Chapter 973

Chapter 967 The Super Laboratory in the Secret of Creation

The wizard Trajan produced a document, and after receiving the Fairy Dragon’s stamp, he led Locke away from the greenhouse. Locke noticed a deep meaning in the Fairy Dragon’s eyes.

His earlier sudden intervention to help her was primarily for his own sake.

After all, no matter how you looked at it, if a third-ring Fairy Dragon suddenly suffered mysterious brain death during the identity verification process, lost in her own ocean of destiny, even if it could be attributed to a backlash from his own school of prophecy magic, he would definitely miss the opportunity to enter the key laboratory.

For safety reasons, this key laboratory would most likely refuse him entry.

Furthermore, he did sense that the Fairy Dragon’s power was very close to the power of the World Tree.

She already possessed very powerful life magic, and if the World Tree’s power was still intact, as a third-ring creature, she would be extremely likely to receive the World Tree’s favor.

Of course, the key point was the second-ring magical artifact, the Angel’s Tear Bracelet, which he wore.

Locke looked down at the magical artifact. If it hadn’t enhanced his resistance to prophetic magic, he wouldn’t have been able to speak up in the most critical moment.

Locke looked at Trajan, “Senior brother, now I can enter the key laboratory on Mount Golden Crown, right? I really want to see the whole thing. I wonder who the colleagues inside are?”

The wizard Trajan thought seriously for a moment. “This laboratory is huge. I estimate you’ll have a hard time seeing it all. Follow me, and you’ll find out.”

The two walked through a ****-themed corridor, circling it several times, before stepping into a room. When they pushed open the door, Locke saw only darkness before him, with only a path of dazzling magical light.

“This is…” Locke’s pupils suddenly shrank, because he saw a world similar to outer space, with many scenes like the Big Bang, countless substances produced in these explosions and collisions.

“The Secret of Creation, no, not the Secret of Creation… this is the Spiritual Macro of the Secret of Creation.”

“And the Spiritual Breath…”

Wizard Trajan glanced at him. “The higher the wizard’s level, the more they can see. But in fact, this key laboratory is quite prestigious in the wizarding world. This laboratory is called [White Cardamom Farm].”

“Wizards store a world within a flower by lowering the dimension, and then infuse this world with the Spiritual Macro and Spiritual Breath of the Secret of Creation, which is what you see before you. Breeders can create the environment they need here, and then breed and cultivate magical plants within this environment.”

“In the past, this key laboratory had quite a history.”

In this dark space, one after another star trajectory floated in the universe, serving as the bridge to this great laboratory. Using the Secret of Creation as experimental material and the world as the laboratory, this is one of the key laboratories of wizarding civilization.

Locke was dumbfounded. Although Wizard Trajan did not say what kind of world this was, it was far more complex and complete than the dimensional laws of the Three Cave Worlds.

This place… can’t possibly be on the scale of a large world, right?

Of course, since this part of the data hasn’t been made public, it means it’s data that needs to be hidden, and there’s probably a lot of false information circulating.

Above the star trails, a Sun Ring Wizard that Locke hadn’t seen at Mount Golden Crown nodded to Wizard Trajan, then glanced at Locke, and then looked at Wizard Trajan again. “Trajan, are you bringing a newcomer into the key laboratory this time? I wonder what year and month it is today.”

Wizard Trajan pondered for a moment and said, “This is thirty-one years since you entered the key laboratory. Juliussis.”

Juliussis showed a look of horror. “Thirty-one years? I’ve been at the White Cardamom Farm for thirty-one years? My God, I haven’t returned to Golden Crown Mountain for thirty-one years. This… no one reminded me! Does that mean I haven’t attended any of my courses at the academy? My performance…”

“My students…”

Juliussis pondered, “I’ve actually lived here for thirty-one years. I feel like this is the whole world. It’s just that the new type of fertilizer I’m developing has reached a critical juncture. But I’ve encountered a problem… I need to understand something: why are gold element composite particles so important to magical plants, even though they are much harder to obtain than many air and earth element composite particles. Hmm… maybe I need to start from the basics again. Next time, I’ll create a world entirely of pure water, scatter magical plant seeds on it, and then add nutrients little by little. I want to see what happens…”

Juliussis glanced at the virtual currency displayed on the bracelet on his right hand, then walked away in a daze.

