Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems

Chapter 663: Discovering a Special Root Energy-Locking Structure

The wizard whose face Locke had barely recognized left Wizard Cis's office and went straight to Wizard Zalan Bailey's private office.After hearing the intelligence that had been gathered for him, Wizard Zalan Bailey fell into thought. "No research plans? It seems I've been overestimating Locke Augustine. Then again, he is only a First Circle wizard. I may have been overthinking things."

"With that settled, the ones competing with me for the special grant funding this year will be the Second Circle researchers across the other six groups." Wizard Zalan Bailey turned to the other wizard with a smile. "Wizard Tucker, thank you for keeping me informed. I appreciate it."

Wizard Tucker laughed and said, "Given the relationship between the two of us, of course I'd help you. Wizard Zalan, if you can secure Golden Crown Mountain's special grant funding this year, that would be a tremendous source of pride for the rest of us ordinary researchers here in Group 2."

"All of us researchers are rooting for you."

"Especially those of us who are close to you, and we also want to thank you for the resources you've been sharing with us friends lately."

Wizard Zalan Bailey gave a nod. "Of course. We're friends."

...

After checking in and leaving the Dune Plane, Locke immediately made his way to the Arthas Plantation area at the foot of Golden Crown Mountain and got in touch with Witch Scarlett.

Locke handed over the finalized improved seeds of the Big Snow Crown Bromeliad, along with a sufficient quantity of Type 2 Tyrant Element and cellular binding agent.

"The seeds, one hundred vials of Type 2 Tyrant Element and cellular binding agent, and the new design specifications." Locke said, "This is the fourth wizard shoe I've designed. It can be called the Demon Realm Bromeliad wizard shoe."

"This is a bromeliad wizard shoe designed specifically for the Demon Realm War."

"I even ran experiments on wizards from the Twin Demon Realm in order to gather enough data."

Inside the plantation, Witch Scarlett raised an eyebrow.

She looked over the magical plant performance testing report Locke had provided and said with surprise, "Locke, the performance of this fourth wizard shoe you've designed... has improved enormously."

If the previous three wizard shoe designs had been merely decent in quality, this fourth magical plant wizard shoe, which combined plant mimicry with the special spiral angle of the ancient flower, could only be described as outstanding.

Even judged purely on wizard shoe performance, it had already reached the current highest standard among wizard shoe manufacturers in the Golden Crown Mountain district of the Cloud Marsh Wetlands.

Witch Scarlett looked at Locke in astonishment and said, "How have you managed to use a breeder's methods to elevate the performance of a magical plant wizard shoe to this degree?"

Locke smiled and offered no explanation, for none was needed.

Witch Scarlett was simply his agent.

Locke said, "With this, do I have a chance at being selected for Golden Crown Mountain's wizard outfit suite for the Demon Realm War?"

Witch Scarlett looked over the data report. "If these figures are accurate, then this is excellent. And the wizard shoe you've designed carries no redundant features, which means no additional service fees need to be added to the contract."

As a professional agent, Witch Scarlett said at once, "If that's the case, then it's absolutely worth making a full push."

"In a fair competition, the performance of your magical plant wizard shoe would absolutely secure a winning bid. But the problem is... the unspoken rules within the magical weaver industry..."

Locke said, "The magical weavers have their unspoken rules, but breeders have unspoken rules of their own. I believe we can use one set of unspoken rules to counter the other."

Witch Scarlett paused for a moment, and used her eyes to signal the nearby Arthas staff to move away, then looked at Locke and said, "Locke, what unspoken rules could there be among breeders?"

Locke said, "The Jungle Hand. As I recall, because of the Jungle Hand, White Wizard Associations everywhere have to deal with environmental quota requirements. Golden Crown Mountain has a large reputation, so its environmental quota obligations are greater than most."

"And if our Augustus Wizard Shoes brand were to be recognized as an environmentally certified brand..."

