Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 664 Returning to the Dune Plane: We Are Not Enemies

Xiaotaoshan, Sand Dune Plane, outside the 30th floor underground ecological base of the research institute of Group 2.

Locke walked here with Mason Witch and others. He frowned slightly because he had only been gone for three months, but the ecological base of Group 2 had changed drastically.

Outside the oasis base of Group 2, there are rings of natural gas mines in the desert, as well as a large number of cold factory buildings.

These factories stand side by side, with numerous concrete chimneys appearing in this dune plane, and large amounts of exhaust gas being discharged into the sky of this plane, which has been burned through by the sun.

Many golems, as well as first-class wizard apprentices, were hurrying around these massive chimneys.

The four walked beside a magical alloy chimney that was 500 meters in diameter and 1,000 meters high, as if a giant pipe had been inserted into the sand dune plane.

The chimney is spewing out massive plumes of black smoke, even more terrifying than a volcanic eruption.

Locke stared at the terrifying black mist. "Heavy pollution from arsenic? And plutonium... radon..."

"These are all heavily polluting substances..."

Freya the witch said, "Yes, but to separate matter and reduce the composite element particles that make up matter, a large number of entropy increase reactions will inevitably occur, producing a large number of elemental substances that would not normally be exposed on the surface of the earth. And the quantity is that much."

"However, our newly promoted second-circle wizard, Lord Zaran Bailey, believes that environmental pollution is merely a necessary evil."

"If we can quickly restore the number of plants in a plane, we can change the environment through a large plant community, and then save that plane. What a grand plan!"

Locke did not immediately comment, but observed for a while and saw that this chimney, as well as a large number of chimneys and natural gas wells in the distance, were all emitting large amounts of heavy particulate pollutants every moment.

Of course, a large amount of pure water did flow from the pipes coming out of the desert conversion plant. This water was flowing into the research institute of Group 2 through the water pipe system and was transformed into water to irrigate the large number of magic fields in Group 2.

Not only that, these water sources are also constantly flowing into the desert.

The dune plane is all desert, so no matter how much water flows in, it either evaporates out of the plane or seeps into the ground, leaving a large amount of salt and alkali on the surface of the desert layer.

But... at this moment, there is a continuous source of water from the desert conversion plant, coupled with the plant ecological restoration plan of wizard Zaran Bailey, so some sea buckthorn bushes have appeared around the research institute base of Group 2.

Although still sparse, it has already reached a considerable scale.

Undoubtedly, Zaran Bailey's plan has already had some effect within three months.

However, it is also a fact that a large amount of exhaust gas is constantly billowing from the chimneys of the desert conversion plant.

Mason Witch coughed, feeling a slight discomfort in her throat. "These fumes, even after being thinned out, seem to be quite irritating to the human body."

Locke glanced at her and said, "The Dune Plane's ecosystem has already completely collapsed; it's just a remnant. And the heavy particles emitted by these exhaust gases are difficult to degrade and are highly polluting."

The Witch Mason asked, "So, Locke, you also think this plan is too radical?"

Freya the witch said, "Team leader, you don't know, while you were away, the wizard Zaran Bailey was constantly fighting with us for equipment. Our team could only wait, and it could take weeks before we could use a single piece of equipment."

"And other resources... are the same. Our group is new here, so we don't have much say."

Locke looked up at the sky and saw that a large amount of exhaust gas had turned into dark clouds, which actually blocked the sunlight and lowered the surface temperature by at least one-third.

This is one of the reasons why those magical plants can regrow in the desert.

Locke stepped into the desert and discovered that the desert sand had properties similar to soil.

"Hardening spell? That's magic from the Conjuration school, isn't it?"

Freya the witch nodded and said, "Yes, team leader. It was that wizard Zaran Bailey who hired wizards from the Conjuration School to cast a hardening spell on every piece of land, thus solving the problem of the desert surface being prone to shifting."

"Make the desert like a concrete surface. This will make it easier to build factories in the desert, and at the same time, we can plant the magical plant seeds in it to prevent the sandstorms from swallowing them up..."

Locke nodded slightly. "In order to obtain water, he needs to build a special treatment plant, which will continuously produce heavily polluting exhaust gases. The exhaust gases rise into the air, blocking out the sun, but in doing so, they also lower the surface temperature of this plane."

"He then used magic to forcibly modify the surface, making the desert's characteristics closer to those of ordinary land."

