Chapter 931
: Submitting an Application for Special Funding and Receiving It as a Timeline!
Chapter 931: Submitting an Application for Special Funding and Receiving It as a Timeline!
At this moment, both high-ranking demons realized what was happening. In their eyes, a beholder lord or elder was attacking them. The beholder race was always considered to be one of the weaker demon races among the abyss demons.
Therefore, the two high-ranking demons were not afraid at all.
The advanced torture demon was not afraid of the challenge. It raised a large knife in its right hand and slashed at Locke. The torture demon race is powerful in terms of physical strength, and the advanced torture demon, as a second-ring creature, has reached an incredible level in terms of physical composition.
Locke recalled a passage he had casually read that stated the difference between the Abyss Demons and the Hell Demons was that the Hell Demons were like templates; whatever the devils who ruled Hell created, the Hell Demons would produce.
The Abyss is different. It is chaotic and disorderly, and it is hard to say what kind of power it will produce. The Torture Demons are a race that is good at melee combat. Their physical density has reached an incredible level. Therefore, both their attack and defense are enhanced by the high physical density. Their magical pressure is generated from this.
The other demon from the Barto Hell had its soul fire burning on its ram horns, and its body was covered with sheepskin scroll contracts, all of which were the misdeeds it had committed in the various planes of the endless void.
The burning of the soul flame gave it boundless power.
He held a mechanical greatsword, the soul flames seemingly acting as its power source, causing the gears on the hilt to spin rapidly under the steam of the soul flames.
He wielded the Soul Sword and slashed at Locke.
Both of them had a magic pressure of just over 10,000, with each around 11,000.
In other words, the two are evenly matched.
Now, as the two attacked Locke simultaneously, just as the High-Level Torture Demon and the High-Level Demon slashed at Locke and the two greatswords fell towards him, a golden tree appeared behind Locke. The spirits on the Tree of Prosperity transformed into golden phantom leaves that fell forward one by one. A Fruit of Spring Prosperity hung on the tree. Locke reached out and picked the fruit, and instantly, the power of miracles enveloped him.
The two high-ranking demons were stunned. A fruit?
The next moment, sixty Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrows appeared like sixty bluebirds. Locke had now developed the habit of using Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrows in formation to attack others, so he had increased the number of Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrows he usually prepared to thirty.
At the same time, precisely manipulating thirty plants is his limit, but because the magical plants copied using Spring Prosperity are mirror images of the original version, manipulating the original magical plant is equivalent to manipulating other magical plants.
At this moment, thirty large green-leaf dragon sparrows each wrapped around the body of a high-level demon, bypassing the greatswords they swung, while simultaneously wrapping their dragon tails around the arms of the two high-level demons, and then releasing their dragon might at the same time.
The immense dragon's might descended upon them, causing both demons to be mentally stunned and dizzy for a second.
It's a pity that Locke hasn't yet modified these Great Blue Leaf Dragonflies with Attila's Lightning Enchantment, otherwise they could have caused even greater damage in that instant.
The two high-level demons were lifted up by the Great Azure Leaf Dragon Sparrows and flew into the sky.
The next moment, the two high-level demons broke free from the mental shock of the collective dragon's might. They were furious and about to retaliate, but Locke raised the Sky-Piercing Jujube in his hand and swept it towards the two high-level demons.
The enormous, towering jujube tree crashed heavily onto them. It was the weight of a pillar that could support a world, equivalent to the weight of a small world, and it hit the two of them. The sound of bones breaking could be heard from the chest of the high-level torture demon, while the high-level hell demon was in even worse shape. Even the two ram horns on his head were broken off by Locke, and the entire high-level demon was sent flying by a single blow!
The vampire beast behind Locke was stunned.
Is this still the Eye Demon?
Are the Eye Demon race really that terrifying?
How could the eye demon he attached himself to simultaneously beat up both a high-level hell demon and a high-level abyss demon? What kind of being was he following?
