Synthetic Wizard

Starlight Calendar Year 1278, Month of Tomes (August).

The last independent city-state of the Northwest Domain was conquered by the Golem Legion, marking the entire Northwest Domain’s complete fall into the hands of the Star Alliance.

With this, the underground world welcomed the first ruler it had seen in a millennium.

After the war, the Star Alliance completely shifted to a development phase, no longer waging large-scale battles and instead focusing wholly on developing the underground world.

Sunan made a list of everything needed to construct the Wizard Tower and gave it to Carolina and the Red Widow to collect, planning to start the construction as soon as he returned from the Black Forest.

This was a massive project, not one that could be completed overnight.

Even with ample materials and labor, it would take ten to twenty years to complete.

Given the current state of the Starlight Continent, Sunan estimated that completing it in a hundred years would be considered fast.

As the month drew to a close, with only three days left before the Harvest Month (September), the energy of the Black Key was finally fully charged.

The moment the Black Key was activated, a dense, eerie forest filled with black trees immediately appeared in Sunan’s mind, and he instantly knew its location.

“It’s quite far from Magic Spider City.”

The map of the underground world was already ingrained in Sunan’s mind, and after a brief recollection, he identified the city-state closest to the Black Forest, then traveled through Dragon Forest’s spatial channel to that city-state, flying swiftly toward the Black Forest’s location.

Over a hundred kilometers disappeared in the blink of an eye, and Sunan soon found a dark cave entrance in a remote cavern.

“A spatial channel?”

“It seems different from the Tower of Stars; the Black Forest is in an other dimensional space.”

Sunan was not surprised.

If the Black Forest existed in the physical world, his forces would have already found clues.

So, he guessed that the Black Forest was either an other dimensional space itself or, like the Tower of Stars, could traverse between the physical world and other dimension planes.

This dark spatial channel undoubtedly proved the former about the Black Forest.

After casting a defensive magic on himself and activating the Ring of Extreme Protection, Sunan stepped into the spatial channel without hesitation.

With a flicker before his eyes, as his vision finally cleared again, Sunan found himself within a peculiar forest.

As far as the eye could see, there were tall, pitch-black trees.

The trunks were black, the branches were black, even the leaves were black.

Above, the sky was filled with stars, with dim starlight casting over the forest. From afar, the black trees looked like devils with outstretched claws, casting eerie shadows on the ground.

The entire forest was shrouded in ghostly silhouettes, stirring a sense of dread deep within.

The air seemed to be faintly filled with a light gray mist.

However, Sunan knew that wasn’t mist, but condensed negative energy particles rich enough to almost become tangible.

“Such dense negative energy particles.”

Sunan clicked his tongue in marvel.

Unlike positive energy particles, negative energy particles couldn’t strengthen the body; instead, they harmed it.

Except for wizards (apprentices) specializing in the Undead Series, very few would willingly absorb negative energy particles.

Staying in an environment with high concentrations of negative energy particles for a long time would also damage the body.

“The Wizard Organization that left this wizard inheritance is very likely of an evil alignment.”

“Level 1 Wizard Apprentices and knights below legendary rank who enter here would soon be corroded into a pool of pus.”

“The requirements for entering this wizard inheritance are obviously stricter than those for the Tower of Stars, and the assessment method should also be different.”

Sunan had a vague suspicion but needed to continue observing to verify its accuracy.

Extending his Spiritual Power, Sunan sensed the area for a moment, then chose a direction where the negative energy particles were more concentrated to proceed.

If nothing went wrong, the core of the Black Forest should be in that direction.

Starlight fell into the forest, seemingly tinged with an eerie black.

All around was deathly silent, with only Sunan’s footsteps breaking the quiet, creating an oppressively eerie atmosphere.

Sunan originally thought he might find some rare magic plants, but after searching carefully along the way, he found nothing.

Just as he was about to give up, a splash of bright red suddenly appeared in his vision.

Sunan’s gaze shifted, cautiously moving closer.

As he drew near, he discovered a patch of red roses.

The bright red petals were adorned with either black or golden star-like dots, surrounded by six-inch or so hollow thorns near the roots, blooming in clusters atop… pale white bones!

Sunan’s nostrils flared, catching the sweet fragrance flooding the air, faintly mixed with a hint of a rotting flesh smell.

With the flower’s shape and its distinct scent, Sunan quickly identified its origin and, without hesitation, launched a Magic Missile to catch it off guard.

Demon Palace Rose, an evil plant using corpses as nourishment, attacks any creature that comes near, draining its blood and turning it into a new flower bed.

Upon realizing it had been exposed, all the Demon Palace Roses immediately unfurled their petals, flapping like wings, and, like a swarm of bees, they fiercely flew toward him.

Buzzz!

The air was instantly filled with the muffled sound of wings flapping like a swarm of bees.

Over twenty Magic Missiles took down many Demon Palace Roses, but more surrounded Sunan.

Sunan appeared calm.

The combat ability of a single Demon Palace Rose was just at the level of a knight, and appearing in such a scale could threaten a great knight, but that was about the extent of it.