Witch Scarlett's eyes lit up, the last cloud of doubt in her mind lifting away. "If our wizard shoes are an eco-certified brand, then in order to meet its annual environmental quotas, Golden Crown Mountain would choose to purchase our Augustus Wizard Shoes."

"Hold on, let me look something up."

She used her Wish Lingzhi magical plant to access the water hyacinth network and checked with a few wizards, confirming Golden Crown Mountain's environmental quotas for the current year. "This year, the total environmental quota for the Cloud Marsh Wetlands comes to one hundred million magic stones, of which ten million has been allocated to Golden Crown Mountain."

Locke was somewhat taken aback. "One hundred million?"

Witch Scarlett laughed and said, "That's actually a very modest figure. This is already reflecting the fact that the Three Marsh Lands don't subscribe to Green Steel City's approach. In many regions, the environmental expenditure required is an astronomical sum. Green Steel City has recently been demanding that the Star Domain Sea set aside thirty billion per year for environmental spending, increasing the environmental protection obligations the Star Domain Sea is expected to shoulder."

"Of course, that's an unreasonable demand."

"In any case, Golden Crown Mountain's environmental quota for this year is currently only half fulfilled. For Golden Crown Mountain, this is a minor matter, but it is still a nuisance that requires a little attention. If our wizard shoes can be recognized by the Jungle Hand as an eco-certified brand, though, it would resolve this small headache for Golden Crown Mountain."

Witch Scarlett smiled and said, "This is genuinely an angle I hadn't thought of before."

She gave herself a light slap on the forehead. "I'd been thinking entirely within the rules, so it never occurred to me that there was a way to pull the rug out from under them like this."

She looked at Locke with a puzzled expression. "Why do I get the feeling that you'd make a better Arthas agent than I would?"

Locke said, "That must be an illusion. You're the one who's a Divination School witch."

"Witch Scarlett, I'll leave this in your hands. I've been a bit busy lately."

Witch Scarlett nodded. "Using this approach, a breeder can add quite a competitive edge to their creations."

"I might be able to use this trick for some of my less distinguished breeders as well."

Locke neither agreed nor disagreed.

His reason for suggesting this was that his purely plant-based wizard shoes genuinely produced no real pollution during manufacturing, whereas the wizard shoe production chain used by the magical weavers involved multiple stages that generated magical industrial pollution.

As such, his Augustus Wizard Shoes did have genuine potential to stand as an eco-certified brand, and this was not an empty claim.

As for whether Witch Scarlett intended to apply this approach to help other breeders engage in less than entirely above-board competition, that was beyond the scope of his intentions.

He and Witch Scarlett were simply business partners, so he naturally had no reason to say anything further about it.

Witch Scarlett said to Locke, "I'll contact the Jungle Hand on your behalf. A few people on that side owe me favors. I'll make sure your wizard shoe brand is confirmed as eco-certified before the final review goes through."

Locke said, "Thank you very much, Witch Scarlett."

After exchanging a few more words, Locke took his leave and made his way to Dragon Blood Market, where he located the Feathered Serpent Pavilion.

He had come to the Feathered Serpent Pavilion today with two things in mind.

The first was to attempt to pass the fourth level of the Ladder.

The second was to borrow the Queen's Chessboard to analyze the ancient flower.

From the secret realm of the Abyssal Ruins, he had gained three significant things.

The first was his archaeological magical accomplishments.

The second was obtaining the false ancient flower, and from it extracting the special spiral angle, which he had used to create his fourth wizard shoe design.

The third was learning King Otto's potion technique, the Reverse Refinement Method.

Through the Reverse Refinement Method, he had finally worked out how to solve the problem with the wizard from the southern wizard city.

Configuring the Zero Potion using the Reverse Refinement Method did indeed require a Second Circle wizard to accomplish.

But the Reverse Refinement Method itself was simply a concept for potion formulation, a new approach, rather than a fixed procedure specifically for configuring the Zero Potion.

