Chapter 976

Chapter 970 Golden Dragon: You are a breeder with the talent of subtraction.

When Locke found the Golden Dragon Wizard with the Super Two-Grain Wheat, a dead wizard lay beside him. Locke paused, glancing at the wizard as he approached. The

wizard didn’t look very old, but he was emaciated, his magical pressure at its lowest point.

His magical pressure didn’t completely dissipate upon death, because the construction and maintenance of ultimate magic itself requires a large amount of magical pressure. Therefore, when a wizard’s magical pressure drops to its limit, he must dismantle his permanent defensive field and ultimate magic to survive.

However, many wizards maintain the basic framework of their ultimate magic until death. This is because when ultimate magic deconstructs to a certain extent, the resulting chaos in magical pressure creates a situation similar to Locke drinking bitter tea, rendering him unable to use his magical pressure despite having it.

Of course, this is a characteristic of ultimate magic not being fully forged, and it’s something that can only happen in the extreme and special circumstances of this Dharma-ending Age.

The Golden Dragon Wizard looked at the corpse on the ground and placed a stalk of silver wheat on its body. He then adjusted the wizard’s clothing, trying to make him look as dignified as possible, and made him hold the silver wheat.

“Five years and seven months later, you appeared, Locke Augustine.”

“In the original timeline, it took me eleven years to find Super Wheat. That is to say, after my fellow disciples and my teacher had been gone for a full seven years and three months, I discovered a Super Wheat that could grow on frozen soil. I named it Silver Wheat.”

Locke’s expression shifted slightly, because Silver Wheat was a common magical staple in the modern magical age, known for its cold resistance. It turned out that this was the work of the founding wizard of Golden Crown Mountain.

The Golden Dragon Wizard said, “This happened in the original timeline, but one year and three months after you appeared, I found this super wheat. That means I only needed five years and seven months; you saved me half the time. Locke Augustine, today I can truly say you are an excellent breeder. I have enjoyed working with you for the past year and three months, and I can’t help but have the illusion that it would have been better if it had been you working with me back then, instead of my real junior brother.”

“That would have been better for everyone.”

Locke looked at the young second-ring wizard who had starved to death beside the farmland.

The Golden Dragon Wizard said, “He had a kind heart. He secretly saved his rations and, without telling me, gave them to the other mortal children in the settlement and the wizard apprentices who were learning from us. We were suffering then, but we still needed to think about the future, so I continued to teach. We had some wizard apprentices. In that magical era, becoming a wizard apprentice required unimaginable effort and hardship, as well as a high level of talent.”

The Golden Dragon Wizard’s eyes were filled with pain.

“My junior brother was too kind. He was born in our golden age, what later generations called the Great Void Exploration Era. He grew up in a prosperous age, so he possessed the unique reflection, benevolence, and kindness of people from a powerful civilization—qualities only those with strong civilizations could have. Under these traits, he secretly gave away his food and miscalculated his consumption. As a result, his consumption exceeded his intake, his immense magic collapsed, and he starved to death before my eyes.”

“In the original timeline, he had already starved to death not long after my senior brothers and teachers left. Afterwards, in the biting cold of this winter’s snowy landscape, I alone cultivated these magical plants, which I saw as our only hope. Fortunately, many years later, before I and the mortals of my settlement were all about to starve to death, I finally found that lifeline.”

“The ‘lifeline’ was originally just a metaphor, but back then, the hexaploid wheat I bred called ‘Silver Wheat’ was our true lifeline,”

said the Golden Dragon Wizard. “However, with your help, I didn’t need the original thirteen years. The cold-resistant, low-consumption variety of two-grain wheat you gave me was a huge help. Therefore, I only needed half the original time to develop Silver Wheat by continuously cultivating hybrid wheat and then grafting it with a magical plant called Silver Grass.”

“Silver Wheat is a first-ring magical plant that can perfectly adapt to the climate of this era. One grain of it has an effect close to that of a second-ring magical plant grain. Therefore, as long as these magical plants are planted in the land of the [West Central Continent] in the central region, the population and the number of rings that our civilization can support in this area can be restored.”

“In the original history, I saved the people and wizards of the West Central Continent.”

“But I wasn’t the only one who made such an outstanding contribution. There are many other excellent wizards in this world, and our civilization finally survived this chilling and painful winter.”

“But my junior brother was left behind in this winter forever. He was a human abandoned baby I picked up. Actually, I hoped he would leave with the masters of Donghuang Mountain, so he could have a chance to survive. Of course, I never knew whether Donghuang Mountain successfully left the wizarding world and went to a new world to start over.”

