Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 660 The unspoken rules of the magic weaver have nothing to do with me, the breeder.

Locke made a video call to Scarlett the Witch, and after a short wait, Scarlett agreed to answer. She was wearing a witch's hat with a peacock feather in it and a pearl necklace around her neck, dressed like a noblewoman.

At this moment, she was clearly in a colony plane under the jurisdiction of Yunze Wetland.

This colony plane was captured in the near-Earth void orbit of the Wizarding World; otherwise, Locke would not have been able to communicate with Scarlett the Witch who was in the colony plane.

Surrounding Scarlett the Witch were many red-skinned minotaurs working in the fields. One minotaur, dressed in clothing similar to that of the wizarding world, looked respectfully at Locke's projection and bowed to it in worship.

Two red-haired minotaur servants were fanning Scarlett the witch with banana leaf fans.

Scarlett the Witch took a sip of the drink brought to her by the red-haired minotaur servant, looked at Locke and said, "My dear partner, Locke, it's been so long since we last contacted each other, almost two months."

What have you been doing lately?

"Hehe, I was just asking casually. I could tell from your expression that you didn't want to talk about it, so let's skip the formalities. Anyway, we're already so familiar with each other."

Scarlett the Witch laughed.

Looking at Scarlett the Witch's entourage, Locke said, "It's been two months, and Scarlett the Witch's entourage has grown so much."

Scarlett the Witch paused for a moment. “Oh, you mean this? This is a courtesy extended to me by the Minotaur Emperor of this colony. If I had refused, that Minotaur would have been punished.”

"This plane is the traditional plane of Arthas. We Arthas cooperated with the Tauren Emperor here and established many plantations. This world and the Tauren Empire of this world have also made a lot of money. It's just a pity that the Tauren people of this world rarely have the talent for wizarding."

“Therefore, it can only serve as a cheap production base,” Scarlett the witch said. “Arthas had just conquered a medium-sized plane and discovered that many of the intelligent beings in that world possessed wizarding talents, making them naturally easy for us to win over. Their aesthetics are similar to ours, so we can absorb and assimilate their culture.”

"So Alsace invested in their infrastructure for free."

Locke raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Huh? I thought your Arthas Shop Alliance was there to make money."

Scarlett the Witch laughed, "The scale of our Arthas Shop Alliance is far deeper than you think, my dear friend, Locke."

"Traditionally, the colonies of Yunze Wetlands have only served two purposes: cheap production bases and talent markets attracted by culture. However, the ten major shop alliances of Yunze Wetlands, in their constant competition, have recently discovered that simply utilizing these colonized worlds in this way is a waste. Worlds with the potential to become a second society of the wizarding world, if they receive magical and infrastructure investment, and are helped to receive basic magical civilization education... could create a large number of wizards..."

Scarlett the Witch got so excited that she gestured wildly and said, "Just think about it, in a society with only ten wizards, can you do business, or in a society with ten thousand wizards?"

"Therefore, Arthas will invest in that world to help them improve their civilization. Arthas firmly believes that as long as a world's magical civilization is advanced enough, there will be consumption, and with consumption, they can sell things over there."

Locke thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "That's true. But can this still be called colonization? You're practically angel investors."

Scarlett the Witch then commanded with her eyes for the minotaur servant to bring the drink to her lips. "Call it whatever you want, calling it colony is just a matter of historical inertia."

"As long as we can make money, that's all that matters. Yunze Wetland is different from other wizarding lands; it doesn't have as many rigid ideologies. So we don't care much about these names."

"Making money is the key. Arthas, as a shop alliance with billions of magic stones, has recently invested a lot in these colonies," Scarlett the Witch said. "However, these things require long-term investment and don't generate profits in the short term. On the contrary, they've made a lot of money for the architect shop alliances and related wizarding academies, since building infrastructure requires investment from them."

Locke nodded. "Scarlett, let's put those great wizards' business aside for now. That business has nothing to do with us first- or second-ring wizards."

The scale of business that can be conducted in the Wizarding World is closely related to the hierarchical system.

It's impossible for a first-ring wizard or a second-ring wizard to run such a large business.

On the contrary, high-ring wizards can even directly create large-scale platform alliances of shops, making most breeders work for this platform.

