Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 635 Sand Dune Base and the Drought-Resistant Magical Plant - Desert Rose
The Sith wizard, flying through the air, said, "In this Dune world, there are many Golden Crown Mountain research groups conducting research, not just my group 2. There are also some research groups that are cooperating with Golden Crown Mountain wizarding organizations, or that certain wizarding organizations have paid to rent them."

"The Dune World is quite famous in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands. After all, so many magic stone resources were spent to transform this world, so it would be a waste not to just use it for our experiments."

"Only by cooperating with other wizarding organizations can we recoup some of our losses."

After flying for more than an hour, Locke and his group saw an oasis experimental base with the sign of "Seven-Colored Nursery" hanging in the vast sea of ​​sand.

That appears to be a research institute of the Seven-Colored Nursery in this world.

Meanwhile, 50 kilometers after passing this research institute, Locke and his companions saw the academy emblem of [Magic Pivot City] on a sand dune.

Then, behind the sand dune, we saw a large ecological base.

It seems this dune world is a valuable asset for Golden Crown Mountain. Several major wizarding organizations are willing to pay to purchase a research facility within this world.

The Sith wizard led Locke and his companions on a flight that eventually brought them to an oasis.

This oasis was not only located on the surface of the desert, but also continued to descend, digging through layers of rock, with agricultural areas layer upon layer on the ground.

At a glance, there are at least thirty floors.

At the same time, the entire oasis is covered by an invisible thin film. The magical energy and moisture that escape from the oasis are intercepted by this thin film covering the oasis and then remain inside.

The Sith wizard pointed to the transparent film and said, "This is an ecological membrane, the masterpiece of the alchemists of Mount Golden Crown. It can trap magical energy and moisture, but it will not prevent the exchange of other substances between the inside and outside."

"Without this ecological membrane, the magical energy in our research institute could not be retained for more than 24 hours. It would immediately turn from a medium-magic area to a non-magic area. Most of the magical plants in our research institute would die completely within a few days."

"In fact, this process is also part of the history that has occurred in this plane."

The Sith wizard said, "Besides the ecological membrane, look, there is a flying machine above the research institute."

Locke, Mason Witch, and the others looked up and saw a void warship shaped like a giant porcelain tree above the ecological base.

Countless gears and hot steam are emanating from those giant porcelain trees.

It appears that some wizards are also conducting research among them.

The entire giant tree is like a huge porcelain dome. When the scorching sun shines on it, its heat is absorbed, converted, and stored as energy.

Locke pointed to the enormous porcelain piece and asked, "What is that?"

The Sith wizard said, "That's a type of architecture invented by the City of Porcelain, the City of the Demon Pivot. However, this one is a replica made by our Golden Crown Mountain. You can consider it as something produced by Golden Crown Mountain itself."

"The City of Witch Porcelain is made of witch porcelain, which can absorb solar energy and transform it into magical energy. This magical energy is then channeled into our research institute, becoming the energy for the various magical devices within the institute, as well as the energy to create magical tides."

“Look, there are thirty cities of magic porcelain in the sky. These cities absorb solar energy every moment and convert it into magical tides to maintain the magical tide concentration gradient in our research institute.”

"This plane itself is already failing; otherwise, no magical plants could be grown on this plane at all."

The Sith wizard said, "It's ridiculous that the solar energy that turned this plane into such a hellish scene has, through our wizarding techniques, become something that gives this plane new life."

"This plane lacks everything, except energy."

"This is an important research site for Sun Porcelain, and the City of Porcelain is a milestone product of Sun Porcelain. Since we canceled most of the bases in this world ten years ago, only the previous ecological base remains in this world."

“Every year they want to apply for another base for researching solar shaman porcelain.”

Locke asked, "Golden Crown Mountain probably won't agree, will it?"

The Sith wizard chuckled, "If they were to reveal the technology behind their Solar Warlock Porcelain, Golden Crown Mountain would probably agree. But I doubt they will."

"In that case, they will have no choice but to find a suitable colony plane themselves and use a lot of resources to transform it. The Senate and the Academic Committee do not want the plane that we have worked so hard to transform to become a tool for their Nexus to research new technologies."

“That would be a huge loss for us. We, Golden Crown Mountain, have invested a lot of resources. But Golden Crown Mountain is objectively inferior to Demon Pivot City in terms of witch porcelain. So we have no choice but to kick them out.”