Two high-ranking demons crawled out of the void and began to cough. They looked dazed, having just been collectively beaten up.
Where did this eye demon come from?
Is the Eye Demon really that powerful?
The high-level torture demon roared angrily, sending the large blue-leaf dragon sparrows flying.
He was a demon born from cruel emotions, how could he endure this humiliation? He charged towards Locke like a locomotive, even throwing away his weapon, roaring as he ran towards Locke, as if he were a locomotive, about to smash Locke into mincemeat.
After all, its physical strength is just that great.
In a contest of pure physical strength, Locke has no chance of winning!
Just as this high-level torture demon stepped onto the ground, a historical reenactment spell scanned his body. He was stunned for a moment, and after realizing that nothing had happened, he immediately charged straight at Locke like a bull, even smashing the mountain that was blocking Locke's path.
The high-ranking demon's eyes flickered. After untying the dragon tails of the many large blue-leaf dragon sparrows binding his body, he judged that Locke was the greatest threat to him and immediately decided to cooperate with that abyss demon.
He drew upon the soul flame energy within the soul contracts containing the maximum number of souls he had signed, and then the hellfire filled the gear greatsword in his hand. With the blessing of the hellfire, the gear greatsword immediately began a series of transformations.
This greatsword made of gears transformed into a dog through the rotation and transformation of a series of mechanical gears!
The mechanical dog suddenly lunged at Locke, biting at his head, intending to kill him.
The high-ranking demon commander looked at his mechanical dog, which had leaped into the air, with a puzzled expression, as if it had been scanned by something.
Steam kept billowing from the mechanical dog's back as it accelerated and lunged at Locke.
Locke looked at the mechanical dog.
'Hmm? Indeed, there are many wondrous phenomena in the endless void. That hellfire seems to possess the power to activate inanimate matter; the more soul power is burned, the stronger its ability to activate inanimate matter becomes. He burned a large amount of soul power at once, and the gear sword in his hand actually transformed into this gear-dog.'
'Could it be that the demons and hell on the other side follow the path of mechanical civilization? That's truly a hellish joke.'
Locke knew that this was the most dangerous moment for him, as he was facing a combined attack from the two of them.
Locke did not back down.
After being used twice, the Sky-Piercing Jujube could no longer be used for a short period of time due to the imperfection of its spell model. It shrank to the size of a matchstick in the palm of one's hand, resembling a tiny succulent.
A moon of evolution appeared behind him, shining on the tree of prosperity. The two formed an ecological community, and Locke's magical pressure suddenly became even stronger.
The moonlight of the Evolution Moon poured into the Tree of Prosperity Treant, who then stretched out two large hands, one hand pressing down on the mechanical dog's head, and the other on the head of the charging Advanced Torture Demon.
The massive Tree of Prosperity was suddenly struck by a tremendous shock.
Under the illumination of the Moon of Evolution, the Tree of Prosperity performed what Locke and the wizard Edgar could only achieve by cooperating during the Silent Holy Grail War.
The roots of the Tree of Prosperity penetrate the earth, but its powerful arms hold the two of them.
The next moment, it flung the mechanical dog away, then grabbed the most threatening high-level torture demon with both hands, picked him up from the ground, and threw him towards the high-level demon.
This process consumed a huge amount of Locke's magic power.
At that moment, Locke suddenly stretched out his right hand and pointed it at the two demons.
"Borrow a moment from the past."
The twenty historical artifacts on his body resonated, and then two historical reappearances appeared. From the historical reappearance spell model, a mechanical dog appeared, and a high-level torture demon from the past appeared.
Because these twenty historical artifacts enhanced his historical reenactment, he was able to collect the enemy's negative energy particle field during battle and summon his past selves to attack him on the spot using the negative energy particle field.
At this moment, the advanced torture demon charged and crashed into the devil, while the devil's mechanical dog bit into the advanced torture demon, which had been severely injured by the Prosperity Treant.
