Chapter 449: Ten Months and the Super One-Ring Magic Plant: Hydra Magic Plant!
Following the inspiration he gained from his previous contact with the Black Wizards, Locke identified subspecies within his research group that possessed the potential for layered Eternal Defense Fields and began a new round of cultivation work.
With the genius Breeder Montgomery as his assistant and having found the right direction, the research progress became incredibly rapid.
Meanwhile, after the dormitory destruction incident, Barnaby Cooper was stripped of his family inheritance rights for five years by the Cooper Family. Even if he regained them after five years, he would drop from the primary position to the tail end, around tenth or so.
The resources he could obtain plummeted, serving as his punishment.
His accomplices were all punished by the Plutarch Family, stripped of certain resources, restricted from laboratory access, and had their library privileges lowered—all things essential for a wizard's career.
Even their mentor, Tasitus the Wizard, had his research funding cut by half due to his failure to properly discipline them.
Following this incident, both overt and covert marginalization of their research group significantly decreased.
The painful examples of Sfendice the Wizard and Barnaby Cooper served as a deterrent to all wizards, stopping those with grievances from continuing to secretly ostracize the students in Locke's research group.
At the same time, the Yunze Cup group chat fell silent after the intense discussion regarding the Black Wizard incident, as every participant was busy conducting experiments.
Ten months passed in a flash.
Inside a top-tier laboratory in the White Dragon Tower, Locke, Montgomery, and others stood beneath the Dragon Crystal Ecological Dome, cultivating a nine-headed mimetic chain vine. Each head was a crocodile head mimicked by the vine's leaves.
It was dark iron in color and appeared rusty, as if stained with blood; this was actually the result of the Rust Bead Flower parasitizing it.
Within the ecological garden of the top-tier laboratory, specific plant factors lit up inside all the Chain Magic Vine subspecies. These were the magic probes Locke had previously embedded. Now, under the influence of the magic magnetic field in Locke's hand, all the plant factors combined with the magic probes were sliced away by the invisible field and concentrated in his palm.
Under the expectant gazes of Montgomery and the other wizards, Locke looked at the numerous plant factors gathered in his right hand, forming the plant essence. He hesitated for a moment before decisively striking it into the nine-headed Chain Magic Vine before him.
The next moment, blood-red cracks spread across the surface of the Chain Magic Vine, and a powerful magical fluctuation erupted from its surface, surging in all directions.
The nine crocodile heads of the Chain Magic Vine, mimicked from stems and leaves, each lit up with a pair of red eyes, releasing a terrifying aura.
Simultaneously, Barbara the Witch hurried over with a bucket of moss wood marrow, pouring it into the soil near the magic plant's roots to provide energy for its growth.
After six hours of growth, a mimetic parasitic magic plant with nine branches resembling rusted chains locking nine crocodile heads—the Chain Magic Vine—was complete.
Montgomery swallowed nervously; this was the result of their eleven months of research in total.
Ten months ago, Locke had brought a new train of thought. Under this new direction, the project advanced rapidly. Over those ten months, they gathered a vast amount of data and finally completed this magic plant based on the creative ideas from the Star Domain Sea.
Could it actually perform the functions they had envisioned?
At this moment, only one month remained until the competition's deadline. The power possessed by the magic plant before them would decide the future of their four wizards and forty-five Wizard Apprentices!
Barbara the Witch took the initiative to walk over to the chain magic plant. She reached out to grasp the small aerial roots on the plant's surface, allowing the Chain Magic Vine to wrap around her left wrist and parasitize her Eternal Defense Field with its aerial roots, while letting the plant siphon energy from her field.
Barbara the Witch said, "Someone has to try it. Everyone, who will come and test this magic plant with me?"
Upon receiving the power of Barbara the Witch's Eternal Defense Field, the red eyes of one of the Chain Magic Vine's mimetic crocodile heads lit up. In reality, those eyes were just two of the vine's unblossomed flower buds.
The color change was caused by specific fluorescent pollen leaking from within the buds.
