629: Ecological Corridor and Subspace Zone
Locke observed carefully and discovered that this demiplane, located in a special region within the void known as the Subspace Zone, naturally carried a magic tide.
Witch Victoria smiled and said, "Because it is in a special Subspace Zone, internal matter will not drift out into the void. Therefore, as long as I introduce the external magic tide into this demiplane, I can give it an environment identical to the basic magic tide of the Yunze Wetland."
"So, was it worth the two million magic stones or not?"
Locke's eyes brightened slightly. "It was worth it!"
If that were the case, then these two million magic stones were very well spent.
This was ten thousand mu of magic fields with a magic tide environment on par with the Yunze Wetland.
Only such a region could support the magic plant forest he envisioned.
Locke decisively took out two hundred magic crystal cards and handed them to Witch Victoria. "Teacher Victoria, here are two hundred magic crystal cards. Let us sign the contract."
Witch Victoria looked at the two stacks of magic crystal cards on the table and was stunned for a moment. Two million magic stones were just small change to her, but for a One-Ring Wizard, it was quite a fortune.
Witch Victoria hesitated for a moment and then asked, "Where are you living now? Is it Golden Horn Town?"
Locke looked at Witch Victoria in confusion and said, "No, Teacher Victoria, I live in the dormitory assigned to me by the university. Why do you ask, Teacher Victoria?"
Witch Victoria took a sip of wizard tea, then smiled and said nothing. "It's nothing, I just think you are young and promising."
"It is rare for a One-Ring Wizard to be able to produce two hundred magic crystal cards at once. These two hundred magic crystal cards could develop two decent projects for a One-Ring Wizard. Of course, if used to truly run a project, this small amount of money is still too little."
"We cannot sign a contract. Because this product of mine is currently just something in the laboratory, but I can consider it a direct trade to you. Your teacher is my best friend, so you don't need to worry about after-sales issues."
Witch Victoria pointed at Locke's right eye, meaning she was trading this contact lens directly to him.
Only then did Locke realize that Witch Victoria's question about where he lived was just to confirm his strength and his background.
Since he lived in the dormitory assigned by the university, it meant that his ability to produce such a large sum of money wasn't because of a background, but because he earned it himself.
That was why Witch Victoria said he was young and promising.
Golden Horn Town...
That seemed to be a famous wizard town on Golden Crown Mountain; perhaps many local wizards of Golden Crown Mountain lived there.
Witch Victoria said, "Well... since you paid so readily, I'll give you a set of golems as well."
Locke was about to speak when he saw Witch Victoria reach out her finger toward the pupil of his right eye and tap it gently.
Immediately, a flash of light fell into the pupil of his right eye.
When that light landed, it became a complete set of one hundred clay golems of various sizes.
Locke looked at these clay golems and saw they were engraved with the trademark of Quinn Joel University.
Witch Victoria smiled and said, "This is a set of agricultural golems worth 500,000 magic stones. They can cultivate land and maintain magic fields for you."
Locke said, "Teacher Victoria, this is far too precious. I cannot accept it."
Witch Victoria smiled and said, "It's fine. This is just a meeting gift for our first meeting."
"Since your teacher sent you to see me, it means you aren't just in a cooperative relationship commissioned by the university, but you are her true student. As her good friend, I naturally must give her student a nice gift."
Seeing Locke's concern, Witch Victoria couldn't help but laugh. "Relax. Your teacher has already paid for this gift with something of equal value. A while ago, one of my close disciples went to her and received a meeting gift of similar price."
"I am merely returning the favor."
"This set of agricultural golems was made by the Alchemists of Quinn Joel University. The clay golems of Yunze Wetland are the most famous, and among them, the ones made by Quinn Joel University are the most renowned. These clay golems can perform various delicate operations; they will not disappoint you."
"The internal alchemy chips are loaded with a lot of data on using Breeder equipment and agricultural equipment. They can handle most simple operations, though they cannot completely replace the help of students."
"Well... some special tasks that require a wizard to complete still need students to get involved. Locke, do you have any students?"
Locke thought for a moment. "Yes, I have two."
Witch Victoria nodded. "That's too few. Since you want such a large demiplane, it means your cultivation area is extremely vast. In that case, that many students aren't enough."
"Wait, you are a researcher at the True Knowledge Institute, right? That explains it."
