Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 553 Nutrient Soil Science
Locke considered whether he could purchase rings representing the four elements of wind, water, fire, and earth in the near future, but he rejected the idea himself.

Buying just one ring is useless, and buying the whole set costs 800,000 magic stones.

Although he has 1.2 million in savings and can earn 160,000 magic stones every month, his second-class True Knowledge Academy fund project requires at least 35 uses of the three major third-ring magic artifacts, the Magic Mirror.

Since this project is currently his own, Mason Witch and the others are helping him with research and using the magic mirror, so he should also pay 2 magic stones for the use of the mirror.

During his research, he continued to use the magical field atop the canopy of the Banyan Tree on Red Mountain to synthesize and discover new mechanisms of action and new natural magical structural components.

In other words, I will need to use the magic mirror more often in this project in the future.

It will cost at least 70 magic stones now, and it will only cost more in the future.

I also need to keep 200,000 magic stones as a reserve in case there are any sudden expenses.

Therefore, at present, I definitely don't have the money to spend 800,000 magic stones to buy the Four Elements Ring.

I'm only barely making ends meet, and there will be many places in the future where I'll need money.

So what about taking out a loan?

Locke thought for a moment and realized that if he wanted to plant the seed of the Tree of Life in the Ring of Druids as soon as possible, he could go to the Fairy Family Bank in Dragonblood Market and take out a loan.

Of course, in this white wizard society, a formal wizard will have countless ways to borrow money or make loans if he wants to.

Money is the commodity used to allocate resources, so in the White Wizard Society, industries related to money are extremely developed.

Within this plantation, Alsace can provide many of the things needed for farming free of charge.

Locke found a regular first-circle wizard worker from Arthas at the plantation and said to him, "I need first-circle level nutrient soil and nutrient solution, as well as growth hormones."

The ordinary staff member from the first ring said to Locke, "Hello, Augustine, the supervisor has instructed me to provide you with the resources you need to return the Hydra plant. I just don't know if you need to prepare your own potting soil, or use potting soil prepared by other breeders?"

Locke asked, "Do we need to mix our own nutrient soil? Do we need to mix our own nutrient soil for Yunze Wetland?"

A look of surprise flashed in the eyes of the ordinary first-ring wizard. Breeders who cooperated with the Arthas Shop Alliance rarely asked such a basic question.

But then he immediately realized something, and the slight disdain that had just arisen in his heart vanished quickly, replaced by even greater respect.

"You're new to our Yunze Wetlands, aren't you? You're truly young and promising. It's rare for a wizard to arrive in Yunze Wetlands and already be able to reach a cooperation agreement with our Arthas Shop Alliance to conduct commercial development together."

The first-ring wizard patiently explained, "In Cloudweed Wetlands—a paradise for breeders—we have a well-developed science of nutrient soil. Take this level of nutrient soil, for example. Other wizarding lands would simply inject a bunch of trace elements that plants need into the nutrient soil and irrigate it with an excessive amount of magical energy."

"But in Yunze Wetland, it's not just about that. We have a lot of basic research, and in those detailed basic studies, we discovered that different magical plants require different trace elements and have different specific mechanisms for their growth environment. This led to the development of many different formulas for nutrient soil."

"This can reduce the unnecessary consumption of magical resources and also allow magical plants to grow better."

Locke nodded slightly. He had been here for four and a half months, updating a lot of knowledge and learning a lot of things. He had only entered the Emerald Dream and completed the project a few days ago. Time was tight, so he hadn't perfected many details.

Previously, when I was planting my two acres of magic fields, I didn't need to use any nutrient soil because I was planting ordinary first-ring pineapples, or even apprentice-level pineapples.

Furthermore, when I went to the store to buy potting soil before, I simply said, "Boss, I want potting soil."

Then, the boss tossed him a bag of nutrient soil and took away a thousand magic stones.

Looking back now, it seems that the shop owner simply glanced at me up and down, made his own judgment, and threw me a bag of generic potting soil.

Locke coughed and glanced furtively at his two students, who showed no expression whatsoever, as if they hadn't seen anything.

Locke said, "I see. I have indeed only been in Yunze Wetland for four months and just joined Jinmian Mountain."

Upon hearing this, the ordinary first-ring wizard immediately showed even greater respect for Locke.

Although Locke was not aware of these details, they were not something an ordinary wizard could easily pull off.

A wizard who can cross the wizarding lands and join the wizarding organization of Yunze Wetland must be very capable.

Otherwise, he would not be able to break through the restrictions of the Wizarding Land and join the Wizarding Academy in the Three Swamps.

He himself couldn't find a teaching position at a wizarding academy, and he was unwilling to leave the Three Swamps to develop in other wizarding lands, so he could only join the Shop Alliance and become a senior employee here.

