Chapter 70

Chapter 70 First-Class Wizard Apprentice (4803)

The night owl that Gabi transformed into just circled above Clivia’s head. At that moment, the two leaf swords in Clivia’s hands kept poking towards the sky. Amidst Gabi’s thrilling screams, one of the leaf swords almost poked her, breaking off two of her flight feathers.

“Senior!”

At the same time, Locke took this opportunity to find the true roots of the Clivia hidden in the darkness.

The Clivia is a carnivorous magical plant, equivalent to a bird of prey in the plant kingdom. It will attack and prey on anything that moves.

There are two ways to solve it. One is to destroy it directly with v*olence.

Without a first-class wizard apprentice to control it, the threat level of the Clivia can only be equivalent to that of some second-class wizard apprentices with relatively strong magical powers. For Locke, it is still relatively easy to deal with.

But doing so would destroy this precious magic plant.

The second method is to find its true roots and pull them out of the soil.

The roots of the Clivia are just false roots used to keep it standing and move small distances. They cannot really transmit nutrients, and its real roots are hidden in some way. As long as the real roots are dug out of the ground, this magical plant will fall into a state of suspended animation and stop all activities.

This is also a form of self-protection.

Locke moved quickly and whispered a spell. Three plant hands made up of vine branches stretched out at the same time, like a drill bit, digging into the rocky ground. Then they grew along the cracks in the rock, finding the deepest part where the true roots of the Clivia miniata were rooted, and dug it out as much as possible without damaging the true roots.

“The true roots of this Clivia flower are as deep as 21 meters. This Clivia flower must have been growing here for a long time.” Locke raised his eyebrows. If his magic power was not already close to that of a first-class wizard apprentice, he might not be able to dig it out without damaging its true roots.

With a loud bang, three slender vines of the sixth-level Mandrake vine turned over a large amount of sand and rocks. At the same time, the true roots of the Clivia miniata, which were as thin as a baby’s finger, were also exposed to the air.

At the same time, the Clivia flower immediately went into shutdown mode like a computer that had been unplugged. The entire flower drooped down, like a person standing in place with a hunched back.

Even the orchid leaves automatically become dehydrated, with the edges curling inward.

Locke chanted a spell and carefully used Green Wash to grab it, using the branches and leaves of the Mandrake vine to entangle it, then picked it up, placed it behind him, and walked with him.

The owl Gabi transformed into landed on the ground and reverted to her human female form.

“Senior, that was really dangerous.” Gabi had a frightened look on her face. The corner of her wizard robe was torn, probably because the Clivia flower had pierced the owl’s flight feathers. “I didn’t expect a wild magical plant could be so dangerous.”

Locke nodded slightly and said, “Most of the magical plants in the Ashgra Mountains are semi-wild, degenerate species, but the Clivia is a rare magical plant of a different level.”

Gabi said with some joy, “But fortunately, we should have found the source of the plague in Ashgra City.”

Locke and Gabi walked about fifty meters along the bank of the underground river and came to where the rats gathered.

As expected.

Almost all of these mice were infected with fungi. When Locke approached, the mice all turned their heads to look at Locke.

There was actually some intention to approach actively.

Moreover, the special fragrance of the rotten konjac here has become even stronger.

However, the group of rats had not yet come close, but when they suddenly saw Locke, they let out screams that were louder than the last, and the entire group of rats turned into a vortex pattern.

After half a minute of chaos, the group of rats scattered and began to flee in all directions, screaming miserably.

Gabi was a little horrified, her eyes wide open as she looked at Locke who was standing next to her. “Senior…you…you…”

An invisible pressure is emanating from Locke’s body, continuous, stable, and powerful.

She was just standing next to Locke, but every inch of her skin seemed to be pushed outward.

Locke alone is a powerful source of magical radiation to the outside world.

Gabi had heard of it. After all, she had been stuck at the second-class wizard apprentice stage for almost ten years.

Those seniors whom she once envied would undergo special changes after becoming first-class wizard apprentices. That was a special soul structure that only began to appear in the first-class wizard apprentice stage – magic pressure.

The overly powerful magic power surrounds the soul body of the wizard apprentice, forming a special magic pressure field, which will constantly exert special pressure on the surroundings under natural circumstances.

Wizards call it magic pressure.

First-class wizard apprentices must undergo special training to suppress this kind of magic in normal times. Otherwise, ordinary people will shorten their lifespan just by standing next to them!

They won’t live long!

Gabi said enviously, “Senior, you…congratulations.”

