Chapter 649: The Ancient Flower and What Is Truly Hidden! |
Inside the wooden chamber, the mortal king suddenly had lightning flash through his eyes. He snapped his head around to look at Locke and Witch Shirley in the corner of the room. "Who is there?"
In the next instant, he raised his thunder great sword and brought it down toward them.
The king's great sword, at the First Circle crystallization level, was wreathed in terrifying lightning, but before it could even reach Locke, he stopped it with a single finger.
The mortal king's pupils contracted slightly. "A wizard? How could any wizard possess this kind of power?"
Locke furrowed his brow.
He used the archaeology spell model Historical Projection to record from every angle the exchange between himself and this mortal king.
Witch Shirley looked at Locke curiously. "Well?"
Locke gave a slight shake of his head. "He is merely a user of power, not its true master. He knows what without knowing why. Even with the magical pressure of the First Circle crystallization stage granted by that iron ball, that is the extent of it."
"The greatest reason they can kill those liches is still that the kingdom's domain suppresses the power of necromancy."
Under the mortal king's alarmed gaze, Locke's finger reached out and touched the core of the sword's hilt, the very surface of that mysterious iron ball.
In the next instant, a bolt of spell lightning deflected his finger.
An innate magical eye appeared on Locke's forehead and captured the rapidly shifting traces of spiritual energy. As an accomplished potion master, Locke frowned and detected the marks of potion studies within it.
The mortal king's subordinates inside the wooden chamber all raised their weapons and swung at Locke and Witch Shirley.
"Release our king!"
"Wizards! This era does not belong to you..."
In the next instant, the scene shifted again. Locke and Witch Shirley found themselves looking at the city of the Heliothos Imperial Court, where soldiers launching a rebellion could be seen everywhere.
The weapons in these soldiers' hands had all been blessed with a special power.
Clearly, even before the Mortal Age had properly arrived, the chosen kings who should have formed the backbone of that era had already betrayed the Heliothos Imperial Court ahead of time and ignited a war between wizards and mortals.
One lich wizard after another was bound in chains, being marched through the streets of the Heliothos Imperial Court under the forced escort of mortal armies, while mortals jeered at these undying beings who had lived for a thousand years.
Under the suppression of the Heliothos Imperial Court's kingdom's domain, those liches had already lost their power, and the soul fire flickering within their eye sockets was no longer strong.
Locke noticed that the Heliothos Imperial Court of this era was no longer the small country it had once been, a country with a ruler at only the First Circle crystallization stage and a kingdom's domain that was the simplest kind of ordinary magical kingdom.
The Heliothos Imperial Court of this era was a vast nation that had already unified seventy percent of the wizard world's territory.
Its kingdom's domain had become a complex system that Locke could no longer interfere with using only the prototype of Grand Magic. It was entirely different from the original and primitive magic domain.
Even Locke and Witch Shirley felt their magical power completely suppressed, rendered almost impossible to exercise.
To say nothing of the liches, who were being actively targeted in this era.
The liches hung their heads in dejection.
As the parade passed by Locke and Witch Shirley, one lich being escorted by two mortal soldiers suddenly raised its head and looked at them.
"Are you two... my colleagues?"
"Do you see this? Mighty intellects being humiliated by these stupid mortals. The Heliothos Imperial Court has created a new tragedy. This is a tremendous persecution."
"You wizards stood by and watched coldly at first, but the flames of war have now spread to you as well. Mortals will not be satisfied with only removing us. Those mortal kings are ambitious. They will swallow any power they can lay their hands on. The great King Otto and the era he created have driven all of us into a desperate corner."
Two mortal soldiers impatiently pushed the lich forward and shot a glare at Locke and Witch Shirley.
But they did not attack the two of them.
At that moment, inside the city, a group of soldiers bound Otto's statue with ropes and toppled it. The entire statue crashed to the ground and shattered into more than a dozen pieces.
A mortal king stood atop the city wall and shouted, "The era of the undying rulers is over! But the great King Otto himself is also a wizard. All wizards should be ruled by kings!"
"All lands under heaven belong to the king! Overthrow King Otto. Wizards, only if you follow the commands of us kings will you have a place to exist in the future."
"We have the combined armies of sixty-one mortal kings. You should understand by now how great the power of a king can be."
"Resist Otto! Resist Otto! Establish a true politics that belongs to us kings!"
Throughout the city of the Heliothos Imperial Court, soldiers everywhere were calling out slogans about resisting Otto and winning true freedom, while other soldiers chose to stand on Otto's side and maintain the existing order.
