CCTnovel Chapter 631: The Demon Elevation Plan! An Age of Great Contention! The Revival of All Things!
Chapter 631: The Demon Elevation Plan! An Age of Great Contention! The Revival of All Things!
After Witch Scarlett left, Locke fell into deep thought.To truly compete for market share against the top-tier wizard shoe brands of Cloud Marsh Wetland, rather than simply appearing on the sales charts for a few days here and there and carving out a lasting portion of the market, he would genuinely need to put his mind to work.
The majority of Cloud Marsh Wetland's industries were already occupied. If you wanted a piece of that market, you had no choice but to take it from those already holding it.
Or find a brand-new blue ocean market.
But that was exceptionally difficult and required both time and opportunity.
What Witch Scarlett had mentioned, the collective procurement standards for wizard shoes as part of the wizard equipment set for the demon realm war, was genuinely interesting.
He might be able to find a way to design a pair of wizard shoes for it.
But that would have to wait until after he returned from the abyss ruins. For one thing, he currently had no clear direction, and for another, there simply wasn't enough time.
Still, advancing to the Second Circle required considerable resources. The more money he could earn, the better, as it would ensure he could break through to become a Second Circle wizard in one go.
'I'll use the two hundred thousand in sponsorship funds that Witch Scarlett is applying for over the next few days to develop two qualified pairs of wizard shoes,' Locke said to himself. 'Once I have the design blueprints ready, I'll reach out to those alchemists from last time to collaborate.'
He turned and headed back to his dormitory, then entered his half-plane. At that moment, the Elf Queen and her people had already completed the full transplanting of the entire Forest Sanctuary according to his layout plans.
A full one thousand First Circle tree-type magical plants, tens of thousands of apprentice-level magical plants, and countless ordinary grasses, trees, and flowers, occupying a total area of five thousand mu.
This was an unprecedented Forest Sanctuary. Locke could already sense that it had reached the upper limit of what the Ancient Life Tree and he himself could command.
The spiritual essence of the trees throughout the forest had not yet fully integrated.
The branches and leaves rustled softly in the breeze. The half-plane projected the radiance of the Solar Plane, and that bright, warm sunlight illuminated the forest paths as the gentle spring wind brushed across one's face.
The elves wandered through this forest as though dwelling in a paradise on earth.
Locke couldn't help but marvel inwardly, and he thought, truly worthy of the elven race. Their skill at planting trees was remarkable indeed.
The spacing between each tree-type magical plant seemed as though it had been carefully calculated, arranged in neat and beautiful rows, one after another.
Like a paradise.
Two hundred graceful Sunny Sky Birches gathered the radiance of the sun above, and through three thousand Prism Sunflowers scattered throughout the forest, the sunlight was refracted and dispersed across the woodland, like spirits of light dancing among the trees.
At the same time, two hundred towering Sentinel Holly and two hundred Beech Trees drew vast amounts of nutrients from the soil and distributed them through their root systems across the forest.
The Gem Holly gleamed and sparkled. The twenty-one varieties of combat magical plants grew ever stronger, nourished and concentrated by the forest's nutrients, water, and light, for the entire forest stood behind them.
The one hundred Thorn Queen, each like a great timber tree crowned with a wreath of thorns, were devouring the rotting fallen branches and dead leaves within the forest using their thorn tendrils.
At that moment, Locke sensed that the magical pressure of the entire forest seemed to have reached a certain threshold. Its total magical pressure had grown so immense that even the former Antoine's total magical pressure could not compare.
Yet at the same time, his degree of control over the Forest Sanctuary had declined further. There was even a faint feeling, as though at any moment he might lose the identity of Forest Master entirely, and be assimilated into just one of the more important trees within this forest.
'Based on the total magical pressure I calculated before, it seems my estimates were correct,' Locke said, as a flash of abyssal energy passed through his eyes. He drew upon external magical pressure to bolster his own total, and only then did he halt that encroaching tendency.
Otherwise, once the forest turned on him, he would be unable to leave. For trees do not leave the forest.
Locke said to the Elf Queen, “You have all done excellent work. Thank you for everyone's efforts. The magic stones I promised to pay you, I will have Witch Mason deliver to you in due course.”
The Elf Queen raised no objection. She and her people had helped other wizards before, and payment was generally not made immediately. After all, cash flow was a struggle for everyone.
