Chapter 626: The Battle of the Four Strongest! Four School Teams! |
In the Council of Elders' Glazed Garden Castle, within the courtyard, Antoine said to his grandfather Wizard Fischer, "Grandfather, I want to go to the Fighting Purgatory administered by the Council of Elders."
"There are still six months until the Plane Conquest Competition. Going to the Fighting Purgatory should be enough time to bring my strength to the state best suited for that competition."
Wizard Fischer paused for a moment. "Antoine, you're willing to do this? You are my most beloved grandson, the only one among hundreds of grandchildren that I truly cherish."
"This world exists for you. If you wish, even if the Director herself steps in, I will not allow you to participate in the Plane Conquest Competition and become a mere supporting act for Locke Augustine."
Wizard Fischer said calmly, "I have recently dispatched people to investigate that wizard's past. I simply cannot believe that he is a wizard who grew up under normal circumstances. His teacher, his former classmates, everything about his past will be uncovered by us. Not one of his secrets will be able to stay hidden."
"Rest assured, your grandfather will stand up for you."
Antoine glanced at Wizard Fischer but said nothing to stop him. He was merely the reincarnation of a Third Circle wizard starting over again, not a Third Circle wizard in his present state.
Therefore, he could not defy the will of the Third Circle wizard before him.
A Third Circle wizard's Crown Magic possessed the characteristic of resisting the erosion of time. Even after ten reincarnations, it would not be completely extinguished.
Perhaps it would take him ten more cycles of reincarnation before he fully lost the special spirituality that Crown Magic had granted him.
Within a relatively short timespan of a thousand years, the spirituality of Crown Magic would never be fully extinguished. It could only decline to its lowest possible point.
To permanently kill a Third Circle wizard, only a handful of methods existed.
And Antoine had been fortunate in his past life, never encountering an enemy who absolutely required his complete and permanent elimination.
So in conventional terms, there were only three ways to completely destroy a Third Circle wizard.
The first was to keep killing their reincarnations continuously, more than ten times in succession, while ensuring that not a single one was allowed to grow to the Second Circle stage. Because once they became a Second Circle wizard, they could replenish some of the lost spirituality of their Crown Magic, and especially upon reaching the sun ring stage, they could almost completely restore what was missing from Crown Magic. That particular lifetime would then carry no spirituality loss at all, and even if they died again in that lifetime, no special spirituality would be depleted in that life, requiring the death count to be recalculated from the beginning.
Furthermore, if they were lucky enough to become a Third Circle wizard in any given lifetime, everything would have to start over from scratch.
The second method was to kill that Third Circle wizard outright in a single strike using certain special means. Of course, most of those special means had already been concealed, and the ones that hadn't been hidden were extremely difficult to obtain.
The third method, and the simplest of all, was to simply pretend not to know. For ordinary grudges, killing a Third Circle wizard once was generally considered the end of the matter. As long as that Third Circle wizard changed their name and appearance, everyone would treat them as dead. After all, having reincarnated and started over, they retained no memories of their past life, and what they possessed was only the special spirituality of their former Crown Magic, something that had to be rediscovered through effort.
So most wizards generally chose the third method, unless there was a deep and irreconcilable hatred between the two parties that made the other's complete elimination absolutely necessary.
Antoine looked at Wizard Fischer and said, "Grandfather, if you wish to investigate Loki, then do as you please. But I still want to participate in the Plane Conquest Competition."
Wizard Fischer thought about it for a moment and immediately realized that Antoine had given Locke a nickname. "Loki" was a rendering of Locke's name from the common tongue into a form of ancient magical language that Antoine was accustomed to using.
It was also a pun of sorts, roughly meaning that the other person was a very clever wizard.
Wizard Fischer looked at Antoine. "It is rare to see you take such a liking to a wizard, especially one who... just took the championship from you while you were physically compromised."
"Antoine... since you did not obtain the right to participate in the Plane Conquest Competition, going anyway would only make you a decorative supporting presence. You would expose your hand, reveal your own depth, yet gain nothing in return. That does not align with our lifelong philosophy..."
"Conceal your true strength!"
Antoine looked at Wizard Fischer and said, "Grandfather, but my battle with Loki this time brought me joy. The pressure of losing caused me enormous anguish, yet it also felt remarkably new. The competition, long absent from my life, drew out my absolute limit."
