977: Virtual Forging Difficulty: Starry Sky on Water! Mountain Traveler and the Difficulty of Reaching the Moon Ring!
Aboard the Wizard Airship, Locke's Avatar Potion was in a video call with the Sea Queen Throne located in the Yunze Wetlands.
The Sea Queen Throne sat at a vanity table. She opened a wooden box from her makeup case, and suddenly, a large fish with wings darted out. This fish was extremely ferocious, with a huge lantern on its forehead. The lantern emitted a strange radiance, and its pair of dead fish eyes were exceptionally cruel. As soon as this lantern monster fish appeared, its Magic Pressure rose continuously, expanding endlessly in the Endless Void.
"Helen, you bastard woman, you actually dared to imprison my Ginseng Fish King for so long. I will eat you, and I will eat everything related to you."
The lantern monster fish was extremely vicious. It didn't know how much evil it had committed in the Endless Void, but this was the first time it had suffered such a big loss.
This lantern monster fish was about to break free from the seal on its body and start growing to return to its normal size, while simultaneously wanting to swallow the Sea Queen Throne in one gulp. But the next moment, the Sea Queen Throne suddenly slapped it down, directly flattening the lantern monster into a piece of paper. The lantern monster was clearly somewhat dumbfounded.
The Sea Queen Throne said, "Noisy."
Then, the Sea Queen Throne took a safe out of her astral ring, opened the safe, and took out a bottle of potion. She then poured this potion onto the lantern monster fish slice, and the monster discovered that it had undergone some kind of deformation; it had actually turned into a tattoo. This tattoo just lay on the table.
The Sea Queen Throne used tweezers to pick up the monster fish tattoo, then placed it on the side of her neck. The ferocious tattoo of the lantern monster appeared on her neck, then swam a few times on her neck before crawling onto her right shoulder, where it lay obediently and didn't move. The Sea Queen Throne explained to Locke, "This is a Grand Potion—Tattoo Deformation Grand Potion."
It was the first time Locke had seen this level of potion. The Magic Pressure of that monster fish just now had reached the Sun Ring level and was still rising; it was likely some kind of even more powerful existence, yet it was just turned into a tattoo by a bottle of potion and then hung on the Sea Queen Throne's body. The Sea Queen Throne looked at Locke and asked, "How about it? Do you want to learn how to brew Grand Potions?"
Locke was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly, "Master Helen, you are really joking. Only Third Ring level Potions can be called Grand Potions. Every bottle of Grand Potion is an important achievement in the boundless realm of Potions. Currently, I can only be considered to have just peeked at the entrance of Potions." "I cannot even imagine configuring a Third Ring Grand Potion."
The Sea Queen Throne said, "In Potions, only reaching a leading level has meaning. This point is more significant than in other disciplines." "Every good Potion Master wants to be able to brew Grand Potions."
"Only Grand Potions can be called true Potions."
The Sea Queen Throne used some second-ring Potions, applying them to her shoulder to fix the deformation tattoo and prevent the lantern monster fish from escaping. Then, she used tweezers to remove a flood dragon tattoo from her calf. The moment she removed it, the potion effect on the surface of the flood dragon tattoo was gone, and the flood dragon immediately broke free from the medicinal properties of the deformation Grand Potion. Magic radiance, transformed from the special potion effect, radiated from its body. Then, this flood dragon tattoo turned into a living flood dragon, which was constantly twisting its body in the tweezers. The flood dragon turned its head to look at the Sea Queen Throne and said, "Helen, you old witch, you damned old witch, you won unfairly. I only ate one of your students, and you actually treated me like this and even used my power. Let me go, I will completely destroy you, so that not even a speck of dust will be left of you in this world."
The flood dragon's eyes were splitting, filled with anger and malice.
Two ominous red lights erupted from the flood dragon's eyes, blasting towards the Sea Queen Throne. The Sea Queen Throne rolled her eyes, picked up a pipe at hand, put it in her mouth, took a deep puff, and then puffed out a breath. The smoke and dust ignited by countless wizard tobaccos sprayed out, instantly covering the flood dragon's head. The flood dragon was sprayed dizzy and half-dead by this mouthful of smoke.
The Sea Queen Throne satisfiedly locked it into her makeup case.
"See that? This is what Potions can do."
