902: The Tenochtitlan Palace and the Golden Potion
The three-legged golden bird on Locke Augustine's shoulder fluttered its wings and took flight.
"Wizard, you are quite impressive. Fighting side by side with you reminds me of the old days."
"You possess a high talent for Gold Magic. In this region filled with history, I believe you should be able to see many phantoms that remain from the past and do not appear in the present."
"Welcome to our Meili Ruins."
"It is a pity that you never saw the splendor of our Hui Ming Borderland at its peak; the immortal palaces of the past have all been closed. If you had arrived at its zenith, I could have taken you into the Tenochtitlan Palace to receive the blessing of Gold Magic."
"In the past, every guest invited to the Tenochtitlan Palace was gifted the Golden Potion, which represents immortality."
The three-legged golden bird suddenly disappeared, transforming into a stream of golden power that headed toward the sun in the sky. Immediately after, Locke Augustine saw that the sun's light was significantly brighter.
The golden sun looked as if it were molten gold at sunset.
Locke Augustine felt as though he saw a towering, immortal palace complex within that sun, but he could not distinguish whether it was an illusion or if he had truly seen it.
Locke Augustine looked at the sun in the sky with confusion.
"Is it my imagination? No, the sun in the Hui Ming Borderland is different from other regions; I think it is highly likely that it has undergone some kind of modification. Perhaps there really was once a palace complex in that sun, but it is now closed to everyone."
The foundation of the Hui Ming Borderland was somewhat terrifying.
The current five major relic city groups of the Hui Ming Borderland · Golden Dynasty were likely just the tip of the iceberg of their past heritage. The three major city groups that once represented the most powerful aspects of the Hui Ming Borderland had perhaps long been closed and existed in areas inaccessible to ordinary wizards.
Locke Augustine quickly searched for the Tenochtitlan Palace of the Hui Ming Borderland through the water gourd system, but found that no relevant information could be found in the free magic books.
He did, however, find information on the Golden Potion.
"Third Ring Potion, an incredible masterpiece from the peak of Potionology, currently permanently lost. The specific effects are unknown; in the past, it was only held by the Hui Ming Borderland. It is said that by consuming it, one can obtain the blessing of Gold Magic."
Locke Augustine had a strange expression as he looked up at the sky of the Hui Ming Borderland.
The guardian of the Meili Ruins, the three-legged golden bird, told him that because of his talent for Gold Magic, he would see many phantoms of the past in this area. Perhaps that ancient city complex, located in the depths of the sun and towering to an unbelievable degree, was indeed real.
Perhaps it still exists to this day.
But since the information could not be found on the water gourd system in the Yunze Wetland, it was highly likely that the entrance had been closed.
The Hui Ming Borderland was simply a region filled with history and ruins, a treasure trove for Archaeology Wizards.
At this moment, Barrett was holding the magic box, his Wizard Shoes stepping over an earthworm that Locke Augustine had previously shattered into small pieces. The earthworm was immediately crushed into fragments.
Those fragments of flesh, due to the Gold Magic remaining within them, instantly transformed into smaller earthworms and quickly burrowed into the ground, disappearing without a trace.
Wizard Barrett said to Locke Augustine, "Team Leader, I am very sorry that you had to take action yourself. If you hadn't happened to come by this time, I'm afraid I wouldn't even have been able to help you deliver the competition entry to the venue. I'm sorry."
"Team Leader, I have let you down."
Wizard Barrett bowed to Locke Augustine, a look of guilt appearing on his face.
He felt he was useless.
As a researcher at the True Knowledge Institute of Golden Crown Mountain, he was unable to perform this escort job well; it was simply stupid.
The two Crystallized Wizards behind him looked at Locke Augustine with fear, then bowed respectfully to him and thanked him simultaneously.
"Thank you, Great Wizard, for your rescue. We are wizards from Neher University in the Spiral Basin."
"My mentor is the senior wizard tutor, Great Wizard Yennefer of Neher University."
