Chapter 823: The Beginning of Planar Exploration, the Void Magic Cube, and the Eye of Truth Code!

After giving a few more instructions to Witch Mason and the others, and getting the contact information Wizard Zhuoma had left, Locke added the other party as a friend on his spiritual mushroom.

Locke continued to use the crucible to cook some more Yellow-Robe Mushrooms, extracted the Yellow-Robe Mushroom extract, then repeated the previous procedure and began the atavistic evolution of the Blue Foxtail again.

This time the Blue Foxtail succumbed during the sixth soak in the diluted Yellow-Robe Mushroom extract, in the atavistic evolution it produced.

"There is a special energy that is disrupting my atavistic evolution."

Locke thought, "This has turned what should have been a simple matter of collecting experience data into a difficult obstacle to overcome. To break that special energy is actually quite straightforward. By using the archaeological spell model Historical Reenactment, I have already drawn out that undead energy. As long as I can eliminate that aberrant dragon within the Historical Reenactment, I can remove this special energy."

Locke looked at the Blue Foxtail that had withered and died before him. "The optimal dilution ratio for the Yellow-Robe Mushroom extract should be one part extract to seven parts White Jade Aloe juice."

"Eliminate that aberrant dragon? That is a sun ring-level existence."

Locke fell into thought.

"No. That is not right. It is not a sun ring-level existence. It manifests in the form of a sun ring-level true dragon within the Historical Reenactment spell model."

"If the opponent were a sun ring-level undead creature, I would have a way to deal with it easily within the Historical Reenactment spell model. I would only need to set up counter-undead magic to suppress undead creatures with ease. But the problem is that it is a sun ring-level dragon race. I have nothing at hand that can counter the dragon race's power."

"So this has become a difficult obstacle. I can only proceed with Golden Foxtail Grass for the atavistic evolution."

Locke remained calm.

"There is no rush. I must stay composed. First, confirm why Blue Foxtail came to evolve into Golden Foxtail Grass in a later stage. The Cloud Marsh Wetlands has done far too little research in this area."

Locke thought for a moment, then asked on the water hyacinth system whether Wizard Kelt knew any breeders specializing in foxtail grasses.

Wizard Kelt sent back a reply.

"You would need to go look carefully in the Twilight Border. The Twilight Border now has only a handful of people left and has long since declined, so you only need to focus on the Golden Dynasty Wizard University."

Wizard Kelt's one sentence was like a light cutting through the fog.

After thanking him, Locke thought, "I can investigate wizards in the Twilight Border who have done research in this area, then find a way to look at their materials. If I cannot access them, I will write a letter. Ask the person directly."

"I just do not know what the academic atmosphere in the Twilight Border is like, and whether they will respond to me."

Locke walked to another acre of magical field, which was filled with half-finished Great Blood Wave Bromeliad wizard shoes, or rather, Great Blood Wave Bromeliads without virtual roots.

Locke applied an accelerated growth spell to catalyze the growth of these magical plants, then used Flowers Bloom and Fall to obtain a pile of magical plant seeds from them.

Since virtual roots were not needed, these half-finished Great Blood Wave Bromeliads were in essence a pile of oversized First Circle magical plants.

Using Flowers Bloom and Fall to sacrifice the mature plants and obtain seeds required very little of his energy and consumed very few resources.

Very quickly, a hundred seeds fell into his hands.

As arranged, Locke met with Witch Scarlett at the Witch's Kitchen in the Blood Dragon Assembly on Golden Crown Mountain, placed a hundred Great Blood Wave Bromeliad seeds in a fist-sized cloth bag, and handed it to her.

Locke reminded Witch Scarlett, "There is one thing to note. This batch of magical plants is different from the previous ones. Once they grow into seedlings, one additional round of bridging-graft cultivation must be applied, and only after that should the normal cultivation process continue for them to grow to full maturity. Only then will they become complete Second Circle magical plants."

Witch Scarlett listened and frowned. "My side has many high elven breeders with special racial talents. They should know how to do this. But..."

