Chapter 839: Dendrochronology, Edgar, and the First Wave to the Edge of the World

The Origin Academy, Group Three laboratory. Here stood all manner of trees. What drew the eye most were the objects resembling rings, like bands on a finger, that had formed on the canopies of some enormous tree-type magical plants at the center of the laboratory.

Locke looked at those magical plants with some surprise.

'These are all test rings, but far more primitive than the two test rings I have. It seems Group Three's main research focus is closely tied to marriage rings.'

'And also, dendrochronology.'

Locke swept a glance across the trees here and could tell that many of them bore signs of forced growth. There were also many time gold crystal separation sheets here.

These separation sheets, transparent as glass, worked together with a large piece of equipment called a dendrochronology table. A tree-type magical plant was planted on the table, and then the time gold crystal separation sheet was cut into the middle section of a tree, achieving the effect of splitting the tree into two halves while keeping the two halves still connected.

It was like placing a pane of glass in the middle of a magical plant.

In this way, cross-sections could be taken from living tree-type magical plants.

By observing the growth rings of these living tree-type magical plants, their age could be determined.

Locke scanned these magical plants. Dendrochronology could increase the total magic pressure of a tree-type magical plant.

The characteristic of tree-type magical plants was that they possessed high growth potential. Through the accumulation of growth rings, their total magic pressure and magic pressure intensity could be enhanced.

Come to think of it, if his second Grand Magic were to be built upon the Ancient Life Tree, then dendrochronology was something he had better familiarize himself with.

Inside the Group Three laboratory, people came and went.

Many First Circle wizards, upon seeing Locke, nodded and gave a simple bow of acknowledgment, then grabbed their experimental supplies and hurried off to work.

Locke happened to spot an unexpected person here: Edgar David, or rather, his clone.

Wizard Edgar was walking alongside a star ring wizard, posing questions to him while following behind him with materials in hand and reading through them. At that moment, sensing the star ring wizard in front of him stop, he looked up and was surprised to see Locke.

This star ring wizard had been chosen by Witch Yekaterina's side and was a newly appointed team leader. Upon seeing Locke, he paused briefly, then looked at him with a smile in his eyes.

"Wizard Locke, what brings you to our Group Three? Is there something you need?"

Although he was a contract-based wizard instructor for Golden Crown Mountain and the acting team leader of Group Three, he was a newcomer just starting out with an unstable position.

And everyone knew that Locke Augustine was currently the core student of the Red Dragon Throne.

Technically, this team leader held a higher position within the Academy than Locke, but within the academic lineage of the Red Dragon Throne, their statuses were reversed.

Of course, a star ring wizard did not need to undervalue himself too greatly.

The wizard world placed great weight on magical rank.

The gap between a star ring wizard and an ordinary Second Circle wizard was enormous.

As enormous as the difference in strength between an adolescent and a child.

Locke gave this team leader a bow and said, "I am here on my teacher's orders, to take away a wizard named Douglas."

The star ring wizard thought for a moment.

"Douglas? There is no one by that name in Group Three's laboratory. He must be a temporary worker."

"Since it is the Throne's command, please go ahead, Locke. If there is anything you need, just let me know."

"This is Wizard Edgar. You two should know each other. Quinn Jol University and the Red Dragon Witch have a small collaboration recently, and Edgar is here as the liaison for the handover."

Wizard Edgar said humbly, "I am really only here to learn. The knowledge of dendrochronology at Golden Crown Mountain is truly vast."

Acting Team Leader Ansel Chandler smiled with satisfaction.

"But you are learning it very quickly."

Locke looked at Edgar with some surprise.

Who would have thought this fellow was quite good at flattery when he was in a learning phase.

Edgar said to Locke, "I have been here at your Golden Crown Mountain lately studying dendrochronology, and I have been making great progress. Locke, when we have some free time, we should exchange ideas."

"Sure."

Locke looked at Edgar and said, "Your clone is impressive."

Wizard Edgar smiled and said, "Impressive, is it? This is the Divine Tree Clone Magic of Quinn Jol University. If you are interested, I can teach you."

"Your clone is impressive as well. Can you teach me?"

Locke said, "It is just the Ancient Tree Fruit Clone. Free content. If you want to learn it, I can teach you. But if I recall correctly, the Divine Tree Clone Magic is Quinn Jol University's exclusive magic. Are you comfortable with us exchanging like this?"

Wizard Edgar smiled with confidence.

