517: Summoning the Underworld Ferryman!
Locke summoned the sea gold sand tree fern before him. As a pseudo-tree fern, it possessed a height that ordinary fern-type magic plants lacked, standing two meters tall.
Its appearance had changed slightly, shifting from a green spiral staircase into a shape resembling a green pagoda.
It still featured Rebirth Feathered Leaves, with the edges of the triangular fronds covered in golden spore powder. However, the surface area of these triangular leaves had increased, and the tree fern's height had grown, resulting in a greater quantity of golden spore powder produced per unit of time.
The power of a tree fern is significantly greater than that of ordinary ferns.
The shimmering sea gold sand emitted a faint golden glow from its entire body. This was a natural shimmer that appeared after its Golden Magic was enhanced, representing the plant's exceptionally powerful Golden Magic energy.
Locke reached out and summoned it. As a magic plant with the Golden Magic attribute, it took almost no effort for Locke to establish a connection, forming a mana grafting relationship and integrating it into his Distributed Psionic Network.
Locke chanted a low incantation, utilizing the Golden Sand Torrent Spell Model. Instantly, the shimmering sea gold sand transformed from a green pagoda into a gold-and-green pagoda, turning into a soaring torrent of golden sand that swept forward like countless condensed blades.
Its scale was more than twice what it had been before.
"shimmering sea gold sand is actually better at unleashing the power of my Scorching Gold Sand Flow series of spells." Feeling the shimmering sea gold sand respond to his every whim, Locke shifted his thoughts. The golden sand blades shooting forward transformed into a storm, enveloping the entire ecological garden. Yet, due to Locke's control over his spells, no damage was caused to this top-tier laboratory's ecological garden.
This was a First Ring Botany magic: Flowing Gold Sandstorm.
Simultaneously, Locke used the sixth spell of the Scorching Gold Sand Flow series. He reached out and made a grasping motion toward the front, and the golden sand storm automatically condensed into a giant hand made of golden sand. It was as large as a house, and it swatted toward the air within the ecological garden.
Before Locke even let the golden sand palm hit the ground, the magic pressure generated by this Golden Magic had already pressed a palm print into the earth.
This was a First Ring Botany magic: Flowing Gold Great Hand.
The fire bead tomato flower worn on Locke's right index finger automatically activated its Flame Spirit Aura, attaching rings of fire to the Flowing Gold Great Hand.
This transformed the original golden hand into a red-gold hand, radiating scorching heat and distorting the air.
Locke looked at this scene with satisfaction. The last two spells of the Scorching Gold Sand Flow were the most powerful in the entire series, usable even up to the First Ring Crystallization Stage. However, they were complex to learn, and he had never been able to fully master them.
It wasn't until he recently obtained the undying dragon scale that he learned this Flowing Gold Great Hand.
That mysterious dragon bloodline with the golden attribute could enhance his understanding of Golden Magic and provide a talent bonus that was irreplicable even for a First Ring Wizard.
Locke then attempted to chant the incantation for the seventh spell. The Flowing Gold Great Hand transformed into a finger. The finger remained red-gold, buffed by the Flame Spirit Aura.
That was the seventh spell of the Scorching Gold Sand Flow—a First Ring Botany magic: Flowing Gold Finger.
Golden Magic possesses the characteristics of being difficult to destroy and difficult to influence, and Flowing Gold Finger pushed these traits to the limit. As the golden finger attacked the enemy, its golden nature remained unchanging; thus, its state could not be easily altered or destroyed by defensive magic. Once it poked an enemy, the heavy magic pressure would concentrate on a single point, completely destroying the enemy's body.
Flowing Gold Great Hand was an area-of-effect attack, whereas Flowing Gold Finger had a higher casting difficulty and higher requirements for magic pressure usage. Even with Locke's current magic pressure, he could not use Flowing Gold Finger many times.
Locke did a mental calculation. His normal magic pressure was only enough to use Flowing Gold Finger twice. Adding Abyss Energy, he could use it three times.
Using the fierce beast panel, he should be able to stack the total usage to six times, or barely seven.
Flowing Gold Finger was the most difficult to learn among the Scorching Gold Sand Flow series. It was perfectly normal for a wizard to become a Second Ring Wizard during the learning process and still not have mastered the final spell of the Scorching Gold Sand Flow.
