765: Plant Hunter and Pirate Mothership
The last senior brother looked about the same age as him, with little difference. He looked at the two senior brothers and two senior sisters, smiled, and said, "The senior brothers and sisters are all Third Ring Wizards, which in the distant past, would have been the level of Wizard Kings and Wizard Sovereigns."
"I'm different; I'm only a Sun Ring Wizard."
Eldest Senior Brother Georta, Second Senior Brother Heidegger, as well as Witch Fiona and Witch Zoyla, all chuckled upon hearing this.
Witch Catherine had not taken any disciples in the traditional sense of the old era for a long time, so this junior brother named Turazin had a certain age gap with the four of them.
In fact, the four of them usually interacted more. After all, there was an absolute gap between a Third Ring Wizard and a Second Ring Wizard; wizards of these two levels had different roles in the Wizard World.
At every previous sect gathering, Turazin would sit by himself on one side while the four of them discussed among themselves.
Now, with the addition of Locke Augustine, Junior Brother Turazin would finally not be lonely anymore.
Wizard Turazin appeared shrewd and tough, with a buzz cut and a scar on his right eye, within which a special dark energy flowed.
His right eye was a normal human eye, while on the left was a Sun Ring Level brass magic eye. That brass magic eye looked extremely terrifying and intimidating.
However, when he looked at Locke, his eyes revealed closeness and curiosity, along with a sense of appraisal. Unlike the four senior brothers and sisters, who viewed Locke entirely as a junior—no different from their own direct disciples—Locke's status was more special because he was Witch Catherine's student, and his relationship with them seemed slightly more equal.
But the four senior brothers and sisters hadn't really evaluated Locke seriously; they simply believed that a student accepted by their teacher must be someone who could satisfy her.
But at this moment, since both Locke and this Sun Ring Wizard, Turazin, were Second Ring Wizards, the social interaction between them held practical significance.
The two truly regarded each other as equals.
Turazin looked at Locke and said, "I'm just a Plant Hunter."
Plant Hunter?
A look of confusion flashed in Locke's eyes.
Eldest Senior Brother Georta said, "Plant Hunters are already wizard elites. To summarize your senior brothers and sisters: we sell antiques, rice, or tree hearts, or we hoard rare plants. Witch Zoyla is no different from someone in finance."
Witch Zoyla laughed awkwardly.
Eldest Senior Brother Georta quipped, "Thinking about it, in the entire sect, only Junior Brother Turazin has the most proper profession."
Turazin coughed.
"Senior Brother, you're overpraising me."
"I'm just a lowly worker. Only by earning as much money and building businesses like my senior brothers and sisters can I gain experience to give back to my projects."
Turazin looked at Locke and said, "Second Ring Wizards and Third Ring Wizards are the absolute mainstream among wizards who directly engage in Plane conquest, while Sun Ring Wizards are the absolute backbone among those wizards. In contrast, Fourth Ring Wizards focus more of their attention on disciplinary construction."
"That is, on the ladder of truth."
Hearing this, the four senior brothers and sisters smiled at each other but did not offer an explanation.
For a Second Ring Wizard, the root realm was already extremely mysterious, and the ladder of truth was even more abstract and profound knowledge; forcibly explaining it would be harmful to their bodies.
There is a special disease called [Cognitive Dissonance Collapse Disease].
That is, after a low-ring wizard learns about particularly high-ring knowledge, because their body and soul have not yet adapted to receiving such profound information, they will experience severe cognitive dissonance and see everything as if all things are breathing.
This disease involves soul damage that is too deep, so it even requires a Third Ring level Potion Master to step in and treat it.
Because of this, while they could mention things like the path of the ladder of truth in passing, doing so would only have two consequences.
First, it would cause irreparable deep-seated damage to the souls of the two junior brothers.
Second, the two would simply not hear it at all, or hear it but think they hadn't, or selectively remember only the parts they could easily understand.
Usually, the second case is more common.
Wizard Turazin said, "As a Sun Ring Wizard, one is the backbone of Plane conquest, even the main force and vanguard in foreign wars. Therefore, so-called Plant Hunters travel to various worlds within the Endless Void to find economically valuable crops for the White Wizard Association (Cloud Marsh)."
"If found, we find ways to bring them back."
"If they must be cultivated locally, we can attempt to purchase land through economic means, or even initiate a war under the supervision of the Eye of Truth if the other party declares war on us."
Wizard Turazin was definitely a ruthless person.
