HLnovel Chapter 628: Two Hundred Tyrant-Enhanced European Beeches and Letters
Chapter 628: Two Hundred Tyrant-Enhanced European Beeches and Letters
Golden Crown Mountain, Origin Academy. Six days later, with the help of Witch Mason's elf tribe friends, Locke had finally managed, within one week, to move the entire Forest Sanctuary from within his Druid's Ring into his Zephyr contact lens half-plane. tyrantHis right eye flickered with an almost imperceptible magical radiance. The next moment, he could see the Forest Sanctuary at the heart of the half-plane situated in this subspace zone. The forest across those thousand acres was lush and verdant, and now that it had been moved into a larger half-plane, the edges of the forest naturally began to spread outward on their own.
Some seeds from the plants fell at the forest's edges and began a slow process of expansion.
But Locke noticed that without animals or insects, the forest's ecology remained incomplete and could only be considered an artificial forest.
However, the Forest Sanctuary was closely tied to his very lifeline, so he could not lightly allow outside creatures to enter it.
At that moment, the Elf Queen led her group of elves in bowing to Locke. The Elf Queen looked at the powerful wizard before her with reverence, this wizard whose entire being overflowed with formidable natural magical power.
In her five hundred years of life, she had rarely seen a wizard who had fused with nature so deeply.
The Queen said to Locke, "Grand Wizard, your forest has been fully transplanted. It was a joy to do this work, not only to help my friend, the kind Witch Mason."
"So we require no payment whatsoever."
Locke furrowed his brow slightly. "No, I still intend to pay thirty thousand magic stones."
After all, the reason this had been completed so quickly was because this elf tribe had sent approximately one hundred elven wizards equivalent to Tier 1 wizard apprentices.
This was effectively an unconventional wizard academy, except that its membership was limited to elf descendants of the tribe itself, or other wandering elf descendants.
They were predominantly botany and breeding wizards, with a small number even trained in potion studies.
But aside from the Elf Queen and three elf elders who were First Circle wizards, the others were at most Tier 1 wizard apprentices.
In the southeastern quadrant, this was already considered a fairly powerful faction, one that could even call itself an elf kingdom.
There were indeed a few elf kingdoms within the forbidden forests.
But in Cloud Marsh Wetland, this was simply an unusually small wizard organization.
The entire Silver Moon Tribe had only one teaching position recognized by the White Wizard Association, and that position was held by the Queen.
At this point, the Elf Queen's association with Witch Mason and the others was actually something of an honor for her, so naturally she had been willing to help.
What the Elf Queen had not expected was that Locke still intended to pay.
Both Witch Mason and the Elf Queen were somewhat surprised.
Witch Mason said, "Little team leader, we already have such a close relationship. Why be so precise about these things? I can't let you spend this thirty thousand magic stones."
Locke waved his hand. "Business is business."
Owing favors was the most troublesome thing in the world. Besides, the market rate for hiring a Tier 1 wizard apprentice for one month was one thousand magic stones.
He had hired these elves for approximately one week, which would be two to three hundred magic stones each.
For one hundred Tier 1 wizard apprentices plus three ordinary full wizards, the going market rate came to roughly thirty thousand magic stones per week, and that was if anything slightly on the lower end.
Of course, this arrangement was still favorable to Locke.
First, the Forest Sanctuary was extremely important, and those involved could not be a mixed crowd of strangers. This tribe was a clean, singular group and a close friend of Witch Mason's.
Second, although the quoted market rate for hiring apprentices and wizards was roughly accurate, it hadn't accounted for market premiums, nor for the specialized rate of elves working as breeders. If those were factored in, thirty thousand magic stones would not have been enough to hire this many people for a week.
This price was something like a friendship rate among acquaintances.
It preserved both Witch Mason's and the Elf Queen's dignity, while ensuring a clean exchange of money and services without things becoming overly complicated.
Locke directly handed the Elf Queen three magic crystal cards.
The Elf Queen blinked, glanced at Witch Mason, and hesitated over whether to accept them. By rights, Witch Mason had helped their tribe so much over four-plus years at Golden Crown Mountain that they really shouldn't be accepting money from her friend.
Witch Mason said to the Elf Queen, "Just take it, Sabrina. Our little team leader is very wealthy."
"A small sum like this means nothing to him. Even within Golden Crown Mountain, he's probably among the wealthiest First Circle wizards around."
Elf Queen Sabrina looked at Locke in astonishment, then bowed to him again. "Thank you, sir."
