Chapter 960

Chapter 954: The Birth of a Level 60 Wizard! (And the Key Laboratory)

The witch Ekaterina from the key laboratory led Locke to the summit of Mount Golden Crown. “I used my authority to grant you a chance to soak in the special magical spring water of Mount Golden Crown—the Spring of Purification.”

“This is the third-ranked magical spring water in the Three Swamps; the second-ranked is Quinnjoll’s Spring of Wisdom.”

“The number one ranked one is the Resurrection Spring of the Rootcrown Royal Court. Every wizard can use the Resurrection Spring to resurrect once. However, the special spiritual energy of the Resurrection Spring is not only rare but also expensive. Therefore, no matter how many magic stones an outsider spends, they absolutely cannot buy the opportunity to soak in the Resurrection Spring. It is not for sale. Similarly, if you enter the key laboratory affiliated with the White Wizard Association, you can also access many non-saleable items and private information that cannot be accessed on the market.”

Locke realized what was going on and tentatively asked, “Teacher, my application for special funding has not yet been approved by the White Wizard Association.”

The witch Catherine glanced at him and smiled, “You’ve already guessed it. Do I need to say more? I’m going to give you a sub-project of my key project. Both special funding and sub-projects of key projects can grant access to the key laboratories of Golden Crown Mountain. Golden Crown Mountain has three key laboratories: one in the Senate located in the core area of the Supernatural Purgatory, one in the Academic Committee researching dragon power, and one in breeding.”

“The White Wizard Association’s key laboratories are established in cooperation with local wizarding academies to tackle cutting-edge problems that are crucial to wizarding civilization. The person in charge must be at least a Truth Wizard, or a Star Scholar, or a wizard with a similar title; otherwise, the laboratory cannot be established. If the Truth Wizard in charge of the laboratory becomes unable to perform the work, and there is no other Truth Wizard to take over the relevant tasks, then the laboratory’s quota will be cancelled.”

“The reason why the special grants and key single-project sub-projects are so attractive to wizards is not because of the large amount of funding, but because obtaining these two projects grants the opportunity to enter a key laboratory. That’s a place that wizards outside can never reach in their entire lives. It’s something that even the Second Ring Fund cannot buy.”

Locke nodded.

The witch Catherine said to Locke, “After I give you this sub-project I have, you can choose one of the three key laboratories.”

Locke said, “Then I’ll choose the key laboratory for breeding.”

There wasn’t really much to choose from.

Firstly, he couldn’t choose the key laboratory located in the Supernatural Purgatory, because he wasn’t a power master, and Wizard Fisher had forbidden him from entering the Supernatural Purgatory again. The key laboratory researching dragon power wasn’t suitable either, since dragon power wasn’t at the core of his magic.

This hard-won opportunity would definitely be used for breeding.

Catherine the Witch nodded. “Alright. In a few days, I’ll have Trajan take you to that laboratory. There will be some procedures to go through and some documents to sign. For a second-circle wizard to go there would broaden your horizons considerably. Once you’ve settled into the laboratory environment, I’ll give you the specific details of the sub-project. I believe… both the laboratory and the sub-project will leave a deep impression on you, and you’ll marvel at the wonders of botany.”

“And that’s precisely the purpose of the White Wizarding Association’s design of these two special newcomer support funds.”

The two arrived at the mountaintop. At this moment, in a mountain stream, a trickling stream of water dripped from the celestial fire-gathering array above. These liquid flames mixed together and gathered on a rock in the stream. On that rock was a miniature peach tree, about the size of a human finger, with extensive roots that permeated the stone.

The roots of this magical plant emitted a faint pink hue.

After entering the imaginary roots of this miniature peach tree, the liquid flames reappeared as the water of the Purifying Spring.

The witch Catherine produced an application form, its magical stamp shimmering with magical light, thus opening the barrier surrounding the Purifying Spring.

Catherine said to Locke, “Go in. After this battle, your soul harbors many hidden dangers. Without soaking in this spring, you cannot eliminate them. Like that wizard named Edgar who came up the mountain with you; his soul is almost indistinguishable from that of a being neither alive nor dead.”

“Besides,” she continued, “when you advanced to the Star Ring, Locke, you used the Martial and Spiritual Fire to hone your ultimate magic. Although you succeeded, the damage to your soul from that advancement hasn’t completely disappeared; it’s become a hidden wound. Normally, a Star Ring wizard needs at least five to ten years to heal their soul after a successful advancement, but using the Purifying Spring will repair the hidden wounds left in your soul during that advancement.”

Locke’s eyes brightened slightly.

The witch Ekaterina said, “Many geniuses who advance quickly do so because of their exceptional talent and the abundance of resources they receive. Resources and talent are two sides of the same coin, and in the wizarding world, those with talent are never short of opportunities to acquire resources.”

“Of course, there are occasionally special wizards who possess other unique resources… that’s another matter.”

Ekaterina looked at Locke and said, “Anyway, Locke, go in.”

“The wizard from the Black Sun Tower left a dark curse on you, which can help them locate you. I need to remove that curse.”

“With my protection of your information, they won’t be able to find you. As long as you don’t do anything again to attract their attention.”

Locke hesitated for a moment, then immediately passed through the barrier and entered the fountain. After his body was completely immersed in the warm water, Locke discovered that all his clothes had automatically flown back into his astral ring.

He was completely immersed in the purifying spring, the special spiritual energy contained within the water flowing into his body.

Locke closed his eyes, entering a state of advanced meditation. He saw these special spiritual energies, upon entering his body, act like clay, attracting specific substances and seemingly possessing a certain ability to discern and remove harmful elements.

