Chapter 577: Summoning the Great Demon King, Summoning the Three Kings!
Locke placed the Dragon Book into the chess square, and immediately the entire Dragon Book flipped like origami, turning into a paper dragon. The dragon roared, and its spirituality surged rapidly in a short period of time.
Under the pressure of the queens chessboard, its source essence overflowed, and within the chess square, it automatically deduced various historical possibilities of the source essence.
In this process, just as Locke had originally envisioned, the amount of historical material indeed surged.
In just a short moment, with the help of the queens chessboard, his historical material had increased by at least one-tenth in content.
Keep in mind, this was historical material obtained through trading with two Archaeologists!
The total volume was already quite large, but under the activation of the queens chessboard, it experienced an exponential surge in a very short time.
Because Locke lacked energy, he no longer had any control over the direction of the source essence's possibilities, allowing the queens chessboard to automatically deduce the past, present, and future possibilities of these historical source essences.
"As expected, I can reverse-deduce historical materials through source essence."
"The queens chessboard is not only an excellent piece of equipment for my Potionology and Breeding Science research, but also a treasure trove for me to promote the development of Archaeology!"
Locke gave this practice a vivid name—[Historical Reverse Deduction].
Due to historical reasons, source essence undergoes changes. This means that if one can use a Third Ring top-tier Magic item like the queens chessboard, which can deduce changes in the future and past of source essence, one can infer historical transitions through the changes in source essence.
For example, a piece of historical information can be deduced under the effect of the queens chessboard to verify its authenticity, and its various layers of changes can be deduced at the primal force level.
How many variations this piece of historical material has; some variations might not even have occurred in history.
Locke interpreted the historical transitions of the historical materials on the queens chessboard. "The era of wizards has a long history, and the current wizard era is the Modern Magic Era."
"But there are still many past eras."
"Some eras are even buried in the ancient past, unknown even to Archaeologists who are skilled at unearthing secrets from the past. From the historical materials I traded with the two Archaeologists, I can learn that the era before the Modern Magic Era was the Enlightenment Era."
"Black Wizards are products of the Modern Magic Era, while White Wizards are products of the Enlightenment Era."
"One counter-intuitive point is that Black Wizards are newer than White Wizards."
"Before the modern era was the Enlightenment Era; before the Enlightenment Era, it seems to have been the Pureblood Era; and before the Pureblood Era was the Great Void Exploration Era."
"But in the wizard eras before the Great Void Exploration Era, history is unclear and historical materials are incomplete due to various complex reasons. Part of it is because they are too far from the present, and another part is because the Wizard Civilization experienced rapid expansion during the Great Void Exploration Era, to the point of covering up the civilization traces from before the exploration of the Great Void."
"Moreover, the wizards at that time were desperate to explore the Great Void, ignoring long-term interests and digging three feet deep for resources to build primitive void battleships, heading into the void to search for Planes. This led to many historical sites and materials being destroyed."
This further increased the difficulty for Archaeologists to excavate ancient history.
Locke said, "So, after the four confirmed eras—that is, the time periods before the Great Void Exploration Era—wizards lost their linear history. But many eras have indeed been confirmed to exist, though their chronological order is unclear, and they contain many unsolved mysteries—"
"Among them are the Imperial Era, the Age of Stars, and the possibly existing Priestly Era... Every mature Archaeologist may have their own views on this matter."
"Warwick indirectly discovered many historical materials that could conversely prove the existence of the Age of Stars in the Wizard World by excavating Abyssal Ruins."
Locke looked forward and saw countless historical materials being deduced on the chessboard.
One part of it was a piece of historical material from the Age of Stars that Warwick had obtained in the Abyssal Ruins.
It was historical material regarding the Evil-Toothed Hole Wizard Kingdom.
It is said that in the Age of Stars, due to the collapse of the magic empire, many powerful wizards claimed territory and became powerful Witch Kings, establishing magic kingdoms.
Some Witch Kings, to prevent their countries from being invaded, found ways to obtain the power of the Abyss. According to the agreement, after these Abyssal Witch Kings died, they would have their subordinates place their bodies in coffins and seal them within the Abyss Plane.
This was their pact with the Abyss.
Warwick had once excavated the Abyssal Ruins tomb of a Witch King from the Evil-Toothed Hole Wizard Kingdom in the Abyss Plane, obtaining historical materials of the Evil-Toothed Hole Witch King's conquests after gaining abyssal power during his lifetime.
The Evil-Toothed Hole Witch King established a Wizard Kingdom that was considered massive at the time, roughly in the location of the current world's Spiral Basin.
The documents recorded the achievements of the Evil-Toothed Hole Witch King's life. Under the respect and love of his people, he was transported into the Abyss Plane.
The Evil-Toothed Hole Witch King had borrowed too much abyssal power and could not break the contract, so he could only give himself to the Abyss. However, to prevent his body from being polluted by abyssal power after death, he gathered the strength of the entire nation to build a mausoleum for himself and sent it into the Abyss, hoping to use the mausoleum's power to protect himself.