"My mentor is the chief wizard tutor, Great Wizard Callum Frost of Neher University."
The two were full of awe for Locke Augustine; the moment Locke Augustine had taken action earlier had left a deep impression on them.
Locke Augustine did not respond to the three of them, but instead looked at the magic box held in one of the wizards' chests.
Seeing Locke Augustine walk over, that wizard immediately put on a smile mixed with awe.
"Hello... Ah? Sir, this is the competition entry my mentor, Great Wizard Yennefer, gave me. According to wizard law, you cannot..."
The next moment, Locke Augustine forcibly used magic pressure to unlock the magic box.
Immediately, a golden apple rolled out of the magic box. It was a golden apple, a fruit matured from a One-Ring Magic Plant, the golden apple tree. Locke Augustine had a golden apple tree in his Forest Sanctuary.
According to the three-legged golden bird, the earthworm was attracted by the golden apple.
The Crystallized Wizard was hit as if by a violent blow; he was completely stunned.
"How is this possible? My mentor clearly gave me a competition entry. I watched her put a flying magic plant into this magic box with my own eyes. Why is there a golden apple inside? How is that possible?"
Locke Augustine said, "The golden apple is the favorite food of the earthworm. That Second Ring Magical Creature targeted you because you were carrying a golden apple."
The Crystallized Wizard swallowed hard.
He was also a Official Wizard, with the pride of a First-Ring Wizard and the bottom line of a super individual.
At this moment, he gritted his teeth, his eyes revealing a lack of understanding, and even resentment, towards Witch Yennefer.
His companion beside him immediately moved away from him, looking at him with suspicious eyes.
"In other words, Curtis Langley's death has something to do with you. Your mentor even wanted to sabotage the competition entries of our mentors so they couldn't be delivered to the designated venue."
That wizard immediately said with grievance, "I was also in danger. If I had known about this plan, as a First Ring Crystallization Wizard, a dignified Official Wizard, how could I have possibly gone to do a suicide mission that even a First-Class Wizard Apprentice wouldn't be willing to do?"
"And the tickets were all bought for us by her. The entire route plan, from time to location, and even the people we would meet... everything was fixed."
Locke Augustine glanced at him.
Then he could confirm one thing: Yennefer, this old friend, was truly worthy of being Yennefer. After all these years, she hadn't changed one bit.
However, he hadn't expected her to climb so fast, actually becoming a Second Ring Wizard and a senior wizard tutor at the best wizard university in the Spiral Basin.
This promotion speed for a faculty position was very fast.
She was clearly not following the path he, Edgar, and Diana had taken.
However, she seemed to be doing well on the track she had chosen, and was currently doing better than Diana, except... it seemed her methods were quite dirty.
At this time, the Demon Hunter Troops of the Meili Ruins had already surrounded the area.
A Star Ring Wizard walked out of the Demon Hunter Troops, wearing a golden wizard robe.
"If you have anything you want to say, let's go to our Demon Hunter Division to say it."
"Also, can the magic boxes in the hands of the two wizards be subjected to our inspection?"
This Star Ring Wizard nodded at Locke Augustine.
"Great Wizard, thank you for your help."
Locke Augustine said, "Hmm. Barrett, let them inspect it."
After Barrett opened the magic box and accepted the inspection by the Demon Hunter Troops, Locke Augustine took him away from this wilderness and headed to the competition venue.
On the way, Wizard Barrett, holding the magic box, asked Locke Augustine, "Team Leader, are we just going to leave it at that?"
Locke Augustine said, "Yennefer has already paid the price; she will likely be blacklisted by the Golden Cup. This person has always been reckless since before. For the sake of profit, she can rush forward and pay any price."
"But she never thought about how to clean up the mess."
"But this time, it's not a conflict between her and me. She has already paid the price."
Locke Augustine said, "But this time, she was just a knife in someone else's hand. Someone hired her to sabotage my competition entry, and perhaps even wanted to snatch the Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow."