Through the Reverse Refinement Method, Locke had drawn broader connections and finally worked through all manner of things he had not previously been able to resolve.

That gave him a genuine possibility of passing the fourth level of the Feathered Serpent Pavilion's Ladder.

Locke entered the Feathered Serpent Pavilion and immediately felt his luck enhanced by the Dragon's Nest Fortune Art. Moments later, the half dragon stepped forward. "Honored guest, you have been absent for quite some time. I had not expected you to grace us with your presence today."

Locke said coolly, "I wish to use the Queen's Chessboard for three days. Here are three hundred magic crystal cards."

The half dragon proprietor paused for a moment. "Most esteemed guest. The Queen's Chessboard is quite dangerous even for a First Circle wizard. Are you certain you have not reserved too many days?"

Locke waved a hand. "No. I am quite certain I want to reserve three full days in one go."

The half dragon proprietor said, "Very well."

"Please wait a moment while I use the light transmitter to contact the upper levels of the Feathered Serpent Pavilion. In a situation such as yours, there may be some special accommodations available."

The half dragon proprietor activated the light transmitter, and a message came through shortly after. The proprietor turned to Locke and said, "Most esteemed guest, you are entitled to special accommodations here at the Feathered Serpent Pavilion. Should you truly purchase three full days of Queen's Chessboard access in one go, then out of consideration for cost efficiency and your distinguished standing, the upper management will extend your access to a full week at no additional charge."

Locke looked at the half dragon proprietor with mild surprise. "That's double the time."

The half dragon proprietor bowed to Locke and said, "These are instructions from the upper levels of the Feathered Serpent Pavilion. The Feathered Serpent Pavilion is not a profit-driven department and has no need to be. When we previously charged you one million magic stones, it was simply the market rate."

"But since you have need of it, the Feathered Serpent Pavilion is perfectly willing to charge you at cost."

Locke looked at the half dragon proprietor with a puzzled expression.

For any wizard organization in the Three Marsh Lands, this would be entirely unacceptable, since the ability to generate profit was the single most important consideration for any wizard organization in the Three Marsh Lands.

Even the Star Domain Sea placed the same emphasis on it.

Locke grew ever more curious about which great figure behind the Feathered Serpent Pavilion actually came from. "When I was in the Land of Six Towers, some friends told me that the Feathered Serpent Pavilion was a cross-wizard-land shop alliance originating from the Star Domain Sea."

"But when I came to the Three Marsh Lands, a wizard told me that the Feathered Serpent Pavilion does not come from the Star Domain Sea."

"I tend to agree that the Feathered Serpent Pavilion wouldn't come from the Star Domain Sea. A wizard organization from the Star Domain Sea wouldn't do something so unprofitable."

The half dragon proprietor bowed to Locke and said, "Most esteemed guest, the Feathered Serpent Pavilion exists everywhere."

"Serving outstanding potion masters, and especially potion masters such as yourself who carry the Immortal Dragon Scale, has always been our Feathered Serpent Pavilion's honor."

Locke gave a slight nod and let the matter rest.

The reason he was willing to spend so many magic stones to use the Queen's Chessboard was precisely to analyze the ancient flower with it, and thereby resolve the various questions that had long been troubling him.

He also needed to combine the Queen's Chessboard with his archaeological spells to analyze the Resin Sphere the princess had given him.

Beyond that, he needed to use the Queen's Chessboard and its ability to extrapolate the future at the primal force level, to help him rapidly process all the historical records and legendary historical records he currently had on hand, and compile them into a written history.

This would satisfy the condition for advancing his archaeological magic to the Second Circle.

That was why he did not begrudge spending so many magic stones.

These magic stones were not being spent in extravagance. They were an investment in himself, a better investment in his own future.

Without spending these three million, he would be unable to quickly compile his historical records into a book, and would instead have to grind through the process over ten or more years.

He would also need to hire a large number of wizards to work alongside him in analyzing the structure of the ancient flower.

For where he stood right now, time was money.

