Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 77 The Difficult Road
Yuri rubbed her forehead, a helpless expression on her face. "Locke, you really shouldn't be talking about a lady's age."

She became serious and replied earnestly, "This is the curse of aging, and you will soon find out—the vast difference between a formal wizard and a first-class apprentice..."

A deep fear appeared on Yuri's aged face, as if she had contemplated some indescribable horror. "You will not understand why the gap is so large. Then you will find that within that already enormous gap, your mental strength is extremely difficult to improve."

"Even meditation has become very unreliable."

"Amidst the stagnation of progress year after year, and under the relentless pressure of my wizarding mentor Harlan Vera's repeated disappointments and eventual abandonment of me, I chose to conduct dangerous research. I was working on a method to inflict an aging curse on my own soul and then enhance my mental strength by breaking the curse."

"Let your soul repeatedly be in the state of being under a spell and then being freed from it."

Locke frowned. Even without seeing Yuri's specific actions, just hearing the description made him feel that it was extremely dangerous.

This is like walking a tightrope.

If you don't control yourself properly, your soul will be cursed to death.

This is no different from taking deadly poison every day.

Yuri Burns lowered her head and sighed. "But my talent is ultimately insufficient. My experiments went out of control, the curse of aging backfired on my soul, and I barely managed to save my life, but my future is ruined."

"She herself went from being a woman who was passionately pursued by many male wizards to an ugly old woman."

"And that's not all. I'm also under ongoing investigation by the White Wizarding Association's ethical review mechanism because my experiments violated some ethical guidelines."

"This made it very difficult for me to find a normal job, and only Mrs. Irina took me in."

Yuri Burns smiled helplessly: "Locke, it's funny, before this happened, I was complaining about the rules and regulations set by the White Wizard Association, which restricted my development."

"But after the incident, I realized that the White Wizard Association's requirement for us to undergo ethical review was also to protect ourselves."

"Those who are obsessed with their own power are easily lost in themselves, and ultimately let that power turn against them."

Locke hadn't expected the path to becoming a first-class wizard apprentice to be so difficult, and he offered her a few words of comfort. "Eureka, anyone who can become a first-class wizard apprentice must have some talent."

"I believe you will find a way to get yourself out of this awkward situation. As long as you're alive, there's always a way to make a comeback."

"It's not that there aren't potions that can lift the curse on you."

Yuri laughed hoarsely. "Locke, you're really kind of you."

"Thank you, but we're different. You wouldn't understand. You don't understand the pain we suffer. A genius like you will never understand these things."

Yuri whispered, "I'm an apprentice in Potions myself, so I know what's going on. I've cursed my soul for far too long. For at least five years, I drank a bottle of antidote every day, and then even more antidotes. The curse of aging is deeply entangled with my soul..."

"Most first-level potion masters would avoid me if they saw me in this situation."

"They're afraid I'll ruin their reputation."

A flash of resentment crossed Yuri's eyes, a hatred for her wizarding mentor. "If my wizarding mentor, Harlan Vera, had stopped me back then, everything would have been different, but he didn't."

"He's always been like that."

"In his eyes, there were only those bright and beautiful students."

Yuri quickly suppressed her anger and nodded apologetically to Locke. "I'm sorry, Locke, I shouldn't have lost my temper in front of you. I talked too much today."

"I'm sorry," Yuri pleaded. "It's all my fault for being so weak. Please don't tell anyone the nonsense I just said... okay..."

Locke nodded and waved his hand, saying, "I didn't hear anything."

"Well then, Manager Yuri, good luck. I hope we can work together successfully."

Locke got up and walked out of the store.

He has a lot of things to deal with himself. Applying to expand the botanical garden requires going through the White Wizard Association's ethics review mechanism, which will also take a lot of effort.

Moreover, if I were to expand the botanical garden this time, I would have to make it a medium-sized botanical garden.

It's highly unlikely that the Witch Sophia would help herself pass the review quickly. The White Wizarding Association doesn't scrutinize the botanical gardens of second-class wizarding apprentices too strictly, but it is extremely careful when reviewing the botanical gardens of first-class wizarding apprentices.

The abyssal plant catastrophe caused by the Blue Ring Society in the southeastern region is only fifty years old.

Store manager Yuri stood up to see him off.

After leaving Lijin's Whisper, Locke returned to the slave market in the Chimera Market and found Benny, the dark elf waiter from last time, to purchase another batch of minotaur slaves.

At least five more minotaurs need to be added.

In the street where the slave trading post was located, the dark elf Benny cautiously said to Locke, "Your Excellency Locke, the value of minotaur noble slaves has now been restored to 10 magic stones each."

"But the quality of our shop remains the same. Every minotaur noble slave has undergone rigorous re-education in enchanting magic, and they will never betray their masters, nor will it affect their intelligence."

Locke frowned in displeasure. "Wasn't it 5 magic stones before?"

Under the unintentional magical pressure emanating from Locke, the dark elf Benny felt somewhat frightened, and beads of sweat trickled down his forehead. "Honorable guest, it's like this: nine months ago, a large number of high-quality orc slaves entered the market, which drove down prices, but prices have now returned to normal."

"Our slaves are expensive, but their quality is absolutely guaranteed."

Locke nodded slightly. That made sense. After all, he couldn't use slaves who weren't even mentally sound in his botanical garden. Most of the work in his botanical garden required a certain level of intelligence and comprehension.

Locke said, "Alright, here are fifty magic stones, and I want five minotaur noble slaves."

The dark elf Benny breathed a sigh of relief. "Honorable guest, you purchased two slaves with ancient creature bloodlines last time. Are you interested in researching this area?"

"Recently, another mermaid slave with the bloodline of ancient creatures has joined the shop."

Locke said, "Not for now."

I haven't even finished researching those two catwomen from last time, so there's no need to buy any more mermaids. You can't just waste money like that.

Money should be spent wisely.

I'll have plenty of places to spend magic stones in the future.

(End of this chapter)