Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 372 Six White Towers
Another week has passed. During this time, Locke and Alicia had an in-depth exchange on pharmacology, and both benefited greatly from the exchange.

Alicia's knowledge of potions, along with the best potions education she received at the University of Verdandia, greatly enhanced Locke's understanding of the field.

Similarly, during this week, Locke used the Synthesis Cube to synthesize the common first-level potion [Holy Spring Dew Potion] in the southeast corner region, creating an 8th-level synthesized item.

In its improved formula, the practice of using lightning-attribute magical flames in the final step of the cooking process to suddenly extract a large amount of medicinal properties from the potion ingredients can greatly enhance the efficacy of the Holy Spring Dew potion.

Because Alicia had been of great help to him in terms of potion-making, Locke, in return, shared this knowledge with her.

For no other reason than that communication should be reciprocal.

Otherwise, one-sided communication will turn into instruction.

Such communication is difficult to maintain for a long time among peers.

With Alicia's help, Locke filled in the gaps in his knowledge and quickly made up for his shortcomings in the field of potion-making, solidifying his foundation in potion-making, which was originally slightly inferior to breeding.

The two men found common ground in Locke's suite.

Alicia exclaimed to Locke, "Locke, I have never had such an in-depth discussion about potions with a wizard of my own generation. You know... most wizards can't keep up with my thinking speed when it comes to potions. Even my teachers are only good because they have more knowledge than me and are older than me."

“Although Locke, your thinking speed seems slow,” Alicia frowned, as if considering how to describe it. “There are some things I need to tell you two or three times before you can understand.”

“At first, I thought I would have a hard time communicating with you. But later I realized that it wasn’t like that. Many of your ideas are really ingenious and unexpected, such as using the violent extraction of lightning-attribute magic flames to accelerate the fusion of seven magical nectars in the final stage, converging them into a holy spring nectar.”

Alicia said, "This might be related to mindset. If my thinking habit is to add, slowly accumulating numbers, then your thinking habit is likely to be to multiply. Although your thinking speed is usually slow, suddenly, you will have a surprising inspiration."

"Overall, you're faster than me. Your thinking jumps around so quickly that I'm actually a little slow to keep up."

Locke smiled helplessly.

That's because he acquired a lot of knowledge about potion recipes by using the Rubik's Cube as a cheat, while Alicia's ideas were entirely her own creations.

Alicia's talent in potion-making is indeed remarkable, but unfortunately, Locke discovered during his interactions with her that she is not good at bloodline modification in the spellcasting school.

The reason she is currently only an ordinary formal wizard is largely because she was forced to learn the bloodline modification witchcraft passed down in her family, and her talent and interest in this area are actually no greater than that of any other wizard.

This is probably one of the downsides of living in a large family.

You enjoy the benefits brought by your family, but of course, your family can also interfere in your life, forcing you to inherit the family's magic and preventing Alicia from continuing to study potion-making in depth.

It's fair to say that if Grand Wizard Sura hadn't fallen ill, Alicia wouldn't have even been allowed to study potions at the University of Verdandia outside the Six Towers.

And this is the greatest degree of freedom she currently possesses.

Alicia pursed her lips and sighed. "It's so pleasant talking to you, but unfortunately, the happy times are all too short."

"We're almost at our destination."

Alicia's rare happiness vanished, replaced by a renewed sense of melancholy and responsibility as the heir to the Plutarch family.

From the observation window inside the suite, the airship could be seen passing through the second sky, landing 50km below, and circling in the sky as it rapidly descended.

They saw the airship passing through the clouds, and below the azure sky was a range of mountains. In this land surrounded by mountains, there were cities in the plains and some steep hillsides.

Unlike the southeastern corner, this region is filled with sharp and steep wizard towers. These towers stand tall amidst mountains and cities, their tops radiating magical light that reaches into the clouds. Vast magical energy surrounds the towers, constantly flowing back into them.

Locke even saw that wizard towers in many areas were constantly releasing magical energy into the sky and the earth, as if they were investigating something. At the same time, a large number of mortals were mining magical ores in this mountainous region, and all kinds of rare magical ores were being dug out of the earth in an endless stream.

The numerous wizard towers scattered throughout the land serve as signals for the underground miners.

At the same time, Locke also saw that on the edge of this area filled with wizard towers, there were six towering towers, all of incredible height and diameter, as if they were pillars supporting the sky at the edge of the world.

It rises straight into the clouds, like a pillar of the sky, and is enormous, resembling six ancient natural structures.

These six white towers are connected by magical power, forming a natural magical energy barrier that isolates the entire Six Towers area from the outside world.

Locke said, "The underground mineral veins in the Six Towers seem to be very active. Were the wizard towers here built for mining?" Alicia nodded and said, "Yes, most of the magical ores in the nearby wizarding lands do not come from the Rye Underground Domain, but from the Six Towers. The underground magical mineral veins in the Rye Underground Domain are indeed rich, but they are not near the Starfield Sea, but in the distant northern boundary region."

