777: Locke's Startling Discovery
As this full moon rose within the Styx Plane, Locke, relying on a Second Ring Wizard's sensitivity to plane power, perceived the true essence of the waters of the Styx.
"It is memory, emotion, and consciousness; what rolls within the waters of the Styx is human consciousness."
Although he wasn't completely ignorant of Soul Studies due to having read many popular science magazines—understanding at least the basic concepts and some simple apprentice-level magic—this was different.
Ghost Studies was a rather unique branch within Soul Studies.
It belonged entirely to the research domain of Black Wizards, with almost no related information available in White Wizard Society. Thus, it was only at this moment that Locke realized something.
'The Styx is different from those rivers of souls in the worlds of the afterlife; what flows here isn't souls at all.'
Even the abyss worms and demon fish within the Abyss River were reincarnations of soul bodies, but the Styx was different.
Locke intended to verify his hypothesis about the Styx at this moment, so he needed to raise his Moon of Evolution and observe the river from above.
Yet at that instant, countless vengeful spirits within the Styx reached out their hands toward Locke, as if trying to drag that moon down to the riverbed.
A massive pressure acted upon Locke's soul.
'I see. Back when I was at the First Ring stage, I couldn't escape the water ghosts no matter what I did.'
'Swimming out of the Styx was impossible because the countless conscious entities within this river suppressed me at the time. How could a single consciousness possibly escape so many conscious entities acting as a river!'
Locke recited an incantation, and the Moon of Evolution rotated slightly. Next, the entire moon turned into a black moon because he had projected his Archaeology Spell Model onto his Moon of Evolution via the Legendary History Book.
Instantly, the Historical Reproduction Spell Model appeared.
"Borrowing one hour from the past three hundred days."
That deep red river of faith from the Crimson Deep Court appeared.
That river was like a diverted current rushing into the sea, pouring backward into the Styx; the red current and the black current clashed violently.
Amidst the fierce collision of the red and black rivers, the Moon of Evolution rose slowly, breaking free from the suppression of the local Styx.
After all, Locke's true self and physical body had not actually entered the Styx; he was merely connected to a portion of the Styx through a soul thread, and the contact between the two sides was not yet deep.
At this moment, by using Archaeology magic, he summoned the Crimson Deep Court battlefield that had been reflected by the Moon of Evolution back then. In truth, this was merely the magic that the Black Wizard cultist had used against him at the time.
Now, he was simply using a Legendary History Book to summon that magic from the past.
In fact, he couldn't control it, but that magic altered the environment so excessively that as soon as it appeared, it directly threw the Styx into chaos.
In the physical world of the Wizard World, when Witch Stephania realized that Locke was not a First Ring Wizard, nor was he entering a soul decline period, but was a true Second Ring Wizard, her face changed drastically.
A Second Ring Wizard possessed absolute crushing power over a First Ring Wizard.
Even if she gathered the entire foundation of her Wizard Academy, she might not necessarily be able to wound Locke.
She also couldn't be certain whether those ancient spells inherited from the Pale Pilgrimage could truly affect a Second Ring Wizard.
In truth, the magic of the Ghost Saint Church had one final move: burning the souls of all the Official Wizards of the Ghost Saint Church collectively to ignite all the ghost fireflies, then launching a suicide strike against the enemy in an attempt to perish together.
But at this moment, Witch Stephania simply did not have the courage to cast that spell.
First, the conditions for casting this spell were extremely harsh, largely relying on various wizard ruins at the Ghost Saint Church headquarters.
Second, she herself was already so shaken by her speculation that she could not maintain her composure.
Right now, she only wanted to flee.
However, as soon as she looked up, she saw the Decimation Blood Curse Hussein used to blockade the area, and then she saw her own Ritual Magic; she knew then that she couldn't leave at all.
As long as she made any major movement, the Ritual Magic would fail. Once Locke's consciousness broke free from the Styx, she would still die.
Witch Stephania knew in her heart that four years ago, she had nearly killed Locke.
If Locke were merely a Crystallized Wizard now, it would be one thing.
But Locke was a Second Ring Wizard.
That made the offense extremely serious.
She could not possibly escape the wrath of a Second Ring Wizard!
If she had known this day would come, she wouldn't have dared to offend Locke in the slightest back then!
