Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 592 9400 Magic Pressure and the Two Luxury Magical Artifacts
A month later.

Inside Rex's Alchemy Workshop, Locke found the trader he had previously signed a contract with and they went together to the quiet room.

The trader asked two fox-woman maids to come forward with a tray covered with a black cloth. Locke glanced at the jet-black, smooth, and special fabric, which he believed to be magical cloth woven from matte spider silk.

It possesses the special function of isolating magical energy, achieving a "surface magic-blocking" effect. It is a type of fabric often used in shops in Yunze Wetlands because its surface magic-blocking effect minimizes the influence of the external environment.

This allows many goods to be preserved for a long time, especially the intricate magical artifacts in the alchemy workshop.

The trader lifted the matte cobweb cloth, revealing a bronze furnace and a silver wooden wand shimmering with magical light lying beneath the tray.

Every detail of that bronze magic furnace seemed to have been forged through countless trials. As Locke deliberately dripped a drop of blood onto it, the Thousand-Layer Magic Furnace automatically transformed into a beam of light and flew back, entering his soul and penetrating its depths, transforming into a bronze magic weapon that was equipped on his soul.

As the bronze artifact entered his soul, Locke's magical pressure suddenly jumped from 9200 to 9400.

This eliminates at least three months of agonizing meditation!

Moreover, Locke realized that the bronze artifact not only instantly increased his soul limit by 200 points, but also formed a symbiotic relationship with his soul. The stronger his soul became, the stronger the Thousand-Layered Demon Furnace would become.

This is a special characteristic of Soul Bronze.

It can grow together with its owner!
Thus, he essentially doubled the growth rate of his soul's upper limit out of thin air.

Moreover, when my soul limit reaches 9999 in the future, I can use the Soul Forge to enhance the additional strength limit of my personal soul, preventing situations like encountering the Great Wizard Sura.

Locke shook his head slightly. "Grand Wizard Sula has not left the Six Towers for a long time, so his knowledge is limited. If he had spent 500,000 or even 1 million magic stones to buy a bronze magic artifact and bind it to his soul, it could have at least alleviated his symptoms and given him an extra six months."

"If he had been in Yunze Wetland at that time, given his circumstances, it might not have been a dead end."

"However, outside of Yunze Wetland, there is indeed no way to buy bronze magic artifacts."

The great wizard Sura will not leave the land of the Six Towers. He has many enemies, and it is likely that as soon as he leaves the land of the Six Towers, he will be ambushed by those enemies he has accumulated over the past five hundred years.

He would be completely safe only if he stayed in the land of the Six Towers.

However, for a Soul Artifact to work, the wizard himself must be present at the scene, leave his soul aura, and undergo some tests.

Furthermore, the relevant technologies require the support of a complete technology industry chain, making it difficult to forge them in the land of the Six Towers.

But the most important thing was the Soul Artifact, which Locke himself read about in the free library in Yunze Wetland.

Many wizards are unaware of the existence of Soul Artifacts (Bronze Artifacts).

The Eastern Boundary has fifty-three Wizarding Lands, each extremely vast, and each separated by unique natural barriers.

Apart from the Three Swamps, which, due to Cloud Lake and its unique geographical advantages, can gather a large amount of goods from various wizarding lands, most other wizarding lands remain relatively isolated.

In addition to other reasons, the more backward a wizarding land is, the more isolated and backward it becomes, making it difficult for it to come into contact with the surging tide of the wizarding world.

As Locke thought about this, he became even more curious about why the wizarding world was different from other worlds, with each different wizarding land separated by an insurmountable chasm.

Moreover, judging from past history, such a thing did not exist in the past.

Perhaps I'll have the chance to explore it myself, and maybe then I'll find some clues.

The trader secretly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the bronze artifact enter Locke's soul; even Rex's Alchemy Workshop could still make mistakes.

After all, creating bronze magical artifacts requires enduring the poison of soul bronze and painstakingly forging special magical artifacts with one's blood and sweat.

Therefore, forging such a magical artifact requires as many as a hundred people, most of whom are wizard apprentices who come to help with the work.

We also need large-scale alchemy equipment—a bronze alchemy blast furnace that costs ten million magic stones per unit!

If Locke finds himself unable to use the bronze artifacts, he will have to rework them, which would mean he sold the entire set of bronze artifacts for nothing.

Fortunately, nothing unexpected happened.

The trader smiled at Locke and said, "As long as the bronze artifact can bind to your soul, it means there's no problem with its quality. And your magical pressure has also increased by 200 out of nowhere..."

"Therefore, our transaction for the bronze magic furnace is now complete."

