Chapter 599: The Power of Peach Bow Thorn Arrow! Six Consecutive Wins! |
Ten peach-shaped white clouds appeared in the sky.
These were the ten arenas for the Spell Combat Tournament. For the first three days of the Spell Combat Tournament, ten arenas would operate simultaneously in this vast Cloud Arena, then collapse after three days.
By the finals, only one arena would remain from the original ten.
At that time, many competitions had already begun.
Locke heard the referee standing on a cloud whale announce his turn to take the stage, so he summoned the Large Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow and flew up to the competition platform.
Another competitor also flew up riding a large bird.
A First Circle crystallization wizard referee looked at both contestants and said quickly, "The Spell Combat Tournament officially begins. Each victory earns 1 point. Losing deducts 3 points. When points are depleted, you exit the competition!"
"In the competition system, the one with the highest total points becomes the champion."
"During the Spell Combat Tournament, permanent defensive fields may not be used."
Pedro Bennett before him was a wizard wearing a gray-green wizard robe. The wizard robe was decorated luxuriously, painted with many landscapes.
Pedro Bennett respectfully gave Locke a combat salute. "Mr. Augustine, thank you for the opportunity to let me experience the gap between myself and Golden Crown Mountain."
"This is very important for wizards from small wizard organizations like ours." Pedro Bennett's face showed a trace of bitterness. "I know that for wizards like me, if not in this kind of occasion, there would be no possibility of competing on the same stage as you."
The bird body he was standing on began showing lots of ink. Turns out he was a magic painter.
The magical creature bird that helped him fly up earlier was just something he painted. Because of this, Locke and other wizards hadn't recognized what kind of magical creature this was.
Locke nodded slightly at him.
The opponent's magic pressure was only 9000, clearly having just become a First Circle crystallization stage wizard. Based on his soul aura, his age was approximately over a hundred years old.
But honestly, this level of magic pressure had far too great a gap with his current self.
Locke began releasing his own magic pressure. That magic pressure transformed into dragon might, and in just an instant, completely suppressed the opponent.
The magical creature bird under Pedro Bennett's feet suddenly exploded, turning into colorful paint.
Pedro Bennett's expression changed slightly. "So strong."
"Is this the power of wizards from Golden Crown Mountain? Just using magic pressure alone can make me unable to move..."
A ring magic artifact on his left hand's finger flashed with magical brilliance. Only then could he restore his freedom of movement. At the same time, he took out five tiger-type magic paintings from the ring on his right hand.
Five lifelike tiger-type magical creatures walked out from those magic paintings, baring fangs and brandishing claws like savage beasts. Their enormous bodies fiercely pounced toward Locke.
But the next moment, the dragon might from Locke's body released again. The five tigers let out wails, then exploded open again. Large amounts of paint scattered on the ground.
Pedro Bennett's face paled. Clearly, having six consecutive magic paintings destroyed by Locke caused him relatively severe magical backlash.
Pedro Bennett placed his palm on the arena. Immediately, the paint splattered on the ground combined together, transforming into a huge tiger. The tiger raised its front paw and swatted toward Locke.
Locke looked at the arena's ground, only now noticing that the instant Wizard Pedro Bennett's six magic paintings were detonated by his dragon might, he had guided the splattering paint to temporarily draw a new magic painting on the ground in a splash-ink form.
This method was indeed formidable.
As illusion magic, it was almost able to pass off the fake as genuine.
It could be called true illusion. Truly worthy of a wizard from Cloud Marsh Wetland. Even a wizard from a small wizard organization could use such powerful magic.
No wonder he had the confidence to sign up for the Spell Combat Tournament.
Only when that huge tiger's claw was about to touch Locke's head, it suddenly stopped.
Seeing this scene, Wizard Pedro Bennett was stunned and muttered to himself. "How is this possible? From the six exchanges just now, my magic paintings clearly could successfully impose illusions on you. Even if you possess dragon might... But I anticipated early on that Golden Crown Mountain wizards possess dragon might. That's why I needed those six illusions before, to step by step strengthen your entry into my illusion."
