Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 566 Reencounter with Diana and the Depleted Bank Savings

In front of the dormitory, Locke received forty-five beech trees sent by the wizards from Silver Plum Garden, which made the wizard Daniel next door turn his head.

Standing in the next room in the castle corridor, Wizard Daniel asked curiously, "Locke, what do you need so many first-level magical plants for? Are you creating a large-scale ecosystem?"

Locke paused for a moment; the Forest Sanctuary was indeed a large-scale ecological experiment. "A secret, a secret."

Seeing this, Wizard Daniel did not press the matter further.

Every legitimate wizard has some secrets. Pressuring them for details will only damage the friendship between two people and offend others.

After receiving forty-five beech trees with the Druid's Ring, Locke spent three days carefully transplanting them into his forest sanctuary.

These forty-five beech trees will gradually integrate into the Forest Sanctuary over the next month, joining the fifty beech trees previously transplanted there to form the most solid force within the Forest Sanctuary.

Locke looked at the beech tree in front of him, which stood like a pillar reaching straight into the clouds, and nodded slightly.

Beechwood is a favorite furniture material among high-ring wizards. Furniture made from it can resist the magical pressure of high-ring wizards and can also be used to make workbenches for various trades.

This is an economic crop with extremely high value, wide range of uses, and is a valuable material for building pillars.

Therefore, the ninety-five beech trees transformed the characteristics of their forest, making their sacred forest strong, resilient, and full of vitality.

Locke consulted the information in the book. "A forest cannot contain only plants, but also microorganisms. However, if magical creatures are introduced... the Forest Sanctuary is where my core power is located. Introducing any magical creature could create huge loopholes."

Locke began to think.

Imagine if you were to clash with a wizard from the Summoning School, and during the fight, he suddenly realized that the forest sanctuary within the Druid's Ring was inhabited by many magical creatures, and then used magic on those creatures—that would be quite an interesting situation.

Furthermore, some wizards of the Conjuration School are said to have the ability to interfere with specific magical creatures across space, and the Conjuration School itself is unique in the field of bloodline studies.

In addition, the carcasses of dead animals are also easily exploited by psychics.

“The Forest Sanctuary is the core of my power,” Locke pondered. “Rashly introducing magical creatures would only leave my magical power riddled with flaws. Even the creator of the Forest Sanctuary—the wizard Levi—didn’t consider this problem.”

"However, it's not a big problem. If it were in the southeastern corner region or the Six Towers area, I might not be able to do anything. But in the Yunze Wetland, there is a lot of information to look up here."

"I'll look up some information to see if there's a solution."

Locke looked at his completely depleted savings and sighed slightly. It had cost him thirty magic crystal cards to buy forty-five beech trees, and another eighty thousand magic stones to transplant them into the Druid's Ring.

As a result, my current savings amount to only two meager Magic Crystal Cards.

With such meager savings, he still had to support his four-person research team, including himself and Mason Witch.

After all, even if there were still 400,000 fund magic stones, much of the money was paid out by them first, and then reimbursed.

This is to separate money from accounts in order to monitor how wizards use the fund's funds.

This means that I still need to have some savings to cover the daily expenses of the four-person group.

This can be considered working capital.

In addition, Gregor and Williams also need to pay for some small expenses themselves. For example, he spends 1,000 magic stones on each of them every month to help them prepare high-grade Bloodthirsty Dragon Sunflower Potion.

If the two of them had to pay for this themselves... given their current living allowance of 1,500 magic stones per month as laboratory assistants at the True Knowledge Institute, they absolutely could not afford it.

Whether these two can become official wizards as soon as possible is strongly related to their own departure requirements.

"I need to make money as soon as possible. I hope September 1st comes soon; there are only two weeks left." Locke was extremely anxious about getting the money.

The key issue is that we still don't know the specific sales details for the Hydra series of magical plants on September 1st.

If sales performance is poor, he will likely have to tighten his belt and look for new side jobs to increase his income for a long time to come.

At this moment, Locke finally understood the dilemma faced by countless formal wizards—where does the funding come from!
A day later, Locke completed another mechanism analysis of pineapple-type magical plants in the breeder's public laboratory and shared the data on the three pineapple-type magical plants with Mason Witch and others.

Seeing the jubilant crowd, Locke hesitated for a moment but still didn't reveal his current financial situation.

Anyway, Mason Witch and the others usually use their own money first and then ask me for reimbursement.

Therefore, as long as nothing unexpected happens within these two weeks, my cash shortage problem will be resolved.

Speaking out now will only increase public anxiety.

