Above Cloud Lake, Wizard Edgar's treant avatar and his main body didn't hesitate at all and also dove headfirst into Cloud Lake. However, the area below Cloud Lake was vast and pitch black, so after he entered the bottomless pit below Cloud Lake, he immediately lost his bearings.

Through his natural avatar, Wizard Edgar manipulated three Ancient War Tree treants while commanding them to deploy war domains, forming special phase spaces to capture hostile intent.

Wizard Edgar looked at the endless darkness surrounding him, his expression grim. "Damn it, just one step too slow and I actually missed the steel fortress. If that steel fortress is captured by Locke Augustine first, won't I only be able to get runner-up?"

Wizard Edgar's expression changed several times. On Sunshade Peninsula, he was the center of attention. He had never failed at anything he did. Whatever he wanted to do, he could definitely succeed.

No matter what competition he participated in, he always got first place.

"This region of Cloud Marsh Wetland is really too strange." Wizard Edgar manipulated the Ancient Life Tree treant and was surprised to discover that even the Ancient Life Tree couldn't maintain the balance between its mana replenishment and consumption in this region.

Moreover, the war domain that could originally capture enemy malice had its sensing range shrunk to at least only one-tenth in this region. This made Wizard Edgar's confidence in finding the Mekani people's headquarters not very high.

"Going back and clearing those Mekani people on the surface would be useless for the points I'd gain."

Wizard Edgar thought, "The point difference between Locke and me shouldn't be large. The key to determining victory lies in which of us can find the steel fortress."

"In fact, my score should be behind Locke's."

"He was the one who cracked that imitation permanent defensive force field."

Wizard Edgar said, "I can only search bit by bit. I hope I can find it here. After all, Cloud Marsh Wetland's environment is too strange, and this Cloud Lake in the Three Marsh Lands is also too weird. Under a lake, there's actually a bottomless pit."

Wizard Edgar looked down beneath him and discovered below was a bottomless pit, like a mouth of darkness. He'd heard that Cloud Marsh Wetland had thousands of projects every year exploring the bottomless pit's depth, with countless related funding. There were even specially established competitions for exploring the bottomless pit's maximum depth, but so far, it seemed no one had ever found the bottomless pit's maximum depth.

This bottomless pit was full of mysteries.

In comparison, the sky curtain over their Sunshade Peninsula had already been researched quite clearly. It was a special celestial phenomenon created jointly by ancient Evocation School shadow magic sub-direction and Conjuration School shadow manipulation magic sub-direction wizards, causing Sunshade Peninsula to be almost year-round in shadow, becoming the world's shadow land.

Wizard Edgar's war domain sensed life approaching. He looked up and saw it was Witch Diana, rapidly approaching on an ice path on ice skates, with some osmanthus fragrance around her.

Just by breathing in one whiff of that osmanthus fragrance, Wizard Edgar felt as if every cell in his body was about to freeze.

That osmanthus fragrance was "poisonous."

Witch Diana held two laurel leaf blades and approached Edgar, then said, "Edgar, did you see Locke and the Mekani people's fortress?"

Wizard Edgar nodded slightly. "It seems like I saw it. I'll find it very soon."

"It's just a matter of time."

Witch Diana furrowed her brow. "Seems like? Very soon? Oh, looks like you didn't see it. Otherwise, with your personality, you definitely wouldn't speak like this."

Witch Diana looked around. "So this is Cloud Lake's bottomless pit? We can't continue deeper into the bottomless pit. I heard there are special geocentric air pockets formed by geocentric gravity inside the bottomless pit. That's a special phenomenon caused by gravity differentials. Moving here is extremely dangerous."

"Having an accident is just a matter of probability."

Wizard Edgar said coldly, "As wizards, we must explore dangerous places. Alright, we're still competing. Let's search separately. Whether we can find Locke and the Mekani people depends on our respective abilities."

...

On another side, in the bottomless pit.

Locke caught up to the steel fortress, but saw that the Mekani people suddenly stopped attacking him. Locke fell into confusion but still chose to observe cautiously.

"Strange, why did the Mekani people stop attacking?"

Locke saw countless standardized cube component sub-robots inside the steel fortress begin to gather together, sand forming into an ocean, transforming into a massive mecha. Locke furrowed his brow as Sea Gold Sand appeared in his hand.

The Sea Gold Sand transformed into a spiral spear, receiving enhancement from two great bloodline powers, becoming even more powerful. Locke was about to chant the Flowing Gold Fern Spear incantation.

But at this moment, suddenly a special Conjuration School teleportation array rune appeared in a corner of the steel fortress. Then a Conjuration School spatial magic sub-direction spell descended. An old wizard wearing deep blue wizard robes with sun and moon patterns appeared in the magic array.

"Wait a moment, Breeder Augustine, please wait."

This old man's face showed a kind smile. At the same time, his chest was adorned with multiple dazzling badges. One badge represented that he was a Second Circle wizard. One badge represented his current highest breeding studies achievement, an honorary gold badge for developing a type of Second Circle plant Locke had never seen. Another represented that he had obtained the title of Young Cadre Wizard. He was a Young Cadre.

Young Cadre was a Second Circle level title. It was both an honor and represented a certain kind of fund allocation.

Locke immediately bowed to this Second Circle wizard. "Second Circle Wizard sir, may I ask why you came here..." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

This Second Circle old wizard smiled warmly. "I'm Eberhard Morrison, director of the Bonifacius Cloud Marsh Cup Competition Committee Office. You can call me Wizard Morrison."

Locke addressed him politely, "Director Morrison, hello."

Wizard Morrison's face showed a trace of satisfied smile. No one would mind a young person having some manners. "Locke, stop fighting. You've already won the championship. Most judges have given you the highest points."

"As for the Mekani people's fortress... you can't catch up anymore. There's no way. The Mekani people ran too fast, and they have the natural barrier of Cloud Lake protecting them. Even for an excellent young wizard like you, being careless for a moment and letting them escape is very normal."

Locke blinked, immediately understanding the other party's meaning. At the same time, he noticed there wasn't a single True Sight Orb around anymore.

At that moment, the entire fortress went full speed ahead, moving toward the depths of the bottomless pit. Meanwhile, Locke, having lost his footing, could only use the Large Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow to fly in midair, preventing himself from falling into the bottomless pit.

Locke also pretended regret. "Indeed, my mana has reached its limit. I really can't catch up."

Second Circle Wizard Morrison glanced at Locke and smiled with satisfaction, while internally breathing a sigh of relief. If Locke were stubborn, he really wouldn't have much recourse.

After all, Locke didn't have any conflict of interest with him and was still a participant. Even if he was determined to catch up to the Mekani people's fortress, he would find it difficult to handle.

But fortunately, this young First Circle wizard was quite clever.

Wizard Morrison felt somewhat grateful to Locke. He flicked his hand, and immediately a strand of mana fell beneath Locke's feet. In just a moment, a flower bridge grew out of thin air beneath Locke's feet.