The two most powerful killing moves of the two demon races struck the two individuals respectively.
The next moment, both demons were killed by each other at the same time.
They were both winners, but they both died, and they were both losers.
Locke waved his hand, and instantly the Moon of Evolution and the Prosperity Tree disappeared. The Great Blue Leaf Dragon Sparrow also automatically flew back to the Forest Sanctuary. At the same time, a bronze cauldron fell from mid-air!
I just unleashed all my power and finally managed to kill them both with my killing move.
At this moment, Locke looked up at the sky and saw that the floating continent of the entire Evil Chessboard seemed to be reacting in some special way. The entire land was like a piece of data that was about to be deleted, in a state between half-real and half-illusory.
The light of victory, which should have belonged to the victors, failed to choose anyone.
Both were winners, yet neither was a winner.
This has led to what appears to be a change in the entire Evil Chessboard plane. The Evil Chessboard must explain what exactly happened, as the independent plane characteristics are a privilege of each plane that joins the Endless Abyss.
On this point, the Evil Chessboard Plane, a plane with a world-scale of immense size, simply cannot back down.
It must maintain its privileges in the endless abyss!
Therefore, it did one thing: it selected two high-ranking demons and started a new battle.
The evil light formed from the power of the planes attempted to target two demons, but Locke had just placed the two demon corpses into his bronze cauldron.
The evil chessboard dimension is making a final effort.
The idea was to use the evil light to select two corpses, and even potentially perform actions similar to resurrecting them. However, the problem was that Locke directly refined the two demon corpses, intending to turn them into a zero-cost potion on the spot!
Locke was now going berserk in his attempt to save his clone.
He's going to throw this place into chaos first, regardless of the consequences!
At this moment, the dimensional power of the evil chessboard dimension no longer targeted any specific target.
At that moment, the evil chessboard plane went into chaos, and it began to continuously replicate the continent beneath Locke's feet. Locke saw that this continent was directly copied into a second one, and it was exactly the same as the plane that he had broken in two.
Then, the two continents began to replicate into four continents, the four continents began to replicate into eight continents, and the eight continents replicated into sixteen continents...
The speed was extremely fast, because the evil chessboard plane seemed to want to solve this problem quickly, and as a large world, it possessed extremely powerful forces, so powerful that replicating a small continent was as easy as drinking water or eating.
This sub-plane under the Endless Abyss has significant vulnerabilities.
After Locke discovered its vulnerability, nearly ten thousand copies were made on the mainland in less than half an hour.
The next minute, the 10,000 continents became 20,000 continents.
Another minute passed, and the 20,000 continents became 40,000 continents.
Then, a minute later, the 40,000 continents became the 80,000 continents.
Locke calculated that after 20 seconds, the 80,000 continents had become 160,000 continents.
In other words, the evil chessboard believed that this game had turned from a small problem into a relatively big one, so it added the power of the plane, which resulted in an increased copying speed.
"As expected of the Great World."
Locke said, "The power of this plane is too exaggerated. Even a second-circle wizard is just a drop in the ocean compared to it. However, the logical loophole I found is correct. The Abyss is inherently chaotic, so it seems there are quite a few loopholes in this plane."
At this moment, the mainland was being copied more and more, while the vampire beast behind him was completely dumbfounded.
As the continents were replicated more and more, the dark abyss spatial gaps that originally separated the chessboard continents were filled by the constantly replicated continents. The chessboard continents closed off, and gradually all the gaps disappeared.
It became a single continent.
The high-ranking members of both sides of the demon race who were engaged in battle were dumbfounded, and the ordinary demons had no idea what had happened.
What's going on?
The three-ringed fire demons on the Abyss Demon side were discussing among themselves.
"It seems to be the work of an eye demon. It appears to have exploited a loophole in this world, causing chaos. If this continues, we will all be crushed to death by these continents."
"He basically smashed the chessboard. We were about to lose, but this eye demon helped us turn the tide."
