634: Dune Plane and Group 2's Research Content
Inside the peach garden, there were some Wizards on patrol, along with various types of Peach Tree Treants standing watch.
The moment Locke and the other three Wizards approached, a patrol Wizard at the First Ring Crystallization Stage immediately fired a magical glow toward them.
Once the application letter given to him by Witch Catherine on Locke's person released a corresponding magical glow toward the patrolling Wizard, the hint of vigilance in the eyes of those patrolling Wizards vanished instantly.
The leader of the patrolling Wizards nodded to the landing Locke, Witch Mason, and the others, saying, "This is the summit of Little Peach Mountain, the Little Peach Mountain Garden, managed by the Security Department."
"It's just that our captain... Lord Paul, a Second Ring Wizard, has temporary business and had to go to the Seven-Colored Nursery to give a lecture, so he isn't here."
"The four of you, with your application forms, may pass through the Number 31 'Peach Tree Gate' to enter the Colonial World you are heading to."
"Please handle all specific safety matters yourselves; it has nothing to do with our Security Department anymore."
"However, all the worlds here have been specially treated. They aren't unexplored unknown worlds, so the principle of the world of each major world holds no hostility toward us Wizards. Entrances to worlds that pose a direct life-threatening danger to us Wizards will not be opened here."
Locke nodded slightly and said, "Thanks for the reminder."
The Security Department was the domain of the Patrol Executive Team, so most of the Wizards in this seven-member patrol team of Official Wizards before him were likely from the Patrol Executive Team.
Golden Crown Mountain has a vast business and many factions.
Locke, Witch Mason, and the others entered the Little Peach Mountain peach garden and walked inside, finding the thirty-first Peach Tree Gate. They saw the branches of this peach tree curving downward to meet the ground, forming an archway of twisted peach wood.
The magical seal on the application form in Locke's hand automatically emitted a magical glow, and suddenly, a scene of endless yellow sand appeared behind the peach tree archway.
Clearly, this peach tree archway had already linked to another world.
Locke led the three Wizards inside. As soon as they crossed through, they found that the peach tree archway behind them was gone, replaced by endless yellow sand.
The sky was yellow sand, and the earth was a vast expanse of yellow sand; as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but yellow sand.
The moment Witch Mason opened her mouth, it was filled with sand, and she immediately began to cough.
Locke glanced at her, and his Eternal Defense Field Life Force Field manifested, enveloping all four of them within it.
The yellow sand filling the air struck the Life Force Field, constantly producing violent impact sounds.
Witch Mason finally managed to clear the yellow sand from her body before she could speak: "What's wrong with this world? As soon as we enter, it's a desert. And there isn't a single living thing here!"
Witch Freya frowned and said, "And the sunlight is so harsh!"
She quickly took out a box of ointment potion made by a Potion Master from her astral ring and applied it to her skin.
"The sun in this world is too big. Group Leader!"
Locke looked up at the sun in the sky. He saw that the sun of this world was not a sphere hanging high in the sky, but rather like a mountain range situated within this world. It was massive in size, and its scorching heat burned the earth; atmosphere, clouds, and water vapor no longer existed.
The entire land was completely yellow sand, and some parts of the desert had even developed large amounts of glass.
Just how harsh was this world?
Roughly speaking, if a Third-Class Wizard Apprentice came to this world, they would face the risk of being killed within an hour by the glass shards mixed in the sand.
Or even earlier, they would be scorched to death by the intense heat. Locke even suspected that even a First-Class Wizard Apprentice would die here from the high temperatures.
It was only a matter of how long they would last.
Locke extended his palm and found that there was almost no magic tide in the entire world. Therefore, upon entering, it was difficult to replenish magical power from the outside, and he could only rely on the magical energy stored within his own body.
Clearly, Witch Mason and the other two had also noticed this.
However, Locke was different from the three of them because he had a demiplane entrance in his right eyeball. Inside the demiplane was a five-thousand-acre Forest Sanctuary. If his internal mana ran out, he could use the mana from that forest.
If the forest's mana ran out, he could absorb the magic tide of that demiplane.