Essentially, the owner of this platform is a giant landowner.

Of course, there should be more than one owner behind this store alliance. This is a listed store alliance, and the ownership of its shareholders is very complex.

Locke said, "Let's talk about things that concern us. Things about my wizard shoes, and whether Scarlett the Witch can become a platinum trader. I'd like to ask how much my two pairs of wizard shoes sold for."

Scarlett the Witch paused for a moment, then said, "I helped you with the Shoe Exchange Festival and World Walking Day, and we earned a total of three million magic stones. Take a look. That's pretty good. After all, it's a rare pair of pure magic plant wizard shoes."

"If you didn't have the title of champion of the magic combat tournament, I estimate that you would only have earned one-third of this net profit."

"It's even possible to lose money. Of course, there's also the initial success of our Augustus Wizard Shoes brand. We've successfully given many of our wizard clients a preliminary impression of the Overlord Hummingbird Wizard Shoes, endorsed by the champion of the Spell Fighting Tournament."

"I then added labels like environmentally friendly and second-generation Bawang Huamo plant products to increase your profits."

Locke nodded slightly.

I had anticipated this profit.

After all, I didn't put much effort into these two products. The money I made was only because Scarlett Witch ran them for me and because of her good track record.

Before he discovered the Pixiu angle fractal spiral constraint equation set, the performance of the wizard shoes he made could only be considered average.

The fact that it was able to sell was largely due to the momentum of the magic combat tournament.

“Three million magic stones…hmm, that’s enough,” Locke said.

That's enough to at least pay off my debts and start the next round of research.

With the exploration of the Abyss Ruins complete, I can finally focus my energy on completing the first-class grant project of the True Knowledge Institute.

We should conduct serious research on energy-locking structures.

Coincidentally, optimizing my first ultimate spell and thinking about my second ultimate spell also requires studying energy-locking structures.

The lack of research on energy-locking structures during the Age of Stars meant that the immense magic I conceived in my historical reenactment of the Age of Stars needed to be optimized again using energy-locking structures.

Locke said to Scarlett the Witch, "By the way, Scarlett the Witch, I've figured out how to develop the fourth style of wizard shoes."

Scarlett the Witch was delighted. “Welcome. If this momentum continues, our Augustus Wizard Shoes should be able to become a third-rate wizard shoe brand in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands.”

"At least we can secure a place here."

Locke raised an eyebrow. “Third-rate? Scarlett the Witch, if you’re going to start a wizard shoe brand, you have to start the best. I’ve also gotten used to life in Yunze Wetland during this time. The developed commercial society of Yunze Wetland was indeed hard for me to adapt to at first, but I think that in order to maximize my future development, I need to consider how to make more money.”

“I want to seriously build a wizard shoe brand, so I want to be the best.”

Scarlett the Witch paused for a moment, then became serious. "Alright. I like partners with ambition."

She simply took Locke's words as a display of lofty ambition. But as Locke's top trader, why wouldn't she be happy to offer him some encouragement?

Anyway, it's just a few words, and I don't have to pay anything.

Locke asked, "Scarlett, regarding the wizard shoe procurement for the Demon War at Golden Crown Mountain that you mentioned before, I've made some progress. By the way, what's the deadline for submitting designs and samples for this procurement?"

Scarlett the Witch paused for a moment, then seemed to realize something, and her expression turned somewhat guilty.

"The deadline is January."

Locke nodded slightly. A month later? That's enough time.

After all, the Pixiu angle fractal spiral constraint equation set has already been calculated by himself. As a breeder, he only needs to rely on the Big Black Diamond Pineapple, grafting it with the Big Snow Top Pineapple and its subspecies to cultivate a pineapple magic plant that can mimic the Pixiu angle fractal spiral energy-locking structure.

Then use the synthesis cube to improve the cultivation speed and quality.

A month is more than enough time, and I can even use the remaining time to do some research for Group 2.

Apply for the first-class project funding for the Zhenzhi Institute as soon as possible.

Scarlett the Witch felt a little guilty. "Locke, but regarding this wizard shoes procurement, I've thought about it carefully. I was careless before; after all, I was just a silver-level trader before, with limited experience."

"Now that I'm a top trader and have a wider network, I realize that the procurement of Wizard Shoes is more complicated than I thought."