“I never thought that you, Senior, would achieve a breakthrough and become a first-class wizard apprentice in a place like this. I’ve seen seniors in the academy achieve breakthroughs in the academy, a relatively safe environment.”

Locke nodded slightly. It had been more than three days since he took the Scarlet Echo potion, and the medicinal properties were indeed almost digested.

It’s just that the current side effect, vampire syndrome, still hasn’t disappeared.

After his magic power officially broke through the 200 mark, his magic power became even more violent. Even the dark blue gem on his left hand was shattered at this moment. Therefore, a faint sense of v*olence arose in Locke’s heart.

Locke suppressed the rage caused by this side effect and said, “Let’s go. Those rats have already escaped under my magic pressure.”

“This is much more convenient.”

Gabi said, “Okay, senior.”

Locke and Gabi walked in front of the konjac.

There is a patch of konjac here, but in essence, there is only one plant. It’s just that this plant grows better and appears to have more branches.

“It’s indeed the Rotten Earth Amorphophallus. As long as this Amorphophallus is removed, the plague in Ashgra will disappear on its own.” Locke said, “In essence, the plague was simply caused by this Amorphophallus, deliberately using rodents to reproduce.”

“However, it’s impossible for the konjac to successfully reproduce on its own in a natural environment, so this is futile.”

Locke looked at the skeleton in a wizard’s robe among the konjac plants and said, “This should be the reason why this konjac plant and that Clivia plant can grow in this place.”

Gabi looked at the skeleton, feeling uneasy. “Senior Locke, I always feel that the body is very ominous.”

Locke examined the corpse and said, “Well, this is the body of a first-class wizard apprentice. After a first-class wizard apprentice dies, their magical pressure will continue for a long time, continuously creating special pressure on the surrounding environment. Now, some of his magical pressure is still lingering on his bones, continuously radiating outwards, so you feel strange.”

“The emblem on his wizard robe is…”

It was a cyan ring.

Locke remembered, “This is the symbol of the Qinghuan Society.”

Gabi asked doubtfully: “Senior, I have never heard of this wizard organization. There should not be such a wizard organization nearby.”

Locke said, “It’s normal that you don’t know. The Qinghuan Society has been disbanded due to the [Abyssal Plant Catastrophic] caused by their breeder’s experiments getting out of control.”

“He must have died somewhere on the surface, but for some reason his body entered the underground river and, through the complex underground river system, arrived here. The seeds or seedlings of the Clivia miniata and the Amorphophallus rotundus must have landed here along with his body.”

Locke pondered. “No wonder the konjac can grow in nature. It turns out it uses the corpse of a first-class wizard apprentice as nutrients.”

“This is a very luxurious thing.”

A first-class wizard apprentice is considered a precious treasure in any academy in the southeast corner.

Unlike second-class wizard apprentices who can serve as assistants and do work, first-class wizard apprentices can generally produce some small results independently.

They can handle more complex magical resources, they can form joint magical rituals, and they can cause some trouble for formal wizards.

Therefore, sacrificing a first-class wizard apprentice to feed a konjac is definitely a loss.

The academy would have to spend countless resources just to train a first-class wizard apprentice. Moreover, the resources would not only be spent on the apprentice himself.

Resources also had to be spent on the hundreds of other second- and third-class wizard apprentices who entered the academy in order to find and select him.

Locke saw some shriveled and charred seeds next to the bones. Those might be seeds of other magical plants brought by this corpse, but they failed to grow successfully.

After a preliminary inspection, Locke also saw a brass ring on the palm of the skeleton, with a line of words engraved on the surface of the brass ring: [Star Ring].

Locke looked at the ring, was stunned for a moment, and then was delighted.

The Astral Ring is one of the masterpieces of alchemy – a space storage ring.

This ring is cleverly connected to a space in the starry sky, and is convenient and extremely safe.

Because the astral plane is a high-dimensional plane and it is difficult for wizards to enter it, it is very safe to put things in an independent space in the astral plane.

The Astral Ring is a storage item that can only be created by an alchemist at the formal wizard level.

Among the wizards in the apprentice stage of the entire Lilith Academy, there are probably not many who can own such an expensive item.

But now, I actually picked it up.

Locke picked up the Star Ring and input his magic power into it. It seemed that because the original owner had been dead for too long, the personal special spirituality input into the Star Ring had completely disappeared.

So, Locke input his own magic power into it, and without encountering any obstacles, he injected his own spirituality into it, turning it into his own item.

Each astral ring is equivalent to an astral projection entrance.