"Once you obtain a teaching position later, you can have a large number of students," Witch Victoria said. "For now, you can use that set of agricultural golems I gave you."
Locke began to think. He also felt that as the number of magic plants needing to be transplanted into his Forest Sanctuary grew, he indeed needed some students to help him.
Counterintuitively, as his magic level increased, it seemed he needed more and more students.
No wonder many High-Ring Wizards liked to have groups of students.
Many things only a wizard could do had to be performed by those Wizard Apprentices.
'With my two students, the dozen or so students from Witch Mason's side, and the five First-Class Wizard Apprentices I obtained from the previous trade, plus hiring some more people from the agency in the market, it should be enough to get the work done.'
Locke thought to himself.
Before, he had always wanted to avoid leaking the existence of the Forest Sanctuary, but now as he grew stronger and the Forest Sanctuary became even more powerful, letting others know about it was no longer a big deal.
To put it bluntly...
His Forest Sanctuary had currently grown to the point where its health bar was even thicker than his own.
Trying to frontally destroy a Forest Sanctuary that possessed an Ancient Tree of Life was extremely difficult; it was almost equivalent to making an enemy of an entire ancient forest with a backbone.
After thanking Witch Victoria, Locke turned and left the shop. This way, he still had six hundred magic crystal cards left.
Plus, in half a month, he would receive a transfer of thirty more magic crystal cards from the Goblin Family Bank. He was currently very wealthy.
Locke first returned to his dormitory to examine the hundred clay golems in the demiplane, confirming there were no issues and gaining a preliminary understanding of their functions. Then, he called for Gregor and Williams.
At this time, Williams' magic pressure was already 790, very close to 800, while Gregor's magic pressure was 750. Over the past half-year, Gregor had made good progress.
Locke told the two of them his plan to move the Forest Sanctuary into the demiplane, and both expressed their willingness to help Locke complete this massive project.
Williams said, "It's just that, Teacher, with only the three of us, isn't that a bit too few people?"
"I feel like it might take us several years to finish moving everything."
Locke said, "I have a complete set of agricultural golems worth 500,000 to help us move. It's just that during the process, maintenance and some details will need people to handle them."
"Of course, manpower is indeed a bit lacking."
Locke thought and said, "I will call Witch Mason and the others and bring their students. If there are still not enough people, I can hire some from the market."
However, hiring First-Class Wizard Apprentices from the market meant a mix of unreliable people. Even if he didn't need to care about the secrets of the Forest Sanctuary as much as before, letting outsiders come into contact with it was still not ideal.
Perhaps he could ask Team Leader Kelt. He had been operating here for a long time and had many students; maybe he could borrow some people from him.
Gregor hesitated for a moment and raised his hand, looking like he wanted to say something but was holding back.
Locke said, "Speak up."
Gregor said, "Teacher, I have recently come into contact with the tea master industry. I want to... try becoming a tea master, so I privately signed up for a tea master course. I don't know if you would agree, but I might not be able to help you with the work lately..."
Locke was stunned for a moment. "This is the first time I've seen you take such initiative. But of course, you can. Where did you sign up for the course?"
Gregor said, "Teacher, I signed up at the Preston White Dragon Tea Room in the Dragon Blood Market. I heard the instructor is a One-Ring stage Wizard, Lady Afra Valentine."
Locke frowned slightly. Wasn't that an industry belonging to Witch Preston's family?
He took out the Wish Lingzhi and directly asked Witch Preston, whom he had added as a friend earlier, through the water gourd system, explaining the basic situation.
Witch Preston instantly sent him a reply. "Hmm? Afra Valentine? That's a witch from another school. And she's just an ordinary One-Ring stage witch; her strength is quite limited."
"However, her marketing skills are very good, and she's great at self-promotion, so I let her sell tea master classes. But honestly, her foundation is very average; I think she's a bit of a poor teacher. Your student wants to take her class? Oh, better not. Give me his name, and I'll arrange a teacher for him."
Locke sent the name to Witch Preston.
Witch Preston replied with an 'OK' emoji and then sent a message. "The third-place Witch Julian refused to participate in the Plane Conquest Tournament. That girl really doesn't consider the collective interests of Golden Crown Mountain. So, the people who will be participating in the Plane Conquest Tournament with you are me and Antoine."
