Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 58 Mentor Harlan Vera
Yuri Burns took the certificate of Sophia the Witch from Locke with some surprise. The certificate bore Sophia's personal signature and seal.

A qualified wizard will have a unique seal, which is enchanted with magic from a special school of enchanting, making it virtually impossible to counterfeit.

Yuri carefully examined the meaning represented by the seal and confirmed that it was a certificate issued by a first-circle wizard who was simultaneously a first-circle breeder and a first-circle potion master.

At the same time, she looked at the certificate, which listed the various properties of the Super Mandragora Vine. "Its strength and speed exceed those of the Tiffany Vine by 15%, and its flexibility is 1.1 times that of a regular quality Tiffany Vine."

"If this test data is real, then..."

Yuri looked up and gazed at Locke with utmost seriousness for the first time, because she remembered Locke's statement that the witch Sophia had guided him in completing this work.

This means that even with the help of a formal wizard, this work was actually created by the second-class wizard apprentice in front of him.

This was done by a young wizard from the mortal world overseas who had only been at Lilith's Hut for a little over a year!

Yuri no longer harbored the natural contempt she had for Locke, this second-class wizard apprentice, but instead regarded him as someone of the same social class.

After all, a breeder's assistant, especially a very talented breeder, might not be less respected than a first-class wizard apprentice in the eyes of the academy, and could even be more respected.

Of course, compared to a first-class wizard apprentice, Locke, as a second-class wizard apprentice, was still too inexperienced in terms of martial arts and magical skills in other areas.

Yuri changed her tune, saying, "With the official certification of the sorceress Sophia, there's no need to doubt its authenticity."

“Locke, you’re really lucky. Of course, that’s also because you’re talented.” Yuri cast an envious glance at Locke. “You’ve met a good teacher, and you’re talented yourself.”

She no longer addressed Locke as "junior," but directly by his name.

Yuri said, "Unlike me, I have really bad luck. Locke, you know, as soon as I entered Lilith Hut, I was assigned to mentor Harun Vera."

Locke nodded and said, "Lady Vera is one of the most skilled potion makers at Lilith's Hut."

His potion-making skills far surpass those of his teacher, Sophia.

After all, he is a veteran, officially recognized wizard, and it is said that he is almost three hundred years old this year. This old man is still maintaining his physical peak through the effects of potions, and his magic power shows no signs of decline.

I really don't know how many more years Harlan Vera plans to live.

Yuri sighed. "But Professor Vera is a typical genius-only thinker."

“We wizard apprentices who lack talent are not even worth his attention. He only has eyes for those gifted individuals like you.”

"It's not just Professor Vera who's like this; many formal wizards are like this. Many formal wizarding instructors even treat their students as their own experimental subjects, experimenting on newly created spell models; or they treat their students as their own laborers, doing free work for them, rarely imparting anything real."

Yuri seemed genuinely upset, but she quickly changed the subject. "Let's get back to business. Lijin Secret Language usually charges a 20% to 30% handling fee when purchasing goods."

Locke raised an eyebrow; he hadn't expected Lijin Secrets' fees to be so high.

However, upon closer reflection, it makes sense.

In most cases, the magical plants cultivated by breeders are in a relatively weak position when they are sold through Lijin Secret Language.

Lijin Secret has a stable customer base, allowing them to sell at relatively high prices, which is far better than breeders selling their products themselves.

Most breeders are also unwilling to waste their precious research time on commercial activities.

However, given my unique circumstances, I believe the Super Mandela Vines shouldn't be difficult to sell.

It just lacks recognition for the time being.

Yuri pointed to the rows of vine boxes on the shelf, each about an arm's length long. These dark green boxes were made of special, tiny magical vines that intertwined and woven together to form an exquisite box.

All of the magical plants in Lijin's Secret Language are basically stored in these vine-shaped boxes, which can protect these magical plants to the greatest extent.

Yuri said, "This is a regular quality Tiffany vine from our shop, priced at 20 magic stones." She opened the vine box, revealing a Tiffany vine with roots, stems, and leaves inside the dark green box.

“Locke, our Lijin Secret Language has a second method for commission calculation, which is only for masterpieces or outstanding works by apprentices under certain special circumstances, such as your new variety of magical vines completed under the guidance of Lady Sophia.”

“I can buy your Super Mandragora Vine directly for 20 magic stones each.”

"You don't need to worry about sales afterwards; I'll just hand over the magic stones to you."

Yuri said, "From now on, you can sell it this way every time you come. As you can see, the price of Tiffany vines here is only 20 magic stones."

"This is a fair price."

Locke shook his head slightly. "A buyout is fine; it'll save us both a lot of trouble."

“But I have a problem with the price. 20 magic stones is not enough. I want 30 magic stones.”

Yuri raised an eyebrow; she hadn't expected the second-class wizard apprentice before her to be so troublesome.

Yuri shrugged and smiled slickly, "Dear Locke, you can't let Lijin's Secrets earn nothing, can you?"

"As you can see, Tiffan vines only sell for 20 magic stones in Lijin Secret Language, and the price was even lower when they were acquired."

Locke was not going to back down. "You can put a higher price on my Super Mandela Vines."

"That's up to you, I don't care."

"For wizard apprentices, they would be willing to spend more magic stones to buy a magic vine that improves overall performance by about 15%."

Yuri pondered for a moment, weighed the options, and thought of Lady Irina's reprimand to her earlier. Indeed, Lijin's Secret needed to launch a brand-new magical plant variety that guests could remember.

She smiled and said, "Okay, Locke, let's go with 30 magic stones. Consider it a friendly gesture from your senior."

“Locke, Lijin Secrets will always welcome a breeder as talented as you.”

"That's 900 magic stones in total. I'll count them out for you now."

Locke nodded and ordered two gray dwarf servants to deliver the goods.

Locke said to Yuri, "Senior, I'm too lazy to deal with too much trouble. I'll leave all my future works to Lijin Secret Language."

Yuri's eyes lit up with surprise, and she quickly replied, "Of course, dear Locke, you're my savior."

"If that's the case, I'll try my best to offer you a satisfactory price for all subsequent transactions. Lijin Secrets has a large enough client base to handle all your requests."

Yuri handed Locke a sack of magic stones and a badge. "Dear Locke, this is the Platinum Star member badge from Lijin's Secret Language."

"Use this badge to get a 5% discount on all magical plants purchased at Lijin Secret. Consider this a gift from your senior."

Yuri glanced at Locke's two gray dwarf servants and laughed, "My dear Locke, gray dwarfs are selfish, cowardly, and weak servants. They're not very useful. You should go to the slave market in Chimera Market and buy some better servants."

As the manager of Lijin's Secret Words, Yuri naturally wanted to maintain a good relationship with a genius breeder like Locke, so she deliberately did him a favor. "Recently, a group of cat princesses with ancient bloodlines were sent to the Chimera Market at Lilith's House."

"It was acquired after the destruction of a beastman empire in a mortal region in the southeastern corner of the country. Although catwomen are not rare, this batch of catwomen queens is said to have a trace of the bloodline of the ancient creature [Three-Eyed Tiger Cat]. Whether as servants or as experimental subjects, they are good items."

Yuri smiled and said, "Dear Locke, if you're interested, you can go and take a look at the [Slave Trading Post] in the Chimera Market."

Not many people know about this right now, so it should still be possible to buy some.

(End of this chapter)