"Why does that beholder seem smarter than the abyssal wolf demon? Is the wolf demon no longer the smartest race in the abyss? Does that mean we need to change our strategist?"
On the other side, the high-ranking demon commanders discussed the matter for a while.
"That's not an eye demon at all. Are all the abyss demons blind? Isn't he in human form? He's a wizard."
"The wizard is truly ruthless. We wasted so much time with those demons, and he managed to cripple the 445th floor as soon as he arrived."
The eyes of a high-ranking demon commander changed.
"We don't have much soul power left, and we were about to lose."
"Who knew we'd run into such a madman? Be careful when activating the teleportation array later, whatever you do, don't let that wizard enter our Bathor Hell!"
One of the demon commanders suggested, "We'll open a separate teleportation portal to the wizarding world for him later! That way, he won't bother us!"
“I reckon he’ll definitely come with us into Hell. Hell has nine levels, and this is the 445th level of the Abyss, so it’ll be easier for him to leave Hell than the Abyss. By coming with us into Hell, he’ll feel a greater chance of escaping.”
At this moment, Locke looked in the direction of the Demon Legion. Because he had disrupted the Evil Chessboard plane, causing this plane to merge with other planes without any gaps, he no longer needed to follow any rules and could go directly to the Demon Legion's headquarters.
Locke looked at the demon legions setting up the teleportation array.
His eyes lit up slightly; indeed, disrupting the situation made it easier to find a turning point.
If there are no opportunities, create them!
He had guessed before that since the demons could suddenly appear in the depths of the abyss, they must have mastered teleportation technology. In that case, he only needed to follow them away.
It doesn't matter if the destination is hell.
The reason is that hell only has nine levels!
Although the hope of leaving is slim, it's still better than this ridiculous abyss. And if the rules of hell are different from those of the abyss, perhaps the situation where my consciousness is being squeezed into a body by the power of the abyss will be different.
So no matter what, I have to give it a try.
Locke was surprised to find that the demons of hell did not stop him from getting closer.
Ok?
At this moment, his attraction to the abyss seemed to have reached its peak, and endless abyssal power was converging towards him. Some of his actions seemed to be in harmony with the chaotic nature of the abyss.
The abyss kept trying to convince itself that it was the child of chaos.
I am just a mess.
He possesses a powerful force of chaos.
As long as he nods, countless chaotic forces will surge towards him in the next moment, turning him into a high-level demon.
Countless abyssal forces converged upon him.
The endless abyss kept extending invitations to Locke, driving him almost mad.
Locke's actions just now earned him the full attention of the world's will in the abyss, which then resolved to make him a demon god.
But Locke simply refused.
"Are you kidding me?"
Locke was terrified when he thought about that high-level torture demon he had just encountered.
"The power of the Abyss really does make people lose their brains. No one would want to stay here and go crazy with these brainless bastards. Besides, if I stay here, it's like I've switched power systems. That's too much of a loss. And although the Abyss has no precedent for lying, it is full of chaos. Expecting it to keep its promises is like expecting to win the lottery every day."
Locke watched as the demons of hell used soul fire to infuse dozens of enormous mechanical snakes around them. These mechanical snakes were made of complex gears, which made a 'click-clack' sound as they turned and meshed. The hellfire, transformed into a steam-like medium, propelled the gears, pistons, eccentric shafts, and so on...
Hellfire erupted from the mechanical snake's eyes.
Immediately afterwards, these mechanical snakes began to rotate around the hellish demons.
They were spinning faster and faster, and because the 445th plane had completely collapsed, the abyssal demons were also eager to leave. Many of the scattered abyssal demons had already escaped to the 446th plane through the dimensional passage.
The planes below the 444th plane are not affected by those high-level demons.
Locke saw that the hellish mechanical snakes that were frantically spinning and crawling around the demon legion seemed to have opened up some kind of other-dimensional power, revealing a more evil world at the center of their rotation.
