Gabby, transformed into a Night Owl, had only circled once above the Clivia when, in that instant, the two Leaf Swords in the Clivia's hands thrust upward repeatedly. Amid Gabby's startled cries, one Leaf Sword nearly struck her, severing two of her Flight Feathers.
"Senior!"
At the same time, Locke seized the opportunity to locate the Clivia's hidden true root in the darkness.
The Clivia, a carnivorous Magic Plant, was akin to a bird of prey in the plant kingdom, attacking anything that moved and preying upon it.
There were two ways to deal with it. The first was to destroy it outright with brute force.
Without a First-Class Wizard Apprentice controlling it, the Clivia's threat level was only equivalent to that of a Second-Class Wizard Apprentice with relatively deep Mana reserves. For Locke, this was still manageable.
However, doing so would destroy this precious Magic Plant.
The second method was to find its true root and uproot it from the soil.
The Clivia's visible roots were merely false roots used to maintain its stance and allow for minor movements—they couldn't actually transport nutrients. Its true root, however, was deliberately hidden. As long as this true root was dug out, the Magical Plant would enter a dormant state, ceasing all activity.
This was also a form of self-protection.
Locke acted swiftly, murmuring an incantation. Three Vine Branches formed into Plant Hands extended simultaneously, drilling into the rocky ground like augers. They then grew along the fissures in the rock, seeking the deepest point where the Clivia's true root was anchored, and carefully excavated it without causing damage.
"The true root of this Clivia is buried as deep as twenty-one meters. This plant must have been growing here for quite some time." Locke raised an eyebrow. If his Mana hadn't already been close to that of a First-Class Wizard Apprentice, he might not have been able to extract it without harming the root.
With a clattering sound, the slender vines of three sixth-level Mandala Vines overturned large amounts of sand and rock, exposing the Clivia's true root—thin as an infant's finger—to the air.
Simultaneously, the Clivia, like a computer unplugged, immediately shut down. The entire plant slumped forward as if a person were hunching over on the spot.
Even its leaves automatically entered a dehydrated state, their edges curling inward.
Locke recited another incantation, carefully using Green Cleansing Grasp to wrap the plant in Mandala Vine foliage before lifting it and carrying it behind him as he walked.
Gabby, who had transformed back from an owl, landed on the ground and resumed her human female form.
"Senior, that was truly dangerous just now," Gabby said with a lingering fear on her face. The hem of her wizard robe was torn, likely from the Clivia piercing the flight feathers of her transformed owl form. "I never expected a single wild Magic Plant could be so hazardous."
Locke nodded slightly. "Most Magical Plants in the Ashgara Mountains are semi-wild, degraded varieties. But the Clivia is a rare Magic Plant—its level is entirely different."
Gabby brightened slightly. "But at least we've likely found the source of the plague in Ashgara City."
Locke and Gabby followed the underground riverbank for about fifty meters until they reached the area where the rats gathered.
As expected.
Nearly all the rats were parasitized by fungi. When Locke approached, they collectively turned their heads to stare at him, even showing signs of actively moving closer.
Moreover, the distinctive scent of Corpse Soil Konjac grew stronger here.
Yet before the rats could approach, they suddenly let out increasingly shrill screams upon seeing Locke. The entire rat swarm formed a vortex-like pattern.
After half a minute of chaos, the rats scattered in all directions, fleeing with piercing shrieks.
Gabby was horrified, her eyes wide as she stared at Locke beside her. "Senior... you... you..."
An invisible pressure radiated from Locke—steady, constant, and overwhelming.
Though she stood right beside him, every inch of her skin felt as if it were being pushed outward.
Locke alone was a powerful source of Mana radiation.
Gabby had heard of this. After all, she had been stuck at the Second-Class Wizard Apprentice stage for nearly a decade.
Those seniors she once admired, after advancing to First-Class Wizard Apprentice, underwent a special transformation—a unique soul structure that only emerged at that stage: Magic Pressure.
Excessively powerful Mana gathered around a wizard apprentice's soul, forming a special Magic Pressure Field that naturally exerted constant pressure on the surroundings.
Wizards called this phenomenon Magic Pressure.
First-Class Wizard Apprentices required special training to suppress this Magic Pressure in daily life. Otherwise, ordinary people standing near them would have their lifespans shortened—they wouldn't live long!
Gabby said enviously, "Senior, you... congratulations."
"I never expected you'd break through to First-Class Wizard Apprentice in a place like this. The seniors I've seen in the academy all advanced in much safer environments."
