Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 578 Winning Over Locke's Newly Established Journal

After eating the White Dew Peach, Locke returned to his dormitory and slept in his bedroom for three whole days. When he woke up again, he found that three days had passed.

Locke's expression changed slightly at the thought of the points he would lose.

But when he opened the Ganoderma lucidum plant, he found that his direct superior, Team Leader Celt, had already used his authority to sign him in.

Although this matter was somewhat against the rules, the Celtic team leader instructed himself not to tell anyone.

Locke breathed a sigh of relief. Even though he didn't need to worry about being eliminated because of his points, he still had to worry about not being able to get the Water Jade Peach that should have been his because of his points.

Now, that worry has been resolved.

Locke got up, washed up, and then went to the living room.

Locke glanced at the time on the standard alchemical clock (a standard piece of furniture in the academy) made by an alchemist apprentice in the living room and realized that it was already midday.

Moreover, he had been unconscious for three days and three nights.

“Using the Queen's Chessboard probably consumes more than just magic pressure. If it were just magic pressure, I should be able to recover it after a night's rest, with multiple replenishments.” Locke said thoughtfully.

Entering the Queen's Chessboard inherently carries a certain degree of risk.

But as wizards, it's impossible to completely avoid risks.

All things under the frosty sky compete freely; only by constantly striving upwards can one become a high-ring wizard and pursue the path of truth.

Fortunately, I also gained a lot.

Two wood elf maids quickly served Locke breakfast, while a dark elf servant reported that several wizards had delivered some letters to him while he was resting.

Locke held the three letters in his hand, never expecting that so many people would send him letters when he had only slept for three days.

The first letter was from the White Wizards Association's Fund Management Department, which had approved my dissertation application and arranged for me to conduct the final defense in two weeks.

There's no other way; we need to gather at least three respondents to hold a defense.

Those second-ring wizards also have limited time, and it's impossible for them to travel a long way just for a first-ring wizard.

Therefore, I can only try to find a time that suits their schedule.

The second and third letters were both addressed to Gregor and Williams. After Locke had them participate in the breeder competition, he had them fill in their own addresses.

This way, as their mentor, I can easily notify them and know their progress in the competition as soon as possible.

Secondly, it serves as a form of protection.

Having witnessed the inside story of the previous competition, Locke dared not gamble on human nature in this matter.

There's no need to reveal the addresses of the two apprentices.

Just write your address directly to avoid any trouble.

Locke opened the two letters and nodded in satisfaction. Gregor and Williams had both successfully passed the second round and were ranked high.

Gregor's results were just average, placing him 57th.

Williams, however, finished in eleventh place.

Even though she had her own assigned research topic and experimental data, her achievement of this ranking is absolutely inseparable from her hard work and talent.

“Very good, that means the two of them can advance to the third round.” Locke smiled. “Time is truly a strange thing.”

"The time I participated in the Apprentice Breeder Competition seems as vivid as if it were last year. Thinking about it carefully, it's true that I haven't been a full-fledged wizard for very long."

"Back then, I won first place in the apprentice-level breeder competition. Can I replicate my past glory with these two students?"

"Wizard mentors can absolutely intervene in the progress of their students' work through guidance. According to the information I investigated before, the apprentice-level breeder competition, on the surface, is a competition between apprentices, but in reality, it depends on how capable the teachers behind them are, and only secondarily on the students' own level."

Locke said indifferently, "Let's see how good Williams and Gregor are."

Locke looked at Ginny, the red dragon half-dragon maid assigned to him by Ekaterina, and said, "Ginny, please deliver these two letters, along with this set of questions and reading list, to Gregor and Williams respectively, and tell them that they can come and ask me if they have any questions."

"Also, tell them to just give it their all in the final. Don't worry about the rest."

Ginny bowed to Locke and said, "Yes, young master."

“But young master… there is something I need to tell you. While you were unconscious, a masked black wizard came to Golden Crown Mountain and came looking for you.”

