A flash of delight crossed Albert's eyes. "There's actually so much cave worm spinal fluid. I thought it would be very difficult for me to obtain this much cave worm spinal fluid again."

"Locke, thank you so much."

Andrew and Axi watched from the side, their throats moving. They hadn't expected Locke could extract so much Tartarus Cave Worm Spinal Fluid from what looked like just an ordinary broken mirror shard.

Their eyes went straight watching.

This stuff was hard currency, with almost no side effects. Whether used to advance to formal wizard or just to purely increase a wizard apprentice's magic power, it was extremely useful.

Albert immediately opened one of the glass bottles, picked it up and poured it into his mouth.

Soon, he finished drinking all the spinal fluid.

Then he looked at Locke. After receiving Locke's nod, he drank down the sacrificial potion. In just an instant, Albert's magic pressure and spirituality underwent some special change.

'As I thought. When I drank the sacrificial potion back then, my knowledge was truly too limited, so I never realized the key problem.' Locke observed the special nature of Albert's magic power. 'The sacrificial potion can allow people to exchange their lifespan and potential for actual magic pressure. The mystery lies in the extreme changes in Albert's magic pressure and spirituality before me, maybe even the physical level, these three levels.'

'This should be a very special state. Only this part of the mystery has been completely sealed off by the White Wizard Association. Even I, a potion master, unexpectedly can't explore it.'

Locke calculated in his mind. If he explored this secret, the magic stones he would need to spend at minimum, after just slightly weighing it, he discovered the number of magic stones this project required was enormous, so he stopped thinking further.

Because doing this project, he couldn't possibly receive any funding support. Relying completely on his own money to support research, this money was too exaggerated for him.

Input and output wouldn't be proportional.

Since that was the case, better not to think about it. Wait until later when he had an opportunity, then research it wouldn't be too late.

A person's energy was limited. There had to be trade-offs.

Otherwise, wanting to do everything would only trap him in a predicament.

Locke said to Albert, "Use the spell knife to inscribe permanent defensive field runes on the surface of the three Scorched Earth Holly."

Albert cautiously nodded, then step by step walked toward the three Scorched Earth Holly, simultaneously taking out a surgical knife to inscribe the first rune on the first Scorched Earth Holly's surface.

For a wizard to form a permanent defensive field, they must ensure the soul was normal. Because Albert had a foreign object in his soul, he always couldn't inscribe a normal permanent defensive field.

But the Forest Sanctuary's special nature meant that even in his soul foreign object syndrome state, there was still the possibility of successful inscription.

He paused. Not sensing magic power chaos, his lips immediately curved upward. He continued inscribing runes on the tree trunk.

Each Ogham rune flashed with nature's primal magic radiance.

Half an hour later, most of the runes were inscribed on the three Scorched Earth Holly's bark surfaces. The three Scorched Earth Holly seemed to form some kind of resonance.

A breeze flowed among them. The forest leaves rustled.

A certain natural rhythm flowed among them. The Forest Sanctuary's profundity was indescribable.

In such a harmonious scene, a bizarre blue light suddenly surged forth. That bizarre blue light suddenly descended. A bizarre hollow ring appeared above the forest.

The hollow ring seemed to come from a distant void. Though clearly before their eyes, it also seemed in an extremely distant place, and was continuously approaching them.

'Albert, you belong to me!'

'Albert, we have a contract between us!'

'Albert, you saved me back then. You're my benefactor. Are you going to leave me?'

'Don't let others sow discord between us. Albert, make a wish. As long as you continue serving me, I can give you everything you need.'

Albert's heart panicked. He turned to look at Locke, Andrew and Axi, but discovered the three seemed frozen by time, stuck in place unable to move.

Even their expressions were frozen.

Albert's heart filled with panic. 'Is the disc being Gromdal this powerful? Could it freeze time? Even someone as powerful as a formal wizard can't resist its power?'

"Facing such a powerful existence, what are my chances of winning?"

Despair appeared in Albert's heart.

The disc being Gromdal sensed that Albert had thought of its name in his heart. For disc beings, a wizard without a permanent defensive field, just thinking of its name in their mind would be sensed by it.

Moreover, part of its spirituality existed in Albert's soul, so naturally it could sense even more easily.

The bizarre hollow blue light ring became even closer to Albert, as if right before his face. Albert could even feel that blue light's magic pressure through his facial skin's tactile sense.

