904: Winning the Golden Holy Grail Championship!
Every pilot wizard carrying a flying magic plant had a judge standing behind them, because everyone started on the same takeoff line, even though there were over fifty runways in total.
There were 28 runways currently in use alone.
Therefore, the judge behind each pilot wizard needed to calculate the time, because some runways had turns on the inside of the curve, while others had turns on the outside. The judges needed to convert distance into time to ensure that the flight distance for every contestant was relatively equal.
At this moment, as whistles blew, one flying magic plant after another soared into the air.
Some of these flying magic plants were giant lotuses, spinning in mid-air.
Others were like a row of small roses resembling pins, which could be attached to a person's clothing to carry the wizard forward.
Some were like dandelion-shaped silver locks that a wizard could hold in their hand, carrying them forward.
The most imposing and majestic one was a Thunder Spruce, which looked like a massive battleship wrapped in thunder, surrounded by lightning storms that lifted the spruce tree as it flew forward.
However, among the 28 flying magic plants, the one in the lead was the Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow ridden by Barrett.
The three small and one large banana-leaf wings behind the Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow were engulfed in flames. Immediately, the Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow dyed half the sky into a crimson sunset, and even the golden light refracted from the Golden City in the sky was stained red.
The Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow was not the first to depart, but it accelerated in a very short time, quickly reaching the first position. Flying along the cableway, it left the other 27 flying magic plants further and further behind.
As the first Magic Plant to depart, the Thunder Spruce had the advantage of starting first, but it was now being left behind by the Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow.
The Crystallized Wizard standing on the Thunder Spruce looked grim. He wanted to forcibly increase the speed of the Thunder Spruce, and the thunderstorms surrounding the spruce tree suddenly surged and became active, with layers of thunderclouds forming. However, the next moment, a flying dragon slammed into it. Because the Thunder Spruce was at least a hundred meters in size, it had powerful propulsion but lacked agility.
The Thunder Spruce could not dodge in time and was struck directly in the middle by that Dragon King with Second Ring Level magic pressure. A massive boom echoed through the sky as the Thunder Spruce snapped in half, and countless bolts of lightning burst out from it.
The Thunder Spruce spun in the sky and then fell down along with the Dragon King, which had crashed into it, resulting in a bloody head and being knocked unconscious from the collision.
In the spectator stands, the wizard who developed the Thunder Spruce stood up abruptly; he had not expected such a thing to happen.
"But the Thunder Spruce does have a greater total magic pressure, which can accelerate the Magic Plant faster. It just lacks some agility."
"Among the data of all the participating flying magic plants, the absolute speed of my Thunder Spruce is ranked third."
This Second Ring Breeder's face was extremely ugly.
He lowered his head and quickly left the spectator area. Originally, he was full of confidence, thinking he could at least compete for a top-three position, but who would have expected that he would be the first to be eliminated due to the lack of agility of his flying magic plant? It was just too embarrassing.
At this moment, many flying Magical Creatures on the cableway began to break free from their chains and enter the cableway, which meant the competition had entered a new phase.
The true sight crystals waiting at various positions along the cableway flew out one by one, recording all the competition footage and projecting it into mid-air, allowing the audience to see the distant competition more clearly.
At this time, a massive beehive flew out from the center of the cableway.
Wizards from the Golden Dynasty in the spectator stands exclaimed in surprise. That was the Julian Beehive. The Julian Queen Bee was hidden inside, controlling the swarm, and it possessed very strong aggressiveness. It was a genuine Second Ring Level Magical Creature.
However, it was the entire swarm combined that counted as a Second Ring Level Magical Creature.
At this moment, the Julian Beehive had broken free from its chains. Because the chains were broken, the previously sealed beehive was also unleashed. This was a terrifying world-destroying magical beast where a single hive could destroy a medium-sized world.
On the cableway in the sky, many flying magic plants immediately encountered attacks from countless Julian swarms.
Immediately, several more flying magic plants were eliminated along the way.
At this moment, the first place was still the Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow, and the second place was the flying man gourd created by a wizard from Ancient Vine Village.
Locke sat in the spectator stands and looked with surprise at the wizard Leon Newman from Ancient Vine Village. He hadn't expected this guy's strength to be quite good.
At this moment, Leon Newman was staring intently at the competition field. He saw that the flying man gourd he developed was carrying a wizard and, together with Wizard Barrett, was approaching the main body of the Julian swarm.