"Soul artifacts have no warranty period, because there's no way there could be a warranty issue. The soul realm is extremely mysterious."

The trader paused for a moment, then said, "Generally speaking, a wizard who has never bound a bronze artifact at the first crystallization stage will immediately increase their magic pressure by 100 to 200 after binding with the artifact. Your soul growth has almost reached its limit, which means you have a very high soul potential."

Locke glanced at the trader and asked indifferently, "How is soul potential tested? What is it related to?"

The trader paused for a moment, then apologized to Locke, saying, "I'm sorry, Mr. Augustine. Perhaps I shouldn't have spoken carelessly. I'm not a wizard who studies ghosts, but just an alchemist, so it's really hard for me to explain this. I was careless in saying that your soul potential is higher."

The trader explained in a low voice, "My teacher wrote an article about the Second Ring, Third Zone, which specifically describes the relationship between the increase in magical pressure and soul potential when bound to a standard bronze magical artifact, and believes that there is a direct proportional relationship between them."

"It's a pity that my teacher was also an alchemist, not a ghost wizard, so he really couldn't explain things about the soul. But according to our Rex's statistics, the soul potential of wizards who possess those bloodlines and ancient secret knowledge is stronger than that of many others."

Locke nodded, thinking of the mysterious dragon bloodline within him.

The trader said, "Your Thousand-Fold Furnace will continue to upgrade along with your soul until you reach the second ring. Once you become a second-ring wizard, if you want to replace your soul artifact, you can go to any alchemy workshop that deals in soul artifacts and spend a sum of money to replace your original furnace."

"Or, we can fuse it directly with your original magic furnace."

Locke looked at the trader with a puzzled expression.

When it comes to his professional expertise, the trader becomes more confident. He explains with a smile, "Soul Bronze has the property of fusing with similar materials while maintaining its structure."

"So when replacing the bronze furnace, you just need to put a new one in."

"This is your wand. The shaft is made of a molten peach branch, with three sections of white jade connecting it in the middle. The core is a dragon-phoenix tail feather. It was crafted entirely according to your personal characteristics and soul aura."

The trader seemed to have heard something from his second-ring teacher and said to Locke, "This wand is full of natural life force. The molten peach symbolizes longevity and the power of life, while the three sections of water and cloud white jade represent flowing spirituality."

“My teacher said that if you were to purchase a million-dollar wand, the core might be made of dragon crystal, but at the current price, we can only choose dragon feathers that best match your soul aura. Dragon feathers are the kings of magical bird creatures, and they are very compatible with some of your soul traits.”

"The wand is 23cm long and can be held with one hand without affecting your speed."

Locke held the wand in his hand, which was shaped like a dragon holding a peach. The wand head was a half-split peach with the tip slightly upturned and hollowed out inside, leaving a place to set a small gemstone.

Unfortunately, this place is currently empty.

The staff is made of a single branch of a peach tree, inlaid with three sections of white jade using a special inlay technique, giving it a very elegant appearance.

It also resembles a giant dragon carrying a peach.

Locke sensed that the wand's shape, texture, size, and all its details were tailor-made for him, as if it were his own birthplace.

Holding the wand in his hand, in an instant, he felt as if the wand were one of his own arms, wielding it with ease, his own magic merging with it.

Its power increased by about one level out of nowhere.

'Indeed, buying a wand before participating in the spell-fighting tournament was the right decision,' Locke thought. 'This wand greatly enhances my magical power. To participate without a wand would be like fighting bare-handed against someone wielding a weapon.'

"Furthermore, according to the information I've gathered from the free section of the library over the past month regarding the Spellfighting Tournament, the use of Permanent Defense Fields is prohibited!"

"Furthermore, every magic combat tournament attracts members from professional fighting leagues' multi-million dollar clubs, making the competition extremely fierce."

Locke held the Dragon-Headed Peach Magic Wand and waved it, causing vortexes of natural magic to appear in the air.

He watched this scene with satisfaction, then said, "Not bad, it enhances my power in every way. But what's with the wand head?"

The trader said, "Oh, well, it's like this, esteemed guest. When my teacher was designing the wand for you, he racked his brains, always thinking about how to design a better wand for you. It's just a pity that you only spent 500,000 magic stones, so many of his original ingenious designs had to be abandoned due to cost reasons."

"And this is one of his remaining ideas from back then. He couldn't bear to see such a brilliant idea cut short, so he left a blank space on your wand where a runestone could be inlaid."

"If you have any needs, you can come to us to inlay runestones."

The trader said with a genuine smile.

Locke was speechless, but didn't know what to say.

After all, in the alchemy workshop, it costs 10,000 magic stones to have someone open a slot on one's magical artifact to embed a rune stone.

