Chapter 69: Chapter 69

One week later, in Ashgra City.

The Lord of Ashgra, leading the city's residents and his clansmen, all gathered together in front of the villa where Locke and Gabby were temporarily staying, wanting to thank them.

The Lord of Ashgra bowed to Gabby as she came out, saying, "Respected wizard lords, we represent all the residents of the city and have come specifically to thank you."

"This past week, no new cases have appeared, and those civilians who were previously ill have gradually begun to recover."

"Everyone feels as if they've awakened from a nightmare, discovering it was just a dream. Ashgra City has come back to life."

Gabby nodded slightly, then said, "Good... but Senior Locke doesn't want to be disturbed right now... please go back."

"Senior Locke says he appreciates your sentiment."

The Lord of Ashgra opened his mouth as if to speak but stopped. He looked at the villa, and seeing that Locke didn't come out, he reluctantly gave up and turned to persuade those with mild cases who had initially recovered not to disturb the wizard lords from Lilith's Cottage.

A little girl holding a bouquet of flowers suddenly shouted loudly toward the villa where Locke was staying, "Thank you, wizard lord, may the God of Light always bless you."

Locke saw this scene from the villa's window. Through the window, he waved at the little girl as a greeting.

The little girl giggled in response.

It wasn't that Locke was truly too busy to spare time to meet with these civilians, but rather that it was unnecessary, and there was also a very serious problem.

Having just become a first-class wizard apprentice, he was constantly releasing magical pressure outward. If he came into contact with those mortals, if luck was bad, several civilians with hidden heart conditions might die.

The little girl shouted toward the villa, "Thank you, Lord Augustine."

The common people of Ashgra also joined in thanking him. "Thanks to Lord Augustine."

"At critical moments, we still have to rely on the wizard lords. Those priests in the city were completely useless."

"We can't blame those priests. After all, even the doctors in the city were helpless against the plague, but Lord Augustine hadn't been here for more than a few days before all our illnesses were cured."

"With the wizard lords here, our hearts are especially at peace."

In the afternoon, in the reception room of the villa where he was temporarily staying, Locke finally organized his currently chaotic mana, adjusting the explosively increased mana and restoring order to his magical power.

This was also the reason he had stayed in Ashgra City for a week.

Except for the decreased mana stability caused by the Crimson Echo Potion, all the other explosively increased mana from his advancement had been brought back under his control.

Locke placed his palm on the amethyst matrix he had brought this time, and it displayed the number [220].

Locke couldn't help but sigh with emotion. Teacher Sophia was indeed a First Circle level potion master. The Crimson Echo Potion she had personally crafted had actually increased his mana by a full 25 points.

Not all Crimson Echo Potions were of such good quality. Those Crimson Echo Potions crafted by first-class wizard apprentices who were potion master assistants might only have about half the potency of the one he had taken.

High-quality Crimson Echo Potions naturally brought sufficiently high advancement success rates.

At the same time, Locke looked at his right hand and saw that of the three original Mandrake Vines on his right hand, only one remained.

This was because, during this week of organizing his mana, he had simply synthesized his three Level 6 Mandrake Vines into one Level 7 Mandrake Vine. Follow current novᴇls on NoveI-Fire.ɴet

Moreover, his luck was good. This time a special synthesis formula appeared: [Omen Level 7 Mandrake Vine, a special mutant variety among Mandrake Vines, feeds on enemy thoughts as a supplement, can sense subtle hostility within a hundred-meter range, possesses the special ability to follow hostility and automatically lock onto targets for attacks, while retaining all abilities of the Invisible Mandrake Vine.]

[In addition, the comprehensive performance of the Omen Mandrake Vine is double that of the Invisible Mandrake Vine.]

[In natural environments, the mutation probability of this type of Mandrake Vine is only one in ten thousand.]

Synthesizing Level 7 synthesis items with the Horadric Synthesis Cube required three days to complete.

This brought higher difficulty to Locke's testing of synthesis formulas.

But fortunately, compared to becoming a first-class wizard apprentice with nearly doubled lifespan and at least 200 years of life, this slight increase in synthesis time seemed negligible.

Locke looked at the Omen Mandrake Vine on his right hand. The appearance of the Level 7 Mandrake Vine had changed considerably. First, the thickness and size of all the vine's leaves had increased significantly, with each leaf appearing to be about the size of a baby's palm.

Many deep purple patterns had appeared on the surface of the leaves and vines.

Unlike the light purple patterns on the surface of the Invisible Mandrake Vine, the deep purple patterns of the Level 7 Mandrake Vine were so purple they were almost approaching black.

The main body of the vine was more robust.

The number of poison berries displayed by the Mandrake Vine had also increased several times. Using this more powerful magical plant for Poison Berry Shot would change the number of poison berries fired at once from the original five to more than twenty.

During this week, Locke had also used the complex wild magical plants in the Ashgra Mountains to reconfigure the supporting spell toxins for the [Poison Berry Shot] spell.