“Our wizarding lands are all under the jurisdiction of the Eastern Wizarding District of the Star Domain Sea.”

"In order to better mine underground minerals, the Land of Six Towers has been developing wizard tower technology since ancient times."

Alicia recounted to Locke a history that even the wizards of the Six Towers might not know, pointing to the six incredible towers. "However, most wizard tower technology is merely a crude imitation of those six towers."

"Those six towers are the headquarters of the Wizarding Association. They were built three thousand years ago in our Six Towers Land. They were specifically designed to form a stable barrier to protect the mining area, and to send signals to guide miners in mining magical ores in complex underground environments, especially in those complex ley line magical energy cycles."

“The six white towers require a huge amount of energy every moment. Ordinary wizarding lands may not have such resources, but the land of the six towers is uniquely endowed with rich magical mineral veins underground, which are inexhaustible. So far, the magical mineral veins we have mined are less than 30% of the magical mineral reserves that the land of the six towers possesses.”

Locke looked at Alicia and said, "The reason why most of the family wizards in the Six Towers Land are skilled in bloodline modification technology is also because..."

Alicia smiled at Locke and said, "As expected of Locke, you figured it out. I always admire your sharp thinking. Perhaps that's why you can always suddenly come up with a brilliant idea. Yes, the earliest bloodline modification technology in the Six Towers Land was to overcome the high-energy radiation in the underground mines."

"Without undergoing specific bloodline modifications, even wizard apprentices cannot remain under the high-energy circulating radiation zone of underground gem mines for extended periods. Many wizard apprentices suffer from short lifespans and various strange diseases due to prolonged mining work in underground gem mines."

Alicia said, "For this reason, the wizards of our Six Towers Land, in order to undertake the task of excavating underground mines for various wizarding lands, embarked on the path of using bloodline modification technology a thousand years ago to make their bodies highly adaptable."

“Therefore, our Six Towers Land has always been very advanced in highly adaptable bloodline modification technology. It’s just that we’ve fallen behind a bit in recent years, but we are still among the best in the pursuit of high adaptability.” Alicia said, “Of course, now only commoner wizards go down into the mines. We family wizards rarely go down into the mines, so the direction of our family wizards’ bloodline modification research is no longer adaptability to high radiation environments.”

Alicia bowed to Locke. “Locke, I should go back now. It has been a pleasure talking with you. I have learned a lot from you. The improvements to the Mammon Powder potion and the Holy Spring Dew potion are both your masterpieces, so I will not reveal them to anyone else until you apply for a patent and publish an article about them.”

"By the way, this is for you."

Alicia took a letter from her astral ring and tore it in two. "This is letter paper. It allows communication based on the energy radiation range of the Wizard Tower. I'll write text on the top half of this paper, and the corresponding text will appear on the bottom half in your hand."

"This is a common way for wizards in our Six Towers to communicate, so we call wizards who communicate over long distances 'pen pals'."

"Because it depends on the Wizard Tower, the letter paper cannot be used once you leave the Land of the Six Towers."

Alicia was a little worried that Locke wouldn't accept, so she looked up at him guiltily and added, "I have a lot of potion ingredients in stock at home. If you need anything, you can write to me and I will send you the ingredients."

"I can't speak for other things, but at least in the Land of the Six Towers, you will never lack rare potion ingredients again."

Locke frowned. He had always followed the principle of equivalent exchange, so he was not quite used to the current situation.

Alicia added, "In exchange, I want to continue our discussions on potions with you. I've learned a lot from our discussions, and I now have some ideas for improving potion recipes."

"So, these are all paid services."

Locke chuckled at the mention of paid services and said, "Okay."

He took the letter from Alicia and said, "I don't have many friends, especially first-ring wizards. Although you are not my only friend, you are the first first-ring wizard I have ever made."

Alicia looked at Locke in surprise. "Isn't the wizard Salvador your friend?"

Locke felt a headache coming on at the thought of the Salvadoran wizard. The guy's mouth was just too foul. He had only been on the airship for two months, and it seemed that he had offended a large group of family wizards from the Six Towers Land just because of his foul mouth.

It can only be said that the Hand of the Jungle is too powerful, or that although El Salvador has a foul mouth, he doesn't have many other material needs besides ecological restoration, so not many wizards are against him.

After all, those who can become first-ring wizards rarely make enemies with others because of emotional reasons.

Both of these are indispensable.

Locke believed that if the Salvadoran wizard didn't meet either of the two conditions mentioned above, he would probably die at the hands of some wizard within a week.

Locke shook his head slightly at Alicia. "The wizard Salvador is just someone I'm protecting. And the kind of person I'd rather keep away from as soon as possible. If it weren't for my senior asking me to protect him, I would never have accepted the mission."

Alicia nodded thoughtfully. "But Locke, you're very reliable when it comes to protecting people."

"You are a very reliable person."

(End of this chapter)