The Silent Chalice Competition was drawing near, so every investment he made in himself would be worth it.

Locke paid the three hundred magic crystal cards, and at the invitation of the half dragon, stepped into the Queen's Chessboard chamber.

Inside the Queen's Chessboard chamber, Locke said to himself, "If I were to use Group 2's Queen's Chessboard, I'd inevitably draw the attention of numerous wizards, and it would be difficult to use it freely for such an extended period."

"That wizard with a grudge against me at the Second Circle level might even try to interfere. So even though Group 2 does have a Queen's Chessboard, I'm better off using the Feathered Serpent Pavilion's equipment first."

"Fortunately, the Feathered Serpent Pavilion gave me additional accommodations, which has lowered my cost of using the Queen's Chessboard."

Locke stepped up to the Queen's Chessboard and placed a seed of the ancient flower upon it. Immediately, the entire board was suffused with great waves of spirituality, and numerous phantom images of ancient flower seeds appeared upon its surface.

Locke swept his gaze across these phantom seeds, each one releasing spirituality from its surface that drifted upward into the air like droplets of water. "Just as I thought, the ancient flower is not a plant at all. It's an artificial composite."

Locke deftly projected a historical imprint into the ancient flower seed.

Under the influence of this magic, a spirituality projection of a fully matured false ancient flower body appeared on the seed's surface.

Locke was now able to examine the details of this false ancient flower adult form.

The spirituality of the false ancient flower's mature form flowed like a river, circling around Locke, constantly branching off into new streams that brought the details of every part of it before him.

Locke guided these flowing currents of spirituality, standing within them, continuously setting aside the irrelevant portions and drawing the useful ones in front of him. "Every single part of this false flower is filled with deliberate design, an imitation of the natural."

"This false flower has come remarkably close to disguising itself as a real one." Locke perceived within it a certain philosophy of the Black Sun Tower. "The spiral portion I already understand. The key question is, why can this false flower be planted in the earth and cause the land's magical tide and soil nutrient density to both rise."

"Getting to the bottom of this is critically important to the ecological structure I'll need to build for my Grand Magic, and to Group 2's research as well."

Locke's eyes followed the flowing river of spirituality. "Hmm? Is the secret in this false flower's root system?"

Locke immediately paused the equipment's overall spirituality extrapolation of the ancient flower and focused entirely on its root structure.

As his proficiency in using the Queen's Chessboard equipment grew, the efficiency of his experiments and the quality of his research, along with his associated judgment, were all rising rapidly.

Locke quickly determined that the root system of the ancient flower appeared to be a design the Black Sun Tower had borrowed from a special magical plant of some particular plane. It was a type of root that could secrete a special natural magical force structural component, which broke down sandy gravel into finer soil particles.

The difference between gravel and soil is considerable. Gravel is compositionally simple, and its mineral particles are relatively large, falling in the range of 0.05 to 2 millimeters. Soil particles, by contrast, are smaller than 0.002 millimeters in size, placing them at a colloidal level of fineness.

The root system of the ancient flower was constantly secreting multiple types of natural magical force structural component substances, crushing and eroding the gravel and reducing it to ever finer mineral particles.

This gave sand the possibility of becoming soil.

The ancient flower also had the trait of blooming rapidly and withering rapidly. Once it withered, it could metabolize humus into the soil, making the earth increasingly fertile.

This was very likely the reason why the ancient flower made the land so much more fertile, and why the productivity gains had outpaced the institutional capacity of King Otto's imperial court in the age of old, ultimately causing his court to collapse from the pressure.

One day later, through continuous extrapolation of the ancient flower's special root system using the Queen's Chessboard, Locke discovered that it could take sand, a substance composed of several inert composite elemental particles, and through the combined application of seven types of natural magical force structural components on its surface, recombine it into clay.

Locke was quite surprised by this, because for alchemists, recombining sand into clay was not a particularly difficult feat.

