Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 435 Eric, who plagiarized Locke
After leaving the research group, in the afternoon, Locke went to Alicia's dean's office on the 20km floor of the White Dragon Tower.

His office was very spacious and its furnishings were extremely luxurious, seemingly all left over from the time of the great wizard Sura. Many of the items in the office were magical artifacts, which could be used immediately once a soul imprint was applied to them.

Moreover, there seems to be a special spell array inside this office, where bloodline energy has materialized into a kind of red spiritual line that can be seen with the naked eye.

Locke had only taken a few breaths of air when he discovered that some kind of true dragon bloodline within him was growing rapidly, and the dragon language runes hidden under his skin were becoming more complex at an accelerated pace.

'No wonder this is the office of the leader of the Bloodline Essence Master's headquarters.' Locke glanced at the furnishings in the office. There were many magical gems here. By placing these magical gems in specific locations, and adding the ritual magic power unique to a first-ring crystallization wizard, a magic circle that gathers bloodline power and is of great benefit to bloodline wizards can be set up here.

No wonder Alicia's magical pressure has been increasing rapidly lately. Being in this office is equivalent to enjoying the best resources in the Six Towers. Her mana is naturally increasing at a high rate every day, and it has already reached 3500. At this rate of increase, it will probably only take about a year for her to reach the liquefaction stage.

Of course, this is also partly due to the improvement of Mammon Powder that he and Alicia collaborated on.

Alicia sat in her office chair, holding the bloodline magic model that Grand Wizard Sula had given to Locke, and said, "Hmm? This is a magic model made by our bloodline essence masters, and it's of very high quality. The magic model has been fine-tuned very reasonably."

Alicia was somewhat amazed by the blood-red bead floating on the pad of her thumb in her hand, and laughed, "This spell model is not only finely tuned, but also perfectly matches your soul aura."

"And then there's the nature of your magic. The wizard who gave you this drop of blood has reached a level of consummate skill in bloodline studies. It's truly admirable. Without years of accumulated experience and constant learning and improvement, it would be absolutely impossible to perfect the universal spell model of bloodline studies to such a degree."

Locke asked doubtfully, "Alicia, what I wanted to ask is whether there's anything else wrong with this rune... like something in it that could create a weakness for me."

Alicia suddenly realized. "So, Locke, you're worried about this kind of thing. But a wizard who can create such an artistic magical model should have basic integrity; he wouldn't do something like this, would he?"

"Let's leave that aside for now. This bloodline spell model is contained within a drop of condensed blood from a [Cormodor Beast]. The Cormodor Beast is a lizard-like underground magical creature from the Land of Six Towers, often used for transporting high-grade magical ores. Its blood undergoes dozens of processes to become a drop of [True Blood] that can be used to contain a universal bloodline spell model."

"This is one of the most core knowledge assets of our Six Towers Land, and also the most important thing for Bloodline Essence Masters. The general bloodline magic and special bloodline magic of Bloodline Essence Masters are also contained in these [True Blood]."

"Most importantly, such a drop of true blood is extremely difficult to produce, and the information it can carry is extremely limited, so it is virtually impossible to tamper with a drop of true blood. And since the drop of true blood in your hand is so perfect, it is even more impossible."

Alicia frowned, seemingly pondering how to use an analogy to help Locke understand this product of bloodline studies. "Creating flawed true blood is like mixing some unknown liquid into a bottle of wizard's wine, while still keeping the drop of true blood itself perfect. It's incredibly difficult. Unless you're dealing with inferior true blood, a bloodline connoisseur can spot a problem at a glance."

Locke nodded. "So you mean, it's impossible to tamper with just one drop of true blood; you'd need multiple drops?"

Alicia thought about it seriously for a moment and said, "Locke, I'm not sure. There are no courses like this taught in the Land of Six Towers. Only those dark wizards are good at doing this kind of thing."

"However, what you said is indeed a possibility."

Alicia returned the true blood to Locke. "However, there's only one drop of true blood here, so it won't cause any problems even if you use it. In my experience, there shouldn't be any issues."

"If you are interested in this kind of thing... perhaps you can ask me to make it for you in the future. I can also make this kind of basic bloodline magic, the first level of bloodline magic, but what I make will definitely not be as perfect as this true blood."

Locke nodded, pondered for a moment, then took the drop of true blood and dripped it onto his skin. Now that he had confirmed that a drop of true blood would pose no problem, he could use it with peace of mind.

Upon contact with the skin of his arm, the drop of blood was immediately absorbed by the pores of his arm. In just a moment, the drop of blood was completely absorbed by his arm.

