Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems

Chapter 639: The Ancient Tomb of the Era of Stars! The Princess of the Steam City!

The ferry carrying the four of them moved along the surface of the Abyssal River for approximately one week.The river seemed to have no end, stretching boundlessly in every direction, with the sky above blanketed in the black-violet demonic energy of the abyss.

Witch Shirley took a special potion every morning to maintain her body's normal functions.

The four of them used the Summon the Styx Ferryman spell once per day, paying one netherworld gold coin each time. Locke's supply of netherworld gold coins was quickly exhausted, so Witch Shirley covered his payments for him.

Seven days in, the ferry passed through a stretch of river where the water itself was composed of rising steam, the temperature in that section being extraordinarily high.

Witch Shirley looked toward Wizard Warwick and demanded, "What is going on? We have been going in circles in the same area for at least two days, and now today you have led us into such a dangerous stretch of river. The abyssal energy here is practically at boiling point."

"The Ferryman's vessel may not be able to travel on this for long."

Beads of sweat rolled down Wizard Warwick's forehead.

Wizard McKinley also looked toward Wizard Warwick with puzzlement.

Wizard Warwick explained to the three of them, "The tomb of the Nameless King's wife still retains a degree of its own propulsive force, and continues to drift along the Abyssal River. We have indeed arrived in the general vicinity of that ruin."

"But finding the tomb will still require a certain degree of luck."

Wizard Warwick summoned his Suzerain's Book and used the Historical Pointer, then ordered the Ferryman to proceed in the direction the pointer indicated.

Wizard Warwick said, "That tomb is protected by Divination School magic that has obscured its precise whereabouts. Even with the Historical Pointer, its location cannot be quickly pinpointed. Please be patient, everyone. We will soon find where the tomb lies."

"It simply requires time."

Wizard McKinley reproached him mildly, "Instructor Warwick, if you could not locate it on your own, you should have told us. We are all professors of archaeology."

Wizard McKinley recited an incantation, and a Historical Pointer appeared in his hand. The moment it absorbed the traces of ruin energy from Warwick's Historical Pointer, it immediately moved in a certain direction. "With two pointers indicating a position, even with Divination magic trying to mislead us, we should be able to use the position both pointers point to together and reduce the margin of error."

Locke also used his Historical Pointer, borrowing the ruin energy traces from the spell models of the other two. "If all four of us use the Historical Pointer simultaneously, it becomes much easier to confirm the location of the ruin."

"Divination magic would have great difficulty deceiving four Historical Pointers cast by four different wizards at the same time. As long as there is even one instance where all four of our spells lock onto the same location, that essentially indicates the correct position."

"In matters like this, the more people involved, the faster the location can be confirmed."

At that point, the four of them worked together and quickly confirmed where the ruin lay.

Wizard Warwick was very satisfied with the efficiency of four archaeology wizards working in concert.

The Divination School magic concealing the abyssal ruin was broken directly.

McKinley looked at him with dissatisfaction. "Instructor Warwick, next time just say what needs to be said."

Wizard Warwick smiled and said, "I simply thought it would be more appropriate to wait until we reached the ruin before asking the three of you to act."

"All right. I wasted everyone's time this time around."

Locke and Witch Shirley stood together on the ferry. He gazed into the distance and, through the mist hanging over the surface of the Abyssal River ahead, vaguely made out a massive tomb complex floating on the water.

What an enormous tomb it was.

Its overall foundation resembled a ship.

And atop that ship rose a vast city, its architectural style entirely unlike anything common among modern wizards.

The city had many great chimneys, and from them drifted black mist, as though the city were still in operation.

At that moment, aboard the ferry, Witch Shirley looked up at the architectural style of the city. "The architectural styles of different magical kingdoms in the Era of Stars varied wildly from one another, with no two alike. But judging by the age of the negative energy particle field on the city's surface, this does indeed appear to date from around that period."

Wizard McKinley was visibly excited as well. "It is far more than just something from that era. Even within the Era of Stars, that feudal age of rampant exploitation where magical royal houses piled up wealth without limit, the number of wizards who could possess a tomb of this scale would have been very few indeed."

"To use an entire city as a burial offering, this was someone who intended to reign even in death. Even in death, the tomb's owner refused to relinquish the glory they had held in life."

"Even if this tomb had no connection whatsoever to the Nameless King, it would still be a monumental archaeological discovery."