This was also a common practice for those Witch Kings who had borrowed a great deal of abyssal power during the Age of Stars.
But at this moment, the source essence deduction on the queens chessboard automatically filled in segments of source essence, completing the missing parts of that historical material.
First, according to the original historical records, before the Evil-Toothed Hole Witch King's death, his country was being attacked by another magic kingdom, and his kingdom had begun to decline.
According to the character of the Evil-Toothed Hole Witch King recorded in the historical materials, he would never have allowed his country to be destroyed like that. Combined with other clues in the records, the queens chessboard deduced several of the most likely historical continuations.
The most likely one was that after his death, the Evil-Toothed Hole Witch King transformed himself into a lich through the magic circles left in the mausoleum, left the tomb again, and returned to his kingdom to protect it once more.
The evidence was that the historical material Warwick gave him recorded that the Evil-Toothed Hole Witch King's mausoleum had undergone several repairs subsequently, proving that his kingdom's power actually rose after his death. Furthermore, in the subsequent repairs, some very obscure and ambiguous sacrificial words were added for the Evil-Toothed Hole Witch King.
Sacrificial Magic is an ancient, obsolete magic, but many wizards were still using it during the Age of Stars.
The magic in the hands of the wizards at that time was full of primitive and violent characteristics, always using various bloody things to sacrifice to something—most commonly to their own ancestors or their kings.
The sacrificial text mentioned that the Evil-Toothed Hole Witch King was a king who transcended success and failure.
This was not a commonly used sacrificial text for describing undead Witch Kings.
It can be seen that the people of the Evil-Toothed Hole Wizard Kingdom at the time might have minded the Evil-Toothed Hole Witch King becoming a lich, or perhaps the Evil-Toothed Hole Witch King himself minded it.
In any case, although it was so obscure, the queens chessboard captured the clues through source essence deduction and worked out this possibility.
And Locke successfully interpreted it.
Similarly, other historical materials also surged in quantity through this method.
However, these historical materials still needed Locke to interpret and organize them before they could be arranged in the correct order and become truly useful historical records.
This might still take some time.
Previously, he had not even fully interpreted the historical materials he obtained from trading with the two Archaeologists. Currently, he was only using these materials as tools and had not fully digested them as his own.
Although there was no problem with using these historical materials as tools, to go a step further, he naturally needed to interpret them.
Locke exhaled a breath of turbid air. His energy had reached its limit, so even though there was still half an hour left before the 24-hour mark, he stopped using the queens chessboard to deduce the historical materials of the Dragon Book.
The One-Ring Crystallization stage sovereign book can only use [Summoning the Demon God] and truly exert the sovereign's power after the user has undergone training (interpreting historical materials). However, at this moment, Locke recited the incantation.
Locke extended his right hand forward, "I borrow from the past five hundred years, a demonized king who once plagued the world."
Suddenly, a black radiance descended from the void, entering the ground, which then began to ripple and surge like black water.
Next, a suit of samurai armor made of black steel crawled out from the black water, like a vengeful spirit returning from hell.
This was [Summoning the Great Demon King!], a spell that could only be used by a sovereign book at the One-Ring Liquefaction Stage.
This was one of the three major spells for summoning kings of the past recorded in the Witch King Magic Codex.
They were Summoning the King of the Ancient Tomb, Summoning the King of the Dead, and Summoning the Great Demon King.
The fearsome Black Samurai before him, clad in black steel armor and wearing a dangerous bone mask, looked at Locke. Soul-fire flared within its eyes; that was the power belonging to a Great Demon.
The Great Demon King appeared in the form of a high-level undead Black Samurai, essentially being a giant Black Samurai undead.
The moment the Great Demon King was summoned, it would rapidly gather residual combat information from the surroundings, collecting these negative energy particle fields in the form of the modo language and funneling them into the Great Demon King.
This information contained a vast amount of battlefield details, individual combat data, or specifics of spells that had been used.
The three major spells for summoning kings of the past each had a different focus on information gathering, demonstrating different applications of historical data.
At this moment, the Great Demon King's eyes turned toward Locke, and he let out a 'tsk'. "I never expected that I, a war maniac, would actually be summoned by a True Dragon."
"Ancient Dragon, do you also have enemies you wish to eradicate?"
A desire for pure destruction flowed from his eyes. "Please, leave it to me."
Locke observed him. He had just used the personal information of a general from a wizard legion at the One-Ring Liquefaction Stage from five hundred years ago to summon this Great Demon King. This general had been a murderous demon who had killed countless wizards.
Eventually, even the Wizard Academy he belonged to began to fear him.
They gradually realized that some people simply love war.
Locke snapped his fingers, and the Dragon Book flipped open. Simultaneously, a King of the Ancient Tomb, appearing as a high-tier mummy, and a King of the Dead, appearing as a high-tier death knight, descended.
The three spells formed a combination, and all three kings were elevated to a magic pressure of the One-Ring Liquefaction Stage.
"Summoning the Three Kings is a combination spell. It not only elevates all three kings I summon to the One-Ring Liquefaction Stage but also reduces my casting consumption."
