Chapter 602: The Infiltrator from the Twin Demon Realm and the Usage of Full Moon Growth |
The Grand Tournament Chairman responsible for the Spell Combat Tournament suddenly began paying attention to the First Circle level Spell Combat Tournament, then laughed mockingly. "Interesting little fellow, I didn't expect Golden Crown Mountain to have such an interesting researcher. This little fellow is Witch Yekaterina's disciple, right?"
"Hard to believe that a witch as serious as Yekaterina would cultivate a wizard with this kind of personality."
The First Circle tournament director, Wizard Fischer from the Council of Elders, and Wizard Kraft Roosevelt from the Executive Patrol Group all looked strangely toward the Grand Tournament Chairman.
The Spell Combat Tournament in Cloud Marsh Wetland was divided into the Minor League and Grand League. For this competition, Golden Crown Mountain had invited the League Committee to co-host it to ensure the fairness of the Spell Combat Tournament and make it part of the Minor League.
This strengthened its commercial attributes.
Sufficiently excellent wizard fighters would be selected from the Minor League, and only then could they participate in the truly commercialized top event of the Three Marsh Lands, the Spell Combat Tournament Grand League!
Within the Spell Combat Tournament's League Committee, there were two Third Circle level Grand Tournament Chairmen holding positions.
One of them was the middle-aged wizard before them with a lock of white hair on his forehead.
But no one knew why Wizard Franklin, who was naturally rather serious, would suddenly pay attention to a First Circle wizard.
"However, there's nothing particularly remarkable about that."
"It's only the second day of the Sports Festival, my student just didn't want to use his full strength."
Grand Tournament Chairman Wizard Franklin laughed, "No, no, I'm not talking about that."
Franklin used a Wish Lingzhi magical plant to pull up the Arthas interface. "Look at this... I've rarely seen a wizard who treats his own competition as a product promotion platform. This little fellow is really too interesting."
Wizard Kraft Roosevelt looked at the continuously rising sales of the Tyrant Hummingbird Bromeliad wizard shoes and their entry into today's top hundred total sales, and was immediately speechless.
Previously, Locke's behavior in the early stage of combat, constantly dodging and avoiding conflict, had been explained.
As it turned out, that fellow was demonstrating the performance of his pure magical plant wizard shoes!
Wizard Kraft Roosevelt said in a low voice, "This guy..."
"So that's how it is."
Old Wizard Fischer's mouth also twitched. "No wonder I thought it strange before, why he didn't fight Witch Sera from the start."
"Is he really that short on money?"
Old Wizard Fischer noticed the description in Locke's product entry and frowned. "The first commercialized product of Type 2 Tyrant Element?"
Grand Tournament Chairman Wizard Franklin looked at an ordinary Second Circle wizard staff member beside him and said in a low voice, "After the Sports Festival ends, you can go ask this wizard whether he's interested in joining our Spell Combat Tournament's two-level league and becoming a wizard fighter."
"This little fellow really has too much business acumen." Wizard Franklin pointed at his head and said to everyone, "And his combat talent isn't bad either. Don't think I've been serving as Grand Tournament Chairman for quite some time, but I used to be a talent scout."
"This wizard possesses the qualities to become a star fighter."
The two Third Circle wizards from Golden Crown Mountain didn't speak. Anyway, Locke wasn't their collaborative wizard, so they were indifferent to what kind of person Locke might become in the future.
Unless someone insulted Golden Crown Mountain's standards, they had no reason to make any response. Moreover, Chairman Franklin was clearly optimistic about Locke.
Wizard Kraft Roosevelt thought for a moment and said, "I think the chances aren't great. Witch Yekaterina probably won't agree to you doing this."
Wizard Fischer looked toward his grandson in the competition venue, hoping in his heart that his grandson could defeat everyone and win this competition.
At this time, on Arena No. 2, Antoine Fischer activated the Crushing Curse enchanted on his five-million magic stone grade Redwood magical wand.