Locke was enveloped in a crimson bloodline magic. He then realized that the drop of true blood that had spread within him had penetrated deep into his bloodline essence. Moreover, the bloodline essence deep within his body was regrouping and combining with his original bloodline essence in the form of bloodline factors.

It becomes an external bloodline factor.

"So that's how it is. True blood is something like this—it grants me a certain universal spellcasting ability in the form of externally carried bloodline factors, storing the spell model information in those bloodline factors within my bloodline essence, rather than in my sea of ​​consciousness." Locke understood.

What reassured him most was that he could sense that he could control the drop of true blood to leave his body at any time.

Alicia thought for a moment and said, "That's one way to put it, after all, Locke, you're not a bloodline wizard. But ultimately, this understanding is somewhat biased."

"If this universal bloodline spell model were used by a bloodline essence master, there would still be a corresponding spell model star in your sea of ​​consciousness. It's just that you're only using the true blood as equipment, which is equivalent to simply having an extra spell slot in your spell pool. That's why no spell model star has manifested in your sea of ​​consciousness."

Locke nodded. "This was a gift from the great wizard Sura."

Alicia paused for a moment, then covered her mouth and chuckled. "I was just guessing which bloodline essence master created this. In the Land of Six Towers, there are only a handful of wizards who can create such outstanding true blood."

“Hmm…you are so much like my grandfather,” Alicia said. “My grandfather once received a potion from a potion-making friend who could reduce the side effects of bloodline contamination. Instead of taking it immediately, he came to me and asked me to check if there was anything wrong with the potion.”

“He’s clearly very good friends with that potion master, yet he’s so wary of him.” Alicia laughed with a clear, bell-like voice. “You two are exactly alike in this respect.”

"You two are clearly in a cooperative relationship now."

"However, it's normal for you to be careful. My grandfather was very good at finding fault with other people."

Locke changed the subject, saying, "By the way, Alicia, when I came to your office, I heard an argument going on inside, and I also saw Eric come out of your office. Are you alright?"

"What is he planning to do now?"

Alicia's brow furrowed with worry as she spoke of the matter. "Eric is convinced that I made you participate in the Cloud Ze Cup to make money, and therefore he also wants to get family funding to participate in the Golden Cup competition held at the border of Darkness and Light."

"The Golden Cup is the bloodline modification competition on the border."

Eric believed that since I could use the Yunze Cup to make money, so could he.

“He thinks my way of making money is very novel. He didn’t realize it before, but now that he has, he naturally wants a share of the profits.”

Alicia said, "The Golden Cup requires that all participants be modified with bloodlines that possess the golden magical attribute. The Land of Six Towers has never conducted any research on golden bloodlines."

"I think he probably won't even make it past the first round of the main competition."

Locke casually said, "Now that you're the acting head of the family, you can reject his application on the grounds that it's of poor quality." "That's not difficult."

Alicia's face fell. "No, this time his application was of decent quality; at least I couldn't find any major flaws that would immediately lead to rejection. So, with no other choice, I had to let him participate and promised to give him 700,000 magic stones."

"At least in terms of process, I can't find any faults."

Locke gave Alicia a strange look. "That doesn't make sense. I've brought Eric's ghostwriting services into my research group. He shouldn't have any ghostwriters writing his papers anymore. How could he possibly write an application like that?"

Alicia said, "I've heard about that. I heard that Eric spent money to find some fringe wizards from the family wizarding community, as well as some commoner wizards. These wizards aren't very skilled. So Eric came up with a new method—copying."

Alicia explained to Locke, "It's about being an academic tailor."

"There are quite a few people like this in the Land of the Six Towers. They go around looking at the excellent articles written by wizards in the Land of the Six Towers, or even outside the Land of the Six Towers, and see what good ideas are in those excellent articles. They immediately extract these ideas and put them into their own articles."

"Even some newly published works, or those that have not yet been published but are about to be published, can have their excellent parts copied down immediately and then slightly modified."

"By copying from various sources, he can cobble together an article that's passable. He just wants to make money, so all he needs to do is write a project proposal. Whether it can be completed or not is none of his concern."

Alicia said, "Look, this is his project proposal. He even copied some of the viewpoints from your articles. Hmm, the part about the principle of elemental inversion in diamond succulents that you wrote during your time in the Six Towers. He's copied it all. He wants to create a golden bloodline with self-inverted elements."