The entire Forest Sanctuary had completed its energy self-circulation, acting like a magic tide production engine that never rested day or night. Therefore, he didn't need to worry at all about being unable to replenish his magical power.
Wizard Barrett said in a low voice, "This is essentially a dying Plane. What kind of research is Group 2 doing here?"
Locke tossed a stalk of Shadow Eye Grass high into the air while protecting it with his Life Force Field. Then he closed his left eye, linking his left eye's vision with that of the Eye Grass.
Immediately, as the Eye Grass rose in height, a bird's-eye view of this world fell into Locke's eyes. "Barrett is right. It's not just this region that's a desert; the entire world has turned into a sea of yellow sand or piles of glass shards."
"In some areas, surging lava is erupting from cracks in the earth. Hmm, it's as if this Plane is bleeding."
"There are almost no plants and no buildings remaining. Plant communities themselves are important magic tide production bases, so the magic tide of this world has almost vanished. Only some mana leaking from underground replenishes the world's magic tide. But the problem is, that sun is too close; it has destroyed this Plane's atmosphere, meaning that even if a large amount of mana leaks from underground, this Plane cannot retain it..."
"Mana is continuously leaking out through the holes in the atmosphere."
As the Shadow Eye Grass rose higher, the emerald-green Life Force Field barrier began to distort under the destructive force of the high temperatures.
The Eye Grass tilted upward, revealing a massive hole in the atmosphere above this Plane.
Furthermore, the elemental barriers that originally protected the Plane and isolated void energy and external energy were also riddled with many large holes.
The sky of this Plane was even incomplete.
In many places in the sky, the elemental barriers of the Plane were directly exposed, rather than the sand-colored sky.
The edges of the Eye Grass, which had risen too high, especially the green leaves, began to curl.
Locke looked down with his right eye and saw a small cactus ball growing at his feet. "Hmm... but this world cannot be considered completely dead. Unexpectedly, in these small corners, there are still some small plants struggling to survive. It's quite surprising."
Just as Locke finished speaking, a massive storm triggered by the sun's high temperature blew toward them.
Because the entire world had become a smooth desert, this gust of wind triggered a gargantuan sandstorm.
The scale was unimaginably vast.
In his past life and in the Wizard World, Locke had never seen such a large-scale sandstorm anywhere. Its height of several thousand meters seemed capable of destroying everything.
The sandstorm, taller than a mountain range, slammed toward the four of them like a collapsing mountain.
Any living being facing such a natural disaster would surely be crushed to pieces, or before that, be blown away by the gale and have their body shattered by countless grains of sand.
However, the four of them had no worries about this.
Although the sandstorm before them was vast in area, it contained no mana...
A storm of this level would be a terrifying attack for a First-Class Wizard Apprentice, or even an ordinary One-Ring Wizard.
But for four Wizards at the One-Ring Crystallization Stage, it was like a small spray of water, merely a bit troublesome.
Up until now, Witch Mason and Witch Freya only felt that this place was quite a nuisance.
As this incredibly exaggerated sandstorm crashed down on the four of them, everyone was instantly buried by the sand, but all four had deployed their Eternal Defense Fields around them.
They were like alloy metal in the ocean waves; no matter how large or exaggerated the scale of the waves, they were not affected in the slightest.
Instead, they pierced through the sandstorm and flew into mid-air.
Witch Mason's Eternal Defense Field was the Sakura Dragon Barrier. A Cherry Tree Dragon coiled around her body, shielding her from all the wind and sand.
The Sakura Dragon Barrier also came with its own flight capability.
Thus, she simply flew straight up, piercing through this exaggerated sandstorm that was fifteen hundred meters high.
As for Wizard Barrett, his Eternal Defense Field was the [Bamboo Sea Sword Array]. Five Bamboo Swords circled his body, blocking all the dust and sand.
He just hadn't reacted in time and was temporarily buried by the sandstorm and shifting sands.
Witch Freya's Eternal Defense Field was the Water Cloud Barrier.
Surrounding her was a realm of water and clouds where sky and water met, as beautiful as a landscape painting of ink and wash, the color of water and sky.
