Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems

Chapter 641: The Suzerain's Book at the First Circle Crystallization Stage, Summoning the Demon God!

Locke released his own draconic might toward Wizards Warwick and McKinley. Behind him appeared a terrifying demon dragon with three heads, dark golden scales, a fractured body, and dreadful eyes.In an instant, the ancient creature bloodlines within Wizards Warwick and McKinley surged forth with fear born from the very depths of their instincts, a primal terror that transcended conscious thought.

Because of that fear, the illusion naturally shattered.

Wizards Warwick and McKinley blinked, and only then did they realize they had never entered the city at all. They had remained at the city's dock, where they could now see the brick paintings along the wharf.

Wizard McKinley came to a sudden realization. "No wonder I felt that both Warwick and I were experiencing such extreme emotional swings. We had been caught in the magic of the Enchantment School and the Illusion School."

Wizard Warwick looked at the brick paintings, his expression grave. "I am now increasingly certain that the master behind this mausoleum is the wife of that Nameless King."

"Vizantine brick paintings, these are a celebrated product of the Wizard Empire era, commonplace during the Imperial Age. But in the Era of Stars, they became a luxury."

"Though this does not appear to be a purely Vizantine brick painting. Some modifications from the Transmutation School have been incorporated, though not many."

"If the master of this mausoleum complex were merely the ruler of a magical kingdom, or not even a Wizard King but only a princess, she absolutely could not have afforded to use something like this as the guardian of her tomb complex."

"This person must have held a very high standing in the Era of Stars."

"And yet the Loom Princess has never been connected to any of the known great figures of the Era of Stars. She is like a scattered data point, a tree without roots. But judging by the wealth evident in this mausoleum, that should be impossible."

"So there is only one possibility."

"She is most likely the wife of the Nameless King."

Wizard Warwick said, "It seems many of those who tried to force their way in died in this trap. Since that is the case, let us hurry inside."

Witch Shirley stopped him. "Hold it. My junior fellow apprentice said that you had agreed to copy a portion of the historical records from your Suzerain's Book and share them with Locke before we began the operation."

Wizard McKinley looked at Warwick in surprise. "You were actually willing to do that?"

Wizard Warwick paused for a moment, then turned to Locke with a smile. "Indeed, indeed. I was far too eager and impatient, and somehow forgot something so important."

Wizard Warwick snapped his fingers and summoned his Demon God's Book. The paper-folded demon god opened its great maw as though spitting something out.

Shortly after, the paper-folded demon god spat a magic egg toward the Book of Dragons, and then Locke's Book of Dragons, which had taken the form of a paper-folded great dragon, opened its own mouth wide and swallowed the magic egg whole.

The Book of Dragons immediately became bloated, as though it had eaten far too much and could not digest it all at once.

Historical records required reading and organization. Reading allowed one to digest the records, while organizing them deepened their utility.

Regardless, after his Book of Dragons swallowed those historical records, the magical pressure it exuded rose rapidly, quickly breaking through the constraints of the First Circle crystallization stage. Its magical pressure reached the level of First Circle crystallization, and moreover reached 9999.

Wizard Warwick paused. "Locke, I only made a copy of my historical records for you, and there was certainly some loss of information in the transfer. So I expected your Book of Dragons' magical pressure to have only barely exceeded 9000."

"It seems you have had additional gains elsewhere."

Locke said, "Yes, I have made several trades with other archaeology wizards."

In truth, the greatest reason for this outcome was the Queen's Chessboard, but Locke saw no reason to mention it. Even white wizards rarely had the funds to use the Queen's Chessboard frequently.

Wizard McKinley curled his lip. "In the past, archaeology wizards once fought the Great Historical Records War over the seizing of records. Afterward, those high-circle archaeologists brought in an Origin Contract Mage and placed a curse on the Suzerain's Books of all archaeology wizards, ensuring that any records obtained through theft or exploitation would instead turn and curse the one who took them."

"That was what ended that brutal war over historical records."

"It also ended the history of archaeology wizards slaughtering one another or enslaving each other. But as a consequence, trading historical records became something of a taboo topic among us archaeology wizards. For an archaeology wizard, the records painstakingly gathered, even if copied and handed to another without much real loss, still carry the risk of damage during copying and the possibility of minor corruption to the records themselves."

"But psychologically, we simply cannot accept it."

"Warwick, I cannot believe you were so generous."