Locke raised an eyebrow. “This is…”

Trajan said, “Juliussis. He previously applied for and received a third-ring advancement fund. Unlike the resources needed for a first-ring wizard to advance to the second ring, a sun-ring wizard, in addition to accumulating resources to increase magical pressure and forging great magic, also needs to apply for a third-ring advancement fund. This allows him to re-enter the key laboratory and attempt to advance to the third ring within it. A third-ring advancement fund grants access to the key laboratory for one hundred years. During these one hundred years, he will receive a basic amount of virtual currency from the key laboratory every day to construct worlds and purchase holographic magical plants.”

Locke asked, “Holographic magical plants?”

Trajan stretched out his hand and summoned a holographic sun-ring level magical plant, the Fire Monkey Peach.

“Within this key laboratory, we can simulate some magical plants by inputting their information through the Spirit Macro of the Creation Secret. However, these holographic magical plants lose their effects when they leave this environment, but within it, they behave like real magical plants. It’s just a special application of Spirit Macro science, the domain of the Illusion School. I’m not entirely clear on the specific principles.” “

The advantage of holographic magical plants is mainly that they can simplify life conditions, which is very useful in certain experiments. For example, environmental stress experiments on plants, the differences in the types and functions of specific energy-locking structures and plant cell organs, and the analysis of abnormal expression of specific factors.”

“When you’re doing atavism, you can access the standard holographic magical plants in this database and observe their entire set of standard plant essences. This will make it easier for us to find out which plant factors caused the changes in the magical plant’s traits.”

“Look at this holographic Fire Monkey Peach, isn’t it interesting? It looks quite cute too.”

Locke saw a holographic Fire Monkey Peach appear in Trajan’s palm after being shrunk down. The fire monkey seemed very excited, the peach tree, which looked exactly like a fire monkey, constantly waving its branches, as if it were a monkey throwing stones at someone.

The wizard Trajan said, “In the key laboratory, some wizards have been staying here for a long time. Some have never left, while others spend most of their time here and rarely go out. Junior brother, you are just a newcomer here.”

“I know how you feel right now. In my younger days, and for you now, the key laboratory was like a place we dabbled in, a place to broaden our horizons. There’s a… strange sense of alienation here, isn’t there? Because the wizards here are all too focused on what they’re doing, while our lives are centered out there. Locke…”

Locke looked straight at Trajan.

Trajan said calmly, “One day, you and I will be like Juliussis, completely immersed in our experiments, then for hundreds of years we’ll ignore the world and devote ourselves entirely to this laboratory.”

“That day will come,”

Locke nodded. “Senior brother, you’re already a Sun Ring Wizard. I believe you’ll soon be able to apply for the Third Ring advancement fund, and then you can immerse yourself in this key laboratory like Mr. Juliussis.”

Trajan smiled, “Thank you for your kind words.” “

Locke, you should have been granted two days of unlimited virtual currency access. Because you have a special grant, a sub-project, if I remember correctly. So you’ll have two days. Remember to use it sparingly; this might be the only time in the last ten years you’ll have such luxurious experimental conditions.” “If it

weren’t for the White Wizard Association’s special requirements, our key laboratory wouldn’t have given you such good treatment. This is a concession from high-ring wizards to young geniuses like you low-ring wizards.”

Locke nodded solemnly.

The two walked along the star trails. Trajan seemed to know many wizards, as they nodded to each other. Most of these wizards were Sun Ring wizards, some were even Third Ring wizards, and a few were Moon Ring wizards.

