Chapter 789: If It Does Not Add to the Score, What Use Is It?

Locke used the Spiritual Vein Suturer to cut his own finger. A faint green glow emanated from the edge of the grafting knife, and then the knife, following a complex spiritual cutting path, cleanly cut out a complete dragon bloodline from within Locke's blood, severing it along its spirituality.

A single drop of blood fell, hovering in midair.

The Silent Bee let out a word of admiration.

"What a skilled technique, fierce beast. I did not expect you to be able to precisely separate out blood containing a specific bloodline essence."

Locke gave a slight nod.

The wizard civilization system was, in its finer details, truly without fault.

He had only used foundational bloodline studies knowledge, combined with a Second Circle wizard's ability to see planar force and perceive spirituality at depth, to accomplish this with the Second Circle magical artifact Spiritual Vein Suturer.

Of course, his technique was probably somewhat better than that of an average Second Circle wizard.

After all, he had the tiger's eye to enhance his insight.

Locke placed the drop of blood containing his Demon Dragon bloodline into one of the tree's flower buds.

The tree's flower bud bloomed and opened, a branch extending toward him. After receiving Locke's drop of blood, the bud quickly closed again, and the Secret Treasure Tree's branch withdrew.

The Silent Bee fairy inspected the Secret Treasure Tree from above. "Good. All that remains is to wait five years, and a secret fruit will be nurtured."

"Once you eat the secret fruit, you will obtain this portion of the secret."

Locke gave a slight nod. It sounded like some kind of means for enhancing his Demon Dragon bloodline.

The reason he had chosen to place the Demon Dragon bloodline here was this: first, the Demon Dragon bloodline's future was a dead end. No matter how many resources he invested in his current Demon Dragon bloodline, the highest it could achieve was the moon ring level.

The path from the moon ring to the sun ring was severed. The path from the sun ring to the Third Circle was also severed.

The entire independent evolutionary chain of the Demon Dragon bloodline had been deliberately cut off by someone.

Though he still did not know why the Black Sun Tower had done this.

And having confirmed that the Secret Treasure Tree's magic pressure was approximately at the sun ring level, Locke understood the general ceiling of what it could offer.

And so Locke had chosen to place a drop of blood containing his Demon Dragon essence into the Secret Treasure Tree's flower bud, hoping that this casual move might perhaps help him somewhere in the future.

Of course, it was nothing more than a casual move on his part.

He was not certain what the Secret Treasure Tree could actually do, or what its upper limit was. But since it was a gift from the Forbidden Forest to him, he naturally had no reason to refuse it.

Locke looked at the Silent Bee and asked, "Silent Bee, how will I know five years from now exactly when my secret fruit has ripened?"

"And there is one more thing. Earlier a star ring wizard forced his way into the Forbidden Forest. I wonder what he took from within it."

Locke chose his words carefully.

The Silent Bee said, "On this very day five years from now, the secret fruit will certainly have ripened."

"As for what that wizard took from within the Forbidden Forest... that I cannot say."

"The Forbidden Forest is a place where secrets are kept. We do not wish to have everything seen through."

Locke said, "Then let me ask it differently. Because that wizard very likely has a cooperative arrangement with my rival. There is a Third Circle wizard called the Rose Witch..."

The Silent Bee gave a sudden start.

"A Third Circle wizard is your rival? Fierce beast, you truly have great standing."

Locke coughed once.

"More or less. In any case, that wizard established some kind of cooperative arrangement with the Rose Witch. This is my speculation. But I would like to know what he was trying to do."

"So let me ask it differently. Did he take anything away that was not his primary target? Can you tell me that?"

The Silent Bee fell into thought, its antennae touching together.

"Fierce beast, I had no idea you would be so well-connected out there."

"Having Third Circle wizards as rivals shows your ambitions out there are very grand indeed."

"Let me think... that star ring wizard plucked a plant from within the Forbidden Forest."

A light gleamed in Locke's eyes. Then his guess was not wrong. He might well be able to identify the key to the Rose Council and the Pale Pilgrimage's cooperation this time.

"What kind of plant?"

The Silent Bee thought for a moment and said, "Dragon Saliva Sky Line."

Locke paused. He had not heard of this thing before, but he quickly used the water hyacinth system to search for the relevant entry. Very quickly he found it in the Second Circle free section.

Dragon Saliva Sky Line: grows only in locations where a true dragon's saliva has flowed, and only with a certain probability. A perennial herbaceous magical plant of the lily family, with multiple uses. It is the core material for the Dragon Soul Potion.