"Hmm? The path behind that little snake doesn't lead to the hellish world, but to the wizarding world."
Locke looked at a mechanical snake, about the size of a person, that stood among dozens of other mechanical snakes. The snake was circling a center, leaving behind hellfire in its wake, though the circles of fire it created were relatively small.
Amidst the sea of fire, Locke vaguely saw a being with horns on its head and wearing a crown, who gestured for him to enter.
'Is the commander behind this demonic army trying to get me out of here?'
Locke was somewhat surprised, because according to his original plan, he would probably need to venture into Hell and then, with some effort, consider it a transfer to return to the Wizarding World from Hell.
Unexpectedly, the demons of hell lived up to their reputation as the demons of order, and actually opened a door to the wizarding world for him.
Wait a moment.
Locke instantly realized that the demons had probably made technological advancements and their civilization had leaped forward recently. They had actually mastered teleportation technology that allowed them to travel to any region at any time, which was truly astonishing.
In all the information he had previously encountered, there was no mention of the hellish demon army in the endless void possessing this level of technology. He only knew that the hellish forces were essentially a unified army commanded by several high-ranking demons.
However, due to infighting among the high-ranking demons, this disciplined and terrifying legion remained in a state of 'watching the sea' for a long time.
Locke recalled reading in a popular science book on archaeology that, according to the archaeological research of wizards, the Hellish Civilization had invaded the wizarding world in its early stages. The decline of the Imperial Age was suspected to be related to the invasion of the Hellish Legion, because the various relics left by the Hellish Legion in the wizarding world appeared around the end of the Imperial Age and the beginning of the Age of Stars.
Furthermore, in the early stages of the Age of Stars, the Hell Legion appeared quite frequently.
This is because the void coordinates of the Hell Legion are not very far from the void coordinates of the Wizarding World.
Unlike the Abyss and the Wizarding World, which are separated by vast void distances, Hell is physically quite close to the Wizarding World.
However, starting from the middle of the Age of Stars, the Legion of Hell suddenly disappeared from the Wizarding World.
Some archaeologists speculate that if the Hell Legion had suddenly invaded during the Dark Ages, the weakest period in the Wizarding World, the Wizarding World might not have existed at all.
But why did the Hell Legion disappear from the middle of the Age of Stars in the Wizarding World?
the reason is simple.
The commander-in-chief who was originally at the top of the Hell Legion—the Demon Commander—has suddenly disappeared.
Locke, maneuvering the Demon Dragon Rose, arrived in front of the small mechanical snake that the demon legion had left for him alone. At that moment, a soul fire fell towards Locke, and in mid-air, the hellfire condensed into a red six-pointed star, which landed in Locke's hand.
"This is... a record..."
"A record of this scene..."
Locke held the Hell Hexagram in his palm and immediately realized that the high-ranking demon commander knew he hadn't brought his advanced True Sight Crystal Ball with him, so he had specially given him an item from Hell used to store images, so that he could bring these images back to the Wizarding World and write them into his articles.
Locke figured that if he submitted this to the second-ring first district journal of the Siming Water Wizard Land, which was most fond of clashing with Hell in the Eastern Boundary, it might get approved.
Of course, this might require a bit of luck, since I haven't had any manuscripts reviewed in the Siming waters area.
Therefore, I don't have any hidden trust benefits over there.
Therefore, it's highly likely that only one article will be published in a second-tier journal. After all, all I have are these scenes, and I haven't collected any data. You can't make bricks without straw; if all I have is this, I can't write any brilliant articles.
"The demons of hell are indeed demons of hell; they are far too adept at bribing people."
"Knowing I was going to write an article, they actually gave me key data, making me feel embarrassed to even start."
Locke nodded at the high-ranking third-ring demon in the flames not far away.
The high-ranking demon said, "I've heard that people in your world love to trade. People in our world also love to trade. Wizard, I, the commander, am very grateful for your sudden appearance and help this time. This Hell Hexagram is a gift from me, and I will help you leave the Abyss."