Moreover, this Water Cloud Barrier also had an automatic flight ability, directly reflecting away all approaching sandstorms.
AI Model: gemini-3.1-flash-lite
Witch Freya and Witch Mason looked at the shifting quicksand beneath their feet, and Witch Freya laughed, "The Team Leader and Barrett seem to have been buried inside."
Witch Mason nodded, "The Team Leader went to save Barrett; Barrett didn't use his flight magic right away. That guy Barrett is just slow to react sometimes."
Witch Freya laughed, "I originally intended to let Barrett crawl out from under the sandstorm himself. I reckon he would have had to crawl about two thousand meters. I could have mocked him mercilessly."
"Who knew the Team Leader was such a good person? He actually went to save him."
Witch Mason and Witch Freya exchanged a smile.
The next moment, a giant axe of Mist's Power slashed out from the sea of sand below them.
The sea of sand was split in two out of thin air, creating a massive canyon.
All four of them were wizards of the Wizard World at the First Ring Crystallization Stage.
For this medium-sized, semi-destroyed world, their power could already be considered god-like or demonic.
Therefore, Locke used his Mist's Power to change the terrain with a single axe strike, and Locke used the Plant Mimicry Spell: Green Dragon to carry Wizard Barrett into mid-air.
Wizard Barrett glared at Witch Mason and Witch Freya, "Fine. And you call yourselves good friends? As soon as we encountered danger, neither of you went to save me, except for the Team Leader. I thought I was going to be dragged into the depths of this world by the sandstorm just now."
Witch Freya scoffed a few times, "It's just a sandstorm from an indigenous world; how can that count as danger? At most, it would just leave you covered in dust. With an Eternal Defense Field, you have nothing to fear."
Witch Mason nodded, looking like she deeply agreed.
Locke also knew that what they said was true.
The Eternal Defense Field is the most special part for wizards at the First Ring stage across the various worlds of the Endless Void.
As First Ring lifeforms, wizards who possess an Eternal Defense Field have greater defensive capabilities and endurance, allowing them to travel to various dangerous and special worlds.
For example, the sandstorm that filled the sky just now already posed a terrible danger to other First Ring creatures.
But for wizards whose passive ability is their strongest defense, and whose strongest defense can be maintained for a very long time with almost no consumption, it was just a minor nuisance.
Wizard Barrett snorted coldly, "The Team Leader is the only one who treats me well. You two just want to see me make a fool of myself. If I had been swept into an underground current, I'd like to see where you'd go to find me and save me!"
Wizard Barrett looked at the sandstorm sweeping off into the distance, his anger rising.
The sandstorm in this world had formed a wall of sand that swept across the world, as there was almost no resistance.
The entire world was a desert.
Naturally, this would form a super sandstorm wall that would never disappear and would move across various parts of the desert surface.
Wizard Barrett didn't like the look of that sandstorm in the distance; he raised his left hand, stuck up his thumb, and extended his index finger—which wore a small parasitic tomato ring—forming a pistol gesture.
Then, he whistled while mentally calculating the resultant force inside the sandstorm.
The next moment, the central part of the entire sandstorm was directly pierced through, creating a massive vacuum area. Immediately after, the remaining sandstorm lost its structural support and collapsed toward the ground like a giant beast whose skeleton had been extracted, forming circle after circle of dune ruins.
In an instant, Wizard Barrett destroyed the internal resultant force of that exaggerated sandstorm.
"And just like that, it's gone." Wizard Barrett panted slightly, "This Wind-Roar Tomato of mine is truly excellent. I spent one hundred thousand magic stones to buy it."
"The accompanying Botany spell is the Wind-Roar Flower Cannon."
Witch Mason kindly reminded him, "Barrett, it's very difficult to replenish magic power here. Why did you... why did you consume about half of your magic power just to dispel a sandstorm?"
Wizard Barrett said, "I can just use magic potions to replenish my magic power anyway. I..."
Locke smiled and said, "There's no need to waste a vial of magic potion. I have a cheaper and simpler method."