As an elf tribe near Golden Crown Mountain, Queen Sabrina understood that protecting the tribe required maintaining good relations with the people of Golden Crown Mountain.
Queen Sabrina had worked hard to build a connection with Witch Mason, and now seeing a wizard who possessed a forest like this, her heart naturally filled with admiration. She even harbored thoughts of pledging allegiance. "My Lord Augustine, if you have any need of us in the future, please come find us."
"Our entire elf tribe guarantees we will never leak any information to anyone."
"I have never seen a forest this powerful. Even among the forests of the Golden Crown Mountain district, this forest is already extraordinarily formidable."
Queen Sabrina looked Locke over and said, "If the generous Lord should ever have need of it, we could even relocate our entire tribe to live within it."
"The elf clan coexists with nature in symbiosis. We are born gardeners of the finest kind."
Locke thought it over, but still declined decisively. "That won't be necessary, Queen Sabrina. I understand. If I have need of you in the future, I will continue to reach out through Witch Mason."
Although the offer was appealing, allowing other wizards to take up residence inside his forest was too dangerous.
Even a single full wizard, given prolonged exposure, would have sufficient research capability to eventually decipher and potentially plant something within his Forest Sanctuary.
So Locke only considered it for a moment before immediately rejecting the suggestion.
"My Teacher's Beast Tide Ecology is a good reference point. But it embodies Teacher's personal will. Ten million creatures competing with one another, all for one peach. She stands above it all as the bestower of that peach, holding complete mastery over the entire ecology." Locke thought to himself, "That feeling isn't quite right for me."
"And having that many magical creatures mixed together, controlling them all purely through those peaches, that suits Teacher's personality. She is a master of political maneuvering by nature, and she finds rest in wielding power over others. But I personally do not enjoy that process."
Locke caught himself thinking carefully.
People were different from one another, after all.
For Yekaterina, spending every day contemplating human nature was her passion. Controlling others' lives and maneuvering through the game of power was her form of relaxation.
But for himself, doing such things would divide part of his focus.
By the same logic, exploring the unknown and learning knowledge from the past were his form of relaxation, his genuine interest.
So his Grand Magic would need to be tailored to himself as well.
Otherwise, chasing something he had no genuine interest in would only make him work twice as hard for half the results, while pleasing nobody.
He would end up exhausted, only to look at his output and find it less than what those who had taken things easy had produced.
Queen Sabrina heard Locke's refusal with disappointment. "Very well. My Lord Augustine, if you have need of us going forward, please do not hesitate."
The elf tribe then followed their queen and left the half-plane together, bidding their farewells.
Locke exchanged a few words with the three members of Witch Mason's group, then returned to the study in his dormitory.
He had not expected that Lana, the sun ring wizard from the Rose Council, would actually write back to him.
Locke sat at his desk, holding a sheet of letter paper with a gold border and pristine white center.
This was the Golden Lover letter paper produced by the Rose Council using the Glorious Rose as one of its ingredients. It was quite famous. Its greatest function was... looking beautiful and smelling wonderful.
Beyond that, its other uses were rather limited.
But it was extremely expensive to produce, and only high-circle wizards of the Rose Council could afford to use it.
A sun ring wizard was already, by Cloud Marsh Wetland standards, at a mid-to-high level. Not an ordinary wizard. Naturally such a person could afford this extravagant Golden Lover letter paper.
Locke read through the contents written on the envelope, and also saw the thirty-one articles included with the letter.
He let out a quiet laugh. "I never expected this Witch Lana to be this generous. She not only sent me materials, but answered each of my questions in the letter one by one."
"It seems I had quite the misunderstanding of Rose Council wizards before."
"Rose Council wizards are not as petty as I imagined."
"This Witch Lana comes across as remarkably open and magnanimous."
In her reply to Locke, Witch Lana had adopted the role of an eminent flower-language master, naturally projecting an air of noble grace, writing with the tone of an elder guiding a junior, practically to the point of earnest and patient instruction.
As a result, Locke had absolutely no idea about the volatile temperament lurking behind the scenes, the one that tormented the ordinary researchers at the Rose Council's Origin Academy until they were miserable.
Locke read through her explanations and then began working through the thirty-plus articles she had sent.
Since they were articles rather than magical texts, he read through them quickly and finished them all within a single afternoon.
After finishing, Locke felt thoroughly invigorated, as though many things he had not understood before were now suddenly clear.