"The Red Dragon Throne has been very generous this time, freely transferring some advanced dendrochronology techniques to us in order to complete a project. So naturally we will not be possessive on our end. Beyond that, there is no harm in exchanging it with you."

"Because these things are not what matters. What matters is constant progress and rapid progress. If exchanging ideas with you can give me more ideas and allow me to advance rapidly, then what does it matter to use Quinn Jol University's exclusive clone magic in exchange for an Ancient Tree Fruit clone magic?"

"The value of these things does not lie in the things themselves but in who I am. If I think it is worth it, it is worth it. The previous exchange with you allowed me to complete All Things Return to the Tree and produced a very fine result."

Locke was silent. Wizard Edgar was always that confident.

Wizard Edgar coughed once and said, "By the way, Locke, I heard the Golden Cup is going to be held soon."

Locke said, "Yes, I heard as well. I have already registered."

Wizard Edgar's eyebrow twitched.

"Oh? You have registered. Which competition did you register for?"

Locke said, "The flying magical plant competition."

Wizard Edgar's lips seemed to curve upward, but he quickly forced the expression back down.

"Oh. I registered for the Golden Cup's golden magical plant breeding competition."

"What a pity. I had been hoping we could compete against each other and settle the score from the two times I lost to you. But it looks like that opportunity will have to be pushed back."

Wizard Edgar's face showed regret, seven parts and three parts mixed with relief.

"By the way, Witch Georgina is also participating in the Golden Cup. Only she is entering the golden magic spell model competition."

Locke showed mild surprise.

"The spell model competition? Is she skilled in golden magic?"

At that point, the acting team leader star ring wizard had already stepped away, apparently to handle other work.

Wizard Edgar said, "I asked that same question. Her answer was that she does not know golden magic. But the characteristic of new textile studies is that through the Heavenly Robe Nymph Hunter Curse, one can weave fabric that simulates an enemy's weakness. And that spell model combined with other spell models can even imitate the opponent's own spells."

"Also, the spell model competition of the Golden Cup is different from what we might imagine. Because of the continued decline of the Twilight Border, wizards who primarily specialize in the Golden School have become very few. Most wizards only study it as a secondary discipline, so many of the wizards entering that competition are, like Witch Georgina, being thrown in at the deep end."

"Or rather, this is one of the interesting aspects of the Golden Cup. Every well-known competition has its own philosophy. For example, the Golden Cup believes that the best participant is not a specialized wizard, but rather an amateur wizard who has no connection to the Golden School, learns about golden magic, and then enters the Golden Cup. They believe this is the true meaning of an ancient competition."

"In my view, though, this is mainly because wizards of the Golden School can no longer support a competition of any real substance."

Locke furrowed his brow. Had the Twilight Border really declined to this extent?

There was one issue: the wizard world's golden navigation routes were all constructed using golden magic. If the Twilight Border and the Golden School had declined to this degree, who would maintain the golden navigation routes?

Would the White Wizard Association headquarters sit back and allow this situation to continue?

Wizard Edgar said to Locke, "Then let us see if the top three of our Silent Chalice each claim the championship in the Golden Cup's three competitions. That would make for quite an amusing story."

Locke asked, "How has Witch Diana been lately?"

Wizard Edgar paused.

"No idea. It seems she has not yet broken through to become a Second Circle wizard. I have no interest in those who fall behind. If she keeps this up, she is going to fall off the track we are currently on."

Locke understood what he meant.

The wizard world's top-tier genius cultivation path was a deeply hidden route. Had it not been for the materials from Golden Crown Mountain, the Red Dragon Witch, and what Witch Sophia had sent back from the Star Domain Sea, he himself could not have confirmed with certainty that it existed.

Because in many ways, it resembled something more like a fantasy about talent recruitment by the wizard universities of upper wizard territories and leader wizard territories.

But Locke was certain now that the wizard world did have a hidden top-tier genius cultivation path. The only problem was that even discovering this path required a wizard to have sufficient strength and insight, or perhaps a touch of luck.

It was clear that Edgar and he were truly walking the same road.

Edgar also wanted to walk this path.

Wizard Edgar said to Locke, "Since there is no deciding a winner between us at the Golden Cup, I imagine we may have opportunities to face each other at the Edge of the World in the future."

Locke glanced at Wizard Edgar. Sure enough, he knew about the Edge of the World too.

After all, the Edge of the World was the wizard territory every breeder dreamed of.