The first-ring wizard said in a low voice, "Is that so? Then let me explain it to you briefly. These things, the Augustine breeder himself will also learn about soon."

"It is my honor to explain to such an excellent breeder as you."

"The nutrient soil in Yunze Wetland is generally divided into eight categories. The first category is general nutrient soil, which is basically a mixture of peat moss, perlite, and humus from green manure magical plants and wind-fixing elemental magical plants, and then mixed with the [plant nutrient potion] prepared by the potion masters in a 7:3 ratio."

"It is characterized by balanced fertility, water retention and breathability."

"There are also drought-resistant magical plant nutrient soil, moisture-resistant magical plant nutrient soil, seedling magical plant nutrient soil, flowering magical plant nutrient soil, woody magical plant nutrient soil, herbaceous magical plant nutrient soil, and vine magical plant nutrient soil."

The ordinary first-ring wizard patiently explained, "But these eight categories are only used in the most common situations. Some special magical plants require special nutrient soil. For example, orchid-type magical plants that grow on rocks or tree surfaces cannot use these eight types of nutrient soil and need to make their own."

"There are also many special magical plants that need to be planted in high-temperature environments, and they also need to prepare their own special nutrient soil."

"Therefore, understanding these eight types of nutrient soil is only the beginning."

Locke nodded slightly; there was indeed still much for him to learn at Yunze Wetland.

For example, I should catch up quickly on the nutrient soil science, which is related to my old profession as a breeder.

The Yunze Wetland has a greater variety and higher level of magical plants, so the corresponding nutrient soil science and nutrient solution science will naturally be more complex.

Locke didn't pretend to know what he didn't; instead, he directly asked the Arthas staff member, "So, can vine-type magical plants use vine-type potting soil?"

The ordinary first-ring wizard was taken aback. "If it's a soil-grown magical vine, and it doesn't have any special requirements for high or low temperatures, then it can indeed be used."

"The core of making these eight categories of general-purpose nutrient soil is actually to look at the drainage, acid-base and aeration requirements of these magical plants, as well as the magical element requirements of the major categories of magical plants."

"It's just about these four requirements."

"But in Yunze Wetland, theoretically, each magical plant can have its own special nutrient soil and nutrient solution. But this requires a lot of basic research on this magical plant, collecting information on its various properties and other necessary materials from multiple sources."

"Then, we can make our own nutrient soil."

Locke nodded slightly. This meant that he might be able to buy the special nutrient soil and nutrient solution for Lygodium japonicum in Yunze Wetland, but he would not be able to buy the special nutrient soil and nutrient solution for Hydra.

Because the Hydra is a completely new magical plant, while the Sea Gold Sand is a magical plant that has been around for a long time.

The ordinary first-ring wizard said, "So, generally speaking, the breeders here will try to concoct their own nutrient soil and nutrient solution for magical plants if that magical plant is of great value to them."

"The nutrient soil for vine-type magical plants is mainly made of 40% leaf mold from first-ring magical plants, 30% core rock, 20% bark mold from red holly, and 10% excrement from Tartarus cave worms, plus the [plant nutrient potion] made by the potion master."

"The main features are breathability, water retention, and strong support."

The first-ring wizard said, "Therefore, we have nutrient soil breeders here, who are plant nutritionists who specially formulate nutrient soil for those breeders."

Locke nodded slightly, indicating that he understood. From the description of the first-ring wizard, he understood that the vine-like magical plant nutrient soil could be used to cultivate hydras.

After all, the so-called professional potting soil for each type of plant is just icing on the cake; the general potting soil for vine-type plants is actually more than enough.

It's worth noting that in other wizarding lands, there might only be one type of nutrient soil, but in Yunze Wetland, there are eight types of general-purpose nutrient soil alone.

That's impossible. It's a kind of magical plant that became delicate after arriving in Yunze Wetland from the outside world.

Rather, it's because Yunze Wetland, in its long-term involution and pursuit of performance-driven success, has reached an extremely exaggerated level in its pursuit of the quality and efficiency of cultivating magical plants.

However, Hydra Plants is its own creation, and there shouldn't be any similar competitors at present, so it's a blue ocean market, not a red ocean market.

There's no need for me to be so fussy.

Therefore, there is absolutely no need to follow the advice of this ordinary first-ring wizard and find someone or make a special version of nutrient soil for the Hydra plant.

This is just a waste of time and money.

Specialized potting soil doesn't actually increase efficiency by much.

Especially in blue ocean markets, there's no need to get involved to such an extent.

Locke said, "Then give me 3 tons of nutrient soil for vine-type magical plants, 1 ton of nutrient solution for vine-type magical plants, and 500 kilograms of King Horn Mushroom Fast Growth Agent."

Ordinary growth hormones are extracted from fluorescent moss, but these hormones can no longer meet the rapid growth requirements of first-level magical plants. Therefore, breeders have found the King Horn Mushroom, a special fungal magical plant that is as big as a house, has rapid self-repair capabilities, and an amazing reproductive capacity.