The Julian swarm was an extremely aggressive group of magical beasts. They were inherently neurotic. The reason they had a tendency to destroy the world was that this swarm would subconsciously eliminate anything that could potentially threaten them.
However, because the Julian swarm was overly reactive, it was very easy for them to develop destructive hostility toward all objects with high energy reactions.
At this moment, the Julian swarm was going mad because two high-energy objects were rapidly approaching their hive. This terrifying swarm was dancing in the air, trying to stop the two flying magic plants from approaching.
The wizard sitting on the flying man gourd saw countless swarms approaching. He immediately sat down nervously and reached out to pat the mouth of the gourd. The mouth of the gourd automatically generated a suction force, and countless swarms that rushed over were sucked in before they could even get close.
Leon Newman breathed a sigh of relief when he saw this scene.
Wizard Bruce from the Wind Seeker Holy Land, who was watching the race, let out a soft sound of surprise, his eyes brightening slightly when he saw the flying man gourd.
"What's going on? Did I really underestimate everyone before? I thought it was an insignificant, old-fashioned competition, but I didn't expect to see two good flying magic plants in this competition."
"That gourd also looks quite good. It really has the potential for further development."
The flying man gourd, having swallowed a large number of the swarm, suddenly ejected a burst of magic tide energy from a hole at its tail, which suddenly accelerated the speed of the flying man gourd.
The flying man gourd, which was as big as a carriage, actually caught up with the Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow.
Wizard Leon Newman appeared very excited, even standing up from his seat. He turned around and looked up at Locke, his eyes filled with a sense of challenge.
Locke remained expressionless.
Just as exclamations of surprise were heard from the surrounding spectator stands, a patch of flames suddenly appeared at the center of the Julian Beehive. Immediately after, tongues of flame spread like a mad beast, and then, in the center of these flames, a loud explosion rang out that seemed capable of piercing human eardrums. Under the effect of the Single-Handed Support pre-set by Locke, the Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow used its dragon horns formed from special Imaginary Roots to directly pry open the Julian Beehive.
A large hole was broken in the entire beehive, and it all began to burn with special flames.
The entire beehive therefore slowly fell from the sky, and a roar from the Queen Bee erupted from the center of the hive.
Many wizards in the spectator stands applauded one after another, and some wizards were whispering and discussing that this was not a flying magic plant at all, but rather like an attack-type Magic Plant.
Wizard Bruce also showed appreciation in his eyes when he saw this scene.
Few Breeders can combine the mobility and attack power of a flying magic plant so evenly. That special flame not only provides powerful attack power but can also gain powerful mobility by spraying backward.
What's more interesting is that the instantaneous displacement ability of that Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow is truly powerful. It can stop suddenly in mid-air at will, or move quickly in a certain direction by spraying flames in a short time. In other words, this flying magic plant possesses strong mobile combat capability.
Wizard Bruce said to the Moon Ring Witch secretary beside him, "I remember someone from Siming Waters placed an order requesting us to equip their void battleship with some small aircraft that possess super combat capabilities and can navigate in the void."
The Moon Ring Witch secretary quickly flipped through the documents in her hand and said precisely, "That is indeed the case. The person who placed the order is the Wizard Academy in Siming Waters. There are more wizards from the Mind School there, and their void battleship is more inclined toward mind control magic. However, the main body of the void mothership is relatively fragile, so there is a demand for close-combat aircraft with strong combat capabilities."
"However, for navigating in the void, besides the performance requirements of traditional aircraft, there are also requirements for environmental isolation, right?"
Wizard Bruce said, "What's difficult about that? Siming Waters is one of the wealthiest Wizard Lands in the Eastern Border Region. The wizards there are very rich, and it would be a waste not to earn their money. After letting them buy the Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow, wouldn't it be fine to just have them buy a set of wizard robes that isolate the internal and external environments, and a set of wizard masks that can adapt to the void principles?"
"And this also has great benefits. According to the requirements they proposed to us, this would basically be based on individual wizard movement. It just happens to strengthen mobility."
The Moon Ring Witch secretary flipped through the documents and said, "From the attack performance of those Great Green Leaf Dragon Finchs yesterday, we can also see the developability of the autopilot attack mode of these Magic Plants."
"If developed into an automatically attacking loyal wingman, perhaps that would also be good."
Wizard Bruce thought about it seriously.
