Locke was at a loss. "Thank you, Teacher..."
"I am truly grateful to you. This Magic item is so precious; honestly, I don't know if I should accept it."
Witch Yekaterina said, "But you truly need it. I can understand the pain of a Super Intuition user, the side effects of that prophetic ability that cannot be turned off."
"I simply believe that your growth requires it, so I am gifting it to you. You can also consider it as being lent to you, or perhaps gifted to a Wizard who shares the same problem as us. When one day you no longer need it, and you encounter a Wizard who, like your past self, needs it just as much, you may gift it to him."
Witch Yekaterina said, "Very well, in the future, you can slightly touch up some data before publishing it; this will save you a lot of trouble."
"You may now select a special Plane."
"The three Planes I have selected for you are the Emerald Dream, the Ancient Sky Mirage Realm, and the Rain God Celestial Realm."
"The Rain God Celestial Realm is a special world that Potion Masters enjoy signing contracts with. By using Ritual Magic to borrow the world power of the Rain God Celestial Realm, one can reduce the difficulty of most high-level potions when brewing them."
"It can reduce the difficulty by about ten percent."
"Unless the potion's attributes conflict with the world power of the Rain God Celestial Realm."
Witch Yekaterina said, "The Rain God Celestial Realm is a unique special world within the Endless Void. Its origin is unknown, how long it has existed is unknown, and its specific purpose for wanting to sign contracts with Wizards is unknown; we only know it is extremely eager to obtain the souls and bodies of Wizards."
"Potion rain shrouds this world at every moment, and even a Third Ring Wizard would face the danger of falling if they entered that world."
"However, the condition for the Rain God Celestial Realm to lend power to a Wizard is extremely harsh—namely, that after this Wizard dies, their soul and corpse belong to the Rain God Celestial Realm."
Locke's expression changed slightly.
Witch Yekaterina said, "The Emerald Dream, on the other hand, is a unique special world with a slightly more positive world will. The Emerald Dream is a world built up from countless plant spirits. You know what spirits are, right? They are the spirits that exist before a soul develops; they are primordial souls. Plants do not have souls, but they do have spirits."
"The world formed by the transformation of those spirits makes the Emerald Dream a Plane that possesses the special attributes of both a Natural Plane and an idealistic Plane. Sometimes, the Emerald Dream will naturally sign contracts with certain mortals in our Wizard World. This actually causes those mortals who originally lacked Wizard talent to suddenly possess an affinity for wood element particles, though their talent levels are generally low, below level 3."
Witch Yekaterina said, "Big figures in the Star Domain Sea have studied this mechanism and determined that the Emerald Dream will, from a young age, have elemental particle entanglement with the dreams of certain people in the Wizard World, creating a plane gate."
"Their dreams are the gates to the Emerald Dream, which is why they possess magical talent. Furthermore, if any of them are fortunate enough to become a Formal Wizard and possess telekinesis, they will discover that they have naturally already signed a contract with the Emerald Dream."
Locke blinked, surprised that such a special Plane could have such a unique influence on the Wizard World.
Witch Yekaterina said, "The Emerald Dream condenses many natural forces and favors Botanical Wizards."
"Many Botanical Wizards enjoy signing contracts with the Emerald Dream."
"However, for every portion of the Emerald Dream's power borrowed, one must travel with their mind to the Emerald Dream to perform tasks for it, such as clearing out the nightmares that pollute the environment within the Emerald Dream."
"Conversely, as long as you clear out enough powerful nightmares within the Emerald Dream, you can borrow sufficiently powerful strength from the Emerald Dream."
Witch Yekaterina said, "Therefore, many First Ring Crystallization Wizards in Botany will enter the Emerald Sleep in the form of'slumber' to enter the Emerald Plane, in order to accumulate more world power that can be exchanged for the power of the Emerald Dream during combat."
"Of course, if you sign a contract with the Emerald Dream, your dreams will also automatically undergo elemental coupling with the Emerald Dream Plane, turning into a dream gate."
"This can slightly increase your affinity for wood element particles, although for a One-Ring Wizard, it is a benefit that is neither here nor there."
Witch Yekaterina said, "The world consciousness of the Emerald Dream is influenced by life force, so the danger is very low and the cost-effectiveness is very high. Signing a [World Contract] with it is not a loss."
"The only danger is that if you overdraw too much power from the Emerald Dream at once, you will be forced into a long slumber to repay the debt you owe."
"Therefore, there is a risk that if you borrow too much power at once, you will have to spend the next few hundred years repaying the debt."