"I don't know who hired her, but looking at it from the perspective of who benefits, if we think about who has the most motivation to mastermind this, it's probably the contestant who is using Magic Plant Crystallization to compete. I don't know if anyone using a flying magic plant made with this technology is participating in this competition. But we'll know tomorrow."
Locke Augustine and Barrett hired two magic carriages halfway, and then took the magic carriages to the designated competition venue in the Meili Ruins.
Locke Augustine found a wizard inn to stay in. Along the way, he felt the gazes on him gradually decreasing, and after entering the downtown area of the Meili Ruins, those gazes disappeared completely.
Soon, a group of wizards suddenly came to the wizard inn, seemingly all people who wanted to get to know Locke Augustine. These people announced their names as soon as they arrived to prove their worth.
They clearly wanted to come over and befriend Locke Augustine.
On the second floor of the wizard inn, Barrett said to Locke Augustine, "Quite a few wizards have come to befriend us, especially a wizard from the Dragonfall Land · Wind Seeker Holy Land; he says he is the Sun Ring Wizard Bruce."
"He wants to meet you."
Wizard Barrett tentatively asked Locke Augustine, "Team Leader, do we want to meet him?"
Locke Augustine closed his eyes and entered a state of deep meditation.
"No."
"We are competing tomorrow. As long as I can win the championship, my work will reach a commercial cooperation with the Wind Seeker Holy Land. Him coming to find me at this time does nothing to promote my interests."
"Let's handle official business only."
Wizard Barrett was stunned for a moment, then smiled.
"The Team Leader is still so calm."
"Then I'll just drive them all away."
Soon, Wizard Barrett walked down to the first floor and ran to the first floor to announce that Locke Augustine was busy and not prepared to befriend these wizards.
These wizards were not angry, though.
After all, they were just trying their luck to see if they could get some benefits, but they didn't really have much hope of befriending Locke Augustine.
But the Sun Ring Wizard Bruce was given the cold shoulder. He pursed his lips and wanted to stop the little Crystallization Wizard to ask properly.
It would be one thing to reject those freeloaders.
He was a Sun Ring Wizard, and a Sun Ring Wizard from the Wind Seeker Holy Land, the Sun Ring Wizard from the Dragonfall Land.
Three thoughts immediately popped into Wizard Bruce's mind.
"Has the other party never heard of the Dragonfall Land?"
"Has the other party never heard of the Wind Seeker Holy Land?"
"Does the other party know that he wanted to establish a partnership with him before he entered the competition, bypassing the Golden Holy Grail Organizing Committee of the Golden Dynasty in the middle?"
As a Sun Ring Wizard from a top-tier Wizard Academy whose predecessor was the Shop Alliance, he possessed strong commercial instincts. He instinctively wanted to protect his academy's interests, so he immediately thought that if there were no Golden Holy Grail Organizing Committee acting as a middleman, then collaborating with Locke would, by all accounts, better serve his own interests.
Therefore, Wizard Bruce's wonderful idea was to sign a contract with another wizard at the Golden Holy Grail, giving him something superficial that would still satisfy the cooperation requirements between the Dragonfall Land's White Wizard Association and the Hui Ming Borderland.
Meanwhile, in private, he would strongly urge Locke to withdraw from the Golden Holy Grail competition and enter into a private commercial partnership with him.
Although this likely did not align with Locke's interests, it perfectly aligned with the interests of the Wind Seeker Holy Land. Wizard Bruce believed that with his abilities, he could pull this off.
He didn't see anything wrong with his approach either.
Protecting the Shop Alliance he belonged to at all costs was consistent with his practices as a businessman.
Yet, at this moment, he didn't expect that Locke would dismiss him just like one of those riff-raff wizards around him?
Why?
Wouldn't ordinary people stand up to welcome him immediately upon hearing his reputation?
The Moon Ring Witch secretary beside Wizard Bruce smiled.
