Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 62 Applying for a Botanical Garden

Locke weighed the 320 magic stones he had left in his hand, entered a breeder's tool shop, and spent 100 magic stones to buy a complete set of basic breeder's tools (three pieces).

The three-piece set includes basic magical nutrient soil, magical nutrient solution, and fast-growing gel.

Nutrient soil and nutrient solution are both basic products of potion-making, specifically used to cultivate magical plants. They can help magical plants grow better and reduce the loss of magical power, thus preventing magical plants from becoming deformed, degenerated, or underdeveloped.

Similarly, fast-acting vitamin gel is also an essential item for breeders.

Because breeders need these three things, it is also called the breeding three-piece set.

Because breeders need to purchase in large quantities, there are specialized shops that offer bundled packages for breeders to buy all at once.

However, these kinds of shops generally don't make much money, since nutrient soil and nutrient solution are the simplest potion products, and only fast-growing gel is a little more complicated.

Even without a potion master assistant certificate, Locke can now refine fast-growing gel of sufficient quality on his own.

Therefore, these three products are purely about volume and don't generate any profit at all.

A basic three-piece set weighs an astonishing 1.5 tons.

Most of this consists of almost free nutrient soil, followed by bottles of dark green nutrient solution in glass jars. This nutrient solution can be mixed with water and used to water the soil regularly, creating soil that makes it easier for magical plants to grow.

Only the fast-acting vitamin gel is less; a basic set only weighs 100 kilograms.

But this is already enough to last for more than half a year in the five acres of magic field.

Shops that operate these breeder's farm tool stores can only operate on a low-profit, high-volume model.

After all, these things don't require much technical expertise, and if they're too expensive, no breeders will buy them from their stores.

Fortunately, those top breeders use more advanced breeder kits, and their fields are often far larger than my meager 5 acres.

Locke ordered the gray dwarves and minotaurs to load the supplies he had bought onto several carts, and then had them push the carts away from the store.

Before leaving, the shopkeeper, a second-class human wizard apprentice, greeted him and said he was welcome to come again.

Locke returned to his residence at 431 Upside Down Alley.

Next, he conducted a simple test on the six minotaur slaves and unexpectedly discovered that each of them had the physique of a proper knight, as described by Laun.

Locke looked at the two catgirl maids, drew a vial of blood from each of them, and then instructed them to be in charge of cleaning their house from now on.

These two maids were merely kept as a side job. Their main purpose was simply to extract the pure bloodline of the ancient creature, the Three-Eyed Tiger Cat, from their blood when the opportunity arose.

The two cat-woman princess maids obediently replied to Locke, "Yes, Master."

They gently lifted their princess dresses and gave Locke an elegant bow, as if they had always been Locke's servants.

Then, the two began cleaning the entire house for Locke.

Upon seeing this, Locke prepared to meditate. "To establish my own botanical garden, I should pay a certain amount of magic stones to Lilith's Cottage and record it. I'll ask Teacher Sophia about it tomorrow."

……

The next day, in Sophia's office, Sophia heard Locke talking about building his own botanical garden and deliberately looked up from her desk to glance at Locke.

The witch Sophia nodded in agreement, saying, "With your talent in breeding, you are indeed capable of establishing your own botanical garden."

“Five acres is a small botanical garden, and the application fee is two hundred magic stones. I happen to be going to report to the higher-ups today. Give me the magic stones, and I'll apply for the qualification certificate and the transfer notice from the patrol team for you while I'm at it,” the witch Sophia explained. “If I hadn’t applied for it for you, you would have been stuck at this step for at least three months.”

Locke was somewhat surprised. "Teacher, why did it take so long?"

Sophia the Witch closed the book in her hand, glanced at Locke, and said, "Of course it will take a long time. When you established the botanical garden, in a sense, you independently established a specialized laboratory for botany."

"The academy needs to conduct multiple reviews and qualification assessments on you. You need to pass the ethics review mechanism and various other confirmations. At the very least, the academy needs to ensure that the experiments you conduct comply with the regulations of the White Wizarding Association, and that the staff, assistants, and experimental materials you use are all in compliance with the rules."

"Wizards' experiments are always fraught with danger."

Locke nodded. Luckily, he hadn't bought human slaves; otherwise, he might have failed the ethical review and been stuck.

Sophia frowned slightly, looked at Locke, and leaned back in her chair with her arms crossed. "Locke, you have entered the realm of breeders, so there are some things you must understand."

"Moreover, you are very talented. Unlike those mediocre people, and therefore..."

"If you cause great damage later because you don't understand certain common sense, then it is my responsibility as the mentor who guided you into the field of breeding."

Sophia the Witch pulled a book from her desk and handed it to Locke, saying seriously, "Read this book when you get back. It's full of tragic examples of talented but reckless breeders."

"There was once a first-ring breeder with extremely crazy ideas. Using his superb breeding techniques and combining them with black magic forbidden by the White Wizarding Association, he created a black magic plant called the Abyss King Flower, which can transplant the self-awareness of wizard apprentices into plants and quickly assimilate other plants."

"As a result, his experiment went out of control, and the magic fields of the botanical wizarding organization, the Blue Ring Society, were almost completely destroyed. A large number of wizarding apprentices, and even full-fledged wizards of the Blue Ring Society, were wiped out by the Abyss King Flower."

"Furthermore, that wizard committed the largest breeding experiment in the southeastern region in nearly a hundred years that went out of control."

"That wizard himself died in that experiment that went out of control, and the Blue Ring Society declined from then on. Ten years ago, with the death of their last first-ring wizard, it was completely disbanded."

"But the disasters he caused have not subsided to this day. Those Abyss King Flowers are still wreaking havoc in the southeastern region, and they are the natural nemesis of us breeders."

"We breeders were terrified by this and called that disaster the 'Abyssal Plant Cataclysm'."

"Those special magical plants that combine the consciousness of a wizard apprentice with those of abyssal plants are no longer something that can be easily dealt with."

Sophia the Witch said seriously, "Back then, my teacher told me this to my face when I had just passed the exam to become a breeding assistant."

"Now, I'll tell you the same story."

The witch Sophia said, "We gifted wizards must always remember that while we pursue and grasp the truth, we should also revere it."

"That one-ring breeder lost his reverence for power, forgot his original aspirations, and became overly arrogant, which led to such a tragedy."

Sophia the Witch took a sip of tea and continued, "But all you want to do is grow the Super Mandela Vines. That's easy to get approved. I'll get it approved for you within a week and help you leave the patrol team."

"Let's not go to such a dangerous place again."

Locke bowed to the witch Sophia. Sophia was undoubtedly a typical white witch, spending her days conducting research and rarely venturing into dangerous places to plunder and fight like the black witches.

Locke pondered Sophia's warning. "Teacher, I will remember your teachings."

The witch Sophia said, "Well then, you may leave. By the way, starting tomorrow, I will teach you the final part of the Vine Hand spell series, [Thorn Whip]."

"Then comes the advanced series of the Vine Hands, each spell starting at least at the 0.5 level of the [Vine Frenzy] series of spells."

"The vine swarm spell series can even be used by first-class wizard apprentices, and there are corresponding first-level advanced spells."

(End of this chapter)