Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 391 Advancement to Liquid State

After leaving the Louis Underground Research Institute, Locke returned to the laboratory in the White Dragon Tower and held a meeting with another project team.

With the Plutarch family's equipment and funds, as well as a large amount of production materials, Locke could keep track of the progress of the two project teams simply by attending meetings and reviewing data, without having to go to the front lines.

He can control the overall situation and set the direction, while the specific operations can be left to the wizards.

The time saved could be used for meditation, studying botanical magic, and Locke also needed to set aside some time to read the medical records of the great wizard Sura.

After all, he was a potion master invited by the Plutarch and Philaid families, so he still had to do his job.

Another month later, Locke also acquired an entire team of wizards from a neglected botany research group at the White Dragon Magic Gem University. Locke asked them to develop related spells for [Golden Eye Grass], [Shadow Eye Grass], and [Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow].

There's no need to develop it from scratch, because we can't wait that many years, and they don't have the capability either.

By simply making minor adjustments to the spell models of the original general scouting plant magic [Eye of the Grass] and other types of botanical magic [Photosynthesis] and [Wall of the Grass], it can be adapted to Golden Eye Grass and Shadow Eye Grass, forming exclusive matching spells for these two magical plants.

Similarly, by utilizing the existing first-ring plant flight magic [Banana Wings] and the first-ring plant flight magic [Plant Mimicry: Hippogriff], a spell model that can fully utilize [Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow] can be developed.

The specific direction and rhythm were directed by Locke himself.

With so much experience in actual projects, Locke has become increasingly skilled at developing overall research plans and research summaries for project teams.

In fact, this method is far more efficient than doing it yourself, which would limit your perspective.

The three project teams he currently manages have all received a redistribution of funds from the Plutarch family, and the total liquid magic stone funds of the three project teams amount to approximately 1.5 million.

Locke frowned as he looked at the expense report. The Plutarch family's support for him far exceeded that of the Philaid family.

Alicia's support for her even surpassed that of the wizard Anthony.

Although I don't really understand why.

“This money, in essence, is all invested by the Plutarch family in three projects. Of course, I can use it myself, but I really want to develop these projects, so it’s impossible for me to misappropriate it. Unless the projects end up with some money left over, then I don’t have to be so honest as to return it. I can keep it for myself or distribute it to the wizards in the project team.” Locke was fiddling with the bills on the desk in the study of his villa suite in the White Dragon Tower.

"However, I still need to be careful that no wizard in any of the three project teams secretly keeps some magic stones. Although it's a little greedy, it's understandable, but at least they have to get the job done for me."

Locke carefully examined every expenditure of the three recent project teams, nodded slightly and said, "There haven't been any problems recently. After completing these three projects, this huge sum of money should be almost spent."

Every project I develop requires a huge amount of capital investment; otherwise, it would be impossible to achieve results in a short period of time.

Of course, most wizards often spend several times the amount of money and end up with nothing.

After all, no one can guarantee that they can definitely develop something.

Therefore, Locke spent the money with a clear conscience.

Developing these three projects will not only further enhance my combat capabilities, but also add a lot to my resume.

However, Locke also realized that Alicia's support for him had reached its limit.

After all, this is a subsidy totaling 1.5 million magic stones.

Especially now.

Even Alicia, because she was given three major projects in a short period of time, was attacked by many people in the Plutarch family, and some even pressured her to withdraw her support.

Some members of the Plutarch family mistakenly believed that Alicia was simply seeking personal gain.

After all, this kind of thing is quite common in the Plutarch family and the Land of the Six Towers.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, those family wizards do not believe that they really want to develop the three major projects. They only think that they are using the projects as a pretext to help Alicia extract money.

However, I'm too lazy to bother with this kind of thing.

You can't talk about ice with a summer insect; it's futile to try and reason with it, so just ignore it.

In any case, because of his reputation as the Eye Demon Wizard, those people dared not try to harm him.