Locke handed her a bottle filled with the Super Jaeger Dream Blossom's fragrance.

"This is the key to entering the shared virtual root system I developed. It already contains my magical power and has been granted the power of Ephemeral Dream."

"Simply open the cap, and a trace of fragrance will drift out. The breeders on your side can then enter the dream space of this shared virtual root system, where they only need to graft my bromeliad seedlings with a Time Shadow Fern within that dream space."

"The bridging method is only a slightly more in-depth form of the grafting cultivation method. It is not too difficult."

"Also, here are the materials. I have already organized a copy. Just give it to them to look over."

Witch Scarlett took the materials and a bottle of Jaeger Dream Blossom fragrance from Locke, understanding only about half of what had been said.

A shared virtual root system... dream bridging...

Each one sounded like the idea of a genius.

Witch Scarlett said, "Does this not mean that all future pure magical plant wizard shoes can be grafted onto the shared virtual virtual root system you designed using this method?"

"Then our production cost will indeed become very low."

Witch Scarlett said, "I see the pre-sale has already reached nearly ninety pairs. It will not be long before all one hundred are sold. Quality wizard shoes at this price are rare right now. Many wizards, especially those who need to go into the void, have a demand for wizard shoes that is largely a hard necessity. Before, they could make do with various makeshift solutions, but now with our Augustus they have a better choice."

Locke gave a slight nod.

"The Great Blood Wave wizard shoe is only the basic model. I will use it as a starting point and design better ones."

"All right, Witch Scarlett, let us stop here for today. I will transfer the production capital of forty-five million magic stones to you. If you have any questions, you can come discuss them with me. Remember, this is the first time our Augustus Wizard Shoes does business in the Second Circle wizard shoe market, and we cannot afford any mistakes."

Witch Scarlett bowed to Locke, "Of course, Lord Locke. I will be watching every step personally. For this I specifically applied to travel to the High Elf Great World."

"That way we can all feel at ease."

"Building Augustus Wizard Shoes into something real is our shared interest. By the way, do you have any specific ideas for your second Second Circle wizard shoe?"

Locke originally had no ideas, but for some reason, he suddenly recalled the golden magic cast by the aberrant dragon he had seen in the Historical Reenactment spell model: Sephiroth's Grasp.

That sun ring-level Grand Magic that inverted all things had made a deep impression on him.

And he seemed to have gained much inspiration from it, which all came welling up at once.

Locke said, "Yes, I have some inspiration. The second wizard shoe may be related to golden magic."

Witch Scarlett paused, seemingly not having expected Locke's second Second Circle wizard shoe to be related to golden magic.

She took out a small notebook and recorded it with a magical quill.

"Understood. Recently some journalists have come to do interviews. I will let slip a little of your plans. Just a little, to whet certain people's appetites."

Witch Scarlett looked at Locke and said, "Lord Locke, you are now a wizard shoe designer of some renown. And the most unusual wizard shoe designer at that."

Locke gave a slight nod. "All right. I have other appointments today. Let us stop here for now."

Locke left the Witch's Kitchen and headed directly to a planar exploration service shop in the Blood Dragon Assembly's market.

This shop was called the Otherworldly Peach Garden.

Locke walked in. The shop's owner was a Second Circle wizard wearing a felt hat, who looked up at Locke and said, "What service can I help you with? Are you looking to rent a void flyer, or to purchase a flight route? Oh, and would you like to try your luck at a draw?"

"Anyone who makes a purchase in our shop can participate in a draw."

The Second Circle wizard produced a paper box. "Inside are many slips of paper. You can draw one at random."

Locke asked, "What can be drawn?"

The Second Circle wizard said, "Many things. The most valuable prizes are void coordinates for small planes or comet planes."

"There are also some special void services."

Locke shook his head.

"I am planning a planar exploration, so I am here to purchase a Void Magic Cube."

The Second Circle wizard's eyes immediately lit up.

"A Void Magic Cube? That is quite a large transaction. You must be planning to explore a mid-scale world."

