Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 636 The Energy-Locking Structure of Magical Plants and the Further Exploration of Air Plants
The Sith wizard looked at Locke and said, "Some wizards in the Rose Council want to grow desert roses themselves. But even if we just grow desert roses on the side to earn economic value, they will inevitably be unable to surpass our two groups in terms of cost and supply in the short term."

"Our Group 2's largest water source comes from a large device developed by the Storm Tower. However, it requires regular maintenance by the Storm Tower. But the Rose Council somehow managed to get the wizards at the Storm Tower to stop maintaining our Group 2's device, leaving us Group 2 with absolutely no water!"

"Without water, it becomes extremely dangerous in this desert!"

Locke asked the Sith wizard, "So, we're out of water now? But I see many wizard apprentices watering the magical plants in the research institute. And the drip irrigation system hasn't stopped either."

The Sith wizard said, "That's water we stored up before. We can also transport water from outside, but it's very costly and the quantity is insufficient."

"This research institute requires an enormous amount of water every moment. Moreover, the water from outside this world will conflict with the sand and soil of this world, and it must go through a special large-scale conversion device before it can be used normally. The cost is very high."

"We can also extract a small amount of groundwater from beneath this plane. But that would be like draining the pond to catch all the fish, and if not handled properly, it could lead to further damage to the ecosystem of this entire plane."

"Don't think that this is the end of this plane. It's not. Deep underground in this plane, there are still a lot of low-level plant communities. These communities continuously produce magical tides, air elements, and wood elements for this world. If the ecosystem is further destroyed, even these will be gone, and this world will become an even more terrible purgatory."

"The temperature is expected to rise from 100 degrees Celsius to 300 degrees Celsius. Once it reaches that point, this plane will be completely destroyed."

"Therefore, we cannot extract too much groundwater."

Locke's thinking was quick. "If that's the case, then we can borrow some water from other research institutes in this world."

The Sith wizard sighed. "That's exactly what I did. But the price for water is still very high, and those guys will never miss any opportunity to get money."

Mason Witch asked in confusion, "Lord Sith, we at Golden Crown Mountain have our own Weather Academy, so why can't we build that equipment ourselves?"

The Sith wizard sighed. "Actually, we're still researching it. It's estimated that we'll be able to build it ourselves in about ten years. The most impressive thing about Cloud Marsh Wetlands in terms of meteorology is definitely the Storm Tower."

"Especially special weather systems that can still stably produce certain products even in various extreme and harsh environments. That's what Storm Tower is good at. We at Golden Crown Mountain haven't studied this area in great depth, at least not as much as we've invested in Storm Tower."

The Sith wizard said, "But you don't need to worry too much about these things. It just increases my water costs. Using groundwater, stored water, borrowing water from other research institutes, or transporting water from the Prime Material Plane are all temporary solutions."

"I'm also arranging for people to find a way to produce some water ourselves while getting rid of the Storm Tower. It's not that there's no way; look at that banyan tree on the 27th floor over there."

Locke looked towards the 27th plane and saw that the crystals embedded in the ceiling of the 27th plane emitted a faint sunlight. At the same time, a rain cloud gathered above the banyan tree, and the rain cloud was dripping sparse rainwater into the magic fields around the banyan tree.

The Sith wizard said, "Banyan trees have the common function of accelerating the condensation of rain clouds, so I am trying to find a way to have some banyan magical plants transplanted here to replenish the moisture in my base on a small scale."

"Water is everywhere in Yunze Wetland. But in this world, it is ten thousand times more expensive than gold."

"Locke, I'm just telling you about the difficulties our institute is currently facing. Don't worry too much, I'll take care of things even if the sky falls. Your group's research task is the same as our group's overall research task, which is to study drought-resistant plant factors in various plants and their mechanisms of action."

The Sith wizard led Locke and his group to the 30th underground level. As they walked through the corridors of the research institute, many wizard apprentices greeted them as they passed by.

If they encounter a formal wizard, they nod to each other as a sign of politeness.

The Sith wizard led them to his office and handed them four documents. "Our research institute mainly studies the drought resistance mechanisms of various magical plants."