"I want to feel that kind of competition again. Perhaps I no longer need to conceal my strength after all. This world is very vast. Even as a Third Circle wizard's reincarnation starting everything over, walking the path of academia from the very beginning again, I am not necessarily a match for those young ones."
Antoine grew serious. "Therefore, I want to change my own mindset, to truly start fresh and regard myself as a newcomer."
"I hope I can earn your approval, Grandfather."
A cold flash crossed Wizard Fischer's eyes. For one brief instant, he felt genuine anger that Antoine had dared to defy him.
Wizard Fischer was a Third Circle wizard who held an important position in the Council of Elders, overseeing vast research resources and administrative power. Not only would a mere Second Circle wizard have to defer to him, even a sun ring wizard would be a cut below him in his presence.
But Wizard Fischer thought of something, and let out just a few words. "If this is your wish, Antoine, then go ahead and do it. Your grandfather supports you. Only take care of your own safety. You are my most cherished grandson."
"If there is any risk of you dying, I will not allow you to enter the Fighting Purgatory."
Antoine bowed to him respectfully, then walked toward a hidden underground spiral staircase entrance concealed within the Glazed Garden by a magical barrier.
That was right. The entrance to the artificially constructed supernatural purgatory, built using ancient special techniques as a unique prison, was located right within the garden of the Council of Elders' Glazed Garden Academy.
The Fighting Purgatory was a place that housed countless criminals and many evil magical creatures, where battles broke out every moment of every day.
Some wizards from the Council of Elders entered the Fighting Purgatory in pursuit of rapidly surpassing their limits in a short period of time, or to seek better combat techniques for research, or simply because they had been stuck without research ideas for too long, all hoping that immersion in that environment might spark new insights through unexpected connections.
But that place was also extremely dangerous.
Antoine was an important asset of the Fischer family, so Wizard Fischer had never originally intended to let him enter the Fighting Purgatory.
After all, it was not unheard of for wizards to become completely lost within it.
Of course, the Fighting Purgatory was relatively safe by most standards. It was, after all, an important asset of the Council of Elders, and could not truly be called dangerous in the conventional sense.
It was simply that Wizard Fischer had previously considered it unnecessary, and Antoine himself had believed that with his own abilities, there was no need for him to make a trip to the Fighting Purgatory.
Antoine stepped onto the spiral staircase leading into the Fighting Purgatory, his figure gradually disappearing into the terrifying supernatural hell below.
"Locke... Loki... you said that a wizard who has played the dog long enough will forget how to be a wolf. Loki, then let me try and rediscover what it feels like to be a wolf again."
Wizard Fischer watched Antoine enter the Fighting Purgatory, his expression darkening. A moon ring wizard student standing beside him whispered, "My Lord Fischer, I will find an opportunity to enter the Fighting Purgatory and persuade Antoine to abandon such a dangerous course of action."
"I will also persuade him to abandon his plan to participate in the Plane Conquest Competition six months from now."
Among the top three Origin Academy competitors in the Spell Combat Tournament, all three would enter the Plane Conquest Competition together, with the second and third place finishers serving as assistants to the first place winner.
This had been the longstanding tradition of the Silent Grail.
But it could be declined, and if declined, subsequent Origin Academy researchers would be called up to fill the spots.
In any case, for a competition of this caliber, there would never be a shortage of people willing to participate.
Wizard Fischer raised his right hand and waved it dismissively. "No need. When have you ever seen Antoine this serious? He is actually going to the Fighting Purgatory to push himself further. I have not seen such a driven Antoine in a very long time. Perhaps he has a point. He does genuinely need competition."
"Locke Augustine, you have given my grandson new vitality. I should probably thank you, for awakening a beast that had been slumbering for far too long."
...
Quinn Jol University. At that time, Quinn Jol University's Sports Festival had also come to a successful conclusion.
Quinn Jol's total gold medal count still led by a wide margin, representing the academy's overall strength, which could crush every wizard academy across the Quinn Jol district.
However, second-place Xiao Xi Mountain's gold medal count had been gradually climbing, moving from less than a third of Quinn Jol's total in the past to now approaching two-thirds of Quinn Jol's overall gold medal count.
This narrowing gap had caused quite a few of Quinn Jol Academy's upper echelon to fall into deep reflection, and they had grown significantly more wary of Xiao Xi Mountain.
At this moment, on Quinn Jol University's award podium, Wizard Edgar David stood atop the platform and received the champion's badge as well as the Plane Conquest Competition badge for the Silent Grail.
Edgar glanced at the badge depicting four hands clasped together and curled the corner of his lips into an expression of supreme confidence.