Locke gave a slight nod. It had been over three days since he took the Crimson Echo Potion, and the effects were nearly fully absorbed.
Yet the side effect—Vampire Syndrome—still hadn't faded.
After his Mana officially crossed the threshold of 200, it grew even more violent. Even the Deep Blue Gem on his left hand shattered completely at this moment, stirring a faint surge of brutality in his heart.
Suppressing the rage induced by the side effects, Locke said, "Let's go. The rats have all fled under my Magic Pressure."
"This makes things much easier."
Gabby said, "Understood, senior."
Locke and Gabby approached the Corpse Soil Konjac.
A patch of konjac plants grew here, but in essence, there was only one plant. It had simply branched out well, making it appear numerous.
"It's indeed Corpse Soil Konjac. Once we remove this plant, the plague in Ashgara City will disappear on its own," Locke explained. "Fundamentally, that plague was just this konjac's futile attempt to reproduce by deliberately using rodents to spread disease."
"However, Corpse Soil Konjac can't successfully propagate naturally in the wild, so this effort was doomed from the start."
Locke's gaze fell upon a skeleton clad in wizard robes among the konjac plants. "This must be why both this konjac and that Clivia grew in such a place."
Gabby looked at the skeleton uneasily. "Senior Locke, I have a bad feeling about that corpse."
After examining it, Locke said, "Hmm, this is the remains of a First Class Wizard Apprentice. After their death, their Magic Pressure lingers for a long time, continuously exerting a unique influence on the surroundings. Even now, some residual Magic Pressure clings to these bones, emitting radiation. That's why you feel unsettled."
"The emblem on his wizard robe is..."
It was a blue circular ring.
Locke suddenly remembered. "This is the symbol of the Azure Ring Society."
Gabby looked puzzled. "Senior, I've never heard of this wizard organization. There shouldn't be any such group nearby."
"That's understandable," Locke replied. "The Azure Ring Society disbanded after their Breeder experiments spiraled out of control, leading to the Abyssal Plant Cataclysm."
"He likely died somewhere else on the surface, but his body somehow entered the underground river system and ended up here through the complex waterways. The seeds or seedlings of both the Clivia and Corpse Soil Konjac must have arrived with his corpse."
Locke pondered the situation. "No wonder the Corpse Soil Konjac could grow in natural conditions—it used a First Class Wizard Apprentice's body as fertilizer."
"That's incredibly extravagant."
In any academy of the southeastern territories, a First Class Wizard Apprentice represented significant value.
Unlike Second-Class Wizard Apprentices who could serve as assistants and laborers, First Class Wizard Apprentices could typically produce minor research achievements independently.
They could process complex magical resources and participate in combined magical rituals that might even trouble Formal Wizards.
Therefore, sacrificing a First Class Wizard Apprentice to nourish a single Corpse Soil Konjac was undoubtedly a losing proposition.
Academies invested untold resources just to cultivate one First Class Wizard Apprentice. And these resources weren't just spent on the apprentice themselves—they also covered the hundreds of Second-Class and third-class wizard apprentices who entered the academy during the selection process.
Near the skeleton, Locke noticed some shriveled, charred seeds—likely other magical plant seeds the corpse had carried that failed to germinate.
After a preliminary inspection, Locke also spotted a brass ring on the skeletal hand, its surface engraved with the words [Astral Ring].
Locke stared at the ring, momentarily stunned before delight surged through him.
The Astral Ring was one of the masterpieces of Alchemy Studies—a Spatial Storage Ring.
This ring ingeniously connected to a pocket of space within the Astral Plane, offering both convenience and unparalleled security.
Since the Astral Plane was a higher-dimensional realm that wizards found nearly impossible to enter, storing items in an isolated space there was an exceptionally safe practice.
Astral Rings were storage artifacts that only Formal Wizard-level alchemists could craft.
Among all the wizard apprentices in Lilith's Cottage, likely only a handful possessed such an expensive item.
Yet now, he had stumbled upon one.
Locke picked up the Astral Ring and channeled his Mana into it. Perhaps because its original owner had been dead for so long, the personal spiritual imprint inside the ring had completely faded.
Thus, when Locke infused his own Mana, he encountered no resistance. He effortlessly imprinted his spiritual signature onto it, claiming it as his own.
Every Astral Ring functioned as a gateway to a projection of the Astral Plane.
Through the ring, Locke glimpsed a space roughly the size of a small room.