"Why... have you never entered my illusion?"
Locke snapped his fingers. The huge tiger before him suddenly collapsed, turning into a puddle of paint. "Illusion School magic is very special. Once a wizard is truly affected by its illusions, then regardless of level, they'll fall into relative disadvantage. But if they're not affected from the start, then the one in complete disadvantage is you."
"Pedro Bennett... Your idea of wanting to gradually hypnotize me is indeed very ingenious, but in this kind of competition, wanting to hypnotize other wizards is unrealistic to begin with. You speed painters are naturally at a disadvantage in this kind of occasion."
"Moreover, the magic pressure gap between you and me is extremely large."
A natural magic eye appeared on Locke's forehead. That was the Three-Eyed Tiger Cat's eye, possessing the power of insight.
It was precisely this natural magic eye that saw through the opponent's magic painting.
Pedro Bennett showed a bitter smile. "I see. My Five Tigers Technique already lost from the very beginning."
"You didn't even seriously attack." Pedro Bennett's face showed a trace of despair and awe. "Is this the absolute gap between our small wizard organizations and your Golden Crown Mountain?"
"This gap is really too great."
Locke glanced at him. "No need to belittle yourself. I came from the southeastern quadrant..."
"There, you're already far stronger than wizards of the same level."
Fundamentally, the biggest problem for this wizard from the small wizard organization Willow Green Gallery compared to himself was that his stats were too weak.
His magic pressure was too low.
Without stats, no matter how many tricks, they were meaningless.
If his magic pressure reached around 9600, there might actually be some chance of achieving hypnosis on himself.
Of course, he hadn't consumed so many beholder-type potions for nothing either.
His mental power sensitivity was already extremely high.
Ordinary illusions had difficulty deceiving him.
If he fought with First Circle crystallization stage wizards from the southeastern quadrant in his memory, like the Ghost Sacred Order's High Priestess or Blood Curse Court's Blood Lord, he would very likely be extremely dominant instead, able to beat the two until they doubted their lives.
After all, once deceived by a magic painter's illusions, one would enter absolute disadvantage.
Pedro Bennett was stunned, saying incredulously, "The southeastern quadrant? Isn't that a lower-tier wizard land? Impossible. Absolutely impossible. You're such a powerful wizard, how could you possibly come from that lower-tier wizard land?"
"This is impossible!"
Locke glanced at him, "There's nothing impossible. Before wizards, nothing is impossible."
He summoned two luxury magical plants, one was Golden Palace Legacy Branch, one was Little Diamond Jujube Pendant. The magic pressure on his body increased, then seemed to hit some barrier. Even so, he still kept raising magic pressure, continuously impacting this barrier.
In the Cloud Arena, nearby wizards were all attracted by this powerful magic pressure.
Locke gripped the Golden Palace Legacy Branch in his left hand. That legacy branch automatically transformed and shrank, becoming a jujube tree bow. At the same time, his right hand plucked a fast-growing branch from the Little Diamond Jujube Pendant.
Then, Locke drew the bow and nocked the arrow, shooting toward Wizard Pedro Bennett. Powerful magic pressure transformed into scorching golden sun and blazing sunlight. In an instant, the competition stage was enveloped in a golden sun.
Just this one arrow, no matter how Wizard Pedro Bennett activated the magic artifacts on his body, was useless. He even felt that even if he activated his permanent defensive field, it would be very powerless.
The next moment, Pedro Bennett was teleported out of the arena. He collapsed on the ground, constantly gasping for breath.
Wizard Pedro Bennett smiled bitterly looking at Locke walking down from the arena. "The gap really is too great."
"However, he's right. Being in a low position temporarily is nothing, but I can't give up effort. Since this Mr. Augustine can come from the southeastern quadrant to Cloud Marsh Wetland's Golden Crown Mountain, then I can also go to the next level through effort!"