When it was his turn to give his acceptance speech, Edgar leaned toward the amplification device in the host wizard's hand and said, "You want to ask me how I became number one? You want my experience? You want to learn from me? I'm afraid I must tell you with some regret, the strong only grow stronger. Strong once, strong for all time."
"The strong only grow stronger. Before I entered Quinn Jol, I was already the greatest genius of the Sunshade Peninsula. And at Quinn Jol, in just half a year, I have finally become one of its outstanding First Circle wizards."
"In my life, I have failed only three times, and going forward, I will not allow myself a fourth failure. So I have no experience of a weak person becoming strong to share with you. But I will tell you this: my existence represents the level of Quinn Jol's magic!"
Standing beside him, one of Edgar's Third Circle wizards greatly admired him and applauded continuously.
It could only be said that Edgar, as the runner-up of the Cloud Marsh Cup, had the right to make his own choices. And since he was sufficiently exceptional, he had not encountered a wizard whose personality clashed with his. Instead, he had been paired with a Third Circle wizard of a rather reserved and understated temperament.
This witch watched the radiant Edgar David on the platform and felt not the slightest bit of resistance toward his arrogance. On the contrary, she found this kind of young First Circle wizard full of vigor, possessing a surging vitality that she herself had lacked in her younger days.
Throughout the entire Golden Bridge competition venue, quite a few wizards were whispering among themselves.
Wizards from outside Quinn Jol murmured, "So this is the strongest wizard among Quinn Jol's current young generation?"
"I heard he offers open courses at Quinn Jol on the cultivation of tree-man magical plants. The quality is exceptionally high, and the students love listening to him. Every time he holds a class, it's packed full of students."
"He came from outside, right? From the Sunshade Peninsula, I believe. When did the Sunshade Peninsula become this impressive?"
"It's quite natural, actually. If Cloud Marsh Wetland could only rely on the homegrown talents from our own region, how could it possibly sustain all these industries? Cloud Marsh Wetland is as prosperous as it is precisely because it can absorb the majority of talent from the Eastern Border Region. Wizard numbers are key. The more wizards there are, the greater the number of top-tier geniuses a wizard territory will produce, and the higher the quality of those geniuses as well."
"He probably won't be returning to the Sunshade Peninsula anymore. He'll likely stay and develop himself in Cloud Marsh Wetland, so we can consider him one of our own wizards now."
At the same time, Quinn Jol University's high-circle wizards were also in discussion.
Several sun ring wizards were looking toward the award podium, speaking in low voices.
"That Wizard Edgar David was still fairly unremarkable when he first enrolled, wasn't he? He was excellent, but only at the level of an ordinary genius. I never expected that in just half a year he could achieve such remarkable things."
"Yes... his rate of growth is genuinely very abnormal. Others follow a linear progression, but his has been a sudden, explosive leap. I heard the Director has already sent people to investigate his background and verify certain things, but nothing unusual has turned up."
"If there's truly nothing wrong with him, then Quinn Jol University has struck absolute gold with this one!"
"I just really don't like his personality though. Hasn't his supervising mentor worked to temper his temperament at all? With a personality like that, he's going to suffer a serious setback sooner or later."
"I believe his mentor is Madam Candice. Madam Candice is a humble person, the most modest Third Circle wizard in the academy. She even has a nickname, the Silver Thread Lady. Who could have imagined that a student she raised would turn out like this."
On the award podium, Edgar burst into hearty laughter while clutching his champion badge, looking utterly delighted.
The second-place finisher was a witch who currently wore an expression of helplessness, pressing her fingers against both ears to shield herself from Edgar's piercing laughter.
This builder witch glanced at Edgar. "Has this fellow surgically altered his bloodline to give himself a siren witch's voice? Why is his laugh so ear-splitting? This is unbearable. To think a person like this won the championship. Quinn Jol's wizards have been known for their humility for a thousand years..."
"If he becomes the team leader representing us in the Plane Conquest Competition..."
The builder witch found herself at a loss for words just imagining that scenario.
The style of this year's Quinn Jol University team participating in the Silent Grail was probably going to be completely led astray by Edgar.
Edgar stood with his hands on his hips and burst out laughing. "Hahahaha..."
The builder witch looked on in despair.
...
Bonifacius University. On the award podium, everyone looked at the champion of the Spell Combat Tournament standing silently on the platform, a witch wearing a wooden mask, and whispered among themselves.
