771: Meeting Old Acquaintances Again and Reuniting with the Blood Curse Court
In the Southeast Corner Region, a wizard airship descended vertically from mid-air, causing a massive shockwave that made the air wail, as if every inch of it were under immense pressure.
The wizard airship quickly lowered several floating staircases.
Locke Augustine followed the wizards down the floating staircases.
At this time, most of the wizards traveling from the Cloud Marsh to the Southeast Corner Region seemed to be middlemen for war supplies.
There were Magic Plant merchants, Magic item merchants, and Potionology merchants, with a countless variety of goods.
There were also some wizards who, like himself, were from the Southeast Corner Region.
At the same time, the Cloud Marsh and the Southeast Corner Region already had fixed trade channels; the Southeast Corner Region seemed to have a specific magic gemstone vein that the Cloud Marsh required.
Moreover, the Southeast Corner Region had some minor Potionology and Magic Plant products that were considered specialties for the Cloud Marsh, things that did not exist there.
Or, at the very least, they could provide the most basic raw materials.
The Forbidden Forest in the Southeast Corner Region was an inexhaustible treasure trove from which many raw materials needed for Potionology, Breeding Science, and even Textile Studies, Magic Painting, and Fuel Studies could be collected.
As for the wizards from the Cloud Marsh, besides transporting war supplies, they also transported many specific magic resources.
Therefore, the two sides maintained a considerable scale of trade; if not for the trade with the Cloud Marsh, the Southeast Corner Region alone would likely not be able to support the current number of wizards.
Locke saw that those wizards had their hands covered in astral rings, and the specifications of those astral rings were not low, with large internal storage capacities.
There were even wizards carrying magic suitcases.
Magic suitcases were items used within the Wizard Civilization to load large quantities of low-level Magic items; their interiors could hold many magic boxes, and within those magic boxes, many Magic items could be placed.
Their positioning seemed to overlap with astral rings, but that was not actually the case, because the magic suitcase—magic box loading system was safer and easier to count.
At the same time, the entire process was in a semi-transparent state, fully monitored by both parties, which could reduce many unnecessary troubles during the transaction process.
At this moment, Locke restrained his magic pressure, forcibly lowering it to just over 3000, and he quickly walked off the wizard airship and blended into the crowd.
As soon as he entered the Southeast Corner Region, Locke felt very uncomfortable, as if a fish had left the ocean and arrived in shallow waters.
The magic tide here was extremely thin, and it was not just the lack of support from the root realm.
Even the magic power in the air was extremely weak.
This meant that as a high-concentration body of magic pressure, if Locke were to fully release his magic pressure here, he would be like a lighthouse in the night, attracting the attention of most Official Wizards in the Southeast Corner Region.
Moreover, Locke's avatar was extremely unaccustomed to this place; he even felt that if he stayed here for a long time, his magic power would regress instead of advancing.
"This is different from when I was in a medium-sized Plane."
Locke successfully blended into the crowd, pretending to be just an ordinary Official Wizard, walking through the landing area of the wizard airships in the Southeast Corner Region, watching the bustling crowd of Official Wizards, as well as the wizards outside the landing area holding signs to welcome High-Ring Wizard experts from afar, or waiting for those resource traders to arrive.
And also, the large crowd of First-Class Wizard Apprentices in the Southeast Corner Region working for their wizard mentors.
In the Cloud Marsh, First-Class Wizard Apprentices were rarely given such heavy responsibilities and held relatively important positions, but for the Southeast Corner Region, the status of the First-Class Wizard Apprentices here was very important.
For the major academies here, the First-Class Wizard Apprentices were already very important assets.
Locke felt the sensation of returning to the Southeast Corner Region.
"In the Silent Plane, I can intercept plane power for my own use, so even if that Plane does not have much magic tide, I will not lack magic power. But in the Wizard World, my rank is not enough for me to touch this level."
"And this place is too close to a low-magic environment. Therefore, I will be very unaccustomed to it, like a big fish entering shallow water. If I were to live here for thirty years, I fear my magic pressure would decrease instead of increase."
"Although due to the existence of Great Magic, it is unlikely that I would fall out of the Second Ring level. No, that's not right; if one became a Second Ring lifeform through methods other than Great Magic, in this place, one might really fall out of the Second Ring level."