"Grand Potions can utilize the spirit macro of all things and everything, as well as the combinations and changes between natural magic structure components, to configure power that can escape death, bring happiness, transcend life and death, and deform all things. It can make a Third Ring creature faint, and it can also resurrect them, beyond your imagination."
"However, these two magic creatures also deserve their crimes."
The Sea Queen Throne said, "They ate quite a few wizards and destroyed some industries in the Xiangshan Archipelago. I was commissioned, so I used the Tattoo Deformation Potion to turn them into these tattoos."
"To protect me."
"The core of Potions lies in Spirit Macro-Science. The better you learn Spirit Macro-Science, the better your Potions level will be at the second-ring stage." "Locke, I am preparing to hold my third Potions class recently, and I hope you can keep up with my progress. If in the end only that student of mine can understand my class, that would be too boring. I might as well just teach her alone. However, it is as if time waits for no one. If you cannot keep up with my progress, I can only teach according to her learning progress. Although she is a First-Ring Wizard, you may not necessarily be able to keep up with her learning progress in Potions."
The Sea Queen Throne said, "Your recent learning progress is indeed okay, but you must not be proud because of it."
After all...
That student of hers was once a Third-Ring Wizard. The achievements she attained in Potions, even if they remained little due to death, could still shelter some reincarnations because of the characteristics of a Third-Ring Wizard. Of course, the Sea Queen Throne was not prepared to explain this clearly to Locke.
Because if it works, it works.
Potions is a discipline that only the geniuses among geniuses are qualified to walk to the end.
This path has too high a requirement for talent, and the way of obtaining additional Potions talent by destroying the 'large account' and reincarnating to create a'small account' is a privilege that only Third-Ring Wizards possess.
The Sea Queen Throne said, "However, considering that only two or three people in my class can understand my curriculum, and only two or three of those who understand can learn it, I plan to wait for you for half a month. I will start the third class after your clone returns to the Yunze Wetlands. There is no great significance to starting early." "But there is a... guest I invited on the Wizard Airship you are on. He will undertake a relatively important teaching function in the class—acting as my teaching tool."
"I think since you are on this ship, you should receive him. Can you help me bring him to the Root-Crown Court in the Yunze Wetlands?"
Locke saluted, "Of course. Master Helen, how should I find him on this ship?"
The Sea Queen Throne said, "His name is Mountain Traveler, the master of a medium-to-large world, a god of a wandering pantheon that does not belong to the three great divine races. He has sensitive hearing and can foresee opportunities. When I was having a video call with you, he should have sensed it. At this moment, he should have already found you. Augustine, he has a bad temper, you must be careful."
"By the way, there is one thing you must keep in mind, you must never forget, otherwise your clone will be in danger of life. However, as long as you do not commit taboos on this point, there is no big problem, and it is relatively safe."
"If he tells you that he is your friend, or says that he treats you as his own, you must immediately tell him that you and he are only strangers. Do you understand?"
Locke nodded, although he didn't know why, he remembered all the instructions of the Sea Queen Throne.
"I understand. Master Helen."
Sea Queen Throne snapped her fingers.
The next moment, the video call hung up.
And Locke found that in front of the soundproof magic array he opened at his seat inside the free library, there stood a huge ginseng-like existence.
He immediately chanted a spell to lift the soundproof magic array. Suddenly, the magic array that shielded sound and light automatically faded, and the existence standing in front of him fell clearly into his eyes.
The opponent was a huge ginseng composed of white light, in a very strange state, between light and a real ginseng. It was about as tall as three people, and it had many ginseng whiskers on its body. According to the Sea Queen Throne's meaning, it seemed that she had pulled it from somewhere for the teaching of the rapid improvement class.
Locke immediately sensed that the other party was likely a Sun Ring level life form, so he stood up from his seat, "Excuse me, are you Mr. Mountain Traveler? I am a student of the Sea Queen Throne in Potions. She asked me to receive you and take you to the branch of the Root-Crown Court in the Yunze Wetlands."
Mountain Traveler's small ginseng eyes turned, and then said, "Helen? That witch... I heard her voice, although it was very vague and I couldn't hear what she said specifically, you were talking to her just now, right? She is a very good friend of mine."
Locke was stunned for a moment, then nodded, "Yes, it is Master Helen."
Mountain Traveler suddenly chuckled, looking Locke up and down, "I am Mountain Traveler, the master of the Sea King World, the sole ruler of the Sea King God Realm."