However, the Sun Ring and Moon Ring wizards all looked tense, probably because entering this key laboratory was a very rare opportunity for them. The Third Ring wizards, on the other hand

, led a group of students and apprentices along the star trails, hurrying into the deeper regions of the universe to conduct their experiments.

Overall, this

key laboratory seemed to be primarily for high-ring wizards, especially Third Ring wizards. Sun Ring and Moon Ring wizards, including himself, only had access to some of the resources here because the Third Ring wizards had established this key laboratory.

Of course, the situation was different for wizards like Juliussis.

Trajan led Locke along a star trail.

“At the end of the star trails lies a world being created, or a world being destroyed. You can think of this as a series of planes being created and destroyed. Some of these planes have elemental coupling planes that are real planes existing in the endless void.”

“This is a miracle of life magic.”

“Congratulations, you’ve arrived at the super laboratory of life magic!”

“Being able to enter this laboratory is something many wizards cannot achieve; it’s their life’s glory. But junior brother, don’t let this moment become your highlight. Your teacher has high hopes for you.”

Locke looked at the flickering light of the world at the end of the star trails and suddenly felt immense pressure on his cognitive level.

“I have a question, senior brother. I sense a powerful life magic permeating this place; the entire laboratory is a demonstration of life magic. So, does life truly exist within this White Cardamom Farm laboratory?”

The wizard Trajan’s expression remained unchanged as he calmly looked at Locke and asked, “What do you mean by that? No, I understand your question.”

“You can consider this a projection, or an illusion. The world here rises and falls at our will; as long as we have enough virtual currency, it can appear and disappear according to our wishes.”

“After all, this is a top-tier agricultural laboratory. Both the planting environment and the planting resources are simulated to the greatest extent possible.”

“As long as there is virtual currency.”

“Even the speed of planting can be accelerated because worlds can be created and destroyed in illusion. Therefore, countless breeders regard the White Cardamom Farm as a sacred place.”

Locke still asked, “But senior brother, are the life forms in these created worlds truly life?”

Wizard Trajan pondered for a moment and said, “In this world, it conforms to the Demistocles’ definition of life, but from our perspective, it doesn’t. The Demistocles’ definition of life has five elements. First, the ability to reproduce. Second, the ability to self-replicate. Third, the ability to self-grow. Fourth, a complex interaction system. Fifth, the ability to adapt to the environment.”

“In these places created by wizards using the secrets of creation—the spirit and the breath—these five requirements are met. But from our perspective, that is, from a higher dimension, the third requirement does not exist. Because these are foods simulated by the spirit and the breath, a projection of illusion from a lower dimension, therefore, they do not actually possess the ability to self-grow.”

“Their level is determined by us. Therefore, it does not conform to the Demistocles’ definition of life.”

“Some people previously suspected that the Endless Void was just a more advanced Cardamom Farm, but we are certain that its self-sustaining nature confirms that the Endless Void is not a virtual world.”

“Similarly, because the Cardamom Farm lacks a true sense of time, these five conditions may not be truly met.”

Locke said, “So, the magical plants grown here won’t be true magical plants?”

Wizard Trajan nodded in affirmation, “That’s right. Even if these aren’t holographic magical plants, they are still products of this world. They are effective within this world, but ineffective outside. Otherwise, if it were possible to shrink such a vast world into a single flower, then dimensional reduction would be dimensional reduction.”

“However, the information is real.”

Locke understood. That is to say, everything that happens here is real within this world, but fake outside.

But all the information obtained here is real.

Of course, this “real” might only be true within a certain range of information.

In that case, Wizard Juliussis has stayed here for thirty-one years, and essentially, apart from information, he hasn’t created anything here. But precisely because he wants to advance to the third ring, he has the greatest hope and will gain the most here.

In that instant, Locke suddenly understood why Mount Golden Crown emphasized the pursuit of uselessness.

