670: Entering Soul Decline Period and Obtaining the Moon Wizard Stone
"apocalypse wizard stone?" Locke pondered, recalling that he had obtained many treasures from the Weaving Princess's treasury.
Among them, there was indeed one treasure that was not an ancient artifact, but a recently fallen mineral, still entangled with Abyss Energy.
Locke took out a smooth, round stone wrapped in Abyss Energy from his astral ring.
When Wizard Smith saw this, his eyes immediately widened, and he reached out to grab the apocalypse wizard stone in Locke's hand.
The next moment, the magical power between the two transformed into a fierce wind, constantly swirling between them.
All pretense on Wizard Smith's face almost completely faded, replaced by eyes full of desire for the apocalypse wizard stone; he reached out directly, and a spell model was completed almost instantly.
The magical lights in Private Room No. 1 flickered and malfunctioned, plunging into darkness. In this darkness, a huge meteor, carrying lightning, crashed towards Locke.
Complex spell models appeared in Wizard Smith's hand.
Locke instantly noticed that the moment the opponent made a move, an aura of aging emanated from his soul, indicating that the opponent's soul was nearing the end of its lifespan.
Although the opponent was still very young.
And the magic in the opponent's hand should be a Great Magic with a very special structure.
The next moment, these illusions vanished, and a super-complex spell model consisting of fifteen concentric circles appeared in Wizard Smith's hand. On the edges of these concentric circle spell models, one hundred and eight stars moved.
A voice seemed to come from Wizard Smith's ear. "I understand. Grandfather. This is Golden Crown Mountain. I know."
"I was impulsive just now, I'm sorry."
"Grandfather."
Locke immediately realized that the Rank 3 Wizard from Storm Tower had been secretly observing, but due to his status as an elder, he hadn't come out to negotiate with him.
Wizard Smith looked at Locke, who was still sitting calmly on the sofa opposite him, and suddenly laughed. "I don't know if you were scared silly just now, or if you were confident, or if you simply didn't care. You didn't cast any defensive magic just now."
"You didn't even intend to use a Eternal Defense Field."
Locke looked up at him and said, "It's nothing. I just thought Wizard Smith wouldn't act irrationally."
Wizard Smith laughed, "Indeed."
Locke looked at him and said, "However, a trace of decay emanated from your soul aura just now. You are only about thirty-five years old."
"It's because of the soul decline period, isn't it?"
"Your magical pressure has long reached its limit and is constantly impacting your soul's limit. Your soul is already overloaded. Unless you voluntarily give up a portion of your magical power, with your current physical condition, I'm afraid you won't last much longer."
Wizard Smith 'hmm'ed, dismissively. "It's just a soul decline period. For the Silent Grail Competition, I cannot become a Second Ring Wizard prematurely."
"The Silent Grail Competition is a Great Magic modeling competition. Once we enter the Silent Plane, we can instantly build our own Great Magic. It's just a competition of whose Great Magic's cyclical structure is more excellent, nothing more."
"So, it doesn't affect the competition at all. And after the competition, I can immediately become a Second Ring Wizard. Storm Tower has already prepared a Plane for me. I imagine Golden Crown Mountain must have prepared one for you too."
Locke was a little speechless and said nothing.
Wizard Smith continued to himself, "To be honest, I thought Golden Crown Mountain's opponent would be Witch Preston. Although she is spoiled and willful, she is a formidable opponent."
"If it were her, I could basically guess the blueprint of her Great Magic. It should be a Great Magic of Bloodline Studies, likely related to the White Dragon clan, probably Great Magic · [Sleeping Dragon Glacier]."
"This is her family's inherited Great Magic. It's tricky, but there's a reference answer."
"In fact, before the competition, my five research groups analyzed the champions of the Spell Fighting Competition from various academies," Wizard Smith said. "Your victory completely surprised me."
"Also…" A gloomy expression flashed across Wizard Smith's face. "The champions from the other two families also exceeded the results my five research groups' students had painstakingly theorized day and night."
"After all that, I was just doing useless work."
Locke raised the ordinary stone in his hand.
Immediately, Wizard Smith's gaze followed Locke's hand upwards.
While talking to him, Locke contacted Leader Ciss and learned from him what an apocalypse wizard stone was.