"If you are her apprentice in Potions, then are you a member of that rapid improvement class?"
Locke invited him to sit in the seat next to him.
"Yes."
Mountain Traveler's eyes looking at Locke changed a little, and he began to become slightly more enthusiastic.
"Oh, I don't know when it started, but Helen has avoided talking to me. I don't know why."
"This time I am sick again, and it is more serious than before, so I hurried to find Helen. I am Helen's friend. When I met her, she was still a First-Ring Wizard."
"Hehehe... The lifespan of us Void Divine Races is indeed much longer than you wizards. Of course, if you are willing to use some means, you can indeed extend your life for a very, very long time."
Mountain Traveler said, "Helen contacted me not long ago, saying that she has been teaching some students recently and just needs teaching aids, asking if I want to come over. So I came. That person Helen is always saying one thing and meaning another; what she does and what she says are completely different from what she thinks in her heart. She is my best friend."
"Helen is always very optimistic, which is different from me; I am always very pessimistic."
"I once made progress with her, but later I was trapped in the Second Ring level trap. But it doesn't matter, there is no difference between Third Ring and Second Ring. Second Ring can also gain power growth, while Third Ring is just..."
Mountain Traveler said, "Helen said she would not care about me anymore, but I didn't expect that she still agreed to my request for help. Her heart is really good." "To be Helen's student, you must be very powerful, right? She has been paranoid for a long time that only true geniuses can learn Potions well. You must be a Potions genius, right? What is your level in Potions? How much of Helen's positive-negative shear potion brewing method have you inherited?" Mountain Traveler asked Locke in a probing tone.
Locke was stunned for a moment, then immediately realized that Mountain Traveler was clearly asking for help from the Sea Queen Throne. For some unknown reason, the Sea Queen Throne was unwilling to treat it personally, so it had settled for the next best thing: becoming a teaching aid so that the Potion Masters in the accelerated class could treat it. Therefore, it wanted to test his level to determine the general average proficiency in Potions among the Wizards in the accelerated class.
Locke said honestly, "I am roughly at the level of a second-ring Potion Master, far from the Star Ring level, and I haven't even obtained an Expert-level Potions certificate."
Mountain Traveler nodded, "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter."
It was unclear whether he was comforting Locke or comforting himself.
"Proficiency is something that can be improved over time; otherwise, there would be no need for you to attend Helen's Potions class. Heh heh... You will definitely improve quickly after taking her classes. Do you smoke?"
Mountain Traveler picked up a large pipe, packed it with some tobacco, and summoned a flame, tossing it into the pipe. Immediately, smoke billowed. Many Wizards glared at him angrily because he was smoking Magic Plant tobacco. The special natural magic structural components within it could make people relax, providing powerful calming and focus-enhancing effects, but it also had side effects. In any case, the Wizards nearby would find it extremely pungent. Furthermore, if low-ring Wizards were to inhale a large amount of such high-intensity Magic Plant substances, they would likely be in mortal danger.
Mountain Traveler skillfully activated the smoke-removal wizard array inside the library, sucking the smoke into it. With that, no one had any complaints against him anymore. Locke shook his head.
Mountain Traveler smacked his lips and said, "This is 'Red Magma Finger,' made from the best parts of volcanic obsidian tobacco. Inhaling it can keep our spirits active. Ever since I fell ill, I've used it to refresh myself. With it, I'm at least not so muddled. However, there are some side effects; Helen says that many products made from tobacco-type Magic Plants have mild addictive properties, though I don't know if that's true or not."
Mountain Traveler said, "It's just that I'm so severely ill that if I don't do something to distract myself, I feel truly uncomfortable."
Locke sat beside him, feeling quite curious about this 'teaching aid' that the Sea Queen Throne had brought over.
Most importantly, the other party seemed to be following a certain type of divine power path within the Endless Void.
It just didn't seem to belong to the three great divine races, but rather some kind of lone divine race drifting in the Endless Void.
Locke asked, "Mr. Mountain Traveler, I wonder, what exactly is the illness you are suffering from?"
Mountain Traveler's small eyes rolled around, and then, smacking the large pipe in his mouth, he said, "I come from a plane called the Sea King World, which seems to be called a medium-to-large scale plane here. I am the Lord of the Divine Realm there, and the mortals there all worship me."
"It was once illuminated by the starlight of the Astral Realm, which gave rise to the Divine Realm."
