933: Acceleration and Preparations Before Advancing to Star Ring
Locke looked at Orion and said seriously, "No, it is possible."
"In this world—what you call your world, and what I call the Three Caves World—the source of all power systems is me. Of course, the God Race's power path is a bit special. But regardless, if someone can utilize all the resources of this world, it is possible to become a second 'me'."
Locke continued, "Orion, you all need to progress, I need to progress, and this world needs to progress. Through continuous evolution, all things attain prosperity."
"Contrary to what you might think, I hope you can become like me, reach my level, or even surpass me."
Orion immediately bowed respectfully to Locke.
"Few possess a heart as broad as Treant Teacher. Those elite Rangers, despite possessing extraordinary power and honing their skills diligently every day just to stay ahead of others, find it difficult to admit their apprentices might one day surpass them—the more powerful the Ranger, the harder it is."
Locke walked to the center of the city-state and took out a golden tree seed.
This was a plaza paved with tightly fitted marble tiles. Locke dropped a golden seed into a crack between the tiles; this was a reproducible seed of his Ultimate Magic, [Summer Prosperity].
His magical power was so profoundly integrated with the Second Ring Ancient Tree of Life that it formed a new, unique Magic Plant.
The golden tree seed quickly took root and sprouted, breaking through the marble. Within a few breaths, it grew into a massive tree standing in the very center of the city-state, admired by all the Rangers.
Locke placed a wisp of verdant spirit breath onto this Magic Plant. Immediately, it grew further, its golden leaves unfurling, with every leaf scattering golden spirit macro.
Orion asked Locke, "Teacher, what is this?"
Locke replied, "This is the [golden tree], a sub-tree of my tree of prosperity. It can connect to my Ultimate Magic and preside over the subordinate forests of this world's Forest Sanctuary."
"Currently, it is in a normal First Ring state, but I intend to nurture it into a second ring magic plant."
"The golden tree connects to my Ultimate Magic, and my Ultimate Magic connects to the Emerald Dream. In other words, you can enter the Emerald Dream through this golden tree."
Orion's eyes filled with confusion.
"Emerald Dream?"
Locke nodded.
"The Emerald Dream is the underworld for plants, but it has been invaded by the power of Nightmares. Even I must honor my agreement to enter and destroy the Nightmares to purify them."
Orion's expression gradually shifted.
Orion took a hunting axe from his back, excitedly spinning the weapon in his hand.
"Treant Teacher, leave that to me... leave it to us Rangers. Let me fulfill your duty for you."
"We Rangers are meant to fight for nature to comprehend the Forest Breathing Method through combat... We are warriors. Currently, there has been peace for a long time, and our hands are itching for a fight."
Locke glanced at him.
"Orion, that is exactly my intention. I will bestow my Emerald Blessing upon this golden tree. This way, as long as you sleep beneath this tree, you can enter the Emerald Dream to fight and purify the Nightmares. This will solve many problems, such as the Rangers' stagnating progress due to a lack of combat."
Locke closed his eyes and raised his right hand. He chanted an incantation, and suddenly the edges of the entire golden tree were enveloped in the special power of the Emerald Dream.
Orion was eager to try.
Locke said, "Wait, Orion, you cannot enter yet. You need to guide the Rangers of the Three Caves World to enter gradually. Your city-state will become the center of this world. I will guide this world's civilization toward a second prosperity—the Summer Prosperity. And your city-state will be the core of this prosperity."
"During this process, your family will face many responsibilities and trials. As my beloved apprentice, I can give you a choice. You can choose to step back from this duty and let someone else take over."
Orion asked in confusion, "What do you mean by'step back'?"
Locke said, "Your family would move away from the center of power in this city-state. I can guarantee your descendants a thousand years of wealth. You possess some wizard talent; if you quit being a Ranger, I can take you away from this world, just like the Demon Wolf Giant."
Orion shook his head.
"Teacher, I will not run away. My family and I will bear the responsibility; we will not shy away. I am making this choice here for all my descendants. We will stay at the center of this world, and no matter what happens, we will see it through to the end. We will shoulder the duty of prosperity."
Locke sighed.
Regrettably, those who enjoy prosperity are often not the ones who created or maintained it.
Forget it. Since this was Orion's own choice, he could only respect it.
Locke recalled the scene of his first meeting with Orion; he hadn't expected that young boy back then to be so stubborn.
Orion patted his apprentice, Julian's shoulder.
"But Teacher, I want my child to become a wizard. Can you take him out of this world? I originally wanted him to be a Ranger, but since the responsibility is so heavy... perhaps... he should enter the Wizarding World with you."
Locke kept his hands behind his back and reminded Orion, "There are no suitable conditions or environments for a wizard to study here. Your child has high wizard talent, and I don't want to settle for less."
Even in the Yunze Wetland, such talent would be a precious resource for the major academies.
Locke reminded him, "I will take him from this world, but the time in this world is about to be accelerated by me. In other words, if you become a Ranger and your child chooses to be a wizard, the two of you will be separated from this moment on."
"Orion, you could choose to be a wizard, or your child could choose to be a Ranger."
Orion seemed to have made up his mind.
"Teacher, I have made my resolution. I leave Julian in your care. I wish to shoulder this responsibility myself, but I want my child to be far away from it. Teacher, I was separated from my father when I was very young. Julian is already ten years old; I want to entrust him to you."
Locke nodded.
"I understand. I will use this golden tree to open a planar channel. You just need to let your child pass through."
He took out a Chronology Stele. "The moment your child passes through, I will accelerate time for this entire world. However, you can still regret it now. Once this happens, even I cannot stop it. Orion, if you go to my world, that Wizarding World, you would live very well."