Warwick nodded with satisfaction. "You see, I would never deceive you. Were it not for the extreme danger of this city, I would not have invited the three of you to accompany me in opening it up."

"But this city is genuinely strange. Simply locating it required four archaeology wizards working together. And to come this far into the Abyssal River..."

"The three of us were able to go this deep because of our high resistance to abyssal energy. As for Witch Shirley, she relied on her advanced witch porcelain technology and mysterious potions unavailable on the market to resist the abyssal energy. Still, Witch Shirley, that must be quite exhausting."

Witch Shirley let out a cold snort and made no reply.

Locke asked, "Hmm? Mr. Warwick, have you sent advance scouts to explore?"

Wizard Warwick smiled and said, "This matter is of the utmost importance. How could I possibly involve unrelated parties?"

Locke furrowed his brow, pointed in a certain direction toward the distant ship-burial tomb complex, and asked, "Then what is that wizard vessel? That one should be using modern technology."

The three of them immediately looked in the direction Locke was pointing.

Warwick's eyes went wide with rage.

There beside that tomb city, more than a dozen wizard steamships built from magical alloy were moored, their magical crystals emitting a faint glow in the darkness.

These wizard steamships clearly did not all belong to the same faction.

This ancient tomb had apparently drawn the attention of multiple parties.

Warwick read the negative energy particle field information on the surface of those vessels and immediately realized that the wizard steamships had arrived in different batches.

Some of the wizard steamships had clearly been there for two years, while others had arrived only within the past month.

Warwick's breathing quickened. "The Abyssal River connects in all directions. They must have come from other routes. Let us hurry over."

"We cannot let them get there first."

"By the look of things, they seem to have only just arrived not long ago."

"That said," Warwick reconsidered, "this ruin is exceptionally treacherous and is entangled with the mysterious forces of the Era of Stars. Letting them take the first step in exploring it for us is no bad thing."

"This is not something where first come means first served."

"Some of those wizard steamships have been moored here for two full years. That means they arrived before I ever met Locke, likely not long after I left this place. Damn it, which blasted archaeology wizard leaked information about this ruin?"

Warwick maneuvered the Styx Ferryman's vessel toward the tomb city, but the moment they drew close, a surge of wind and waves erupted from the surface of the Abyssal River and swept toward them.

Furthermore, the primordial demon worms and demon fish, which had previously been so frightened of them, now seemed to have received some kind of encouragement and were brimming with hostility toward all four of them.

They began launching unrelenting attacks against the four.

A demonic wind blew toward the group, and the surface of the Abyssal River, which had been as still as a mirror just moments before, now churned like a raging tempest, threatening to capsize their small vessel.

In the next instant, the ferry was completely overturned by a massive wave, and all four were sent flying into the air.

A cold voice rang out in everyone's ears, "The great sleeping place of the Loom Princess of the Kingdom of Atmo lies ahead. Those of later generations who dare to trespass, their souls shall fall forever into the abyss, never to be redeemed!"

Wizard McKinley reacted with extraordinary speed and immediately recited an incantation, summoning a new Styx Ferryman's vessel in midair.

But from beneath the Abyssal River, a massive metal demonic hand suddenly reached upward and struck at the vessel beneath the four of them again, intending to overturn it once more, to hurl all four into the Abyssal River, where their souls would be cast into the depths and transformed into primordial demon worms, cycling forever within the abyssal system.

Whether it could actually accomplish this was, of course, another matter entirely.

But the ferry, which would ordinarily have been intangible, was disrupted by the dense abyssal energy and momentarily lost its immunity to physical attack.

At this critical moment, Witch Shirley beside Locke suddenly recited an incantation, and a holy fireball shot out.

Countless primordial demon worms screamed within that sacred radiance, their entire bodies bursting into holy flame.

The fireball struck the iron demonic hand.

Then from within the holy fireball stepped an angel, who pointed at the iron demon lurking beneath the Abyssal River and declared, "You have no order!"

In the next instant, the angel priest struck with a single sword blow.

That demon of the Abyssal Archlord species, the Iron Demon of the Azmoke lineage, was cleaved in two by the sacred angel summoned by Witch Shirley.

The demon, split into two halves, let out a wail just before death. "Those who dare to trespass upon the resting place of the Loom Princess will surely be punished."

"You do not know whose tomb you are trespassing upon!"

"Ahahahaha... I curse you all..."

Witch Shirley looked at the bisected iron demon with cold indifference. "No sense of values."

