537: Disk Creature: Gromdal and Forest Alliance Magic
Three days later, Locke walked out of the electromagnetic magic mirror room. He looked at the sunlight that seemed like yesterday and let out a soft breath.
To be honest, the feeling of waiting to use a Third Ring Magic item was really not that great.
In order to analyze the characteristics of a natural magic structural component, he had stayed in the public laboratory for the past three days, rotating continuously between the three major magic mirror rooms.
For a moment, Locke even thought how wonderful it would be if he had his own three major Third Ring Magic items that belonged entirely to him, allowing him to use them every day without restriction.
However, for now, he could only think about it in his heart.
Locke pondered, "The three major magic mirrors each need to be used about three more times before I can completely determine the type of the new natural magic structural component within that great yellow duck crown pineapple I cultivated."
Each use of a Third Ring magic mirror actually costs 20,000 magic stones.
This price was only the internal rate.
After all, simply running a Third Ring magic mirror once required a massive amount of energy.
However, since everyone had the True Knowledge Institute project fund subsidies distributed by the White Wizard Association, they could still afford this cost.
"I previously wanted to use the 300,000 magic stones from my third-class fund subsidy to conduct several more experiments. Who knew that just determining one new natural magic structural component would actually consume 240,000 of those magic stones?"
Locke said, "Money really does fly."
"While waiting for the opportunity to use the three major magic mirrors, I'll first complete the research on the symbiotic relationship between my four pineapples—Great Black Diamond Pineapple, blue swan pineapple, white pearl pineapple, and Great Yellow Duck Pineapple—and four specific avian magical creatures."
"Doing these four topics also requires using the structure comparison machine and the ice magic mirror, which means I have to use the ice magic mirror four more times and pay 80,000 magic stones."
"Adding in the use of the structure comparison machine and other miscellaneous expenses, completing this project will cost me at least 400,000 magic stones."
Locke was somewhat speechless; because he was unfamiliar with the three major magic mirrors, he had underestimated the funds required for his current project.
As it turned out, the 300,000 magic stones issued by the academy not only failed to cover the completion of this topic, but he even had to pay an extra 100,000 magic stones out of his own pocket.
Fortunately, he still had some savings.
Currently, he had 570,000 magic stones in savings.
He could easily take out 200,000 magic stones to cover the funds needed for his research topics; 100,000 magic stones would be added to finish the study of the four types of pineapples.
He would then take out another 100,000 magic stones to cultivate more pineapple magic plants and perform syntheses. By leveraging the apprentice exploration reports provided by Golden Crown Mountain, he could discover more symbiotic relationships between pineapple magic plants and magical creatures to quickly obtain a second-class True Knowledge Institute project fund.
Since this direction was working well, he would keep following it.
He would aim for first-class True Knowledge Institute project funds and even special grant projects. After all, he had already summarized a set of methods that relied on the synthesis cube to quickly analyze symbiotic magic plants and even rapidly discover new natural magic structural components within them.
His second step would be to use the great yellow duck crown pineapple as a foundation to further find more new natural magic structural components within other pineapple-type magic plants.
This meant Locke needed to read more information on pineapple-type magic plants.
Locke walked toward his dormitory. "Although the experiments are very busy, I cannot neglect my meditation work."
"I still need to raise my magic pressure to 9,999 as soon as possible so that I can hit... the second racial soul limit."
"Speaking of which, the mysterious gazes I've been feeling lately have been getting more and more frequent. I must take advantage of the group meeting to meet with Witch Yekaterina and ask her exactly what that special Plane is."
When Locke returned to the dormitory, he ran into Daniel the Wizard.
After the two exchanged greetings, Locke said to him, "My third-class True Knowledge Institute project fund is already on the right track."
"How about you? Have you found a lead?"
Daniel the Wizard smiled and said, "I have a lead on my end as well. By continuously recording the mist on the crowns of different tree-type magic plants, I noticed that in meteorology, mist is a special symbol of the natural state."
"Different forms of mist can reflect subtle differences in the spirituality within the air of that region. In short, I have indeed made a breakthrough."
Daniel looked completely different from his previous state of confusion. "I also have to thank you, Locke. It was your previous reminder to find practical applications while pursuing theoretical concepts."