Orion looked at Locke earnestly and said, "But Treant Teacher, this is my home; I won't leave. But I hope my child leaves. I've thought about it; I want him to go further. For him, he is still young, and this is far from being his home yet."
"Teacher, I was thinking just now—our world is constantly at war. The boy is ten; children his age have long been sent to military camps or training grounds, but because of my hesitation, he hasn't been yet. Staying by my side, he won't actually achieve much."
"I can only be at peace if I send him to your side."
Julian gripped the corner of his father's clothes. For a moment, he wanted to refuse, but the instant he met his father Orion's gaze, he understood his father's thoughts and remained silent.
Julian looked at his father's teacher, the Treant Teacher, who would likely be his guardian in that larger world his father spoke of.
How far away was the new world?
Would it be further than leaving his city-state for a neighboring one?
It should be much further.
Perhaps dozens of times that distance.
Locke nodded and began chanting. The golden tree was both his Ultimate Magic and a vital core of the Forest Sanctuary, so he could create a planar channel within this existing world, directly connecting to his Forest Sanctuary in the Wizarding World.
At that moment, the branches of the golden tree drooped down, forming an archway.
Orion nudged Julian's back, signaling him to walk inside.
"Goodbye, Julian. When you get to that world, study hard with Treant Teacher."
Julian looked back every few steps until his figure vanished into the archway formed by the golden tree branches.
Locke asked Orion, "What about the child's mother?"
Orion said, "Dead. From a fever."
Locke looked at him in surprise, only then remembering that the Principles of Medicine had not manifested in the Three Caves World. Herbalism here was primitive—essentially mashing up whatever they suspected might work and feeding the juice to the patient. Thus, it wasn't strange for Orion's wife to die from a common fever.
The moment Julian's figure disappeared, the entire world vibrated. It seemed the Three Caves World sensed Locke's intent and agreed with it; the world itself was only one step away from becoming a medium-to-large scale world.
Locke believed that if his Ultimate Magic, the tree of prosperity, could bear the fruit of Summer Prosperity, there was a high probability it could truly upgrade this world into a medium-to-large scale one.
Clearly, this was why the world approved of his plan.
The Chronology Stele in Locke's hand sank into the world's soil.
The speed of the entire world was suddenly accelerated.
One day in the Wizarding World would now equal a hundred years in this world.
Orion only saw the stone tablet miraculously 'drill' into the ground and vanish. He blinked, wondering to himself, as it seemed nothing had actually happened.
The Chronology Stele could only be used to accelerate worlds around medium scale and was ineffective on the Wizarding World, so Locke couldn't use it to accelerate the Wizarding World.
But this was enough.
The Three Caves World was one of his base camps.
He would build a Ranger Holy Land here and forge his power system to the level where he could advance to a Star Ring Wizard at any time!
A golden silhouette suddenly appeared behind the golden tree. Countless shifting lights emerged, looking like a divine halo behind the tree.
Within the divine light was the exquisite Emerald Dream, and within the Emerald Dream were countless powerful Nightmares.
These Nightmares were letting out incredibly triumphant laughter.
Locke said, "Do you see? That is the Emerald Dream, and those are the ones who have gone astray—the Nightmares."
The Emerald Dream also seemed to highly approve of his current idea, cooperating perfectly with his thoughts.
Locke's move of using his Ranger power system to enter the Emerald Dream and pay off his debts was a triple win.
Because without enemies, the Rangers' power had indeed stagnated, causing the Rangers of the Three Caves World to become restless—a reality that would have caused problems if left unchecked.
Instead, this approach would fill the Rangers with joy.
Orion held his hunting axe in front of him.
"Such powerful pressure. There are so many powerful evil existences in that world; they are enemies of nature."
Orion seemed to see a shapeless Nightmare provoking him, seemingly beckoning him to come.
His power, which had not progressed for a long time, suddenly began to change again following a heavy thud of his heart.
He felt progress!
He wanted to go in there!
Locke stopped him a second time, blocking Orion with his left hand.
"If you go in like that, you will die. Your power is insufficient."
Locke reached out and plucked a golden leaf. Immediately, his magical power flowed into the leaf, transforming into the veins and patterns within.
"This is an Apprentice-level flight Spell Model. I have infused this knowledge into these leaves."
"You can sense and learn the knowledge within by holding these leaves. These are also leaves of power, just biased toward the knowledge type."
This was actually the [leaf of knowledge] Spell Model he had browsed in the free library of Golden Crown Mountain, combined with the Leaf of Power.
It had been phased out in the Wizarding World for a simple reason: when this spell first appeared, magical inheritance was extremely precious and the number of wizards was small, so using this Spell Model to crudely and slowly infuse knowledge into someone's mind was a viable option.
But in the era of modern magic, this method of injecting overly advanced Spell Models was prone to major errors and was thus immediately discarded.
However, this Spell Model was meaningful to him right now.
Because it was equivalent to giving his Leaf of Power system an interface to externalize a large amount of Spell Model knowledge, giving his Leaf of Power system high compatibility.
It could actually increase the value of the Leaf of Power system.
As Orion held the Leaf of Power Locke gave him, he immediately closed his eyes, sensing the hidden knowledge within the leaf.
He was entranced, using his past accumulation and his Second Ring rank to learn rapidly.
Locke said, "You and the other Rangers will learn through these leaves of power."
"You must innovate. Currently, there are only about a dozen optional Spell Models for the Leaf of Power, but I hope to push it to a hundred, and then to a thousand."
"During this process, over the next few centuries, I will act alongside you."
And that would also be the moment to lay the foundation for his Star Ring.
Because my computer is broken, I'm typing this on my phone. The second chapter will be posted tomorrow during the day