Sassari had mentioned in the All Things Class that the Astral Plane was a unique dimension frequently invoked by wizards in high-tier Spells.
It possessed many peculiar traits, one of which was the absence of time. Objects stored within it would remain unchanged—exactly as they were when placed inside.
Secondly, the Astral Plane had numerous natural projection gateways scattered across the Prime Material Plane—the dimension where the Southeastern Corner Realm existed.
Wizards would mine the ores bearing these natural gateways, refine them through Alchemy, and forge them into Astral Rings.
Of course, since time did not flow in the Astral Plane, objects within would neither decay nor grow. Thus, Magical Fields couldn't be placed there. Moreover, many things in the Astral Plane differed drastically from those in the Prime Material Plane.
It was a realm brimming with unfathomable mysteries.
According to Sassari, there was once a First Class Wizard Apprentice in Lilith's Cottage, nearing the end of his lifespan, who experimented on himself. Just before death, he voluntarily entered the Astral Plane, hoping its timeless nature would preserve him.
Initially, his condition remained stable—no further aging occurred. Yet, after a few years, he still perished inside.
Sassari speculated that while the Astral Plane lacked the concept of time, beings from the Prime Material Plane inherently carried it with them. Even if they left their home dimension, their lifespans would still reach their natural end.
Locke immediately stored the Clivia he had previously harvested into the Astral Ring.
Next, he placed the complete skeleton of the deceased First Class Wizard Apprentice from the Azure Ring Society inside as well.
Though Locke wasn't sure what use it might have, a full set of bones from a First Class Wizard Apprentice was rare enough to be worth keeping.
He turned and began searching for the main body of the Corpse Soil Konjac.
Amidst the offshoots of the konjac, Locke used his Vine Hand and Multiple Manipulation to uproot the main body of the konjac and placed it into the Astral Ring.
Within the Astral Ring, where the concept of time did not exist, there was no fear of damage when transplanting two rare Magic Plants.
Moreover, these two Magic Plants only had demanding conditions during their growth and reproduction stages. Now that they had fully matured, they possessed strong vitality and were not easily killed.
After Locke transplanted the main body of the Corpse Soil Konjac, all its offshoots seemed to wither, becoming listless and rapidly dying.
At the same time, the concentration of the special fungi secreted by the Corpse Soil Konjac into the air also decreased quickly.
As a result, the plague in Ashgla City would soon recede.
With the source of fungal transmission gone, the symptoms on the infected patients would gradually disappear.
Locke took out a bottle of Daffodil Antidote from his pocket and handed it to Gabby. "Gabby, even though we have Mana and aren't easily affected by the Corpse Soil Konjac's fungi, it's better to be safe. Drink this antidote."
Gabby was flattered. "Thank you... Senior."
Locke glanced at her. "I really owe you thanks this time. I don't want you to leave empty-handed, so consider this a job. I'll pay you seventy Magic Stones. How does that sound?"
For Locke, who was now well-off, Magic Stones weren't particularly valuable. Gabby had genuinely helped him in this matter, so he offered this price.
Compared to the currently wealthy Locke, Gabby, a truly impoverished Second-Class Wizard Apprentice, was stunned for a moment upon hearing his offer.
The reward for this academy investigation mission had only been a meager twenty-five Magic Stones.
But Locke was giving her seventy at once.
Twenty-five plus seventy—that was almost enough for her to luxuriously purchase Meditation Method supplies for over half a month.
Gabby's breathing grew slightly rapid. "Senior, you... you're too generous. Okay, yes!"
Locke said, "Additionally, I need you to keep this confidential. Don't casually mention what you saw."
Though what Gabby had witnessed wasn't particularly critical, Locke didn't want just anyone to know he had obtained the Corpse Soil Konjac and Clivia.
Moreover, Gabby had seen some of his Spell information.
For wizards, knowledge was power.
Of course, he had never used the invisibility ability of his 6th-level Mandala Vine or revealed his trump card—the ancient creature's Bloodline—in front of Gabby.
She didn't know much.
After all, Locke was a White Wizard, not a lunatic. It would be absurd to silence her over something so trivial.
Gabby said earnestly, "Senior, trust me, I won't say a word."
"This is just how people like us survive."
She looked at Locke with a hint of admiration, as if gazing at a wealthy patron. "Senior, if you ever need me again, just call on me. Our shapeshifters' scouting abilities are exceptional."
Locke nodded. "We'll see."
A shapeshifter could indeed play a unique role in certain situations.
Gabby replied, "Understood, Senior."
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