Witch Shirley and Locke did their best to record everything happening in this era, the riots, the destruction, and the self-destruction of the Mortal Age.
Witch Shirley said, "So that is how it was. I always assumed it was the Black Sun Tower that directly intervened and caused the Mortal Age plan to collapse. But looking at it now, the mortal plan of the Heliothos Imperial Court had already become impossible to achieve before the Black Sun Tower ever made its move."
Locke said, "And based on the historical records available to us right now, I can also put forward a historical hypothesis. After the Mortal Age plan failed completely, the Heliothos Imperial Court had to be dismantled."
"Because the Heliothos Imperial Court had already lost any possibility of ending the Era of Stars, yet its scale was far too large. In the Era of Stars, the Black Sun Tower played the role of arbiter and driving force of civilization's progress."
Witch Shirley nodded. "All the mainstream historical theories currently accepted see the Black Sun Tower as what ended the Imperial Age."
"But that raises a question. After the Black Sun Tower ended the Imperial Age, why did it not simply rule the next era directly? Why did it create the Era of Stars, positioning itself above all the magical kingdoms while governing without actually ruling, allowing each magical kingdom to develop on its own?"
Locke shook his head slightly. "That may touch on the most fundamental secrets of the Era of Stars, and so with only what we have here, it is impossible to fully understand that point."
"What role the Black Sun Tower actually played in the Era of Stars, its specific methods of governing the wizard world of that era, how much power each of the Grand Magical kingdoms actually held, none of these things have we yet worked out."
Locke looked at the towering red flowers blooming throughout the city of the Heliothos Imperial Court, each with seven layers of petals, as tall as a person standing upright. "And have you noticed this? For some reason, First Circle crystallization-stage magical plants are growing throughout this city in great numbers."
"These magical plants would need enormous quantities of magical tides and resources to grow at all, and yet here they are in full bloom across every street and alley of the Heliothos Imperial Court. Something is very wrong."
"Could the destruction of the Heliothos Imperial Court be connected to these flowers?"
Locke crouched down and looked at the deep crimson flower with its seven layers of petals. The flower was bathed in a vivid crimson magical aura, and coral-like threads of red extended from its edges, drifting and dancing upward through the air.
Locke recognized this as a rose-type magical plant, though he had never seen this particular variety at Golden Crown Mountain.
A miniature moon appeared in Locke's hand. Under the moonlight of the Full Moon Growth, the ancient flower rapidly grew, and the crimson blossoms and red threads withered in a very short span of time.
Then the ancient flower produced fruit, and that too withered, and a seed fell to the ground. To Locke's astonishment, the seed sprouted and took root at a rapid pace.
The entire crimson flower withered completely and became fertilizer.
The soil in the surrounding area immediately grew somewhat richer.
At the same time, one ancient flower's withering produced five seeds, and all five seeds sprouted within a very short time under Locke's magical power.
"This special magical plant can enrich the soil and even strengthen the surrounding magical tides? How does it do that?"
At that moment, Witch Shirley reminded Locke, "Locke, watch the surroundings."
Locke raised his head to find that a large number of soldiers had surrounded them, along with a mortal king holding an ice great sword, who stood before them.
One soldier pointed at Locke. "That is him. He used magic without permission."
The mortal king held his king's sword and looked at Locke, his face carrying an ugly and greedy expression. "Spell caster, are you nobility or a commoner? Why do you not kneel before a king?"
"Do you even know your own place?"
Witch Shirley could not help but frown.
Locke realized that within this so-called embryonic form of the Mortal Age, Otto had suppressed wizards so thoroughly that he had instead inflated the arrogance of mortals.
And so power was no longer the most important thing. Status and rank had become the tools by which people demonstrated their worth.
Even if that so-called status and rank contributed nothing whatsoever to social productivity or civilization's progress.
The mortal king grew angry when Locke did not respond. "Wizard, you dare to ignore a king! Let me tell you, the great King Otto is about to be overthrown by us. Any wizard who does not choose to join us will be killed."
"Just like those pitiful lich monsters."
"Hahahaha..."
"Since that is the case, kill these two wizards for me. I want their corpses mounted on spears as the banner of my rebellion."
Witch Shirley immediately drew her wizard's sword, but in this moment she felt her magical power reduced to less than a tenth of its normal level under the suppression of the kingdom's domain.
The mortal army before them had all been blessed by the power of the king's swords, giving them magical power of their own. With one side rising and the other falling, the gap in strength between the two parties had been inverted.
Witch Shirley said in a low voice, "What a ludicrous era. Nameless King, what exactly have you done? Are you just standing by and watching this group of mortals who received power out of thin air carry on like this?"
