Chapter 808: ’The Net’ and ’The Fish,’ The Throne Wizard’s Battle of Ascension

Through this spell model, Locke tried his best to understand the thinking behind the spell. Of course this was only a general impression, and he would still need to use the Queen's Chessboard to run a deduction.

Using the second group's Queen's Chessboard would also work. The second group's equipment was currently reserved for his own use first. His clone using the Queen's Chessboard three to four times would cost only around two million magic stones, and that should be enough to gain a great deal from this spell model.

Locke looked at Witch Stephanie and said, "You may go."

Witch Stephanie looked at Locke strangely, revealing an expression of confusion.

"Go? Go where?"

Locke, looking at the spell model, said, "I have already obtained what I needed from you. You are of no more value to me. I have no need to make a First Circle wizard into my merit, so you may leave."

Witch Stephanie looked at Locke in surprise.

She had never expected that the Eye Demon Wizard would simply release her directly after she handed over the spell model.

No, wait.

Witch Stephanie immediately realized that Locke felt she had no more value, that she was of no more use to him.

Sending her to wizard prison was something that could be done or not done, and Locke clearly found it too much trouble and did not want to bother with such a small matter.

Witch Stephanie had not expected Locke to have such magnanimity. Before this, she had only thought of Locke as an exceptional genius, one of the rare ruthless figures among white wizards, but now she found him completely beyond her comprehension.

The way she looked at Locke was with an upward gaze, looking up not only at his power, but also at his spirit.

Locke had become an existence she could no longer figure out.

Witch Stephanie, afraid that Locke might change his mind, bowed to him and said, "Eye Demon Wizard, thank you for sparing my life. If I manage to escape with my life, from this day on I will hold you in respect and keep three feet of distance from you wherever I go, and carry you in my heart with reverence wherever I may be."

All of Locke's attention was on the Necromantic Lich's spell model, and he paid her no attention whatsoever.

Witch Stephanie, seeing no reaction from Locke, immediately bowed to him respectfully, then walked briskly down the slope of Little Peach Mountain.

She carried within her the exhilaration of having regained her life.

Her heart held bewilderment, and she was moved by Locke's bearing. For the first time in her life, a thought arose within her as to whether she had misjudged white wizards.

With excitement and tension in her heart, she made her way down the mountain and, with considerable luck, did not encounter a single white wizard along the way.

Golden Crown Mountain was a large mountain range made up of three smaller peaks and one large one.

It covered a wide area, and at this moment it was also the time when the fire of the sun descended as a magical tide, so many wizards would not be coming to Little Peach Mountain.

Locke stood at the mountaintop and looked with cold, indifferent eyes at Witch Stephanie at the foot of the mountain. "Since she did not encounter a single white wizard, it must be heaven's own mercy. It is well enough to spare her life. A person's reputation is like a tree's shadow. Leaving this one survivor will make my name carry more weight in the black wizard world in the future."

Little Peach Mountain. At the foot of the mountain, Witch Stephanie felt excitement rising in her as she saw that she had reached Golden Crown Mountain's main entrance. The tree elder at the gate looked up at her and, astonishingly, showed no reaction whatsoever.

Witch Stephanie felt for the first time that life was precious beyond measure, and she even had a sense that when she returned home she could begin life anew, perhaps even changing her habit of harming lives.

...

Golden Crown Mountain's main peak. Witch Yekaterina's divine tree clone sat in her office in the Origin Academy, looking at Wizard Trajan and saying, "Trajan, now that you and Locke Augustine have gone out together, what is your assessment of Locke Augustine?"

Wizard Trajan looked at Witch Yekaterina with a puzzled expression. His appearance was rough and bloodthirsty, but he was in fact a man of great attention to detail beneath the coarse exterior.

Wizard Trajan quickly thought, 'Teacher has already gone to the Genesis Conference. By this timing, she should be one of the main speakers.'

'She is diverting part of her attention at this moment to ask me for my assessment of junior? This is not simple. It may be that teacher is about to entrust junior with that task within the lineage. No, junior's seniority is too shallow, his backing is not large, he has no notable store alliance to speak of, and his Grand Magic lacks sufficient tempering.'

'His foundation is too shallow. By any reasonable measure, that task has nothing to do with him.'

'I am probably overthinking it. She had me come over likely because she has something else to instruct me on.'