Locke was stunned for a moment. Based on the knowledge he currently possessed, there were only two groups of suspected true gods in the Endless Void. The first group was the true gods from the Astral Realm side, but the Astral gods seemed to rarely leave the Astral Realm. For some unknown reason, they did not have much interaction with Wizard civilization. Some Wizards had even published articles proving that there were no such things as Astral gods at all, and that it was merely hearsay.
The second group consisted of the true gods from the World Tree side.
For some reason, after the era 500,000 years ago that wiped out all mythological factors, this portion of true gods had also almost vanished. Therefore, the remaining divine races in the Endless Void were all false gods. They either followed the routes of some false gods derived from the force waves generated after the World Tree was severely damaged, which affected various worlds; or they followed other false god routes and easily walked the path of divine power using the power of faith, thereby producing some local deities.
In the Endless Void, as long as a high-level life plane produced intelligent life forms, the power of faith was a resource that would inevitably be generated. With this resource, combined with some divine power path resources scattered across the Endless Void, it was easy to walk the path of a god of faith. Locke knew that in many void planes, there were local, relatively niche pantheons of false gods. These small pantheons could not compare to the power of the three great divine races, but they could be considered some relatively niche evil gods or false gods, and they were very likely to be regarded as true great deities locally. According to the definition of the Persepolis Divine Race, these gods rarely possessed great divine power; most were between weak divine power and powerful divine power, while adult Persepolis Divine Race members all possessed the combat power of a 'God above God,' that is, great divine power.
He had originally thought that Mountain Traveler also came from this route, but now it seemed that he was not a god of faith, but rather a kind of god born from being enlightened when the light of the Astral Realm illuminated his world. Of course, he could also be considered a kind of false god.
It was just that he was at the Sun Ring level.
That would count as great divine power within the Persepolis Divine Race system.
For a lone wild god like this, reaching this level was still quite rare.
Locke pondered for a moment and deduced Mountain Traveler's true identity. He should be considered a native Astral God born in a plane under the influence of the Astral Realm's light.
Basically, he could be regarded as a special kind of planar will.
However, his research in this area was not very deep; he had only read some popular science journals before.
Locke looked at Mountain Traveler and mused, "No, he cannot be regarded as a special planar will. He should be regarded as a special life form gestated by the special planar will under the illumination of the Astral Realm's starlight. It's just that this life form belongs to the divine life forms that possess divinity. I wonder if this Mountain Traveler possesses a divine spark. It's the first time I've seen such a powerful, living, wild god outside the three great divine races."
Locke was still very curious about him.
After he broke through to become a Star Ring Wizard, he had used the library of Golden Crown Mountain to search for information on how Star Ring Wizards could continue to break through to become Moon Ring Wizards, but all this information was written very chaotically. In short, it couldn't get to the heart of the matter, and it looked very complicated.
Locke sensed that there seemed to be a rather large problem hidden within this.
Moreover, he had accessed a lot of information about the term [Water Surface Starry Sky]. This "Water Surface Starry Sky" seemed to refer to a plight unique to Star Ring Wizards, but he couldn't sort out this complex information for the moment and couldn't figure out what it actually was.
He only knew that many materials mentioned this thing, and sometimes, it was even described using terms like [Prisoner's Dilemma] or [Self-Binding Problem].
However, in any case, these materials all mentioned that for a Star Ring Wizard to become a Moon Ring Wizard, one had to put in the "water-grinding effort." The first step was to increase Magic Pressure, to raise one's Magic Pressure to 30,000 as quickly as possible.
Second, it was to increase one's knowledge. One needed to see more things in the Endless Void.
And at this moment, Locke naturally wanted to understand the situation of this wild god.
Although he did not know why the materials from Golden Crown Mountain emphasized so much that he needed to increase his knowledge, or what kind of problem was hidden within it, Locke felt that he indeed needed to increase his accumulation and not let go of things he was interested in, especially since the entity opposite him was a teaching aid invited by the Sea Queen Throne.
Seeing that Locke was willing to listen, Mountain Traveler immediately began to speak incessantly.
He was very fond of preaching about his past to others, and because he knew that Locke might be one of the Potion Masters who would treat him in the future, he was very willing to tell Locke why he had fallen ill.
"The Divine Realm of the Sea King World all calls me the Old Ancestor; I am the oldest existence in that world. I also have a hobby of studying ancient things; I kept researching things of the past in the Sea King World... I found a plane channel leading to the Wizard World. It seems that our Sea King World had connections with your world in the past, but it was broken later."
