Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems-Chapter 269: Obtaining First Circle Memory Fragments

Zoina shouted worriedly, "Senior! Behind you!"
An angel soldier statue appeared behind Locke, suspended in mid-air.
The angel's face revealed a cold expression. Its icy marble body seemed devoid of any emotion. A huge two-handed stone sword enveloped in dense transmutation magic energy then slashed toward Locke's back.
Locke turned around and used Green Grasp, manipulating the Black Chain Sword Bamboo to block the stone sword that the angel statue soldier was wielding.
Black magic pressure and invisible transmutation energy engaged in fierce confrontation. Vortexes composed of spell airflow appeared between Locke and the angel statue.
Locke noticed that the stone sword in the opponent's hand was incredibly heavy, but it also seemed to have the sharpness of a metal sword.
It simultaneously possessed the characteristics of both a stone sword and an iron sword.
This should be an effect created using some kind of transmutation spell.
Transmutation energy continuously flowed from the opponent's stone sword, trying to change the form of the weapon in his hand. However, the magical level of the Black Chain Sword Bamboo was not low, so it completely resisted this transformation energy.
If it had been an ordinary weapon, the moment it made contact with this stone sword, it would probably transform into who knows what.
'This is actually quite good. I've rarely fought against such high-level transmutators before, so this is a good opportunity to increase my combat experience in this area,' Locke thought.
The Black Chain Bamboo sword in his hand was wrapped in black magic pressure. The magic pressure within it had gradually been replaced from Albert's magic pressure to his own.
This represented that he was gradually beginning to fully master this rare magical plant, and his magic pressure quality was starting to catch up to Albert's.
'Crack Crack'
The body and stone sword of the angel statue soldier confronting Locke continuously developed certain cracks. From those cracks flowed transmutation energy.
"I remember that the magic of the Transmutation School is magic that changes form," Locke looked at the angel statue soldier before him. "It's not like the Enchantment School, which is magic that changes states, or the Alchemy School, which is magic that changes essence."
"Therefore, even using transmutation, its own state and material strength haven't changed, so a stone statue is only as strong as a stone statue."
"It's not a troublesome golem. Of course, this quantity is indeed very troublesome."
Locke swung the Black Chain Sword Bamboo, and under the command of the Green Grasp spell, the body of this angel statue soldier began to collapse, transforming into pieces that fell toward the ground.
The transformation energy on those stones was able to dissipate.
At the same time, inside this pile of rubble, a transparent crystal appeared. Locke beckoned, and the Omen Mandrake Vines delivered this crystal into his hand.
Simultaneously, at the instant the angel statue soldier shattered, an invisible energy flew out from within and fell toward his body.
"This is..." Locke hovered in mid-air, revealing a trace of surprise. "This is actually a memory fragment of a First Circle wizard, containing his understanding of magic."
Locke looked down at the manor on the ground, full of decadent and serene beauty, as well as the numerous stone statue soldiers in the manor, and had a realization.
"I see."
"By killing the existences within this memory reverberation, I can obtain parts of that First Circle wizard's memories. I can gain some of a First Circle wizard's understanding of magic."
"Most of it isn't understanding of specific spells, because within this memory reverberation, this First Circle wizard's consciousness has already shattered, he has already died. This is only his memory fragments after death. But those memory fragments that haven't disappeared with the passage of time are all magical essences."
Locke said, "In other words, within this memory reverberation secret realm, it's like a mineral vein. The more I kill, the more magical insights I can obtain, allowing me to further improve my understanding of First Circle spells."
"No wonder wizard secret realms are top-tier resources within the academy. This can very well compensate for my lack of accumulated understanding of magic and further accelerate my becoming a formal wizard."
This was absolutely a resource that ordinary wild wizards could not enjoy.
The reverberation of a First Circle wizard would not exist permanently on the main material plane. It would be worn away by the forces of the main material plane as time passed.
Therefore, to create this kind of secret realm would surely require enormous resources, and also require resources to maintain it at every moment.
And one must select from numerous echoes those suitable for maintenance and from which memory fragments could be excavated.
Of course, it wasn't just a question of whether it could be created. There should also be ethical review mechanisms from the association as limitations.
The number of formal wizards whose post-death echoes could be openly made into secret realms should be extremely limited.
It was very likely that consent from the formal wizard while alive was needed, perhaps even requiring a contract to be signed.
This could explain why Lilith's Cottage didn't create a memory reverberation secret realm from a plant-type wizard, but rather from the reverberation of a formal wizard of the Transmutation School.
Clearly, choosing a plant-type wizard would have been more effective.
Locke said to Zoina, "Zoina, you're already a first-class wizard apprentice with close to 600 mana. So later I'll let you down to fight on your own."
"This secret realm, fighting is mining. We need to obtain the memory fragments we need through combat, and it seems these marble statues manipulated by transmutation also drop specific magical crystals inside them."
"They're all excellent raw materials for preparing potions."
Zoina's face turned pale. Clearly she wasn't prepared, "Senior, I... do I have to fight? I'm not prepared at all. I thought the secret realm was just a simple resource collection type of task."
"Can I... can I withdraw midway?"
Locke looked at her with surprise. "Don't tell me you've never fought before?"
Zoina immediately nodded, as if feeling that Locke could understand her. "That's right, Senior. In my five years at Lilith's Cottage, I've been studying every day, then later I've been doing research every day, doing projects, and I've never fought at all."
"Now suddenly asking me to fight... I... I'm somewhat uncomfortable with it."
Locke looked at Zoina with some speechlessness. To be honest, even though white wizards had relatively few combat scenarios in daily life, Zoina's situation was still quite extreme.
Because ordinary white wizard apprentices definitely needed to earn money to obtain magical resources.
During the second-class wizard apprentice stage, they would take academy tasks, so even if combat scenarios were rare, they weren't completely absent.
For example, clearing groups of magical creatures that had become harmful near the academy, conducting magical plant investigation tasks, and so on but Zoina seemed to have, because her talent was too high, directly studied and researched with her head down all along, and achieved her current accomplishments.
'No wonder Teacher Halen Vera wanted me to bring her. If no one brought her, she would probably die as soon as she entered this wizard secret realm, which would be a complete waste of the opportunity to enter the secret realm,' Locke suddenly understood.
Locke dodged three angel statue soldiers that had flown into the air in pursuit, and also dodged the arrows shot at him by archer statue soldiers on the ground.
"Zoina, you haven't fought before, but at least you've learned some combat spells, right? I'll find a safe place to put you down, and then you'll have to work hard on your own. You should also have the map the teacher gave you. The map marks many statues with higher kill value, so just look at the map and decide for yourself."
"Zoina, you need to learn to mine on your own."
"First-class wizard apprentices have already reached the stage of doing independent research, and yet the project you have in hand was still given to you by your teacher. This is a serious problem. Everything must be done proactively by yourself."
After all, this was a trial. Teacher Halen Vera only asked him to help her a little. He wasn't her nanny.
Only after entering this secret realm did Locke understand the meaning of the map Halen Vera had given.
It seemed that due to certain restrictions, or for the sake of fairness, since this was after all a trial, Halen Vera hadn't mentioned too much specific information about the secret realm on the map he gave him.
Or rather, he believed that with such small matters, after students entered the secret realm, they would adapt on their own. Otherwise, the trial would have no meaning.
This kind of wizard secret realm was probably one of the rare occasions where white wizards could experience actual combat.
Zoina's face was pale, and she said with extreme nervousness, "Okay... Senior..."
"I'll follow all your arrangements."