Locke knew that many wizards in the White Wizard Society spent long periods on research or other production and service activities, so they weren't very good at fighting.
But those White Wizards immersed in Plane conquest all day were not in that category at all.
From this Senior Brother Turazin, Locke sensed a rare aura that could only be born from slaughter on the battlefield.
This aura even far surpassed all the Black Wizards he had seen before.
If the conflicts between Black Wizards could only be described as bravado and aggression, then the aura on his senior brother right now was a special temperament cultivated from declaring war on countless civilizations over many years.
Plant Hunter...
That was probably just a nicer way of putting it.
Eldest Senior Brother Georta looked at Turazin's right eye and asked, "By the way, Junior Brother, I've been meaning to ask you, what's with your right eye? There's a very special power entwined around it."
Wizard Turazin nodded and said calmly, "A year ago, I came into contact with the Great Dark World. The Great Dark World is a new world discovered over by the New Route, considered a large-scale world."
Turazin glanced at Locke and said, "Only large-scale worlds can be called Great Worlds. A Great World has a very complete principle of the world, where even a Second Ring Wizard is just an ordinary individual. Those worlds have special power inheritances, some of which can even rival the magic system of one of our Wizard Lands."
"Of course, that's only the case during the low-ring levels."
Great Wizard Georta nodded. "Great Dark World? I suspect that Great Dark World has some connection with the True Chaos Sea. There are traces of chaos energy on the wound on your right eye. It can't be cured with potions, can it?"
Wizard Turazin said, "I found an expert-level Potion Master who used special potions to suppress the wound to my right eye so it wouldn't continue to spread. This wound devours my vitality and converts it into dark energy."
"A connection with the True Chaos Sea?"
Turazin's gaze became serious as he looked at Eldest Senior Brother Georta and asked, "Thank you, Eldest Senior Brother. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have realized that world has a deep connection with the True Chaos Sea."
"No wonder the power is so strong."
"There are many plants in that world that may have high added value, so I've smuggled myself over three times and was intercepted by the dark gods of that world all three times."
"One of those times, I was bitten by the God of Dark Fangs, who possesses intermediate divine power..."
Eldest Senior Brother Georta showed a look of deep thought.
"It's not converting life energy; your perception is wrong. The so-called [Dark World Energy] lingering on the wound on your right eye is essentially disintegrating your form. That is, it's extracting the etheric structural form of your physical body and soul."
"In other words, the correct way to put it is that it's transforming your form into chaos energy."
"That's why I recognized at a glance that this power is related to the Chaos World."
Wizard Turazin showed a look of sudden realization.
"No wonder I haven't been able to heal my wound for so long, or even control it. I can only barely suppress its rate of expansion."
Locke listened from the side, completely bewildered. He could sense that their conversation contained some massive pieces of information, but with his current level, he could only understand some fragments.
Wizard Turazin looked at Locke, smiled slightly, and explained, "The Chaos Sea in the Five Great Wars of Cloud Marsh is just a poor imitation of the True Chaos Sea, that unique world."
"I just don't know which ancient wizard created a Chaos Boat after drawing on part of the structure of the True Chaos Sea. That Chaos Boat was buried underground and was later discovered one day by a somewhat lucky Black Wizard, and then that Chaos Boat became their base."
"Thus, they call themselves the Chaos Sea. But in reality, they're just a bunch of pirates who rob our void navigation routes."
"So, some people also call them the [Pirate Mothership]. They were also the earliest robbers of the void routes and wizard airship routes."
"Before the Five Great War battlefields system was formed, that Pirate Mothership made a living by robbing everywhere, while also..." Turazin hesitated.
"Ahem... that mothership did something controversial: it would share a portion of the robbed resources with low-level White Wizards and Black Wizards."
"Have you heard of the Rain from Heaven?"
"Junior Brother, have you seen the Rain from Heaven in the Southeast Corner Region?"
Locke shook his head slightly. "What is that, Senior Brother Turazin?"
Wizard Turazin said, "The Pirate Mothership flies in the sky, piercing through time and space, and then various resources fall down like rain from the heavens."
"Those pirates are generous at others' expense, splitting the stolen goods 70-30: they keep 70% for themselves and throw the other 30% indiscriminately toward the ground."
"This act is very controversial, but the White Wizard Association has classified it as robbery."
Locke blinked. Rob 70%, give away 30%.
Is this wealth rebalancing?
The Twin Demon Realm are thieves, the Pirate Mothership does pirate robbery. The Crimson Deep Court has gone mad..."
