Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 796 Academic Foundation and Root Copy Wooden Table

In the Dune dimension, on the tenth underground level of the research institute, Trajan's video call came through.

Locke was surprised that his senior brother would contact him so quickly.

Trajan's left eye, the bronze demon eye, remained as terrifying as ever, while the pollution and wounds left by the dark world in his right eye had healed.

It seems he spent some time solving the problem.

The wizard Trajan said, "Junior brother, I just finished a close-range void exploration mission, and then I received a message from our teacher. By the way, our teacher asked me to transfer thirty magic crystal cards to you."

Locke paused for a moment, then realized that this was money given to him by the witch Catherine to test his wedding ring.

It seems that seeing that I hadn't taken any action for a long time, they gave me a subsidy.

Locke asked in confusion, "Teacher, why don't you just give me this part of the money directly?"

Trajan the Wizard said, “That’s not surprising. She has many research groups under her, and the connections between academic lines are very complex, involving a very complicated shareholding structure.”

"In general, there are three levels of fund flow. The first level is the normal horizontal and vertical flow of funds within the Zhenzhi Institute team, as well as the financial subsidies provided by the university."

"These public funds are stored among the groups, divided into group-specific public funds and public funds for the entire team under the teacher's supervision. The sources are resources brought in by the teacher, resources brought in by the group leaders, and project grants applied for by outstanding researchers like you. When you use the group's equipment, you need to pay a certain amount of money, which can be used to maintain the group's equipment. If there is a surplus, it can also become the group's working capital."

"The second level is the universal treasury within the academic network she established."

"The third layer is the funds she received herself, which are her personal funds. These thirty magic crystal cards are from the Xuemai Foundation's accounts, while my fellow disciples and I are in charge of the Xuemai Foundation's accounts."

Trajan the wizard said, "The Foundation for Learning was established at her insistence. It has introduced many regulatory bodies and, after hundreds of years of development, it has become quite successful."

"Because she herself believes that without an academic foundation, the academic network will always remain just scattered interpersonal relationships."

"As for why she gave you thirty magic crystal cards, it's probably because she had something for you to do. She didn't tell me about that. I just need to give you the money."

"The main recipients of the Academic Foundation are the Sun Ring Wizards and the Third Ring Wizards. Cough cough, you should be considered to be in the enjoyment stage."

Trajan the wizard laughed and said, "Of course, this academic fund can basically reimburse you for some of the chores you do for your teachers, although it can't cover all your expenses."

"At certain times, it can also adjust the resources within our academic network, which can be considered a public fund within the academic network that we voluntarily contribute to."

"Therefore, the relationships between our academic factions will be closer. It is worth mentioning that although the academic faction of the Rose Throne does not have a public fund, they have workshops for magic weavers and flower shops for flower language masters, and they pay fixed internal taxes to their faction every year."

"Furthermore, a portion of the funds that the Magic Weavers' Association and the Flower Language Masters' Association give to the Rose Witch each year is also used by her as a public fund for the academic lineage. Therefore, the academic lineage of the Rose Throne is quite powerful."

Locke nodded slightly.

Indeed, organizations based purely on interpersonal relationships are bound to be loose and difficult to maintain over a long period of time.

Over time, the relationship between them will become completely unclear.

A good organization must have a healthy financial structure.

Regardless, this organization must have an independent and readily available fund.

Essentially, after joining Jinmianshan through the Yunze Cup, he was immediately recruited into a large research team.

Most fortunately, I don't seem to be a marginal figure in this team. As I won the Silent Grail Championship, I even received more and more resources.

The fact that he received funding from the Scholarship Fund and was given a task directly assigned by the witch Catherine is proof of this.

The wizard Trajan said to Locke, "Locke, you haven't done a Void Exploration quest yet, have you?"

"Before you assemble your expedition team and embark on the exploration mission of the plane you're in charge of, why don't you come with me on a relatively simple near-ground void mission?"

"This way you can also become familiar with the environment of the endless void."

Locke hesitated for a moment, but did not refuse, because he knew that this was his senior brother's good intention, and that he was being given a little guidance.

If I weren't his junior brother, I'm afraid he wouldn't be willing to take me along to familiarize myself with void exploration.