The spell toxins originally used for Poison Berry Shot were a mixture of poison dart frog, castor bean, and blue-ringed octopus, but that was only spell toxin used by second-class wizard apprentices.

Now, as a first-class wizard apprentice, Locke had temporarily used the fungi of Corrupt Soil Taro, Maniacal Belladonna obtained from the Ashgra Mountains, and Spasmic Gray Mushroom mixture to create new supporting toxins for the [Poison Berry Shot] spell model.

And he had used the synthesis cube to upgrade this nerve-targeting mixed toxin to Level 7.

First-class wizard apprentices and Level 7 Mandrake Vines could withstand more powerful spell toxins, which was why Locke had temporarily upgraded his spell poison.

Although this temporarily upgraded toxin was just something Locke had formulated based on some potion-related knowledge he had learned from Witch Sophia and wasn't that reliable, not bringing out the optimal effects of the three original toxins.

But first, the fungal toxins of Corrupt Soil Taro were already high-level, and second, Locke had synthesized this mixed spell toxin to Level 7, strengthening it several times out of thin air, making this spell poison reasonably decent even among first-class wizard apprentices.

Locke named this spell toxin he had formulated "Maniacal Toxin."

This spell toxin would attack the enemy's nerves, making their muscles unable to contract and relax normally, causing uncontrollable laughter throughout the body, preventing normal movement. In severe cases, they might even suffocate to death from excessive muscle contraction combined with laughter preventing breathing.

Anyway, if this spell toxin were applied to ordinary second-class wizard apprentices, such effects would very likely occur.

Looking at the Level 7 Mandrake Vine on his right hand, Locke said, "It's about time to finish integrating everything. When I return to Lilith's Cottage, I'll need to systematically upgrade my spell toxins again and learn a higher-level advanced cantrip model for Poison Berry Shot. Only then can I maximize the mana of a first-class wizard apprentice."

"Similarly, I'll need to gradually complete the Level 7 Mandrake Vines after returning to Lilith's Cottage headquarters."

"After returning, I can directly finish learning the cantrip models of the Vine Surge series."

"After returning, I also need to sign new contracts with Lilith's Cottage." Locke thought. "The relationship between first-class wizard apprentices and the academy is more complex, so the academy will sign more contracts with me."

"Similarly, the academy has a whole bunch of benefits exclusive to first-class wizard apprentices. Independent laboratories, independent positions, academy rewards for becoming a first-class wizard apprentice within two years, and so on..."

"It can be said that only by becoming a first-class wizard apprentice can one truly become part of the academy's core strength." Locke calmed his emotions. "After returning, the Super Bull Grass can be immediately sold to Lijin Secret Language."

"Now that I'm a first-class wizard apprentice, I don't need to publish works under my teacher's name anymore."

"Even if it attracts some attention, I have sufficient strength to protect myself, and first-class wizard apprentices can attempt to obtain breeder certificates and become independent breeders."

Locke whispered, "An independent genius breeder, inventing some apprentice-level brand new magical plants, while still outstanding, won't attract special covetousness."

"Once I get my breeder certificate, maybe even the Invisible Mandrake Vines can be sold to Lijin Secret Language, since they're obsolete magical plants anyway."

Locke walked out of the room and called for Gabby. He said to Gabby, "Junior, I'm returning to the academy."

"Do you want to come along?"

Gabby hesitated for a moment, thinking that she had nothing to do staying alone in the Ashgra Mountains anyway. Her reason for staying here was just to take the opportunity to have more contact with Locke, who had become a first-class wizard apprentice at such a young age.

So she said, "Of course, that sounds good, Senior Locke."

After bidding farewell to the grateful mortals of Ashgra City, Locke and Gabby boarded their respective hired carriages and returned toward Lilith's Cottage.

After about two days, they left the remote mountainous area and entered the flat coastal plains of the southeastern quadrant.

After passing through a mortal town called Waterwheel Town, Locke sat in a carriage pulled by three centaur drivers and looked at his right hand. The Omen Mandrake Vine wrapped around his right hand showed its black-purple patterns had turned deep red.

Red to the point of blackness.

That was... a warning.

It was the special supernatural ability of the Omen Mandrake Vine as a rare magical plant, able to sense hostility within a hundred-meter range and feed on hostility as a supplement.

Locke frowned and looked coldly outside the carriage. Ahead was an empty country road that seemed to have nothing unusual about it.

If not for the Level 7 Mandrake Vine's warning, Locke wouldn't have reacted immediately.

"Someone has serious hostility toward me?" Locke quickly thought through whether he had offended anyone at Lilith's Cottage. "I shouldn't have any enemies at Lilith's Cottage."

"That foolish wizard family only gossips about me behind my back. Because I became a breeder's assistant, I've been laughed at behind my back for this whole past year, but we couldn't possibly have such great enmity."

"Forget it, whoever it is, I'll just kill them. I've been so careful, yet someone still targets me, so I'll just kill them all."