On the other side, Locke noticed quite a few people looking at him.
He had no intention of hiding his strength. Moreover, Peach Bow Thorn Arrow was originally Cloud Marsh Wetland's ancient ritual magic.
Locke prepared that in this competition, no matter what opponent he encountered, he would directly draw the bow once. If the opponent could withstand it, then he'd draw the bow again.
Until he met a wizard who could break his Peach Bow Thorn Arrow, he had no need to change spells.
In the Spell Combat Tournament, because permanent defensive fields were prohibited, then with Peach Bow Thorn Arrow's damage, he could completely knock a First Circle crystallization stage wizard out of the arena with one strike.
Beside the arena, Witch Mason and the other two were already waiting there.
Witch Mason applauded, saying, "Locke, you're really amazing. I didn't expect you learned Peach Bow Thorn Arrow. Even among First Circle crystallization stage wizards, not many people know this magic because the difficulty is relatively high."
"Teacher Yekaterina previously wanted to arrange for me to learn it, but I studied for a long time and never learned it."
Locke was stunned, then realized that if one had too many distracting thoughts, learning Peach Bow Thorn Arrow was indeed very troublesome.
So, not every wizard could necessarily learn it.
But thinking conversely, if this was the case, the current Witch Mason wasn't even suitable to learn advanced meditation methods.
Witch Freya gave Locke a thumbs up. "Team leader, you're really excellent."
Locke looked at the three questioningly. "You three didn't sign up for the competition?"
Witch Freya shook her head. "Of course not. We were busy doing experiments before. If we signed up for the competition, we'd still have to specially spend time preparing. If we prepared for ages and in the competition still didn't occupy any ranking, that would be even more wasteful of time."
Wizard Barrett scratched his head, adding, "In short, our confidence isn't very sufficient."
Locke nodded, indicating he understood.
The four returned to their seats together. Quite a few Origin Academy colleagues congratulated Locke, saying they hadn't previously thought Locke's combat power was so strong, and that he had actually learned Peach Bow Thorn Arrow magic.
Locke exchanged pleasantries with them for a few sentences. In Origin Academy, he had the best relationship with Witch Mason and others. The rest could only be considered people he'd exchanged a few words with and met a few times.
However...
Locke noticed he hadn't spotted Daniel and frowned. He wondered how Daniel was doing.
As his neighbor and the first friend he'd met at Golden Crown Mountain, he hoped Daniel could pull himself together.
On his way to his seat in the corridor, Locke saw Wizard Griffin, also from Senior Origin Academy. He was stunned. Before he could greet him, Griffin made a "tsk" sound and turned to leave.
Locke frowned at this but said nothing.
Because another old acquaintance, Witch Diana, walked over. "Locke, you've grown again. Your magic pressure is even stronger than when we sparred half a year ago."
"Currently my magic pressure is only 9600. Your magic pressure can actually reach 9999."
Witch Diana looked puzzled. She seemed to be probing why Locke's magic pressure grew so fast.
Witch Diana shook her head slightly. "Forget it, I won't ask. It's nothing more than fortuitous encounters plus effort, and talent."
"The current me, if I participated in this competition, probably wouldn't be your match either."
Witch Diana was very self-aware.
She paid close attention to Locke, so she had seriously watched Locke's first match in the Spell Combat Tournament.
Honestly, Locke's previous performance was just so-so. Though magic pressure of 9999 was high, this couldn't make her give up competing with Locke.
But Diana, from Locke's final arrow, perceived that Locke's Peach Bow Thorn Arrow magic had already far surpassed all her normal magic's instantaneous output capability.
This should have been her greatest advantage when fighting Locke.
But she hadn't expected that after just a few months, Locke had already grown to surpass her in her most skilled direction.
Witch Diana felt the meaning of defeat for the first time.
She rarely lost.
But at this moment, she had an illusion that she seemed unable to keep up with Locke's growth speed.
Locke looked at Witch Diana strangely, saying, "Didn't you sign up for any competition? Diana?"