"Not only do I have the possibility of completing the third-class fund, but I also have the idea of continuing to apply for a second-class True Knowledge Institute fund. I believe that magical creatures and magic plants will all affect the spirituality of a natural region, thereby affecting the form of the mist in that area."
Daniel the Wizard said, "In other words, I believe that by using this mechanism, one can understand what has happened in an area through the changes in mist within meteorology."
"Of course, so far, this is just a preliminary idea of mine and hasn't fully taken shape."
"I believe this mist-spirituality change mechanism can also be used to find the locations of special magical creatures, special magic plants, and special magic ores. It can even be added to the weather systems I've designed to make them more complex, varied, and resilient."
Daniel the Wizard lamented, "A month ago, I first fell into confusion, thinking I had transformed from a chief weather engineer into a tiny screw. But a month later, I discovered that I have absorbed nutrients from those seemingly simple and repetitive tasks. My wisdom has been strengthened, and my foundation has become more solid."
"Naturally, the upper limit of the weather systems I design can also be raised."
Daniel the Wizard said, "Now my view of Golden Crown Mountain has changed again. Only the knowledge of Golden Crown Mountain can truly realize those crazy designs in my head."
Locke nodded slightly. "That's good. It seems both of us have adapted to Golden Crown Mountain."
Daniel the Wizard smiled and said, "It is indeed not easy to adapt to this place. Everything here is different from the Wizard Land we were in before. This place is truly unique."
Locke glanced at Daniel. Daniel was truly worthy of being from the Hall of Advanced True Knowledge and also the meteorology champion of the Three Ze Cup.
With the help of the synthesis cube, he could quickly discover the symbiotic relationship between magic plants and magical creatures, and further have the confidence to turn the discovery of new natural magic structural components into an assembly line.
But Daniel, relying on himself, had discovered the corresponding relationship between mist and the spirituality of all things from the process of repeatedly recording mist structures, and had further explored the potential of this mechanism, finding various directions for development.
To some extent, this True Knowledge Institute indeed gathered countless super geniuses.
Especially those researchers in the Hall of Advanced True Knowledge; not one of them was a simple character.
Locke asked, "By the way, Daniel, did you go to listen to the songs of the Great Wizard Mira sisters a few days ago?"
Daniel had a strange look on his face. "Songs? What songs? The wizards of Golden Crown Mountain are all so competitive; how could anyone have time to listen to songs? I certainly didn't listen to any."
..."
That night, he had clearly seen the researchers from Daniel's group enjoying the music in the audience.
Well, it seemed he wasn't the only one being marginalized.
Daniel the Wizard clearly had absolutely no idea that Golden Crown Mountain had held a team-building benefit a few days ago.
Locke explained a bit, and Daniel the Wizard's face turned green with anger, especially when he heard that Locke had advanced to become a Crystallization Stage wizard during that concert.
Daniel the Wizard said indignantly, "This is too much. When there's work to do, every single one of them comes to me for help, but when there's team-building, I'm the only one who isn't called."
"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't even know this happened."
Daniel the Wizard thought about it and trembled with rage. "In the last three days, those people couldn't finish their own work and asked me for help, and I was helping them with such enthusiasm."
"It's simply ridiculous."
"I was even happy for a long time because they shared a bottle of energy potion with me, thinking the atmosphere in our group was great and that everyone was a good person."
"Why did no one in our group call me!"
Daniel showed a look of bewilderment. "I was clearly so enthusiastic."
Locke facepalmed. Well, this was simply a tragedy.
After exchanging a few more words with him, Locke walked into his room and simultaneously sensed that someone had contacted him through the grey mist slate.
Locke summoned the grey mist slate and found that Albert was contacting him. At the same time, Albert sent him the detection records from the magic pressure mass spectrometer.
Locke frowned when he saw the pattern displayed on the magic pressure mass spectrometer. A normal detection result from a magic pressure mass spectrometer should be a continuous line, representing the continuity of the wizard's mana.
But on the mass spectrometer before him, there was a series of broken points, with many disconnected lines that fluctuated in height and were not continuous.
This scene proved that there was indeed a foreign object in Albert's soul.
