Chapter 767: The Blade and the Whetstone

Having realized that the opponent was using the relative height of their Grand Magic within the Root Field to establish an absolute advantage over him, Locke immediately thought of a solution.

He could use the Second Circle spell Alternation of Generations and, in a single instant, transform his magical plant's attributes six times, stacking magic pressure. Then in the moment he struck, his magic pressure would multiply, causing the magic pressure of his Grand Magic to experience a very brief surface-level amplification.

And so his Grand Magic's relative height within the Root Field would also be temporarily raised.

Under normal circumstances, his accumulated resources could only allow a magical plant's attributes to transform five times through the Alternation of Generations. But after obtaining Pinellia, he could use the Moon of Evolution to grant other magical plants the summer attribute, which meant he could use the Alternation of Generations to cycle through attributes six times.

But Locke rejected this approach.

Although there was no reason to hide his abilities, since everyone present was a wizard far above his own level, the problem was that there was no need whatsoever to deploy his Moon of Evolution's current maximum chain killing technique at this moment.

The Lunar Cultivation Method combined with Alternation of Generations combined with six types of plant factor attribute changes.

This was not the Silent Chalice. This was not any kind of special competition. There was no need to use his full strength, and the opponent had clearly not used hers either.

At this moment, the Moon of Evolution behind Locke's back suddenly disappeared, no longer directly enhancing the Peach Bow Thorn Arrow. He used only his Second Circle wizard's base magic pressure to power the Peach Bow Thorn Arrow.

Witch Rose was startled.

Because Locke doing this clearly meant he had detected her scheme.

The Root Field only lifts Grand Magics. As long as the Second Circle spell used is not linked to the Grand Magic, there is no Root Field lifting it, and naturally it is not subject to the effects of the Root Field's varying heights.

This was the equivalent of stepping outside the system entirely and refusing to compare within it with her.

But this still presented another problem.

Root Fields existed for a reason. They were something constructed jointly by high-circle textile school wizards and high-circle life and alchemy school wizards, something of great benefit to Second Circle wizards.

By proactively giving up the dual enhancement of both the Root Field and the Grand Magic on his spell, Locke was essentially returning himself to the magical strength level of an ordinary Second Circle life-form without those advantages.

This would severely weaken his magical power.

The Cloud Whisker Thread itself already possessed the special property of evading magical force.

Locke drew his bow, nocked his arrow, and let it fly.

Witch Rose furrowed her brow.

"You have lost. The magic pressure of this Peach Bow Thorn Arrow is insufficient to ever reach my Cloud Whisker Cloth."

"Wait..."

The Peach Bow Thorn Arrow, barely sustaining the force worthy of a Second Circle wizard's spell, traced an arc through midair. Then the spirituality of the Cloud Whisker Thread, bathed in the moonlight of the Moon of Evolution, connected with the spirituality of Locke's Peach Bow Thorn Arrow.

Although the Cloud Whisker Cloth would automatically retreat upon being struck by a magical attack, ensuring the magical attack could never actually land on the cloth, at this moment the spirituality of the Peach Bow Thorn Arrow and the spirituality of the Cloud Whisker Cloth were closely intertwined. And so the Peach Bow Thorn Arrow continuously chased after the Cloud Whisker Cloth.

The result was a scene in the sky resembling a perpetual motion machine.

The two sides held at a standstill for a moment.

In the next moment, the distance of the spiritual connection between the Cloud Whisker Cloth and the Peach Bow Thorn Arrow abruptly shortened under the moonlight of the Moon of Evolution. In the next instant, the Peach Bow Thorn Arrow struck the Cloud Whisker Cloth.

Locke saw this happen and gave a slight nod.

In truth, even for him, doing this had been an extremely close call. After all, the instantaneous magic pressure output of his Peach Bow Thorn Arrow was simply too low.

Even relying on the Moon of Evolution's characteristic of connecting the spirituality between plants, success was still far from guaranteed.

The Cloud Whisker Cloth's automatic evasion property was truly troublesome.

The Rose Witch saw this and a look of surprise passed through her eyes, though her expression immediately settled into a smiling calm.

At the same time, Witch Rose extended her right hand. The Cloud Whisker Cloth, having been shot down, fell from the sky into her outstretched hands.

The entire Cloud Whisker Cloth burst into flames.

Witch Rose's right hand was protected by her permanent defensive force field, so it was unharmed. Her face grim, she took out from her astral ring a vial of semi-transparent potion and squeezed out a single drop of spirit liquid, which fell upon the Cloud Whisker Cloth. The flames wrapping around it instantly extinguished.