A flash of blue-purple magical light passed, and the opponent before him was instantly sent flying.
The Crushing Curse was a powerful spell of the Evocation School.
It was magic with the strongest attack power at the First Circle stage.
Wizard Antoine looked toward Arena No. 1, displeased that his spotlight had been stolen by Locke and Witch Sera. He clicked his tongue and turned to walk down the stage. "That witch was actually defeated because of a cheap wizard sword, all of them are mediocre clowns."
"I am the most powerful genius."
At the same time, in the judges' seats, Grand Tournament Chairman Wizard Franklin quietly asked the Second Circle wizards around him, "However, haven't you found out the identity of the infiltrator from the Twin Demon Realm yet?"
The league staff all shook their heads.
A moon ring wizard specifically responsible for this matter replied in a low voice, "Not yet. The wizards from the Twin Demon Realm are very skilled at this. There should be a Third Circle level medium who has done some concealment of this infiltrator's true identity. The person who took action should be one of those old friends."
"Chairman, you also know that this is concealment performed by a medium black wizard corresponding to a Throne Wizard. We still can't find them for the time being. Based on past experience, the Twin Demon Realm should want to send someone to seize the championship of our Spell Combat Tournament, thereby achieving the goal of striking at Golden Crown Mountain's Sports Festival."
"It's just that we temporarily can't determine whether the infiltrator is in the Second Circle level competition or the First Circle level competition. Moreover, we temporarily can't confirm whether there really is an infiltrator."
"Or if it's just a bluff."
Chairman Franklin said, "Focus on investigating those wizards with abnormal competition data."
Wizard Roosevelt interjected, "Actually, the main thing is that even if we find them out, as long as their identity isn't forged and they applied to participate according to normal procedures, we have no reason to refuse their participation."
Chairman Franklin said, "After all, it's a live broadcast. Even though it's just the Minor League of the Spell Combat Tournament, there are many viewers."
"So, unless absolutely necessary, we can't suspend or interfere with the competition because of such speculative matters. However, I also have some suspects. That participant from Kungoding Academy this time, and that witch from Magic Pivot City, both seem to have performed too well."
...
"Bang~"
In the afternoon, Locke saw on Arena No. 3 a First Circle crystallization wizard from Kungoding Academy whose magical pressure had reached 9999. His upper body was bare, and he normally held a specially-made rebar staff as tall as a person with spiral patterns.
At this moment, he was actually using earth element magic from the Evocation School on the stage, and it was a spell from the construction direction subdivision field. He had constructed an earth and stone fortress on the stage.
His opponent maneuvered and dodged within the fortress, but all the stones in the fortress were against him, raising hexagonal stone pillars to attack the opponent.
Immediately after, steel rebars suddenly extended from this stone fortress, attacking the Evocation School storm mage before him like steel serpents.
"Bang~"
All the thunder magic summoned by that storm mage was penetrated by the rebar serpents, then fell heavily to the ground.
That wizard patted his rebar staff and said heartily, "I told you your hardness isn't enough."
"That friend, you need to increase the rigidity of your storm, otherwise how can you be a match for my 'Bastion Descent.' Once my bastion is complete, even if ten First Circle crystallization stage wizards attacked me simultaneously, I'd still have a way to win the competition relying on my rigidity!"
Many people below the stage were whispering.
"Aren't construction mages better at construction rather than individual combat?"
"The fortress he constructed can control all architectural parts inside to attack enemies, and it seems there are quite a few components that can be used but haven't been used yet. Kungoding Academy... seems to be an academy that moved here from the Northern Border Zone."
"Northern Border Zone? Could it be from... Mysterious Sky?"
"Probably not. Mysterious Sky is an existence on the same level as the Star Domain Sea, but it seems to also come from a pretty good wizard land. Anyway, our White Wizard Association here welcomes their academy bringing resources and actively entering Cloud Marsh Wetland."