"Ordinary void exploration would not require such expensive equipment."

The Void Magic Cube was a single-use item that cost five million magic stones per use.

This had been mentioned in the void exploration materials that his senior, the one who had hidden his own name, had previously given him.

A wizard could not simply get a planar coordinate, assemble an exploration team, board a void flyer, and fly directly there.

That was completely impractical.

Void navigation was extremely dangerous. Who knew whether the coordinates were correct, what the current state of that plane was, or what level of civilization existed there at this moment.

Hence the need to purchase a Void Magic Cube.

The Void Magic Cube was an entire series of magical artifacts designed by wizardry alchemists. Its primary function was to receive a void coordinate, after which the cube would fly toward the void target.

The Void Magic Cube would collect basic information about the plane and then return, bringing the information back to the wizard who sent it out, allowing the wizard to learn the fundamental information about that world.

For a Second Circle wizard, just bringing back a small portion of that world's planar force was sufficient to understand a great deal.

When the Void Magic Cube was sent out, it could also carry certain things with it. Some wizards liked to first store some of their magic within it, so that when the Void Magic Cube landed in that world, the magic would be released.

However, more and more white wizards had abandoned this practice.

Because it was very likely to prematurely destroy the civilization in that region, resulting in their civilization credit points being wiped clean, leading to a series of unnecessary economic losses afterward.

Of course, as Locke was aware, many black wizards had no qualms about this at all. They would inject undead magic into the cube, having it carry the undead magic to that world first, creating an undead catastrophe in advance and constructing summoning formations to assist subsequent exploration teams in their descent.

The Second Circle wizard's eyes brightened.

"What type of Void Magic Cube do you need? There are many versions. The most basic is the classic type, five million magic stones each."

"But there is also the Casimir Void Magic Cube, which can carry more magic. It can carry eight times the magical power, and costs twenty million magic stones each."

The Second Circle wizard turned around, took a magical box from the shop's shelf, and opened it to reveal a nail-sized green cube inside.

"This is the Dozier Void Magic Cube. Three million magic stones each. This type can influence the local life forms in the moment of landing, so that when we wizards explore that plane, there will be a batch of lifeforms more sympathetic to our wizard world."

"Worth mentioning is that this batch of lifeforms may well have magical talent. You understand what I mean."

Locke nodded.

"They are all fine. I only need one basic-model Void Magic Cube. And I recall your shop offers a pay-later option."

The Second Circle wizard's expression immediately cooled.

"Pay later? That is available. However, it must be settled within thirty days, and this is credit payment. So I need to check your civilization credit points. If they are below nine hundred and fifty, that will not be acceptable."

"Also, this is a Red Dragon Throne shop."

"If you default afterward, you will find out what it means to have nowhere to run under heaven or on earth."

Locke was mildly taken aback. He had previously known that many of the shops within the Blood Dragon Assembly belonged to his teacher, but had not expected the wizard behind this shop to also be his teacher.

Locke coughed once, then recited a spell to summon the Eye of Truth.

The Eye of Truth displayed his civilization credit points.

The Second Circle wizard, seeing those one thousand civilization credit points, visibly relaxed.

Because very few Second Circle wizards could boast such a perfect score of one thousand.

This indicated that Locke was either a very trustworthy Second Circle wizard or a wizard very skilled at maintaining his civilization credit points.

At minimum it proved Locke was not someone who had come to take advantage for free.

The Second Circle wizard shopkeeper recorded Locke's Eye of Truth number, which was the special code corresponding to the Eye of Truth that each wizard summoned.

A wizard could only have one such code in their lifetime.

He said, "Very well then. Sign an agreement, and you can take one basic-model Void Magic Cube directly. Remember to settle it within thirty days. Otherwise you will face severe penalty fees for breach of contract."

He gave Locke a suspicious look and emphasized once more, "This is a Red Dragon Throne shop, you understand. Do not think about looking for a contract-breaker. I have already noted your Eye of Truth code."