"To be honest, this idea, combined with parts of other articles he copied, did indeed piece together an article that, without careful examination, was impossible to spot the problem with. Now, many wizards in the family have even been deceived by him, believing that he really wants to participate in the Golden Cup."

"But from his tone just now, I could tell that he didn't even intend to pass the first round of the competition; he just wanted to swindle 700,000 magic stones. If he didn't write a serious project application, he would simply write a few articles and fabricate some data, which wouldn't cost much. The rest of the money would be his."

“He originally wanted to apply for two million in family subsidies, and I managed to reduce it to seven hundred thousand with great difficulty. If you hadn’t just walked into my office, I’m afraid he would have continued to harass me.”

Locke nodded.

Alicia said, "No matter what I say to him, he doesn't believe that you're not really there to make money, but to seriously compete and enhance your resume. He was just in my office, thinking that your project application would most likely not even make it past the first round of the main competition. He thinks you're just an academic tailor."

Alicia said with distress, "Hopefully, the 700,000 magic stones will satisfy his appetite and he won't keep asking me for new investments. His paperwork is all in order this time, and I can't refuse him without a reason. This time, he even fooled some of the family wizards."

"I really don't know how Grandfather managed to keep him in check when he was alive."

Locke shook his head slightly. "It's not surprising that an academic tailor will see everyone as an academic tailor."

"However, his project application might fool the wizards of the Six Towers, but if you take it to the competition at the border of darkness and light, it won't even pass the first round."

"I've already submitted the project application to the Yunze Cup tournament committee, and I think the results will be out within a week. Then Eric will know whether I'm serious about participating."

"If you want him to increase his investment, let him produce some tangible results first, then we can talk about it."

Alicia nodded confidently and said, "Yes, I definitely believe you."

Alicia then chatted with Locke for a while about the potion of mastermind control. Her knowledge of bloodlines was indeed mediocre, far inferior to that of the great wizard Sura, mainly because she herself didn't like bloodlines.

Alicia's skill in potions is indeed impressive, and she is improving rapidly every day. Her discussions with Locke have even accelerated her progress.

With Alicia as his external brain, Locke quickly figured out many problems in configuring the Mind Control Potion and noticed that since many of the core materials used in the Mind Control Potion were psionic creatures, ice-attribute magic fire was needed to freeze their mental psionic energy first.

Otherwise, even if a psionic being dies, it can still use psionic energy to interfere with reality for a period of time after death.

Psychic energy is a field of study within the school of mind science, and magic from this school shares similar characteristics.

Therefore, using ice elemental magic to freeze the mind of the potion ingredients is the key to crafting the Brain Control Potion.

Locke also discussed with Alicia the improvement of the One-Horned Rhinoceros Bloodline Potion. Locke synthesized fifteen versions of the One-Horned Rhinoceros Bloodline Potion and proactively told Alicia about the three best formula variations.

Alicia's eyes sparkled as she looked at Locke as if he were a kindred spirit. "Locke, I always learn something new every time I discuss potions with you. It's such a pleasure to chat with you."

"Adding unicorn horn powder to enhance the rhinoceros bloodline modification potion is definitely worth a try. And as you said, the wind element magic flames that were originally going to be used can be replaced with lightning element magic flames to accelerate the reaction speed of the natural magic structure components inside the potion."

Alicia had an extraordinary intuition for potions. "This modified formula will indeed increase the effect by at least 30%."

"If I can improve the accuracy of bloodline positioning by this much, I should be able to advance to the level of a liquefaction wizard within six months."

Alicia said to Locke, "It's so great to have such a wonderful friend like you. Perhaps we should open a potion shop specializing in the Augustus series as soon as possible, and I'd like to be the shopkeeper."

"To truly experience the life of a real potion master."

Alicia thought for a moment, "Let's open a joint-stock shop. You, me, and the Plutarch family will each hold a portion of the shares. That way, the Plutarch family can cover the initial investment."

“I have another idea. We can use a merit-based selection method for all the jobs in this shop that we open together – give a chance to the outstanding potion-making wizards in the Six Towers by providing job opportunities in our shop.”

“I think this makes a lot of sense.”

Locke looked at Alicia, whose eyes were sparkling, and sighed inwardly. Power really can change people. Half a year ago, Alicia was not like this, but after she took the helm of the Plutarch family for half a year, even her personality had undergone some slight changes.

Locke naturally had no objections; this was also beneficial to him, as he wouldn't have to put in too much effort and could simply sit back and collect his share of the profits. "Okay."

“I and you provide the technology and knowledge, and the Plutarch family provides the funding.”

(End of this chapter)