The other party essentially gave me a feature for free.

However, the other party was clearly waiting for him to come to them, and also to embed some rune stones.

A single runestone is quite expensive, ranging from a basic 10,000 to an astounding 500,000 for a practical first-level runestone.

If you want to play around a bit, you can easily spend a million magic stones.

The trader asked Locke, "Sir, would you like to take another look at the runestone catalog? My teacher suggests that you socket a [Peach Blossom Runestone], which will disperse the power of the magic you unleash with this wand, making each of your attacks feel like a thousand attacks on the enemy."

Locke paused for a moment, then said, "So you mean to give your spell a skin, but the essence and spell model remain unchanged?"

The trader nodded. "But even just changing your skin can be very useful. First, it will prevent your enemies from figuring out what your spells are. Second, it might have some unexpected effects."

"Furthermore, if you want more practical runestones, we also have options. For example, the Strength Rune, the Tranquility Rune... Of course, my teacher recommends that you choose the Peach Blossom Runestone."

The trader picked up a catalog and handed it to Locke. "So, would you like to take a look now?"

Locke picked up the two magical artifacts and turned to leave. "No, no need."

Runestones are the masterpieces of enchanters. If magical artifacts are the main industry of alchemists, then runestones are a major industry in the field of enchanters.

However, I am not wealthy enough to give my spells a skin.

With my current money, I can only afford to buy basic functions to meet my needs.

The remaining money should be saved to prepare for advancing to the second-circle wizard level.

Without money, how can I advance to the second-circle wizard level?

Moreover, the Celtic leader failed five times before finally becoming a second-circle wizard on his sixth attempt at constructing a great magic spell.

Although he later said that a large part of his first five failures was due to not having enough money.

This means that I need a lot of resources to advance to the second-circle wizard level.

Locke left the shop.

The trader sighed slightly as Locke left, and then a wizard at the Moon Ring stage emerged from the second floor of the quiet room.

The badges worn by this wizard indicate that he is an expert alchemist and an expert enchanter.

The trader looked at the Moon Ring Wizard and said, "Assistant Manager, I'm truly sorry. It seems I'm still not very good at business. The reason I was able to close a million-dollar deal last time was probably just because this customer was generous."

"I wanted him to do a 500,000 runestone enchanting business this time, but it still failed."

The Moon Ring wizard was a dwarf with a long white beard. "Don't be discouraged, little Morgan."

"I'm just letting you practice. You know, many people are poor because they don't know how to make money. So they don't have money to do research, and without money to do research, they can't produce anything good to make money. And then it becomes a vicious cycle."

"Money is the most important thing!"

The dwarf master Simon glared and said, "Why are other alchemists so miserable while I'm so rich? It's because I developed a knack for making money from a young age. You shouldn't just bury yourself in alchemy."

"You also need to learn how to make money. Did you realize where the problem lay just now?"

Morgan the Wizard shook his head slightly. "Manager Simon, I have done as you requested, creating demand for our customers. Why is it still not selling?"

Master Simon shook his head slightly. "Actually, doing business and doing research are the same principle. You just missed a key point. You did create new demand for your customers, but you didn't build trust with them."

"My point is that doing business is about giving customers a signal that they can trust you. I mean, you weren't sincere enough just now, and you didn't consider things from the customer's perspective, which is why you were able to make that ridiculous offer of 500,000 new enchanted runestones to buy a spell skin."

Master Simon took out an ordinary wand inlaid with the Peach Blossom Runestone from his Astral Ring and elegantly drew several elegant runes in mid-air with the wand. First, a spell model formed by an ordinary fireball spell appeared in mid-air.

It was a huge fireball.

The next moment, the Peach Blossom Runestone at the bottom of the wand flickered. The energy and temperature of the fireball remained unchanged, but it transformed into thousands of countless small fireballs, like countless fireflies, circling around a single point in the void, attacking relentlessly, dazzling and overwhelming.

"The Peach Blossom Rune Stone was a carefully selected recommendation based on his situation. It was originally a very good choice, but you've turned it into a ridiculous sales pitch."

"You really think I'm just doing business?" said the wizard Simon. "My approach is to completely put myself in the customer's shoes and recommend the most suitable products to them if I want to make money."

Wizard Morgan quickly bowed to him. "Teacher, I understand. I'll give it a try next time that guest comes."

Wizard Simon nodded, glancing in the direction Locke had left, lost in thought. 'As expected of a wizard from the Dragonblood Society, he possesses such a strong dragon aura.'

Designing wands for these dragonblood wizards is actually quite interesting.

(End of this chapter)