"It was also because of this that I met Helen, who was just a First-Ring Wizard at the time."
"She is an excellent Potion Master. The first time she saw me, she healed me. But later, my illness appeared again." Locke was puzzled.
"Ill again? I remember Lady Helen is a Potion Master in the direction of enhancement Potions. Perhaps you could look for a Wizard who specializes in healing Potions?"
Mountain Traveler took a puff of his pipe and said, "That's not the reason. I found the right specialist. I am the oldest god of the Sea King World; my illness is not an ordinary illness. I am the mountains and rivers of that place; it is my constituent parts of power that are sick. Helen can help me reorganize my power, help me strengthen my power, and guide my power."
Locke realized. "You have a chaotic power system?"
It was indeed difficult to define whether this counted as an illness, because this was a special "disease" that only high-ring life forms capable of systematically improving themselves could contract.
Mountain Traveler said, "Chaotic power system? I don't have such a thing as a power system. I am the convergence of the planar principles of the Sea King World. I can increase my power just by breathing in and out the Magic Pressure of the Sea King World. I was a Moon Ring-level existence the moment I was born, and later, while researching ancient things, I gradually became a Sun Ring."
Locke said, "That sounds good."
Mountain Traveler smoked his pipe and said, "Yes. But I also accidentally caught a bad habit. I studied too much of the ancient past, and as a result, my thinking began to become excessively concerned with things that are too far in the future."
Locke always felt he was avoiding the important points. "For example?"
Mountain Traveler said, "For example, I am very afraid that others will hate me, I am also afraid that others will envy me, and I am even more afraid that others are secretly plotting to overthrow me. Sometimes, I can always feel that the gazes of my subordinate gods and mortals looking at me are malicious. Although I have no evidence, I know that being prepared in advance is never wrong."
"I always suspect that others want to harm me. Even if they are my relatives and friends. So, in order to protect myself, I started to swallow them in advance. I absorbed their power, and thus I became an even more powerful god."
"I always doubt the people around me. Because they are the only ones around me, and I doubt everything around me, so, I swallowed my relatives, and I swallowed the gods of other family branches."
"Later, I suspected that my friends had good things but wouldn't tell me; they were all secretly using good things, preparing to make a move on me when I was weak. So, the more I thought about it, the more afraid I became, and I took action against them in advance. I swallowed them."
"By the time I realized what had happened, I suddenly discovered that there wasn't a single god left around me. All the gods in the Divine Realm had been swallowed by me, and I had become the only god of that world."
"The mortals are all respectful to me, not daring to resist."
Locke pursed his lips and asked, "Mountain Traveler, let me ask you a question. You said Lady Helen is your friend, so let me ask you, how many friends do you have now?"
After pondering for a moment, Mountain Traveler began to count using his ginseng fingers. "About two, I suppose."
Locke gave a wry smile. So that was it. No wonder the Sea Queen Throne had warned him never to become Mountain Traveler's friend.
This guy simply had persecutory delusions, and he had another symptom even more terrifying than persecutory delusions: imaginary defense. He was afraid that others would harm him, so he eliminated everyone around him who had the ability to harm him. In this way, no one could harm him. But to be honest... this kind of existence... is hard to evaluate.
Mountain Traveler said, "Now I only have two friends left: one is you, and the other is the Sea Queen Throne."
AI Model: gemini-3.0-flash
Alarm bells rang in Locke's mind as he noticed Mountain Traveler surreptitiously glancing at him, gauging his reaction. He immediately felt a sense of threat. Without giving him any face, Locke spoke up, "No, Mr. Mountain Traveler, we are just strangers."
"We've only spoken a few words. You don't even know my name."
Mountain Traveler took a puff from his pipe and said, "Yes, you're right. We are just strangers who have spoken a few words. We aren't friends. That's good. I'm a bit socially anxious; having friends around me makes me feel a lot of pressure. I give my heart and soul to my friends, and if they're in trouble, I'll help. But what I hate most is when a friend doesn't help me."
Mountain Traveler continued, "I will go on with my story."
"This wizard..."
Mountain Traveler had no intention of asking for Locke's name.
"Later, I regretted it. I carefully recalled everything from the past, and then I spat those existences back out. Those gods weren't angry either; they continued to be on good terms with me. They even continued to be my friends and family."