"This person is probably the strongest magical weaver witch Bonifacius University has produced in five hundred years, isn't she?"
"More or less. First time I've ever seen a magical weaver witch this dominant... I heard that this year's Plane Conquest Competition will be the single most important step the Origin Academy's Director is taking to revive the magical weaver school. The direction of research funding across the entire Bonifacius University will shift to some degree going forward."
"Heavens, does that mean the Silent Grail Competition is going to become an extremely important event?"
"That's honestly stating the obvious. Even those students know that the Silent Grail Competition is the most prestigious commercial competition in our Cloud Marsh Wetland. Just wait and watch. The Silent Grail Competition is different from every other half-hearted competition that has come before it. In that competition... death is permitted."
"I've heard that the Silent Witch of the Star Domain Sea pays close attention to this competition, and that the Silent Witch will invite high-circle wizards from the Star Domain Sea, Mysterious Heaven, and Green Steel Capital to come and observe the event. The scale of it is beyond imagining."
A moon ring wizard stepped into the group and said quietly, "To be precise, it is actually a Grand Magic simulation competition. Never mind that, for those of you colleagues who have been at our Bonifacius University for less than ten years after arriving from outside, I can assure you that the Silent Grail Competition is a competition of very high caliber."
"Simply watching this competition is a tremendous privilege in itself."
This moon ring wizard wore the badge of an expert-level magical weaver on his robes. The lecturing mages who had been muttering quietly in the background a moment ago now wore sheepish expressions one by one, while the moon ring wizard gazed at the witch standing on the platform with the wooden mask and the clear, otherworldly eyes, and his own eyes were filled with profound expectation. "Witch Georgina, if it is you, I am certain you can do it."
"The power of someone with a dream is limitless. Witch Georgina, you of all people should understand this."
"Use this competition to become a Second Circle wizard."
"Before you, there will be no enemy capable of stopping you. Your achievement will become the achievement of us magical weavers. No, it will become the achievement of our entire Bonifacius University."
On the award platform, the clear, ethereal eyes of Witch Georgina stirred slightly as she looked at the wizards cheering for her. She thought, "My parents sought out black wizards and became fugitives. My mother was imprisoned in the wizard prison, and my father died during the pursuit. My life became a laughingstock, yet at this moment, these people are cheering for me."
"My life cannot be defined by who my parents were. My dream will bloom brilliantly even in this barren soil. The Plane Conquest Competition is where I will become a Second Circle wizard, where I will be reborn and reclaim my honor. The Twin Demon Realm... you and I are mortal enemies. I will kill every last one of you with my own hands!"
...
At the easternmost edge of Cloud Marsh Wetland, near the Thunder Marsh Lowlands, beside a branch campus of the Root Crown Royal Court, stood an academy called Storm Spire. This structure towered in the sky, composed of six rings.
Through the center ran a column of raging thunder and lightning, keeping all six rings spinning in midair. Storm Spire was also the inverse of an ordinary wizard tower.
Where an ordinary wizard tower was rooted in the ground, Storm Spire's foundation was in the sky, with its peak closest to the earth.
Like a tower hanging suspended from beyond the heavens.
Within the six rings were vast quantities of structures, and the surfaces of the rings themselves formed large-scale ecological spaces.
Below Storm Spire sat an enormous pool of lava, the Iron Smelting Mountain, one of the famous Seven Mountains of Cloud Marsh Wetland.
Known in short as Iron Mountain!
Within it, large quantities of liquid magical metal flowed in roiling, scorching currents, with clusters of fire lotuses growing amid them, forming a unique ecosystem.
In a region of perpetual thunderstorms, this year's Sports Festival had also come to its conclusion. The Storm Spire wizards had won with an overwhelming advantage, pressing down on every wizard academy across the Storm Spire district until they were nearly incapable of competing.
Unlike other regions, the Storm Spire district had the fewest number of independent wizard academies. Most of them existed in a form of partnership with Storm Spire, having effectively been reduced to subordinate units that provided resources and all manner of other services to the Spire above.
An entire region, sustaining that thunderous spire in the sky.
The winner of Storm Spire's Spell Combat Tournament this time was a wizard dressed in the manner of a young aristocrat, followed by a large entourage of servants and students. One of his students held out a wand crackling with lightning and presented it as a gift to this wizard.
The young aristocrat-like wizard looked at the wand his student was offering him with a faintly disdainful expression. "Another one of these cheap things..."
