Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 523 The Four Elemental Rings and the Last-Place Elimination System
The first-ring wizard who received them was a wizard named Matthew Fleming, who was wearing a gray-blue wizarding robe. He greeted Locke and Daniel, and then said to them with respect but distance, "You two must be Researcher Augustine and Researcher Brooke."

“I am Matthew Fleming, you can just call me Wizard Matthew. I am also a researcher at the Institute of True Knowledge. Similarly, the wizards from Dragon Fern Garden are responsible for receiving you. These first-class wizard apprentices are all students jointly trained by Dragon Fern Garden.”

"That is, students who assist us. Well, some of them may become your students in the future."

The Wizard of Matthew said succinctly, "Please follow me. I will give you a detailed explanation of the Golden Crown Mountain Academy and our Advanced Institute of Knowledge, and then take you to the Institute of Knowledge to report for duty."

"These students will be responsible for moving your belongings. Please make it clear to these students that they are prone to damaging expensive items, especially large or valuable ones."

Locke shrugged. "I don't have anything to move."

Wizard Daniel replied, "I do have them. I have a hurricane speedometer and a polarization variance instrument, which are still on the airship. I'm just about to find someone to help me move them."

“Those two large instruments are extremely precise. I cannot carelessly put them into the astral ring, for fear that the magical energy will affect the precision of the instruments. They need to be carried by hand.”

Wizard Daniel looked at the eight first-class wizard apprentices in charge of receiving them and said, "Furthermore, you cannot use any magic to lift them. As long as you do not use magic to move them, then you don't need to worry about these two instruments being damaged in any way."

Wizard Daniel explained to Wizards Locke and Matthew, "The protective devices on those two instruments are quite robust, and they are difficult to affect by physical means."

The eight first-class wizard apprentices immediately bowed respectfully to him and said they would do as he said and carry it properly.

After all, Locke and Wizard Daniel were both potential mentors for them in the future, and since they were both certified wizards, no student dared to offend them.

Matthew the Wizard nodded. "That's good. It's indeed inconvenient for a weatherman to be out and about."

"The weatherman has too much large equipment."

The wizard Matthew looked at the Druid's Ring worn on Locke's left hand. "The Druid's Ring? A good thing."

The wizard Matthew also raised his right hand, revealing the Druid's Ring he wore. "Look, I have one too. Having a Druid's Ring makes many things much easier for us breeders."

Eight first-class wizard apprentices went to help wizard Daniel move the equipment, which would be delivered directly to Daniel's dormitory, so Daniel didn't have to worry about it at all.

The two followed the wizard Matthew toward the Temple of Truth.

On their way up the mountain, the wizard Matthew raised his right hand and showed Locke the remaining four rings on his right hand. “However, I feel that wearing just one Druid's Ring isn't enough, so you see…”

"This is the Ring of the Four Elements."

Locke raised an eyebrow. "What is this?"

Wizard Matthew laughed. “I entered the Cloud Marsh Wetlands three years earlier than you two, so I have access to more advanced breeder equipment here. The Druid Ring is indeed very good, but it’s an old thing. Recently, the Four Elemental Rings have become popular, and each of these four magic rings is a treasure.”

“An elemental plane ring is made from a demiplane of a specific attribute. For example, my fire ring was made from an elemental plane, specifically the fire demiplane.”

"The four rings correspond to the four basic elemental particles: earth, water, fire, and wind."

“Using these four rings to continuously infuse energy into the Druid Ring can help the Druid Ring obtain an energy cycle that almost corresponds to the Prime Material Plane, which is particularly important.”

As a weatherman, Daniel Wizard only half understood what was being said, but Locke, as a breeder, certainly understood how important it was for breeding to have an energy cycle that was exactly the same as that of the Prime Material Plane.

The various cycles within the Druid Ring that I currently possess simulate the real world, but they are not the real world.

However, if one also possesses the Ring of the Four Elements, by utilizing the energy of the four elemental demiplanes, one can make the space inside the Druid's Ring indistinguishable from reality.

In this way, many experiments that can only be done in reality, and magical plants that can only be cultivated, can be done within the Druid's Ring.

Moreover, it has many more clever uses.

Locke thought it sounded good just by looking at it.

Locke said to the wizard Matthew, "Now that you mention it, the Four Elements Ring is indeed very useful."

"The development of breeding science in Yunze Wetland is truly remarkable. But these four rings must be very expensive."

Wizard Matthew nodded, a hint of pain flashing in his eyes. "The four rings cost a total of 800,000 magic stones. I wouldn't have bought such expensive rings if I didn't have a special need for them."

“In fact, I… let me tell you the truth to the two researchers,” said the wizard Matthew. “These four rings were purchased with a loan. The loan and financial industries in our Yunze Wetland are much more developed, as you two will see in the future.”

“Loan-based consumption is quite common here,” said Matthew the Wizard. “After all, the money you can borrow is essentially your money.”

"But the money I have to pay back every month is really painful."

"And it will be very troublesome if you can't pay back the money. The wizards you encountered when you got off the airship were basically wizards who owed a lot of money to others. However, most of them were definitely not wizards from our Golden Crown Mountain, but official wizards from small wizard organizations outside."