The Edge of the World had a limit on how many wizards from outside territories it could receive at any given time, and there were also batches. The first wave could obtain the best resources, while those arriving in later waves would find fewer resources remaining.

So every time, the number of wizards competing to be in the first wave to the Edge of the World was extremely large.

Of course, this required obtaining advance information on the Edge of the World's trajectory and its stopping locations.

Because the spots in the first wave were snapped up almost immediately.

"I should go, Edgar. We can exchange ideas another time."

Locke gave him a nod. He still needed to find Douglas as quickly as possible.

Locke asked a researcher for directions, then followed the information given and found Wizard Brandy's laboratory. This small laboratory within the Group Three facility contained thirty dendrochronology tables.

On each of the thirty dendrochronology tables, a tree-type magical plant had been transplanted. Strangely, because of the dendrochronology tables, the vertical cross-sections of these magical plant trees were visible, and half of them had internal structures as dense as a human's vascular system.

This was clearly the research Wizard Brandy had once mentioned to him. It seemed he had not been speaking entirely without basis.

Locke cast a sideways glance and noticed that the combined cost of these table setups would be approaching one hundred million magic stones, which was clearly a price no individual wizard could bear alone. This must be using Group Three laboratory's resources.

After Witch Esther's defection and departure from Group Three, Wizard Brandy had received considerable access to Group Three's shared resources.

At that moment, Locke stood outside the laboratory, which was sealed by a barrier. While he could easily dispel this crude barrier with a casual gesture, this was after all someone's private laboratory.

So Locke first examined the laboratory's interior.

Inside this not-particularly-large laboratory were only three wizards. Two of them were crystallization wizards who appeared to be researchers at Golden Crown Mountain's Origin Academy, and the third was Douglas.

At that moment, Douglas had a scruffy beard and appeared to be under enormous mental strain. The other two crystallization wizards also looked to be in poor condition.

Locke understood immediately why, because the special tree-type magical plants planted on the thirty dendrochronology tables appeared to be emitting some kind of contaminating radiation at every moment.

Even standing outside the barrier, Locke could sense a strange magical force assaulting his nostrils.

A foul, bloody stench.

'It appears to be some kind of alchemical school flesh magic. Those trees must be emitting the relevant natural magical force structural components.'

'This fellow. I think I finally understand why he cannot get a special-grade grant through Golden Crown Mountain's review.'

Locke was stunned by Wizard Brandy's bizarre ideas.

Why?

Even back in his First Circle days, he had understood one thing: different wizard territories had their own mainstream aesthetic preferences.

Cloud Marsh Wetlands wizards were practical and capable, valued fine craftsmanship, preferred technique over raw numbers, and prized what could be called small but beautiful things.

And Golden Crown Mountain, as a wizard university with bloodline studies, breeding studies, and wave energy studies as its dominant disciplines, was in fact deeply hostile toward the flesh magic within the alchemical school.

Yet for some unknown reason, perhaps due to his own personal aesthetic, Wizard Brandy had inexplicably locked his research direction onto this very area.

Was that not putting in twice the effort for half the result?

It was not that this direction was impossible, only that it required far greater effort.

And clearly, a wizard capable of making such a poor judgment had no ability to break through the rules.

Locke was nearly at a loss for words.

'If he truly intended to apply for the special-grade grant with something like this, then even given another five years, he would struggle to convince Golden Crown Mountain's wizards to let him participate in the special-grade grant application.'

Locke shook his head slightly.

Well, this had nothing to do with him. After all, this was a person who had started scheming against him from the very first meeting. If he offered advice, the man might well turn around and resent him for it.

At that moment, among the three wizards, Douglas appeared to be bearing not only the contaminating radiation from the thirty flesh magical plants, but also considerable mental strain.

In truth, Douglas had long wanted to leave.

He had originally wanted to get close to Locke and use Locke's power to retrieve the secret treasure of Laghemaon. When he found there was no way to approach Locke, he had settled for the next best option and attempted to make contact with other Second Circle wizards on Golden Crown Mountain.

He had been met with rejection at every turn.

Later, he encountered Wizard Brandy, who was exceptionally warm toward him from the start. Wizard Brandy had been extremely kind to him from the beginning and invited him to join Group Three's laboratory as an assistant.

He had originally assumed Wizard Brandy was a wizard who liked helping others. But gradually, he came to sense that Wizard Brandy seemed to have dimly detected the presence of Wizard King Laghemaon on him and was probing him constantly.

The early probing had been nothing more than deliberately assigning him tasks that were difficult for him to complete.