The mortal king sneered. "I will give you one last chance. Kneel before me and submit to my authority."
"Otherwise..."
Locke said, "Power comes from wisdom."
The mortal king paused. "What did you say? What does power have to do with wisdom? Power comes from status and rank. I am a king chosen by the great King Otto himself!"
Locke let out a quiet sigh. "A witch once told me in a later era that power comes from human wisdom. When you are a little smarter than those around you, you can lead them. When you are a great deal smarter than those around you, you are the master of this world."
"Mortal king, you have already lost your wisdom. Look behind you."
The mortal king instinctively followed Locke's words and looked behind himself, but saw only a group of expressionless soldiers.
Locke let out a cold laugh and snapped his fingers, using the spell model Historical Projection to recreate the expressions worn by those mortal soldiers and commanders behind the king one by one.
What alarmed the mortal king was that those soldiers and commanders, every time he emphasized that he was the king chosen by Otto, had all shown varying degrees of contempt.
Some of the commanders were even laughing coldly.
This made the mortal king realize that just as they could choose to overthrow Otto, so too could his own commanders choose to overthrow him after they had brought Otto down.
The seeds of disaster had been sown from the very beginning.
Cold sweat broke out across the mortal king's entire body.
Locke said, "Power comes from wisdom. Mortal king, do you still believe your wisdom stands above that of your own subjects?"
The mortal king looked at Locke, his eyes vicious. "Wizard, this is just a petty trick of yours."
Locke's pupils shifted into golden vertical slits. Some kind of power flowed through those ancient flowers and entered his blood, awakening the power of the World-Annihilating Demon Dragon.
A full moon appeared in the sky. Then, without limit, moonlight spread across the endless land, and countless ancient flower seeds were carried by the wind of the magical tides from the capital of the Heliothos Imperial Court and blown across the entire territory.
The haunting, beautiful ancient flower seeds landed and took root. The fertility of the soil across the entire wizard world rose continuously, and the magical tides kept rising as well.
Between their blooming and their withering, these ancient flowers reshaped the geographic environment of the wizard world.
At the same time, the mortals within the Heliothos Imperial Court city, after breathing in the fragrance the ancient flowers released into the air, had their eyes filled with a more terrible hunger, as though capable of consuming people whole.
Witch Shirley looked at Locke with concern. "Locke, are you all right?"
Locke stopped the spell and looked up at the full moon rising above his head. "I am fine. Just now, this Historical Reconstruction projection simply used me as a medium to replay something that had already happened in history."
"It seems this mysterious ancient flower is directly connected to the destruction of the Heliothos Imperial Court."
"Historically, a wizard from the Black Sun Tower scattered these flowers. Of course, it is very possible that my magical composition is too similar to that wizard's, which is why this Historical Reconstruction simply borrowed me to simulate that process."
Witch Shirley let out a breath of relief. "I am glad you are all right."
"But why are you able to use magic normally here?"
Locke released the iron ball in his hand. It flickered with a faint light, and a special spiritual energy entered his body, strengthening his magical pressure. "So it seems this is a kind of public power. Which means it is not only mortals who can be chosen as king. Wizards can also be chosen as king in the Mortal Age."
"So in this era, my power is not suppressed. And being this close to this power, I can confirm there is potion studies technology within it."
Locke swept a glance at the apprehensive and unsettled mortal army around him. Then the Large Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow appeared on his back, and he flew up into the sky, looking down over the entire land.
The Heliothos Imperial Court, within and without its borders, was blooming with those haunting ancient flowers.
'The ancient flower seems to have the property of amplifying the desires of the human heart,' Locke thought. 'That would accelerate the destruction of the Heliothos Imperial Court.'
'These flowers must be the ones the Black Sun Tower used in the past to bring the Heliothos Imperial Court to ruin. In this historical fragment, I only accelerated the progression. In the original historical trajectory, these flowers had probably just appeared and were still being regarded by the Heliothos Imperial Court as a symbol of prosperity.'
After all, these strange flowers could proliferate rapidly from nothing, while also enriching soil and amplifying magical tides.
The effect was truly remarkable.
Locke thought of Group 2 on the Desert Plane, and realized that for Group 2, these mysterious flowers would be a godlike existence.
Of course, it was impossible to bring any of the magical plant seeds from this historical phantom out with him. He could only use archaeology magic to record their information.
Locke looked down over the land from above, at flowers covering every surface as far as the eye could see. "Were these flowers everywhere in the final days of the Heliothos Imperial Court?"
In the next instant, the scene shifted again.