"Is Kungoding Academy preparing to challenge Golden Crown Mountain's position this time? I heard that Kungoding Academy was also a top wizard academy in a wizard land before, but later left that wizard land due to competition failure and was invited over by our White Wizard Association. Now it seems they want to seize the position of a top force in Cloud Marsh Wetland and obtain corresponding resources, and their target is... Golden Crown Mountain."
The wizards all had expressions of watching a good show.
Clearly, Kungoding had reached some kind of agreement with the White Wizard Association of Cloud Marsh Wetland before.
But at this time, some wizards also had different opinions. "Pull the other one. Don't forget our responsibility in the Three Marsh Lands. The Three Marsh Lands is the logistics center of the Eastern Border Region, but not only that, we're also one of the gateways of the entire wizard world. Various waterways are routinely invaded by external enemies. They haven't fought a single Chaos War, Demon Realm War, or Abyss War, and they still want to replace Golden Crown Mountain as one of the Seven Top Academies?"
"Even if they seize the Spell Combat Tournament this time, they're still far from this goal."
Another Second Circle wizard also nodded in agreement, "That's right. Moreover, currently the strongest medium to large-scale wizard organization in the Golden Crown Mountain region should be Magic Pivot City."
"Anyway, the war to seize position is very long. This time may very well last a hundred years. Starting from sports competitions, then academics, article quantity, external war performance, as outsiders, Kungoding Academy still has a whole bunch of areas that need improvement."
At the same time, Locke was also observing the competition from the side for almost the entire day.
Because he had already tried reading many materials before, and as a result, in a short time, he hadn't made much improvement.
In fact, it was very difficult for a person to continuously improve linearly. That was a luxurious learning process. In most cases, after a period of improvement and encountering obstacles, one would easily get stuck in a certain place for many years.
This was the normal state for wizards in the wizard world.
It was just that he had continuously refined himself before, plus continuously encountered more things, so he could keep moving upward.
But up until now, after more than half a year of baptism by Cloud Marsh Wetland's materials, and with the limitations of the Second Circle barrier, just reading books could hardly bring any improvement in a short time.
So Locke chose to seize the opportunity of the Spell Combat Tournament and watch from the side on-site as various wizards displayed their attack magic.
By watching firsthand how the various wizards from the Golden Crown Mountain region who were most confident in their magical dueling abilities performed those attack magics in situations where they abandoned permanent defensive fields and focused only on attack, to think about how to improve himself.
Learning from these opponents and participants.
Even for those wizards who were obviously inferior to himself, Locke could learn some things from them.
By observing why they failed, where problems occurred, whether they had any merits, to comprehensively consider and evaluate them.
Using reverse thinking methods, learning some non-optimal solutions from them to obtain things that could inspire himself.
Locke observed the entire day's competition like this. He discovered that most wizards, after completing their competitions, would immediately seize the time to rest, or continue practicing certain spells by reading literature or using some equipment.
Each of these wizards was very tense, viewing winning and losing as extremely important. They had already placed all their attention on the upcoming competitions.
Their perception of their surroundings had decreased to the extreme.
Locke came face to face with a wizard who looked very ordinary. He was slightly stunned. The other party, like himself, was the only wizard among these participants who was casually strolling around here.
This wizard took the initiative to greet Locke, "Hello, I'm Shelley. An evoker. Are you also a participant? Why aren't you preparing for the competition?"
Locke said, "I've just hit a bottleneck, so I wanted to look at other participants' magic."
Shelley Wizard smiled, "I watched your competition. Locke Augustine, you're a very excellent wizard. I'm a chair professor at Golden Crown Mountain's Elm Garden, you're a researcher at Dragon Garden. You're still more excellent. I'm different from you."
"My level is truly insufficient. Although we're both First Circle crystallization stage wizards with magical pressure of 9999, I feel my attack magic is always inferior to others. My research in this area is too shallow, so I can only casually stroll around here."
"Locke, your Peach Bow Thorn Arrow magic has very high attack power."
"I need to continue watching the next competition. I hope I won't encounter you early. Then I'll definitely lose all my points and withdraw from the competition."