"He is just waiting for a large-scale magical plant community to appear in the Dune Plane. The magical plants themselves are the production site of air and wood elemental particles, and can also generate magical tides."

"As long as the magical plant community recovers to a certain size, it can forcibly restore the magical power of this plane to a certain size."

Locke pondered, "That's probably his line of thinking; he even considered the role of pollutants. Although the dimensional tides of a plane and the total biomass of a magical plant community are not directly proportional—it's the plane's magical tides that are strong, which is why top-tier magical plant communities are born—his perspective is to reverse the relationship between the two."

"He created a top-tier magical plant community, and then forcibly restored the magical tide concentration gradient of the plane to a certain level."

Freya the witch said, "Team leader, how can you boost others' morale while diminishing your own?"

Locke shrugged. "I'm just objectively analyzing his thinking. If he were a fool, the Sith wizards wouldn't have allowed his actions, much less allocated resources to him."

"Moreover, it has indeed been very effective so far."

“Zaran Bailey is a wizard who believes that the entire natural world can be restored through modification. Even if that nature is artificial.”

Mason Witch nodded and said, "He does have that tendency."

"So, Team Leader Locke, do you think he can succeed?"

Locke shook his head slightly. "I don't know. I'm just a first-circle wizard, while he's a second-circle wizard."

"Moreover, he is putting it into practice. Whether it works or not, we will see the results. I will not comment on things that have not yet yielded results. But as things stand, although I do not like his approach, it has indeed enabled Group 2 to quickly obtain water."

Barrett the wizard spoke up: "So, team leader, if you were in this situation, what would you do?"

Locke frowned as he looked at the conversion plants. "From my personal aesthetic point of view, I would never do this."

"This is somewhat of a case of focusing on the head but neglecting the tail."

"He wanted to rebuild the entire natural world like building blocks. But even a second-circle wizard cannot completely decipher ecology; he is still a researcher and learner of ecology. Rebuilding ecology is a systemic project; a change in one part affects the whole."

"His approach of using one problem to solve another is inevitably worrying."

"With such a large-scale ecological transformation, allowing large amounts of waste gas to be released into the air, if any link in the chain goes wrong... I really don't know how he will handle it."

Because this isn't in the wizarding world, the ethics review committee has very little scrutiny of such matters.

Locke looked down at his feet and saw sewage heavily polluted with a large amount of pyroxene, which meandered along the hardened desert surface to his feet.

The terrifying image of the nightmare of life appeared before me, as if it were still vivid in my mind.

Locke sighed. "I don't actually agree with this approach. Such a short-sighted approach may solve the problem in the short term, but the potential for future problems is considerable."

“By the way, that second-circle wizard… he should be leaving the station soon, right?” Mason and the others exchanged glances. “Indeed.”

Mason Witch said, "However, Zaran Bailey shouldn't be that bad. He can't just run away from the monk, he can't hide from the temple."

“He can leave Golden Crown Mountain, but he can’t escape unless he wants to give up all his social connections there.”

"The social connections at Golden Crown Mountain are invaluable. In other regions, it's impossible to recognize so many potential wizards or high-ring wizards."

“I heard that he has friends who work in environmental protection, and he must have already contacted them. So, his environmental wizards should be able to help him solve these pollution problems.”

Locke looked up at the sky and saw heavily polluted clouds that blotted out the sun. "He really should find a few more weatherman friends to help him control the situation."

To be fair, Daniel does indeed have that ability.

Freya the witch smiled. "According to my friends in my inner circle, Zaran Bailey has become arrogant ever since he became a second-circle wizard. He thinks that his former friends are no longer worthy of being his friends."

"We're no longer on the same social class."

"Therefore, he has deliberately distanced himself from those friends. And since he has just become a second-circle wizard, he doesn't have the opportunity to make any powerful friends yet. So I estimate... he won't be able to find any weatherman friends in the short term."

Mason Witch, Barrett Wizard, and Locke all looked at Freya Witch in astonishment.

Locke's expression was strange. "Not on the same level anymore? It's hard to believe that these words came from a second-ring wizard."

"Perhaps he's just riding high on his success."

"After a while, he calmed down and was able to return to normal."

Locke looked at the three of them and said, "Alright, everyone, the matter of Wizard Zaran Bailey is none of our business. Anyway, we just need to do our own thing."

"Everyone, now that I'm back, let's continue to work hard together."