"After some time passed like this, I started to get scared again. I felt those people were hiding things from me. They never invited me to their gatherings, and they were secretly discussing things behind my back that I knew nothing about. I was very angry about this; I told them everything, yet they weren't prepared to tell me everything. I became afraid again, and looking at the way they looked at me, I always felt they were plotting to get rid of me."
"So, I gradually devoured them one by one."
Locke coughed and activated a Soundproofing Wizard Formation.
Mountain Traveler said, "But later I regretted it again. I realized I might have overreacted, but mainly, being the only god in the entire world made me feel incredibly lonely. So, I spat them all out again."
"We had another period of peace. But the good times didn't last long, and soon I felt afraid of them once more."
"Just like that, eating and spitting, spitting and eating—I don't know when it started, but my body began to fall ill."
Many spots resembling mold appeared on Mountain Traveler's pale, plump ginseng body.
"Even though I was the only god of that world, I had no way to solve these problems. My divine power began to decay, and the world began to become turbulent and unsettled. All things began to rot."
"The sunlight was no longer warm, and the breeze was no longer pleasant."
"Mortals began to suspect one another, and the whole world turned into a mess."
Mountain Traveler said, "At first, I thought some extraterrestrial existence had played a dirty trick on me. So, I used an ancient Plane Gate I found that led to the Wizard World and entered it, hoping to find wizards to help me solve the problem. Later, I encountered the Sea Queen Throne. I've been good friends with the wizard Helen for a long time."
Locke coughed and asked tentatively, "Then, Mr. Mountain Traveler, why don't you suspect that Lady Helen might harm you?" Mountain Traveler blinked.
"I don't need to suspect. When we first met, Helen used something to give me a beating. I had originally intended to kidnap her, take her back to my world, and have her slowly treat me. Later, after she became a Second-Ring Wizard, she started beating me every day and even said she would slice me up to use as potion materials. Her malice toward me is as clear as day; I don't need to guess."
"So I can only constantly increase my power so that Helen can't kill me. Thus, we've formed a dynamic equilibrium."
Locke envisioned a scene where his Potions teacher, the Sea Queen Throne Helen, was stepping on him and shouting about killing him. He suddenly understood why someone like Mountain Traveler could coexist peacefully with his teacher.
The two of them were purely a case of two negatives making a positive, managing to glitch the system.
Mountain Traveler rolled his small eyes and said, "Human hearts are too wicked; one cannot help but be on guard. You treat others well, and they want to make a move on you. You bring out good things to entertain your friends, and your friends will want to harm you because they think you're wealthy."
"Human hearts are too chaotic. One must be wary."
Mountain Traveler looked at Locke and said, "Witch, you are the only wizard besides Helen who has listened to so much of my talk. I think we could become friends."
Alarm bells rang loudly in Locke's mind once again.
He immediately followed Mountain Traveler's train of thought and realized why the other party wanted to be friends with him—because in his eyes, Locke was one of the people who could treat him. He wanted to ensure that Locke would put his heart and soul into treating him by becoming friends.
But in reality, this logic was very strange. For Locke, even without this relationship, he would certainly follow the Sea Queen Throne's requirements to solve the problem with Mountain Traveler's body just to complete the third Potions class successfully.
But the bizarre logic of Mountain Traveler lay in the fact that he seemed to believe that by becoming friends and having a good relationship, Locke would somehow spend extra effort on him out of thin air to help cure him.
Locke instantly deduced the reverse from his logic.
What if he didn't get better, or if he felt Locke hadn't tried his best?
Then he would silently remember it in his heart, feeling that Locke wasn't a friend and had neglected him.
No wonder the Sea Queen Throne emphasized that he must never become his friend.
Mountain Traveler said, "Witch, look, this is a special section of a Ginseng Magic Plant from the Sea King World. You Potion Masters seem to like these herbs. As a friend, I must give the best things as gifts; this is my gift to you."
Mountain Traveler pulled a section of a Ginseng Magic Plant out from within his own body.
Locke could feel the powerful Magic Pressure inside that section of the Ginseng Magic Plant. Even the wound caused by that non-standard, crude method of picking was filled with a strong azure spiritual breath.
But he had no desire to accept such a gift.
