Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 588, Section 1 (Eight Chapters), Section 28 (Twenty-Eight Chapters), Section 2
A week later, Locke received thank-you letters from Green Grass and Clouds and Life and Propagation, along with two complimentary copies of the journal.

There are also eight Water Jade Peaches and 28 White Dew Peaches.

Unfortunately, the Water Jade Peach and White Dew Peach have too high a synthesis level, both being classified as level 9 synthesis items, so Locke was unable to synthesize them.

This may be because the Twelve Peaches of Golden Crown Mountain were cultivated by the high-ring wizards of Golden Crown Mountain.

Locke was in his dormitory, looking at the thank-you notes he had received, and then flipping through the two issues of this journal.

This issue of "Life and Reproduction" has almost become its own standalone volume.

Half of the articles in this issue of "Qingcao Yunze" are his own, and the front page of the journal even features his own article No. 2, "Bawangsu".

Previously, I had contacted the witch Catherine, who advised me not to sign any authorization agreements with any witches privately for the time being, and that she would arrange for someone to handle this for me.

After all, the appearance of Tyrant Essence No. 2 really knocked down the stock prices of several small shop alliances that relied on Tyrant Essence No. 1 and the Tyrant Transformation Cultivation Method.

These small and medium-sized shop alliances are inherently less resilient to risks and are far less capable than large-scale shop alliances like those in Frankfurt and Alsace.

Now that I'm in this situation again, it's like adding insult to injury.

Therefore, in order to prevent certain shop alliances from going bankrupt and taking extreme measures, this matter required the intervention of the witch Catherine.

Locke quickly finished reading the two journals, thoroughly enjoying them. He felt that he had gained some fame on Golden Crown Mountain and had temporarily established himself.

Locke put down the journal in his hand, looked at Gregor and Williams, and said, "There's something I have to tell you, something I had forgotten about before. Because I need to publish in Q2 journals to get contribution points, I gave you 14 first-author Q2 journal articles, Gregor, and 14 first-author Q2 journal articles, Williams."

Williams and Gregor swallowed hard.

Gregor was completely dumbfounded. Williams, on the other hand, was even somewhat apprehensive.

Williams tilted his head, giving Locke an adorably incredulous look. "But...teacher...we're not even first-ring wizards..."

Locke said, "If the corresponding author is a first-ring wizard, it's actually possible to submit. After all, there are no journals for apprentices."

"Don't worry about the ethics review committee. You two did work with me on the experimental parts of these 28 articles to some extent."

“You have worked hard, even if you haven’t made any great contributions. So, there’s nothing wrong with this matter.”

Williams never expected that after she worked tirelessly day and night to help Locke, Locke would directly give her 14 articles from Zone 007 journals.

And they are all first authors!
Although the first author is an apprentice and the corresponding author is a wizard at the first crystallization stage, it is obvious to anyone with discerning eyes who actually wrote these articles.

But for an ordinary wizard apprentice like them, these 14 articles from Zone 2 were indeed a huge qualification!

A huge surprise came from above, even leaving Williams somewhat stunned.

She couldn't believe that before entering the room, she was just an ordinary first-class wizard apprentice with a magic pressure of about 800, but after leaving today, she was a first-class wizard apprentice who had published 14 articles in the second-district journal.

Williams pursed his lips. "Teacher, are all those people who published a lot of articles during their apprenticeship like this?"

Locke said, "I'm not quite sure. I'm not a local wizard from Yunze Wetlands, so I don't have a very good grasp of these details. I think there must be a few wizards who are truly geniuses."

"Because I need to find a first author, but I don't want to be the first author myself, I can only share the article with you."

This is an extremely special case.

This situation is so unusual that it is extremely rare for someone to need a paper in a Q2 journal but not to have the title of first author.

Moreover, he only had these two direct disciples under his command.

If you have a dozen or so students, then distributing one paper to each student will be fine.

There are just fewer students now, so we have each of them take on 14 articles.

Gregor belatedly realized that he felt a sense of unreality. "Thank you, teacher."

“You’ve been so kind to us,” Locke said. “Your magical pressure has been increasing at a good rate lately, and you’ve also produced so many articles. Also, congratulations on your final competition results for the apprentice stage.”

"Gregor, you're ranked 22nd. Happy? You gave it your all, and you're very strong. My coaching of you was worthwhile."

“As for Williams… you’re seventh.” Locke gave Williams a deep look. Even with his help, her seventh-place finish was not to be underestimated.

Because the top six were all "veteran repeaters" who had participated in the competition for many years.

Especially the top three, each of them calls themselves the X-Crown King.

Essentially, they are all veteran first-class wizard apprentices who have participated in the competition repeatedly.

With his own help, Williams' ability to finish seventh in the entire Yunze Wetland is already an amazing achievement.

Locke said, "In that case, you should try to become candidates for the Golden Crown Mountain Wizard Seed this year."

Williams' eyes lit up. "Thank you, teacher."

Gregor, however, looked at him with an expression that seemed to say, "Am I worthy?" "But teacher, a wizard seed candidate needs at least 800 mana..."

Locke looked at him and said, "The average contribution points exchanged in the apprentice-level wizarding secret realm of Golden Crown Mountain is around 1500. I just published 28 articles in Zone 2 journals and 8 articles in Zone 1 journals, so I have a lot of contribution points. I was originally planning to exchange them for a colony license."

In fact, according to his original plan, he could now gather 34400 contribution points, and then use these 28 second-zone journals and 8 first-zone journals to exchange for a colony license, and immediately go to the plane to attempt to create great magic.

But ever since the wizard Hayes told him that the colony license could only be exchanged for planes that had been reused by other wizards, Locke's desire for it had not been very strong.

If I have extra contribution points in the future, I can indeed exchange for one, since each first-level wizard can only exchange for one.

Why not exchange it yourself? It's a good way to practice.

But this matter is no longer the most urgent. I can use these contribution points to exchange for some potion-making materials to complete the fourth round of the ladder test, and I can also find some materials to enhance my combat power.

With so many contribution points, you can exchange them for some good materials.

Meanwhile, Locke planned to exchange an apprentice-level secret realm for each of the two.

As a wizard mentor, I have the authority to share the apprentice-level secret realms I possess with these two apprentices.

Since we currently have ample funds and contribution points, there's no need to skimp on this aspect in order to help them quickly become official wizards.

Locke said, "I'm going to exchange an apprentice-level wizard's secret realm for each of you!"

Williams and Gregor exchanged excited glances.

Williams immediately realized that she was incredibly lucky to have been mentored by such a powerful wizard.

If she ended up like her best friend, following that wizard mentor named Daniel, that would be truly tragic.

We have no resources at all, and we even have to borrow money from her...

Locke said, "There's something I need to ask you both. Are you both planning to use botanical defensive magic as a permanent defensive field to advance to become full-fledged wizards?"

"In that case, which permanent defensive force field are you planning to choose? Now that you two have arrived, it's time to start thinking about this."

Seeing the confusion in their eyes, Locke immediately realized that the two were still clueless about the Permanent Defense Field, so he explained it to them briefly.

Williams then realized what was going on. "Thank you, teacher, for teaching us about the Permanent Defense Force Field."

Locke said, "You can learn about it by reading books in the library."

"So, this issue concerns your future development... I want to know what defensive magic you want to choose. Gregor, do you have one in mind?"

(End of this chapter)