What are the Seventy-two Demon Gods of the Abyss?
They've just given up, so they want to destroy the world?
The five types of Black Wizards in the Five Great Wars of Cloud Marsh seemed to have more character than the last.
Locke said to Turazin with some regret, "What a pity, Senior Brother. My luck is bad; I'm so unlucky that I haven't encountered this Rain from Heaven even once."
Turazin was stunned for a moment, then looked at Locke more closely before laughing heartily. "Seeing how well Junior Brother competed before, I thought you were an excellent lecturer and expected your personality to be quite dull."
"But I didn't expect you to be so interesting. I thought you were a fellow Plant Hunter."
Locke was taken aback.
"How are competitions and lecturers connected?"
Wizard Turazin laughed. "For competitions at the Official Wizard level, isn't competing just like giving an open lecture?"
Locke thought deeply and then nodded.
Before, he wanted to compete just to sell and promote goods. Through two competitions, he had built up his wizard shoes brand, while also striving for honor and winning resources.
Later, he progressed rapidly under the pressure of competition, so part of the purpose of competing was to increase his speed of progress, put pressure on himself, and compete with other equally excellent wizards.
But thinking carefully, in the eyes of higher-ring wizards, competing really was like giving an open lecture.
Showing one's magic to all wizards, displaying the research results of one's academy, and promoting one's philosophy.
Just like Witch Georgina, using the Silent Grail to demonstrate New Textile Studies to the wizards of Cloud Marsh and Old Textile Studies.
In the Silent Grail, the meaning of competition was no longer about arguing over rankings, but about discussing the Dao.
From this perspective, the competition system itself was a cornerstone of the Modern Magic Era.
Wizards of this era no longer wanted to hide things; they regarded fighting publicly as a means of discussing the Dao.
Of course, wizards gradually realized the hidden benefits of this practice of competing publicly to influence magic development philosophies and demonstrate advanced magic construction levels.
Wizard Turazin said, "I have a unique understanding of competitions that differs from others. I believe a good competitor is a good lecturer."
"But we Plant Hunters, to put it bluntly, are a group of conquerors."
"By the way, Junior Brother, you have the coordinates of an unexplored Plane, don't you? What are your plans?"
Wizard Turazin smiled and said, "Don't misunderstand; I have no interest in a medium-scale Plane. Within fifty years of becoming a Sun Ring Wizard, my exploration targets have all become half Great Worlds and half medium-to-large-scale worlds."
"I'm not interested in plants from medium-scale worlds. However, exploring worlds requires a lot of money. It won't be easy for you to do it alone unless you grind away at it over time."
"But that's something only wizards with low time costs and no future would do."
For some reason, Locke thought of Great Wizard Sura.
Wizard Turazin said, "If you need it, I know quite a few good Shop Alliances for Plane exploration services. By the way, this is a gift for you—a Wizard Sword that can cut an enemy's body in half."
Wizard Turazin handed a sword in its scabbard to Locke. Locke drew this second-ring magic item Wizard Sword and saw that it was a silver sword made entirely of wizard silver.
The blade was very clean, without many decorations, except for a rune in the middle of the Wizard Sword.
Wizard Turazin said, "This is the sidearm I used during my ordinary Second Ring stage, named [Star Slasher]."
"This Wizard Sword itself uses wand-making technology as well as traditional Wizard Sword Magic item technology. It can amplify mana, enhance magic, and sharpen magic—that is, enhance the offensiveness of all your spells."
Locke's eyes lit up slightly.
"It can sharpen my Great Magic and increase the instantaneous magic pressure multiplier of my Great Magic?"
Wizard Turazin said, "It can. That's also its greatest function. In addition, it's enchanted with a Second Ring spell from the Kinetic School, Star Slasher Fall."
"It can be used three times a day."
"Once triggered, you only need to consume a tiny amount of mana to activate the Kinetic School spell on it. It's quite practical in battle, as it's equivalent to being able to use an extra spell simultaneously out of thin air. The price of this sword isn't low..."
"It used to be around ten million, but now it's probably only worth five million."
Wizard Turazin explained, "After all, magic is developing with each passing day, and my [Star Slasher] has fallen behind the times. Combining a Wizard Sword with a wand is no longer in fashion. In Cloud Marsh, because of the strength of Wandmaking, a sub-discipline under the Alchemy School, wands have become independent."
"After all, the current mainstream view is that while combining the functions of two items seems to achieve item diversification, it actually results in neither being done well."