That was simply the normal condition of a wizard. Locke's previously healthy cash flow had been entirely due to his modest personal expenses, combined with the fact that he had many ongoing projects, products, and patents, which was why he had been so well-funded.
Otherwise, which wizard would be without some form of debt?
Some appeared to be earning well, yet in truth were buried in debt, and the more they earned each year, the more their debts grew alongside it. It seemed like a cycle with no end.
After enough time had passed, such wizards simply stopped caring about debt. So long as they had resources to conduct research, publish articles, and feed back into their own magical ability, that was sufficient. Whether they had money or not, those wizards no longer concerned themselves with it.
After the Elf Queen led her people away, Locke carefully observed the forest, walking through the lush and ancient woodland, as though wandering through an ancient natural sanctuary.
'The Forest Sanctuary's strength has already reached the upper limit of what I and the Ancient Life Tree can control.'
'Furthermore, the degree of integration within the Forest Sanctuary is currently very low. It still needs to consolidate on its own. The Ancient Life Tree cannot advance to the Second Circle, and that is related to my own level.'
In truth, during the last encounter with the Night Meteor, the Ancient Life Tree had already had an opportunity to advance to the Second Circle. After all, the Ancient Life Tree was a creature with a Third Circle ceiling, making its advancement to the Second Circle far simpler than Locke's own.
For Locke to advance to the Second Circle, he needed to twice surpass his limits. But for the Ancient Life Tree, its first limit did not appear until the Third Circle.
It was simply because of the mana-grafting bond forged between them that, so long as Locke had not broken through to the Second Circle, his Ancient Life Tree could not advance either. For if it did, the backlash would strike Locke immediately and deal him a severe blow.
Of course, in truth, there was currently a second path to advancement available to him.
Locke walked to the very heart of the forest, where that ancient tree now stretched from earth to sky. He pressed his palm against a branch of the Ancient Life Tree and instantly felt a torrential flood of natural primal force descend upon him.
'The dragon bloodline within me, which has not yet fully taken shape, also has a Third Circle ceiling. If I were to pour sufficient energy into it, I could accelerate its formation,' Locke thought. 'If I were to actively abandon most of my human bloodline and take the demon dragon bloodline as my primary nature, reshaping myself as a demon dragon, it would be possible to rapidly become a Second Circle life-form.'
'But doing so would leave endless future troubles, and from that point on I would be cut off from wizard civilization.'
Locke shook his head slightly. 'This method carries far too great a risk. After all, my demon dragon bloodline is not yet a complete form.'
'This I cannot accept.'
'Therefore, I must take the path of a wizard as my primary identity. As long as I attain Grand Magical power, I can use an infusion of energy to bring my own demon dragon bloodline to the Second Circle level as well. When that time comes, I will be able to have my own vassal race.'
Locke sensed that Witch Yekaterina was calling for him through the water hyacinth network, so he left the half-plane, summoned the cloud whale, and made his way swiftly to the seventh floor of the Origin Academy castle.
Seventh floor, inside Witch Yekaterina's office.
Locke asked, “Teacher, you called for me?”
Witch Yekaterina said, “You may go and check in with Group 2 now. Before you head off with those black wizards to explore the abyss ruins.”
“Beyond that, you asked me previously about the ecological corridor,” Witch Yekaterina continued. “How is that coming along?”
Locke smiled and said, “I may have been heading down the wrong path before, but I've recognized the problem and am starting over from scratch.”
Witch Yekaterina said, “Good. I won't say more. I trust your judgment, Locke.”
“You need to trust yourself. Since you want to become a Second Circle wizard, and you already possess a level of ability that is genuinely close to that of a Second Circle wizard, your capacity for thinking is already at the Second Circle level. There is no question of who is higher or lower than whom. Do you understand?”
Locke nodded and said, “I understand, Teacher.”
Locke was about to speak when he suddenly felt the magical energy in the surrounding air fill with a sense of turbulence and unrest. The magnitude of the magical tides within the entire room rose by a full tier out of nowhere.
Beyond the castle windows, a second sun appeared in the sky. Two suns now hung in the heavens.
Locke looked at Witch Yekaterina in astonishment and said, “Teacher, that sun in the sky, is it the academy's doing, or yours?”
“I can feel the magical tides across the entire Golden Crown Mountain rising by a tier all at once, but the magical tides are filled with turbulence and agitation. The overall volume has increased, yet the difficulty of controlling it has risen accordingly.”