At this point, the atmosphere at the square table relaxed once more.

His several senior fellows led the applause, and a small number of wizards elegantly tapped their dining utensils against their plates in the manner of those who were his seniors and high-circle wizards, expressing their appreciation for him.

Witch Yekaterina looked at Locke with satisfaction.

"Well done, Locke."

Witch Yekaterina looked toward Witch Rose.

"You were also impressive."

"The Cloud Whisker Cloth is excellent. It will likely find many applications in the future. A magical weaver's value lies not in combat, but in production and manufacture."

Witch Rose's expression improved slightly. She looked at the Red Dragon Witch with surprise, not having expected this witch so famously fierce by reputation to speak to her so gently. She was somewhat taken aback and felt an unexpected warmth rise in her heart.

Witch Rose gave Witch Yekaterina a respectful bow. "Thank you for your guidance, Red Dragon Throne."

When she raised her head and looked at Locke, she gave a cold snort, put away the Cloud Whisker Cloth, and turned back to stand behind the Rose Witch.

The Rose Witch then looked at Locke and handed him the seal she was holding.

"A bet is a bet. Locke, this Scarlet Bloodstone Spiritual Resonance is yours."

She placed the seal in midair and it hovered there. She lightly touched it with a fingertip, and it immediately flew toward Locke.

The Rose Witch smiled. "The wizard who imprinted this Spiritual Resonance exerted considerable effort in doing so. I hope you will put it to good use. You should not use it as a one-time consumable in a potion. That will only allow it to be used once. If you trace it daily, I believe it will benefit your alchemy practice enormously."

"Director of the Demon Hunter Bureau, am I correct?"

The Demon Hunter Bureau Director was a plump wizard who, as an alchemy master, burst into laughter.

"Although the Rose Throne is not an alchemy wizard herself, she has an authoritative perspective on our field of alchemy. Absolutely correct. When all is said and done, alchemy is a discipline that can be accelerated through the investment of resources."

"Very different from your floriography, which relies on natural affinity."

"Your floriography is what is truly difficult to learn. If a student cannot learn it, they simply cannot learn it."

The Rose Witch accepted this with great satisfaction.

The Rose Witch looked toward Witch Yekaterina and said, "Witch Yekaterina, I am very busy. Since I have accomplished my purpose in coming here today, there is no need to stay longer."

Witch Yekaterina smiled. "Do take care, and no need to see you out."

Five of the Rose Witch's students showed expressions of fury, but the Rose Witch silenced them with a calm look.

At the same time, the Rose Witch glanced at Witch Yekaterina and said, "The days ahead are long, Katya. Your dispute with me is like a game of Go. You play one stone, I play one stone. Neither of us knows who will have the final victory. Would you not agree?"

Witch Yekaterina remained silent.

At this moment, the Rose Witch glanced at Locke.

"However, your student performed quite well this time. He was composed, discovered the true nature of that Lotus Root Lingering Thread Curse, and thought of a risky method to break through it."

"Locke Augustine, welcome to the world of Second Circle wizards."

"Come, Rose."

As the Rose Witch departed, the sky once more began raining white rose petals, falling like snowflakes, those petals drifting like snow returned by flowing wind.

Locke seemed to see in this great snowfall of petals countless interwoven textile patterns of many different kinds.

Locke exhaled a long breath.

She was finally gone.

The Rose Witch exerted an immense pressure simply by being present.

She appeared to be an extremely approachable wizard, but she absolutely was not.

Her methods were too extraordinary, and her true purposes even harder to read.

Still, even so, he had beaten her granddaughter once just now.

Witch Yekaterina gave Locke an approving look, then turned and resumed conversation with the other high-circle wizards.

Because the Rose Witch and her group had chosen to leave on their own initiative, the entire banquet returned to its earlier relaxed atmosphere. Quite a few high-circle wizards had formed a certain impression of Locke and discussed him for a few more lines.

As Locke turned around, he saw Wizard Trajan offering him praise. "Junior, you were truly impressive just now. I almost thought you were going to fall into the trap, but you spotted the treachery of that Lotus Root Lingering Thread Curse yourself."

Locke said, "I was also lucky. One more moment and I might not have caught it."

Great Senior Brother Georuta said, "The wizards of the Rose Council are always this underhanded. I have suffered a great deal at their hands in the past."

Witch Zeira said, "Well, I am not so badly off. I have a few friends in the Rose Council. Of course, those belonging to the Rose Witch's faction I am certainly at odds with. Because they are Teacher's enemies."