"So that's how it works. Between different forest ecologies, connections are formed through ecological corridors. Forests, streams, and mountains all give rise to specific ecological corridors through which plants and animals can migrate..."
"An ecological corridor can be formed from certain plant species."
"She recommends I plant a rose ecological corridor, beautiful and magnificent, and capable of providing a medium for plant and animal exchange, allowing different forests to border one another... Indeed, following this concept of a rose ecological corridor, I can draw inspiration from it for my Forest Alliance Curse."
Locke noticed that she had not included any spell models.
He gave a slight shake of his head and felt that he had been far too greedy.
The fact that she had been willing to answer his questions was already more than enough. He was not her student, and he hadn't paid for anything. At most this was an exchange of ideas between parties, so there was no reason she would send over spell models she had spent years developing as a gift.
But even just drawing from her way of thinking, he had already gained a great deal.
Locke looked over these materials and thought of some new questions.
He considered for a moment, and figured that since he had already been brazen enough to write this many times, why not keep going? She hadn't refused, after all.
He might as well continue the discussion with her. Being able to draw on the wisdom of a sun ring wizard would benefit him enormously.
Locke instructed his servant to send the letters out.
At the Rose Council, in Witch Lana's office at the Origin Academy, Lana looked at the incoming letter. After reading through it, she broke into a smile.
"This young fellow is genuinely thinking through the ecological corridor magic I proposed. What a pity his thinking is somewhat off track. He actually believes that the connections between different ancient trees could be used to form an ecological corridor without any material basis. This young man's ideas are truly fanciful."
Witch Lana raised her head and looked at Wizard Fleming, who had come to her office the next day asking her to help revise his project conclusion report together. "Don't you think so, Fleming?"
Wizard Fleming blinked. He lowered his head and began thinking carefully in a panic, then raised it and tentatively said to Witch Lana, "Teacher, perhaps his idea has its own unique merits, a result of independent thinking? Worth encouraging? Even if it is a little naive."
This was his instinctive response after the last time he had agreed with Witch Lana and ended up getting thoroughly scolded for it.
He looked at Witch Lana with hopeful eyes.
To his complete surprise, Witch Lana's expression darkened immediately. She looked at Fleming with irritation and said, "Am I the sun ring wizard here, or are you?"
"How dare you say that such a naive line of thinking is the result of independent thought!"
"Fleming, what exactly is going on in your head? And you're one of my students? I could walk outside right now and find any random full wizard on the street who would be better than you!"
Wizard Fleming's face fell into despair. He had been scolded again!
And this time, hearing Witch Lana say that, he was genuinely a little wounded in his self-respect.
He could feel that some of the wizards passing through the office were looking at him with smirks, even though every single one of them managed to look away the instant he turned his head.
Witch Lana wrote in her reply, "Dear Locke. An ecological corridor must have a material basis in order to exist. Without one, two forests cannot achieve an exchange of plants and animals."
"However, the concept of a tyrant-ization European beech grove that you mentioned before is interesting. The European beech is in itself a timber of excellent quality, and once tyrant-ization, it becomes even more formidable. Introducing a grove like this into a forest, I believe, would be of great benefit to you..."
...
In Golden Crown Mountain's Origin Academy, Locke read Witch Lana's reply and couldn't help but smile.
"As expected, my first hypothesis was rejected. But my second hypothesis was affirmed."
"This sun ring wizard from the Rose Council is truly easy to talk to."
Locke left the Origin Academy castle and returned to his dormitory, then entered his half-plane with a blink.
At this point, his half-plane contained thirty European beeches that had already completed the tyrant enhancement process.
He had originally purchased sixty, and half had ended up as failures.
But the remaining thirty had successfully undergone the transformation using Type 2 Tyrant Element.
The European beeches had lost their reproductive and cutting capabilities, but their surfaces were now covered in tyrant markings, and they were more than two sizes larger than normal European beeches.
Thirty thick and powerful European beeches had become a grove at the edge of his Forest Sanctuary.
Locke had already produced a qualified cell combination from the European beeches and injected it into his Sunny Sky Birch, turning it into the third type of stable cell combination he could consistently obtain.
Going forward, he could follow his plan and purchase more European beeches from the shop, perform the tyrant enhancement himself, and obtain at least three hundred European beech trees.
He would create a tyrant forest grove as part of the overall forest.
That way, half of the forest would consist of normal magical plants and the other half of tyrant-ization magical plants.