Because the external energy is too scarce.
Shallow water cannot raise big fish.
Locke had discovered yet another benefit of Great Magic; compared to the Kingdom Domain and imaginary number magic, Great Magic was basically 'proven once, proven forever.'
"Let me first return to Lilith's Cottage to see teacher Harlan Vera and those seniors and friends of mine at Lilith's Cottage, and then prepare a ship to return to... Corfu Island."
Locke thought of his earliest beginning, which was on Corfu Island.
So many years had passed, and he did not know what changes had occurred on Corfu Island, or whether the Frank Kingdom had unified the other six nations.
He also did not know how the original owner's father was doing.
Locke sighed; he had previously wanted to investigate the identity of the original owner's mother, but even after reaching the Cloud Marsh, he still could not find any information. The only gain was that he had come into contact with the Black Sun Tower.
In the past, the original owner's mother claimed that she had been hunted by the Black Sun Tower and thus came to Corfu Island in the Southeast Corner Region. In the eyes of ordinary people, Wizard Apprentices, or even One-Ring Wizards, this might be reasonable, but now that he had a preliminary understanding of the true face of the Wizard World, this statement seemed full of flaws.
This must be a lie.
The original owner's mother, that witch, thinking about it now, likely had only one reason for entering Corfu Island—she went there on purpose.
But what exactly was her relationship with the Black Sun Tower?
Locke walked out of the landing area, found a Second-Class Wizard Apprentice, hired a magic carriage, and then sat in the magic carriage, preparing to head to Lilith's Cottage.
At this moment, in front of the magic carriage were two special magic creatures that were a mix of unicorn and ordinary horse bloodlines, just two gray-backed horses, and Locke frowned.
Because it was very uncomfortable to sit in!
The road was rugged and uneven, and the animals pulling the carriage were ordinary creatures close to common horses.
The Second-Class Wizard Apprentice responsible for driving the carriage took a look at Locke inside the carriage, his expression extremely respectful.
"My lord, are you going to Lilith's Cottage? My driving skills are excellent; I guarantee we will reach our destination at the fastest speed."
"Wizard lord, are you a wizard mentor at Lilith's Cottage? I heard that Lilith's Cottage..."
Locke said briefly: "No."
The Second-Class Wizard Apprentice did not dare to ask more, so he could only wave his whip to make the two horses speed up.
At this moment, Locke looked outside the carriage and saw the familiar Forbidden Forest, and the leaves within the Forbidden Forest were rustling in the breeze, as if greeting him.
The Forbidden Forest ran through the Southeast Corner Region.
Now that he had become a Second Ring Wizard, he realized just how deeply the Forbidden Forest influenced the Southeast Corner Region.
Wood element particles constantly emerged from the depths of the Forbidden Forest, causing the plane power attributes of the entire Southeast Corner Region to lean towards wood.
But this wood element power was mixed with the unique enclosure and repression of the Forbidden Forest, so the entire Southeast Corner Region was not as bright as the Cloud Marsh.
And... Locke looked toward the depths of the Forbidden Forest.
The magic tide in the air of the Southeast Corner Region was constantly entering the depths of the Forbidden Forest, and then, through some mechanism like breathing, some magic tide was spat back out.
"The original magic tide energy level of the Southeast Corner Region should be a medium-to-high medium-magic area."
Locke pondered: "It is much higher in energy level than the Six Towers Land and the Qionghua Enclave, just a bit worse than the Cloud Marsh. But almost all the magic tide in the Southeast Corner Region is absorbed by the Forbidden Forest, and the magic tide that the Forbidden Forest spits back out is less than one-tenth of what it was."
"In other words, the greatest magic resources of the Southeast Corner Region are all devoured by the Forbidden Forest. The Forbidden Forest is naturally rich and beautiful. But outside the Forbidden Forest, it is exceptionally barren."
"No wonder the Southeast Corner Region is so poor. Most of the resources in this region are in the hands of the Forbidden Forest."
Through the carriage window, Locke seemed to see, not far away, in the forest parallel to the carriage he was riding in, a figure with large footprints walking past.
Locke was about to use his Tiger Eye to observe carefully, but the magic carriage he was sitting in suddenly passed over a large pit and jolted violently; he blinked, and the figure with large footprints in the Forbidden Forest disappeared.