"He said he was an old friend of yours named Warwick. I told him that you were busy and couldn't come out to greet him, but he seemed very angry and left as if he thought I had neglected him."

Locke was taken aback, because his two-year agreement with Warwick had not yet expired, and there was still a year and a half left.

But why did Warwick come looking for him in advance?
Locke glanced at Ginny and said, "Oh, he's just a bit sensitive, it's not that he has a problem with you."

Ginny smiled and said, "Young master, you are so understanding. I really thought I had neglected him."

"Before he left, he said to meet me at 4 p.m. three days later in the Witch's Kitchen, Room 31, inside Dragonblood Castle. If you don't show up then, he will leave on his own."

Ginny said, "Ah, judging by the time, it's about this afternoon. It's noon now, and there are only three hours left until the agreed time."

Locke was slightly speechless.

He remembered adding him as a friend on the Gray Fog Slab, so why would he take the initiative to find him in person? Had something changed in the plan?
Locke nodded and said, "I understand, Ginny. You can go now."

Locke frowned, thought it over carefully, and decided to keep the appointment.

This is Golden Crown Mountain, the territory of the White Wizard. In this respect, I have no worries whatsoever.

Since that's the case, there's no reason not to go.

Warwick possesses the historical materials and coordinates of the Abyss ruins that he desires.

Thinking about it carefully, the location marked by the coordinates of the Abyss Ruins could be a medium-sized Abyss plane, right?
That would be interesting.

In the endless void, wizards can generally only use world stones from medium-sized worlds to advance to the second-ring wizard level. Otherwise, a first-ring wizard alone would certainly not be a match for a higher-level world, and that would be counterproductive.

But there is only one special world—the bottomless abyss.

Because the Abyss is a super-giant, unique plane formed by the convergence of countless planes of varying sizes, it is the only plane that can be used to advance to the second-circle wizard level.

Of course, advancing to the second-circle wizard level using the Abyss Plane does test the wizards' imagination. Using the Worldstone of the Abyss Plane to create massive magic, it's uncertain who will be the host and who will be the guest at that time.

But this is indeed a direction worth exploring, especially since I have some understanding of Abyss Potionology and the Abyss Energy System.

Locke was about to get up when he heard a knock at the door. He ordered the maid to open the door, only to find an ordinary second-circle wizard standing outside.

“Please do not be surprised, Mr. Augustine.” The newcomer, a second-circle wizard, smiled. “I am Bartolomeo Hayes, a wizarding tutor at Quinjoll University.”

"I came here specifically to visit breeder Augustine."

Locke paused for a moment, then calmly instructed his servants to entertain the second-circle wizard.

The two sat down at the long table in the living room.

Locke asked curiously, "Lord Hayes, what brings you here specifically to see me? What could possibly be so important that you would come all the way from JonQuill University?"

Wizard Hayes chuckled, “Actually, it wasn’t a special trip. There just happened to be a medium-sized wizarding organization nearby that invited me to give a lecture, and since I thought it was close to Mount Golden Crown, I decided to come and meet you.”

"I am actually here on behalf of the second-tier journal, Life and Reproduction."

Locke paused for a moment, then blurted out, "Is this journal among the Zone 2 journals?"

The main reason is that when I asked Schneider to submit the manuscript, I also glanced at the names of the second-tier journals of Yunze Wetland.

There are a total of 46 journals published in the first and second zones of Yunze Wetland.

But it seems there is no "Life and Reproduction".

As soon as Locke spoke, he immediately realized his mistake and said, "I meant no disrespect, Lord Hayes."

Wizard Hayes waved his hand, his smile somewhat awkward, but still appearing amiable. "This is indeed a problem for our journal, *Life and Reproduction*. To be honest, *Life and Reproduction* is a newly promoted journal to Zone 2 of the first ring. It was founded by my teacher, Barbatos—a young cadre wizard, a third-ring wizard." "It was originally a Zone 3 journal, but recently it was promoted to Zone 2."