Wizard Trajan said, "I will soon be returning to the Dark World to explore the areas I didn't finish exploring last time, so my time is limited. To help you understand Void quests, I'm now accepting a quest from the White Wizarding Guild's Demon Hunter Division to destroy a Black Wizard pirate ship in the Void's Near Ground."

"Although you'll only be operating in the near-ground void, this way you'll become more familiar with void vehicles and void combat techniques. That should be enough for you. As for the rest, you can learn more from the materials yourself."

Locke said gratefully, "Thank you, senior brother."

"Indeed, this is enough."

"Brother Trajan, are these black wizards pirates from the mother ship?"

Trajan the wizard curled the corners of his mouth.

"That's right, he's the most shameless, troublesome, and clingy black wizard among the five great wars. Are you afraid, junior brother?"

Locke smiled, anticipation appearing in his eyes.

"Senior brother, among the five wars, I have already dealt with the Twin Demon Realms and the Pale Pilgrimage. I am really looking forward to fighting the black wizard who is imitating the Chaos Sea Mothership this time."

“Brother Trajan, I earned a title by killing black wizards in the southeastern corner of the region—the Eye Wizard.”

Trajan the wizard seemed to appreciate Locke's attitude.

“Alright, as expected of my junior brother. See you at Little Peach Mountain in a week. The ‘Gate of Hell’ at Little Peach Mountain is very close to the near-Earth orbit of the void. Wizards from Golden Crown Mountain usually travel by flying vehicle from the ‘Gate of Hell’ to enter the void.”

"To be honest, junior brother, I also made my name by killing black wizards. They call me the 'Executioner'!"

"Seeing your murderous aura reminds me of my days as a Moon Ring Wizard, leading a team in the Demon Hunter Division. Ah, those were the days. Hahahaha..."

The next moment, the wizard Trajan hung up the phone.

Locke, meanwhile, was preparing to head to the Wizard Bank to collect the thirty magic crystal cards that Trajan had transferred to his account; he only needed to go and collect them.

Meanwhile, he planned to go to the Dragonblood Market to purchase experimental materials and supplies, and to conduct experiments using the magic fields within Group 2's research institute.

Locke first went to the Sith wizard's office.

At this moment, the Sith wizard was working hard to restore the ecology of the Dune Plane. He glanced at the list of consumables Locke had given him, as well as the application for the use of the three magic mirrors and the Queen's Chessboard.

The Sith Wizard blinked, considered for a moment, and said, "Locke, these usage records are either related to pineapple-type magical plants or sea gold sand?"

Locke coughed, realizing he had gone a bit too far lately, conducting too many experiments unrelated to Group 2.

Although the Sith wizards turned a blind eye to him, and he wasn't exactly one of them, as he was using the group's resources for his own purposes, firstly, he was already a familiar face in Catherine the Witch's team and had made his own contributions.

Secondly, the area related to wizard shoes itself has received support from teachers.

But for the Sith wizard, the leader of Group 2, although what he was doing was still something that the academic lineage had to do, it was not something that Group 2 had to do.

While it wouldn't be considered a loss to the personal interests of Sith wizards, it was irrelevant to them either.

Locke knew that even the best relationships need to be maintained.

"Team Leader Sith, air plants are already excellent drought-resistant magical plants. I also have a series of plans to further research this area."

The Sith wizard gave a half-smile.

"Could we design even better wizard shoes while we're at it?"

Locke remained unfazed.

"The excellent drought resistance mechanism of magical plants implies the existence of energy-locking structures that efficiently utilize energy. While studying drought resistance, it is easy to discover efficient energy-locking structures. By placing these energy-locking structures into air plant magical plants, it is easy to produce excellent wizard shoes."

"So, strictly speaking, my wizard shoes are just a byproduct of our Group 2 research."

Locke was righteous and stern.

“Team leader, I’m using the money I earn from the byproducts to support our team’s research progress.”

The Sith wizard signed his name on the five lists given by Locke, along with the application lists for the use of those large pieces of equipment.

"Stop talking nonsense."