But when the wizard glanced at the genuine sincerity in his student's eyes, he forced down his discomfort and let a small smile cross his lips. "Thank you, Bazel."
"I never expected that even after you became a full wizard, you would still remember your teacher."
Wizard Bazel bowed to this wizard respectfully, with the utmost deference. "My Lord Smith, it was you who gave me, a wizard of common birth, a chance. I am even an outsider wizard, yet you showed not the slightest prejudice toward me. Within the research group, it was you who helped me."
Wizard Smith smiled with cultured grace, though from beginning to end he never reached out to take the wand from the magical box in his student's hands. He simply commanded the steward beside him with a glance to put it away.
Wizard Smith said warmly, "Bazel, seeing your dedication fills me with great satisfaction. Looking after you weaker ones is simply my responsibility."
"Your wand is very fine. I will place the gift you have given me in my most treasured collection room, to make our bond as teacher and student eternal."
Bazel's eyes shone with emotion.
Wizard Smith then said, "All right. There is still an experiment in my laboratory that has not been completed. I must be going."
Wizard Smith looked at the two formidable storm wizards from Storm Spire who had lost to him this time, and said, "I will be counting on both of your assistance in the Plane Conquest Competition ahead."
"My gratitude to you both. I wonder what kind of wizards are leading the three school teams from Golden Crown Mountain, Bonifacius University, and Quinn Jol University this time."
"There are still six months. Just enough time to improve oneself."
The second and third place finishers exchanged a glance. Both were descendants of Second Circle wizards within Storm Spire, belonging to the Spire's middle-class families.
Wizard Smith, on the other hand, was a descendant of a Third Circle Throne wizard.
Losing to him this time was within the bounds of what anyone would expect.
The two of them had long been accustomed to losing to Wizard Smith, whether in other competitions, project applications, or journal submissions.
Wizard Smith had even earned a nickname in Cloud Marsh Wetland: the Thunder God Wizard.
That he had claimed the right to participate in this year's Plane Conquest Competition was well within everyone's expectations.
...
Golden Crown Mountain, Dragon Blood Market Castle. Inside the witch's eyewear shop, Locke put on the contact lens.
He didn't feel anything particularly unusual happen.
The Zephyr contact lens felt just like an ordinary lens. But not long after putting it on, he suddenly noticed that within the spell model stellar system in his mental sea, his own consciousness represented the sun at the center.
The permanent defensive force field was Jupiter, the abyssal energy was Saturn, and the bloodline power occupied the position of Mars.
And at that moment, a new spell model the size of Saturn had appeared within this star system.
Locke activated this spell model and blinked his right eye three times. His eye immediately transformed into the entrance of a half-plane, and he seemed to be able to gaze upon the vast land within that half-plane.
Witch Victoria adjusted her wizard's hat, then smiled and said, "The Druid's Ring approach has a plane-bearing limit. A wizard carrying a half-plane around everywhere they go, at the First and Second Circle stages, even the finest magical ring cannot possibly carry a half-plane of too large a size."
"But my Zephyr Contact Lens takes a clever shortcut, going about things another way entirely."
"It links your eyeball to a half-plane located within a subspace. The lens itself does not bear any spatial load. It is merely an entrance, while the plane itself resides in an extremely dangerous special region within the void, the subspace zone. Under normal circumstances, the subspace zone is a region void warships cannot approach, a half-plane that exists within the void yet cannot be touched by anyone."
Witch Victoria said, "By using elemental particle coupling, this can be achieved. Moreover, the half-plane within the subspace zone itself is quite special. The advantage is that because of the subspace zone's nature, no one can enter it. Not even void leviathans or void catastrophes can get inside, which means the half-plane within it is extremely stable."
"The possibility of it being attacked is almost nonexistent."
"Take a look and see if the internal space is sufficient."
Locke looked inward at the plane, gazing down upon it through his right eye as though looking from the sky above, and found that this half-plane was far larger than the one refined within the Druid's Ring.
It was approximately the size of an island.
The plane itself had a total area of thirty thousand acres. However, twenty thousand of those acres were a crude ocean filled with water, while in the center there was a flat expanse of ten thousand acres.
The overall shape was a circular plane.
The surrounding ocean was constantly flowing outward, but due to the special nature of the subspace zone, the water would automatically flow back in.
Under normal void conditions, a plane like this would have long since vanished due to its small size and insufficient plane crystal wall system, with its resources evaporating continuously until it either disappeared entirely or became a dead star.