Wizard Warwick chuckled. "At the time, I had all but given up hope. Among the resources available to me, not a single potion master was willing to brew the Abyssal Werewolf Potion for me. Abyssal potions are a field very few wizards ever study in depth, and potion masters regard them with deep aversion."

"To say nothing of the Abyssal Werewolf Potion specifically."

"But I was fortunate enough to encounter Locke. Out of genuine gratitude, knowing that my historical records were the only thing I had that might attract him, I was naturally willing to trade."

"As for this time, so long as we can crack the tomb of the Nameless King and help me set foot on the path of a Second Circle archaeologist, I have no particular attachment to historical records. And as for the risk involved in copying them, that is simply a necessary price to pay."

McKinley shook his head slowly. "You are far more willing than I would be. If it were me, I could never bring myself to do it. These historical records are like my own children. Even if you killed me, I would not hand them over to another wizard."

"You are too generous, Warwick. That is not a good thing."

Wizard Warwick said lightly, "It comes down to personal choice."

At this moment, Locke's Book of Dragons had received a vast quantity of historical records and now met the basic conditions for casting Summon Demon God. So Locke began to chant the incantation, and the Book of Dragons began to shift in form.

The appearance of the Book of Dragons grew increasingly lifelike and vivid, like a true fire-breathing dragon.

Warwick looked at Locke with some surprise. "I had assumed that even after receiving my historical records, you would need at least ten years before you could successfully use Summon Demon God!"

"Or perhaps even longer. But it seems you are far more talented than I imagined, to be able to use the most powerful magic available to archaeology wizards at the First Circle stage, Summon Demon God, immediately after receiving my records!"

Locke gave a slight nod and offered no further explanation.

He had indeed made use of the Queen's Chessboard to save an enormous amount of research time. That was one of the benefits of crossing between disciplines. Sometimes one could discover within an entirely different field something that dramatically accelerated progress in one's own area of research.

Wizard civilization had grown so extraordinarily complex over time, with far too many branches. Many devices and bodies of knowledge that would have greatly benefited other fields had long gone unnoticed simply because of the barriers between disciplines.

It could be said that a wizard capable of drawing from the strengths of many different fields was itself precisely the kind of talent that current wizard civilization needed.

The fire-breathing dragon let out a roar. The paper-folded fire-breathing dragon seemed to possess the qualities of a true Second Circle living entity, bearing terrible magical pressure, formidable close-combat ability, and a certain dragon fire visible within its paper-folded teeth, along with the scent of sulfur.

Of course, upon careful observation, one could still tell that the dragon was made of folded paper.

Summoning the Demon God meant concentrating all historical records, empowering the Suzerain's Book, driving the Suzerain's Book to do battle, and unleashing the full force of all the historical records an archaeology wizard had accumulated to that point.

Of course, all three archaeology wizards could also perceive that Locke had only just barely met the threshold to cast the Summon Demon God spell model.

Because Locke had not yet thoroughly compiled and organized the historical records, the dragon's strength was still limited. If Locke were to settle down and spend ten years organizing them, he could elevate the dragon's power by several tiers further.

Locke leapt onto the fire-breathing dragon's back and said to the three of them, "Come on up. We will fly in on the dragon. That may let us avoid quite a few of the traps laid along the city's roads."

Witch Shirley nodded and jumped on directly.

McKinley and Warwick exchanged a glance, and Wizard Warwick also nodded. "Fair enough."

"Though I doubt we will get very far."

The fire-breathing dragon spread its wings and soared into the sky, transforming into a fireball that flew toward the city from above, giving them a bird's-eye view of the entire place.

Locke stood on the fire-breathing dragon's back and saw that the aerial view of the entire mausoleum city resembled a massive labyrinth, one where wizards could easily become lost simply by entering it.

Moreover, the buildings within the city shifted constantly, like obstacles in a maze.

Among those buildings were structures of every kind, along with various demon races, and a number of golems standing guard at the key passages, as though protecting the dignity of the mausoleum's master in death and safeguarding her honor beyond the grave.

At that moment, Locke sensed an enormous pressure pressing down on him from above.

The fire-breathing dragon was straining with all its might against that immense gravitational force descending from the sky.

As the two forces clashed, bolt after bolt of spell lightning erupted from the fire-breathing dragon's body.

The spell lightning crashed down in all directions, even destroying parts of buildings along the streets below.

Witch Shirley said, "It is a sealing magic from the Abjuration School, a flight prohibition seal!"

Warwick shouted, "I knew this would happen."