There are two kinds of wizard stones: one is artificially formed, and the other is naturally formed.
The apocalypse wizard stone is naturally formed from a special [Meteorite Plane] moving in the Endless Void. These [Meteorite Planes] move within various gravitational fields in the Endless Void, and when a Plane is almost worn away, leaving only its core, it is captured by another Plane.
When that core part is worn down by eighty to ninety percent, the remaining portion is the apocalypse wizard stone.
This special meteorite is rumored to have a powerful auxiliary effect on Prophecy School magic.
And for Alchemy School wizards, it is also a rare material for crafting magical artifacts.
Similarly, some Second Ring potions also require this special wizard stone.
However, Locke was not a Second Ring Potion Master and could not use this stone for now.
Moreover, the stone in his hand had a problem; it contained too much Abyss Energy, seemingly tampered with by an Archdemon, making it not an ordinary apocalypse wizard stone.
As for the reason Storm Tower needed this stone, it was simple: the apocalypse wizard stone was also very useful for Weather Masters.
This rare wizard stone could be used to build many special weather systems.
Furthermore, Locke had just glimpsed that Wizard Smith's Great Magic was likely a meteorite system.
It was indeed very special.
There seemed to be some traces of prophecy magic in the blueprint of that Great Magic, so he would indeed care a lot about the apocalypse wizard stone.
Such a piece of apocalypse wizard stone could be used by many Weather Masters of Storm Tower, enough for them for a long time.
Wizard Smith said, "Tell me, what do you want to trade for? I imagine you've figured out what this thing is by now."
Locke glanced at him. "If you want to trade, that's fine."
The apocalypse wizard stone was of no use to him at the moment, and this wizard stone was problematic, containing such dense Abyss Energy that no one would believe it hadn't been tampered with by an Archdemon.
Locke even suspected that an Archdemon had placed something in this apocalypse wizard stone, and unless absolutely necessary, he had no reason to use it for anything.
The apocalypse wizard stone was not a necessity for him.
Wizard Smith immediately became interested. "Speak."
The leader of the Thunder Demon Society wizard watched this scene with resentment. Wizard Smith indeed did not take the Thunder Demon Society seriously.
He said he brought him to Golden Crown Mountain to help the Thunder Demon Society get an explanation, but now Wizard Smith had reached an agreement with the Golden Crown Mountain wizard in front of him and was actually making a transaction.
Wizard Smith clearly didn't take him seriously at all.
A flash of hatred crossed the wizard's eyes, not directed at Locke, but at Wizard Smith.
Locke sat on the sofa and said to Wizard Smith, "I hear Storm Tower has a vast amount of celestial knowledge. I want your school's Moon Plane, along with various secret knowledge of celestial phenomena and meteorology."
Wizard Smith frowned. "Secret knowledge? Be more specific."
Locke said, "I want all the research data from Sun Ring Wizard Mana Hayes's research group on the Moon Plane."
Wizard Smith showed deep thought. "That, huh."
Locke said, "Besides that, I also want you to exchange it for Storm Tower's Moon Wizard Stone."
Wizard Smith looked up at Locke in astonishment and said, "Are you talking to the Throne Lord?"
Locke had indeed agreed to trade the apocalypse wizard stone with the Smith Family only after consulting Witch Catherine, and it was also Witch Catherine who suggested he exchange for the Moon Wizard Stone.
After all, this item involved the Silent Grail Conquest, and the apocalypse wizard stone was clearly related to Wizard Smith's Great Magic construction, very likely to improve the quality of his Great Magic.
Therefore, he had every reason to inform his collaborating wizard and not act on his own initiative.
It was also Witch Catherine who reminded him that the apocalypse wizard stone had been specially tampered with by an Archdemon, advising him to dispose of it quickly and not keep it on him.
Keeping it would be inauspicious.
Wizard Smith waited for a while, seemingly also conversing with his Rank 3 Wizard, and soon he got the result. "Alright. Let's make the exchange."
"Let's sign the contract. Then, I can immediately trade the Moon Wizard Stone with you, but the data you requested will take some time to provide."
Locke said, "We can sign the contract first. We'll complete the trade when you're ready to do so."