Locke nodded slightly, then quickly thought, "Young Cadre Wizard is a second-ring title, which is quite good for a Sun-ring wizard, but just ordinary for a third-ring wizard."

'The highest title for a third-ring wizard is Throne Wizard. Since the other party emphasizes that their teacher is a young cadre wizard and a third-ring wizard, it means that the teacher is just an ordinary third-ring wizard.'

'A journal published by a regular third-ring wizard... then it's definitely going to be very difficult to climb the ranks in the early stages.'

For example, Catherine the Witch had her own journal, "Volcanic Plants," which was published in Zone 1 of the Second Ring Road.

She did not run a journal.

Therefore, her students cannot submit to the journal she runs; otherwise, her journal's submission box would be filled with submissions from wizards from various academies of truth every day.

That's probably why she didn't publish a journal.

Locke had already guessed why the other party, a second-circle wizard, would condescend to seek out him, a first-circle wizard.

Wizard Hayes said, "That's right. My teacher, Wizard Barbatos, has always wanted to publish a journal for one ring and one district as a backup for our sect."

Wizard Hayes was very open and honest.

Locke nodded slightly. Many journals were indeed the private domain of students of the masters and disciples of the high-ring wizards. It would be much easier for their teachers, students, and friends to access them.

Wizard Hayes chuckled, “However, to upgrade a journal’s ranking, you need influential, high-quality articles and excellent submissions. To attract excellent submissions, you need credibility, and to gain credibility, you need excellent submissions.”

This is a closed loop.

Only by breaking this closed loop can a journal be established; otherwise, it will just be a worthless, ignored journal.

Wizard Hayes said, "I know that 'Life and Procreation' might not be of much interest to a wizard as excellent as you, but I still came here to ask you to contribute."

Locke frowned and said, "If I were to write a first-author paper, I would only submit it to the first-tier journals, and only to a few top journals in the first-tier journals."

Wizard Hayes quickly replied, "Of course. Your corresponding author is the witch Catherine, and our journal wouldn't dare accept an article with His Majesty the Throne as the corresponding author..."

"Even before accepting it, we will try to confirm with His Majesty the Throne and only dare to accept it after obtaining his consent."

Wizard Hayes said wearily, "You can't imagine how difficult it is for us to run a journal. If it were a top journal in the first ring, second district, it would be fine, but if a newly promoted journal like ours dared to publish articles by the corresponding authors without the throne's consent, it would violate some unspoken rule."

"It's not uncommon for journals to try and take shortcuts to challenge the throne. In the end, without exception, those journals were boycotted by the entire society, with no one submitting articles and no one paying attention to them. They were eventually withdrawn by the White Wizard Association."

“But I noticed, Augustine, you seem to have previously submitted several Q2 journals with your students as first authors and yourself as the corresponding author.”

"My target is articles that you would like to submit to Q2 journals."

Wizard Hayes glanced tentatively at Locke.

The two looked at each other and smiled.

Wizard Hayes laughed. "Then let's cut to the chase. My target is those journals, which I think will be of great benefit to you as well. Your purpose in publishing in journals is to earn contribution points, which can be exchanged for many things that are useful to you."

"For example, 30,000 contribution points can be exchanged for a colony license for a medium-sized plane. Of course, those planes are generally those that have been developed many times."

“Thirty thousand contribution points, which means you need 20 articles in Zone 1 journals, but you can also get them with 38 articles in Zone 2 journals.” Wizard Hayes knew what Locke wanted most right now, because it was what he wanted most not long ago.

"Furthermore, the White Wizard Association has a rule that only contribution points obtained through the journal can be used to exchange for colonization licenses."

"There are also strict limits on the proportion of Zone 1, Zone 2, and Zone 3 journals that wizards who want to exchange for a colony license possess."