Breeders extracted several key natural magical structural components from it, which give it rapid self-repair and strong reproductive ability, and mixed them together to form King Horn Mushroom Fast Growth Agent.

In addition, the plantation itself has a dragon crystal ecological dome. With these things, as long as there are no special pests or magical fungal disasters, the hydra magical plants can basically grow no matter how they are planted.

The ordinary first-ring wizard quickly transported these items using his astral ring, while Locke had two students pick up shovels and get to work, digging a deep pit shovel by shovel. Then, they filled the pit with the mixture of nutrient solution, nutrient soil, and growth hormone that Locke had prepared.

Next, Locke had two disheveled apprentices come out of the magic field and plant a hydra plant in each acre of the magic field.

Locke watched the two students working in the field, thinking to himself, "The first-level magical plants are too delicate; I need a first-class wizard apprentice to cultivate them for me." "However, I also need to guide them in the competition, so it's a win-win situation."

'I wouldn't call them slave owners.'

Locke said to Gregor and Williams, "You two handle this first. I'm going to use Rapid Growth later. Hurry up. I want to hand over the first batch of Hydra Plants today."

Locke plans to use the seeds of the Hydra plant to grow different Hydra plants, then crossbreed these plants to obtain new seeds, and then plant them again. This process will continue several times until around the sixth generation. If the Hydra plants grown do not exhibit any phenotypic mutations or phenotypic degenerations, then they are considered to have stable traits.

You can then take it out and sell it directly.

This is also a requirement that Arthas sets for himself. After all, Arthas doesn't want to suddenly encounter product problems while selling products, which could lead to customer disputes.

Of course, the money and resources that Alsace contributed were also provided by him.

"The Hydra Plants that the Exchange needs to use don't need to be fully grown," Locke pondered. "Just like when I was developing the Hydra Plants, I didn't use fully grown ones; I only needed to use fast-growing ones."

The difference between the accelerated growth form and the true adult form is extremely large. It is basically a catalytic product, and its power is very different from that of the true adult form.

This is a case of forcing growth by pulling up seedlings.

However, all I need to do is ensure that the sixth-generation Hydra plant can become a normal adult. Then, the normal adult of the sixth Hydra plant will still have similar characteristics to the Hydra plant in my hands, which means that the characteristics are stable.

You can obtain a certificate issued by the Alsace Shop Alliance authorizing its sale.

Both the special nutrient soil and the backcrossing are special regulations of Yunze Wetland. In Yunze Wetland, this fertile land for cultivating breeders, the sale of magical plant works seems to have become much stricter than in the Southeast Corner Region and the Six Towers.

A day later, Gregor was so tired that he sat down on the ground, while Williams, in order to maintain his composure, could not sit down and could only stand in place.

As a mentor, Locke was naturally spotless, but the two poor students were completely at his mercy.

Locke took two stools from his astral ring and offered them to sit. "Please sit down."

The two students looked at Locke with gratitude.

Locke watched with satisfaction as the ten Hydra Plant seedlings, which had grown rapidly to adulthood under his first-circle spell, Rapid Growth.

They are basically underdeveloped, but that doesn't matter, as long as they have the ability to reproduce and produce seeds.

If I were to successfully cultivate six generations of Hydra Demon Plants, even a million dollars wouldn't be enough, let alone the meager 100,000 I had to pay myself.

Doing scientific research means learning to save money in every possible way.

That's why Locke felt earlier that preparing special soil for magical plants was completely unsuitable for his needs.

I need to be so meticulous about my current status.

Thinking about it carefully, perhaps that first-ring wizard didn't understand the intricacies of the Institute of Knowledge, and that he mostly interacted with second-ring wizards, since Arthas's biggest collaborators were second-ring wizards.

Therefore, many of the suggestions he gave himself were habits of a second-circle wizard, which were not suitable for him at the moment.

Locke collected seeds from these fast-growing hydra plants, but because he used growth-inducing magic, he damaged this wave of hydra plants again.

Locke said to the two of them, "You two work a little harder and dig out these fast-growing magical plants, being careful not to damage the roots. I just need to enchant these fast-growing magical plants so that they can't be used for seed production, and then I can sell them and recoup some of the costs."

Without even considering refusing, Gregor immediately got up from the ground. "Yes, teacher."

Williams looked like she was about to cry, but she quickly composed herself and said to Locke, "I understand, teacher."

Williams glanced at Locke furtively, his heart filled with anticipation. Locke said, "It's getting late, everyone should go back and rest."

When he turned around, he found Locke had taken out paper and pen and was calculating the number of self-crossings. He was also using a single-lens mirror with focus and the small breeder equipment provided in the plantation, the differential mirror, to observe the traits of these fast-growing hydra plants and see if he had noticed any changes.