Second Senior Brother Heidegger said quietly, "Even if I do not think of them as enemies, there is no way around it. The projects in our hands are closely tied to Teacher's projects. We are in natural conflict with the core lineage of their faction. Unless we proactively yield and cut our own losses, giving up our own futures, I truly cannot think of any way to avoid conflict with them."

Second Senior Brother Heidegger looked toward Locke. "You should be careful, junior. The Rose Witch, mindful of her own dignity, will never do anything in public that would make her lose face. But I can see that this Witch Rose is no easy opponent. You won against her this time. I imagine she will not be satisfied."

Locke bowed to Second Senior Brother Heidegger. "It is fine, senior. If I can win against her the first time, I can win against her the second time."

Heidegger paused momentarily, then patted him on the shoulder. "Good. That is the spirit."

Witch Zeira said, "Academic lineage struggles are something that Second Circle wizards can almost never avoid. First Circle wizards, because of their low value, rarely find themselves in this situation."

"For Second Circle wizards, the choice is either to join a team or to remain independent. But regardless of what choice is made, a certain price must be paid."

Locke nodded deeply in agreement.

Going it alone certainly could avoid some of these conflicts, but many resources would then become inaccessible.

Locke looked at the strange seal in his hand.

"Scarlet Bloodstone is a Second Circle alchemical material. This I know. It is primarily used to brew the Scarlet Potion."

"Those who consume the Scarlet Potion can establish a contract or curse connection through bloodline relationships. It is a special form of blood curse. Sufficient to use one bottle of the Scarlet Potion to create a bloodline lineage that obeys oneself, with the resistance of subsequent generations made extremely difficult."

"I saw this potion in the free library. It is a prohibited substance, and the White Wizard Association has forbidden its production."

This was primarily because in the distant past, before the Enlightenment Era, this potion had been used by autocratic wizard monarchs to enslave commoner families with wizard aptitude.

The formula for this potion had nearly been destroyed during the Enlightenment Era, but was subsequently preserved in the interest of knowledge retention.

Locke looked at the Scarlet Bloodstone Spiritual Resonance in his hand and said with some puzzlement, "I know what Scarlet Bloodstone is. But what is a Scarlet Bloodstone Spiritual Resonance? What connection exists between the two?"

Witch Yekaterina glanced at the Scarlet Bloodstone Spiritual Resonance, and furrowed her brow, as though thinking about something.

...

At the foot of Golden Crown Mountain, the Witch Rose walking beside the Rose Witch said with puzzlement, "Great-grandmother, I lost to that young, still wet behind the ears commoner boy who is even younger than me. I am truly not satisfied. Why did you not allow me to use the Lotus Root Lingering Thread Curse to its full depth?"

"At the time I could have used the Lotus Root Lingering Thread Curse to pull his Peach Bow Thorn Arrow back into the botanical Root Field."

The Rose Witch walked as she spoke. "Rose, why the hurry? The Lotus Root Lingering Thread Curse is the core of your Grand Magic, the Water-Cannon Loom. If you were to operate it at full power, you would need to expose far too much of your hand in a non-competition setting."

"And secondly, what matters most is that your Lotus Root Lingering Thread Curse might not even have worked."

Witch Rose paused in surprise. "Why?"

The Rose Witch said, "His Grand Magic can also connect the spirituality between plants. So there is a possibility he could have disrupted the effect of your Lotus Root Lingering Thread Curse. That is why I told you not to act rashly. Besides, my purpose was already accomplished."

"This time, my only intent was for you, by facing off against Wizard Augustine, to let the high-circle wizards of the Cloud Marsh Wetlands see our textile school's potential. Everything else was only a secondary purpose. And they saw it. They would not fail to notice that textile school Grand Magics are inherently at a disadvantage in direct confrontation."

"They would equally not fail to notice the excellence of your Cloud Whisker Cloth's properties, nor fail to see that your Cloud Whisker Cloth sustained almost no damage from the Peach Bow Thorn Arrow's attack."

"All of that was seen by them. That is enough."

The Rose Witch smiled. "If you beat someone at another person's celebration banquet, what would cause me a headache would be the aftermath."

"A challenge requires the right timing. That time has not yet come."

Witch Rose nodded. "That boy only broke one of my spells by luck. If the exchange had continued, he would... though of course, my Cloud Whisker Cloth still has better uses."

The Rose Witch glanced at Witch Rose and smiled. "I am giving Locke Augustine to you as your whetstone. With your talent, you as the blade will certainly make good use of this whetstone and hone yourself to a razor's edge."

Witch Rose bowed. "Thank you, Great-grandmother."