That was a common occurrence.
If not for the undying dragon scale, Locke would not have been able to master this final spell either.
"With Flowing Gold Finger, I have a high-output spell in terms of offensive magic. I won't be at a disadvantage during combat."
Locke pondered.
He stored the shimmering sea gold sand into his astral ring, then turned and left the top-tier laboratory, heading to the Feathered Serpent Ancient Pavilion in the middle of the night.
The Feathered Serpent Ancient Pavilion operated 24 hours a day, and today he was going to brew the Cinder King Secret Brew that Reonis required.
Inside the potion room on the second floor of the Feathered Serpent Ancient Pavilion, Locke said to Reonis, "My apologies. I originally said I would help you brew it in two days, but who knew that once I started an experiment and got busy, half a month would pass in the blink of an eye."
Reonis shrugged. "It's fine. This is normal; every wizard is busy. I encounter this sort of thing often. You only made me wait half a month, which is already quite good."
Reonis continued, "Last time, I waited for a famous Potion Master to take action, only to be stood up for a whole year. After waiting a year, my potion was finally brewed. During that entire process, he said every single day that he would brew it tomorrow..."
Reonis said regretfully, "We in the Black Wizard Land don't have many Potion Masters, so the people we can turn to are limited. Aside from Archaeologists, other non-combat related wizard professions find it very hard to develop in our Black Wizard Land."
Locke nodded, then took out the Primal Fire from his astral ring. Over the past half month, he had read the recipe for the Furnace Potion several times and found some simple materials to practice with.
Now, using the Primal Fire to prepare the potion came naturally to him.
Locke summoned five cauldrons and used the Primal Fire to keep them levitating. Simultaneously, the Primal Fire constantly shifted, changing from wood-element magic fire to metal-element magic fire, cycling through seventeen variations in a short period.
This was the difficult point in brewing the Furnace Potion.
At the same time, Locke added the primary and secondary ingredients for the Furnace Potion, followed by the auxiliary materials to suppress toxicity, and finally the peripheral ingredients.
An hour later, Locke mixed the liquids from the five cauldrons together. A pot of potion liquid that flowed slowly like lava appeared inside the cauldron.
Locke poured this liquid into a Time Crystal potion bottle, then followed the same process for another two hours to prepare two more bottles of Furnace Potion.
Locke pushed open the door of the potion room and rubbed his brow. Preparing three bottles of the highly difficult Furnace Potion had consumed a lot of his mental energy. For this kind of potion, if he didn't consume a potion to replenish his energy, he could only brew three bottles a day at most, and it would affect his ability to do other things.
After all, time wasn't the issue; the biggest problem was actually mental energy.
Locke drank a bottle of energy potion, allowing the feeling of fatigue to recede slightly.
Reonis came forward. He picked up the three bottles of Furnace Potion and, without any hesitation, drank one immediately. His clothes instantly burst into flames, as if he were wearing a cloak of fire; that was the Phoenix Fire.
At the same time, cracks like red lines appeared on his chest as magic energy rippled across his skin.
Locke's guess was correct; Reonis had sought him out for the Furnace Potion for the sake of a certain bloodline within his body.
Locke sat on a stool by the round table and waited for him.
These Black Wizards had a habit: once they got something, they would use it on themselves immediately.
This was a habit they had formed over a long period.
Half an hour later, a flash of joy appeared in Reonis's eyes. "The Furnace Potion indeed accelerates the formation of the Phoenix bloodline in my body."
Reonis maintained the cloak of flames over the surface of his skin. Due to his Phoenix Bloodline Modification, he seemed to have gained the trait of being immune to high temperatures.
Reonis said to Locke, "Thank you, Professor Augustine."
"Actually, there are many fields in Potionology that can complement our Archaeology. Many ancient bloodlines we excavate require Potionology methods to help them take shape. It's just a pity that due to the prejudice between Black Wizards and White Wizards, most Potion Masters won't cooperate with us, nor do they dare to. And those who do cooperate only want to pluck benefits from us."
"Those difficult matters that require careful communication cannot be entrusted to them."
Locke nodded slightly. "Alright, Reonis. According to our agreement, you should give me half of the historical data within your Fairy Book."
Reonis gave a small smile. "Of course."