“It will likely have a minor effect on many spell models. Is this Golden Crown Mountain's doing?”
From somewhere in the void, there seemed to come the faint sound of a scornful laugh. But Locke searched around and found no source for it. The laughter was hazy and dreamlike, as though it had never existed at all.
Witch Yekaterina sat gravely in her chair. She looked at Locke and said, “Neither. This is neither Golden Crown Mountain's doing nor mine. Nor is it a rise in the concentration gradient of the magical tides in the vicinity of Golden Crown Mountain.”
“Nor is it a rise in the concentration gradient of the magical tides across Cloud Marsh Wetland.”
“In the instant just now, the concentration gradient of the magical tides across the entire Eastern Border Region, all fifty-three wizard lands, rose collectively by a single tier.”
Locke stared at Witch Yekaterina in shock.
Witch Yekaterina pointed eastward and said, “This was done by the Star Domain Sea. It is part of their Demon Elevation Plan.”
No sooner had Witch Yekaterina finished speaking than Locke heard the sound of a babbling stream appear at his ear. He raised his head and saw what appeared to be a great river in the sky above, flowing in from some immemorial distance and coursing away toward the horizon.
The concentration gradient of the magical tides across all of Golden Crown Mountain's surroundings rose once again by another tier.
Witch Yekaterina said, “That is the Waterway Plan. The Star Domain Sea is currently running multiple plans simultaneously. The more prominent ones at the moment are the Waterway Plan and the Celestial Sun Plan.”
“But frankly, there are so many of these plans and they are so chaotic that no one knows how things will ultimately develop.”
“Of course, the Celestial Sun Plan may not be able to proceed,” Witch Yekaterina raised her right hand and extended her index finger, then pointed upward, “because the "sky" of the wizard world may not be willing to allow the Star Domain Sea to carry on like this. The Celestial Sun Plan requires the consent of the "sky."'
Locke said, “Teacher, who is the "sky" of the wizard world?”
Witch Yekaterina gave Locke a strange look and said, “Who else could it be? Locke, what a peculiar question. The "sky" of the wizard world is none other than the Mystic Heaven, of course.”
In that moment, Locke thought of the time Warwick had suddenly looked frightened and pointed upward at the sky during their discussion about the origins of the black wizards.
At the time, Locke had assumed he was referring to the upper echelons of the wizard world. But now it was clear that Warwick had already been hinting at it.
That was the Mystic Heaven.
Witch Yekaterina said, “Among the eight regions of the wizard world's native continent, only the Mystic Heaven can call itself the "sky" of the wizard world!”
“That is enough. You need not ask further about this. This is not something you need to know at your current stage.”
Locke took a moment to sense the current state of the magical tides, then said to Witch Yekaterina, “Originally, after a second sun appeared in the sky, the magical tides collectively increased, but they also became more turbulent and agitated.”
“Now that the Waterway has appeared, the concentration gradient of the magical tides has risen once more, but they are growing ever harder to control.”
At that moment, the second sun and the Waterway in the sky had already faded and disappeared.
Witch Yekaterina nodded and said, “I know. Which is why I said they are making a mess of things.”
“Very well, Locke, this matter does not concern you. Go and report to Group 2 first. Once you've reported in, proceed with the abyss exploration.”
“As the Waterway Plan progresses, the Abyssal River will become increasingly difficult to enter and grow ever more dangerous. The wizards of the Star Domain Sea will not halt this plan.”
...
Douglas, inside his dormitory, suddenly felt the strength of his magical power rise without cause, and his magical energy nearly fell into disarray.
He looked in astonishment at the second sun in the sky beyond his window, and at the Waterway.
“What is happening? Teacher...”
The voice of Wizard King Laghemaon appeared at his ear. “This is extraordinary. In the past, wizards who sought to elevate magic would do so for no more than a single city within a kingdom. Even something on that scale, in our Era of Stars, was met with harsh criticism and condemnation, considered an act of reckless arrogance.”
“The ambition of trying to lift all living beings to the heavens in a single step, the notion of elevating an entire city's magic, was considered nothing more than a personal delusion.”
“But in your era, the leading wizard land of this Eastern Border Region is actually attempting to simultaneously elevate the magic of all fifty-three wizard lands across the Eastern Border Region!”
“What a sweeping gesture. What audacious ambition. If this is truly what they intend, even the Black Sun Tower of our time seems to have lacked this kind of vision!”