Albert requested a video call with him. After Locke agreed, Albert asked Locke somewhat anxiously, "Locke, how is it? Can you be sure?"
"Both Mentor Harlan Vera and Madam Morgana said my magic pressure is indeed abnormal."
Locke said, "Yes, it's confirmed. There is a foreign object in your soul. Your magic pressure spectrum shows that there are two types of magic pressure with significantly different properties in your soul."
"One is the magic pressure spectrum belonging to you, and the other belongs to that Disk Creature. The magic pressure spectrum can quite accurately describe the magic pressure properties of a living individual. I can use this spectrum to narrow down the approximate identity of that Disk Creature."
Locke flipped through the books he had borrowed from the library's free section. "Found it. The Earth Wizard of Yunze Wetland indeed recorded the magic pressure of this Disk Creature."
Disk Creatures are collective life forms, unlike decentralized life forms like humans. In other words, a single Disk Creature is both an individual and an entire race.
Therefore, for a Disk Creature to fully enter the Main Material Plane, it cannot simply occupy the body of a single organism; it must occupy at least an entire race of organisms.
Thus, it is entirely possible for the Earth Wizards of Yunze Wetland to capture the magic pressure of Disk Creatures invading the Southeast Corner Region, because a Disk Creature invading the Southeast Corner Region would not enter the Wizard World through a single organism at a single location.
Locke frowned as he read the records. "The situation is even worse than I thought."
"The opponent is an existence equivalent to a Second Ring True Forging Wizard, the Disk Creature Gromdal."
Locke remarked dryly, "You are eight major levels apart from it."
Albert gave a bitter smile.
He hadn't even become a Formal Wizard, yet he had been soul-invaded by a wisp of a soul from a Second Ring Level existence.
This was truly unfortunate.
Locke flipped through the magic book and said, "According to this magic book, Gromdal is suspected to be the resentment formed by the long-term destruction of a grassland. During a geological-level disaster that even the Earth Wizards of Yunze Wetland could not fully determine, a grassland damaged by the disaster for a long time was in a permanent process of elemental splitting, producing extreme natural power. Then, over an even longer period and with a bit of as-yet-undetermined misfortune, the Disk Creature Gromdal was born."
"Gromdal represents the Grassland Covered by Inorganic Matter. It is one of the most active Disk Creatures and desperately wants to return to the Wizard World. Moreover... research suggests that Gromdal itself was born in the Southeast Corner Region Wizard Land of the Wizard World."
Albert said in confusion, "But the Southeast Corner Region has a continuous coastal terrain; there are no grasslands there."
Locke shook his head slightly. "In ancient eras, the terrain and phenomena of the Wizard World were not similar to now. In fact, the Southeast Corner Region didn't even exist back then. Gromdal's origin in the Southeast Corner Region was determined by the Earth Wizards of Yunze Wetland using special methods after thorough verification."
"This research project was conducted by the Earth Wizard Academy of the Quinn Joel Prophecy Secret Method University, one of the seven top universities in Yunze Wetland."
"It took fifteen years to confirm Gromdal's origin. You're in luck, Albert." Locke scanned the data and said, "The two most powerful magic categories at Quinn Joel Prophecy Secret Method University are future prophecy from the Prophecy School and Earth Wizard techniques from the Life School."
"The data here shows that a sacrifice can be made to Gromdal to make it give up its parasitism of you."
Locke continued, "Gromdal is nature that has been covered by inorganic matter for a long time, thus it has developed an extreme hatred for living organisms and this world. Distorted as it is, it hates living things and our world, yet it envies and loathes grasslands. So, if you can sacrifice some Second Ring Level grassland creatures to it, it might let you go."
The glimmer of hope that had just appeared in Albert's eyes dimmed again. "Second Ring grassland creatures?"
Locke said, "It doesn't necessarily have to be the creature itself; you only need some biological materials from a Second Ring Level grassland creature, such as a horn or even just a small lock of hair. Then, you'll need to ask a First Ring Crystallization Wizard to perform a Ritual Magic for you to communicate with Gromdal and ask it to let you go."
Albert said, "It parasitized me and caused me to lose so much, yet I still need to perform a Ritual Magic to please it?"