Witch Yekaterina said, "And the third option is the Ancient Sky Mirage Realm."
"The Ancient Sky Mirage Realm is also a unique special Plane. It is a special Plane without a ground, but it is not an elemental Plane composed of air elements; rather, it is a life Plane similar to the Main Material Plane, so its type is unique."
"The Ancient Sky Mirage Realm is composed of the sky portions of many worlds that have already perished within the Endless Void, and many races live within it."
"When a Wizard forms a contract with this special Plane, their soul does not need to return to this world upon death, but each use requires the sacrifice of an organ from one's own body. The more important the organ you sacrifice—such as eyes or the heart—the more powerful the Sky Power you will obtain."
"The Ancient Sky Mirage Realm favors dragons, so if we contract with this Plane, the sacrifice cost will be lower."
Witch Yekaterina said, "You may choose any of these three special Planes, but it is best to only choose one."
"Any special Plane, regardless of whether it is good or evil, is dangerous and extremely powerful; getting too involved with too many of them is not good for us."
Sitting on a stool, Locke thought it over and first excluded the Rain God Celestial Realm.
He had the Primal Fire and the Purifying Filter Stone, which could increase the success rate of brewing potions, so he did not need to use dangerous Ritual Magic.
Borrowing the world power of the Rain God Celestial Realm meant that his soul would belong to it upon death; it was equivalent to signing a slave contract, and he wouldn't even dare to die later.
Therefore, he directly excluded this world.
Locke asked Witch Yekaterina, "Teacher, may I ask you some questions?"
Yekaterina sat back in her office, picked up a Drunken Imperial Pulp Pear from the fruit plate on her desk, and handed it to Locke.
"Speak, there is no need to be so polite."
"To me, you are not an outsider."
Locke took the Drunken Pear and took a bite, discovering that the juice of this pear was mixed with the fragrance of wine and pear juice, and after eating it, it could increase his mana.
It was worthy of being a fruit that could enter the fruit plate of a Third Ring throne; besides its unparalleled taste, it was also very practical.
Locke noticed his mana recovering rapidly; the greatest use of this First Ring level Drunken Imperial Pulp Pear was likely the rapid restoration of his depleted mana.
Locke asked Witch Yekaterina his question. "Teacher, what kind of power can the Emerald Dream and the Ancient Sky Mirage Realm respectively bring me?"
Witch Yekaterina replied quickly, "The Emerald Dream can enhance the power of magic plants, at least by thirty percent; if you borrow a lot, it might be enhanced by three times. But generally, few Wizards can borrow that much power."
"That requires slaying many nightmares."
"The Ancient Sky Mirage Realm can enhance your bloodline power. Depending on the importance of the body part you sacrifice, you can obtain different Sky Power enhancements, which can also be increased up to three times at most. In the Endless Void, apart from the Blood River Plane, few special Planes will set the upper limit of borrowable world power to an infinite value for an individual Wizard."
Locke understood. Generally speaking, the upper limit of enhancement to oneself that can be obtained by using Ritual Magic to borrow world power is roughly around three times.
Of course, there is the special case of the Blood River Plane.
Back then, in order to defeat his Mister Power, Nidhogg had almost borrowed enough power to turn himself into a Second Ring Wizard, which is why he was directly swallowed by the Blood River Plane at the time.
A three-fold increase was already astonishing.
His current normal state had not yet reached the First Ring limit of 9999 magic pressure.
But if he used the borrowed world power to enhance his state by three times, that would be a very exaggerated value.
Knowing this, Locke understood why he had been suppressed and beaten by Nidhogg, who was using Ritual Magic, and why even his Mister Power could not help him turn the tables.
For a First Ring Crystallization Wizard, Ritual Magic is indeed an important means—something that cannot be used often, but can be kept as a trump card.
Witch Yekaterina spread her hands. "Choose for yourself."
"No matter what choice you make, I believe it will be very wise."
Witch Yekaterina had a habit of never actively interfering with other Wizards making their own choices.
She believed that freedom was the most important thing for a Wizard.
Only those who can command themselves are worthy of being called Wizards; those who can only be commanded by others are nothing more than marionettes.
Locke began to think. Although Witch Yekaterina believed that both the Emerald Dream and the Ancient Sky Mirage Realm were suitable for him, that was likely because, in her eyes, he was both a Botanical Wizard and a genius Breeder, and he also possessed primordial dragon scales.