Through the ring, Locke saw a space about the size of a room.

Sassari’s Everything Class said that the Astral Plane is a special plane that is often borrowed by wizards in high-level spells.

It has many special features, one of which is that it has no concept of time. Therefore, if you put an item in it, there will be no change in its state. It will remain the same as when you take it out.

Second, there are many natural projection entrances to the astral plane, which are located in the main material plane, which is the space where the southeast corner is located.

Wizards would collect the ores that carried these natural projection entrances, process them through alchemy, and refine them into astral rings.

Of course, since the Astral Plane has no passage of time and things do not age or grow there, magic fields cannot be placed there. Moreover, many things in the Astral Plane are completely different from the Prime Material Plane.

It is full of all kinds of unknown mysteries.

According to Sassari, there was once a first-class wizard apprentice who was about to die of old age in Lilith’s hut. He used himself as an experiment. Before he was about to die of old age, he took the initiative to enter the astral realm, hoping to survive by relying on the special characteristics of the astral realm.

When he entered it, he indeed maintained his state at first and did not age further, but after a few years, he still died in it.

Sassari said that this might be because although the astral plane has no concept of the passage of time, things in the main material plane have this concept. Even if they leave the main material plane, it is useless. Therefore, when the lifespan reaches its limit, death will still occur.

Locke immediately placed the Clivia flowers he had harvested earlier into this star ring.

Then, he placed the remaining bones of the first-class wizard apprentice of the Qinghuan Society into the Star Ring.

Although Locke didn’t know what the use of this thing was, a complete set of bones from a first-class wizard apprentice was still relatively rare, so it was better to keep it.

He turned around and began to look for the real body of the konjac.

Among a field of konjac plants, Locke used his vine hands and multiple manipulations to dig out the konjac plant with its roots, and then placed it in the astral ring.

There is no concept of the passage of time in the Star Ring, so there is no need to worry about any damage caused by transplanting two rare magic plants into it.

Moreover, these two magic plants are only in the growth and reproduction stages, and the conditions are harsh, but they have grown up and have strong vitality and are not easy to die.

After Locke transplanted the main body of the konjac, all the konjac plants seemed to have withered, become listless, and died quickly.

At the same time, the concentration of special fungi secreted into the air by the konjac is also decreasing rapidly.

In this way, the plague in Ashgra will quickly recede.

Without the source of fungal transmission, the symptoms in those patients will gradually disappear.

Locke took out a bottle of daffodil detoxification water from his pocket and handed it to Gabi, saying, “Gabi, although we have magical powers and are not easily affected by the fungus of the konjac, you should still drink a bottle of detoxification water to be on the safe side.”

Gabi was flattered. “Thank you…senior.”

Locke glanced at her. “Thank you so much for this. I can’t let you go without gaining anything, so I’ll consider you my hire this time. I’ll give you a hire price of seventy magic stones. What do you think?”

For him now, magic stones are not so precious, and Gabi did help him in some ways in this matter, so Locke offered this price.

Compared to the wealthy Locke, Gabi, a really poor second-class wizard apprentice, was stunned for a moment when he heard Locke’s bid.

The reward she received for this academy investigation mission was only twenty-five magic stones.

But Locke gave her seventy magic stones at once.

Twenty-five plus seventy, this is almost enough for her to lavishly buy meditation supplies for more than half a month.

Gabi’s breathing became slightly rapid. “Senior, you…you are so generous. Okay, okay.”

Locke said: “Besides that, I need you to keep it a secret and not tell anyone what you saw.”

Although what Gabi saw was nothing serious.

But Locke didn’t want anyone to know that he had harvested the konjac and Clivia.

Moreover, Gabi saw some of his own spell information.

For wizards, information is power.

Of course, he had never used the invisibility ability of the level 6 Mandrake Vine in front of Gabi, nor had he used the trump card of the ancient creature’s bloodline.

She didn’t know much.

After all, I am a white wizard, not a psychopath. It is impossible for me to kill people to silence them for such a small matter. This is nonsense.

Gabi said seriously, “Senior, please believe me, I will never tell anyone.”

“This is how people like us survive.”

Gabi looked at Locke with a slightly flattering expression, as if he were looking at a wealthy man. “Senior, if you need me in the future, feel free to call on me. We shapeshifters have exceptional reconnaissance abilities.”

Locke nodded. “We’ll talk about it when the time comes.”

A shapeshifter can indeed play a unique role in certain aspects.

Gabi said, “Okay, senior.”

(End of this chapter)