He opened his right hand, and a Fairy Book automatically manifested. "This is the historical data I've collected over the past two hundred years. My talent for Archaeology isn't as good as Warwick's, nor am I as diligent as he is, so my efficiency in collecting historical data is much lower than his."
The Fairy Book shot out a beam of magic energy. That energy contained a large amount of negative energy particle field historical information. Once this information was funneled into the Dragon Book that Locke summoned simultaneously...
The Dragon Book began flipping its pages automatically, undergoing a violent transformation.
Three minutes later, the Dragon Book slammed shut, emitting a magic pressure equivalent to the First Ring Liquefaction Stage.
"Historical data is the food for the sovereign book." Locke looked at the Dragon Book by his hand.
With the half of the historical data Reonis had given him, his sovereign book had reached the First Ring Liquefaction Stage even without obtaining the remaining two-thirds of the data from Warwick's side.
Now that the sovereign book had reached this level, his progress in Archaeology would be lightning-fast. Locke was confident that within six months, he could raise his understanding of the modo language to the corresponding level.
Archaeology was, after all, a discipline that emphasized practice and hands-on work above all else.
Locke flipped through the Dragon Book and found that the historical data Reonis collected had a different focus than the data in Warwick's grimoire of the demon god. Warwick's data was quite balanced, whereas Reonis focused more on information related to the Outer Plane's Feywild and various ancient tombs.
Locke glanced at Reonis. The little old man was wearing a harmless smile, looking for all the world like an honest person.
But after looking at the historical data he had collected, Locke kept a wary eye out; this old man Reonis seemed to be a tomb raider.
Thinking back, the first time he saw him, wasn't he draped in a 'cultural relic' that had just been unearthed!
Locke spread his right hand, fingers pointing upward, and moved them slightly. Immediately, the Dragon Book folded itself, transforming into a paper dragon—a lifelike red dragon—and this paper dragon emitted a magical glow.
Locke chanted an incantation and then said: "From five hundred years in the past, I borrow a ferryman!"
Suddenly, the negative energy particle field gathered like countless chains, forming a black eggshell as tall as a person. Then the eggshell abruptly cracked open, and a ferryman who looked as if he were made of black ink appeared, with a black ark at his feet.
In the Witch King Magic Codex, this was already considered a relatively advanced First Ring spell. Previously, Locke had been unable to learn it because the level of his sovereign book was too low.
This was a First Ring Archaeology spell: Summon · Styx Ferryman.
This was a Historical Projection of a real Styx Ferryman summoned with the support of a large amount of historical data; it didn't actually exist.
It was just that while the spell's effect lasted, this Styx Ferryman would believe that he truly existed.
At this moment, the Styx Ferryman looked at Locke. "One Underworld Gold Coin."
"I can take you where you want to go."
Locke frowned. He had no idea what the hell an Underworld Gold Coin was, but it should be written about in the Witch King Magic Codex that Warwick had traded with him.
Reonis tossed him an Underworld Gold Coin.
"Here."
"How can you just summon a Styx Ferryman like that? Although the Styx Ferryman is the best means of transportation for us Archaeology Wizards, if you don't pay an Underworld Gold Coin after summoning him, the ferryman will turn against us and attack proactively."
Reonis said, "A First Ring Archaeologist is merely a user of historical data, so one still needs to obey the rules within that historical data."
Locke caught the Underworld Gold Coin and then handed it to the Styx Ferryman.
After seeing the gold coin in Locke's hand, a look of greed immediately appeared in the Styx Ferryman's eyes. He took the coin and asked, "Where do you want to go?"
Locke recalled the rules of the Styx Ferryman. A real ferryman could naturally take them through most areas where the River Styx flowed, but this was only a Historical Projection of a Styx Ferryman, and there were no places in the Wizard World where the Styx passed through—at least none that he knew of currently.
This Historical Projection of the ferryman didn't actually have any great divine powers, but it would be a very useful tool for transportation.
Locke said, "Take me for a ride. Let me see your speed."
Locke jumped onto the ark behind the Styx Ferryman's Historical Projection. The ferryman did not stop him, but simply raised an oar, preparing to leave.
At that moment, Reonis also jumped onto the ark and tossed an Underworld Gold Coin to the Styx Ferryman Locke had summoned. "This Spell Model for summoning the Styx Ferryman is quite useful. I used to love using this spell when I was running away."