In this long process of seeking truth, a wizard could remain calm even after one, two, or five years of producing nothing. But what if, after ten or thirty years, they still hadn’t produced anything of real value? Could they still maintain their integrity and continue exploring, instead of creating more material things?

After all, if it were merely about increasing power, the second ring framework was sufficient for continuous accumulation.

Locke seemed to see a glimpse of his own future through that Sun Ring wizard—a greater test of his mind on the path of seeking truth, although he currently seemed far from that cruel and terrifying test, and hadn’t yet encountered it.

‘Thinking about it from this perspective, perhaps I haven’t completely escaped the intermediate-level enhancement trap, and it’s not so easy to solve. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have stumped countless civilizations in the endless void,’

Locke pondered. ‘And Mount Golden Crown, on my very first day here, tried to teach me how to break the intermediate-level enhancement trap.’

‘This was preaching to me, not disseminating some kind of technique.’

‘But the number of wizards who can understand it, put it into practice, and succeed in doing so, will probably be very small.’

Locke continued walking with Trajan, and then they stood before a world that seemed on the verge of destruction. Locke realized that the spiritual energy of these creation secrets was being used to maintain this key laboratory. So, although the wizards were constantly within these creation secrets, they couldn’t gain much magical pressure.

Of course, their own magical pressure still increased here,

because they were essentially watching a creation secret diluted thousands of times over.

If his previous encounter with the secrets of creation was like drinking a beverage, then being here felt like constantly drinking a diluted version of that beverage.

Therefore, for low-level wizards, being here was equivalent to entering a high-level wizarding realm.

An Alarite emerged from the impending destruction of the world on a cloud motorcycle. Star trails automatically appeared beneath his cloud motorcycle, wherever it appeared, star trails materialized.

This Alarite was only a third the height of a human, wore sunglasses, and had pointed, elf-like ears with three earrings. He also had a Taotie tattoo on his forehead.

“Hello, Wizard Trajan. And this young wizard I’m meeting for the first time. I am an Alarite from here. Our race lives in this world to repay the kindness of Golden Crown Mountain in sheltering and protecting us in the past.”

The Alarite jumped off his cloud motorcycle. Locke nodded to him; this guy possessed Sun Ring level magical pressure.

This Alarite appeared small and seemingly harmless, but a closer look revealed an immense magical pressure emanating from him.

Locke remembered the Alarites; he had once read about this human race in an old issue of a library journal. They were a short, intelligent race that had once been widespread throughout the endless void, but had gradually declined and shrunk because of their weakness. In many planes, they were easily eliminated and unable to acquire the power to protect themselves.

After joining the wizarding world, they experienced a period of prosperity due to their high talent in conjuration.

It was said that once an Alarite learned magic, any one of them could split a space in two with a single spell.

This talent earned them great importance in wizarding civilization, and they had distinguished themselves during the era of exploring the Great Void.

However, during the Pureblood Era, this race was considered one of the ten most deserving alien races to steal magic by the Pureblood Order, and was thus exterminated by the entire wizarding world.

The Alarite population never recovered after that catastrophe.

Locke was surprised to find an Alarite wizard on Golden Crown Mountain. After bowing to the Alarite wizard, the wizard looked at Locke with the eyes of a junior, his gaze full of affection. “Let me see,” the Alarite wizard said,   patting his forehead,