Sometimes, a formidable reputation can actually inspire awe and save one a lot of trouble. In any case, many members of the Plutarch family in the Land of Six Towers seemed to refrain from making any underhanded moves after learning about his achievements.

Locke rose from his study and ordered Claudia, who had accompanied him to the Plutarch family, to go to the finance office of the White Dragon Magic University. "Claudia, go to the finance office and get your expenses reimbursed."

"This is the bill I've compiled. There are three items, and they all need to be clearly distinguished."

Claudia bowed to Locke. During this time, she had witnessed Locke stirring up trouble even in the most prestigious family in the Six Towers Land of Plutarch, and thus her respect for Locke had grown to the point of personal worship.

“Lord Locke, there’s a problem. The head of the finance office is always finding excuses to make things difficult for me. One minute he says the format of the bills I sent is wrong, and the next he says the purchase records for some equipment are not detailed enough. It’s probably because I’m not a wizard from the Plutarch family. I’m worried that he will make things difficult for me again when I go there this time.”

Locke glanced at Claudia and said, "No, not anymore."

"The administrative director of that finance office wasn't making things difficult for you, but for me, because his wife is a relative of Eric Plutarch's wife, but it's fine now."

"Because I went to Eric's office yesterday and resolved the issue, they won't dare to give you any trouble now."

Locke's words are concise and authentic.

He always managed to grasp the crux of the problem. Since the crux of the problem was Eric, and Eric was so weak, the only weapon that might threaten him was the energy of the elemental well in the White Dragon Tower.

But now, with the White Dragon Tower access ring given to him by Alicia, that's no longer possible.

My current combat power has reached the level of a liquefied wizard.

Crystallized wizards are top-tier combatants in the Six Towers, and Eric cannot command the older generation of wizards from the Plutarch family at this level.

Those were the neutral elders of the Plutarch family. Unless the Plutarch family faced a crisis of extinction, they would not easily take sides between Alicia and Eric.

Since he is currently regarded as Alicia's person, and his every move represents Alicia's will in the Plutarch family, even though Eric is a core member of the Plutarch family, he cannot use the family's resources to deal with him.

I had just had a friendly conversation with the other party yesterday, and they immediately apologized, saying that the head of the finance department must have misunderstood me.

Since the 1.5 million magic stones were funded by the Plutarch family and partly by the association, the money and accounts were managed separately. The Plutarch family was responsible for the use and flow of the money, while the accounting staff in the finance department managed the accounts.

Each of their three project teams first used their own money to purchase the necessary equipment and resources, and then went to the finance office to submit an expense report and receive the funds.

Therefore, it is very difficult to get money from the finance department or the administrative staff, as it requires going through many procedures.

This money is, after all, money for the project, not money in my own hands.

Locke said to Claudia, "Please tell the head of the finance department to expedite the process as much as possible, ideally within a day."

"Everything needs to be done as quickly as possible."

“I don’t want to sit in Eric’s office and home every day. Of course, I wouldn’t mind if they were happy to host me.”

Claudia smiled and gave Locke a slight bow. "Eric despises Miss Alicia, but he fears you. I believe there shouldn't be any problems with me getting reimbursed this time."

Claudia's eyes flashed with admiration. In her eyes, Locke possessed a fierce aura that was not found in the wizards of the Six Towers.

The wizards of the Six Towers have lived in peace for a long time and have many rules. They like to dig traps in all sorts of small details to prank people, but Locke uses force to overcome cleverness and fills in all those so-called traps.

It's not just about being powerful.

More importantly, Locke rose from the bottom up in the wizarding lands of the outside world, fighting his way up, so he was well-versed in the ways of struggle.

The aura emanating from him, a testament to his experience of real war, was something none of the family wizards of the Six Towers had ever witnessed.

War can cause a person to undergo a complete transformation in mindset, both inside and out.

After sending Claudia away, Locke changed into a clean wizard's robe, left his room, and headed to the elemental pool area in the first ring of the wizarding district within the White Dragon Magic Gem University campus of the White Dragon Tower.