Shelley Wizard said worriedly, "Good luck, Locke."
Locke greeted him, then glanced at him once, then placed his attention on Arena No. 6 before him.
"Bang~"
With a loud noise, Locke looked toward the direction of the sound, only to see Witch Juliana had actually been knocked off Arena No. 1 with blood at the corner of her mouth.
Standing on Arena No. 1 was Antoine Fischer.
Antoine at this moment wore a circle of powerful magical artifacts on his body. On his fingers were ten offensive magical artifact rings, precisely the famous Ten Ring Set among the luxury magical artifacts of Cloud Marsh Wetland.
At the same time, he had also brought along a magical creature pet made by the Crawler Garden of Rain Marsh Swampland, the Crystal Core Tyrant Dragon.
The Crystal Core Tyrant Dragon fed on Rafflesia and had to supplement a certain amount of Tyrant Element daily, but its strength was powerful.
Crawler Garden was a top wizard force in Rain Marsh Swampland. As a luxury magical creature cultivated by Crawler Garden at the First Circle stage, the Crystal Core Tyrant Dragon's strength was naturally incomparably powerful.
It was said that taking this kind of tyrant dragon to other worlds, it would be a world-destroying magical beast, an existence that could trigger the world's end.
Under Antoine's invincible pay-to-win approach, even Witch Juliana had unfortunately lost by one move and been knocked off Arena No. 1.
Wizard Antoine laughed heartily. "I defeated a Third Generation from the Executive Patrol Group. Hahaha... I've secured the championship of the Spell Combat Tournament."
"Who else is my opponent now?"
"Hahahaha..."
Locke saw Witch Juliana stand up, pat the dust off her wizard robe, her face not revealing any anger, her eyes cold without the slightest fluctuation.
She glanced at Antoine and turned to leave Arena No. 1.
The Spell Combat Tournament used a points system. Until the final seventh day, there would definitely be no championship result.
Therefore, as long as one maintained a certain score before then, one wouldn't be eliminated for losing once.
Of course, because losing once equaled winning three times, the speed of elimination was still very fast.
Witch Juliana looked toward Wizard Antoine and frowned. "That guy... really knows how to act."
"Everyone must think he crushes other wizards by being rich, but it's not like that. Most people have been misled by him. To be able to simultaneously use so many magical artifacts, the total amount of magical pressure he himself possesses is frighteningly high."
"Of course, this is most likely something he forcibly increased through a series of rare resources." Witch Juliana shook her head slightly. "Fighting him hard in advance doesn't have much meaning for me."
"Let him win."
Locke walked below Arena No. 1. His gaze met Antoine's for an instant, but Antoine contemptuously curled his lip, then moved his gaze away.
Locke heard the wizard referee announce his last match of the day.
"Arena No. 1, Golden Crown Mountain breeder Locke Augustine versus Magic Pivot City breeder Witch Camilla."
"Both contestants please ascend the stage within ten minutes, otherwise it will be considered a forfeit and automatically judged as a loss."
Soon, a short First Circle crystallization witch with 9800 magical pressure ascended Arena No. 1.
Witch Camilla's height was only a bit over 1.3 meters because she was a fairy.
At this moment, she frowned and said in a low voice, "My luck is so bad, I actually encountered Golden Crown Mountain's star contestant."
"I don't know if I can win. If I could beat him, then my status in Magic Pivot City would rise sharply. When I return, I'll be able to get more resources. If my teacher is happy, perhaps they might even give me some resources helpful for advancing to Second Circle."
"The family will also increase how much they value me and proactively give me more resources."
Witch Camilla saw Locke ascend the stage, but she wasn't very confident in herself. "Hello, I'm Witch Camilla. Mr. Augustine, could you please go easy on me later?"
"Just considering that my magical pressure is 199 points lower than yours."
Locke was somewhat speechless. This was the first time he'd seen a wizard at the First Circle crystallization stage be this thick-skinned.
