Inside private box 31, Christine cast a plant magic of the soundproofing type. Little wildflowers grew from the floor of the room, thus sealing off sound.

She smiled bitterly at Locke. "Locke, you're about to become a formal wizard, aren't you? Otherwise, you couldn't possibly need to purchase so many breakthrough resources. You really do have a lot of magic stones."

Christine gave Locke a reassuring look. "Don't worry, Senior will temporarily block some attention for you."

Christine smiled bitterly as she pondered how to give the outside world a reasonable explanation.

Locke said to Christine, "Senior, thank you. I don't want too many people to know I'm about to break through to formal wizard."

"Thank you so much for helping me this time. If I weren't inside a private box, I couldn't possibly hide my identity."

Christine nodded slightly. "It's nothing. These things are essentially just a small effort."

"If you can break through to formal wizard, Teacher Halen Vera will definitely be very happy too."

Christine immediately reacted. According to her understanding of Locke's talent and with so many magical resources Locke had purchased, Locke had almost turned his breakthrough to formal wizard into a foregone conclusion.

Of course, only he could obtain resources comparable to a formal wizard during the apprentice stage and have such means.

This was also his own capability.

Not to mention anything else, just the potions and special magical resources Locke purchased, an ordinary wizard with insufficient constitution would explode and die just from consuming one-third, even if they could.

If Locke could truly completely consume these magical resources, in a certain sense, his talent at a certain level was truly incredibly astonishing but if she helped Locke during his apprentice stage, and he could become a formal wizard, then she would have obtained the favor of a formal wizard at a very small cost.

This was something with all benefits and no harm for Christine, so Christine was also slightly happy at this moment and promised Locke she would deceive all the formal wizards trying to come probe.

Locke placed all the resources he had bid on into his astral ring. Then, when the auction ended, he followed Witch Christine, disguised himself as her apprentice, and left together.

After the auction ended, there was actually a blind potion tasting competition show where participants guessed the potion type. Some wizards would remain here to watch this kind of competition, so the crowd flow was relatively chaotic, making it easier to muddle through.

Locke also had no particular interest in this performance-type competition.

Returning to his residence, Locke glanced at the alchemy cottage that had been Sophia's original address. Only bare ground remained there now. He was the only one living nearby now.

Locke felt somewhat strange inside.

He exhaled a breath of turbid air and began preparing to go to the Forbidden Forest. Thanks to his previous experience, his application to enter the secret realm was approved very easily.

Almost on the third day, Locke became the team leader for the Forbidden Forest secret realm, responsible for leading five first-class wizard apprentices from Lilith's Cottage into the Forbidden Forest secret realm.

Even Halen Vera hadn't realized that Locke was going to the Forbidden Forest this time with the intention of breaking through to formal wizard.

Halen Vera still thought that, like the previous times Locke entered wizard secret realms, he was just going to obtain magical resources and memory echo fragments.

Halen Vera brought Locke and the other five first-class wizard apprentices to the entrance of the Forbidden Forest.

The entrance to the Forbidden Forest was in a grove north of Lilith's Cottage's port city. The Forbidden Forest was a special geographical formation in the southeastern quadrant. It ran east to west, traversing the southeastern quadrant, with an extremely vast area.

If the southeastern quadrant was just the shore of a pond, then the Forbidden Forest was the dense forest traversing this shore. It concealed who knew how many kinds of forces and was protected by mysterious powers.

So much so that over all these years, the wizards of the southeastern quadrant hadn't conquered this highest-grade wizard secret realm and could only circle around its periphery.

Halen Vera pointed to a deep forest ahead and said, "This is the safe entrance to the Forbidden Forest from Lilith's Cottage's direction, the Mist Forest Path."

"This place is protected by Mist's mana, so it's relatively safe. Dangerous magical creatures won't escape from inside, nor will tree sprites hidden within suddenly attack entering wizards."

"You can enter the Forbidden Forest secret realm through the Mist Forest Path."

Halen Vera said to Locke, "The Forbidden Forest secret realm is rather special. This is a public secret realm, so you may also encounter students from other wizard organizations inside. Of course, as long as you operate within our designated area, there's absolutely no possibility of encountering magical power that breaks through the apprentice level."

"The mana of the first-generation Lilith's Cottage Dean, Mist, will continuously protect you."

"Locke, the Forbidden Forest is the most special secret realm. Once you die within it, you're truly dead. This isn't an echo world. As team leader, you should try your best to protect these five wizards on behalf of the academy."

Halen Vera explained, "You're the most outstanding among them."

Locke nodded. "Alright, Teacher."

According to academy rules, as team leader, he had certain authority to command these wizards.

Halen Vera said, "Mm, I've always been at ease with your work."

"The Forbidden Forest has some magical materials very suitable for concocting potions. You can gather some to bring back. After you return, I plan to formally begin teaching you to study the Life Force Field magic. By simulating the inscription of the Life Force Field, you can increase your success rate in breaking through to formal wizard." Halen Vera said with such plans.

Locke nodded.

Halen Vera smiled, "You save me so much more worry than Anglon."

Locke pointed to the green barrier behind the Mist Forest Path and asked, "Teacher Halen, is that Lilith's Cottage's large-scale Life Force Field barrier?"

Halen Vera looked up toward the distance Locke was pointing at and nodded slightly, "That's right. The large-scale barrier around Lilith's Cottage, the Life Force Field, can stimulate the life force of magical plants and plants to form an invisible barrier that resists external magical forces."

"Out of necessity to respond to war, it's currently activated daily."

"Because it can borrow mana from the Magic Sunflower Aerial Garden, it doesn't need to expend too many magic stones. With this barrier, black wizards can't possibly enter Lilith's Cottage."

Halen Vera said, "So the academy can confidently deploy formal wizards to enter their heartland and launch attacks against them."

"This gives us all the advantages."

"After all, in all-out war, what determines victory or defeat is no longer individual strength, but both sides' comprehensive strength."

Halen Vera said to Locke, "However, your first-class wizard apprentice academy badges allow free passage through this barrier. Similarly, the wizard seed badges on your bodies make it even simpler to pass through the barrier."

"This way, it won't cause you any inconvenience."

"Alright, time's up. Go on in." When Halen Vera turned his head to look at the five students, the smile vanished from his face, becoming extremely serious. "The Forbidden Forest is very dangerous. You'd best follow Locke's commands."

All five students bowed their heads to express agreement, not daring to make eye contact with Halen Vera.