“the data shows you can use this laboratory for a year. A whole year. Good heavens.”   “Good heavens, a whole year! I thought it was only half a year. You have two projects that qualify you for a key laboratory? This is truly…”   “Alright. It seems the Red Dragon Throne values you highly. Welcome to our ranks, Wizard Locke Augustine. You can call me [Guberdin].”   Wizard Guberdin said to Locke, “We Alarite are the administrators of this laboratory, so you can ask me any questions you may have about its use. Because Golden Crown Mountain took us in during the pure-blood era, we are happy to serve this academy.”   “Of course, our clan once swore an oath never to set foot in the wizarding world again, so… we can only stay within this key laboratory. Therefore, Mr. Augustine can only ask me about things related to this laboratory. I cannot concern myself with anything outside of this laboratory.”   Locke bowed again, thanking him, “Then thank you for your trouble.”   Wizard Guberdin smiled, “No trouble at all.”   He wore a rather small wizard’s robe and a wizard’s hat trimmed with pine needles.   Wizard Guberdin said, “Wizard Trajan, you may leave now. Next, I will introduce everything about our key laboratory to Mr. Augustine. This laboratory is divided into areas, only three levels: L1, L2, and L3. We are on level L3; L1 and L2 are not authorized to you.”   “On level L3, you can only create worlds of medium scale or smaller, and purchase second-circle holographic magical plants, as well as second-circle magical plant seeds, or other fertilizers. In addition, the academy has allocated you a detached villa and a vehicle.”   Wizard Trajan said goodbye and left.   After saying goodbye to his senior brother, Locke turned to look at Guberdin with surprise.   “Property?”   He hadn’t expected there to be a need for property in a key laboratory.   But that’s normal.   After all, this laboratory is so large; it’s essentially a separate large world. Without a place to live and a means of transportation, it would be very inconvenient.   Wizard Guberdin chuckled, “Yes, there are 98 types of transportation available here. My cloud motorcycle is just one type created by the weathermen. You can choose other modes of transportation, which are mostly good flying equipment. However, these are only for rent, not ownership.”   “You will have to pay for any damage.”   “The property is located in Star City within this key laboratory. The property in that city is permanent, and you can keep some of your servants there. Star City will naturally have a wizarding social ecosystem. You can only buy servants there; you can’t bring servants from outside.”   Locke felt that this key laboratory was essentially a branch of Golden Crown Mountain in a special great world. This so-called Star City probably possessed considerable independence and should be considered a core force within the Academic Committee faction.   Locke asked, “What will happen to my properties, servants, and businesses here if I don’t get access to this key laboratory later?”   Wizard Guberdin replied, “They’ll be handled as they are. Aside from you not being able to enter, your businesses won’t be affected in any way.”   ”But not being able to enter is indeed a big problem.”   ”Then keep trying and find another way to get access.”   Wizard Guberdin gestured for Locke to jump onto his cloud motorcycle. The two of them stood on a cloud, and the little tail behind the cloud flicked, accelerating towards Star City.   ”This laboratory is very large, but has very little material, much like the void. Of course, it’s much safer than the void, because the void actually has a lot of energy and matter, it’s just that the visible energy and the matter that can be touched are relatively small,”   said the wizard Guberdin. “Our laboratory has very little material, and there’s only one city, Star City, and a few cities in the L2 and L3 regions.”   ”There aren’t many wizards who can enter the key laboratory, but it still forms a wizard ecosystem within the laboratory. This is because many wizards entered in the past with servants or students. Some of them didn’t choose to leave for various historical reasons, so they stayed here, lived, married, and had children, eventually becoming the native race here.”   ”You can think of them as the native wizards within the laboratory. These native wizards live using the experimental equipment and resources here, of course, they can only use the lowest level parts. Their main responsibility is to maintain the experimental equipment and resources here. And Golden Crown Mountain also thinks this is good, it may be beneficial to both sides, so it didn’t forcibly intervene, so there are a large number of low-level wizards here.”   The Alarite Guberdin seemed not to mind talking about himself.   ”I am one of them. Most of the people in Star City are natives like this, but 99% of the wizards exist only for the 1% of wizards like you. You are the sole reason for this city’s existence.” ”   The star track connects the few cities and material gathering points within this laboratory. If you get lost in this laboratory, follow the star track. You’ll most likely find your way. If you accidentally fall off the star track, you’ll need rescue. Theoretically, you’ll fall indefinitely.”   ”However, it’s actually quite difficult to fall.”   ”As you can see, the botanical root realm of Cloud Marsh Wetland can also be used here. Under normal circumstances, if you attach your ultimate magic to the root realm, you won’t keep falling.”   ”But if you do fall, you’ll need to use the Ganoderma lucidum plant to send a distress signal. Don’t try to escape on your own; a second-ring wizard can’t escape this endless fall.”   Locke looked down at the infinite darkness of the universe beyond the star track below the cloud motorcycle.   Perhaps there was an infinite distance below.   It’s quite normal for a great world to possess such spatial power; it’s not surprising.   Wizard Guberdin pointed to a vast city built on star trails and said, “Look, that’s Star City.”   Locke saw that Star City was dazzlingly beautiful, like crystal, and it had many functional public facilities: bars, auction houses, nurseries, and many more, as well as large residential areas and even an academy area.   In other words, for the wizards living inside this key laboratory, this was a real world.