Wizard Brandy himself gave no punishment when the tasks could not be completed, but the tasks themselves all carried a certain degree of danger.

He had used his own resourcefulness to narrowly escape danger several times, but later, Wizard Brandy's probing became increasingly brazen, and he appeared to have confirmed that something was wrong with Douglas.

Now, Wizard Brandy had even begun deliberately arranging work with obvious danger for him, while in daily operations he was required to handle extremely hazardous experiments for Wizard Brandy.

These were things Golden Crown Mountain's wizards would only agree to do for very high compensation, and even then not regularly.

But now, Wizard Brandy seemed to have concluded that there was no one backing Douglas and that he was not even a wizard of Golden Crown Mountain, and so had placed him in his laboratory and worked him relentlessly.

It was only now that Douglas realized he had no way of leaving even if he wanted to.

He had tried many approaches, such as seeking help from others or finding a way to contact Witch Yekaterina, but those people seemed to completely ignore him.

And Witch Yekaterina was not at Golden Crown Mountain at all, reportedly having gone to the Genesis Academic Conference.

After Witch Yekaterina's absence from Golden Crown Mountain, he could clearly feel that Wizard Brandy's behavior had grown increasingly unconstrained and brazen, and on many occasions, he would stare at Douglas with greedy, malicious eyes.

He had nearly shown his full hand.

Because just the previous night, Wizard Brandy had directly demanded that he hand over whatever treasure he was carrying.

Douglas, his mind still in a daze, was measuring the previous night's water vapor evaporation from the flesh-and-blood strange tree before him, while also recalling Wizard Brandy's open declaration from the night before.

Right here in this laboratory.

Wizard Brandy had stood at the laboratory door and said to him, "The flesh-and-blood strange tree was something I found in the Forbes Plane, a medium-scale colonial world. This magical plant has a moderate to high toxic side effect on low-circle wizards like yourselves. And I have already cut off your antidote supply for a month."

"Douglas, let me be plain with you. With your level of talent, there is absolutely no way you could advance to become a crystallization wizard. I looked at your file when you first joined my laboratory and knew that from the start."

"You must have had some encounter of fortune. At first I did not care. The encounter of a low-circle wizard was beneath my notice. But then I gave you some extremely difficult tasks to complete, and you managed to handle all of them. That gradually made me take notice. After my tests, I believe your encounter of fortune is very likely at the sun ring level. That is staggering."

"An encounter of fortune, who would not want one? Douglas, as long as you hand that encounter over to me, I will let you leave Group Three. Otherwise, you will die here. Given your identity, even if something were to happen to you, I would not face an ethics review committee investigation. At most I would be fined for violating internal laboratory regulations."

Wizard Brandy had stood at the laboratory door, mocking him with a smile as he said, "Acting Team Leader Ansel Chandler just arrived and still relies on me to manage the laboratory. So who knows, I might not even be held to violating laboratory regulations."

"Douglas, you have nowhere to turn now. I advise you to hand over your encounter of fortune. You cannot hold onto it."

Douglas's mind was in a daze. At that moment, he truly felt regret. Had he known it would come to this, he should never have agreed to let Wizard Brandy transfer him to Group Three.

He had walked right into the lion's den.

Yet that person had presented himself as so kind.

In the early days, when others had looked at him with cold contempt, Wizard Brandy had been helpful to him at every turn, which had led Douglas to gravely misjudge him.

Only now did Douglas realize that what Wizard Brandy called helping him had amounted to nothing more than verbal encouragement.

Not a single tangible thing had been given.

It had cost him absolutely nothing.

Thinking of this, Douglas could not help but worry about his future.

At that moment, the voice of Wizard King Laghemaon suddenly appeared in his ear.

'Douglas, do not give up. Every person who has ever accomplished great things has encountered what appeared to be a hopeless situation at some point. You will make it through this.'

'At least he has not yet discovered my existence. He has only confirmed that you have an encounter of fortune, but does not know what that encounter is. I will reduce how often I speak with you. Trust me. As long as you do not hand me over to him, he will absolutely not move against you.'

'This is after all white wizard society. He can either quietly kill you or scheme against you like this. He would not dare do anything else.'

Douglas was overjoyed beyond words. Hearing Wizard King Laghemaon's reminder again at this moment felt like joy descending from the heavens. He felt as though he had found something to anchor himself to.

Because over the past half year, in order to prevent that Wizard Brandy from detecting the presence of his soul, Wizard King Laghemaon had appeared very rarely.