After all, it's just a backcross, and the stable traits certainly can't be used on the three magic mirrors of large-scale breeding equipment.

I'd like to take the role, but I doubt the team leader will approve it.

That's like using a cannon to kill a mosquito.

Williams quietly asked Gregor, "Isn't our teacher from the southeast corner region?"

Gregor, who was carefully shoveling soil around the roots of the magical vines, paused for a moment. "Yeah, what's wrong?"

Williams said in a low voice, "Do I have to explain this to you? We've been working all day, and he's been working all day too. It's almost midnight now."

"Teacher, how do we adapt to the pace of Yunze Wetland so quickly?"

Williams sighed, thinking that after being assigned to a wizard from the outside world, she would be able to stay away from 007.

But the familiar recipe and the familiar taste are back.

Gregor glanced at Locke furtively, a hint of fear in his eyes. "Teacher, you're working too."

Locke frowned slightly as he heard them talking, and suddenly remembered that he was a first-ring crystallization wizard, the first to surpass others, and that his body and mind had far surpassed those of his apprentices.

Therefore, there was a significant difference between my own perception and that of the apprentice.

The fatigue that you feel for yourself is different from the fatigue that you feel for your apprentice.

As a first-ring wizard, I'm afraid I'll be so exhausted that it could kill the two of us several times over.

It was my own mistake not to notice this.

Locke said, "You two should go back and rest."

"I still have work to do here. You two go back first and come back at six o'clock tomorrow morning."

"By the way, when you get back tonight, take a look at the information I gave you." Locke said to prevent the two from becoming complacent, "I've already registered you both."

"The Yunze Wetland Association-level Breeder Competition consists of three rounds. The first round is a competition within the colleges and universities, the second round is an association-level preliminary round, and the third round is the main competition."

"You should prepare for the first round. If you can achieve a good ranking, it will help you obtain the title of Wizard Candidate Seed in Breeding and the title of Breeding Rising Star, as well as some special rewards from Golden Crown Mountain. If you rank well, you may even get an opportunity to enter the Wizard's Secret Realm at the Apprentice level."

Upon hearing the mention of the opportunity to enter the Wizard's Secret Realm, the two of them shuddered once again.

Who wouldn't want to enter the Wizard's Secret Realm? Anyone who enters it will emerge with a significant improvement in power; this is obvious to everyone.

After the two left, Locke looked at his magic field and began to ponder.

After testing, I found that the self-pollination of the Hydra plant was very successful, with almost no trait degeneration. I only need to select out some of the seeds of the plants that may have problems and continue the experiment with the seeds of the Hydra plants that have stably inherited the traits.

Soon the Hydra plant will be available for sale.

If the Hydra plant could be sold, it could further alleviate the lack of research funding.

With ample research funding, he might be able to accomplish things that could exceed Catherine the Witch's expectations.

But now there is still a problem.

"If I could turn Hydra into Three-Headed Hydra, it would further increase the sales rate of my products, which would be of great benefit to me."

Locke thought for a moment. "But even if we use the synthetic cube, combined with grafting cultivation, magic resonance cultivation, or finite element cultivation, we still need some funding to develop subspecies."

But I'm really short of money. If the little money I have now can be used to make a decent living for the True Knowledge Institute's second-class project fund, that would be great.

“Scientific research is too expensive. I’m lucky to have some money. But what about those researchers who don’t have any extra income and can only rely on the 10,000 magic stones a month from the True Knowledge Institute? Wouldn’t it be even more difficult for them to do scientific research?” Locke said, “Forget it, let’s swindle Arthas out of money if we can.”

"I'll just ask the wizards here for money, and if they don't refuse, I'll pretend I don't know anything."

This is all in order to swindle a research grant.

If you can swindle one sum of money, then swindle one sum of money first.

Locke already had three ideas for dealing with the three-headed hydra. One was to graft the hydra with magic vines that had fewer heads, using their specific properties to suppress the hydra's multi-headed nature.

One method involves using magical inhibitors to suppress the side heads of the Hydra plant, preventing it from developing.

The third method is the Magic Resonance Cultivation Method.

Of course, all of these can be sped up by using a Rubik's Cube.

At that moment, a witch at the first crystallization stage entered the plantation, searched the vicinity, and among the formal wizards working there, found Locke. "Hello, are you Locke Augustine? I am the brand manager that Arthas assigned to you."

"I will be in charge of the dedicated operations and related business for your Hydra. I'm here today to have a discussion with you."

"Rest assured, I am a professional brand operator with extensive experience in managing hundreds of magical plants. Also, I need to activate our store alliance for you in the special section of the Water Hyacinth system."

"You can see the future in the interface, the sales volume of each Hydra order, related reviews, and the various rankings of Arthas products."

(End of this chapter)