"I don't understand why a guy like Antoine would agree to go together."
"Little brother Locke, let's get along well during the competition in half a year. My parents said that participating in the Plane Conquest Tournament is very beneficial for constructing Great Magic, so they told me not to refuse."
Locke sent her a thumbs-up emoji.
AI Model: gemini-3.1-flash-lite
Then, Locke looked up at Gregor and said, "Gregor, I asked a friend about the teacher you originally signed up with, and it turns out they are extremely unreliable."
Gregor's expression shifted slightly. "Then what should I do… Teacher, I've already paid the money, one thousand magic stones."
Locke said, "I've arranged another teacher for you. Just go to those classes; you don't need to worry about the rest."
Gregor looked at Locke with eyes full of awe.
He hadn't expected that Locke could have so much influence even within a shop in the Dragon Blood Market.
Just by contacting one person, he had arranged a better teacher for him.
Gregor immediately bowed to Locke. "Thank you, Teacher."
Locke nodded. "However, during this time, you still need to help me with some work. At the very least, you must help me finish moving the Forest Sanctuary."
Gregor nodded immediately. "Understood, Teacher."
Thus, the next day, Locke gathered a group of people and began moving his Forest Sanctuary.
Witch Mason and the others brought their students into Locke's Forest Sanctuary for the first time. Looking at the terrifying ancient forest before them and the hundreds of One-Ring Magic Plants, they couldn't help but marvel.
First… Locke was truly incredibly wealthy.
At a glance, they realized that Locke's investment in his Forest Sanctuary must be between three to four million magic stones.
Second, a peculiar power flowed throughout the forest.
It was two types of Mist's Power, along with an ancient force the forest possessed after absorbing the night meteor.
Witch Mason looked up at the Ancient Tree of Life in the center of Locke's forest, slightly amazed. "The Ancient Tree of Life! So, this kind of miraculous magic plant really does exist in this world."
Wizard Barrett and Witch Freya also wore expressions of astonishment.
Their students followed behind them.
Locke replied, "Mason, I remember a wizard named Edgar David at Quinn Joel University. I competed against him in the Cloud Marsh Cup before, and he had quite a few Ancient Trees of Life in his possession."
Witch Mason laughed. "But this is our first time seeing an Ancient Tree of Life. Still, thank you, Team Leader Locke. I didn't expect you to trust the three of us so much."
Locke said, "Well, after all, we are a small team."
Witch Freya straightened her face and sternly reprimanded the five students behind her, "Be careful later, and don't be clumsy. If you break anything and ruin my team leader's plans, I won't spare you."
Witch Freya was quite strict with her students. "Did you hear me!"
The five First-Class Wizard Apprentices immediately tensed up, their muscles stiffening. They hurriedly assured her that they would work diligently and obey Wizard Augustine completely.
Wizard Barrett said, "Freya, you're being a bit too strict with your students. You were just complaining to us earlier about how Team Leader Kelt used to be too harsh."
Witch Freya said with distress, "That's because you haven't seen my students causing trouble and me having to clean up their messes. I gradually realized that if you aren't strict with your students, when they make a mistake and things get out of hand for everyone, it becomes your responsibility as their mentor."
Witch Freya looked at Locke and said, "Team Leader, where should we start working?"
Wizard Barrett scratched his head and said, "Locke, your forest is already a seamless whole. I don't think we should move the trees one by one. That would destroy the integrity of the forest. How about we use golems and all these First-Class Wizard Apprentices to excavate the entire forest at once, and then move it into the Chrono-Light contact lens you recently acquired?"
Locke nodded. "That's my thought as well."
"Because only wizards can set up magic arrays, I need enough students, and the three of you here to help, to set up hardening arrays on every piece of land at the base of the forest. Then, I plan to divide the forest into over three hundred sections and move them into my new Plane piece by piece using the golems and students. This is a time-consuming project, but I want to finish it as soon as possible."
"It would be best to complete it within a week."
He was about to go explore the Abyssal Ruins soon.
Wizard Barrett fell into deep thought. "Finish within a week, huh? With so few of us, we'd be lucky to finish within a month."
Witch Mason looked at Witch Freya and said, "Freya, why not call those friends of yours to come help?"