When Mason Witch turned around, she looked at Locke and noticed that Locke was sighing slightly. "Locke, the four of us have already pushed your project two-thirds of the way, and things are going very well. Why are you sighing?"

"Now is the time to be happy."

Freya the witch also looked at Locke with curiosity.

Wizard Barrett glanced at Locke and suddenly changed the subject. "Yesterday I finished the three-dimensional structural analysis of the Ice Mirror of the Tyrant Pineapple Magic Plant for Locke, and the results were astonishing. First, through the Ice Mirror, I confirmed that Locke did indeed discover a completely new natural magical structural component, and that this natural magical structural component was obtained through the method of cultivating a new magical plant."

"Secondly, the enormous size of the giant pineapple is also related to its natural magical structural components."

"Team Leader Locke, come here."

The four of them gathered around, and after observing, Locke nodded and said, "I had guessed before that this special natural magical structure made the Tyrant Pineapple enormous and extremely dangerous."

"Therefore, I named this natural magical structural component Type 2 of the Tyrannosaurus Rex structure. Tyrannosaurus Rex was originally only found in the magic plants of Tyrannosaurus Rex and its related subspecies, but now, a new Tyrannosaurus Rex has been found in Tyrannosaurus Rex pineapple."

Locke said, "It's worth mentioning that breeders have developed a series of demonic plants by transplanting the 'Demonic Essence' inside the 'Demonic Plant'. And if we use the second type of 'Demonic Essence' inside this 'Demonic Pineapple' and combine it with the existing demonic plant technology, I wonder what will happen."

All three of them were startled.

Mason Witch, Freya Witch, and Barrett Wizard all looked at Locke with admiration.

They didn't expect that Locke would only be doing some basic research in six groups, and as he did it, he would discover a magical plant breeding technology that could potentially change the current one-to-two-ring system.

Although it was only a possibility, it was this possibility that gave people a glimmer of hope.

Just the development around this dominant breeding technology alone could provide enough material for the four of them to undertake!

The witch Freya raised a cup of green tea to Locke and said, "A tribute to our brilliant group leader, Locke Augustine."

Mason Witch and Barrett exchanged a smile, then raised their teacups and drank them down in one gulp.

The discovery and confirmation of this No. 2 structure, Tyrannosaurus Rex, is undoubtedly the most valuable of the seven new natural magical structures that Locke is currently analyzing.

The other six are only of some value in basic research, because although those six natural magical structural components are newly discovered, their functions can be replaced by various natural magical structural components in the magical plant world, so their functions are not particularly special.

It was only for the sake of basic research that we analyzed and recorded these materials. It is very likely that these materials will only remain in libraries and journals for hundreds of years to come.

However, this No. 2 Tyrant Element is different because it has a whole breeding technology and related market for Tyrants. So if Locke were to reveal his current discovery to the public now, it would probably immediately attract all sorts of attention.

Locke said, "Currently, our project involves analyzing the mechanism of action of 26 kinds of pineapple-type magical plants, as well as 7 kinds of natural magical structural components."

"But the discovery of Tyrannosaurus Rex No. 2 allows us to put other work on hold. I will also put on hold the search for new mechanisms of action of pineapple-type magical plants and focus the main efforts of our group on Tyrannosaurus Rex No. 2."

"Now we need to confirm all the data for Tyrant Essence No. 2 as soon as possible. Mason, you will conduct the functional analysis of the Sunlight Magic Mirror of Tyrant Essence No. 2. Barrett, you will conduct the biological pathway analysis of the Electromagnetic Magic Mirror of Tyrant Essence No. 2."

Locke looked at the witch Freya and said, "The two of us need to do more. Because the No. 2 Overlord Essence is related to commercial application, we need more data. We need to compare the differences in performance of the two Overlord Essences in various aspects, as well as their performance in extreme environments, in order to find the advantages of our No. 2 Overlord Essence—if there are any."

“Then we’ll need to do more experiments and use more breeding equipment.” Locke frowned, thinking about the funding shortage again. “We might need to do complete industrial quality control, and the facilities in Alsace and Frankfurt are actually more complete in this area.”

"We might also need to use... Queen Cernonos's chessboard."

Freya the witch and the others immediately swallowed hard, because Queen Sernonos's chessboard is simply called the Queen's Chessboard, and the Queen's Chessboard is considered one of the more expensive among the three-ring magical artifacts, and it is said to be worth hundreds of millions.

That was a breeder's equipment that first-ring wizards were not qualified to use. Within the six groups, only second-ring wizards were qualified to use Queen Selnonos's chessboard.

