The Synthesis Wizard

Star Radiance Calendar, Year 1278, Scroll Month (August)

The fall of the last independent city-state in the northwest sector to the golem army marked the complete conquest of the underground world by the Star Alliance. For the first time in a millennium, a single ruler presided over the subterranean realm.

With the wars now over, the Star Alliance entered a period of focused development. No longer waging large-scale conflicts, they turned their attention to exploiting the vast resources of the underground.

Su Nan meticulously compiled a list of materials required for the construction of his wizard tower and handed it to Karolena and the Red Widow for collection. Once he returned from the Black Forest, the tower's construction would take precedence.

Building such a massive structure was no trivial endeavor. Even with sufficient materials and labor, it would take decades to complete. Given the current state of the Star Radiance Continent, Su Nan estimated it would take at least a century to finish.

---

As the month drew to a close, with only three days left before the Harvest Month (September), the Black Key finally became fully charged. The moment it activated, a vivid image of a dense and eerie forest filled with black trees emerged in Su Nan's mind. He instantly knew its exact location.

"It's quite far from the Demon Spider City," Su Nan remarked.

The geography of the underground world was etched in his memory. With a quick recollection, he determined the nearest city to the forest. Using the teleportation network at Longlin, he traveled to that city and flew toward the Black Forest.

The journey of over a hundred kilometers passed in an instant. Soon, Su Nan arrived at a remote cavern and found a dark, foreboding portal within.

"A spatial gateway, is it? Seems the Black Forest exists in an extradimensional space," Su Nan noted calmly.

If the Black Forest were in the material world, his forces would have discovered its traces long ago. This confirmed his suspicion that it was either a distinct extradimensional space or akin to the Starspire, capable of shifting between dimensions. The dark portal solidified the former hypothesis.

After casting several defensive spells and activating his Extreme Ward Ring, Su Nan stepped through the portal without hesitation.

The scenery shifted. As his vision cleared, Su Nan found himself in a peculiar forest.

Everything around him was a shade of black—the towering trees, their sprawling branches, and even their leaves. Overhead, a dim starlit sky cast a faint glow upon the forest, creating a haunting tableau. The shadows of the black trees stretched like the claws of demons, forming an unsettling landscape.

The forest exuded an oppressive, eerie silence, broken only by Su Nan's own footsteps. Faint wisps of gray mist lingered in the air, though Su Nan quickly discerned their true nature.

"That's not mist—it's concentrated negative energy particles," he murmured, his expression darkening.

Unlike positive energy particles, which could invigorate the body, prolonged exposure to negative energy particles corroded one's vitality. Few except necromancers or death-aligned wizards would willingly absorb such energy.

"Judging by this environment, the wizards who left this inheritance were likely from an evil faction. This place would dissolve anyone below the rank of a Level 1 wizard apprentice or a non-Legendary knight into a puddle of rot within days."

Spreading his mental energy, Su Nan detected the densest concentration of negative energy particles and headed in that direction. Along the way, he carefully searched for valuable magical plants but found nothing out of the ordinary.

Just as he began to give up hope, a striking patch of red entered his field of vision. Intrigued, Su Nan approached cautiously.

Before him stood a cluster of red roses. Each bloom glowed with black and golden specks across its petals, while six-inch-long, hollow thorns twisted around their stems. The roses thrived atop a bed of pale bones, emitting a sweet, almost sickly aroma tinged with a faint stench of decay.

"Demonic Palace Roses," Su Nan muttered, recognizing the sinister plants immediately. Without hesitation, he launched a salvo of magic missiles.

The roses flared to life, spreading their petals like wings and swarming toward Su Nan in a buzzing flurry. Their numbers multiplied, creating a storm of deadly blossoms.

---

Su Nan maintained his composure. While individually weak, these creatures could threaten a mid-tier knight when in large groups. For him, however, they were hardly a challenge.

With four bursts of Burning Hands, Su Nan reduced the remaining roses to ash. Yet, as the last petal disintegrated, a cacophony of unsettling sounds began echoing through the forest.

To his left came a thunderous rumble, as if boulders were rolling through the woods. Tree after tree toppled under the force of something massive.

Emerging from the darkness was a gigantic ball composed of thick vines and tendrils, shrouded in a greenish mist of spores.

"A Plaguevine Sphere," Su Nan noted, narrowing his eyes. A creature of Legendary rank, its toxic spores could kill even mid-tier knights in seconds.

Simultaneously, the sound of grinding metal drew Su Nan's attention forward. Dozens of armored, ape-like figures emerged from the shadows, their grotesque forms brimming with menace. Snakes coiled around their arms, and their tongues dripped with venomous sludge.

"Corrupt Lords," Su Nan murmured. These undead beasts, also of Legendary rank, commanded legions of lesser undead. As they roared and raised their battle-axes, the ground cracked open, releasing a tide of decayed, skeletal horrors.

"So this is the test of the Black Forest?" Su Nan mused, unfazed by the monstrous tide.

With a wave of his hand, dozens of golems materialized around him, forming an ironclad phalanx. They charged forward, cleaving through the undead horde with mechanical precision.

The battle erupted in a storm of violence. Screams and explosions shattered the forest's eerie silence. Blood, metal fragments, and splintered wood littered the ground as Su Nan's golems carved a path forward.

Yet Su Nan's instincts told him something was off.

"This level of resistance is excessive—even for a Legendary apprentice, it's overkill. This isn't just a test; something's changed here."

After hours of relentless combat and the destruction of over a thousand monsters, Su Nan stood amidst the ruins of the battlefield. His golems had suffered significant losses, with over a hundred units destroyed.

Before he could catch his breath, the surrounding trees began to shake violently. Thick, gnarled roots burst from the ground, lashing out like whips.