Locke’s expression shifted slightly. “Grandmaster, are you still alive?”

The Golden Dragon Wizard shook his head slightly. “I am dead. The real me has long since vanished. This is merely a wisp of my spirit left in this key laboratory. One day, if your breeding science reaches a certain level, you too can leave a wisp of your spirit somewhere. But the real me is still dead. This is just my spirit.”

“I stored my spirit in the Sky-Piercing Tree, so although I cannot survive on a linear timeline, I can certainly survive on a horizontal timeline.” “

Locke, you don’t need to be too sad. I see a trait in you that I had with my junior brother back then. Weren’t you also born and raised in a prosperous era? This trait is also reflected in you, which is why you, as a wizard, would sympathize with… the mortals of a parallel world created by this Sky-Piercing Tree.”

“As a wizard who wields extraordinary power, it’s already difficult for you to sympathize with mortals, and yet you would sympathize with the mortals of a parallel world created by a high-level magical plant.” “

However, you are far more talented than my junior brother back then.”

Locke raised an eyebrow, wondering why his ancestor might have misjudged him. But oh well, so be it.

This might be a good thing.

He wasn’t exactly a nice guy.

The Golden Dragon Wizard looked at the wheat plant in Locke’s hand.

“It seems our thinking has converged. You’ve also discovered that wheat magical plants possess the annual characteristic of channeling all nutrients to the fruit, causing the mother plant to wither and die.”

Locke nodded. “But these magical plant characteristics only exist in apprentice-level wheat. Once they enter the first stage, especially all two-grain wheat, they lose these plant factors. Furthermore, I’ve discovered that two-grain wheat not only loses these plant factors, but other plant factors are also covered up. This might be the necessary evolutionary price paid to evolve into a first-stage magical plant and obtain the wood element crystal cluster structure.”

“But in this way, two-grain wheat cannot revert to an annual magical plant. It has gone too far on the path of evolution; there’s no turning back.”

“So I used a combination of atavism and grafting to forcibly restore the Two Grains of Wheat to certain annual magical plant traits. However, because the positioning accuracy of my atavism is still relatively low, I have been unable to overcome how to restore the Two Grains of Wheat to the level of a first-ring magical plant after it has acquired annual traits.” “

First-ring magical plants are rarely annuals.”

Locke looked at the silver wheat plant.

“As the king of magical plants, first-ring magical plants are miracles produced by the natural evolution of magical plants. Therefore, there are very few first-ring magical plants with only a one-year lifespan. The wood element crystal cluster structure and annuality are inherently conflicting.”

Thinking about it carefully, it makes sense. The entire body is covered with wood element crystal clusters, like a house built with reinforced concrete. It is unlikely that it can be blown up in just one year.

For Locke to make the Two Grains of Wheat, which is a first-ring magical plant, regenerate annual magical plant traits is equivalent to making a magical plant, after painstakingly building a reinforced concrete house, immediately blow it up, leaving nothing behind.

The series of plant factors related to wood element crystallization and annual magical plant traits are simply in conflict.

So, piecing things together, although he didn’t solve the final problem, he still managed to create a two-grain wheat plant that could grow in frozen soil.

Locke placed his super two-grain wheat next to his ancestor’s silver wheat, and then Locke laughed.

“The ancestor is still more powerful. Both are wheat magical plants that can grow in frozen soil, but the ancestor cultivated a first-ring magical plant variety, while mine is only an apprentice-level magical plant variety. The difference is obvious.”

“This just shows the vastness and profundity of the boundless field of breeding science. I still have a lot to learn.”

The Golden Dragon Wizard picked up a grain of wheat from Locke’s palm, and without even peeling off the bran, put it directly into his mouth, chewing it continuously with his teeth, crunching, crunching.

His eyes brightened slightly.

“Don’t underestimate yourself.”

“You inherited my breeding experiment progress and shared the same experimental conditions, but what I cultivated was a first-ring magical plant, Silver Wheat, while what you cultivated was an apprentice-level magical plant, Super Two-Grain Wheat. On the surface, I won, but often the outcome is difficult to discern. I never intended to compete with you. Locke, the moment I ate this grain of wheat, I finally understood your true talent.”

“It’s just that you didn’t realize it yourself.”

The Golden Dragon Wizard picked up his grain of wheat, and saw that the Silver Wheat grain contained hidden silver magic; silver is changeable.

Locke thought for a moment before saying, “Grandmaster, is it using the silver magic of the Silver Grass to forcibly make the magical energy within the Two-Grain Wheat flow into the fruit?”

The Golden Dragon Wizard nodded.

Locke gasped.