Locke noticed that the King of the Mummies, acting as the King of the Ancient Tomb, suddenly twitched, showing a tendency to break free from his control. The next moment, he snapped his fingers, and all three kings of the past dissolved back into pure information.
"With my current level of Archaeology, directly using the Summoning of the Three Kings is still a bit forced. I almost lost control of the spell." Locke thought to himself, "The historical data inside the Dragon Book has increased by at least a tenth. I need to spend a certain amount of time on it every day, at least an hour, reading the records and organizing my own understanding."
Archaeology spells cannot be improved simply by collecting historical data.
As an Archaeologist, Locke needed to organize these records, form his own insights, and compile and verify the historical data. Only then could he increase his spell power and use more advanced Archaeology spells.
Furthermore, the Spell Model of the Archaeology spells themselves required time to study.
Therefore, he still needed to read historical data daily and establish his own understanding.
Locke pondered, "The two Archaeologists I traded with basically focus on trivial historical fragments of the Age of Stars—specifically, Thematic History. Their research into General History and Dynastic History is not very deep at all."
"If I can exchange data with some Archaeologists who study General History, I can learn the General History of the Wizard World. At least I can clarify the main threads of the modern era, the Enlightenment Era, the Pureblood Era, and the Great Void Exploration Era."
Dynastic History was the study of a specific era, which was essentially the General History of that era.
Currently, the three Archaeology Wizards Locke had encountered were all experts in Thematic History.
That is, they researched a specific social culture or other aspects of a certain time period or point, so they lacked a consistent, overarching system.
However, Locke easily understood why this was the case.
For an Archaeologist, only by studying sufficiently ancient things can they obtain the most negative energy particle fields—that is, historical data.
In the four most recent eras of the Wizard World, many negative energy particle field signals had not fully formed, and the depth of history was not profound enough. Thus, not many Archaeologists chose them as research subjects.
Especially in the modern era and the recent past, including the Enlightenment Era and the Pureblood Era, Archaeologists studying these naturally found it harder to progress.
Therefore, there were more Archaeologists researching the Age of Stars.
Locke left the room of the queens chessboard, followed the spiral staircase out of the basement, and walked out of the Feathered Serpent Ancient Pavilion.
He first returned to his dormitory, spent the morning finishing a Project Conclusion Report, and then went to the public Breeder laboratory to find Team Leader Kelt.
At the workstation.
Team Leader Kelt looked up and was startled, because Locke's face was extremely pale and he looked very frail.
Team Leader Kelt said, "Locke, you need to rest. What did you do?"
Locke handed the conclusion report to Team Leader Kelt and said somewhat weakly, "I used the queens chessboard."
Team Leader Kelt's eyebrows shot up, because the queens chessboard was an extremely expensive, large-scale breeding equipment even for a Second Ring Wizard.
As Second Ring Wizards, they had to pay a huge amount of capital just to use the academy's queens chessboard once.
Locke was only doing a second-class funded project, yet he actually needed to use the queens chessboard.
Locke said, "Team Leader, I'm going back to sleep for a while."
Team Leader Kelt immediately dropped the idea of having Locke answer questions and said, "Alright, remember to get some rest."
"Take this white dew peach."
Locke looked in surprise at the white dew peach the other had given him.
The white dew peach was a specialty of Golden Crown Mountain in January. Its effects were to restore energy, replenish mana, and help a wizard adjust their body and mind to escape from a state of extreme exhaustion.
It was a lower-grade version of the water jade peach produced in February on Golden Crown Mountain.
Team Leader Kelt explained, "It was a reward from the academy for completing a small task. But as a Second Ring Wizard, eating a white dew peach has almost no effect on me. Better for you to eat it; the strongest effect of the white dew peach is repairing physical and mental exhaustion."
Locke said to him, "Thank you, Team Leader."
After Locke left, Kelt flipped through the Project Conclusion Report Locke had submitted, reading the details. "An analysis of the mechanism pathways of 26 types of Pineapple-type Magic Plants... As expected of Locke, he even discovered seven new natural magic structural components..."
Kelt sucked in a breath of cold air. "He alone is almost equal to the achievements my entire Group Six has made in ten years, maybe even a bit more."
"Hmm? tyrant element no. 2... It takes up such a large portion of the text; there seems to be a special reason for that."
"But I remember the Overlord Element... wasn't that a key natural magic structural component for a very important industry..."
"Did he discover a second type of Overlord Element within pineapples?"
The conclusion report only contained a simple summary of the results; it had the outcomes but lacked detailed specifics.
Therefore, Team Leader Kelt did not immediately realize that Locke had already adjusted tyrant element no. 2 to a level sufficient for commercial use.
Nor did he realize that tyrant element no. 2 could rival Tyrant Element No. 1 and possessed unique special applications—functions that Tyrant Element No. 1 did not have. It was a special natural magic structure that could change the status quo of a small industry.
Team Leader Kelt whispered, "Specifics will have to wait until Locke participates in the Project Defense."
"I wonder if the Lord of the Throne will attend his defense this time."