"This is an equivalent exchange."
Locke stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the convoy that was protected by these demons and was engulfed in flames. The convoy was filled with life-sized cubes of stone, each face of which seemed to have runes.
That seemed to be a special way for the demon race's supply trains to transport supplies.
Locke realized that those must be some kind of treasure, something that the demons of hell risked everything to venture into the abyss and take away.
Locke looked at the ring of fire the demons had prepared for him.
'Hell is also eyeing the Wizarding World. Now that Hell's civilization has advanced to a higher level, mastering teleportation technology that's practically an absurd feat even in the void, they've essentially upgraded from a slingshot to a cannon. I reckon they'll attack the Wizarding World someday too.'
'The methods they used in the abyss this time could very well become the weapons they use to attack the wizarding world next.'
Locke pondered: 'Therefore…'
'It would be an injustice if I didn't steal their supplies. Oh well, if I don't go to hell, who will? Looks like I'll have to go after them today!'
Locke threw the empty bottle of potion into the sea of fire, confirming that the bottle could safely pass through the fire and truly enter the wizarding world.
This is not a trap set by the devils.
The next moment, his figure suddenly began to disintegrate like an ink painting, and Ling Hong's afterimage was a wisp of green smoke drifting out from Locke's body.
At the same time, a demon from hell exclaimed in panic, "A box of supplies is missing!"
"It was done by that cruel wizard."
Locke grabbed a stone block from the supply wagon and ran, his figure weaving through the demon legion, which attacked him relentlessly.
But all the attacks only hit Ling Hong's clones and missed.
The demons of hell were enraged.
"He ran towards the direction of the Abyss Demons."
"No, that's an illusion, you're mistaken. He's already run into the Hellfire Portal..."
At this moment, Locke's main body jumped directly into the portal. He looked back and saw that the high-level third-ring demon's hellfire had summoned a mechanical dinosaur that opened its mouth to bite him. The mechanical dinosaur was like a cosmic steel fortress, and its movement caused the sky to collapse and the sound of mechanical bearings turning and meshing like thunder.
It was only because he jumped into the Hellfire Gate in time that the mechanical dinosaur missed its target.
A demon commander looked at the supreme commander and said, "Damn it, that wizard escaped with one of our Hell's Time Stones. We already gave him benefits, but who knew he would still steal a Hell treasure. That damned wizard, thankfully we didn't let him into Hell. Commander, our previous judgment was correct."
"Commander, a Timestone has fallen into the hands of the Nightmare Legion. What should we do?"
The high-ranking demon commander looked at the group of abyssal demons not far away, who were still glaring at them, seemingly thinking that these hellish demons had just persecuted a bewitching abyssal demon among the abyssal demons.
He raised his right hand.
"It's alright, it's just a timestone. Timestones have the special effect of accelerating time. If a wizard gets his hands on it, he'll definitely use it. So let that wizard use it. As long as we don't pursue it any further, he'll just use it without leaving any future trouble. That wizard is very close to becoming a Star Ring Wizard, and what he needs most right now is to accelerate time."
"Now transport these time markers to Bathor Hell."
"Our only enemy now is the endless abyss. Let's not cause trouble."
Under his command, the demon army began to move and began to retreat in an orderly manner.
As representatives of the order side, the Demon Legion obeys orders without question, and even their retreat is quite spectacular.
……
In the personal laboratory of Jinmian Mountain, Zhuoma looked at a tall crystallized palm tree in front of him. This was the first time he had successfully crystallized a second-ring magic plant in his own laboratory.
Although Zhuoma was resentful that Brandy had won the Rose Council project, and she knew that what she had created through her own efforts was naturally likely to lag behind Brandy's well-established project.
But having come this far, how could he possibly give up?
You should know that he can no longer delay his departure this year!
He had to give it his all for this last chance. With this crystallized palm, he could at least write a decent application and not have no chance at all.