Douglas also wore a magical artifact called the Ten Thousand Shadows Necklace, a First Circle magical artifact used to conceal Wizard King teacher's soul aura and prevent the Second Circle wizard from detecting him.

Douglas said in a low voice, "Teacher, you have finally spoken. I think I should take advantage of the next time I go out to the field and try to escape from Golden Crown Mountain."

Wizard King Laghemaon did not respond.

Douglas's heart sank. He looked up and discovered that two Second Circle wizards were standing outside this laboratory's door.

One of the Second Circle wizards was that detestable Wizard Brandy.

He wore a spotless white wizard's robe, and on his right shoulder was an ornament resembling swan-feather wings. The other Second Circle wizard was...

Douglas's pupils suddenly contracted sharply, his face showing both shock and overwhelming joy.

Because the other wizard was Locke Augustine.

This lord had actually come to find him.

Outside the laboratory, Wizard Brandy looked at Locke with a smile on his face and said, "Wizard Augustine, I knew you would definitely be interested in my experiment. Have you come this time because you thought my previous proposal was good and want to come collaborate with me?"

"I have noticed you have been keeping very much to yourself lately, rarely going out. That is not a healthy approach, you know. Staying cooped up behind closed doors will never give you good ideas. Why not join me in researching this Forbes Plane flesh-and-blood strange tree?"

Locke pursed his lips, feeling somewhat at a loss for words.

He did not even know whether this wizard was being serious.

You want me to collaborate with you on this dead-end direction?

If I were an alchemist, I might consider it. Though of course one still could not do research in this direction in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands. One would need to go to the Southern Wizard Capital.

Some of the reviewers in the Southern Wizard Capital might appreciate this approach.

It would be somewhat easier to apply for grants there.

Locke said, "That is not it. I am here to take Douglas back."

The smile on Wizard Brandy's face stiffened immediately. He looked at Douglas with an expression of bemusement, the kind of smile that was not quite a smile, which made Douglas's heart pound with unease. It was like staring at a leering demon.

Wizard Brandy said, "Did Douglas reach out to you himself, Wizard Augustine?"

Locke said, "This person was originally from my teacher's group. It is just that you pulled him over while I was not paying attention. But lately I have some papers to write and I am short of help."

"Wizard Brandy, you are a seasoned Second Circle wizard. You are not short of people under you, but I am."

Locke used logic the other party could understand, saying, "You poached a crystallization wizard from my team and you said nothing to me about it."

Sure enough, Wizard Brandy found this logic sound, and upon reflection, he felt that casually poaching a crystallization wizard from Locke without a word had indeed been inappropriate.

By his own interest-driven logic, he should have turned against the man on the spot over something like that.

So Wizard Brandy's tone softened toward Locke, and there was even a trace of guilty conscience as he said, "It is just that this person has been handling some key data work here. If he leaves, I cannot continue my experiment."

Locke went straight to the logic and dismantled him.

"A crystallization wizard can handle the key experimental data work of a Second Circle wizard genius? Wizard Brandy, please do not joke with me."

Wizard Brandy was briefly taken aback and immediately felt that this excuse was indeed rather absurd and entirely illogical. Saying it aloud would make people laugh.

With this, his footing became weaker still, and he felt even more as though he were in the wrong.

But thinking about that potentially sun ring level encounter of fortune, he furrowed his brow, unwilling in his heart to give up this morsel of food that was already nearly in his mouth.

Wizard Brandy said, "Wizard Locke, I am truly quite fond of this wizard. I appreciate his talents. Besides, he came to me on his own initiative. If there is any offense, I can apologize to you and offer corresponding compensation."

"It is just that he has been here with me for a while. Douglas, let me ask you. Do you want to return to Group Two, or would you prefer to stay here in Group Three?"

The other two crystallization wizards in the laboratory immediately kept their heads low. They were no fools and had already sensed the tension between Locke and Wizard Brandy.

Locke looked at Douglas and dusted off his own sleeve.

Douglas's answer was beside the point. No matter what, he would be taking the man away today.

However, if Douglas answered that he was willing to follow him, it would save him the risk of having to come to blows in a moment.

After all, Brandy was also a Second Circle wizard genius of the Origin Academy's senior level.

And he had been a Second Circle wizard considerably longer than Locke.

Honestly, without actually fighting, he had no way of knowing who would come out on top between himself and Brandy.

Hard to say.