Witch Diana shook her head. "I'm only jointly cultivated. I don't essentially belong to your Origin Academy."
"Being able to watch the competition is already very good. I definitely can't participate."
Witch Mason and the others greeted Witch Diana.
But Witch Diana only gave them an indifferent, very distanced nod.
Witch Diana remained enthusiastic toward Locke, saying, "I'm watching the competition. The Spell Combat Tournament's holding has a close connection to Grand Magic."
Locke looked at her in surprise. "Oh? I'm not very clear about this."
Witch Diana smiled. "According to materials I've looked up, the key point of the Spell Combat Tournament competition lies in the First Circle crystallization stage. The later high-circle competitions were all added for commercialization after this competition grew large."
"This competition's core lies in helping wizards understand various attack magic. This competition's creator was a wizard from the Star Domain Sea. He noticed that many First Circle wizards were very enthusiastic about researching defensive magic."
"And neglected research on attack magic. Therefore, he held the first Spell Combat Tournament at his university. Who knew this competition would later become so popular."
"Wizards from various wizard lands competed to join his Spell Combat Tournament."
"However, there are indeed objective reasons it became popular. Grand Magic must use attack magic as a blueprint. And because of permanent defensive fields, many First Circle wizards' focus indeed wasn't placed on understanding attack magic."
"So, even watching First Circle and Second Circle Spell Combat Tournaments from the side counts as a form of learning for them."
Locke nodded slightly.
With Diana saying this, he deeply agreed.
He had just witnessed that magic painter's Five Tigers Technique.
No wonder the Spell Combat Tournament prohibited wizards from using permanent defensive fields.
Turns out it was to make participants focus more on various attack magic.
As long as there were no permanent defensive fields, then the combat logic between First Circle wizards completely changed.
More powerful attacks would be more important than more powerful defensive magic. No longer would there be a defensive magic that could cover a wizard like a permanent turtle shell.
Then, Spell Combat Tournament participants would definitely increasingly pursue more powerful attack magic.
This competition indeed had a very realistic foundation. It was a supplement to the wizard world's ecological niche.
Locke passed by a witch. He suddenly looked at the witch wearing black wizard robes and holding a wizard sword.
At the same time, Witch Sera also glanced at Locke. She instinctively showed sharp eyes, then noticed the badge on Locke's body. She immediately showed a friendly expression, then passed by him.
Witch Sera licked her lips. "That wizard just now... Mmm... I almost thought he was a black wizard."
"Only black wizards can be legally killed. However, he is indeed a dangerous character."
"He has blood on his hands!"
At the same time, Locke's use of Peach Bow Thorn Arrow in the arena also attracted quite a few wizards participating in the Spell Combat Tournament's attention.
Wizard Nelson, who had just walked down from the arena, scratched his bald head. "Peach Bow Thorn Arrow? Someone still plays such an old magic. However, his magic pressure is very strong. Looks like he's also an opponent for me in this competition."
Executive Patrol Group's Witch Juliana, followed by a thunder cloud, cleanly defeated a breeder with that thunder cloud.
She gave the defeated breeder a duel salute, then walked down from the arena. "Peach Bow Thorn Arrow? Without firm belief, absolute confidence, ordinary wizards won't choose to learn this kind of magic. This is also a formidable enemy. Like those two third-generation members."
"Truly worthy of the Spell Combat Tournament! So many formidable enemies."
At the same time, on Arena No. 1, Antoine Fischer clapped his hands. His opponent was bombarded down by him using over ten types of magic artifacts in an instant.
"Peach Bow Thorn Arrow? Tsk, what era is this, someone's still using this outdated magic. Really garbage."
"When can I meet those two third-generation members? Hurry up and finish this."
At the same time, all kinds of wizards were silently remembering who their enemies were, who their opponents were, and constantly analyzing.
Next, for the whole day, Locke took the stage four more times, using Peach Bow Thorn Arrow four times, using the peach bow and jujube arrow to defeat opponents with one strike.