It was simply that this was usually accomplished within a laboratory or a refinement formation, and it was virtually impossible to replicate it in the way the ancient flower had done, spreading across the land and achieving a simultaneous effect across an entire past wizard world.

The sheer manpower that would require was simply beyond imagining.

Furthermore, for alchemists, converting sand into clay demanded numerous steps, a great deal of energy, and a variety of materials.

But this special root system of the ancient flower could accomplish this extraordinary transformation in an extremely short span of time, at minimal cost, and with almost no wizard intervention at all.

Locke did note with some regret, however, that even with such a powerful capability in its root system, the ancient flower still could not convert sand into soil without a water source.

"Water is the key. This root system must be something the Black Sun Tower adapted from some magical plant," Locke said, "This is a naturally occurring conversion factory."

"Compared to building a conversion factory by hand, one that produces heavy pollution, this is superior by an incalculable margin. Even so, water is still required. Water remains the key."

Locke gazed at the root system of the ancient flower and marveled at the immense power of nature. Wizards learn from nature, emerge from nature, and in the end grow stronger alongside it.

"I need to record the primal force level information of this special root system, and extract the spirituality level and plant essence level information. I may also need to use the Three Grand Magic Mirrors."

"I can use the primal force level information obtained from the Queen's Chessboard to print a prototype on a biological material modeling machine, and then take that to the Three Grand Magic Mirrors for analysis. After that, I can derive the specific plant factors that make up the plant essence."

Locke's expression was focused and serious. "After that, I'll be able to use the Finite Element Cultivation Method to breed a magical plant subspecies fused with this specific plant essence. Once I reach that point, it's only a matter of time before I obtain a magical plant with this special root system."

"The only part that will take a little effort is choosing which magical plant to fuse with this particular plant essence, since the compatibility will vary."

At its core, as a breeder, once he had obtained the information of the ancient flower, replicating its various properties would not be especially difficult.

Were it not for the fact that the ancient flower was not a true flower but a false one, and riddled with complications as a result, he could have simply attempted to crack its reproduction and cultivation directly, and started growing it outright.

But since the ancient flower was ultimately not a real flower, the problems were numerous.

He certainly was not foolish enough to let his own blood fall upon it and allow it to absorb his life force, completing the final step of its transformation from a life-simulating construct into a true living being.

Locke said, "This special root system must be a powerful energy-locking structure from some magical plant in history."

"And it's likely a new type of energy-locking structure at that. If I just extract a portion of it, I'd imagine that would be enough to secure a Tier 1 funding project."

The projects of the Origin Academy were, to a significant degree, practice exercises designed for young First Circle wizards.

And yet this ancient flower was a magical plant that had once brought a catastrophic and genuinely devastating disaster upon the wizard world.

Extracting even a small portion of something from this magical plant and packaging it into a project currently designed as a training exercise for researchers was, naturally, an entirely effortless matter.

This was also the reason why Locke had told Witch Mason and the others to put their minds at ease.

Locke looked at the ancient flower before him and reflected, "Plants truly do possess an enormous capacity to alter the ecological environment."

"I've read through a great deal of ecological literature in the past, and I've found that at the early stages of formation of every major life plane, plant communities of various levels always appear in succession, reshaping the plane, after which the life plane takes form."

"Plant communities have a direct connection to the formation of life planes. Without plant communities, a life plane will automatically be downgraded and fall out of the life plane cluster. Plants are therefore an essential component of life magic, and a fundamental element of nature."

Locke remarked with quiet admiration, "Wizards can learn a great many things from nature. The Black Sun Tower must have located this special magical plant in some particular plane, then replicated its structure, and then introduced the ancient flower into the wizard world, ultimately causing the tremendous ecological disaster of the Mortal Age."

"Still, water remains the key. Well, for now I'll focus all my efforts on analyzing this special root system. It will be of great use to me, and it should be more than enough to secure a Tier 1 funding project, and it will also benefit my Grand Magic construction."

A certain line of thought was taking shape in Locke's mind.