"Furthermore, it can be used to carry people, though for every person who steps on, one must pay an Underworld Gold Coin. It's a bit expensive."
"The ferryman's vessel automatically enters a [Spirit Realm] state, so as long as we board the ferryman's boat, we will enter a state that other wizards cannot observe with the naked eye. At the same time, the ferryman's boat is not slow; its travel speed is very fast."
"It's just that its maneuverability is somewhat lacking; its speed in a straight line is very fast, making it very suitable for escaping and short-to-medium-term travel. However, in combat, due to issues with maneuverability and defense, its effectiveness is limited and it's easy to be targeted."
"Of course, because of the Spirit Realm invisibility, as long as the enemy doesn't understand it, it's still quite difficult to deal with."
Locke also intended to test the power of this Styx Ferryman. "How are Underworld Gold Coins obtained?"
Reonis immediately said, "Underworld Gold Coins are currency from the Underworld. Do you know of the River Styx? The Styx Plane is a part of the Underworld. The Underworld is a unique, ultra-large-scale special Plane within the Endless Void."
"The Underworld is the place where many souls return after death."
"There are still many secrets regarding the Underworld, and not all souls go there. These secrets of life and death even conflict with each other and seem full of contradictions, but in short, Underworld Gold Coins originate from the Underworld and are its hard currency."
"We Archaeologists can trade with Underworld beings and beings from the Styx Plane to obtain Underworld Gold Coins. Contact information for those Underworld creatures is easy to get; the codex in your hand should have records. There are several minor First Ring spells that can contact them."
Reonis said, "Satisfy some of their small requests, and they might proactively trade Underworld Gold Coins with you."
At this point, the small boat beneath their feet, propelled by the ferryman's oar, quickly rowed forward.
Then, they, the ferryman, and the entire small boat all entered the Spirit Realm. Thus, being in a semi-ethereal and visually invisible state, they ignored the walls in front of them, passing through walls and obstacles all the way as they traveled through White Dragon Street.
Meanwhile, series of high-precision magical traps from the Protection School sounded warnings, but the wizards on White Dragon Street were all plunged into confusion. Because their naked eyes could not see Locke and Reonis, they didn't know why the magical traps were sounding warnings.
Seeing this, Locke immediately realized that this was simply a god-tier skill for running away.
With this Spell Model, it was truly too convenient for an Archaeology Wizard at or above the First Ring Liquefaction Stage to flee.
As for why an Archaeology Wizard would need such a god-tier escape skill, it wasn't hard to guess.
Locke even noticed that when this ferryman's boat passed through some magical defenses, it could actually pass directly through because of the Spirit Realm etherealization.
Only some high-level Protection School formations would block it.
Locke tested the speed of the ferryman's boat and found that its straight-line speed was extremely fast, only slightly slower than his Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow. Although it would be extremely inflexible when turning and its speed would suddenly decrease,
the issue was that the ferryman's boat could enter a Spirit Realm ethereal state; generally speaking, there was no need to turn around or curve.
And his Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow was itself the top flying magic plant among First Ring magic plants, so combined with his Plant Mimicry: Green Dragon, its flying speed being higher than the ferryman's was normal.
But the ferryman's advantage lay in the low consumption of one's own mana, while also coming with built-in Spirit Realm etherealization.
After playing around with Reonis for a while, Locke ordered the ferryman to pass through the White Dragon Tower, trying to leave the White Dragon Tower directly by boat.
The two of them, along with the boat, passed through the outer wall of the White Dragon Tower.
"I just wanted to try it, and it actually works." Locke was stunned for a moment because the ferryman's boat had actually passed directly through the outermost wall of the White Dragon Tower. "If that's the case, this is indeed a good escape spell. Wait... something seems wrong."
Locke frowned as he saw that after passing through the wall of the White Dragon Tower, they did not appear outside the White Dragon Tower flying in mid-air as expected.
They had entered a dark space.
In this space, looking up was total darkness, and looking down was a bottomless abyss.
In the darkness, there was a field of countless elements constantly undergoing fission reactions. Powerful energy surged recklessly in the space, even reaching the point of distorting space and causing a tendency for slight spatial fractures.
Locke fell into deep thought upon