Because while it sounded simple, just to realize this idea would involve countless breeding attempts and countless steps.

I felt my scalp tingle just thinking about this direction. I never thought that the changeable nature of silver magic could be used in this way. It was a stroke of genius, like a gazelle hanging its horns. However, even if an ordinary person could think of this, they would probably just think it was a fantasy and would never put it into practice.

The Golden Dragon Wizard shook his head slightly, picked up Locke’s Super Two-Grain Wheat plant, and said, “Don’t underestimate yourself. I’ve completed the breeding of Silver Wheat by grafting Two-Grain Wheat and Silver Grass, but this has further enhanced the evolution of this Two-Grain Wheat.”

“It may seem like Silver Wheat is an annual magical plant, but it’s not; that’s just the application of Silver Magic. For this application of Silver Magic, Silver Wheat needs a constant replenishment of Silver Magic.”

“Because of the breached dikes of the two rivers, many magical ore resources hidden underground have come to the surface due to the great flood. Therefore, I believe this is actually suitable for the cultivation of Silver Wheat. In the fields where Silver Wheat is planted, simply place a small amount of magical ores such as mithril.”

“But regardless, the Silver Wheat is merely a further increase in its evolutionary level, becoming increasingly specialized. In other words, it’s a special variety cultivated due to the circumstances and environment of that time. Without human intervention, it would immediately perish and would never continue to exist. But the magical plant you’ve cultivated is different,”

the Golden Dragon Wizard said. “Generally, breeders cultivate magical plants by increasing their evolutionary level to grant them certain characteristics; this can be called addition in breeding science. The further they go, the more they add. But your breeding method has created subtraction within addition.” “

Your atavistic evolution has restored a certain evolutionary potential to this magical plant, not only preventing further increases in its evolutionary level but even causing it to begin to regress.”

“If this magical plant falls into the wild, I believe it could still readjust to its environment without a wizard’s care and grow naturally.”

“I think you are a rare breeder with a subtractive breeding method. This talent is indeed rare,”

the Golden Dragon Wizard said. “Give this Two-Grain Wheat magical plant a name.”

“That’s your strength. I believe a breeder’s talent and aesthetic sense will determine his breeding direction and influence the characteristics of the magical plants he cultivates. If each of us breeders can successfully reach the end, the seeds we cultivate will enter the magical plants of the wizarding civilization, generation after generation, and our talent and aesthetic sense will remain in this discipline.”

“In other words, an excellent breeder can contribute his talent and aesthetic sense to this discipline.”

“The discipline can also develop from this, and his successors and apprentices will develop new disciplines on this basis, which is the High Ring Wizard…”

The Golden Dragon Wizard stopped speaking.

“These things are too early for you. Even if I tell you, you will misunderstand, misinterpret, or even misunderstand. Therefore, you should discover these things for yourself later. Locke Augustine, you can develop this annual two-grain wheat plant well. I believe its potential is no less than my Silver Wheat.”

Locke nodded. “Grandmaster, I will.”

However, despite saying this, he had no immediate plans to enter the market for magical plants and grains. As far as he knew, this market was extremely polarized.

Second-ring wizards, when selling their creations—whether seeds or the harvested grains—often struggled to even recoup their costs, requiring subsidies from the White Wizarding Association and local wizarding academies to barely break even. Meanwhile,

third-ring and high-ring wizards could earn enormous sums.

This was likely due to the White Wizarding Association’s strict oversight; the prices of magical plants and grains were controlled, not only within the wizarding world but also externally. Furthermore, large quantities of these plants were considered strategic resources, prohibiting the sale of seeds to other worlds.

Moreover, the best seeds were exclusively the creations of high-ring wizards. There was virtually

no market for seeds cultivated by low-ring wizards.

After all, the better the seed, the more sought-after it was.

The winner-takes-all dynamic was rampant,

a completely different logic from that of magical plants and weapons.

Furthermore, if the market for magical plant weapons didn’t have regional sales restrictions and wizarding territories, it would be a winner-takes-all scenario, leaving lower- and mid-level wizards with little money. Conversely, a lack of lower- and mid-level wizards would negatively impact the number and skill level of top-tier breeders.

Therefore, I have no immediate plans to develop in this market. My current focus is solely on passing the test of a memory from the founding father of this key laboratory, the Golden Dragon Wizard, and completing the development of this annual two-grain wheat in one go, ensuring a complete and thorough process.

In the process, I’ve significantly improved my hybridization breeding techniques.

At this moment, the entire memory began to blur. The Golden Dragon Wizard looked at Locke and said, “Although I usually don’t acknowledge my memories within myself, all my memories are shared. To those wizards, I’m more like a memory within an echo.”