"The temptation to consume in advance is great. There will always be people who misjudge their future income, so much so that they cannot repay their loans."

The three quickly reached the foot of the mountain, where hundreds of tree-like beings bowed to them. A massive banyan tree-like being approached; this being possessed magical pressure at the first-ring crystallization level, but seemed to be merely a gatekeeper tree at the foot of Golden Crown Mountain Academy.

A rain cloud followed above the banyan tree spirit's head, and as it approached, the temperature dropped slightly.

The banyan tree spirit glanced at the wizard Matthew and spoke in a slow but powerful voice, "Little Matthew, you're back. These two must be our new members of Golden Crown Mountain?"

"a ha ha ha……"

Every time the banyan tree spirit laughs, it pauses because it speaks slowly, making it sound very strange.

The wizard Matthew introduced Locke and Daniel to the banyan tree spirit, saying, "This is Elder Gru, the banyan tree elder who is in charge of guarding the entrance to Golden Crown Mountain."

“He has been guarding the gate at Jinmian Mountain for many years. Although he does not hold a teaching position, his status is not low. He is an old man at Jinmian Mountain.”

"Many second-ring wizards were his friends."

"After all, when everyone comes back, they all have to ask [Gru] to open the gate."

“Those tree people are all children adopted by Gru. Actually, there are many more. The tree people have a contract with our Golden Crown Mountain. We are allies. In peacetime, Gru is the guardian of Golden Crown Mountain, but in wartime…” Wizard Matthew said, “I don’t know either.”

"Because no one has dared to launch a wizard war against Golden Crown Mountain yet."

Gru judged that the three were wizards from Mount Golden Crown, so he stepped aside to reveal the path behind him, hidden by life magic, leading to a secluded trail in the mountains.

“Please, gentlemen. If you need a means of transportation to get up the mountain, I can send some of my fast and strong children, those ash tree people and baobab tree people, to carry you up the mountain.”

The wizard Matthew said, "That won't be necessary."

The wizard Matthew explained in a low voice, "Even the fastest tree people are actually quite slow, and... they charge money."

"In the land of Yunze, you need money for everything you do."

"Without money, you can't move an inch!"

Daniel asked Matthew curiously, "Researcher Matthew, you'll be leaving the Advanced Research Institute soon, right? It's been three years, after all."

The wizard Matthew turned around, blinked, and after thinking for a moment, said, "Oh, you don't know much about the True Knowledge Academy on Mount Golden Crown."

"You've misunderstood. I'm not from the Advanced True Knowledge Academy; I'm from the Regular True Knowledge Academy. The Advanced True Knowledge Academy at Golden Crown Mountain, including the two of you, only has thirteen people in total. Almost every one of them is either the school's best first-ring wizard or the undisputed champion of some cross-wizarding earth-level competition. They are truly the pride of heaven."

"But there are a total of 180 researchers in the ordinary True Knowledge Institute of Mount Golden Crown. I am one of them."

"However, even though I say that, I don't feel inferior."

The wizard Matthew explained, "Whether you are a researcher at the Advanced Institute of Truth or a researcher at the Ordinary Institute of Truth, we are all within the same evaluation system, and there is a point-based elimination system."

"After all, there are still a lot of wizards waiting for us at the Academy of Truth, so every year we eliminate the bottom thirty in terms of points to encourage us to make good use of the resources within the Academy of Truth."

"Those who fall behind in points will be eliminated, and the wizards who have waited a year to be selected will directly take over the remaining four years of the True Knowledge Academy's quota, continue working, and enter the next round of the points-based elimination system."

Wizard Matthew said, "Those who fail to be selected for the ordinary True Knowledge Academy also have a ranking order. Those who rank higher have a great chance to get a replacement the following year. Therefore, many wizards would rather wait outside for a year to observe the situation than go to other places to take up teaching positions."

"There are only so many vacant positions, but there are far too many people eyeing them."

“Although you two are the pride of the Advanced Truth Academy, the problem is that you researchers in the Advanced Truth Academy almost always have to work independently on the projects assigned to you by your mentors. Unlike us researchers in the regular Truth Academy, who can work together on the projects assigned to us by our mentors, the difficulty of the challenges we face is completely different.”

“We can work together as a group, and we have the experience from the previous generation of senior students. But you are all alone and helpless.”

“Last year, a wizard from the Advanced Institute of Truth was eliminated because he was not used to doing his own research independently.”

"The requirements and working style of the Yunze Wetland project are completely different from those outside. The demands are higher, even demanding. Under such circumstances, a wizard can still conduct research independently... I really can't imagine. Each of us who comes here is supposed to undergo a huge intellectual leap and come into contact with cutting-edge fields that we have never been exposed to before. And at the same time, you advanced members of the True Knowledge Institute... are actually required to be completely independent."

"In the past, you two must have received some help from your teachers."

Best of luck to both of you.

The Wizard of Matthew looked at Locke and Daniel and said, "Of course, it's a tragedy that no one wants to see the top talents of the Advanced Academy of Truth eliminated at the bottom."

"With your abilities, you two will certainly not allow this tragedy to happen again."

"I don't want to see this happen either."

The wizard Matthew turned to look at the two of them. "Congratulations, you have entered a brand new world."

(End of this chapter)