Right now was today's last match. Locke faced a wizard mentor from the medium-scale wizard organization Weather Tower, a First Circle crystallization stage weather mage with magic pressure at 9700, approximately three hundred years old.
At this time, after both sides exchanged duel salutes.
That weather mage's eyes showed an eager expression. "They say your Golden Crown Mountain is a thousand-year prestigious school, while our Weather Tower is only Cloud Marsh Wetland's second-tier, or even third-tier wizard organization."
"But I refuse to accept this. As fellow First Circle wizards, let me experience your magic as a wizard from a thousand-year prestigious school!"
After finishing, he directly summoned six thunder clouds behind him. Those six thunder clouds floated behind him, forming six instruments shaped like taiko drums. Six fireballs transformed into drumsticks. At the same time, the six fireballs struck the six thunder taiko drums behind him.
Immediately, the six thunder taiko drums burst forth with six bolts of lightning entwined with flames.
Locke frowned. He immediately recognized this was a mainstream magic of Cloud Marsh Wetland weather mages he'd seen in books. The learning difficulty was very high, and the power extremely great—Thunder Fire Taiko!
Also called Flame Thunder!
Once hit, in an instant, the electric current would bring enormous fire energy into a living being's body and explode in an extremely brief time.
Locke frowned, raised the peach bow transformed from the Golden Palace Legacy Branch in his hand, and lightly drew a line on the ground. Immediately, a sunlight fell, forming a simple barrier around himself.
Immediately, those six flame thunder arrows were actually blocked by this barrier.
That weather mage's face showed a surprised expression. Clearly he hadn't expected his confident strike to be easily blocked by Locke.
He clearly hadn't calculated clearly the magic pressure gap between Locke and himself, nor had he calculated clearly how high the conversion rate was for Peach Bow Thorn Arrow, this ancient yet brand-new magic, to convert Locke's magic pressure into actual spell damage.
Only at this moment, after fighting six consecutive times with Cloud Marsh Wetland's small and medium wizard organizations, did Locke understand what was powerful about the education he'd received in Cloud Marsh Wetland.
Just one Peach Bow Thorn Arrow magic was a great mountain blocking before these wizards!
That weather mage rotated his left thumb. Immediately, the magic ring flashed with magical brilliance. Then his figure suddenly disappeared from the arena.
Locke watched his disappearance. "Invisibility? Etherealization? Spatial movement? Hmm... it's spatial movement."
The next moment, this weather mage appeared behind Locke. The thunder fire taiko drums behind him released six electric arcs at Locke.
Locke looked at him coldly, raising the peach wood bow transformed from the Golden Palace Legacy Branch in his hand. Immediately, those six flame thunders fell on the peach wood bow.
But all were blocked by the barrier power entwined around the peach wood bow.
Locke said, "Petty tricks."
He summoned the Little Diamond Jujube Pendant. In this weather mage's shocked gaze, he plucked a fast-growing branch, then drew the bow and nocked the arrow, directly shooting at his face at close range.
'Bang~'
A great sun seemed to be shot out by Locke.
The next moment, that weather mage was teleported out of the arena. Thanks to magical protection, he was completely unharmed.
Only he was still immersed in the terrifying power of Locke's arrow just now. "This... Even if I met other First Circle wizards from Golden Crown Mountain, even if I lost, I'd have to fight for a long time. Neither can use permanent defensive fields. The gap between us wouldn't be this great."
"That wizard... so powerful."
"Almost as powerful as a Throne wizard's direct disciple."
This weather mage shook his head slightly. "I've seen the gap between Golden Crown Mountain and myself. I should just honestly, steadily teach."
"This way there might still be a bit of hope of becoming a Second Circle wizard."
Among a hundred First Circle wizards, in the end not even one wizard might become a Second Circle wizard.
The gap between Second Circle wizards and First Circle wizards wasn't just a gap between major ranks anymore. That was the shackle of racial soul limits!