“However, I acknowledge you. Next time we meet, let’s meet in my second memory. You no longer need this memory. After all, you’ve already cultivated your own super wheat.”

“Locke Augustine, my excellent junior breeder from Golden Crown Mountain, I look forward to the story that might unfold when we meet again. Here are one hundred parallel coins for you.”

The entire memory began to disintegrate, and then this parallel world began to dismantle. After all, the Sky-Piercing Tree needs energy to generate and maintain parallel worlds, so now that Locke was leaving this world, the Sky-Piercing Tree naturally began to dismantle it.

The next moment, Locke detached from the triangular stone pillar and returned to the city center of Starry Sky City, under a sky full of stars.

Locke looked at his Golden Crown Mountain badge and saw a mithril coin with an image of Golden Crown Mountain on the front and a White Cardamom Farm image on the back, along with the number 100.

This was clearly the parallel currency usable within the White Cardamom Farm.

At the same time, a magical artifact resembling a glass marble floated in front of Locke. Within this artifact was a complete set of plant essences for an annual two-grain wheat he had cultivated in the parallel world.

Locke understood. With this artifact, he could use the finite element cultivation method to infuse this set of plant essences into the two-grain wheat and cultivate it again. Alternatively, he could use a more convenient method: to create a holographic magical plant from the plant essences and then take it out, making it easier to preserve the plant essence combination.

Of course, he obviously didn’t intend to produce it, so he converted it into a holographic magical plant.

‘At first, I thought a holographic magical plant would be a kind of virtual equipment. After walking around this laboratory, I now realize that a holographic magical plant utilizes the characteristics of a parallel world, using a macroscopic method to construct a magical plant.’ Preserving only the purest spiritual essence of this magical plant, without any other energy or matter, this is not a virtual magical plant, but an application of spiritual science.

The greatest value of a holographic magical plant probably lies in its ability to completely preserve the essence of a magical plant.

“Otherwise, it’s actually very difficult to preserve the essence of a magical plant. Even if it becomes a seed in a safe area, if that area is affected by some magical power, the plant essence in that seed might undergo some minor changes. So, holographic magical plants are for preserving the original version of the plant’s essence… This is probably something only a key laboratory like this would have, but I suspect other key laboratories of the same level would also have holographic magical plants, because this method of preserving plant essence is just too convenient.”

Locke looked at the hundred parallel coins in his hand. He immediately activated his magic bed, found a star track, ran to the end of the star track, and then used these parallel coins to begin constructing a world and starting his first formal breeding work in this key laboratory.

Locke glanced at an alchemical clock beside him and realized that only three days had passed.

He rubbed his temples, took out a bottle of potion from his astral ring, and drank it to restore his magical pressure.

Within the instance, he was completely forbidden from taking anything from the Forest Sanctuary and the Astral Ring. Otherwise, with his magical resource reserves, he could have easily produced a large amount of food and magical resources, instantly resolving the resource shortage crisis at the settlement in the Golden Dragon Wizard’s memories.

“The experience within this memory is extremely important to me.”

“It reminded me of my original intentions once again.”

After this experience, Locke could no longer regard those apprentice-level and first-ring magical plants as cheap magical plants as before.

He still remembered the heartache he felt for every Apprentice-level Two Grains of Wheat that died in the instance.

Locke prepared to immediately go to the end of a star trail to begin his first use of the equipment in the key laboratory. He planned to complete the abyss process of the Golden Dragon Claw Wizard Shoes and the Black Hummingbird Wizard Shoes, but just as he set off, he suddenly encountered a white-haired witch in the vaporization stage with a somewhat timid expression.

The young witch held a photograph and a letter of introduction, then asked Locke, “Are you Locke Augustine, the wizard? I’m a native of this key laboratory… Lady Catherine recommended me to become your apprentice.”

“Lady Augustine, look,”

Locke said, looking at her with surprise. “Hmm? You’ve never left this key laboratory?”

The young witch immediately blushed, somewhat flustered; she seemed very socially awkward.

“It’s like this. The academy has rules for us: we can’t leave this laboratory until we become second-circle wizards. This is for information security, and even if we go out, we need to sign a contract with Mount Golden Crown.” “

We’re different from wizards outside. Our ancestors were wizards of Mount Golden Crown, and we’ve enjoyed the resources of this key laboratory, so we can’t leave Mount Golden Crown. To leave, we have to sign a contract with Mount Golden Crown, but contracts have different levels… and most people don’t really want to go out… after all, once you go out, you basically can’t come back…”

(End of Chapter)