'Albert, as long as you're willing to stop, I can fulfill any of your wishes. There is a power far more powerful than wizard power.'

'Merge with me. Even after ten thousand days and nights, you still won't feel tired. Even without eating or drinking, you won't feel weak.'

'There is a power's profound meaning above wizards. The world calls me... Outer God!'

The bizarre hollow blue light ring's reflection appeared in Albert's pupils. The ring rotated in his pupils. Then large amounts of scenes from other worlds appeared in his eyes.

Beings from world after world submitted under the disc being Gromdal's power. World after world was destroyed by Gromdal.

In the bizarre blue light, on a vast land, a group of people wearing slightly modern-style clothing, with calm yet bizarre smiles on their faces, shoulders linked, danced stiff dances on the grassland, in the city, in plazas.

In this dance, the disc being Gromdal came from beyond the heavens, invading within. The blue light descended on this world like a sunset falling.

In an instant, all things became one. All living beings merged into one body in this blue light.

Life became meaningless in this process.

The disc beings yearned to return home, but the wizard world had clearly refused their return, so they could only invade other life planes to alleviate their 'homesickness'.

But the more they invaded other life planes, the more they reminisced about the wizard world, so they couldn't restrain themselves, thinking of every method to return to the wizard world.

A voice came from within the bizarre blue light ring. 'Albert, serve me, sacrifice to me, summon me. As long as you have requests, I will respond. There is a profound meaning above wizards, and that is me.'

'Give up! Give up! Give up! Give up!'

In the room where Albert's Forest Sanctuary was located.

Andrew and Axi looked at Albert strangely, because after Albert inscribed the first Ogham rune, he stopped moving, holding the spell knife, standing rigidly in place maintaining one posture for a full five minutes already.

Axi finally couldn't help but speak, asking Locke, "Locke, why isn't Albert moving? What happened? He's just been standing there!"

Andrew also looked at Locke. "He keeps looking up at midair, but there's nothing in midair."

Locke followed Albert's gaze to where he was staring. Indeed, it was just between two trees.

Besides that, there was nothing.

"Nothing, just some thing playing small tricks." Locke walked to Albert's shoulder, his left hand pressing on Albert's body, then on the basis of already using Connected Branches, he used Connected Branches a second time. Immediately his spiritual avatar's qi connected with the qi on Albert's body.

Achieving unity with each other on the spiritual level.

In an instant, Locke also saw a bizarre blue light appear before him. In the blue light was a hollow blue ring.

A voice appeared from within the hollow blue ring. 'Damned wizard. I don't want you. You've already ruined my affairs once. Are you going to ruin them a second time?!'

'Get out!'

In the blue ring, an existence resembling a ghost bride appeared before Locke. But Locke converted his magic pressure into dragon's might. Terrifying dragon's might appeared, using rank to reversely suppress Gromdal's power.

That ghost bride instantly shattered.

The hollow curse magic split into countless fragments, exposing Gromdal's true power hidden behind it.

Something with the same root and origin as life magic, yet completely different, expelled by the wizard world's world will.

Even with only 999 magic pressure in his spiritual avatar, Locke could still use various powers. He was no longer the self who had just become a formal wizard.

At the same time, in Albert's own mental world, his eyes revealed deep despair, but in this despair reaching the valley bottom, it actually transformed into a kind of determination.

"No, I want to become a formal wizard! Not because formal wizards possess the most powerful strength, nor because formal wizards possess the highest wisdom."

"I want to become a formal wizard. This is the path I've chosen, only because of love. No matter what you are... no matter what you can give me, I want to become a formal wizard!"

Albert hit bottom in despair, then transformed into the most thorough madness. "Gromdal, you don't need to sense my inner thoughts. I'll tell you directly. I want to become a formal wizard. There's no other reason. I just want to become a formal wizard. I want to become one who explores truth."

"I want to walk the path pursuing truth. There's no other reason, any cause. I just want to become one!"

"Even if that makes me lose everything, I'll still proceed without hesitation."

The blue hollow ring suddenly became distant from Albert. At the same time, Gromdal flew into a rage from shame.

'Foolish.'

'Accept my power. Even without becoming a formal wizard, you can still possess power rivaling First Circle wizards. You've also seen my power. Even formal wizards can have their spacetime frozen by me. I possess the greatest power. I am truth...'

'You exploring truth equals exploring me.'

A laugh appeared between Albert and Gromdal. Locke's spirituality appeared here.

