Inside the central control room, Locke's eyes showed slight joy. The next moment, a crack suddenly appeared in the middle of the amethyst matrix. Then the entire amethyst matrix exploded.

The crystal ball shattered into fragments flying in all directions.

Those fragments were like the sharpest blades, embedding into the floor, walls, and laboratory equipment but those fragments, when they smashed toward three inches in front of Locke, were all turned into crystal dust by the pale green natural energy shield and never reached Locke at all.

This was the greatest advantage of First Circle wizards. The permanent defensive field enveloping their bodies would automatically protect First Circle wizards.

Apprentice-level wizards fighting First Circle wizards were like unarmored people directly facing a cannon muzzle. It was basically impossible to directly break through a First Circle wizard's permanent defensive magic.

"Almost forgot that the amethyst matrix has a magic pressure endurance limit. I actually burst the amethyst matrix." Locke said, "Mana exceeding one thousand means ordinary formal wizard. Mana exceeding three thousand means mental power vaporization wizard."

Locke extended his right hand. On his palm, a circle of vaporized mental power swirled, enveloping his palm like white mist.

Mental power should originally be formless. Even magic pressure was merely mental power's external radiation, the pressure produced by radiation.

The four stages of First Circle wizards: ordinary, vaporization, liquefaction, and crystallization were a process of wizard mental power becoming substantial.

After crystallization, truly mature substantialized mental power would gestate.

It was just that Locke had previously only been a wizard apprentice, so he wasn't very familiar with mental power substantialization content.

He would have to return to the academy and enter the academy's First Circle wizard area to understand this.

Locke said, "Because I became a Nature Guardian and received primal force infusion from the World Tree, I actually skipped the ordinary formal wizard stage at the instant of breakthrough and vaporized my mental power."

"This is an unexpected windfall."

The gap between vaporization wizards and ordinary wizards was very large. Just looking at the mana difference between the two would show this.

Locke checked his physical condition and found his face had become even younger. His physical state had recovered to its peak, and all the potion residue accumulated in his body had been completely cleared.

The only problem was that the abyssal energy that had already formed its own independent circulation in his body not only didn't decrease but increased, developing from the original 100 to 500.

500 points of high-quality mana could support an independent first-class wizard apprentice's mental power.

The proportion of abyssal energy had actually further increased compared to the apprentice stage.

"What's going on?" Locke fell into deep thought. "Could it be that the Beholder Lord Potion residue in my body increased my abyssal energy proportion? That's impossible. I calculated it. Even according to the most ideal formula, it couldn't possibly increase this much."

"But the most energy I obtained before was natural primal force."

"Could it be that abyssal energy has some special mechanism I don't know about?" Locke felt this was troublesome. Although currently, abyssal energy still seemed insignificant but if his mana further increased and abyssal energy also increased, continuously raising its proportion, the problem would become somewhat serious.

However, that should be a matter for much later.

Locke wasn't in a hurry.

All formal wizards had some side effects. Formal wizards without side effects, unless they obtained some kind of comprehensive inheritance were unlikely to exist.

As a formal wizard, this little thing should definitely be something he could research clearly.

Locke said, "Currently, for me, the benefits still outweigh the drawbacks. I gained five hundred magic pressure out of thin air. My combat power has further increased."

"Moreover, I found the location of the abyssal energy circulation in my body."

At this time, Locke closed his eyes. The stellar system in his sea of consciousness rapidly rotated. The star representing his First Circle permanent defensive field was at Jupiter's position, while the star representing abyssal energy was at Saturn's position. Compared to the stars representing spell models, both were relatively large.

This was the symbolic position in his sea of consciousness after abyssal energy deeply participated in it.

In his body, abyssal energy manifested in his eyes and formed a certain circulation, transferring from his left eye to his right eye and from his right eye back to his left eye. During this process, it could even slowly increase a bit of abyssal energy.

Locke detected that his eyes were obtaining energy from some void, just like when he used advanced meditation method to obtain natural primal force from the natural plane.

"Abyssal energy is really strange. Once contaminated by it, you can't shake it off."

"However, without it, I couldn't have advanced to formal wizard so quickly." Locke said, "After returning to the academy, I'll go to the library to look up articles about abyssal energy and see if anyone has encountered a situation similar to mine."

"Also check what problems arise from mental power internally mixed with many ether elements."

Currently, he had two major historical problems left over from advancing to formal wizard.

First, mental power mixed with many ether elements.

Second, abyssal energy.

Of course, in a certain sense, his situation was still good. Locke knew some formal wizards, in order to advance, would perform large-scale transformations on their bodies and souls. This way, after they advanced to formal wizard, they discovered they had this or that problem and needed to spend time slowly repairing them.

His two major problems temporarily seemed to have no side effects, only benefits.

Locke looked at the Executioner's Hammerhead Mushroom beside him. The hammerhead mushroom currently had the size of a long hammer. The mushroom surface was black, but the mushroom cap had ring after ring of white triangular patterns. These patterns made the hammerhead mushroom look very dangerous.

In fact, as a First Circle magical plant, the hammerhead mushroom was indeed very dangerous.

Locke spread his right palm toward the ground. Immediately, the hammerhead mushroom on the ground automatically flew into Locke's hand.

First Circle magical plants were incomparable to apprentice-level magical plants. First Circle magical plants possessed a completely different common biological trait from apprentice-level magical plants.

Namely, the surface of every cell inside First Circle magical plants had wood element crystal clusters.

Wood element crystal clusters were crystallized wood element fibers. These wood element crystal clusters were like raised spears or other shaped objects covering the surface of every layer of cells in First Circle magical plants.

This caused three changes.

First, First Circle magical plants couldn't be eaten. Because of those wood element crystal clusters, eating a First Circle magical plant was like eating countless blades. That organism would rapidly die.

Second, the defensive power of First Circle magical plants would far exceed ordinary apprentice-level magical plants.

Third, every cell of First Circle magical plants received tremendous strengthening. This point was also the most important. Thus, every cell of First Circle magical plants had high-pressure, high-reaction characteristics. Because of wood element crystal clusters, natural magical structure component reactions unimaginable to ordinary magical plants occurred inside every cell at every moment.

Like tiny high-pressure reaction furnaces.

Therefore, First Circle magical plants possessed power that naturally crushed ordinary magical plants. In the wild, they were kings of magical plants, possessing the ability to harm First Circle wizards.

At least in the southeastern quadrant, this medium magic environment with relatively low magical tides, it was so.

Relying on the quasi-magical power produced by hundreds of natural magical structure components in countless tiny high-pressure reaction furnaces was sufficient to match First Circle magic.

Of course, the magical power possessed by First Circle magical plants and the magical power produced by wizards relying on spell models and seas of consciousness had different principles.

The two weren't even the same thing.

So the magic naturally possessed by First Circle magical plants could only be called quasi-First Circle spells.

Only First Circle wizards using plant magic could truly unleash the true power of those First Circle magical plants.

Of course, only the powerful force of First Circle wizards could control these kings of magical plants!