Of these two worlds, one favored Botanical Wizards, and the other favored dragons.
One could enhance his magic plants, and the other could enhance the bloodline within his body.
Locke did not hesitate much. Although he possessed the Scorpion Girl ring and had three drops of True Blood in his body, his foundation was still that of a Botanical Wizard.
Therefore, if he had to choose a special Plane to sign a contract with, he would definitely choose the Emerald Dream.
Moreover, the cost of the Ritual Magic for the Ancient Sky Mirage Realm, which required sacrificing important parts of one's body at every turn, was truly too terrifying compared to doing tasks for the Emerald Dream.
And the Emerald Dream seemed to be much gentler in nature by comparison.
Locke said to Witch Yekaterina, "Teacher, I choose the Emerald Dream."
Witch Yekaterina nodded and said, "Hmm, this is a good choice. But it also means that among deep-diving into Bloodline Studies and Botany, you have chosen Botany."
"If you had chosen the Ancient Sky Mirage Realm, you would have discovered just how much that special Plane favors dragon bloodlines."
"You have given up on digging deep into your dragon bloodline. Actually, if you used your dragon bloodline as the core to tap into its potential and build your own Bloodline Studies system, it would be easier for you to become a Second Ring Wizard."
Locke shook his head slightly.
There were too many secrets hidden behind this dragon bloodline of his; unless absolutely necessary, he did not want to pin all his hopes on it.
On the contrary, Botany was something he had walked step by step, and it was already very solid, plus it had a very high degree of compatibility with his golden finger.
Witch Yekaterina curled her lips and said, "Actually, I once made a similar choice, and I made the same choice as you."
For some reason, Locke felt that the look Witch Yekaterina gave him became even softer.
"Between digging into dragon bloodlines and developing Breeding Science and Botany, I chose the latter."
Witch Yekaterina said, "Actually, I discovered later that choosing the latter made it easier to become a Third Ring Wizard. If I had dug deep into the dragon bloodline back then, it would indeed have made it easier for me to become a Second Ring Wizard, but that bloodline would have turned into a chasm preventing me from moving forward at the Second Ring stage."
Locke did not quite understand; after all, this part of the knowledge was too distant for him.
"Teacher, then why did you let me choose freely before?"
Witch Yekaterina said, "I wanted to see your choice. Moreover, Wizards who go against their own choices are even less likely to become Third Ring Wizards."
"Besides, for many Wizards, becoming a Second Ring Wizard is enough. Therefore, it is hard to say which of these two choices is right or wrong."
Witch Yekaterina took out a contract from her astral ring.
"This is the [Ritual Book] created by a Third Ring Wizard of the Summoning School. Although there are other ways to sign Ritual Magic contracts, as of now, using the [Ritual Book] to sign a contract is the safest method of all."
"This is a path explored by countless Wizards at the cost of their own lives."
"Read through the contract, and if there are no problems, sign your name in the bottom left corner."
Locke read the Ritual Book several times, and after confirming there were no issues, he used a magic quill to write his name on the Ritual Book.
The next moment, another string of arcane text appeared next to his name.
Locke immediately realized that it was the name signed by the Emerald Dream as the other party, but he could not recognize those characters at all.
That was one of the deepest secrets of the world, the primordial language of the world.
As the contract was completed, Locke felt a peculiar world power descend into this space, expressing joy and an invitation to him.
This joy quickly turned into extreme enthusiasm in an instant, as if it were yearning for him to go to the Emerald Dream immediately.
Witch Yekaterina frowned. "Hmm? How can the world power be so active... The degree of favor the Emerald Dream has for you can actually reach such a level..."
Locke suddenly felt drowsy, and a cluster of emerald magic radiance appeared in the depths of his consciousness.
"Teacher..."
Witch Yekaterina frowned, held Locke, and whispered, "Do not be nervous. This is the Emerald Dream inviting you to participate in the Emerald Trial; usually, only special Wizards are selected for this. Ordinary Botanical Wizards and Breeders could absolutely never encounter this."
"Wizards who pass the Emerald Trial will be able to borrow special power from the Emerald Dream Plane in the future; you can understand this as unlocking special debt-borrowing privileges."
Witch Yekaterina originally wanted to give a few more instructions, but discovered that Locke was already drowsy.
"But this student of mine... why can he cause the Emerald Dream Plane to favor him so much?!"
Witch Yekaterina frowned, staring at Locke's forehead, and fell into deep thought.
"There must be something on him that can extremely attract the Emerald Dream Plane."