After obtaining Barbara the Witch's Eternal Defense Field, [Dryad Skin], each small leaf of the Chain Magic Vine grew slightly thicker.
Tasitus the Wizard hesitated before walking over. His Eternal Defense Field was the Botany spell [Toxic Spore Purple Mist]. At this moment, the Chain Magic Vine also absorbed his Eternal Defense Field; half of its small leaves turned purple, magic pressure was stored in the Rust Bead Flower, and the 'eyes' of the second mimetic crocodile head turned red, secreting red fluorescent pollen.
The critical moment arrived.
Under the expectant, nervous, and waiting gazes of Locke, Montgomery, Barbara the Witch, Tasitus the Wizard, and the collective Wizard Apprentices, two overlapping layers of Eternal Defense Fields simultaneously appeared on both Barbara the Witch and Tasitus the Wizard.
The innermost layer was Barbara the Witch's Treant Skin. Not only did her own skin turn into rough bark, but even the skin of Tasitus the Wizard, who was supposed to be a Botanical Wizard, underwent a change, becoming rough, hard, and possessing high magic resistance.
Simultaneously, both Barbara the Witch and Tasitus the Wizard were enveloped in a circle of deep purple Toxic Spore Purple Mist.
For a brief moment, all sound in the laboratory ceased, as if everything had gone completely silent.
But immediately following that was the collective cheering, clapping, and celebration of the Wizard Apprentices. Leopold even wept with joy, showing just how much mental pressure everyone had been under.
Barbara the Witch and Tasitus the Wizard also began to laugh.
Montgomery watched the scene and murmured to himself, "Success. It actually succeeded. Such a wild idea actually worked."
"This is the first time I've seen a magic plant that can stack the Eternal Defense Fields of different wizards onto a single wizard."
"This is truly incredible. Our names will be written into Botany textbooks alongside Locke Augustine."
Locke's eyes shifted slightly as he watched this.
After ten months of massive capital investment—nearly exhausting the four million magic stones of investment—combined with his own non-stop synthesis and testing of special formulas, and the collective efforts of so many wizards, a miracle had finally been created.
A Level 8 synthesized item at the One-Ring stage that could unify Eternal Defense Fields: the Super One-Ring Magic Plant!
This magic plant creation would indeed be recorded in textbooks and archives following its participation in the Yunze Cup.
This was an achievement that Locke would have found difficult to accomplish alone even within several years. It was an incredible feat achieved through the research group, massive investment, a degree of luck, his own hard work and ideas, and his gold finger.
Barbara the Witch suddenly thought of something. She raised her left hand, gathered all her magic, and used Blood Flame to attack Tasitus the Wizard beside her.
Instantly, her Blood Flame dissipated, unable to harm Tasitus the Wizard in the slightest.
Barbara the Witch shook her head with a bitter smile. "I can't even think of an attack method I have that could harm Mr. Tasitus while he's protected by two layers of Eternal Defense Fields."
"A truly despair-inducing double Eternal Defense Field."
Montgomery walked over and grabbed the Chain Magic Vine, allowing it to parasitize him. The eyes of the third crocodile head lit up, and a Life Force Field enveloped them.
"To be precise, according to Boss Locke's previous plan, this magic plant is to be called Hydra. The Hydra can stack up to nine Eternal Defense Fields; that is our design. Currently, we can only prove that it can successfully stack the fields of three wizards. Boss, come over and hold the magic plant."
"We need to stack a fourth wizard's Eternal Defense Field, but where do we find the remaining five wizards?"
Locke thought for a moment and took out the missive Alicia had given him. "I'll call Alicia over and have her invite four more absolutely reliable One-Ring Wizards who definitely won't leak any secrets."
"It won't do if we don't test it. Otherwise, we won't know where the Hydra's limits are, or how many advantages and disadvantages it has."
"Montgomery, prepare a few non-disclosure contracts made by a Contractor."
Montgomery said jubilantly, "Alright, I'm already prepared."