“What... what... arrogance!”
Wizard King Laghemaon seemed on the verge of madness. “What is going on with this later age of yours? This is utterly insane!”
“In our era, if you had said something like this aloud, people would have taken you for a lunatic. And yet they are actually doing it now.”
Wizard King Laghemaon could not comprehend it. He was nearly driving himself mad trying to process it. “I need to read. I need to read far more. I need to understand your era better. It seems I have been completely wrong about one thing. In this age, the Black Sun Tower, the demon dragon bloodline, these things seem to have become far less important than they once were.”
“The Star Domain Sea... Douglas, you must go to the Star Domain Sea!”
“That is where the future of this world lies!”
Wizard King Laghemaon said, “But such an enormous undertaking by the Star Domain Sea will not produce a small chain of reactions. No wonder this world is in such turmoil.”
“The wizards of your era possess such enormous vision. Yet to elevate the magic of such a vast region, where does the energy come from? How many ancient existences will stir back to life and grow restless once more because of this collective change in the environment?”
“Could it be that my own awakening in this era was not without reason?”
Wizard King Laghemaon fell into deep thought. “To me, this later age of yours is utterly insane!”
...
Above Cloud Lake, the Fourth Circle Truth Wizards of the Star Domain Sea walked through the skies overhead.
Two Truth Wizards were in conversation.
“We of the Star Domain Sea are merely being elevated. Why has the leadership seen fit to apply the Celestial Sun Plan and the Waterway Plan to all fifty-three wizard lands of the Eastern Border Region? They do nothing at all and simply reap the benefits for free...”
The other Truth Wizard smiled and said, “I have heard that this was the only viable outcome reached after careful deduction by those at the top.”
“You know as well as I do how exacting the Star Domain Sea's definition of high-magic is.”
“The deduced result was this: if we were to achieve it for a single wizard land alone, namely the Star Domain Sea, the difficulty would simply be too great. Therefore, all wizard lands of the Eastern Border Region must first be elevated, and then that elevation will feed back to elevate our Star Domain Sea in turn.”
“Our Star Domain Sea stands at the very frontier of wizard civilization. Therefore, we must first elevate all wizard lands of the Eastern Border Region, elevate this entire world, and then this world will elevate us.”
“We must elevate this world!”
The first Truth Wizard to have spoken said, “True enough. Then let the concentration gradient of the magical tides across all fifty-three wizard lands of the Eastern Border Region continue rising upward.”
“The fifty-three wizard lands of the Eastern Border Region will use their combined talent and resources to simultaneously lift our Star Domain Sea, while our Star Domain Sea will in turn lift those fifty-three wizard lands and help them elevate their magic!”
“The Eastern Border Region will become the most prosperous region among the eight great regions! We will become the future of this civilization. Other wizard lands need only manage their own affairs, while we must manage the entire region.”
The other Truth Wizard smiled and said, “Today, our Star Domain Sea shall cause all the ancient Wizard Kings and wizard monarchs of the past, all the old powers, all those once-mighty wizards, to be ashamed of what they once were.”
“What the Star Domain Sea does today may not be without successors, but it is certainly without precedent.”
The first Truth Wizard said, “Indeed. We do not fear the ancient existences of the Eastern Border Region stirring back to life because of this. Even if they do awaken, they will appear incomparably feeble in the radiance of our Star Domain Sea. Whatever secrets they hold, whoever they once were, all of them are infinitesimally small before the Star Domain Sea. “
“Yet we cannot afford to be complacent. I have heard that the Mystic Heaven has a corresponding plan of its own. And the Origin Ground of the Central Region has recently been undertaking some sort of Magical Origin Wall Plan. Meanwhile, the Green Iron Capital of the Southern Region may also interfere with our Demon Elevation Plan. The Hand of the Jungle has gone utterly mad and is contemplating creating a world entirely free of all pollution. The leading wizard lands of the other regions each have their own plans as well...”
“The secondary leading wizard land of the Southern Region, the Southern Ridge Demon City, is attempting a Demon Network Plan, seeking to plunder all the magical power in the world into a single magical network, to transform the private magic of individuals across the world into public magic, break down the gap between the powerful and the powerless, and further enhance the competitive strength of our wizard civilization. And other regions are now launching a sweeping new round of Great Void Exploration in full force...”