"Journals from Zone 4 are not counted."

Locke listened as the wizard Hayes recounted this knowledge with great familiarity.

I have gradually come to understand most of what he said.

But there's one thing I really didn't know before.

In other words, the colonization licenses obtained by exchanging contribution points can be used to colonize planes that have already been developed.

This made Locke frown.

During the process of creating his own great magic, the Great Wizard Sula had a debate with his scribe. It was during the debate that Locke learned that when a wizard advances using the resources of that world, the world will acquire a portion of his traits, and he will acquire a portion of the traits of that world.

Then, for those who come later, the world will no longer be pure.

This will cause the immense magic of later users to be slightly affected by the personal traits of the first wizard to use this world.

Although the effect is very minor, so minor that most wizards can tolerate it, some wizards are still concerned.

Especially for wizards who don't just aim for the second ring.

The matter of ultimate magic is of utmost importance, so for Locke himself, the world plane used to construct ultimate magic should ideally be a completely new world that has not been touched by wizards.

It turns out that even the planes under the colony licenses obtained through the contribution point system are places that have already been developed.

Locke was momentarily dazed.

My need for contribution points suddenly plummeted.

If a wizard publishes dozens of articles in Zone 2 and a dozen or so in Zone 1, and ultimately only obtains one such plane, then unless absolutely necessary, it's better to wait.

After all, now is not the time to talk about "time is of the essence".

The White Wizarding Society has a whole set of related teaching positions specifically designed to allocate this type of resource.

I should be able to obtain the resources I want.

Wizard Hayes, seemingly oblivious to Locke's distraction, continued, "And there's one advantage to submitting to our journal. Our journal doesn't have seniority bias."

"Just as there is no seniority bias against you contributors, there is no seniority bias in our journal. Your rejected manuscripts can be published directly in our journal."

Locke glanced at Wizard Hayes, thought for a moment, and said, “But… I’d like to see the submission information for ‘Life and Reproduction’ from previous years.”

You should at least make sure that this journal isn't a particularly bad one.

If you submit an article with your own corresponding author to a journal that's full of people with connections, it won't do you any good for your reputation.

However, if it is indeed as this second-circle wizard said, that it was a journal founded by the third-circle wizard Barbatos, who hopes to advance to the first district and create convenience for his sect, then cooperating with him would not be a loss.

In this way, neither party has any bias regarding seniority.

Wizard Hayes looked enlightened and handed Locke the prepared documents. "Take a look, Augustine the breeder."

"My teacher is a newly promoted third-circle wizard, so this journal has just been promoted from section three to section two."

“I’ve been following my teacher since I became a full-fledged wizard. After he advanced to become a third-circle wizard, he immediately managed to get me a colony permit for a medium-sized plane. So, I became a second-circle wizard.”

Wizard Hayes laughed and said, "We have grand ambitions, and we are certainly not the kind of people who are content with petty gains."

After reviewing the information, Locke confirmed that it was indeed a rising journal, and said, "Yes, Lord Hayes. I will consider submitting an article to 'Life and Reproduction' next time."

Wizard Hayes nodded and said happily, "Our journal is also preparing to become a Zone 1 journal, and we warmly welcome young talents like Wizard Augustine to submit their articles."

"As the editor of Life and Reproduction, I can assure you that our journal will always be the first to receive your submissions and will seriously consider whether to publish them."

Locke bowed to the wizard Hayes.

This is actually a value exchange.

This means that I would consider submitting my work to "Life and Reproduction," which I am not yet qualified for, and in exchange, the journal would give my articles a serious consideration and prioritize their publication in the future.

If you're lucky, and *Life and Reproduction* becomes a first-tier journal, then your personal connections will still exist.

Then one can be the corresponding author and gain some minor privileges in this Q1 journal.

This will become a kind of accumulation for oneself.

(End of this chapter)