Witch Freya hurriedly waved her hands. "No, no. The Team Leader's Forest Sanctuary is a secret. Those friends of mine are just fair-weather friends; it's fine to hang out with them, but having them do such important work is absolutely out of the question."
"If something went wrong…" Witch Freya glanced at Locke and spread her hands, saying, "I would die of guilt."
Witch Mason frowned and looked at Locke, saying, "Locke, there is another way."
Locke said, "Mason, what is it?"
Witch Mason said, "I am good friends with a female leader of the Green Elves in the Golden Crown Mountain Region. Their tribe has dozens of female elves equivalent to First-Class Wizard Apprentices. I can ask for her help; she is a close friend of mine, so she is absolutely reliable. If we have their help, we can definitely complete the relocation work within a week."
Locke nodded slightly.
It seemed that his three team members each had their own connections.
But that was normal; they were all wizards at the Crystallization Stage of the True Knowledge Institute, so naturally, they each had their own social circles and could leverage significant resources.
Bringing them together to brainstorm was naturally the way to quickly find a solution to the problem.
Thus, Locke started working with the others, and then had Witch Mason leave immediately to find the friend she mentioned to come help.
Locke and the others first used iron shovels to dig around the soil at the base of each tree, and then attempted to enchant the soil balls at the roots with hardening arrays to facilitate the relocation. The group began to get busy.
While Locke was busy with this, he didn't forget to write a letter to ask questions of the Sun Ring Wizard from the Rose Council.
In an independent office of a Sun Ring Wizard at the Rose Council, Master Floramancer Lana Alvarez had a strange expression on her face. Looking at the student before her, she suddenly stopped listening to his progress report and instead asked this cooperating student, a One-Ring Wizard from the True Knowledge Institute, "Fleming, there is a letter here from a One-Ring Wizard in the Golden Crown Mountain Region. He keeps asking me for details about an article from thirty years ago. Do you think I should reply?"
Fleming wiped the sweat from his forehead because Witch Lana was his cooperating mentor, his teacher.
Fleming didn't know why Witch Lana would suddenly ask such a question while he was reporting on the research progress of a fourth-tier fund project.
His mind was completely in chaos, and he was wondering if Witch Lana was testing him by speaking this way.
"Teacher, isn't this wizard from the Golden Crown Mountain Region a bit too bold, daring to write a letter to a Sun Ring Wizard to ask questions? You aren't even his teacher."
Witch Lana nodded, deeply agreeing. "That's why I haven't paid him any mind before. Who knew he would be so persistent in his writing, so fond of writing letters to me. Oh, right, he also offended many Floramancers at the True Love Festival on September 1st."
"He offended our Rose Council."
Wizard Fleming immediately thought he understood Witch Lana's intentions and immediately pretended to be angry in front of her, empathizing, "If we don't deal with such a madman, he should consider himself lucky. To think he still has the nerve to write letters to you, Teacher… You could write back and berate him."
Witch Lana's expression shifted slightly, and then she glanced at Wizard Fleming, saying, "Fleming, your mind is truly too narrow; you have talent but no virtue. That's why I don't think highly of you."
"Since this wizard has read an article of mine from thirty years ago and persists in writing to ask me questions, I should naturally write back to him. How could I be as petty as you? What do you take a Sun Ring Wizard for!"
Wizard Fleming was immediately frightened and bowed to Witch Lana, while internally wanting to cry.
'Why do I get scolded by my mentor no matter what I say!'
'Wasn't it she who started it, asking me to criticize that wizard? I was just following her lead.'
'I can't take it anymore! Mentor Lana is capricious; after she looks at my progress report later, she'll definitely scold me again. I can't take it anymore, I want to drop out!'
Wizard Fleming thought distressingly, 'This is more terrifying than my promotion to Official Wizard. I am truly too unlucky.'
'Witch Lana's mood is as mercilessly changeable as a hibiscus flower, fickle and unpredictable like a chaotic system. I am a Official Wizard, after all; can she stop scolding me like this!'
'If I had known, I would have gone to ask the cooperating wizards who finished their tenure with Witch Lana, or those who left, before coming here. A miscalculation. I was just too busy before.'
Witch Lana picked up a magic quill and began to write on the envelope, 'Hello, Wizard Augustine. Your persistence has moved me. You have a great spirit of inquiry.'
'That