Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 441 Research Progress and Variation of Color

One month later, inside the top-level laboratory.

Locke gathered the magical plant saplings cultivated by Montgomery and others, as well as the magical plant branches he cultivated using the Synthetic Cube. He then used a magical magnetic field to cut off some plant factor fragments of these plant essences, bound them with the magnetic field, and placed them in his hand. After a simple design, he injected them into a seed of a chain vine.

At this moment, beneath the Dragon Crystal Ecological Dome, Locke used a first-ring life magic, [Rapid Growth]. The chain vine was growing rapidly, but unlike the previous green chains, this first-ring chain vine was now entirely black iron-colored.

Half a day later, Locke, along with Barbara the witch, Tacitus the wizard, and Montgomery the wizard who had been observing from the side, showed expressions of delight.

Locke transplanted the cultivated color-changing chain vine from the soil and infused it with magic. "This first-ring magic plant is already quite good as a single-soldier weapon."

"As a multi-person controlled magical plant, its performance is quite good. You should give it a try."

Four wizards simultaneously manipulated the chain vine, which quickly burrowed into the ground and then emerged from another part of it. All four could connect through magic and clearly see the chain vine circling around them again and again after it burrowed into the ground.

Barbara the witch unleashed a burst of blood flame at the demonic plant. This universal bloodline spell, Blood Flame—a flame that burns the bloodline—was completely shattered and vanished into thin air before it even got close, thanks to the mutated chain vine's swing.

The witch Barbara was clearly taken aback. "In just one month, you were able to create a magical plant of such power. This magical plant connected our magic power together, allowing it to overlap and strengthen each other. It also stored magical pressure through the [Rust Bead Flower], thus becoming the magical plant it is today."

She used all of her tree demon bloodline power, and her face instantly transformed into that of a tree demon elder.

With a wave of her hand, some branches from the ecological garden spread out to attack the four of them, but the chain vines swung in quick succession, blocking all the attacking branches.

Then, Barbara the Witch, Montgomery, and Tacitus simultaneously launched magical attacks on the Chain Vine, all of which were easily blocked by the Chain Vine.

Barbara the Witch exclaimed in delight, "The speed at which this progress is accelerating is beyond my expectations!"

"The attacks of three first-ring wizards could not budge it in the slightest. I could sense that if we chose to attack, this chain vine would instantly transform into a terrifying weapon, combining the magical pressure of the four of us to attack the enemy."

"By now, this magical plant has already become quite useful in actual combat."

Locke nodded slightly. "This is also thanks to Montgomery for coming up with the idea of ​​using the Brocade mutation mechanism."

The chain vine's transformation from dark green to iron black is a "brocade mutation," a unique somatic cell mutation in plants, and a major breakthrough achieved by Locke and his team during this month's research.

That variegated color will change the color of the magical plant and also form special magical patterns inside it.

Variegated coloration is a common method in botanical enchanting.

By utilizing the changes in pigments within the plant's internal magical structure, an enchanting magic circle is formed inside the magical plant to enhance it.

This was also a path suggested by Montgomery. During this month, they consulted a large number of ancient texts in an attempt to make the variegated path of the magical plant produce a spell path with a superimposed magical pressure effect.

The biggest difference between enchanted plants and ordinary enchantments is that enchanted plants are living organisms, so all enchanting methods must rely on their natural growth.

Their wizards can only guide the color mutation path of the magical plants through external intervention, thereby generating corresponding magical pathways.

Montgomery honestly said, "No, the greatest credit goes to Boss Locke. If I were to work on this brocade mutation myself, let alone whether I could do it, even if I could, it would take at least five years, or even ten years."

“But we just provide you with the raw data, and you can turn my idea into reality within a month.”

Montgomery exclaimed in admiration, "This is truly incredible."

Tacitus pondered, “But that’s still not enough. This magical plant is indeed excellent, but it can only add to our magical pressure, not add to the wizard’s permanent defensive field as planned in the project proposal.”

"This magical plant is indeed excellent and worth investing in outside, but it is still very weak in the Yunze Cup." "After all, our opponents are... the Ancient Tree of Life, the Luna Laurel Tree, and other mythical tree beings."

"We still need to build on this stage and continue our efforts to find the possibility of superimposing a permanent defensive force field."

Montgomery comforted him, saying, "This is only the first month of our official start-up, so there's no need to rush. We've achieved so much in the first month thanks to Boss Locke's genius and the laboratory he brought us, which has shortened the original experimental process to just one day. One day of our experiments in this laboratory is equivalent to a month's work in an outside laboratory."

Barbara the Witch said, "There's no need to boost other people's morale."

"Their project proposal sounds impressive, but whether it can be realized is another matter. Everyone's situation must be similar; they might also be struggling in their own labs, unable to create the magical plant described in their project proposals."

"So we don't need to worry too much, we just need to proceed steadily and surely."

The wizard Tacitus smiled. “That’s true. Now it’s a contest of patience. After all, every research group has given it their all since entering the finals. We’ve already used all our intelligence. So what we can do, and what can determine the outcome, is patience.”

"The research group that is too anxious will definitely lose the initiative."

Locke used the life magic [Rapid Growth] to stimulate the magical plant, causing it to quickly flower and bear fruit, leaving behind seeds, which he then kept in his hand.

"One major drawback of the variegation mutation is that the growth conditions of the enchanted plant become more demanding and its recovery ability is reduced. Therefore, some breeders do not like to use the variegation mutation mechanism of plants to enchant them."

"However, it is perfectly normal to use the [Colored Mutation] mechanism to create such a rare magical plant."

Locke distributed the seeds to everyone. "We will cultivate them and continue to cultivate subspecies based on them. We will carry out phased finite element cultivation, and continue to cultivate them using finite element methods based on these qualified magical plant subspecies that have already been cultivated."

"In addition, there are two other subspecies that are worth using as prototypes for further targeted breeding."

Selecting a subspecies for the next stage of targeted breeding is like arriving at a crossroads and deciding which way to go.

If you choose the wrong path, it will be very difficult to get a result.

Therefore, Locke selected three subspecies that appeared to be relatively successful at the moment and continued to breed them.

After all, some subspecies may appear to have stronger magical plant traits than others, but in reality, they are facing a dead end and cannot move forward.

Once they reach such a crossroads, they're doomed.

Therefore, researching this kind of thing requires patience and composure, the ability to endure countless failures, and the sense of disappointment of failing just when you're about to achieve results.

Otherwise, giving up easily or becoming extremely anxious will only slow down your research progress.

In addition, perfectionists are also difficult to deal with.

Because every research project is unlikely to be perfect, if it is too perfect, it will get stuck at one point and be unable to move forward, resulting in no efficiency whatsoever.

Locke said to everyone, "I think the three subspecies of magical plants are all good first-level magical plants. Perhaps we can ask around to see if any wizards outside want to buy them."

"The byproducts of these studies can also be sold, and the funds obtained can be used to subsidize our research group. We can also share these private funds with you so that you can improve your magic level."

"However, since it is a tactical magical plant, its sales channels are actually limited."

The subspecies of magical plants produced in their laboratory are tactical magical plants that require at least 2-3 people to operate, and are intended for use in war. Therefore, wizards who intend to buy their subspecies of magical plants are unlikely to be individual wizards, thus the sales channels are indeed limited.

(End of this chapter)