However, thinking about it carefully, the strategy of her personality wasn't impossible either.
Except for being shameless.
What if she encountered someone thin-skinned or someone who prided themselves on being powerful?
They might just agree.
Anyway, all she paid was just a shameless question.
But if they agreed, the benefit ratio would be too high.
Locke directly refused. "A competition is a competition. One is one, two is two."
"What I can do is respect you. And the way to respect you is to go all out."
Witch Camilla pouted in anger. "You really... don't know how to be considerate toward women."
Witch Camilla was a gentle-looking, short, cute-type two-hundred-year-old witch. At this moment, getting angry, she took out ten Large-Mouthed Man-Eating Flowers from her astral ring.
Locke frowned slightly. He rarely saw anyone who could summon this many magical plants at once.
For botanical wizards, having more magical plants didn't mean being more powerful.
On the contrary, too many magical plants would instead excessively consume mana without strengthening oneself much, which was quite unwise.
Locke thought of something. His innate magic eye appeared on his forehead and opened the spiritual vision, penetrating the surroundings. He discovered that in this Witch Camilla's spiritual world, an elegant blue-white porcelain appeared in her spiritual light cluster.
Witch porcelain!
Also Magic Pivot City's greatest advantage project.
Wizard academies like Magic Pivot City that were close to Golden Crown Mountain had their own advantageous research topics.
Golden Crown Mountain had three of these aspects, while Magic Pivot City only had one, which was the origin of its name, the witch porcelain system.
The unique magical witch porcelain made by Magic Pivot City could even store large amounts of magical power and empower wizards during battle.
No wonder the other party could simultaneously use ten Large-Mouthed Man-Eating Flowers. So that's how it was.
Witch Camilla didn't stop. She continued summoning Large-Mouthed Man-Eating Flowers, another ten plants, then another ten plants.
Many people present were shocked. They hadn't expected the witch porcelain Witch Camilla carried to be so powerful, actually allowing her to have the mana to simultaneously control thirty First Circle magical plants.
This was truly astonishing.
If taken to outside wizard lands, it would simply astound those botanical wizards' jaws. It was a magic that could break the convention of the number of magical plants botanical wizards could simultaneously control.
Witch Camilla said indignantly, "Locke Augustine, I don't need you to go easy on me. Let you see my magic, Man-Eating Flower Jungle!"
The Large-Mouthed Man-Eating Flowers in the surging man-eating flower jungle continuously snapped at the surrounding air.
Locke shot a Peach Bow Thorn Arrow magic, immediately cutting half the man-eating flowers in half at the waist.
But in a short time, those man-eating flowers actually mysteriously recovered to their original state one by one.
"Hmm? I haven't learned about this set of attack magic before. Is it magic that rapidly restores magical plants, or plants with special resistance that can only take certain specific types of damage in plant attack magic?" Locke quickly judged the current situation.
Seeing this, Camilla breathed a sigh of relief.
But Locke snapped his fingers. Immediately, a moon appeared in his palm. "Good. This is the meaning of competition. If there aren't sufficiently powerful opponents, I can't even conduct practical testing of the usage of Full Moon Growth magic that I comprehended by observing over ten wizards' competitions before."
"This Man-Eating Flower Jungle combination attack magic happens to let me test my Full Moon Growth."
Witch Camilla looked at Locke puzzled, because Locke used magical power to summon a magical moon, and then that moon waxed and waned, guiding her jungle to grow rapidly, actually instead enhancing her Man-Eating Flower Jungle.
Witch Camilla looked confused. "What are you doing?"
Below the stage, the audience wizards watching the competition also looked stunned.
"Huh? Why would he actively strengthen that wizard from Magic Pivot City's combination tool magic? Isn't this helping the enemy?"
"That witch from Magic Pivot City, you can take advantage now, while he's strengthening your Man-Eating Flower Jungle."
Camilla received the reminder and deeply agreed. She hurriedly raised her right hand, commanding waves of man-eating flowers to open their large mouths toward Locke!