Locke immediately furrowed his brow.

He searched for the Dragon Soul Potion and found that it was a substance used by summoning school wizards for their giant dragon companions and even true dragon friends, capable of activating dragon clan bloodlines, strengthening the dragon clan bloodline's consciousness, helping true dragons and great dragons enhance their magical force and strengthen their bloodline power.

"Dragon Saliva Sky Line is extraordinarily rare and difficult to find. Compared to other places where it can be located, the Forbidden Forest is probably the least dangerous of those sites. And it is certain to be found here."

A flicker of puzzlement crossed Locke's eyes.

'But they hired black wizards to come to the Forbidden Forest to obtain Dragon Saliva Sky Line. What for? The fact that they hired black wizards rather than sending a proper research team openly indicates that the purpose of using it is certainly problematic.'

"Never mind, regardless of how I look at this, I need to report it to my teacher. Perhaps she can tell at a glance what the Rose Throne is trying to do. Of course, this might also be the work of the Rose Throne's students."

Based only on what Locke currently knew, the Rose Witch had no fewer than four Third Circle wizard students, and there were likely more besides.

Locke thanked the Silent Bee fairy. "Thank you, Silent Bee."

"You have truly done me a great service."

The Silent Bee scratched its own head with its antennae. "Not at all."

Locke said, "Silent Bee, I have great standing outside, which means I am very busy. I must now leave the Forbidden Forest and attend to matters outside."

"Farewell then."

The Silent Bee quickly waved at Locke. "Farewell, fierce beast."

...

At Golden Crown Mountain, Locke's main body was in the library's Second Circle free section, consulting documents and searching for materials relevant to reducing virtual root production costs for him.

To be frank, he had no ideas at the moment.

Because whether it was reducing virtual root production costs, or using various connections to link up with the virtual roots on the Stygian ancient tree, neither of these were things he had any prior experience with.

And so he had no ideas.

Of course, he also had no hope of finding a magical text that would directly give him the answer or something close to it, because neither of these research directions had really been explored by any wizard before.

"The Third Circle free section and the sun ring free section probably have some research on artificial virtual roots, but I cannot access those yet. And even if there is something there, it is unlikely to be very successful. Because if it were highly successful, it would already have been converted into a very successful practical technology by now."

Locke browsed through the documents. He could only read botanical articles, observe their research directions and thinking, summarize their approaches and directions, and gradually build up his accumulation.

Inspiration would gradually surface during this process of reading documents.

Perhaps one day the accumulation would reach a tipping point and a good insight would emerge.

Since he had no ideas of his own, he would simply read more articles first.

After browsing documents for a while, Locke reflected, "Although I have no ideas, I still need to first conduct research on the virtual root cross-sections of the Time Shadow Fern in my possession. My understanding of virtual roots is still far too shallow. This level of knowledge is simply not enough."

"After all, I have a bit of money now. Even if I spend it burning through some virtual root-related research, I can afford it."

Experiments and equipment related to virtual roots were expensive.

But he had the backing of a large group.

The underground laboratory of Group Two's Dune Plane had some equipment he could make use of.

Drawing on what he had learned from reading documents about virtual root-related experiments, Locke drafted several virtual root experiments that could be completed using the public section's experimental equipment for free.

This was equivalent to him only needing to pay for consumables and usage fees.

"Reading only Golden Crown Mountain's free documents is not enough. The Rose Council is the one with comprehensive wizard shoe-related materials."

Locke sat at a library desk, picked up an envelope, and wrote a magical letter addressed to the Rose Council's library.

He was applying for permission to enter the Rose Council library's Second Circle free section and browse their documents for one month.

Locke waved a hand within the library, summoning one of the free-roaming magical owls kept within it, and tucked the envelope into the bag worn around its neck.

"Go. Your destination is the Rose Council."

Very quickly, the owl executed a shadow flicker, its form twisting like an ink-washed painting, and then vanished from where it stood.

...

At the Rose Council's library, a half-elven generalist scholar looked up to find a magical owl appearing before him. His expression became peculiar. "Golden Crown Mountain's insignia?"

"Strange. I have no friends over at Golden Crown Mountain. Who would be writing to me."

This generalist scholar, Mitchell Hart, read the letter Locke had written, and his expression grew increasingly strange.

"Is this not the Red Dragon Throne's student?"