The wizard Guberdin stopped in a villa area. Locke noticed several nearby wizards looking at them with awe and envy. Guberdin smiled and said, “This is the area where people like you live, the best area in Starry Sky City, and an area that ordinary wizards can’t even approach. So, the wizarding elites of Starry Sky City all live near this area. Of course, unless you invite them, they can’t come in.”

“This seven-story villa is Mr. Augustine’s residence.”

“Servants and such can be bought at the auction house. Of course, the villa already comes with two wood elf maids to clean for you.”

The wizard Guberdin gave Locke a list of transportation options. After looking at the list, Locke noticed that it contained many high-level flying vehicles, mostly various flying devices made by alchemists.

Locke casually pointed. “Let’s choose this magic flying bed.”

The wizard Guberdin glanced at the magic flying bed and smiled, “A good choice. I heard this thing can sell for ten million magic stones outside.”

Locke blinked. “Is it that expensive?”

Wizard Guberdin took out a luxurious bed from his astral ring. The bed had intricate gold silk curtains, gold unicorn statues at the four corners, and a gold statue of the goddess of love at the headboard. The entire bed floated in mid-air.

The wizard Guberdin coughed and said, “It comes with many magical gadgets, combining comfort and functionality. It’s fast, comfortable to sit in, and even allows you to take a nap during long journeys. This curtain can be adjusted to be invisible or opaque, as you wish.”

“So ten million magic stones isn’t expensive, is it? But since it’s in a key laboratory, you can experience it freely.”

“Alright, with the transportation and room key, I’ve finished explaining. Next, you can use the transportation to go to the end of each star track to simulate the world you want, and then start breeding.”

“By the way, you have two days of unlimited virtual currency access, which you can use anytime. You can start it at any time and pause it at any time, since the total usage time is linearly 48 hours.”

The wizard Guberdin said, “But at other times, you can only earn virtual currency yourself, and then spend it here.”

Locke’s expression remained unchanged. “So how do you earn virtual currency?”

Wizard Guberdin asked. “You can exchange magic stones for virtual currency here at a ratio of 1000:1.”

“However, I don’t recommend doing that, because it’s far too expensive. And everything here is unusable outside, except for information. In other words, you can exchange magic stones for virtual currency, but not virtual currency for magic stones.”

“If you accumulate too much virtual currency here, and you don’t have access… well, that’s not a very common situation,”

Wizard Guberdin continued. “Besides that, you can earn some virtual currency in other ways, such as selling some of the magical plants you grow here to the White Cardamom Farm.”

“These magical plants are useless outside anyway. You can grow them and sell them to the White Cardamom Farm for some money.”

“And you can also try out those ‘Plane Survival Games’ in the center of Star City. If you can solve the virtual apocalypse questions left there by the high-level wizards of Golden Crown Mountain, you can earn even more virtual currency!”

Locke blinked. “Plane Survival Games?”