"You are nothing."

"You are nothing more than a walking corpse."

The sacred angel she had summoned spread its wings and released a sacred light, with a faint vision of a divine kingdom appearing behind it, nullifying in full the curse the iron demon had attempted to cast in its dying moments.

The sacred angel then vanished.

This was a First Circle Divine Master spell, Summon Angel Priest.

Summoning this angel required drawing upon the shared Divine Master divine kingdom system cultivated by Golden Crown Mountain's Divine Master institute, mobilizing the faith energy of countless living beings.

The first phase was a platinum-colored holy fireball that attacked the enemy.

The second phase was an angel priest stepping forth from within the fireball, bearing an angel's divine sword, to eliminate enemies for the Divine Master wizard.

The iron demon, in its final moments, stared with wide eyes, clearly having not anticipated that a wizard of the Divine Master school appearing in later generations would directly nullify the death curse ability of its entire demon lineage.

The iron demon let out a powerless final wail. "No, how can this be..."

"Great Princess, I am sorry... please forgive me. I can no longer protect you!"

In the next instant, the iron demon's body disintegrated, dissolving into countless demon worms that entered the Abyssal River, a form of reincarnation within the abyssal system for what remained of it.

Yet a portion of its consciousness condensed into a primordial soul and flew toward the place where the angel priest had vanished, entering that divine kingdom.

Locke looked toward Witch Shirley with puzzlement. "Senior Sister, part of that demon's consciousness seems to have entered Golden Crown Mountain's Divine Master institute's divine kingdom."

Witch Shirley kept a straight face, visibly displeased. "Yes, you are not mistaken. Whatever is slain by my angel priest, provided it is not a wizard, may enter Golden Crown Mountain's Divine Master divine kingdom reincarnation system by virtue of conforming to our eight virtues of the Divine Master, and be reborn as an angel of the divine kingdom."

"Order, wisdom, diligence, justice, faithfulness, dedication, gratitude, and the pursuit of knowledge," Witch Shirley said. "These are the eight virtues of wizard society established by our founding Divine Masters."

"Though it pains me to admit it, that demon just now possessed the virtue of 'faithfulness,' and so a portion of its consciousness was blessed by sacred power, condensed into a primordial soul, and entered our divine kingdom system for reincarnation."

"In time, it may even become a King of Angels."

Witch Shirley said, "This was not my wish. It is simply an effect built into the spell itself, beyond my control."

"That demon possessed the virtue of faithfulness across a vast span of time, and within the divine kingdom system, its priority for being reborn as a high-ranking angel is extremely high."

Witch Shirley could not help but grumble. "This is truly irritating. A demon, actually having the chance to become a King of Angels. Unfortunately, this is a rule set by Golden Crown Mountain's Third Circle Throne Divine Masters, and I have no power to oppose it!"

Locke glanced at Witch Shirley.

Divine Master school wizards were very different from wizards of other schools.

Many wizards of the Divine Master school had become full wizards through conviction and personal values.

Of course, a certain degree of magical talent was still required.

Without it, one could not even construct a spell model.

Insufficient magical pressure also meant one could not easily connect to the divine kingdom system built by Golden Crown Mountain.

It was simply that, relatively speaking, the magical talent required was somewhat lower.

But in compensation, the degree of magical obsession required was very high.

And if one acted against one's own values, it was very likely to cause a significant regression in one's magical power, or make further advancement impossible.

A single inner demon could keep a Divine Master school wizard stuck at a given level for a hundred years.

Wizards of this school were also the group most fond of visiting psychotherapists.

They were the most beloved clients of the Mind school wizards.

Both financially well-off and genuinely in need.

Wizard McKinley looked at the Divine Master school spell with what appeared to be a certain psychological shadow, and fell silent for a time.

Warwick, meanwhile, watched the surface of the river return to calm following the iron demon's death, standing on the ferry and staring with clenched teeth at the dozen-odd magical steamships moored beside the tomb in the distance.

"Who was it! Who leaked this information!"

"I will tear them to pieces!"

Warwick said, "This so-called Loom Princess was able to command demons. That means she must have been a Wizard King who drew heavily upon abyssal power during her lifetime. Taking everything into account, this tomb is very likely indeed the burial site of the Nameless King's wife."

Locke put the Angel's Tears bracelet on his left hand, then said, "Mr. Warwick, now that the obstacle has been removed, let us proceed quickly."