Locke frowned, coughed, and handed a magic stone to this Second-Class Wizard Apprentice.
"Wait, I'd better change my means of transportation."
He had gotten used to the magic carriages pulled by First Ring magic creatures in the Cloud Marsh, and now, sitting in this level of magic carriage, he really could not get used to it.
Locke walked off the carriage, and the Second-Class Wizard Apprentice was a bit panicked.
"My lord, was my service inadequate? You..."
The next moment, he blinked, and he saw that Locke, who had been in front of him, had suddenly disappeared.
This Second-Class Wizard Apprentice was startled; he rubbed his eyes and then looked around, suddenly feeling that things were a bit surreal.
"Where is that lord? How did he just disappear all of a sudden?"
If not for a magic stone placed on the seat inside the magic carriage, this apprentice would have even thought he had been dreaming.
Because so many wizards had ridden in his magic carriage, and even Official Wizard guests did not seem to have been able to do that.
Just by blinking, that Official Wizard lord had actually disappeared right before his eyes!
At this moment, Locke used Single-Handed Support to pilot the Magic Dragon Rose in low-altitude flight; because the speed was so fast, a gust of wind was left wherever he passed.
That black-red dream flower appeared behind Locke, extending three pairs of rose feathers resembling dragon wings, while three black-red roses resembling magic dragon heads appeared on Locke's shoulders, as if they were three heads parallel to his own.
"Flying on my own is faster." Locke suddenly stopped, because on the way, he saw an old acquaintance.
"Patty? Patty Aisa..."
Back then, Patty, Corden, and himself were all students at the intermediate academy opened by Verdantia University on Corfu Island, and he had studied magic with them for two years.
It could be said that they were his companions when his dream began.
Later, Corden went to the Crow's Nest Brigade, and by the time he rescued the only Formal witch in the brigade from the Curse Formula Research Institute of the Blood Curse Court, Corden had already disappeared without a trace.
And Patty had gone to Verdantia University.
He had not had the opportunity to meet her before, nor had he had the time to look for her.
Now, because he had the avatar magic, he had the spare time to return to his hometown to take a look and witness his original intention.
Locke recognized the characteristics of Patty's mana fluctuations at a glance; in his mind flashed a very ordinary afternoon many years ago, when he found Patty and asked her to tutor him.
That was the key to him being able to pass the assessment of Dean Tungus.
That afternoon was extremely ordinary, but thinking about it now, he only felt a sense of lament.
Locke was about to approach, but suddenly realized something was wrong, because this group of wizards appearing near the White Wizard territory was clearly a Black Wizard caravan.
And, it was his old friend—the Blood Curse Court.
"Hmm? The people from the Blood Curse Court are so powerful now? After not seeing them for many years, they have actually appeared directly in the heartland of the White Wizard Land, acting so arrogantly."
Locke frowned.
He looked at the three flags on the carriage in the middle of the magic caravan; two of them were normal, just the flags of the Blood Curse Court and the Black Wizard Alliance.
But the flag in the middle was very special; it was a white bone palm emblem.
Locke took a look and saw that there were seven Official Wizards in the caravan, and they were not ordinary Official Wizards, but Vaporization Wizards.
For the Southeast Corner Region, this force could be considered a very powerful force!
In other words, seven experts.
Locke waved his hand, used his magic pressure to create a wall of magic pressure, and followed behind the carriage caravan.
When the gap in magic pressure between a wizard and the opposite wizard is too great, that wizard finds it very difficult to detect him.
This is a violent crushing from magic pressure.
For himself today, a Vaporization Wizard is nothing more than a newborn baby; they do not yet have the insight to discover him if he deliberately hides.
It is not a type of invisibility, but a cognitive blindness, mainly because the gap in magic pressure is too great.
It is just like a person being unable to see the full picture of a high mountain from up close.
Therefore, Locke following directly behind them would be subconsciously treated by them as one of their own.
Of course, if Locke were to take action, or perform some outrageous behavior, or harbor strong hostility, he would still be detected by those Vaporization Wizards.
But Locke at this moment really only wanted to observe, so his approach did not cause any reaction from anyone in the magic caravan.