Two weeks later.
"Move aside, quickly! Get this person to the second floor immediately!"
"Be careful—the Magic Plant on this one has gone out of control!"
A Super Mandrake Vine had completely lost control on the body of a Second-Class Wizard Apprentice lying on a stretcher, wildly lashing out at everything around it. At one point, it even broke free of its restraints and attacked anything within reach.
The thick magic vines lashed out like the sharpest iron whips, splitting several nearby hospital beds in half. If the patients on those beds hadn't reacted in time and rolled off, they would have been cleaved in two by the Deteriorated Magic Vines.
The Second-Class Wizard Apprentice pushing the stretcher stared helplessly at the rampaging Super Mandrake Vine.
"These new magic vines are even more troublesome than Tiff Loron Vines when they go berserk," he muttered with a grimace. "What should I do?"
Just then, Locke descended the spiral stone staircase and pointed at the out-of-control Mandrake Vine.
Under the soothing influence of his Mana, the violently deteriorated Super Mandrake Vine finally calmed slightly, settling back onto the body of the Second-Class Wizard Apprentice.
So that's how it is…
Back on the Wizard Ship, that First-Class Wizard Apprentice from the White Bone Order used a similar method to suppress the Low-level Demonic Item in Raun's possession.
It's just a matter of overwhelming force and deep understanding of magic—finding the weak point in a Spell's operation and forcibly suppressing it.
It wasn't until Locke himself became a First-Class Wizard Apprentice—two and a half years after that incident—that he finally understood what that White Bone Order apprentice had done back then.
The Second-Class Wizard Apprentice assistant, seeing Locke descend, quickly bowed in gratitude. "Thank you, Senior Augustine. Without you, I wouldn't have been able to get this patient to your office."
Locke responded indifferently, "How many is this in the past two weeks?"
The assistant froze for a moment before answering respectfully, "Senior Augustine, this is the seventeenth patient afflicted with a Magic Plant Curse in the last two weeks."
"That's more than one Wizard Apprentice cursed per day." The assistant, limited in his perspective and unaware that Locke was secretly locked in a battle of wits with a Second-Sequence Black Wizard from the Blood Curse Court, added uneasily, "Those Black Wizards are terrifying."
"The Curses they create serve no purpose other than to inflict suffering on others."
"And now, more and more people are getting cursed. When will this nightmare end?"
The shaken onlookers murmured in agreement.
Locke gave a slight nod. "Take him to my office. That should be enough."
"Any more than this won't make much of a difference."
The Second-Class Wizard Apprentice helper didn't quite understand what Locke meant by "almost enough." He gave Locke a puzzled glance, initially thinking it might be some instruction from him.
Only after confirming Locke had no further directives did he hurriedly push the hospital bed through the special passageway toward the second floor.
Locke returned to the second floor via the spiral staircase, thinking to himself: 'Just as I suspected, that Black Wizard is quite easy to provoke.'
'Over these past two weeks, to fully demonstrate the profundity of her Magic Plant Curses to me, she used seventeen distinct curses—from the Paralysis Curse to the Blood Curse, then the Thousand Blades Curse...'
'The cursed Magic Plants were all different too. Some wizard apprentices even had multiple Magic Plants cursed. Seflin gave me a comprehensive showcase of her Magic Plant Curses, forcing me to admit defeat and acknowledge my inability to counter them.'
'But... this was exactly what I wanted her to do.'
Locke's expression grew serious. Combat wasn't just about defeating an opponent face-to-face—this invisible duel between a Potionology Master and a curse specialist was also a form of battle.
His goal was to anticipate her moves, then use her curses to gather experimental data for creating a Super Defensive Magic Plant.
Over these two weeks, the mutated Emerald Iris Lichen in his Plantation had been steadily refined. Through meticulous adjustments using the Differential Magic Realm and Focus Art Monocle Lens, the offspring of the Emerald Iris Lichen underwent rapid daily changes, developing corresponding shifts in Magic Resistance.
By now, it had evolved a broad-spectrum Magic Resistance against curses.
In other words, his creation was nearing the final stages of cultivation.
Today's cursed Magic Plant would be the last one he needed.
In the hallway, Locke encountered Carrie Ackerman, her lips curled in a mocking smile.
Dressed in a red Wizard robe altered to resemble a long gown, she regarded Locke with an almost theatrical air. "Breeder Augustine, you've been so busy lately. I hear new patients arrive in your office every day."
"Some patients, you're even treating at a loss," she added with feigned concern. "If it's truly beyond you, I think you should seek external help. Don't strain yourself unnecessarily."
Locke raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Then how about I seek assistance from your Angron Workshop?"
"Senior Angron did say I could turn to you if needed. Surely that offer still stands?"
Carrie Ackerman's smirk froze instantly. Her attempt to mock him had backfired.
Angron had explicitly warned her against getting involved with Magic Plant Curses.
The resources required were simply too immense.
Such curses demanded expertise in both Breeding Studies and Potionology—fields Angron couldn't prioritize while devoting most of his energy to Mental Strength Enhancement Potions.
Last time, to resolve Hussein's Blood Curse, he had already expended quite a few favors within his network. Now, it was necessary to utilize Angron's studio to repay those debts.
Carrie Ackerman immediately became hesitant. "Well..."
"Of course, that's possible, but Senior Angron and our team have been quite busy lately... so... so..."
Locke smiled, brushing it off, and simply walked away.
He was quite busy himself.
The finals of the White Wizard Association's Breeder Competition wouldn't produce results for another six months. After all, such competitions were time-consuming by nature.
Both the preliminary and final rounds required submitting an entry, with each entry competing against Breeders from the entire Southeast Corner Domain. Thus, thorough preparation was needed, resulting in a gap of nearly half a year between the two rounds.
Even so, the Breeder Competition required participants to begin preparations a year—or even two—in advance, at least settling on a general direction.
Otherwise, once the competition began, they'd be scrambling to keep up, unable to manage everything in time.
Meanwhile, the combat division of Lilith's Cottage had announced a Custom Magic Plant competition for Breeders, and the registration deadline was fast approaching.
Only half a month remained before submissions closed.
This was essentially another form of collective procurement bidding, though the process moved much faster, typically concluding within a few months.
He had to finalize his fifth creation within these two weeks.
This would also be the first time he had crafted an entire piece with his own hands—though the foundational Emerald Iris Lichen was a Magic Plant synthesized from the Synthetic Magic Cube.
(End of Chapter)