Locke stood in the sky and saw the Heliothos Imperial Court broken into pieces.
This special ancient flower had two effects.
The first was to enrich the land and strengthen the magical tides.
The second was that its fragrance amplified the desires within the human heart.
The result was that the mortal cities throughout the Heliothos Imperial Court could exist independently without relying on the central system of the Heliothos Imperial Court, protecting themselves on their own. Combined with the desires running wild within the human heart, this immense empire shattered into fragments.
"Is this the true story of the Heliothos Imperial Court's destruction?" Locke pondered.
In the next instant, the scene before him shifted again, and the young wizard's voice appeared. "Locke, thank you for holding out until now. We are almost at the final part. Thank you. This time, consider it a favor I owe you. If you can meet me a second time, I will repay this debt to you."
Locke looked left and right and found himself inside a dim golden hall. "Senior fellow apprentice?"
"Your senior fellow apprentice is not here." A middle-aged wizard wearing a crown was seated on a throne. He looked at Locke and said, "You personally destroyed my dynasty. Are you satisfied?"
"Ezra Clarkson!"
"Does the Black Sun Tower hate me this much?"
Locke furrowed his brow and looked at the Wizard King seated on the throne. "What are you talking about?"
The Wizard King stepped down from his throne and walked toward Locke.
Locke immediately understood that the role he was playing here was not simply himself, but a wizard from history who had, at this very moment in this very place, met with the Nameless King.
It was very likely that this was the representative sent by the Black Sun Tower.
King Otto asked, "I know what your Black Sun Tower fears. And so I know why you possess such tremendous power, yet never dare to rule this world yourselves. The flowers of destruction you planted on my land broke my kingdom into pieces. But when all is said and done, what truly brought my kingdom to its complete ruin was those mortal kings."
Locke said nothing.
After all, everything happening right now was only a reconstruction of events that had already occurred in history, playing out as they had before.
Whatever he said or did not say would have no effect.
In this King Otto's eyes, Locke still represented a Black Sun Tower wizard from history who was speaking with him.
King Otto said, "At this moment, my physical body is already dead. Are you going to choose a new king? How will you bring the Era of Stars to an end? I see now... you yourselves do not have an answer, do you?"
"Actually, if I had just been given a little more time, I could have done it. A more perfect vision."
Locke's mouth produced a voice. "The thirty-year term as king has expired."
King Otto pointed to a great Bronze Cauldron standing at the center of the golden hall. "This is a bronze magical vessel. A variety of magical instrument popular in one of the interesting wizard regions I conquered. Though it is only a container and not the main point."
"You and I are both botany wizards. Though I am also a potion studies wizard." King Otto waved his hand, and the lid of the Bronze Cauldron lifted into the air. A blank spiritual energy appeared within it.
"I have drawn conclusions about why the Mortal Age failed. But I do not believe my perspective was entirely wrong. Power and force should always have been separated."
"Those who serve as civilization's administrators should not have unlimited lifespans. But I placed my trust in mortals, and looking back now, that was simply another form of foolishness."
Locke frowned.
That blank spiritual energy was similar to the spiritual energy he had observed in the iron ball. "What is that?"
King Otto said, "Using the Bronze Cauldron combined with potion studies, I have refined a special kind of blank spiritual energy that anyone can possess. I intend to place certain special powers within it to form a particular kind of Office."
"Those who hold these Offices will have power within a defined period of time and within a defined scope of responsibility. But the Office is communal and available to anyone."
"In this way, I can separate the power of civilization's administrators from their authority."
"Although my Mortal Age failed, I still believe this concept of shared power has future promise."
"This is a kind of shareable transcendent power."
King Otto said, "It is only a pity that you will not give me a second opportunity to conduct a sociological experiment, will you?"
"It can allow those who hold power to rotate. It is only a pity it remains imperfect. I have not yet worked out how to link it to certain special positions and transform it into the Offices I envision."
"Hmm... it has some similarity to the divine offices of deities, but those who hold these Offices would still only be people, servants of civilization. I call it the separation of power from authority. Only perhaps it is not quite suited to appear in this era. A little ahead of its time. Would you not say?"
"Is that so? You will not give me a second chance... heh heh heh... then this, my final and greatest achievement, can truly only be buried in history, unknown to anyone."
Locke heard a voice speaking through his own mouth. "No. Even within history, everything about you will be erased. No wizard will ever be allowed to know anything you have done."
"This is the Black Sun Tower's judgment upon you."
The Loom Princess, hiding behind the golden hall, could no longer restrain herself. She cried out, "No!"
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