Wizard Smith frowned and remained silent, then after a while, said, "Mana Hayes is one of my elders. She has agreed to give you some of the data her research group has already published, as well as data published only within the Storm Tower internal library. Is that acceptable?"
Locke nodded and said, "Good, then let's sign the contract."
Both parties signed the contract and completed the transaction simultaneously.
After Locke and Wizard Smith added each other as friends on the water gourd system, Locke immediately received the file information sent by the other party.
Locke checked it, confirmed there were no issues, then looked at the fist-sized moon rock traded from Wizard Smith.
Is this the moon rock?
Legend has it that deep within the underground veins of the Moon Plane, a naturally formed wizard stone can be excavated, which is the spiritual condensed essence of the Moon Plane, possessing various characteristics of the Moon Plane.
With this wizard stone, his understanding of the moon could deepen!
And Wizard Smith, upon receiving the apocalypse wizard stone, pursed his lips and smiled, then burst into uncontrollable laughter.
He seemed to have completely disregarded the leader of the Thunder Demon Society wizard; this person was now entirely useless to him.
His objective had been achieved.
Wizard Smith looked at Locke, his eyes filled only with calculation and apprehension towards a competitor. "You've seen the blueprint of my Great Magic; you should know how important this wizard stone is to me, right?"
Locke said, "Hmm. It looks like you can use it to elevate the essence of your Great Magic by a notch."
Wizard Smith asked curiously, "Aren't you worried? You're aiding the enemy."
Locke looked at him questioningly. "This transaction will benefit both of us, what do I have to worry about?"
"I also really need the Moon Wizard Stone, so you are also aiding the enemy."
"As long as my growth speed is faster than yours, I will gain an advantage in this transaction."
"Fearing a transaction merely indicates a lack of self-confidence. But this lack of self-confidence will only cause one to miss opportunities."
Wizard Smith curled his lips and said, "Grow faster than me?"
"Alright then, I will make you regret trading the apocalypse wizard stone to me at the Silent Grail Competition. Goodbye, my young friend from Golden Crown Mountain."
"I hope you can still maintain this confidence, which appeared out of nowhere, by then."
Wizard Smith laughed, "Oh, right. Your soul also seems to be entering a period of decline."
He no longer spared a glance for the Thunder Demon Society leader wizard, as if the man no longer existed.
The leader wizard of the Thunder Demon Society didn't know whether to leave or stay.
Locke gave him a cold glance, but for now, couldn't think of a legitimate reason to make him disappear.
Moreover, it seemed that the person he wanted to trouble was no longer himself, so Locke ignored him.
Locke left Private Room No. 1 of the Witchs Kitchen with the Moon Wizard Stone. He looked at the wizard stone in his hand, wanting to return directly to his laboratory to begin studying its properties.
If he used this Moon Wizard Stone, it should allow the magical moon he created to be even closer to the real moon.
His Forest Alliance Spell might be able to be completely finished with this.
Wizard Smith was right; his soul had almost entered a period of decline, and even bronze magical artifacts couldn't significantly increase his soul's upper limit.
Currently, his magical pressure was constantly leaking, and he felt fatigued at all times.
The powerful, increasingly full feeling he had when his magical pressure reached the First Ring limit had disappeared; he no longer felt like a strong man, but rather a weak invalid.
That feeling of increasing fullness had turned into one of gradual depletion.
This was the soul decline period!
And this was a terrifying hurdle that had troubled countless beings in the Endless Void.
Throughout history, countless geniuses had been stuck at this stage.
Locke noticed a powerful Witch standing before him; she seemed to be a Second Ring Wizard, her magical pressure vast and unfathomable.
So, Locke paused at the entrance of the Witchs Kitchen.
A strange blonde Witch looked at Locke with dissatisfaction. "Locke, you don't recognize me?"
Locke looked at the Wizard Academy badge on her chest.
Rose Council?
Could it be?
Locke looked at a Floramancer beside the blonde Witch, whom he had seen once in the Tomb City; she was glaring at him with hatred.
At this moment, upon hearing the Sun Ring Witch's words, his expression immediately changed to one of surprise.
Locke looked at the Sun Ring Witch before him and said, "Witch Lana?"
Witch Lana laughed exasperatedly. "You and I corresponded for several months, saying you had read all my articles. Yet, you haven't even seen a single one of my portrait magic paintings?"