The Sith wizard chuckled, “Even on Mount Golden Crown, not many people would so readily connect their own product with the basic research of our Group 2. However, your point is interesting: a better shape for drought-resistant plants means a better energy-locking structure, which in turn means higher-performance wizard shoes.”

“Locke, you have a keen sense of connecting basic research with practical applications.”

“And I’ve seen this feeling in my teacher, the Red Dragon Throne. You and she are so similar in every way.”

The Sith wizard said, "Do whatever you want."

"Anyway, the three Mason Witches' first-class grants will still be used to work on our Group 2 project. With your help, they should be able to produce results soon. It would be best if they could discover more new energy-locking structures in the air plant magic plants."

Locke smiled wryly; this was an invitation to trade.

The Sith wizard would allow him to use the shared facilities of the two groups and would permit his various equipment usage requests, but he would need to guarantee that his group could produce more research results related to the energy-locking structure.

However, this does not conflict with his own interests.

Locke said, "Of course."

Sith Leader smiled. "By the way, I recently bought up a laboratory that a second-circle wizard liquidated after going bankrupt."

"I got the most expensive and best piece of experimental equipment in his lab—the rhizosphere copy table, or copy table for short."

"It's a large-scale magical artifact of the second ring in botany, priced at around ten million, but the related consumables and maintenance costs are very expensive, so only a relatively large team can purchase and maintain it."

"Now, his lab can't afford to keep the copy table anymore, so he sold it to me. The rhizosphere system of plant roots is a black box structure, because the rhizosphere is the microenvironment of plant roots in the soil. If it is slightly affected or damaged, it has no research value."

"But with a carbon copy table, the changes in the various natural magical structural components of the rhizosphere environment of plant roots can be recorded."

“I think this is quite meaningful for our group’s research, so I bought it. It should also be useful for your research. Our group is currently lacking excellent researchers, so you can take it and use it for now. Remember to be careful, after all, it’s a third-hand magic artifact, so don’t break it.”

"If it gets broken, we'll have to find someone to fix it, which will cost us money."

Locke was somewhat moved, not expecting the Sith wizard to support him so much.

Clearly, it was Zaran Bailey who broke his heart.

Locke thanked him, saying, "Thank you, Sith Team Leader."

Sith nodded: "No need to thank me. The Zaran Bailey incident taught me that nothing can be rushed. The more anxious you are, the more damage you will cause and the slower things will go. I have reflected on that incident very well..."

……

At this moment, Locke's clone of the Ancient Tree Fruit had returned to the southeastern corner region, to Lilith's cabin.

Locke saw the familiar port city in Lilith's cabin, and he saw the familiar alchemy cabins standing in the port city.

A familiar yet unfamiliar memory washed over me.

At this time, anti-undead barriers—life fields—are also being deployed throughout Lilith's cabin.

In the heart of the port city where Lilith's cottage is located, next to the alchemy hut where the public classroom is set up, there are tables full of banquet dishes.

When Locke entered the banquet center, he saw many familiar faces, the first being Mrs. Irina.

Lady Irina was still wearing her elaborate wizard's robes, looking like a noblewoman with her hair in gorgeous attire. She held a glass of wizard's wine and walked towards Locke, saying, "Lord Augustine, it's been a long time."

“My business partner, those magical plants you invented during your apprenticeship are selling very well now. Would you be interested in bringing the new magical plants you developed in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands to our Southeast Corner Region?”

Lady Irina smiled broadly. Perhaps the best decision she ever made was establishing the Augustus Magic Plant Specialty Store with Locke.

Locke nodded slightly to Lady Irina.

Lady Irina, on the other hand, readily downed the glass of wizard's wine in one gulp.

"Homage to our second-circle wizard."

Locke then said to her, "Lady Irina, I mainly develop many pure magical plant wizard shoes in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands. If you need them, I can authorize you to sell them."

Mrs. Irina's eyes lit up immediately, and she even became quite excited.

"Wizard shoes don't sell very well in the southeast corner region to begin with."

"Therefore, the wizards in the southeastern corner region did not originally have a very clear understanding of what wizard shoes were."

"If I were to manage your product for you, then from the very beginning, the Southeast Corner Region's perception of wizard shoes would likely be that they are purely magical plant wizard shoes."

(End of this chapter)