Using these three hundred European beeches as a foundation, and continuously adding more tyrant-ization apprentice magical plants into the mix, he would maintain a portion of the forest as tyrant-ization.
According to his calculations, this would greatly enhance the combat power of his Forest Sanctuary. Tyrant-ization magical plants, though stripped of reproductive capability, possessed formidable combat ability and a powerful tyrant domain.
This would significantly enhance the aggressiveness and resistance of his ancient forest.
It would also be highly beneficial for stabilizing the spirituality of his Forest Sanctuary.
Furthermore, tyrant-ization magical plants were more obedient to him. This ensured his control over the forest and prevented it from turning around and suppressing him, reducing him to the position of a relatively important tree within the forest rather than remaining as its master.
Locke looked at the European beeches before him. The originally lush and vibrantly green trees, after undergoing tyrant enhancement, were now covered on their bark and leaf surfaces with black tyrant markings.
Their overall build was tremendously thick, like water towers standing side by side.
Dark blue bark covered in black scale-like patterns, with pale blue luminescent sap flowing within. The tyrant enhancement had made their appearance massive and thick, causing them to glow softly like lighthouses in the night.
Their leaves were semi-transparent, shaped like green feathered fronds.
The European beech was already a timber of outstanding quality in its original state, and after tyrant enhancement, it was even more resilient and solid.
Thirty trees, like thirty blue water towers, exuded an air of extraordinary stability and overwhelming presence.
Locke sensed that this had formed a tyrant domain of convergent evolution toward life magic.
"In this case, the European beech grove will cause all magical plants to evolve in the direction of life magic. Even with my intervention, the magical plants within will trend in that direction." Locke considered, "But there's nothing wrong with that. Because all plants fundamentally belong to the life magic side and touch it at least a little. Which means this tyrant domain is effectively nullified."
This was something Locke had anticipated all along.
For a Forest Sanctuary, a tyrant domain was essentially a burden. A single tyrant domain could influence a large surrounding area, causing convergent evolution among plants and animals.
That was a dead end on the path of evolution.
So to plant tyrant-ization magical plants within the Forest Sanctuary, he needed to resolve this problem.
And the approach Locke came up with was to produce a tyrant domain oriented toward life magic.
Since all plants and animals had some connection to the life magic attribute, a tyrant domain of this nature would effectively be invisible to them.
As for any undead that might enter his forest...
Undead entering a powerful ancient forest would already be suppressed on their own. This would only make that suppression more severe.
Locke gave this no thought at all.
At that point, Locke once again arranged through Witch Mason to hire the elf tribe to help him with the work.
Meanwhile, he returned to Golden Peach Garden himself and spent one and a half million magic stones to purchase three hundred European beeches, moving them into his half-plane.
At the same time, Locke had kept Wizard Warwick, who had come to Golden Crown Mountain, waiting for two more weeks, long enough that Warwick was starting to lose patience.
But Locke wanted to digest his gains before heading into the abyss exploration, and bring himself to the best possible state.
Otherwise, charging into the Abyss Ruins without preparation would be neither safe nor would it allow him to benefit the most.
In any case, let others bear the inconvenience, while he kept the benefits for himself.
If Warwick was anxious, that was his own problem. As long as he didn't demand they leave immediately, it meant he could still wait.
Inside Dragon Blood Market, Wizard Warwick grumbled to his half-dragon maid Ginny, "When on earth is your master going to get going? I've been staying here for two weeks already! Inside the white wizards' main stronghold! I'm genuinely afraid I'll be discovered and arrested."
Ginny looked at him with a complicated expression. After all, Locke had long since told him that his entry this time had been tacitly approved by Witch Yekaterina in secret, with instructions not to report it.
But in this black wizard's mind, it seemed... he believed he had sneaked in entirely on his own.
Ginny offered a polite smile. "Sir, please be patient."
"My young master said that he has a very important experiment going on recently, so he needs you to wait a little longer."
Warwick, refusing to give up, began exaggerating the situation to pressure her. "Time waits for no one. The friend I made an appointment with has probably already been waiting at Jade Splendor Enclave for over two weeks. If it goes on much longer, they might not be willing to join our operation anymore. Can you ask him whether we can leave this afternoon?"
"I've been waiting for two full weeks."
When the maid Ginny heard this, a look of surprise crossed the half-dragon's face. "Oh, is that so? That does sound rather urgent. But the master asked me to tell you that if you truly cannot wait any longer, you are welcome to go on ahead without him."