Moreover, even if the top-tier grant fails, he can still use this project to apply for a second-ring grant, since it is easier for each second-ring wizard to get a second-ring grant on their first application.
Zhuoma felt a burning hatred for Zeno, Brandy, and Locke Augustine. Oh, and that annoying, arrogant Antoine was also annoying. He was a good-for-nothing before, but suddenly he wasn't.
Don't these people realize that simply standing next to someone can cause them psychological harm?
The wizard Zhuoma recalled how he had successfully ousted a wizard last year, forcing him to leave Golden Crown Mountain.
A smile crept across his face. He had originally intended to use the same method to deal with Locke Augustine this year. Once Locke Augustine entered their circle, he would have plenty of ways to deal with that wizard.
Unfortunately, Locke Augustine never accepted the challenge.
It was as if the other party didn't need any circles at all, completely abandoning any connections, which left him with no way to deal with that guy.
The application is due soon, so there's no need to exclude him anymore. Besides, I heard he hasn't kept up with the magical plant crystallization research, which is tantamount to him crippling himself...
There's no need for him to interfere anymore.
Just as the wizard Zhuoma was lost in thought, a bolt of hellfire suddenly appeared above his laboratory. The simple defensive magic array inside the laboratory reacted automatically, forming a series of three-dimensional defensive barriers in mid-air. But the next moment, the hellfire struck these defensive arrays like a meteor, smashing through them. Then, the hellfire fell straight towards the crystallized palm tree.
In an instant, the crystallized palm tree suddenly bent into an unusual arc. Then, before Locke could react, and before the wizard Droma could even open her mouth in surprise, the crystallized palm tree suddenly broke apart with a 'crack', revealing countless barbs.
The sorceress Zhuoma froze on the spot.
"Ah! My magical plant!"
The crystallization device, which was specifically designed to crystallize magical plants, was also invaded by hellish energy. The crystallization rays emitted from the nozzle head also turned into something like hellfire rays.
The ray struck a cube-shaped stone floating in front of Locke, directly illuminating a hand-like pattern in the center of the stone. Upon receiving the hellish energy, the hand pattern immediately clenched inwards, then rotated half a circle to the right, followed by a full circle to the left, and then, with a click, rotated half a circle to the right again.
'Click'.
The stone, which had appeared to be solid, was opened, revealing the object inside: a stone tablet that resembled a necklace or a pendant. As soon as this stone tablet appeared, it caused everything around it to age rapidly.
The wizard Zhuoma stared blankly at her broken crystallized magical plant, while her gaze was involuntarily drawn to the stone tablet.
He immediately realized that it was not an ordinary magical artifact, but a special stone tablet with the special ability to accelerate the flow of time. As the time tablet accelerated, some dust fell from the surface of the stone tablet.
This stone tablet looks like a consumable item, like chalk.
A strong greed flashed in the eyes of the wizard Zhuoma. He was about to reach out and grab the stone tablet when Locke reached out and grabbed his left wrist.
Locke crawled out of the thick smoke left by the extinguished hellfire.
He discovered that this method of transmission was not without its flaws.
The teleportation process itself involves an exceptionally powerful impact. If one were merely an ordinary 'demon,' they might lose limbs or even turn into a pile of minced meat during the teleportation.
"Cough cough cough..."
A puff of black smoke rose from Locke's throat, and only then did the pain subside.
"This is troublesome. This is too uncomfortable. Wizard Droma, what do you want to do?"
The sorceress Zhuoma immediately withdrew her hand and stared wide-eyed as Locke placed the stone tablet that was floating in mid-air into the stone box and closed the stone box again.
Because the entire process required Hellfire energy, Locke directly manipulated the crystallizer, which was tainted by Hellfire and whose energy had been mutated, to complete all of this.
It was only then that the sorceress Zhuoma realized what was happening.
"How did you suddenly end up in my lab?"