Locke took out the application form stamped with a magic seal, opened the door to Elemental Pool Room 1, and used his White Dragon Ring to activate all the magic locks inside the room. He also activated the magic circle from the inside to open the maze lock and prevent anyone from entering.

After doing all this, Locke took off his clothes and walked naked into the empty elemental pool.

Immediately afterwards, a huge roar came from below the elemental pool, then the ten white dragon heads in the elemental pool emerged with scarlet eyes, and then liquid magical energy spewed from their mouths.

Soon, azure magical energy gathered in the pool and began to bubble continuously. Each burst of a bubble released astonishing magical energy into the air.

This elemental pool is directly connected to the energy core of the White Dragon Tower—the Elemental Fission Well.

Therefore, the liquid magical energy in this elemental pool can be quickly filled, increasing the concentration of magical tides in this room by several orders of magnitude.

In such an environment, it would be much easier to liquefy one's magical power and break through the shackles of the gaseous-liquid state.

Locke drew upon the surrounding magical energy, feeling that every breath he took was filled with pure magical energy.

"The wizards of the Six Towers are truly blessed. If these resources are used properly, the number of their second-ring wizards will far exceed that of the Southeast Corner Region."

"The elemental well inside this White Dragon Tower is incredibly useful."

The liquid magical energy within the azure elemental pool had a ritualistic magic array pattern appearing on its surface.

This is an auxiliary ritual array that completely stabilizes magic power in a liquid state. Locke obtained it from the Plutarch family library.

The magic circle was divided into two parts: a sun pattern on the left, a moon pattern on the right, and a balance scale in the middle. There were six circles around the three patterns, and the circles were inscribed with six different ancient magical characters.

The name of this ritual array is the [Sun and Moon Balance Ritual Array].

It is a magical array developed in the wizarding world to help wizards at the first stage of vaporization to more easily become liquefied wizards.

However, to use this Sun and Moon Ritual Array, one's mana must exceed 6000, and one's mental strength must be strengthened to a certain extent before one can barely use this ritual magic.

After all, ritual magic can be considered a privilege of wizards in the crystallization stage, and this artificially simplified magic circle was invented by a third-ring wizard in the wizarding world, specifically to simplify the difficulty of advancement and allow early access to ritual magic.

At that moment, Locke took out from the Astral Ring the sunlight at noon and the moonlight during the full moon, which he had prepared in advance and purchased from a shop inside the White Dragon Tower. These were crystal balls that a weatherman had captured celestial phenomena and magically bound together.

Then, a brass balance scale was taken out, and the crystal ball shattered instantly. The light source stored inside flew out automatically and, under the restraint of ritual magic, landed on the balance scale.

The side of the scale facing the sunlight was noticeably heavier than the side facing the moonlight, and the brass scale immediately tipped to one side.

Locke's mana, which had reached 6000, was also in disarray, constantly fluctuating. Small magical vortexes appeared on the surface of the liquid magical energy in the elemental pool.

But just as things were about to reach their most chaotic point, suddenly, the moonlit side of the brass scales received increased weight from the ritual power, and the scales gradually returned to balance, becoming a horizontal line.

As a result, the chaos within Locke's magic began to disappear, and taking advantage of the moment when the power of the ritual completely subdued his magic and extracted all the chaos, he began to compress his magic, turning the misty magic into liquid magic.

About a day later.

Within the elemental pool, Locke's entire body's magical power had been completely transformed into liquid, turning into droplets of water that surrounded him.

The moment Locke opened his eyes, the water droplets exploded instantly, followed by the magical energy water in the elemental pool, which also exploded, creating a water column.

Locke felt his psychic power strengthen and opened his eyes, saying, "My psychic power is more than twice as strong as it was in the vaporization stage. It is said that when the psychic power of a liquefied wizard reaches a certain level and crosses a certain threshold, the power of all spells can increase by 10% out of thin air."

(End of this chapter)