She suddenly stopped Wizard Barrett and said to him, "This Crystallized Wizard, we are from the wizard holy land of Dragonfall Land—the Wind Seeker Holy Land, one of the wizard academies in the Wizard Civilization capable of crafting the best flying devices."
"This is Mr. Bruce, the Sun Ring Wizard."
"He holds a prestigious status and controls countless commercial interests. Anyone who becomes his friend will never have to worry about money again. Once you become friends with Mr. Bruce, you will enter the elite circle."
Wizard Barrett bowed to the two.
"Two Great Wizards, my team leader said he is very busy today and that everything must be handled officially."
The four words 'handled officially' rang like thunder in the minds of the Moon Ring Witch and the Sun Ring Wizard, Bruce.
The Moon Ring Witch suddenly smiled.
Wizard Bruce stood with his hands behind his back, "I see. Tell your leader, he has guts."
Wizard Bruce turned and left, and his secretary immediately followed.
The Moon Ring Witch whispered, "Teacher Bruce, I have rarely seen you give up so decisively."
"In the past, wouldn't you always achieve your goal no matter what? I remember one time when a genius Star Ring Wizard Alchemist refused to see anyone, you jumped onto their delivery truck while someone was delivering materials to them, bypassed their defensive wizard array, and snuck into their home."
"Only then were you able to meet them and convince that genius to cooperate with us."
"Why give up so easily today?"
The Moon Ring Witch added, "Is it because you don't think he's valuable? I actually find him quite interesting."
Wizard Bruce, with his hands behind his back, said, "As a commercial negotiation expert, I can accurately sniff out any opportunity. But the reason I gave up is that there was no opportunity."
"The situation you mentioned was because the other party was mentally wavering to begin with, so they wanted to maintain their resolve by refusing to see me. At that time, I knew that if I could successfully meet them, I could persuade them. They were like a person about to be crushed; I only needed to place a single straw on them, and they might collapse."
"But this time it's different. This person has a firm will. He didn't see me because he really had no interest in seeing me. If I were to push myself on him, it would only lower my own value."
Wizard Bruce walked a few steps, then suddenly paused and said to his secretary, "Go investigate this person's background. I want all his past information. This person is definitely not a simple opponent. His wizard level is low now, but in the future, I believe he is destined for greater things."
"Of course, for now, it's just a possibility."
The Moon Ring Witch looked at her superior in surprise.
She didn't expect this Sun Ring Wizard leader to think so highly of a wizard he had never met before.
In her eyes, he was just an interesting young Second Ring Wizard.
Perhaps he had some talent, which allowed him to dare to refuse when faced with such an opportunity, but he didn't understand that delays can lead to changes.
If you don't seize some things immediately, they might be taken away by others.
Knowing this principle that delays lead to changes, how could a normal person dare to refuse the arrival of an opportunity?
However, the Moon Ring Witch thought about how her superior, who was also her teacher in practice, was a famous commercial expert, so she remained silent and became even more interested in the wizard named Augustine.
...
The Sun Ring Wizard director of the Golden Holy Grail Organizing Committee was overjoyed when he heard a subordinate wizard report that Wizard Bruce had visited the wizard inn to see Locke Augustine, only to be turned away.
This Sun Ring Wizard director was absolutely delighted.
The wizard asked curiously, "I don't know why Wizard Augustine would directly refuse to meet him. That is the vice dean of a top-tier Wizard Academy in the Dragonfall Land. If he just met him, wouldn't that be a chance to rise to the top?"
The Sun Ring Wizard director beamed with joy.
Because ever since Wizard Bruce arrived in their Hui Ming Borderland, he had been putting on a long face all day. If it weren't for the fact that he held opportunities representing money, he wouldn't even bother to curry favor with such a person.
Who would have thought that Locke Augustine from the Three Ze Lands could make such a person suffer a setback?
It was truly gratifying.
The Sun Ring Wizard director tapped his fingers on the table and said, "That's where you're wrong. Who do you think gives the opportunity to rise to the top? For true geniuses, they themselves are their greatest asset."