However, the problem is that in order to carefully compare the advantages and disadvantages of the two types of Overlord Elements, it is necessary to use the Queen's Chessboard to deduce the respective advantages and disadvantages of the two types of Overlord Elements. Furthermore, within the Queen's Chessboard, one can utilize the Force of Nature to conduct Force-level detection in order to thoroughly confirm the nature of the two types of Overlord Elements.

Mason Witch warned, "Locke, the Institute of True Knowledge will absolutely not allow us first-ring wizards to use the Queen's Chessboard."

Locke nodded slightly.

That's true, that's the rule within the six groups, but in reality, if you have enough money, you can spend it to borrow the Queen's Chessboard from the commercial shop alliance.

In short, the problem still boils down to money.

Locke said, “Using the Queen's Chessboard will only allow us to better compare the advantages and disadvantages of the two types of Overlord Elements and distinguish their differences at the Force level. But we can use sophisticated experimental designs and other equipment to achieve this goal as much as possible. Freya, let’s design these experiments together.”

"Everyone, are there any other questions?" Mason Witch and the others shook their heads slightly, and everyone got to work with great enthusiasm.

Locke looked at his team and nodded slightly. He was quite satisfied with the current progress, except that he didn't have any money.

"The existence of Tyrannosaurus Rex will certainly add a touch of brilliance to my project. I just don't know if it will be beyond Catherine the Witch's expectations," Locke pondered. "Last time, I considered Mason's suggestion for a long time, but I couldn't immediately figure out how to optimize the current exploration process."

'First, I need to find a way to get more money. With money, I can access more resources. Even now, using the three magic mirrors, I'm still a little nervous.'

Currently, using the magic mirror once costs him at least 20,000 magic stones, which would immediately deplete his savings.

However, he was already much richer than the average researcher. Locke had even seen researchers who scrimped and saved to conserve research funds.

In short, everyone is having a tough time.

Locke tidied himself up and prepared to go to the library in the afternoon to borrow the books recommended by Catherine the Witch.

But to everyone's surprise, Locke encountered someone he had never expected in the breeder's public laboratory.

As he turned around, he felt the air around him drop several degrees and smelled the fragrance of osmanthus. When he looked up, he saw Diana the witch, dressed in a wizard's robe that resembled a warrior's outfit.

The witch Diana braced herself on her left hip and greeted Locke with her right hand. "Long time no see, Locke Augustine."

Locke gave a strange look.

The witch Diana laughed and said, "What's with that expression? Does it make you feel strange to see me here?"

Locke said, "Hello, Diana the Witch. If I remember correctly, you seem to have joined Boniface's High School of Truth."

"This is the True Knowledge Institute on Mount Golden Crown. Diana, are you here to gather intelligence?"

Diana the Witch's eyes widened as if she had heard something ridiculous. "No, that's not it. I disdain doing such things. I firmly believe that as long as you focus on doing your job well, you can defeat any enemy."

"However, have you heard of joint training? You can understand that my Throne Wizard mentor has a collaboration with your Throne Wizard mentor, so I was seconded here as one of the project leaders on my Throne Wizard mentor's side."

Locke, after his initial surprise, had clearly realized this as well, and nodded, saying, "I see. As expected of you."

There are several scenarios for joint training. One scenario is that the original mentor doesn't want this wizard, but because this wizard has taken up a spot, they have no choice but to make use of him and send him to another place to exchange favors with other high-ring wizards.

One, out of sight, out of mind.

However, there are also cases where, in order to better train students or to better collaborate on projects with a high-ring wizard and achieve unique combined advantages.

In such cases, the wizards who are seconded out are usually the most capable assistants of the high-ranking wizard.

It's quite obvious that, given Diana's abilities, she clearly falls into the second category.

Locke said, “Welcome, my friend, Diana the Witch.”

Diana the Witch smiled with satisfaction.

Since their last encounter at the Yunze Cup, where Locke defeated Diana, the two have kept each other in mind.

The easiest way for geniuses to communicate is to win fair and square in a competition.

That will surely make the other party remember it forever, etched in their memory, until they win it back again.

Locke asked, "However, I'd really like to ask, what kind of experiment are you here for?"

Diana the witch said, "To be honest, I don't know either. How could we, young first-ring wizards, possibly know the thoughts of the throne masters?"

"Specific work still needs further arrangements. I've already done four months of statistics on the stomatal gas transpiration rate of different types of first-level magic plant leaves for my supervisor."

“I completed a third-class True Knowledge Institute grant project at Bonifacio University.”