At these words, Wizard Warwick deflated immediately, his mouth pursing. "Fine, I can still wait a bit longer for your master. Just please give him a nudge."
"I never realized before that he was this good at dragging his feet. Ever since he came to your Cloud Marsh Wetland, he's become more and more sluggish."
Ginny smiled. "My Lord Warwick, you jest."
Ginny boarded the cloud whale and returned to Locke's dormitory, passing through the dimensional gate Locke had left in his dormitory's living room.
At that moment, Locke was watching the scene before him. He had been using large quantities of moss wood pith, along with the Elf Queen, the elf elders, and the hundred Tier 1 wizard apprentice-level elf wizards, to rapidly cultivate a batch of one hundred and seventy tyrant-ization European beeches.
Tyrant enhancement had a failure rate, particularly since the compatibility between the European beech and Type 2 Tyrant Element was not very good, and Locke had not used the Queen's Chessboard to produce a perfect cell combination.
Therefore, of the two hundred and fifty European beeches previously purchased, only one hundred and seventy had survived and completed the tyrant enhancement.
At that moment, Locke planted two hundred of the deep blue water-tower-like tyrant-ization European beeches together, forming them into a grove.
At the same time, his distributed spirit energy network and the Ancient Life Tree began radiating outward, incorporating the grove into his forest.
Locke gritted his teeth and immediately felt an enormous surge of mental pressure. Even though his spirit energy pool was currently at the First Circle crystallization stage, it could no longer contain five hundred and four First Circle magical plants.
Let alone five hundred and four, some of which were the untameable tyrant-ization European beeches!
His attempt to incorporate them into the distributed spirit energy network had therefore failed.
Fortunately, his Forest Sanctuary was now well-established with strong cohesive force. Relying on the three hundred and four original First Circle magical plants, along with the tens of thousands of apprentice magical plants and countless ordinary plants that made up the forest, was still sufficient to suppress and hold down these two hundred tyrant-ization plants.
Furthermore, the Ancient Life Tree, which had already reached the First Circle crystallization stage with magical pressure of 9,999, directly used its identity as the King of Ten Thousand Trees to forcibly subdue the two hundred tyrant-ization European beeches.
Bringing them successfully under the fold of Locke's Forest Sanctuary.
But this also meant that Locke's control over the Forest Sanctuary was diminishing further.
"This was inevitable." Locke murmured to himself, "It's like a company. In the early days of a startup, when the scale is tiny, it can naturally be fully controlled by its founder."
"But as the company grows larger, the founder's stake gradually gets diluted."
"But this works in my favor. Because what use is a small company I can completely control? The same logic applies here. My forest is moving toward becoming an elder-period forest. That serves my interests. But equally, a forest that has become too powerful has already diluted my strength too much on the magical pressure and spirit energy levels."
"If not for the Ancient Life Tree, the King of Ten Thousand Trees, holding things down, the situation would likely be even worse."
"I would very likely be fully transformed into a relatively important tree within this forest, rather than remaining its master." Locke thought further, "Currently my Forest Sanctuary has shifted from depending on my distributed spirit energy network to depending on the relational network formed between the trees of the forest themselves."
"That is to say, it now depends on the natural order of the forest itself."
"To resolve this problem, I would need to become a Second Circle wizard, elevate my magical pressure once again, and after that elevation, improve my spirit energy pool."
The former was straightforward, since becoming a Second Circle wizard was precisely his goal.
But spirit energy and dragon might were both magic of the Mind School. Even if he became a Second Circle botany wizard, that would not make him a Second Circle Mind wizard.
His Grand Magic was grounded in botany!
So whether he could elevate his spirit energy pool to the Second Circle level in the future remained an open question.
Otherwise he would need to find a way to bypass spirit energy entirely.
In any case, at this stage, all he could do was continue researching his Forest Sanctuary while pressing forward.
Locke said to the Elf Queen with gratitude, "Thank you, Queen. It was only with your tribe's help that I was able to upgrade my Forest Sanctuary in just over half a month."
By now, the Elf Queen had already been deeply impressed by Locke's exquisite breeding techniques. The tyrant enhancement technology had truly opened her eyes.
The Queen bowed to Locke and said, "Not at all. It is our tribe's honor to work for Wizard Augustine. This time we truly do not need any wages. The main reason is that being able to participate in and complete such a magnificent project alongside you is truly our honor."
"The excitement in our hearts is beyond what words could ever capture."
Locke gave a small nod.