"A Breeder genius like Locke Augustine is the kind of person the Wind Seeker Holy Land should be rushing to befriend, not the other way around."
"If he were to go see Bruce, that would be unnecessary."
...
In the Hui Ming Borderland, the sun set and rose.
Soon, the next day arrived.
Locke brought Wizard Barrett to the designated competition venue for the Golden Holy Grail.
It was a vast expanse of sky, where many dragons wrapped in chains dragged the chains, turning the sky into various race tracks.
At the same time, on the tracks defined by these chains, there were some flying Magical Creatures that were tied with chains and secured with magic locks.
Those magic locks all had countdown devices on them.
Clearly, as time passed, the magic locks would unlock one by one and launch attacks at the contestants.
However, those were only First Ring Magical Creatures.
Therefore, the pilots for this competition could only be Crystallized Wizards. Of course, if a contestant wanted to let a Vaporization Wizard or Liquefaction Wizard serve as the pilot, the Organizing Committee would not refuse, and the judges would not disqualify them, but Second Ring Wizards were not allowed to participate.
Because only when the wizard's level is lower than the Magic Plant's level can the performance of the Magic Plant be demonstrated to the greatest extent, rather than the wizard's own talent.
At this moment, Wizard Barrett was wearing a wizard robe and carrying the Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow on his back. Although the magic pressure of a First Ring Wizard was not enough to drive a second ring magic plant, Locke had already stored enough mana inside this Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow.
Therefore, Wizard Barrett was able to manipulate this Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow at this moment.
The contestants and pilots, one by one, stood on the takeoff lane under the guidance of the staff.
At this time, thousands of true sight crystals floated in mid-air, recording the entire scene of this flying competition.
Two hosts wearing golden robes, after a solemn sound of golden chimes, said: "I announce the start of the 347th Golden Holy Grail flying magic plant Competition in the Hui Ming Borderland. Please, 32 contestants, take your positions."
Locke sat in the spectator stand and saw Wizard Barrett standing in the 7th takeoff lane, but there were not 32 wizards on the takeoff lanes, but 28.
He only heard the host say: "Yesterday, four contestants voluntarily withdrew from the competition, namely those from the Yunze Wetland's Rose Council..."
Locke's eyes flickered, because the host announced the names of their institutions, Wizard Lands, and competition entries. Of the four people who withdrew, three came from other Wizard Lands, mainly from the Mamluk Grand Canyon and the Spiral Basin.
But there was also one person from the Yunze Wetland, who was a wizard from the Rose Council. Judging by the name of the Magic Plant, it was clearly Magic Plant Crystallization Technology.
"It seems the person who hired Black Wizards and plotted to carry the golden apple in the wilderness to attract the earthworms in the golden insect swarm was a wizard from the Rose Council."
Locke's eyes were cold.
"It shouldn't be the Academic Lineage of the Rose Throne, but the one that proposed the Magic Plant Crystallization Technology."
"It wasn't targeting me either, but preventing strong contestants from appearing. My Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow was seen by many wizards in Group 2. So it's normal for the data to have leaked."
"So, the other party originally wanted to eliminate my entry to ensure that the Magic Plant with Magic Plant Crystallization Technology would win. Then, they would use the Golden Holy Grail and the Wind Seeker Holy Land of the Dragonfall Land to constantly leverage and increase the popularity of Magic Plant Crystallization Technology."
"The two entries from the Spiral Basin withdrew for this reason. But this time, it wasn't just me being targeted, but also the wizard from the Mamluk Grand Canyon. Is it because that Wizard Land also has a strong entry that might overshadow the flying magic plant created by Magic Plant Crystallization Technology?"
And now, upon realizing they couldn't ensure their own works couldn't participate, the other party actually gave up on the competition directly.
That makes sense.
Since they couldn't win the championship, they would just not participate in the competition.
Locke frowned. If that Magic Plant Crystallization Technology was truly so powerful, why would they need such methods?