Wizard Trajan weighed his words and said, "Teacher, it needs to be looked at from two angles. On the professional side, junior is the wizard in our lineage with the best chance of becoming a Second Circle potion-maker, and moreover he is very kind-hearted. On several occasions I deliberately overlooked my student in his presence to test his reaction, and yet he took the initiative to offer my student a way out of an awkward situation."

"He is not someone who would forget kindness. So the resources of our lineage can certainly have a portion allocated toward him. Observing his daily conduct tells you everything about his character."

"If a person's behavior is bad in ordinary times, then in a critical moment they will certainly betray us as well."

Witch Yekaterina looked at him with a half-smile, and at the same time used a magical iron tong to pick up a piece of thousand-year cold ice and drop it into her tea, then drank it down in one go.

The cold that could directly kill a crystallization wizard was now only able to stimulate the taste buds of her clone.

"Trajan, I have always known Locke's character. My lineage is not lacking in those who flatter and fawn, or who try to guess my intentions, thinking that knowing how to conduct oneself means reading my mind and making me happy."

Witch Yekaterina shook her head slightly, her tone sardonic.

"But I have lived so many years. What is the point of pretending in front of me? As for those who want to use my lineage as a stepping stone, or who rack their brains to squeeze their way into my team in order to stand above others."

"I will never truly trust them."

Witch Yekaterina said, "In a team, the most important thing is talent, and after that character."

"At least, that is the core of how I build a team."

Wizard Trajan said, "On the personal side, junior's personality suits me very well. I do not dislike him at all. In fact, I quite like him."

Witch Yekaterina curved the corner of her mouth with considerable pride.

"Among the same generation, the ones I have the highest hopes for are him, Alexander, Zeno, and Jorn Quis."

"I am looking for someone who can carry out that plan of mine. As you know, we need to find the decisive point that can establish an absolute advantage over the Rose Throne's lineage."

Witch Yekaterina said, "The competition and clashes between my lineage and Anna's over resources are nothing more than mutual attrition, working toward finding a decisive point."

"But Anna and I avoid each other directly. For what purpose?"

Wizard Trajan shook his head with a puzzled frown.

Witch Yekaterina said, "A teacher lineage is like a net. Anna and I are both casting nets. This net can catch many talents and many resources, and can retain both the longitudinal funds flowing from the association and the lateral funds as well."

"Third Circle wizards use this great net of the teacher lineage to harvest from the tide flowing through the major wizard universities the fish they want, meaning talents like all of you."

Wizard Trajan suddenly understood.

"I am not a Third Circle wizard, so I have often failed to see clearly. But now that you say it like this, I suddenly understand. So Third Circle wizards are the ones casting the nets, and you and the Rose Throne have both chosen to cast your nets in the same stretch of the same river. This is why conflict between you and the Rose Throne will occur."

"Because the places where you cast your nets are too close together."

"So what you need to do is not fight each other directly, but find ways to use your nets to disrupt each other's nets."

Wizard Trajan rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"No, that is not right either. If Third Circle wizards are all net-casters, then you are a Throne Wizard and the net-casters in your hands are Third Circle wizards. So it is a net within a net?"

He had already sensed that a great burden had settled upon his soul.

It was cognitive dissonance syndrome.

Witch Yekaterina looked at him and shook her head slightly.

"Both right and wrong. Your overall understanding is incorrect, but the conclusion is correct. It is true that right now Anna and I are positioned in the same stretch of river and need to fight each other for nets."

"That is also why Anna needs the markets under her lineage's members to strike at the markets of my lineage's members. At the end of the day, it is the side with higher capital that holds the advantaged position. So the conflict between the two lineages is in essence a competition in markets, projects, awards, and number of published papers."

Witch Yekaterina said, "Both Anna and I are net-casters, and so we need not face each other directly. And our leaving the Cloud Marsh Wetlands and going to the southern territory is, to put it plainly, precisely casting nets."

"Net within net is correct. This is not a simple model. The nets overlap layer upon layer. Some people think they are within the net and are not. Some people think they are not within the net and yet they are right inside it."

"There are also those who are content to stay within the net, sheltered by it. But what I want are those fish who have the ability to momentarily jump out of the net."

Witch Yekaterina said, "The reason is simple. Even I cannot fully determine at this point which fish are in the net and which are not."

"The same is true for Anna."

"Who is and who is not within the net can no longer be confirmed. So at this time, the only things that can be confirmed are those fish with the ability to temporarily break free from the net. These are the confirmed points."

Witch Yekaterina said, "Anna and I are both competing for these confirmed points. These fish who can jump out of the net, and we hope our respective nets will produce more and more of them."