"Gromdal, you're really too shameless. Freeze time? This trick of yours only works for fooling children."

Albert joyfully turned his head to look at Locke, "Locke, you came. Wait, since you're here, then behind me..."

Albert turned to look, but discovered the surrounding scene shattered like a broken mirror. Then he saw in reality the three Scorched Earth Holly that had only been inscribed with the first Ogham rune.

Albert said, "How could this be?"

"So it couldn't freeze time. Just now was just making me see illusions. It's far from as powerful as it wanted to show me!"

"Like this, and it still dares to call itself truth!"

Albert instantly realized that just now when he thought he used half an hour inscribing most of the Forest Sanctuary, that should have been entirely an illusion Gromdal fed him from start to finish.

He hadn't completed the Forest Sanctuary at all.

So, Gromdal could so unscrupulously invade his mind, distort his will, modify his cognition.

If he had truly nearly completed the Forest Sanctuary, logically speaking, Gromdal shouldn't be able to affect him so simply anymore.

Locke said to Albert, "I'll help hold it off in your mind for a while first. You complete the inscription as quickly as possible."

Albert quickly said, "Okay."

Locke turned his head, frowning with dissatisfaction. This should have been a very good experimental process recording the Mind School, but thinking carefully, true sight crystals simply couldn't enter a wizard's mind to record this process.

Sigh, this way, he seemed to lose another journal article that was at least Zone 2 and possibly Zone 1.

Locke looked at Gromdal. Gromdal was extremely angry, continuously displaying changes in its power in the blue hollow ring. "Locke Augustine, no matter how many years pass, I hate you wizards this much. In the endless void, only you wizards are the most dangerous."

"Damned Nightmare Legion, how much better are you than us disc beings really?"

In the blue hollow ring, Locke saw countless blue inorganic matter covering vast grassland earth.

According to Cloud Marsh Wetland's earth wizards' research, that illusion he could see in spirituality should be the southeastern quadrant after the Great Cataclysm.

Locke suspected that Great Cataclysm should be the culprit that caused ancient creatures to almost completely perish. In the scene Gromdal showed him, after that Great Cataclysm, countless blue inorganic matter fell like snowflakes. This process very likely lasted tens of thousands of years.

Under this tens of thousands of years of blue inorganic matter coverage, the grassland was completely covered. From extreme nature, many disc beings were born, some powerful, some weak. Gromdal was a disc being born from among them.

Gromdal was extremely angry. 'Even like this, still observing me, wanting to spy on my secrets! Wizards, you shouldn't exist in this world. Your existence makes it difficult for me to invade! If this world didn't have your wizard civilization, the difficulty of us disc beings returning wouldn't become so great!'

'You are a pack of dogs the world will uses against us. Do you know you're a pack of dogs?!'

Locke ignored Gromdal's wild barking and wouldn't really take what it said seriously. After all, from its conversation with Albert, this being was already extremely shameless, habitually telling blatant lies.

However, wizards' existence did indeed, in an objective sense, prevent disc beings from returning to the wizard world. Wizard civilization absolutely wouldn't let this group of extreme nature symbols return.

And those with the most research on disc beings were the earth wizard lineage of the Life School among wizards. Locke even suspected earth wizards would very much counter disc beings' power.

At this time, a primal magnetic light appeared on Locke's forehead, striking Gromdal's body.

At the same time, in reality Albert had already nearly completed the inscription work. His magic pressure continuously rose, almost exceeding 999, reaching the permanent defensive field level.

His soul underwent a qualitative change. A Life Force Field faintly appeared on his soul.

The soul shell's appearance further weakened Gromdal's power, making the power Gromdal projected over even weaker.

Gromdal's figure gradually distanced. "Locke Augustine, one day we'll meet again."

Locke wasn't afraid of it either, ignoring its threat.

First Circle crystallization wizards could borrow special planes' world power to briefly obtain youth version trial cards of quasi-extreme magic, so First Circle crystallization stage wizards didn't need to fear Gromdal, this kind of weak disc being only relatively at ordinary Second Circle level.

Using ritual magic, even directly facing Gromdal's main body, he could protect himself. The gap between both sides wouldn't be that large.

Previously he had also roughly calculated Gromdal's overall magic pressure, discovering it was only ordinary Second Circle level.

At the same level, wizards' power definitely surpassed other power systems.

Because wizards possessed mature complete power systems, possessed powerful analysis and deduction abilities in battle. Wizards possessed wisdom and power, and also will.