If he accepted this thing, it was highly likely he would be pestered later. He wasn't afraid, but he didn't want to waste his energy either. Locke declined, "No, Mountain Traveler, you are my teacher's friend, not mine. You don't even know my name yet. So we aren't friends, just strangers. Since we are strangers, I cannot take anything of yours."
Mountain Traveler seemed to have no intention of asking for Locke's name at all, and he was actually convinced just like that.
He put away the section of the Ginseng Magic Plant in his hand and then said, "Fine."
"I think you're right. We aren't friends; we're still strangers. Then, Potion Master, can you tell me what exactly happened to me? Why is it that after I devoured everything, spat out everything, then devoured everything and spat out everything again—repeating this behavior dozens of times—I actually fell ill?"
Locke shook his head because he truly did not know.
"Perhaps you should ask Lady Helen about this matter."
Mountain Traveler deeply agreed.
"Indeed. I'm looking forward to your third class. I wonder what Helen will teach you."
"Helen has always been very quick-witted, and her requirements for choosing disciples are very high. As long as you can master her attainments in the Name Potion, you will be able to achieve something in Potions for the rest of your life."
Locke glanced at him.
Clearly, Mountain Traveler also felt it was boring; he left his seat and headed toward another part of the library.
Locke looked at Mountain Traveler. Logically, the third class should still be a subsequent branch of the Avatar Potion, but he didn't know why the Sea Queen Throne had invited Mountain Traveler.
However, as a special pseudo-god completely different from the Persepolis Divine Race, Mountain Traveler indeed had great research value.
It was beneficial to him that the Sea Queen Throne could invite him.
Locke opened his lingzhi magic plant because he sensed that Witch Yekaterina was making a video call to him. Soon, a majestic figure sitting at a conference table appeared before him. Witch Yekaterina wore an intricate and elegant Lord's Crown on her head. She seemed to be in a good mood, having likely completed another project.
Witch Yekaterina spoke, "Locke, I want to know two things. First, the specific information about the ancient soul in Douglas. Second, the matter concerning Planknia."
Locke bowed to her and then said, "Teacher, regarding Douglas..."
He truthfully reported the results of his investigation.
After finishing, Locke asked Witch Yekaterina, "Teacher, how should we handle Douglas and Witch King Lagermun?" Witch Yekaterina said, "I see. Then handle them normally. There's nothing special about it; the geniuses who come to Golden Crown Mountain have plenty of secrets and cheats. It's just a Third Ring ancient soul possession, but this at least allows me to confirm the Saint of Thieves' target..." "Hmm... Among the wizard geniuses who join Golden Crown Mountain every year, there's no shortage of old friends who have started new accounts, or wizards who have received the favor of certain planes, or young wizards who have inherited ancient ruins. This is nothing."
"One could say that if it weren't for such things, it would be difficult for them to reach this stage."
"Let the two of them act freely."
Witch Yekaterina said, "They are no longer important. From now on, terminate your surveillance mission on them. Also, the information on Planknia."
Locke said, "Teacher, you placed Planknia by my side, seemingly noticing her uniqueness. I've performed some tests on her and found that she has an inexplicable ability to identify many plant seeds. She would have a great advantage if she pursued Magic Plant Taxonomy, but the source of this special ability... I investigated a bit and found nothing."
"Wizard Moromota of the Senate seems to care about her a lot. She should have some kind of relationship with the Senate."
"And..."
Witch Yekaterina raised an eyebrow. "What?"
Locke mused, "I observed that Wizard Moromota is very attentive to the witch Planknia. To protect her, he can disregard his own property or even his own life. When working with them, they often communicate privately, and Wizard Moromota has confessed his feelings to my student."
"Perhaps I shouldn't mention it; it's their private life. This stuff is inconsequential."
Witch Yekaterina said, "Locke, you've done well. Are you worried that Wizard Moromota is deceiving your student's emotions?" Locke's expression wasn't very good either.
"I've heard that some laboratories in Golden Crown Mountain lack equipment or consumables, so some witches or wizards will use romantic relationships to borrow or take consumables from other laboratories. Once the experiment is over, they break up. Wizard Moromota's behavior makes me suspect this." Witch Yekaterina laughed, covering her mouth as she chuckled.
"Don't worry too much."
"The situation is more complicated than you imagine. If Wizard Moromota's confession is successful, then give them the two Testing Rings of the Marriage Rings I gave you." Locke said, "Alright."
Witch Yekaterina said, "By the way, Locke, I heard you recently got a teacher in Potions?"