Sith said, "The City of Witch Porcelain not only gathers magical tides for us, but also shields us from the sun. Otherwise, the high temperature could easily turn all the magical plants in our research institute into charcoal, or burn through a corner of the ecological membrane."

"The ecological membrane is constantly being damaged. Once it breaks, it will leak water vapor and magical tides. You see, many wizards are repairing the ecological membrane. This is a common task for our group 2."

Locke asked the Sith wizard, "Teacher Sith, do all the research institutes in this world have ecological membranes and cities of witch porcelain?"

“The two ecological bases we just encountered also seem to have these two large pieces of equipment.”

The Sith wizard said, "Of course. Otherwise, how would we maintain the concentration of magical tides and humidity within the base, as well as control the light intensity?"

"Therefore, both the ecological membrane and the City of Witch Porcelain are necessary. Of course, the ecological membrane is definitely needed, but some wizarding organizations in this world do not use the City of Witch Porcelain to block the sunlight; they may use other things, such as magical artifacts. However, using Witch Porcelain has an advantage: it can generate energy while blocking the sunlight."

The Sith wizard passed directly through the ecological membrane.

Locke hesitated for a moment, then rode the Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow and crashed into the ecological membrane.

Contrary to expectations that he would collide with something, Locke passed through the ecological membrane as if he were passing through air.

He glanced curiously at the ecological membrane behind him. "This thing is truly amazing. No wonder it's the work of alchemists."

The magical tidal concentration gradient inside and outside the membrane, and even the weather conditions, are indeed completely different.

Outside the membrane is an extreme temperature of over 100 degrees Celsius, while inside the membrane the temperature is only about 40 degrees Celsius, and there is a lot of water vapor.

Most importantly, the concentration gradient of the magical tides is very high, roughly at the level of the southeastern corner region.

This resulted in the ground becoming covered with magical plants growing beneath the magical fields of water droplets from the pipes.

There were many wizard apprentices working on the ground.

The Sith wizard said, "In this dune plane, the least valuable thing is energy, since we have solar energy anyway."

“It can be transformed into magical tides using witch porcelain. So, it might be different from what you thought before. In this plane, we really don’t lack magical power.”

"But we lack something else, which is also the major crisis that our group 2 has recently encountered."

Locke, Mason Witch, and the others looked at Sith.

The Sith wizard landed on the ground, and the four of them followed suit.

Meanwhile, the wizarding apprentices on the ground immediately came over to greet the Sith wizards and their companions.

"Greetings, Lord Sith..."

"Hello, Professor Augustine, hello, Professor Mason..." "Ah, I didn't expect Professor Augustine to come to our base as well."

Because of the magic combat tournament, many wizarding apprentices on Mount Golden Crown have come to know Locke.

At this moment, a first-class wizard apprentice witch with a magic pressure of 700 covered her mouth, as if she had seen her idol.

She was holding a grafting knife in a magical field, grafting a variety of desert rose.

She whispered to another female first-class wizarding apprentice, "I've wanted to attend one of Professor Augustine's open classes for a long time. Unfortunately, Professor Augustine has never given any open classes."

Another witch apprentice whispered, "Even if he offers a public class, we probably won't be able to get a spot. There will definitely be a lot of people signing up, and we're in this Dune Plane, with limited time to return to the Material Plane."

"Professor Augustine is the champion of the magic combat tournament. If he starts teaching, the classes will probably be full immediately."

The Sith wizard led Locke and the others to the central staircase of the research institute. The five of them went up the staircase and followed it underground.

The Sith wizard glanced at Locke and laughed, "It seems that some of us have become big celebrities, even within my Group 2 base, we have our own admirers."

Locke coughed.

The magic combat tournament and the Yunze Cup have indeed brought him a lot of fame.

Mason Witch and Freya Witch secretly chuckled.

The Sith wizard said, “As you can see, my research institute needs a lot of capable wizard apprentices, but the Dune Plane itself is not suitable for apprentice-level wizards. Therefore, without this ecological membrane, the safety of those students cannot be guaranteed at all.”

"However, even if you do have it, it's actually quite dangerous."

"Because this world has many sandstorms that never stop..."

As soon as the Sith wizard finished speaking, a city of witch porcelain above the ecological membrane suddenly fired a magic cannon into the distance, scattering a huge sandstorm that was approaching from afar.