With a wave of his hand, the magic energy channeled from the Forest Sanctuary descended like rain.
Emerald green rain fell around Locke.
Wizard Barrett immediately began frantically absorbing this magic energy, rapidly replenishing his depleted magic power.
Witch Mason and Witch Freya were stunned.
Witch Freya said, "I almost forgot, the Team Leader's Forest Sanctuary itself contains an exaggerated amount of magic pressure energy. Even in this dump of a place, he can replenish his magic power himself. This really resolves our worries."
Witch Mason said, "It's not just that. Locke's Forest Sanctuary is itself a magic generator..."
"It can provide us with a continuous supply of energy."
At this moment, a fifth wizard approached, carrying the magic pressure of a Second Ring Wizard; it was none other than the Team Leader of Group 2, Wizard Ciss.
Wizard Ciss said, "Really? I didn't expect you to have such a unique skill, Locke."
At that time, Wizard Ciss arrived from afar; he also had wings made of a cluster of banana trees on his back, except those banana branches formed three pairs of wings mimicking avian magic creatures.
Wizard Ciss looked at Locke and said, "I felt your magic pressure from very far away. I was just coming to pick you up and take you to my Research Institute, when who knew... *cough, cough*, you had already destroyed a sandstorm here. You young people are truly energetic."
Wizard Barrett smiled sheepishly.
Locke said to Wizard Ciss, "Lord Ciss, my teacher asked me to lead my team to come and help your Group 2 with the research."
Wizard Ciss nodded and said, "I was the one who suggested this to the Lord of the Throne, but it's very strange that the Lord of the Throne actually agreed immediately. However, no one can guess the thoughts of the Lord of the Throne."
"Locke, it's great that you could come. My Group 2 needs talent like you."
Wizard Ciss looked at the other three and, feeling that it wasn't very polite to say it that way, added, "And the other three talented members in your team."
"Anyway, follow me. You all should have Botany spells for long-distance flight, right? My Research Institute is very far from here."
"For certain reasons, our Research Institute has moved to a new location."
Locke nodded slightly, and then all four of them used flight magic and followed behind Wizard Ciss. Wizard Barrett also summoned a peach-type magic plant, forming a magic carpet made of peach blossom petals under his feet, riding the wind.
This was a First Ring Botany spell, [Peach Blossom Flying Carpet].
As for Witch Mason and Witch Freya, their Eternal Defense Fields both came with flight capabilities.
On the way, Locke saw the yellow sand filling the sky, so he asked Wizard Ciss, "Teacher Ciss, may I ask how this Plane became like this?"
Wizard Ciss laughed, "There's nothing special about it. This medium-sized Plane was originally just a normal life Plane, with green grass, swarms of creatures, tropical rainforests covering the land as far as the eye could see, and a beautiful blue sky."
"But that was a long time ago. Now, only dried-up oceans and land filled with sand dunes remain. However, there are still some plants and animals that have survived."
"We call this place the Dune Plane."
"The Dune Plane became like this because it was too close to a Sun Plane in the void and was captured by the Sun Plane's gravity."
"Although the Dune Plane was captured by the Sun Plane's gravity, its own gravity has not disappeared, so it is still in a state of resistance. It has not been completely devoured."
"It's just that the sun is far too close to here, so it baked everything in this place and destroyed the very structure of this world."
"Golden Crown Mountain has performed certain Plane modifications on it, so the Dune Plane will only orbit the Sun Plane and will not be completely sucked into it. This void trajectory has great research value for Golden Crown Mountain."
"For our Group 2, the greatest research value actually doesn't lie here. It lies in this special environment. Our Group 2 is to research how to create a plant ecosystem that can adapt and survive in this extremely harsh environment. Of course, you can understand it as us attempting to manage the desert here, to turn the desert into an oasis in this harsh environment."
"There are three main objectives that can be achieved through this research."
"First: Perfecting ecology."
"Second: Cultivating various drought-resistant plants."
"Third: Verifying the influence of plant communities on this world to see if it is possible to recreate a magic tide through plant communities. This is very useful for our Wizard World and basic research."