"This mausoleum will not allow us to fly directly to the Loom Princess's main burial chamber!"

"Locke, stop fighting it. Otherwise, even the Summon Demon God spell model will fall apart!"

…

Within the mausoleum complex city, the wizards wearing the insignia of the Storm Tower, members of a subordinate wizard organization affiliated with the Storm Tower, all raised their heads to look at the sky.

In their eyes, the fire-breathing dragon appeared as a fireball of spell fire that crashed directly into the invisible barrier surrounding the inner city at the center of the mausoleum.

These wizards of the Storm Tower's affiliated organization, the Thunder Demon Society, all felt their expressions tighten with anxiety.

This mission had come directly from the orders of the Smith Family of Storm Tower, situated atop Iron Smelting Mountain. And it was being overseen directly by a prominent young representative of the Smith Family, Wizard Smith himself.

It was said that the matter could even involve a Third Circle wizard, that the original command had come from a Third Circle wizard, passed down to the young Wizard Smith, who had then subcontracted it layer by layer until it ultimately fell to their small wizard organization, the Thunder Demon Society, to execute.

That meant this matter could not afford any mistakes.

The secret treasure of this wizard secret realm had to belong to them.

The leader of the Thunder Demon Society looked around at the nearly all of the Thunder Demon Society's full wizards assembled for this operation, seventeen First Circle wizards in total.

The Thunder Demon Society's leader, himself having reached the magical pressure limit of the First Circle, said in a low voice, "If this goes well, we will have secured a connection to the influential figures of the Storm Tower. If it goes poorly, our academy will have to relocate out of the Storm Tower's territory."

"You all know how the Smith Family and the Storm Tower operate. We need to find the so-called Loom Princess's main burial chamber as quickly as possible and bring that treasure to Wizard Smith."

The Thunder Demon Society's leader chanted an incantation, and a bolt of lightning came crashing down, shattering a maze wall ahead of him along with a carved ornament on it.

They were not archaeology wizards, and naturally they cared nothing for the historical records concealed within those structures, nor did they care about the possibility that reckless use of magic might destroy precious records and cause certain secrets to be lost forever.

All that mattered to them right now was breaking through the labyrinth of the mausoleum city as quickly as possible, finding the main burial chamber, and seizing their target treasure through brute force. Everything else was none of the Thunder Demon Society's concern.

One thing that did give the Thunder Demon Society's wizards some relief was that the fireball in the sky ultimately fell back to the ground. It had not broken through the seal to enter the city's core directly, but had instead dropped into the labyrinth.

The Thunder Demon Society's leader burst into laughter. "This is excellent."

"They have fallen into the labyrinth as well. But we have the treasure that Wizard Smith gave me, which allows us to travel in a straight line through the maze. All we need to do is keep destroying the labyrinth's mechanisms as we go."

…

Elsewhere in another part of the labyrinth, seven First Circle wizards from the Rose Council were present.

They had all seen Locke's attempt to break through from the front, and were now quite pleased to see that plan come to nothing.

The seven First Circle wizards of the Rose Council exchanged glances with one another.

They were originally just fellow apprentices from the same school, and had only come together to explore this "wild wizard secret realm" after hearing a certain piece of news.

At this point, Kenneth Evans, a flower-language wizard at the First Circle crystallization stage, said, "I feel like the number of wizards competing with us to enter this city is only growing. I think we should stick to our earlier plan, dig a tunnel through the ground, bypass this labyrinth entirely, and head straight into the main hall of this city."

"Then take the treasure."

"Otherwise, if we keep wasting time like this, our astral rings hold plenty of food and water, but our competition is only increasing. And the labyrinth is dangerous. Even we wizards of the Rose Council have already lost two people in here."

Another flower-language wizard at the First Circle crystallization stage let out a sigh. "There is nothing else we can do. We originally did not want to behave like wizards from some small, low-standing organization and carelessly destroy historical relics, but for the sake of our goal, a little destruction is a little destruction."

"When all is said and done, it is just some dilapidated old city from who knows what era."

"There is nothing particularly worth preserving. Should the living really make way for the dead?"

A female flower-language wizard, Suela Sharp, let out a light laugh. "Exactly. I have heard this Loom Princess talked up quite impressively, but her taste is truly something else. This city is absolutely hideous."

"I honestly cannot see what value there is in it."

"She is just some ancient person dead for ages. Let us take the treasure and leave as quickly as possible, before we end up squabbling over it with wizards from those petty little organizations. We are wizards of the Rose Council, after all!"