At that time, Wizard Stanley of the Blood Curse Court and Witch Veltani of the Ghost Saint Church also heard Witch Stephania's exclamation.
The first thought that flashed through their minds was that it was impossible.
The second thought was that they were finished.
They had both offended Locke, so naturally, their hearts were now like dead ashes, knowing that disaster was imminent.
Who could have imagined that a young wizard who had just become a Official Wizard four years ago would become a Second Ring Wizard in just a little over four years.
He was far above them!
The hatred Wizard Stanley felt for Locke vanished completely, replaced by terror and fear.
Witch Veltani even wanted to flee directly, but looking at Hussein's magic that had fallen under the Decimation Blood Curse, she found she had nowhere to run.
In the Styx, as the Crimson Deep Court merged with the Styx, the two different types of river water caused a severe conflict. Vortices appeared, even truly affecting portions of the Styx in the Styx Plane.
Within the Styx Plane, a small section of the Styx flooded, filled with vortices and splashing water.
Simultaneously, the moon into which Locke's consciousness had transformed within the Styx finally broke free and soared into the sky, the bright moon shining over the great river.
Only now could Locke look down upon the Styx.
One must stand high to see far!
Locke finally confirmed his view of the Styx at this moment.
"The water of the entire Styx does not carry true soul water, but consciousness water."
"The Styx is like a soul shell, and the water of the Styx is the water of consciousness."
"To some extent, the Styx can be compared to the soul of a biological organism. What flows within a human soul shell is consciousness, which is also consciousness water."
"Therefore, the Styx can summon various consciousnesses into it; the principle doesn't seem that complex from this perspective."
Since the Styx was a shell, the opponent only needed to use Ghost Studies magic to establish a certain connection between themselves and the'soul' of the Styx and create a type of magic that blurred the boundary between the two, allowing one's consciousness to be drawn into the Styx riverbed.
The so-called Ghost Studies magic should be the product of the deep integration of Soul Studies magic and the Styx Plane.
Through the Styx, one could efficiently utilize the soul energy of the Ghost Saint Church's apprentices and wizards, which made the construction of those crudely made but effective Ghost Magic items possible.
The Styx is the core of Ghost Studies.
Locke realized this.
Similarly, he also realized one thing: the Styx is a river of consciousness that allows many consciousnesses to flow into it, which should include the consciousness of plants.
"I just haven't figured out how to utilize this mechanism yet."
Locke looked down at the Styx. He could break free from this Ritual Magic at any time but simply didn't want to yet. At this moment, he saw a grayish-black iron pillar protruding from the surface of the Styx. That iron pillar was surrounded by many ghost fireflies, like a pillar anchoring the Styx.
The waves of the Styx did not cease, and that pillar also floated up and down.
"The core of the Ghost Saint Church's Ghost Studies spells is all on that pillar."
After observing, Locke made a judgment.
"It seems a wizard placed that pillar into the Styx. If the essence of Ghost Studies is deeply connected to the Styx, then the entire Ghost Studies system carries a bit of Ritual Magic."
"Low-level Ghost Studies wizards shouldn't even be worthy of using Ghost Studies. Therefore, that pillar is needed to reduce the difficulty of use."
"That pillar is the foundation of Ghost Studies." Locke condensed moonlight, intending to pull up that pillar.
Eight ancient magic characters suddenly appeared on that pillar.
The general meaning was—
Resentment Erosion,
Fear Feeding,
Delirium Contamination,
Numb Wood.
All eight magic characters were written in obscure ancient script. Locke immediately recognized it as a niche magic script from the Age of Stars. He was able to recognize it because he had briefly studied it while looking up materials when writing an article about the Age of Stars previously.
The magic runes composed of these four phrases flashed with a magical glow, scattering Locke's moonlight and pushing the Moon of Evolution into the distance.
Seeing this, Locke immediately realized that he could not shake the foundation of the Ghost Saint Church.
"It seems even a Wizard Academy in a small place holds many secrets."
"What am I thinking? It now appears that the Wizard World is fundamentally a single entity, with many places having various connections to other higher-level Wizard Lands."
Locke estimated the magic pressure on that pillar.
"At least Moon Ring Wizard level... the magic pressure is lower than the few Sun Ring Wizards I've seen, similar to Wizard Chad."