"Wanting to read our Rose Council library's Second Circle free section."

"What a joke. The Rose Throne and the Red Dragon Throne have been at it so fiercely lately. What kind of person is this, to have such thick skin? It is not as though Golden Crown Mountain and the Rose Council have signed any inter-library lending agreement."

"Refuse?"

Scholar Mitchell Hart hesitated.

"But the other party is, after all, the Red Dragon Throne's most personally taken-on disciple. The academic lineage on my side has not come into conflict with the Red Dragon Throne's, and moreover Golden Crown Mountain and the Rose Council's upper levels are reportedly looking to strengthen cooperation recently."

"Jointly facing the great upheaval brought about by the Star Domain Sea's high-magic plan."

"Under these circumstances, refusing outright does not seem wise."

Scholar Mitchell Hart was in distress.

"When all is said and done, this wizard simply has too much nerve, catching me completely off guard. Well, it is only one month. I will give him a one-month borrowing permit."

After this internal struggle, Wizard Mitchell Hart came to his decision.

After all, the academic lineage of the Red Dragon Throne held a fair amount of control over the publication rights of a number of key Second Circle journals, could exert a certain degree of influence over some fund applications, and even held strong influence over the local sacred wizard tribunal in Golden Crown Mountain's region.

Just a few days ago, a Third Circle wizard hostile to the Red Dragon Throne had been handed a significant fine as a result.

The fact that the Red Dragon Throne was, through its control of the sacred wizard tribunal, indirectly strengthening its influence in various areas was something everyone knew.

The reason Wizard Mitchell Hart agreed to Locke's request was his fear of offending the Red Dragon Throne.

However, after sending Locke his reply and issuing a one-month borrowing permit, he immediately logged into the library's management section on the water hyacinth system and revised the management description for the Second Circle free section under his responsibility, stating that wizards who were not enrolled at the Rose Council, or who were from wizard academies that had not signed a borrowing agreement with the Rose Council, were not permitted to enter the Second Circle free section for reading.

This was to block the path of other wizards who might follow in Locke Augustine's footsteps and try the same approach.

And moreover, it ensured that this wizard could only borrow from the Rose Council for one month.

Wizard Mitchell Hart reviewed his reply, checking his tone. Just right, neither deferential nor confrontational, not offending anyone, and no one reading it could accuse him of currying favor with Golden Crown Mountain.

Perfect.

Wizard Mitchell Hart said, "That will do."

...

In the southeastern quadrant, Locke's Ancient Tree Fruit avatar departed the Forbidden Forest. He saw that on the ruins of Virdantia University, the black wizard alliance had been utterly defeated, with the black wizards having all fled.

Some black wizard apprentices were hiding in the ruins. Unable to escape but also believing that surrender would not lead to a good end, they crouched one by one among the complex structures within the rubble, relying on the magical traps they had hastily set up to buy time, waiting for a slow death.

At this moment, the southeastern quadrant's white wizards were conducting a thorough sweep to capture them, killing them the instant they were found.

No words wasted.

At the same time, Hussein had fully subdued Wizard Isaac, who appeared to have also realized that there was no escaping for now.

Hussein found Locke and said, "Locke, many thanks. You bought me the most critical time, preventing me from being besieged by two Second Circle wizards simultaneously."

"If not for your help this time, to be honest, my chances of succeeding were only one in ten."

Locke looked at Hussein and said, "So seeing me appear must have made you extremely relieved?"

Hussein smiled and said, "Indeed."

"As agreed, I will help you carry out your plane exploration. You should have a plane coordinate in your possession."

Wizard Isaac heard this and immediately looked toward Locke with greedy eyes.

A plane coordinate.

At this moment, Wizard Justin was walking toward them. "Wizard Locke, Wizard Hussein, you are both outstanding talents of our southeastern quadrant."

"I wish to thank the two of you for your assistance to the southeastern quadrant, for helping us suppress this rebellion."

"I would like to award both of you the Southeast Medallion. This is a decoration awarded only to wizards who have made tremendous contributions to the southeastern quadrant."

Locke had no opinion on the matter. It was ultimately something that could be taken or left.

Because this thing did not add to the score when competing for a teaching position in the Star Domain Sea.

If it did not add to the score, what use was it.

Hussein, on the other hand, was very interested.

"Thank you, Chairman Justin."

As a covenant wizard, he had good use for this kind of thing that was useful for invoking powerful backing and projecting authority.