The sorceress Zhuoma demanded aggressively, "What you've done violates the Wizarding Law and the internal management principles of Golden Crown Mountain. You've also damaged my equipment; it took me a month to create this magical plant..."
"You need to pay compensation!"
"In addition, you will need to go to the Academic Affairs Office."
"This is a serious violation of the law."
The witch Droma's heart skipped a beat, and malice flashed in her eyes. She had the illusion that she had finally caught Locke red-handed.
The sorceress Zhuoma could no longer tell whether he was angry, excited, or both.
But his heart was pounding, and he quickly realized that this time Locke really had something on him.
He can manipulate the costs of crystallizing magical plants and equipment maintenance.
Moreover, Locke may miss this year's top-tier autonomous application because of this incident.
I'd say I'm definitely going to miss it.
Locke looked at the wizard Zhuoma, never expecting that all his efforts would have resulted in him being teleported to a laboratory on Golden Crown Mountain, and even to Zhuoma's laboratory.
Judging from his expression, he doesn't seem inclined to let this go.
Locke carefully recalled the Wizard Law, but to be honest, according to the Wizard Law, in his situation... he really hadn't broken the law, nor did he need to pay any compensation.
Essentially, I was brought here by the enemy.
I have no way of knowing where I will land.
Even if you have to lose money, you still won't find yourself.
If this were an internal conflict between wizards, I might still bear some responsibility, at least having to compensate Wizard Droma with basic money. But the problem is that I was... teleported here by the demons of hell.
Fighting against the demons of hell and the demons of the abyss is tantamount to waging war against the enemies of the wizarding civilization.
The damage caused by war is incalculable and doesn't follow any ordinary logic.
At this moment, Locke took out the Ganoderma magic plant and then explained it to the witch Droma.
"Professor Ekaterina wants to see me immediately. I was teleported here by the Hell Demons. It seems the Hell Demons haven't given up their evil intentions."
Locke patted Droma on the shoulder.
"This is an act of war, there's nothing we can do about it."
The sorceress Zhuoma was dumbfounded.
What a war-mongering act!
When the witch Droma recalled the flames from earlier, she immediately realized that Locke might have indeed been attacked by the demons. If that were the case, it would truly be an act of war, which would grant special immunity. Locke would not only be innocent but would actually have rendered meritorious service.
The wizard Zhuoma deeply regretted that he had dismantled part of the defensive magic array in the laboratory assigned to him by the academy in order to save money, and then sold it.
That's why this laboratory is so fragile.
At this moment, even the sorceress Zhuoma felt guilty. What if the academy discovered that she had dismantled the defensive magic array and sold it to exchange for magic stones...?
The sorceress Zhuoma's expression changed repeatedly. The only way to keep it a secret was for her to swallow this loss and not tell anyone, pretending that nothing had happened.
Locke, fearing that Zhuoma would pressure him to repay the money, changed the subject, saying, "Zhuoma, have you submitted your application? Hmm... I remember that performance at the special grant application defense is very important, so besides writing a good application, you also need to study the judges' preferences and improve your defense performance..."
The sorceress Zhuoma gritted her teeth.
"Augustine, I don't need you to remind me."
"By the way, the judging panel this time consists of five experts, two of whom are invited from outside. One of them is Master Patrick Finch, and the other is Master Hao Brooks from Quinjoll."
Locke frowned.
Unexpectedly, one of them was actually the initiator of the crystallization technology. How did this guy manage to get into the expert review panel of Jinmian Mountain?
The sorceress Zhuoma looked up and said, "This was personally invited by the higher-ups of the Academic Committee. Master Hao Brooks is said to have been invited by the Senate."
Locke realized that the competition for the upcoming top-tier internal grant would likely be far fiercer than he had imagined.
The Senate and the Academic Committee clashed again in this place.
Locke quickly left the laboratory.
I need to submit my application immediately.
This fierce competition is finally coming to an end. Who will emerge victorious?
(End of this chapter)