After Locke escorted Albert out of the Forbidden Forest and returned to the port city of Lilith's Cottage, he opened the gray mist stone tablet and saw the message Peggy had sent him.

"Wizard Locke, my steward has contacted me. He has already arrived at your academy's location."

"And he brought the Druid's Ring with him. He's waiting for you at the port now."

Locke thought for a moment and chose not to reply.

After all, he hadn't purchased a membership, so he could only send a hundred messages per year. It was better not to casually reply to messages.

The main thing was that during this period of back-and-forth contact with Peggy, he had discovered that no matter what he said, she rarely listened. Even if he didn't reply, she wouldn't feel offended.

Perhaps in the Land of Six Towers, that was just how she lived. Only others listened to what she said, never the other way around.

Locke quickly made his way to the port of Lilith's Cottage.

There, at the port, stood an elderly wizard wearing a wizard's robe with the Philade family crest. This person looked quite ordinary, without any of the wisdom and cunning typically seen in the eyes of First Circle wizards.

After Locke landed, he walked over to him and said, "I'm Locke Augustine. Peggy sent you here to give me the Druid's Ring, right?"

"You must be Master Augustine." The elderly wizard's eyes immediately lit up. Without even attempting to verify Locke's identity, he took out a small, finely crafted adamantine box from his astral ring, proactively opened the magic lock inside, and opened the box to reveal a wooden ring lying within.

On the wooden ring was a line of Ogham tree script inscription that read, "Decay is the beginning of prosperity."

Locke took the ring from the old wizard's hands. Legend had it that the Druid's Ring had to be forged from the most central section of a Tree of Life's trunk. It was a masterpiece of alchemy and was considered rare even among First Circle magic tools.

And today, he had obtained it.

The old wizard looked at Locke with trepidation, sensing the formidable magical pressure emanating from him. "Master Augustine, Miss Peggy has already purchased two ship tickets for us. Please accompany me to the Land of Six Towers."

Locke casually hummed in acknowledgment. "Mm, that's fine. However, before leaving, I need to make some arrangements first. I also need to ask around to see if anyone here wants me to help them with anything along the way."

A round trip between two wizard lands would take at least half a year. Locke didn't want to waste that time.

Although wizard airships were said to provide meditation and magical resource supplies, which wouldn't significantly affect magical research, there would definitely still be some impact. Making a round trip between two wizard lands wasn't easy.

He could inquire within Halen Vera's network to see if anyone wanted him to help them with something else along the way. If it was convenient, he could earn two payments.

The old steward wizard from the Philade family seemed to lack initiative. Seeing that Peggy's guest had made such a request, he could only reluctantly agree.

After all, Locke was the junior apprentice brother of Wizard Anthony, and Anthony was the husband of the next generation's head of the Philade family and currently the actual leading figure of the Philade family. Therefore, Locke's status was not something a high-ranking servant who depended on the Philade family could compare to.

These high-ranking servants of the Philade family already had over a dozen contracts binding and constraining them. Combined with their generally average abilities, they naturally had no ambition or courage to resist the Philade family.

The old steward wizard bowed to Locke and said, "Then we'll follow your lead, Master Augustine. I am Wizard Cord."

Locke asked him, "Where do you want to stay? I can arrange a place for you at my residence."

Wizard Cord quickly waved his hands and said, "You are a guest of the Philade family. How could I presume to stay with you?"

Locke frowned but didn't particularly care. "Then I'll arrange accommodation for you in the First Circle wizard living area of Lilith's Cottage. By the way, Wizard Cord, what direction does the Philade family mainly research?"

When Wizard Cord spoke about the Philade family, he proudly puffed out his chest. As the two walked and talked, he said, "Master Augustine, the core members of the Philade family are almost all wizards of the Evocation School, mainly researching the bloodline modification sub-direction of the Evocation School. The Philade family specializes in the modification of raptor-type magical creature bloodlines."

"Have you heard of the Flame Golden Swallow Eagle? That's one of the Philade family's masterpieces. Only core members possess that bloodline modification."

"It's a bloodline modification technique unique to the Philade family."

Locke asked, "Are most wizards in the Land of Six Towers from the Evocation School?"

Old Wizard Cord looked at Locke with surprise and said, "Master Augustine has heard of our Land of Six Towers? Otherwise, how would you have guessed that the wizards in our Land of Six Towers are basically all from the Evocation School?"