"Not bad. The most valuable thing in this competition is that Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow, and also that unexpected surprise—the flying man gourd."
"The rest of the Magic Plants are just..."
It very much matched his previous understanding of flying magic plants.
Like that Thunder Spruce thing, it's simply nonsense.
And then there are things like the Crystal Windbell Grass, or other flying magic plants like the Great Sickle Lotus. Their performance is mediocre, and in the eyes of Wizard Bruce, they have no value for development.
These Magic Plants are not bad as a wizard's personal spells, but if they are turned into aircraft, they are inevitably less than satisfactory in various details.
Moreover, the standards of the Wind Seeker Holy Land itself are not low.
Ordinary things cannot enter his eyes.
An hour has passed. At this time, on the competition field, the gap between the various flying magic plants has become larger and larger. Basically, once things like flying magic plants fall behind, it is very difficult to catch up.
Except for the beginning of the race, when the distances between the pilots of the various flying magic plants were relatively close, the distance between the various flying magic plants grew larger every ten minutes thereafter.
At this time, it was clear at a glance that most of the flying magic plants had no hope of winning the championship.
Those participating wizards sat in the spectator stands and had already accepted this result; some were happy, and some were sad.
The flying magic plants in the hands of those wizards from the Black Iron Mountain Wilderness tried to catch up with the flying magic plants cultivated by Locke and Leon Newman in the early stages of the competition, but after they couldn't catch up, they could only give up.
On the competition field, the Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow was in the lead, but the flying man gourd was following closely behind.
Wizard Leon Newman clenched his fists, his palms full of sweat, focusing intently on the results on the field. The normal speed of the flying man gourd was far inferior to that of the Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow.
However, inside the flying man gourd, there was an Enchantment Magic Array. Inside the Enchantment Magic Array, there was a Second Ring Magic item called the "Water-Fire Pearl." That Second Ring Magic item could grind up objects swallowed by the flying man gourd, turning them into pure magic energy, and then use this magic energy to spray out to accelerate the flight speed of the flying man gourd.
In other words, it was precisely because there were some dangerous Magical Creatures on this track that could be swallowed by the flying man gourd, and then crushed by the Enchantment Magic Array and the Water-Fire Pearl Magic item inside the gourd, turning them into pure magic tide energy to increase the speed of the flying man gourd, that the flying man gourd was able to follow behind the Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow.
Locke looked at him and said, "Wizard Newman, this design of your flying man gourd is truly thoughtful."
It was designed entirely for this competition.
It is a design created to adapt to this type of racetrack.
However, what slightly surprised Locke was that this design was very effective; despite its base stats being completely inferior to the Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow, it was tailing closely behind the Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow and even showed signs of overtaking it on certain sections of the track.
Wizard Leon Newman nervously wiped the sweat from his neck with a handkerchief. He turned his head to look at Locke, his face pale, and smiled, saying, "But this is just barely enough to keep up with your work."
"That is not enough."
Wizard Leon Newman clenched his fists, his palms covered in sweat.
'The Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow has achieved this level relying solely on its base stats without any tricks. This is truly impressive. I didn't expect to encounter such a powerful opponent at the Golden Cup; it exceeded my expectations.'
'I previously thought I would definitely win the championship.'
'I didn't expect to underestimate the geniuses of this world. The only chance my flying man gourd has to beat the Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow is if an incredibly powerful Magical Creature appears on that cableway; by borrowing that Magical Creature's energy, perhaps I could suddenly accelerate and instantly overtake the Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow.'
'In about ten minutes, both flying magic plants will reach the finish line. There isn't much time left for my flying man gourd.'
A wizard from the Black Iron Mountain Wilderness sitting next to Wizard Leon Newman glanced at him and Locke, thinking strangely to himself, "It seems my Qingtuan Cloud Puxi Gourd can only take third place."
At this moment, his work, the Qingtuan Cloud Puxi Gourd, looked like a green dumpling with silver cloud-patterned veins on its surface, a heart-shaped silver leaf, some fuzz on the back of the leaf, and a flower blooming in the middle of its leaves.
However, what held it up in flight were the silver cloud-patterned veins on the surface of the Qingtuan Cloud Puxi Gourd, which condensed water vapor into white clouds, like several auspicious clouds adorning the green dumpling, allowing the Qingtuan Cloud Puxi Gourd to fly.