"As for economic value... that's an additional requirement I made to give our institute more research resources."

"This is not His Majesty's request, but an additional request I made as the leader of Group 2. Otherwise, how could the researchers support such a large base with only subsidies from the White Wizard Association's project fund and with only funds from His Majesty's grant?"

The Sith Wizard said, "I just didn't expect that the Desert Rose magic plant would ultimately be coveted by the Rose Council themselves. Heh, those flower language masters in the Rose Council are too indiscriminate in their greed."

“We could have provided them with a steady supply of all kinds of desert roses and made magical bouquets for them. But they just had to interfere.”

"Even if we stop, the value of the desert rose will still increase. In the end, it's their own flower language masters in the Rose Council who will suffer."

"Desert roses are a common filler flower in magical bouquets!"

Locke said in a low voice, "But the suffering will only be felt by all the flower language masters, not by any one individual."

The Sith wizard snorted coldly. "Yes. There are indeed such selfish people."

The Sith wizard looked at Locke and said, "Therefore, I ask the members of Group 2 to find a drought-resistant economic crop that can replace the desert rose as soon as possible."

"And we will stop research on desert roses. Of course, the existing stock of desert roses is too large, so it is difficult to completely turn back in the short term."

The Sith wizard said, "Locke, do you have any good ideas?"

The three wizards, including Mason, immediately looked at Locke.

Locke hesitated for a moment, "Grow air plants?"

Mason Witch facepalms.

Well, that's exactly what their group has been doing all along.

The Sith wizard paused for a moment. "Air plants? Uh. I knew you were very knowledgeable about pineapples. But this is Group 2's project, not Group 6's. Air plants... don't have much economic value."

"Although air plants are indeed magical plants native to arid regions."

"But the problem is that our two groups need crops with high economic value."

The Sith wizard chuckled, "It's alright, I'm not in a hurry. Your group can take your time to think it over. Perhaps there's a better option than air plants."

The Sith wizard beckoned towards the office door. "Eros Ramsay, come here for a moment."

"Everyone, Eros Ramsey is a senior researcher in Group 2. You can ask him anything you don't understand."

"In the public office on the 30th underground floor, you can choose four workstations. In addition, you can apply to me for magic fields later."

"As long as you have selected your research goals."

"The research institute has complete research facilities, including three magic mirrors and even the Queen's Chessboard."

Locke immediately looked up at the Sith wizard.

Other first-level wizards basically don't need the Queen's Chessboard, but I have a huge need for it.

Locke asked the Sith wizard, "Teacher Sith, how much does it cost to use the Queen's Chessboard in our group 2 once?"

The Sith wizard said, "Five hundred thousand magic stones."

"However, you need to first pass the project application for the first-class project fund."

"What I mean is, you need to prove that you are working on a project at the True Knowledge Institute before you can use the Queen's Chessboard. In addition, we have structural comparison machines and other equipment of various sizes in our institute."

The Sith wizard patted Locke on the shoulder. "You can spend a week reading the materials first."

“I have high hopes for you, Locke.” The Sith wizard left, while the young Eros wizard looked at Locke with a mixture of curiosity and admiration.

“Wizard Augustine, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I was one of the spectators at that magical combat tournament.”

"I never expected that we would have the opportunity to cooperate."

"If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. I will help you quickly understand the research direction of Group 2 so that you can apply for your Zhenzhi Institute first-class project grant as soon as possible."

He looked at him with admiration. "I've only just completed fourth grade; I haven't even reached third grade yet."

"I don't know if I can complete the third-class project funding before leaving the station."

Locke casually remarked, "Good luck, Wizard Ramsay."

Then, the four of them began to leave the office and head to the public office.

In the dim light of the communal office, I sat at one of four adjacent workstations and began to read.

Then, Locke watched for half the afternoon, and his expression grew increasingly strange.

The more he looked, the more he felt that he should be here researching air plants.

First of all, the most valuable things in this research institute are water and soil.

The problem is that air plants are mostly grown hydroponically.

Furthermore, air plants should be cultivated in a drier environment rather than a wet one. While it's impossible to grow them without water, they don't need much.