"It is this pillar that provides public Ghost Studies services to the entire Ghost Saint Church in the Southeast Corner Region."
"This approach actually coincides with the shared imaginary root of my Second Ring Wizard shoes."
"But..."
Locke thought for a moment.
"As expected, I should still capture a few wizards from the Ghost Saint Church and slowly explore this secret."
Although this might involve the Pale Pilgrimage from the Five Great Wars and provoke the Pale Great Lord.
But they were just a group of Black Wizards; there was no need to fear offending them.
Furthermore, among Black Wizards, prestige had to be earned through killing; high status was useless otherwise.
Locke circled around, and seeing that he couldn't find anything else useful, he was about to leave. The Styx was relatively dangerous, after all, and he didn't want to push his luck.
But in the next moment, an anomaly suddenly occurred.
He saw his black moon spitting out currents from the Crimson Deep Court, but suddenly, for a brief moment, the Crimson Deep Court broke free from his control.
Something seemed to be coming through from within the Crimson Deep Court.
Locke frowned.
"What's the situation?"
Things from the Crimson Deep Court seemed different from other magic; they weren't so easily borrowed.
Even though it was a Crimson Deep Court reproduced from a past time and space through a negative energy particle field, it had unexpectedly broken free from the control of his Spell Model, and something was coming along the current of the Crimson Deep Court.
A voice appeared beside Locke.
'Those who steal the power of the Divine Kingdom, die!'
That Fallen Angel was actually crawling over along an illusory Crimson Deep Court; it looked extremely angry, its pupils filled with tyranny.
As it crawled over, it kept slapping the river with its hands, making terrifying sounds.
The scale of that magic pressure was unimaginable.
It wasn't ordinary Second Ring level; because the magic pressure was too tyrannical, Locke couldn't even accurately judge its range.
But as soon as that Fallen Angel crawled out, just as its head emerged and it was about to glare at Locke, it was washed over by the Styx in the next moment.
The Styx seemed to want to incorporate this Fallen Angel's consciousness into its riverbed!
This was an instinctive reaction of the Styx!
Because the Styx was a river of consciousness, it would subconsciously absorb all beings possessing a sea of consciousness into its channel, thus washing directly over that Tyrannical Angel.
The Tyrannical Angel flew into a rage.
"The Supreme True God says: Truth is violence, truth is bloodshed! Therefore, as long as one exerts violence, one can touch the truth."
In the next moment, it slammed violently into the Styx.
It could symbolize Tyranny, one of the four value systems of the Crimson Deep Court; thus, the River of Tyranny, a branch of the Crimson Deep Court, poured directly into the main channel of the Styx.
Two types of river water appeared in the channel of the Styx.
In the Styx Plane, this section of the main channel was flooded by the River of Tyranny; the water level actually rose, creating a risk of the banks bursting, as the Styx spread over the embankments.
The creatures of the Styx world near the river all fled in panic upon seeing the Styx breach its banks.
"Oh no, I don't know why the Styx has breached its banks."
"The Styx has breached; life and death are blurred. What on earth happened?"
"Quickly, raise the embankments of the Styx!"
"But if we raise the embankments, the flooding Styx water will surge downstream, and several worlds connected to the Styx downstream will suffer great loss of life because of it."
"At a critical moment like this, how can we care about that much?"
"What if the people downstream also raise the height of their embankments? Won't the water flow back here? Then we'll be the ones flooded!!"
"If this section of the Styx cannot be stabilized and the higher-ups blame us, how many heads do we have to lose?"
The creatures of the Underworld discussed heatedly.
Meanwhile, above the Styx, Locke hadn't expected his magic would trigger a chain reaction, causing the Crimson Deep Court to divert its flow into the sea.
Locke saw the water of the Styx surging incessantly, causing the water level to be uneven.
One area had a high water level, while another had a low one.
This caused the portion of that grayish-black iron pillar below the water surface to actually be exposed before him for a split second.
"That's not an iron pillar!"
Locke was suddenly startled. "That's a Magic Plant."
"Just what level of Magic Plant is that!"
He saw an iron tree revealed below the surface of the Styx in that area where the water level had temporarily dropped due to the waves.
That iron pillar was merely the topmost branch of that tree.
"What's planted beneath the Styx is an iron tree!" Locke thought. "Then my previous calculation of its magic pressure was completely wrong."