Su Nan's defenses held, but the sheer number of roots forced him to respond aggressively. With a thought, molten silver erupted from his body, forming a massive spinning drill.

The drill surged forward like a battering ram, grinding the roots to dust and carving a bloody path through the forest.

---

As Su Nan pushed deeper into the Black Forest, he felt the oppressive weight of the place ease slightly.

"Am I nearing the core?" he wondered, his senses sharp.

Yet the ominous tremors in the forest only grew stronger. Somewhere deep within, an ancient force stirred, watching his every move.

Su Nan suddenly felt the pressure around him lighten and realized he had broken through the onslaught of roots, entering a vast clearing.

The clearing seemed to have some sort of boundary or restriction. The frenzied roots lashed and thrashed violently at the edge where the trees met the open space, yet they could not cross into the clearing.

After confirming that the roots could no longer pose a threat, Su Nan retracted his liquid metal armor and turned his gaze toward the center of the clearing.

There, standing silently, was a massive black tree, its branches sprawling outward and its roots deeply embedded in the ground.

The tree towered an estimated 200 to 300 meters high, its entirety cloaked in an inky black hue. It blended seamlessly with the darkness around it, exuding an aura that seemed to actively disrupt mental detection. It was only upon entering the clearing that Su Nan finally noticed its imposing presence.

The giant black tree stood still. Despite its somber and ominous hue, it radiated an eerie beauty. Its stark contrast against the desolate backdrop of the forest created a surreal and almost dreamlike scene, as though reality had been twisted into a fantastical mirage.

"The Umbral Demon Tree."

Su Nan murmured to himself.

His previous experiences in the forest, combined with the sight of this colossal tree, solidified his long-held suspicion.

He now understood which wizard organization was behind the creation of the Black Forest.

The name of the Umbral Demon Tree was infamous among the annals of wizard history. This tree wasn't a mere magical creation; it was a living entity and a crucial relic tied to one of the most infamous dark wizard factions in history—the Abyssal Order.

The Abyssal Order had once stood as one of the most powerful wizard factions, infamous for their exploration of negative energy and their use of twisted, forbidden magics. At their peak, they were said to have rivaled the great wizard orders of the Radiant Era.

The Umbral Demon Tree had been a cornerstone of their legacy, serving as a gateway to their domain and a source of immense magical power. Legends spoke of how the Abyssal Order nurtured these trees, each one acting as both a trial ground and a repository for their forbidden knowledge.

Su Nan's suspicion deepened.

The monstrous creatures he encountered earlier, the suffocating concentration of negative energy, and now this tree—everything pointed to the Black Forest being an Abyssal Order relic.

Su Nan strode cautiously toward the tree.

With each step, he felt the weight of the surrounding energy increase. A faint hum seemed to resonate in the air, like an ancient heartbeat that echoed deep within the massive tree.

As he got closer, runes etched into the tree's bark began to glimmer faintly. The symbols seemed to pulse in time with the hum, radiating an oppressive, ancient aura.

Standing before the base of the tree, Su Nan stopped.

The runes suddenly brightened, and a cold, deep voice resonated in his mind.

"Seeker of the Abyss, you stand at the gates of forbidden knowledge. Only those who prove their worth may enter."

The runes shifted, rearranging themselves into an intricate pattern. A large rune circle appeared at the base of the tree, glowing with a mix of dark purple and crimson light.

Su Nan's eyes narrowed.

A test.

It wasn't surprising that the Abyssal Order would leave such a trial in place to guard their secrets. If anything, he had been expecting it. The question now was: what kind of trial awaited him?

The glow of the rune circle intensified, and a wave of energy washed over Su Nan.

The surrounding clearing shifted and warped as the ground beneath his feet transformed into an endless void. Black tendrils of energy swirled around him, coalescing into the form of a humanoid figure.

The figure stood tall, clad in flowing black robes that seemed to be woven from shadows themselves. Its face was obscured, replaced by a swirling vortex of darkness.

"Prove yourself, seeker, or perish."

Without warning, the figure raised an arm, and a cascade of dark energy surged toward Su Nan like a tidal wave.

Su Nan responded instantly. A silver shield of energy formed around him, blocking the attack. At the same time, liquid metal erupted from his body, forming into several sharp blades that shot toward the figure.

The shadowy figure dodged with impossible speed, retaliating with tendrils of dark energy that sought to ensnare Su Nan.

---

The battle was intense, a clash of precision and overwhelming force. The void around them seemed to react to their every move, the swirling darkness amplifying the figure's attacks while sapping Su Nan's strength.

Yet Su Nan remained composed.

Drawing upon the spells he had perfected over years of study, he launched a devastating barrage of elemental and arcane attacks. Flames, lightning, and pure arcane force struck the figure in rapid succession.

The shadowy entity faltered momentarily, giving Su Nan the opening he needed.

Summoning the liquid metal, he shaped it into a massive spear and hurled it with immense force. The weapon pierced through the figure's chest, pinning it to the void beneath them.

The figure let out an otherworldly scream before disintegrating into nothingness.

As the figure vanished, the void began to fade, and Su Nan found himself once again standing before the Umbral Demon Tree.

The runes on the tree's bark pulsed brightly, then dimmed, leaving the central rune circle glowing faintly.

A deep rumble echoed from within the tree, and the bark at its base split apart, revealing a hidden doorway.

Su Nan's gaze sharpened.

Behind that door lay the core of the Black Forest and the secrets of the Abyssal Order.

Without hesitation, he stepped through the doorway, ready to uncover the truth behind the ancient order and claim its forbidden knowledge for himself.

--Support me in Patreon for more chapters 35+ chapters in there 

patreon.com/LegendaryTL

Thanks!