Wizard Guberdin chuckled. “No need to be so serious. You can relax in our key laboratory. You can treat everything here as a game. Anyway… most of the time, no matter how serious you are, the progress is only so-so, so it’s better to relax. Wizards are all about sustained effort. Those who exhaust themselves too early will quickly lose interest in the truth.”

“Close your eyes. Does a screen appear in front of you?”

Locke closed his eyes and found that a screen indeed floated in front of him, with a line of text asking if he wanted to keep the ‘Entertainment Assistance System’ in the key laboratory open for an extended period.

Locke agreed. When he opened his eyes again, he saw that everything had a proficiency bar and a level.

When he took a step, his movement skill level immediately became level 2, and a magical aurora similar to his tail appeared as he walked.

Locke’s lips twitched. “What…what’s the use of all this?”

Wizard Guberdin chuckled. “It’s strange, you actually said the same thing as the witch Catherine when she first came in. You’re both too focused on practicality. This entertainment system can generate an illusionary world before your eyes; we had wizards from the Mind School make it for us. Whatever you do, your proficiency will increase, and your level will rise, then you’ll have different levels of skins. You’ll have special effects when you walk, special effects when you eat, special effects when you sing…”

“Isn’t this great? What this world is like often doesn’t depend on the objective world, but on how we perceive it,”

Locke suddenly realized. “This was made by wizards from the Siming Waters? We got paid?”

Wizard Guberdin’s smile froze, and he coughed.

“We accepted it.”

“Ahem…”

He honestly explained, “We helped them experiment with this system. They thought using this auxiliary entertainment system in the lab could increase the success rate, so they paid us to let our wizards use it and see the effects. Of course, our high-level wizards also thought it was fine for our wizards to have some fun.”

Locke was quite speechless.

Golden Crown Mountain was still Golden Crown Mountain after all; what entertainment? It was basically just making their wizards act as product testers for someone else.

Wizard Guberdin said, “In the center of Star City, there are some post-apocalyptic worlds preserved by high-level wizards. They left tests there. If you can use breeding methods to cultivate magical plant staples that allow some life to survive in the post-apocalyptic environment, then you will pass the test and receive a large amount of virtual currency.”

“Alright, that concludes my introduction. Now, let’s move on to the final introduction. Once I’ve finished, Mr. Augustine can do whatever he wants; it’s all your time.”

“The last introduction is a benefit that all wizards entering our key laboratory can enjoy: the test of our founding wizard of Golden Crown Mountain—the [Golden Dragon Wizard]. “

He left a post-apocalyptic survival game within Star City, which every wizard who has just entered the key laboratory can try. Of course, you can refuse, but there has never been a precedent for refusal. Because this is essentially a benefit that even I am not fortunate enough to enjoy.”

“This apocalyptic survival game isn’t about you cracking it. To be precise, it’s just about you entering and witnessing the magical power left behind by the Golden Dragon Wizard, one of the three founders of Golden Crown Mountain.”

Locke nodded.

He indeed had no reason to refuse; since it was a benefit left by the founders, it was certainly worth seeing.

The wizard Guberdin said, “But don’t ask me what’s inside. Many new wizards have asked me that question before, because it’s your privilege and benefit, not mine. Only researchers in the laboratory have this privilege. I know nothing about it. Here, this is the tea you’ll drink before you go in.”

Locke frowned as he looked at the cup of cold tea the other man handed him, because he had never seen such wizard tea in the outside world, and he didn’t know why he had to drink it here.

The Alarit showed Locke the academy’s documents.

“This is what you need to do before entering that place. Don’t worry, this cup of wizard tea was prepared long ago and sealed inside. I can’t cross the protective barrier to change anything inside. This place is also monitored by True Sight Crystals.”

“This is just a cup of [Bitter Tea].”

Locke nodded, and after checking and confirming that there were no problems, he drank it.

(End of Chapter)