“This era is an era of competition. Insular self-sufficiency can no longer be the mainstream. Whoever dares to fall behind by a single step will fall behind at every step thereafter!”
This Truth Wizard clasped his hands behind his back and gazed down at Cloud Lake stretching tens of thousands of li below. “The heroes of the past, before the wizard world of today, are nothing more than small and ordinary individuals.”
“And our Star Domain Sea will win this final competition.”
At that moment, across the fifty-three wizard lands of the Eastern Border Region, ancient existences were stirring back to life in various places due to the sudden two-tier rise in the magical tide concentration gradient. Certain ill-intentioned visitors from beyond the heavens were also being drawn in.
The Star Domain Sea's plan had shaken everyone.
In the Land of the Six Towers, a commoner wizard who had long endured the bullying and contempt of others was inside the White Bull Tower's library when he noticed a magic book suddenly fall from a shelf.
He walked over curiously and bent down to pick it up. But the moment his palm touched that magic book, it began spinning rapidly, and something within it seemed on the verge of emerging.
After a long while, this commoner wizard curled the corner of his lips and said, “Whoever it was that raised the magical tide concentration gradient of this entire region, my thanks to you...”
“Raising the magical tide concentration gradient of fifty-three worlds in one go, what a sweeping move. How are you not afraid of going bankrupt...”
“But... with magical energy this abundant, the stability of the seal has been disrupted. And thanks to exactly this, I can finally free myself from the seal. Ha ha ha ha...”
“It's just that these six white towers are still standing... what a nuisance...”
...
When Locke found Witch Mason and the others, the wizards in the entire common laboratory were still discussing the rise in the magical tide concentration gradient across the world.
Locke exchanged a few words with Witch Mason, and only then did the three of them learn that Witch Yekaterina wanted them to proceed immediately to the colonial world where Group 2 was stationed.
On the cloud whale, the four of them continued their discussion.
Witch Mason said, “I think advancing to the Second Circle will probably be much easier in the future. After all, the magical tide concentration gradient has risen. Many resources will increase, though some blights and afflictions will increase as well. The key point is that the overall ceiling of the entire world has been raised, and that is beneficial to all of us.”
Locke said nothing, simply listening from the side.
Wizard Barrett said, “It isn't as simple as that. Right now it has only risen by two tiers, but we are still far from a true rise in the overall ceiling. On the contrary, magical power has become even harder to manipulate. I somehow feel that advancing to the Second Circle has actually become more difficult.”
Witch Mason said, “Oh come now, the beginning of any change always tends to make things harder before they get better. We should look on the bright side.”
Witch Freya said, “I think this matter may look like it concerns us, but actually has nothing to do with us whatsoever. We would all be better off thinking carefully about how to wrap up our Tier 2 project grants.”
“That is what actually concerns us the most!”
Witch Mason and Wizard Barrett nodded in agreement.
Witch Mason lowered her head and said, “True enough. These matters only concern high-circle wizards. For us, they are merely a spectacle. They have nothing to do with us at all.”
Witch Mason looked at Locke and said, “Locke, what do you think? You are the closest to the Second Circle among the four of us. Has this had any effect on you?”
Locke took a moment to sense the magical energy in the air and said, “My combat strength has risen by at least half a tier. As for everything else, it is a mixed bag, good and bad. On balance, I would say the effects are roughly even, without any major impact for now.”
“That said, for me personally, it does lean slightly toward being advantageous. There was a spell I had previously developed, Full Moon Growth, that suffered from high casting consumption.”
Locke extended his left hand, and a spell moon conjured by Full Moon Growth appeared in his palm. 'But now that the overall magical energy in the environment has risen, the cost of casting this type of magic will indirectly decrease.'
'Going forward, the Grand Magic of wizards may well develop in the direction of even larger scales, because the total magical energy contained in the air has risen. Though of course, this is only my conjecture.'
The other three listened with only a partial understanding.
They were still far from this level, unlike Locke, who had already been reading those ecological spells every day under Witch Yekaterina's arrangements.
Before long, they arrived above the smallest of Golden Crown Mountain's peaks, which was where the planar gateway leading to the colonial world of Group 2 was located.
They dismounted from the cloud whale and entered the Planar Gateway Administration Office.
This was a peach garden.
Behind each gnarled peach tree's branch-formed archway lay a different plane. These were artificially created elemental-coupled planar gateways, fashioned by magic.