"The main conflict between Anna and me lies in the Ten-Person Plan."

"But the key individual item is the wedding ring. I need to be able to close out this key individual item ahead of schedule and then use the resources it unlocks to feed back into the Ten-Person Plan."

"As long as the Ten-Person Plan's grant can be successfully closed, I will be able to become a Fourth Circle wizard."

Wizard Trajan was somewhat shaken by what he heard.

"So what teacher and the Rose Throne are competing over is who can become a Fourth Circle wizard!"

This was... this was the battle of ascension.

Today he had heard Witch Yekaterina lay out part of her plan before him, and he was somewhat lost, yet he listened with a feeling of dread in his heart. So this was it. This was actually how things were.

So many doubts he had carried for so long were resolved in an instant upon learning all of this.

But the cognitive dissonance on his soul was growing more severe as well, because the portion of information Witch Yekaterina had conveyed to him appeared to touch on hidden information concerning Third Circle Thrones and the Fourth Circle.

Witch Yekaterina looked at the trace of truth that had appeared on her body, which had a tendency to spill back and contaminate Trajan's Grand Magic and permanent defensive force field.

Witch Yekaterina said, "I am giving you an open-ended task. You need to help me watch the fish within my lineage, record their performances, and see who is capable of undertaking that task to help me close out the key individual item plan."

"Trajan, do not feel pressured."

Witch Yekaterina's clone thought for a moment.

"Right now the names on my better-regarded list are these."

"Eight people in total."

Trajan glanced over them. All were star ring or moon ring wizards.

In other words, Locke, along with Alexander, Zeno, and Jorn Quis whom Yekaterina had mentioned, were not among them.

But that was the normal state of things.

A Throne Wizard's teacher lineage was vast, and Witch Yekaterina's was even more cohesive due to the lineage fund. The powerful fish within this net were many.

Whether it was Locke, Alexander, or the others who had only recently become Second Circle wizards, they were only the newly risen stars at the beginning of this lineage.

The next generation that could truly become the future pillars of the lineage was clearly not among them.

Among the First Circle wizards of this lineage, the talented seedlings were also plentiful.

Wizard Trajan let out a quiet breath of relief.

'I was overthinking things earlier. So what teacher truly wanted me to observe was these eight people.'

'Hmm? No sun ring wizards on the observation list?'

'Right.'

Wizard Trajan thought, 'A sun ring wizard fish is too large a fish, too prominent a target, one that definitely cannot momentarily jump out of the net.'

'Or rather, a sun ring wizard like myself already has an established path. My sun ring grant has already been applied for, and the difficulty lies in closing it out.'

'A sun ring wizard like myself has a development path that is already determined and cannot be easily changed. Or rather, neither teacher nor any of us would be willing to sacrifice the projects already in hand for the sake of two conflicting lineages. For a sun ring wizard, such conflict brings more loss than gain.'

'But these young Second Circle wizards are different. This conflict is actually an opportunity for them. They may well be able to, in this conflict, apply for a project that is highly advantageous both for themselves and for the lineage and teacher.'

Witch Yekaterina said, "Beyond that, Trajan, I would also ask you to keep a slight eye on Locke, not for any other purpose. Just look after him a little more."

"Locke tends to attract trouble, and I am afraid that while I am away, he might provoke someone. Keep an eye on him."

Wizard Trajan smiled and said, "He is your direct disciple and holds a special standing, and he is my junior. I will naturally take care of him."

"Besides, from what I can see of junior, he seems steady and composed by nature, not the kind of person who stirs up trouble."

Witch Yekaterina looked at him with a meaningful gaze.

"Is that so?"

At once, her clone disappeared from the office.

At the same moment, Witch Stephanie had just walked one thousand meters beyond Golden Crown Mountain. She had only just begun to relax slightly when she suddenly heard a voice that made every hair on her body stand up.

'Good day, Madam Stephanie. Good evening.'

'No one who betrays the Pale Pilgrimage gets to live.'

...

One hour later, Locke arrived at the scene. By this time Witch Stephanie had already become a pile of white bones.

Locke looked at this sight with no fear.

"The Pale Pilgrimage has such a long reach? They actually extended all the way here. Never mind, I am busy with research right now."

"I will leave this matter aside for now. In a few days I will kill a couple of the Pale Pilgrimage's Second Circle wizards, which will do nicely for expanding my Forest Sanctuary."

Locke paid no more attention to the skeleton.

He had already released her. It was simply that her superiors had not been willing to release her.

That had nothing further to do with him.