"I think things are too complicated here. We'd better not have too high hopes."

Locke looked at her questioningly. "Is there something wrong? Even you're so lacking in confidence?"

Scarlett the Witch saw Locke standing in the wilderness, with no one around, and since she was in the colony plane, she spoke directly and without beating around the bush: "I didn't expect that things involving the magic weaver industry were even darker than I thought."

"Locke, are you familiar with the service fee alliance in the magic weaver industry?"

Locke seemed thoughtful. "What is that?"

He had also heard about the corruption and chaos that had accumulated in the magic weaver industry.

Scarlett the Witch said, "This relates to why pure magical plant wizard shoes are hated and ostracized by magic weavers, and are not allowed to exist and are suppressed."

"Generally speaking, if it's just about making money, then there will definitely be magic weavers who will actively discover ways to make money with pure magic plant wizard shoes and try to enter this market."

Locke nodded slightly. "Where the profits are, that's where the wizards will be."

Scarlett the Witch said, "The problem lies in the service fee alliance. I had never dealt with this before and didn't know that magic weavers had so many unspoken rules in the industry."

"The alliance of various textile workshops and shops of the magic weavers, as well as the high-ring magic weavers, have formed an industry standard through their magic weaver industry guild, which includes the standard for wizard shoe service fees."

Scarlett the Witch said, "The standard document is forbidden to be distributed, so I can't show it to you. I only saw it at a traders' gathering."

“This is completely different from our breeder industry. Our breeder industry union only protects the rights and interests of individual breeders, and does not do this kind of thing.”

"The standard service fee for Wizard Shoes includes the cost of regular internal recharging services and maintenance services such as cleaning and repair."

Locke raised an eyebrow.

Scarlett the Witch said, "Based on this standard, wizard weavers will definitely have to consider systematically discarding the shoes they make."

"Systemic failures are intended to ensure that individuals and colleges who purchase wizard shoes pay a huge annual maintenance fee."

Locke was speechless. "This... the current price of wizard shoes is already considered high among magical artifacts, and the price is highly inflated. They even want to charge a maintenance fee."

Scarlett the Witch said, "The unit price of maintenance is higher than the profit of the witch's shoes."

"Furthermore, wizard shoes also have a waste recycling program. Due to their dominant position, the wizard weavers will stipulate in the purchase contract that the discarded wizard shoes must be returned to a few designated shop alliances as an environmentally friendly disposal."

"However, that's actually cost recovery."

“A disobedient wizard, if taken to court, may be subject to a fine.”

Locke frowned. He did have some information about this; everyone knew a little about it, so it wasn't difficult to investigate.

I really didn't know about that service fee.

No wonder those magic weavers had such a big problem with me after I won the magic fighting tournament and topped the sales charts.

At the time, I thought they felt that I, as a breeder, shouldn't be selling wizard shoes.

Only now do I realize how much there is behind wizard shoes, and how I foolishly went and sold magical plant wizard shoes, directly breaking the industry's unspoken rules.

But... what does this have to do with me?

Anyway, with the Golden Crown Mountain behind him, selling wizard shoes at the first stage of the game, no one can do anything about him.

Given my current status, it's appropriate for me to do this business and find my own blue ocean market.

As long as you are capable of eating it, that's fine.

Scarlett the Witch said, "So, if you participate in the group purchase, I'm afraid you'll face many difficulties. If you push them too far, they could easily unite and collude to win the group purchase by offering a price you simply can't match. So, in any case, we can't win the group purchase."

“It was a mistake of mine to have you try participating in the Demon Realm Set Procurement at Golden Crown Mountain. I’m sorry, Locke.”

Locke shook his head slightly, and after thinking for a moment, said, "No, you have brought me good news. You have shown me that my wizard shoes are even more competitive than I thought..."

If that's the case, then with the Pixiu angle fractal spiral constraint equation set, the wizard shoes I made myself could very well defeat them in the Demon Realm War procurement.

Because of its long-term monopoly, the other party has done too many things to increase the cost for buyers, while I, as a breeder, have no need to be restricted by the standard of wizard shoe service fees.

What business is it of a breeder like me if the rules set by the Magic Weavers' Guild are not mine?!

(End of this chapter)