city located in the mountains and forests. The core of the city was a group of several continuous green fortresses, and many streets and residential houses surrounded those fortresses.

There are more than a dozen mountain roads connecting the city and the outside world.

At that time, the lord of this city, Lord Ashgra, had already held a welcoming ceremony for him one thousand meters outside the city.

The ceremony was quite grand.

Soldiers lined the streets to welcome him. Lord Ashgra bowed to the carriage where Locke was and said, “Respected Wizard, the city of Ashgra is ready to welcome you. A grand banquet has been held in the city to welcome you.”

But Locke stepped down from the carriage indifferently and said to the middle-aged man in formal attire, Lord Ashgra, “Take me to the plague area immediately. All other formalities are omitted.”

“I’m here only to investigate what happened in your city and to solve the problems in your city on behalf of the academy.”

Lord Ashgra looked at Locke in awe. When he heard that Locke was going to solve his city’s problems, a glimmer of hope flashed in his eyes. “Thank you, esteemed wizard.”

“Thousands of people in the city have already developed that…horrible disease. It’s like God’s punishment on us.”

“It’s like we’ve been punished by God. During this period, people from other cities stopped coming to Ashgra. It’s as if the life of Ashgra as a commercial city has been cut off.”

“Luckily, you’re here.”

Lord Ashgra said excitedly, “Master Wizard, please help us.”

Locke was still sitting in the carriage, a little impatient, and said, “Take me to the plague area immediately.”

Lord Ashgra immediately arranged soldiers and led Locke to the isolation area within the city of Ashgra.

Locke sat in the carriage and opened the curtain. What he saw were dozens of wild semi-magical plants hidden among ordinary wild plants.

“As expected of the Ashgra Mountains, there are indeed many wild magical plants. Perhaps I can also gain something from this journey here.”

“It can’t be a punishment from God. This is the territory of Lilith’s hut. There is nothing that wizards cannot study and solve.”

(End of this chapter)