It was just a pity that the base stats of the Qingtuan Cloud Puxi Gourd were quite far behind the Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow and the flying man gourd, so it had fallen quite a distance behind, and as time passed, the gap between them was only growing larger.
But the Qingtuan Cloud Puxi Gourd was not without its advantages; this Magic Plant looked very lightweight, as if it had no weight at all.
When other Magical Creatures attacked it, it could often easily avoid all physical attacks from Magical Creatures due to the disturbed airflow, and even some spell attacks that would violently disturb the airflow would cause the Qingtuan Cloud Puxi Gourd to automatically float away, avoiding the attack.
This Wizard Patrick from the Black Iron Mountain Wilderness looked at the first and second place, sighed, and let go of the last shred of hope in his heart; it seemed he had no hope of winning the championship.
The Qingtuan Cloud Puxi Gourd was a work passed down through three generations in his academy. Passed down generation after generation, it was only in his year that it had finally won many competition championships in the Black Iron Mountain Wilderness Wizard Land, which is why he had the confidence to bring his work to participate in the Golden Holy Grail. Who knew that as soon as he participated, he would suffer a blow to his confidence.
Wizard Leon Newman suddenly stood up excitedly.
"The opportunity has arrived. Simon, quickly swallow that mechanical dragon!"
At this moment, on the track, both Wizard Leon Newman's pilot, Simon, and Locke's pilot, Barrett, had already seen the red flag representing the finish line, located in the sky on the back of a three-headed Chimera.
And at this moment, a dragon composed entirely of mechanical components appeared on the cableway. The mechanical dragon's body was like a perfect square block, with two mechanical cannons on its shoulders and missiles covering its tail.
The core of the mechanical dragon was composed of a suspended hollow mechanical sphere, which contained a Sun Forging Array, an alchemy forging array that could drive small floating airships, providing energy for this mechanical dragon.
At this moment, the cannons on the mechanical dragon's shoulders began to charge, generating high heat, and then two energy cannon blasts were fired towards Barrett and Simon.
The flying magic plants controlled by Barrett and Simon reacted automatically, quickly dodging the trajectory of these energy cannons.
However, the flying man gourd that Simon was riding did not avoid the mechanical dragon; instead, it approached rapidly, and a powerful suction force was generated at the gourd's mouth. Even the trajectory of the energy cannons was distorted, and they began to be sucked into the wind vortex at the mouth of the flying man gourd.
The mechanical dragon roared, raised its tail, and began a missile bombardment towards the flying man gourd and Wizard Simon.
But as soon as those missiles approached, they were all sucked into the flying man gourd.
Wizard Leon Newman shouted to the sky, "Simon, suck that Sun Forging Array into the flying man gourd; the flying man gourd will burst out with maximum speed in an instant. This way, we might be able to win the championship."
In the audience, whether it was the participating wizards, ordinary spectators, or the high-level officials of the Golden Dynasty, everyone was energized at this moment.
Could it be that there is still a dark horse in this competition?
Will this dark horse surpass the Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow, which was considered the favorite to win before the race, and thereby win the championship?
At this moment, Wizard Barrett looked back at the flying man gourd that had suddenly changed direction.
In the audience, Locke remained calm, as if he didn't care at all whether the flying man gourd could obtain the Sun Forging Array from the chest of the mechanical dragon.
"Barrett, there is no need to care about the person behind you. Proceed directly to the finish line."
Locke had rich combat experience, so he knew this was not just about the flying magic plant competition, nor was it about comparing the traits of the flying magic plants.
The mechanical dragon itself was the work of an extremely brilliant Alchemist.
It possessed considerable combat power.
The design of the flying man gourd to increase flight speed by swallowing people/objects was indeed very interesting, and the flying man gourd's swallowing magic was indeed powerful, but based on his own combat experience, Leon Newman's desire to have the flying man gourd swallow the mechanical dragon in a short time was pure fantasy.
It was just a desperate attempt to go all-in when faced with a certain loss.
He did not need to care about such a desperate gamble.
The probability was too low.
Most importantly, that mechanical dragon should be a campaign-level Second Ring large-scale biomimetic Magic item from the Alchemy School. If it was operated by a team of Alchemists behind the scenes, I am afraid that even several ordinary Second Ring Wizards would not be able to defeat this entity.
At this moment, the Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow continued to head towards the finish line.
Wizard Leon Newman stared intently at the flying man gourd and the mechanical dragon.
"There is only this one way to beat the Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow. flying man gourd... you are my painstaking work..."