The Sith Wizard said, "We were just talking about this, and it happened right away. If the sandstorm gets close to our research institute, it might exacerbate the problem of the ecological membrane leaking, and it could also affect the operation of the City of Witch Porcelain..."

"If the ecological membrane has serious problems, it may lead to the complete scrapping of our entire base."

"Therefore, those cities of witch porcelain in the sky also serve another purpose: to monitor the movement of nearby sandstorms and disperse them before they get close."

The Sith wizard said, "However, before that, this world experienced a super sandstorm that swept across half of the plane due to a problem with the earth's core tremors."

"My research institute also suffered severe damage in that natural disaster, resulting in heavy economic losses. Fortunately, however, only one second-class wizard apprentice died. These people are our academy's most valuable assets."

"Therefore, our college's asset losses were not that severe. This is why we moved away from the research institute's location before."

The Sith wizard looked at Locke and said, "But in the end, these are just minor troubles."

"The real trouble is elsewhere."

Following up on what the group leader, the Sith wizard, had said, Locke asked, "Teacher Sith, what trouble have you encountered?"

The Sith wizard stood on the suspended ladder, pointed to the surrounding magical fields, and asked, "Locke, tell me, what crops are grown in those magical fields?"

Locke hesitated for a moment, then confirmed after observation: "Most of them are rose-type magical plants."

The Sith wizard nodded and said, "In this world, my research institute has no shortage of energy. But it lacks two things: first, water; second, good soil."

"Therefore, in this dune world, three problems need to be solved. The first is the source of water, the second is the source of soil, and the third is the source of air."

"Originally there were four problems, including the problem of magical tides, but because of the technology of the City of Witch Porcelain, magical tides are not lacking in this world at all; on the contrary, they are abundant. We have mastered the solar Witch Porcelain technology that converts high temperatures into magical energy."

The Sith wizard said, "As for air element, we also have a large number of magical plants here that can produce air element. As long as there are enough plants, at least within the ecological membrane, there will be enough air element."

"So, there are actually only two questions."

"First water, second soil."

Locke nodded slightly. In fact, the moment the four of them entered this plane, they discovered that the atmospheric composition was different from that of the Wizarding World.

However, all four were formal wizards, and their bodies had undergone certain modifications. Unlike ordinary life forms, they were not inseparable from the element of air.

Moreover, the air in this dimension contains a certain amount of gas elements, so breathing is not a problem.

As for why there is still gas element content, it may be related to the fact that the overall elemental barrier of this plane is still intact, and at least there has been no terrible gas escape.

However, since magical tides are a rarer resource than gas, the problem arose that all the magical tides were completely lost.

Moreover, Locke had previously observed that a large amount of gas element itself was emerging from the ground, which might be the world's will's last attempt to save life in this world.

The Earth's core should still retain the ability to produce the essential substance for life—the element of air.

This may be the last act of defiance in this dimension.

In a sense, the sudden arrival of the wizarding civilization on this plane was almost like the arrival of a savior.

No wonder I didn't feel any hostility or malice when I came to this plane. Instead, I felt the remaining world will extending an invitation and encouraging me.

The Sith wizard said, "The soil has turned into sand due to lack of nutrients and high temperatures. However, after controlling the temperature with the City of Witch Porcelain, as long as there is enough water and magical plants (humus) or fertilizer, the sand can slowly turn into soil."

"The difference between sand and soil lies in humus, a whole host of microorganisms, and other trace elements."

"Therefore, the final problem is water. And the problem I'm facing now is a water shortage. As for why there's a water shortage..."

A hint of anger flashed across the Sith wizard's face. "This has to do with the damned Rose Council and the treacherous Storm Tower."

“Our group 2 was making great strides, with new research breakthroughs every year, and publishing many papers in Q1 journals every year!”

"Furthermore, we have established a partnership with the Rose Council by cultivating desert roses. Desert roses require very little water, have high economic value, are drought-resistant, and even after they die, they produce humus, turning sand into soil."

"It's a really good method that makes a huge profit."

"Desertification control is water control. Plants that require less water and have higher economic value are the plants that our group needs most."

"We were doing very well. However, a wizard from the Rose Council suddenly took a liking to the meager profits we made from cultivating various desert roses..."

"Even the United Storm Tower has imposed restrictions on me!"

(End of this chapter)