These spiritual energies were the hidden life force of all things, so this was equivalent to the purifying spiritual energy of the Purifying Spring entering his own life force. With the convergence of these two life forces, the purifying life force actually absorbed all the negative substances within his own.

The Purifying Spring was like a great river of life force, washing away the latent life force within him. Simultaneously, a dragon’s roar suddenly emanated from the latent life force within him, followed by a large black serpent emerging from this river of life force. Because this level was so profound, Locke wouldn’t have even noticed the venomous serpent’s presence had he not been immersed in the Purifying Spring.

The serpent had been lurking within his life force without his knowledge.

Locke opened his mouth and immediately gagged, spitting out a large amount of still-warm embers of the era. These embers were absorbed by the special spiritual energy of the Purifying Spring and then disappeared.

The witch Catherine seemed to have anticipated this, so she wasn’t surprised at all.

“Past wizards simply couldn’t stand on the shoulders of giants, so they lacked some common sense about this era. But lacking common sense doesn’t mean they couldn’t do certain things. Because of personal talent, or the so-called secret techniques left behind by a certain court school of wizards, they might be able to create some spell models that require extensive theoretical deduction to uncover.”

“Therefore, I believe that in your battle, he should have left some of his magic within your life force, even though he himself didn’t realize it was a profound application of spiritual energy.”

“The so-called spiritual breath is the hidden vitality of all living things, the aura of all things, hence the exchange of auras between all things. Sacrificial magic is inherently adept at the exchange of auras between all things. It’s just that in ancient times there was no separate study of spiritual breath.”

Locke finally expelled the ash of the era from his body.

“Teacher, if I still have these ash of the era remaining in my body, will Edgar also have some?”

The witch Catherine asked. “I don’t know. But probably not. He’s not the target of the Tower of the Black Sun, so there’s no need to expend a lot of energy in the battle to leave magical power in his life force. The dragon wizard’s technique is not mature, so it shouldn’t be something he can do easily. It’s different from how I used the Heart Spell to scheme against him several times.”

Locke nodded slightly.

At this moment, the black venomous snake was absorbed into the purifying life force of the Purifying Spring. The snake immediately let out a miserable cry, as if it were wailing.

Although it was unwilling, it was still absorbed by the purifying life force, then separated from its own life force and entered the purifying life force.

Locke watched as the purifying energy clung to the venomous snake, flowing upstream and entering the stone entwined with the imaginary roots of the miniature peach tree. Then, a peculiar tumor-like structure at the base of the miniature peach tree—a special energy-locking structure, a plant organ—opened its internal digestive opening and swallowed the snake whole.

Ekaterina explained to Locke, “The Dragon Mountain Peach is a carnivorous magical plant. The reason the Purifying Spring can purify your hidden injuries is because it needs to release special spiritual energy to capture and prey on special life forms.”

“That’s good. All your problems will be cleared away.”

Locke immediately felt relieved; many of his hidden injuries seemed completely healed, even the slight damage to his soul caused by his rapid advancement had been restored.

Soaking in the Purifying Spring this time felt like a rebirth.

Unfortunately, the abyssal energy cycle within his eyes hadn’t been washed away.

It seemed the Purifying Spring didn’t consider it a negative influence.

Locke soaked in the spring water and saw streaks of blood flowing from his body.

This was…

Locke recognized it as the lingering curse energy left in his body after Hussein had used the Blood Curse of Mutual Death on him several times. It seemed the Blood Curse was indeed dangerous; even if Hussein hadn’t intended to harm him, the repeated use of the Blood Curse had still infiltrated his life force with a trace of cursed energy.

At the same time, something unexpected flowed from his life force—a blood-red eye. That eye seemed to be a living being, staring wide-eyed, trying to communicate with him.

Locke raised an eyebrow.

“The Blood River Plane?”

The Eye of Will of the Mini Blood River Plane seemed to possess independent intelligence.

“Locke Augustine… don’t remove me, your soul belongs to our Blood River Plane…”

Locke reached out and picked up the thing, then threw it onto the special tumor-like structure at the root of the Dragon Mountain Peach. Instantly, the tumor-like structure swallowed it.

*Screw you. *

This Purifying Spring is truly powerful; it actually removed the karmic ties and traces of world power that the Blood River Plane’s will had left on him.

This way, he no longer needs to worry about the Blood River Plane’s will constantly targeting him; he’s practically been refreshed in its eyes.

The witch Catherine said to Locke, “I applied for a 24-hour immersion in the Purifying Spring for you. You have plenty of time; you can prepare any experiments that might easily pollute your soul now. If I hadn’t exploited a loophole in the rules to give you this opportunity, I should have waited until you made some preparations before entering. But you got this opportunity because someone suddenly withdrew, and the Purifying Spring happened to be ready. Canceling it would have wasted those resources. So, I applied for this opportunity for you.”

“Fortunately, the academy’s higher-ups approved our application,”

Locke nodded. He had gotten a good deal.

No wonder the academy suddenly gave him such high-level magical resources out of thin air.

The witch Catherine smiled and said, “You did very well this time, and you’ve made a great contribution. I have another reward for you. A top-level laboratory in the Great World of Ostia recently successfully raised their wizard level from 55 to 60.”

“So, to celebrate, we’ve invited wizarding universities, including Golden Crown Mountain, to send delegations to visit. This is an exchange between civilizations; the delegation represents the wizarding civilization, and as is customary, it’s an opportunity to obtain many valuable items. The Great World of Ostia has prepared a grand reception for you. I have a delegation spot available; you can go there to broaden your horizons, see what this derivative civilization of the wizarding civilization is like, and expand your thinking and knowledge.”

“Staying at home all the time will make you closed-minded.”

The author has a fever; one more chapter today, updated tomorrow.

(End of Chapter)