"And Locke, you know that even the cheapest Second Ring magic biological materials are not something I can afford."
Locke frowned as he looked at the data. "I blocked Gromdal before when it tried to descend along with the Blood Lord's curse magic. Looking at it now, that fellow the Blood Lord was completely deceived by Gromdal."
"In that case, Gromdal has probably remembered me as well."
The data showed that Gromdal would use various ways to deceive organisms on the Main Material Plane into actively summoning it, perhaps by pretending to help them seek revenge or by disguising itself as a magic breakthrough that certain wizards would find enticing.
In short, this thing was a cunning fraudster with a long criminal record, and it was a key target of precaution for the wizards of Yunze Wetland.
According to the records, a First Ring Crystallization Wizard from the Life School in Yunze Wetland once discovered a new life form disguised by Gromdal while exploring a colonial Plane—an unknown life form composed entirely of energy.
At the time, that First Ring Crystallization Wizard was incredibly excited and immediately captured the unknown life form, intending to study it upon returning to see which known energy life forms it was related to or if it was a variant of some energy life form.
In the end, who would have thought that it was actually a clone of Gromdal in disguise?
Thinking back, the Blood Lord had clearly fallen for Gromdal's scheme, which was how he brought the creature to the Main Material Plane.
If the Blood Lord had continued his research at the time instead of going to war with the White Wizard Association in the Southeast Corner Region, this time bomb would have eventually exploded in his own hands. It was just his good luck that it ended up being detonated over at Liliths Cottage instead.
Locke said, "However, it's not a big problem. Once I become a Second Ring Wizard, even if Gromdal remembers me for a thousand or ten thousand years, I can just let it be."
It would have no impact on him.
Locke looked at Albert and said, "I have a new theory. It might be possible to resolve this without using Ritual Magic to negotiate with Gromdal. Gromdal is a distorted grassland long covered by inorganic matter, and it is naturally hostile to normal natural phenomena."
"If you can transform yourself into a natural ecosystem, it might choose to withdraw on its own."
"Of course, there's no rush for this. In any case, I've confirmed that you can use Forest Sanctuary to become a Formal Wizard."
Locke continued, "Furthermore, only by becoming a powerful and sufficiently mature forest can you make Gromdal withdraw voluntarily. Otherwise, you would only be provoking it, which would do you no good."
Albert asked, "Locke, how powerful of a forest would be needed to make that... Gromdal... leave my soul?"
As Albert spoke these words, he felt a throb from deep within his soul, like a traveler who had been away from home for a long time suddenly hearing news of his hometown.
But Albert's expression was solemn, because this was definitely not his own feeling, but the feeling of the part of Gromdal residing within his soul.
Locke said, "At least Second Ring."
"It must at least be equal to the magic pressure of a Second Ring Level wizard," Locke said. "So, it must be a forest with at least Second Ring Level magic plants, including at least one or more Second Ring Level tree-type magic plants."
"But don't be discouraged just yet. There is a special technique within the Forest Sanctuary magic that can connect forests together, forming a superior-subordinate relationship."
"This magic has a name—Forest Alliance. It allows one wizard's Forest Sanctuary to become a subordinate forest of another wizard's Forest Sanctuary."
"In this way, an alliance formed between multiple wizards using Forest Sanctuary as an Eternal Defense Field can create a forest community, establishing a relationship where top-tier forests oversee ordinary forests."
Locke looked at Albert and said, "If I can become a Second Ring Wizard and my forest evolves into a Second Ring forest, then you can use the Forest Alliance Magic to join my forest community. That way, you should be able to resist Gromdal."
"First, you must become a One-Ring Wizard."
Albert's eyes widened. "Really? If that's the case, I'm willing. Firstly, Locke, you've always been a reliable wizard and you're my friend. Secondly, it would be an honor to form a forest community with a Second Ring Wizard."
Locke nodded slightly.
This matter was also beneficial to him.
If Albert became a Formal Wizard and added his Forest Sanctuary to Locke's community, it would increase the total biomass of Locke's forest out of thin air.
At the same time, it would create more complex forest relationships, bringing it closer to the nature of nature itself.
In the future, he w