Diana the Witch was a native witch of Yunze Wetland, so she was used to this kind of basic research and just said casually, "I just arrived at your Golden Crown Mountain three days ago and was assigned to your Group Three."

"It seems that the three groups here are mainly doing research on the inhibitory pathways that suppress the reproductive capacity of magical creatures at or above the first level of magical plants."

"So, I don't know what I'm here for. My senior brother just told me to come here to familiarize myself with the environment. I thought that the only wizard I know here is you, so I came to find you."

Locke nodded slightly. The three groups rarely appeared in the public breeder's laboratory. It seemed that they were all in a special desert area around Mount Golden Crown, with a separate laboratory.

However, unexpectedly, the main research content of the three groups was to study how magical plants suppress the reproductive ability of magical creatures.

Group Six's research focused on how magical plants enhance the reproductive capacity of magical creatures, while Group Three's research focused on how magical plants suppress the reproductive capacity of magical creatures.

Moreover, judging from Catherine's grouping habits, Group Three is clearly more important to Catherine than Group Six.

Locke couldn't help but wonder what exactly Catherine the Witch's three-ring-level ten-person project was, which had been going on for a hundred years.

The projects handled by Groups Three and Six are completely unclear; it's impossible to tell what the Catherine the Witch was actually doing, as their research directions are completely opposite.

At first, Locke also suspected that the witch Catherine was cultivating magical plants that could enhance the reproductive ability of some magical creatures, but now it seems that it is not that simple.

The witch Diana asked Locke, "What are the plans for this afternoon?"

Locke looked at Diana the Witch with a puzzled expression. "My mentor gave me a reading list, and I'm planning to borrow it this afternoon."

Diana the Witch nodded. "You must be very busy. But could you spare an hour? I'd like to have another match with you at Joseph's Golem Shop. I was really interested in your nine-layered permanent defensive field at the Cloud Cup."

"But after racking my brains for four and a half months, I finally came up with a solution."

The witch Diana challenged Locke, "How about it? As two genius breeders from the Yunze Cup, how about a contest?"

Locke smirked; he had been itching to join in after hearing only half of what he'd heard.

Geniuses are always drawn to each other, compete with each other, and achieve success together in the process.

Therefore, having fellow travelers on the path of seeking truth is a pleasant thing.

Competition drives progress.

Moreover, Locke was also very curious about what the so-called method Diana had mentioned for breaking through her nine permanent defensive fields was.

Although his permanent defensive field has been upgraded, it follows the path of Myster's Power and Life Reinforcement, rather than meaningless stacking of permanent defensive fields.

To be honest, before, nine permanent defensive force fields stacked together were not necessarily much better than one permanent defensive force field of Mist's power.

Locke said, "The nine permanent defensive force fields that were placed on me earlier were not my own power, but rather the magical pressure left inside Hydra by nine Suryas."

"So, it was just a coincidence."

"However, if it's you, Diana, who issues me the challenge, then I accept. But, the money for going to Joseph's Golem Shop..."

The witch Diana said, "No problem, I'll pay."

"this is necessary."

The two left the public laboratory and headed to Dragonblood Assembly Castle, where they found Joseph's Golem Shop on the first floor.

The witch Diana paid five thousand magic stones to rent a single room large enough to accommodate their power in a contest.

Furthermore, the testing rooms at Joseph's Golem Shop contain a large number of golems for medical purposes, so wizards can quickly receive treatment by competing in strength within them.

Inside the test room.

Locke used the Five-Headed Hydra Plant to randomly stack five permanent defensive fields on himself: Steam Bark, Life Field, Harvest Field, Oak Armor, and Oak Belt.

Because he currently has two sets of permanent defensive field combinations, he can only make slight compromises by shuffling the combinations and selecting four spells from the two sets. These four spells, along with the steam tree bark engraved on the Cloud Sea Mist Pine Mountain, form a rudimentary version of a permanent defensive field consisting of five superimposed spells.

One more is not enough, because one more would allow you to create either Myster's Power or Life Armor.

The witch Diana looked at the five-headed serpent plant in Locke's left hand. "It seems you've improved as well. Even without the power of the Suryas, you can use this combination magic on your own now?"

"But your current state is not as amazing as when you had nine permanent defensive force fields on your body during the Yunze Cup."

The next moment, two laurel wreaths appeared in Diana's hands, and at the same time, her permanent defensive field, the "Full Moon Barrier," leaped out from her shadow like a full moon and continued to expand, colliding with the five permanent defensive fields on Locke's body.

(End of this chapter)