It is precisely the environment within this research institute that is most suitable for cultivating a certain type of magical plant.

Most importantly, air plants originally had almost no economic value, but the problem is that my wizard shoes happen to require three types of air plant-like magical plants as raw materials.

Then the problem is different.

"Producing my wizard shoe air pineapple here will also reduce my production costs," Locke thought. "Renting an acre of magical land at Golden Crown Mountain is far too expensive. But it's different here; the land costs are much lower compared to Golden Crown Mountain."

'Moreover, this way I can kill two birds with one stone.'

'The funded projects overlap with the industry-funded projects...'

'This saved me a lot of time. A person's energy is limited; if I want to do everything, it will squeeze out the time I have for other things, like the time I have to devise powerful magic!'

Therefore, continuing research on air plants like pineapples is absolutely the best course of action.

'Even though this makes me look like an air plant fairy.'

Locke pondered, "The principle for watering air plants is to do so sparingly and frequently, 2-3 times a week is sufficient; the water consumption is not high."

"Of course, to secure a first-class project grant, you'll need to put in some extra effort."

Unlike in the six groups where I was quite familiar with the process, in the two groups, the focus here seems to be more on the research of drought resistance mechanisms.

Therefore, I need to change my research approach and focus on the drought resistance mechanisms of air plants.

This requires understanding the current research methods of the two groups; otherwise, it is very easy to fail to pass the application for a first-class project grant on the first try.

After all, it's not easy to get a first-class grant.

The research conducted by Group 2 was in a field where they had no prior background knowledge.

After reading the materials, Locke discovered that the research of Group 6 and Group 2 had commonalities. For example, the research on mechanisms to increase fertility and mechanisms to resist drought were both treasure troves for discovering new natural magical structural components.

In addition, studying the drought resistance mechanisms of magical plants makes it easier to discover new energy-locking structures in magical plant organs, new magical plant mechanisms, magical plant micro-organs, and so on...

Because drought resistance is a stress response mechanism, magical plants may undergo a sudden, temporary structural change or a change in the secretion rate of their internal natural magical components in this environment.

Therefore, what we were able to discover is actually quite different from the research of Group 6.

Every year, two groups discover new mechanisms by which magical plants respond to drought, as well as isomers of the same natural magical structural component.

Of course, the most important discovery was the new energy-locking structure of the magical plant organs.

The energy-locking structure is a typical feature of the plant's response to drought. It exists for a very short time and requires a specific environment, so it is difficult to detect.

Its difficulty and significance lie in discovering a new natural magical structural component or an isomer of that component.

Even with two groups, in the previous five-year cycle, we could only discover the energy-locking structure of a new magical plant.

The energy-locking structure is an attempt by the magical plant to achieve high energy utilization.

It has applications in many different aspects.

A new energy lock structure has been discovered that can create many spell models, and even lead to the creation of a spell family.

Many new energy-locking structures only appear briefly in certain individual magical plants.

After all, even without a lock-on structure, magical plants can cope with drought by relying on certain natural magical components and internal changes.

Many excellent energy-locking structures may very well disappear in the accidental mutation of a single magical plant.

Therefore, in the study of drought-resistant plants, if a wizard were to discover a new energy-locking structure, it would require tremendous luck and would be the best proof of his talent.

Of course, research on drought resistance mechanisms mainly involves discovering specific plant factors related to drought resistance, some common natural magical structural components, common energy-locking structures, and changes in macroscopic and microscopic organs of magical plants.

It is very difficult to discover new isomers of natural magical structural components.

Locke hesitated for a moment, then looked up at Mason, the witch, and the other two. "Everyone, how about we continue our research on the pineapple in Group 2?"

Freya the witch made an exaggerated expression. "Still pineapple? Will there be any changes if we go from group 6 to group 2?"

Wizard Barrett said matter-of-factly, "Studying drought resistance mechanisms and studying reproductive mechanisms are two different directions, and the findings will be different."

Mason Witch laughed, "I agree. This way our group will be much more familiar with each other, reducing the time and effort needed for adaptation. And, group leader, you can take this opportunity to make something out of your pineapple wizard shoes."

(End of this chapter)