In the audience, Throne Russell looked up at the two Magic Plants vying for the final championship and nodded appreciatively, saying, "They are both good children. They have added much color to our Golden Cup flying magic plant competition, surpassing the level of past competitions."
At this moment, on the final 20,000-meter cableway track in the sky, the mechanical dragon faced the air vortex of the flying man gourd, and its eyes suddenly erupted with two high-temperature thermal rays. The two high-temperature rays shot into the flying man gourd, seemingly damaging something, and the entire interior of the flying man gourd suddenly exploded.
Wizard Simon, sitting on the flying man gourd, was almost blown off by this explosion.
He hugged the narrow neck of the gourd and then wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"How could this happen? It was just one step away."
In the audience, Wizard Leon Newman suddenly pressed his right hand to his forehead, bending over and letting out a sound of frustration at falling short of success.
At the same time, applause and exclamations rang out all around.
The Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow reached the final finish line!
The championship of this Golden Holy Grail ultimately fell into Locke's hands.
It was not snatched away by any dark horse.
Wizard Leon Newman raised his head and gave a half-salute to Locke.
"I lost."
"The flying man gourd gathered all my painstaking efforts. I originally thought I could win the championship, but I didn't expect that I was still so far from the championship."
"It's a real pity that I couldn't win this competition for Ancient Vine Village."
Wizard Leon Newman sighed.
However, he didn't dwell on it; although he lost, he quickly adjusted his mindset.
He thanked Locke, saying, "Thank you, Mr. Augustine. You showed me a higher level of Breeding Science and gave me a goal to challenge. We wizards of Ancient Vine Village never fear challenges; we can lose, but we will not give up."
"This time you won; you are the victor. But next time, I will continue to challenge you."
Locke sat in the position above him and nodded slightly at him.
"Leon Newman, I have remembered your name. You are welcome to continue challenging me in the future."
Locke glanced at Leon Newman, who had sat back down.
This person wasn't without a chance of winning; it was just that the probability of winning was relatively small. If the pilot he hired had stronger combat talent, perhaps he could have ultimately used the flying man gourd to swallow the entire mechanical dragon, and then suddenly burst out with speed at the end, snatching the championship from his hands.
However, the reason he was able to take second place in this Golden Holy Grail was not because his level was just below his own.
Wizard Leon Newman probably didn't realize that the gap between his level and the championship was actually even larger than he thought.
Because of this competition, and because of himself, several contestants naturally did not participate.
The flying magic plants produced by the Magic Plant Crystallization Technology route of the Rose Council, and the Magic Plant of that genius Breeder from the Mamluk Grand Canyon.
If these two had participated, it is estimated that Wizard Leon Newman's flying man gourd would only have ranked fourth.
Because the first place would still be himself.
'Wizards of Ancient Vine Village do seem quite reliable.'
Locke thought to himself.
'Looking at his unconvinced expression, I will probably encounter Leon Newman again in other competitions in the future.'
The host said in a cheering tone, "The champion of this Golden Holy Grail has been born. Congratulations to Wizard Locke Augustine from Yunze Wetland, Golden Crown Mountain, and his work, the Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow."
"According to our pre-race agreement, Lord Bruce, a Sun Ring Wizard from the Wind Seeker Holy Land, will engage in commercial cooperation with this champion to jointly establish a Shop Alliance, focusing on developing the commercial layout of the Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow as a flying vehicle."
"Let us congratulate Locke Augustine once again for winning the championship."
"Will the judges please comment on the competition results..."
In the audience, Wizard Leon Newman could only look dejectedly at his half-broken flying man gourd as it slowly approached the finish line, finally crossing the line before the third-place Qingtuan Cloud Puxi Gourd without any major mishaps.
At least he secured second place.
Wizard Leon Newman turned his head to look at Locke, who had a witch placing a golden wreath on his head; a competitive, unyielding spirit appeared in his eyes.
"It doesn't matter. It has always been like this. It was like this when I was in Ancient Vine Village."
"There will always be someone better than me. I can only chase silently from behind, but chasing all the way, I have eventually walked to where I am now."
"Chasing, chasing, I will eventually surpass those people."
"Having a goal is better."
Wizard Leon Newman looked at Locke, a competitive spirit flashing in his eyes.
"With such a powerful Breeder as my goal to strive for, I can improve faster, right?"
"Locke Augustine..."