"Don't worry, follow me. The foundation will provide what it needs, and the projects will be available. I have no concerns whatsoever. Wizard Zaran Bailey is neither our adversary nor our friend; he is merely an insignificant figure."

Locke said, "As long as I can come up with good projects, I can still get a lot of funding. Although the sudden return of the wizard Zaran Bailey to Group 2 was indeed a surprise to me, to be honest, it doesn't have much of an impact on us."

The three of them were very excited after hearing this.

Wizard Barrett scratched his head and said, "I told you two a long time ago. As long as Team Leader Locke comes back, he'll definitely have a solution. You two are just worrying for nothing all day long."

The witch Freya smiled bitterly, "It's mainly because I've had such a difficult and stifling time recently. I've never felt this stifled in any other part of Yunze Wetlands. This humble and subservient life is something I've only experienced during my apprenticeship."

Locke's expression was strange. "Being subservient? He may be a second-circle wizard, but he's not your superior. Freya, why are you being so subservient?"

The witch Freya laughed and said, "I did this to find out why he's targeting us. And I actually have some information."

"It is said that Zaran Bailey wants to quickly complete the first-class project funding and then apply for the special-class funding project. Therefore, he regards Locke, the team leader and a researcher at the Advanced Institute of Truth, as a potential enemy."

"At the same time, he also believed that now that he was a second-circle wizard, he should naturally occupy most of the resources in Group 2. He originally had this fantasy, preparing to return to Group 2 as a second-circle wizard and receive great attention from Lord Sith."

Freya the witch said, "Who knew... Lord Sith recruited us ahead of time. This made the wizard Zaran Bailey very unhappy about it."

Mason Witch said, "We were recently helping you, team leader, apply for a first-class project grant, and it was almost approved. But then this wizard Zaran Bailey used some tricks, and it didn't get approved."

"I heard that it was initially a pass or a fail. But then Zaran Bailey had a connection with one of the judges, and then..."

Locke nodded. "I understand. You don't need to worry."

"This kind of thing will not happen again."

Locke was eager to report to Sith's group leader and then immediately go to Scarlett the Witch to participate in the bidding for the wizard shoes for the Demon War, so he could get more magic stones. Therefore, he was in a bit of a rush at the moment.

Locke said, "I'm going to Sith's place now. See you all later."

……

Thirty levels below ground in the research institute, pure water is surging through a large waterwheel adorned with special magic bells. This waterwheel increases the pressure of the large volume of fresh water, dispersing it into various magic fields on level -30.

Sith Team Leader had a smile on his face, clearly in a good mood lately. "Locke, you're back."

“I mentioned you to Team Leader Celt just a few days ago. Team Leader Celt recently passed away. He still misses you quite a bit.”

"sit."

“Now that you and Zhalan are both back, I’m even more powerful.” Sith Leader spread his hands and said, “How was your trip to the Qionghua Enclave?”

Locke said, "A good harvest."

Locke noticed that there was another researcher from Group 2 in the office, one he didn't recognize.

Team Leader Sith smiled and said, "That's good. By the way, what research plans do you have after you come back? Just tell me what you need, and I'll do my best to meet your requirements."

Locke said calmly, "Team Leader Sith, I've been too busy lately. So, I don't have any good research plans for the time being."

At this moment, all that was on his mind was to find Scarlett the Witch as soon as possible and send the sample of the wizard shoes he designed to participate in the bulk purchase.

Whether I can make a fortune from the many vested interests in the market in a short period of time depends on the outcome of this centralized procurement bidding.

Will his own Augustus Wizard Shoes brand become a well-known wizard shoe brand, or will it fade into obscurity like a shooting star on the horizon, just like those wizard shoe brands that were only briefly popular in the past?

Success or failure hinges on this one move.

A flicker of disappointment crossed Sith's eyes, but he also expressed understanding. "I see. Indeed, you're too busy. I can't force you."

"Locke, go and rest for a while. Once you're fully rested, come back to our group and get the work done."

The unfamiliar researcher's eyes flickered, as if he were listening intently.

Zhalan the Wizard had been operating within Group 2 for many years, and it was clear that many wizards were his friends.

This person was clearly gathering intelligence.

Although Locke never considered the wizard Zhalan to be his enemy.

After all, their goals were different from each other's from the very beginning.

Besides all of them having their eyes on the top-tier funding projects.

(End of this chapter)