Locke shook his head slightly. "It's nothing, just a simple guess."

The Evocation School was indeed more suitable for modifying bloodlines. Even though he used potion studies and archaeological methods, he was only trying to faithfully replicate ancient creature bloodlines as much as possible.

However, certain magical sub-directions of the Evocation School could use the power of spells to forcibly alter magical creature bloodlines, strengthening or weakening the power of a particular magical creature's bloodline, creating some magical creature bloodline modifications that didn't exist in this world.

Moreover, this could explain why the Land of Six Towers placed so much importance on bloodlines.

Because that place was inherently a place where bloodline studies flourished.

Locke glanced at old Wizard Cord, who was following behind him, not daring to step ahead of him even once and dutifully observing so-called etiquette. If his guess was correct, the so-called authorization to operate wizard towers might be tied to certain specific bloodlines.

Therefore, in the Land of Six Towers, special bloodlines could control wizard towers. This would explain why wizard families there could defeat wizard academies.

Blood relations had triumphed over master-disciple relationships and achieved victory.

Of course, his use of archaeological methods to modify ancient creature bloodlines was something that the Evocation School's bloodline modification studies couldn't accomplish.

Because the Evocation School had no way to obtain information about ancient creatures from hundreds of thousands of years ago.

Locke looked at the Druid's Ring in his hand. However, none of this had anything to do with him. He was only going there to make money and gather resources anyway.

Whatever it was like there, what did it have to do with him?

The highest authority in the Land of Six Towers was even just a First Circle wizard at the crystallization stage. In a sense, this also meant that place was relatively safe for him. A visiting formal wizard really could run rampant there.

After Locke arranged accommodation for Wizard Cord, he quickly returned to the research institute in the Forbidden Forest.

At the same time, in the research institute, he extended his mental power into the Druid's Ring, imprinting his mental mark within it and completely becoming its master. With that, Locke opened the Druid's Ring.

Suddenly, a massive life space appeared before Locke's eyes. Due to the pressure difference between the interior and exterior air, a gust of wind howled out from within. The immense life energy even surged out, transforming into green mist that swirled around Locke.

Locke snapped his fingers. These leaked torrents of life essence were bound under the constraint of Locke's mana, then swirled around Locke, forming a light green haze before returning to the space within the Druid's Ring.

"Legend has it that crafting a Druid's Ring requires two important items. The first is a trunk section from near the center of a Tree of Life. The second is a small piece of planar fragment."

"Both are things extremely difficult to obtain in the Prime Material Plane. They require planar exploration in the void outside the Prime Material Plane to be obtained, and they also require a skilled alchemist in this direction to craft them before one can be created."

"The benefit is that by wearing this Druid's Ring, I'm essentially carrying a small world with me."

"This is greatly beneficial for plant wizards researching ecology. This item might have average value in other regions, but in the southeastern quadrant where plant wizards have become so competitive, I'm afraid its price could literally skyrocket at a potion auction."

Locke felt somewhat fortunate that he had obtained the Druid's Ring through Halen Vera's network of connections.

Otherwise, even if he had waited for news about a Druid's Ring at a potion auction, he might not have been able to afford it.

The southeastern quadrant had a whole bunch of plant wizards who needed it. He couldn't guarantee that he was the wealthiest among them.

Speaking of which, he had previously spent one hundred seventy thousand magic stones on developing First Circle magical plants. Currently, he only had one hundred fifty thousand magic stones left in savings.

Of that, one hundred twenty thousand was spent on material costs, while fifty thousand magic stones were spent on purchasing senior breeder materials.

But regardless, the investment was worthwhile because it improved his breeding studies level and allowed him to research and develop his first First Circle magical plant, which was even more powerful than those commonly seen on the market.

Of course, purely from a price perspective, his current expenditure was relatively large, because the market price for a mature flying magical plant was approximately thirty thousand to fifty thousand magic stones, a price similar to defensive magical tools.

If considered purely from a usage standpoint, choosing to independently develop rather than purchase was relatively unprofitable.

But from the perspective of other gains, independent development was a necessary path. Otherwise, how could he attain the level of a senior breeder? How could he obtain a more powerful flying magical plant and take advantage of high mobility among wizards of the same rank? How could he launch his first First Circle magical plant to make money?

The gains and losses involved required careful calculation and balance on his part.