Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 808 Creating Small Groups and Themed Activities
A month later, Locke contacted Christine's students through the Gray Mist Slab in his dormitory at the Golden Crown Mountain True Knowledge Institute.

Because the Green Witch and Lilith Hut Academy had reached a cooperative agreement, her students signed a contract with Lilith Hut under the guise of joint training.

That is, after she becomes a formal wizard in the Forest Sanctuary, she must first serve Lilith's Cottage for thirty years before she can return to the Four Seasons Garden to teach.

The reason why such stringent conditions could be met was that the Four Seasons Garden was in extreme decline during the war between the black and white wizards, while Lilith's Cottage was significantly strengthened because of Locke.

Next, Harlan Vera of Lilith Hut and Headmaster Earl seem to be preparing to use their power to restore Lilith Hut to the top-ranked wizarding academy in the southeastern corner of the region.

Locke had no objection to this.

To reiterate, the better the wizarding university you attend, the more advantageous it will be for you.

If your wizarding university is just average, that's fine. Just take a slightly different approach and elevate your wizarding university.

At this moment, Ivy, a student of the Green Witch, under Locke's guidance, successfully used three red holly bushes to complete the rune inscription, forming a permanent defensive field on her soul.

The witch Ivy had just become a formal wizard. In the image on the gray fog slab, she appeared extremely weak, but her eyes were filled with excitement.

For safety reasons, her Forest Sanctuary was also located within the research institute in the Forbidden Forest. The research institute had enough magical fields, and after obtaining Locke's permission and arrangements, Lilith's Hut repeatedly entered and exited the Forbidden Forest, moving a large amount of magical resources into the research institute and restarting it.

And that research institute was able to contact Lady Morgana's Magic Garden.

In this way, the research institute became a good location for the forest sanctuary.

Unlike Locke, these wizards don't need to consider going to higher-level wizarding areas, so placing the Forest Sanctuary in a location where the academy can provide centralized protection is the best option.

Moreover, thanks to Locke, the research institute could be protected by the Forbidden Forest.

At the same time, everyone tacitly agreed that the choice of that research institute was also to get closer to Locke.

However, in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands and the Starfield Sea, only third-ring wizards are qualified to condense their academic lineage. Before that, everyone else can only be described as having an ordinary network of relationships. Therefore, this unspoken understanding is something no one has ever mentioned.

At this moment, the witch Ivy appeared weak, but her eyes were filled with joy. She said to Locke, "Thank you, Teacher Augustine. Thank you for your guidance. It allowed me to complete the Forest Sanctuary and become a formal wizard."

"Thank you too, Ms. Christine."

Christine the witch and Harlan Vera the wizard stood to the side, and she nodded with great satisfaction.

"Now you are a formal wizard. Because of the experiments, my skin turned green, while during your apprenticeship, in order to combine the plant cells of the red starfish with your own cells and gain the special ability of photosynthesis, your entire body turned red."

"Then you shall be called the Scarlet Witch from now on."

The Scarlet Witch, Ivy, immediately bowed to Christine and said, "Thank you for bestowing this nickname upon me, teacher."

Locke said to the Scarlet Witch, "Red Witch, according to the contract you signed with me before, I will hang my Evolution Moon in your Forest Sanctuary."

"You are the third lower forest under my control."

The forest in the Louis plane is a branch forest of his own Forest Sanctuary, while the Scarlet Witch's Forest Sanctuary is a subordinate forest of hers.

The Forest Alliance is built around its three core elements: its immense magical power, its forest ecological corridors, and the contracts that Hussein himself created.

This has created a very unique ecosystem that exists only within the wizards themselves.

This path was entirely Locke's doing, completed by chance, but it seems that its future development is not bad.

The Scarlet Witch bowed to Locke.

“Great Wizard Augustine, I am very honored to join your Lower Forest Project.”

She quickly expressed her loyalty to Locke and was eager to show her affection for him.

"Great Wizard Augustine, I will nurture my forest well and make our forest alliance even stronger."

Locke nodded and then closed the communication.

With the help of the Mister Power Research Center at Lilith's Hut, which has trained two wizards to become first-ring wizards through the Forest Sanctuary, the training system of that research center has been initially completed.

As time goes by, I can rely on that research center and the foundation I established to help more and more wizards use the Forest Sanctuary.

Locke pondered, "Although it's too early to think like this, I guess I'm preparing for my future academic career."

"However, in the end, it was only because of the [Forest Sanctuary] that a series of related magics were developed."

Locke walked out of the dormitory and ran into Daniel in the corridor. Daniel, the wizard, had dark circles under his eyes. He paused for a moment when he saw Locke, then said, "Good evening, Locke. By the way, Locke, there's something you might have heard. I heard it from my colleagues at the Advanced Institute of Truth, who were weather masters in the previous year."

"It's the second-ring researcher from the Advanced True Knowledge Institute at Jinmian Mountain. They created a group using the Water Hyacinth system to prepare for next year's special grant application. They exchange relevant information and share news within that group to increase the chances of their application being approved."

Locke paused for a moment.

Wizard Daniel cautiously asked Locke.

"Locke, have you gone in yet?"

Locke shook his head.

Wizard Daniel seemed to be deep in thought.

"That's because you just became a second-circle wizard this year, and they didn't include you, right?"

"So, you're being ostracized?"

Locke smiled. "Pretty much. But I don't mind."

"Thank you for making a point of telling me this."

Locke pondered for a moment and guessed that he was indeed being ostracized, for many reasons.

First, since I've just become a second-circle wizard, others are bound to be more apprehensive about newcomers.

Secondly, I have only been in the Advanced True Knowledge Academy for a year, so in the eyes of others, I am not in a hurry to apply for special funding, and applying at this time is even seen as an infringement on other people's resources.

In addition, since he doesn't usually mingle with the researchers at the Advanced Knowledge Institute and interacts with even fewer people than Daniel, he is naturally more likely to be isolated.

Locke said to Daniel, "There's no need to join this kind of group."

He nodded slightly to Daniel and said, "I have something to attend to, so I'll be going now."

Locke looked at the message Scarlett the Witch had sent him. Ever since he deliberately let the old pirate Henry go a month ago, the old pirate seemed to have activated his power after returning, causing a large number of wizards in the Void Pirates to cancel their orders for Solas's Lightfoot.

Of course, this is mainly because the pirates were already very dissatisfied with Solas the Lightfoot. So, in the past month, Solas the Lightfoot has been in a lot of trouble because the large number of cancellations by the Void Pirates has also made some Void Explorers on the White Wizard's side start to have doubts about Solas the Lightfoot.

Meanwhile, Melochy Magic Step directly and aggressively bought at the bottom.

This has resulted in Solas Barefoot suffering heavy losses over the past month.

This loss even affected the sales volume of their various versions of the second-ring wizard shoes.

Solas Lightfoot therefore decided to hold a themed event in six months, inviting a well-known Void Explorer to endorse Solas Lightfoot products in order to boost sales and restore its reputation.

Scarlett the Witch left herself a message.

"This time, Solas's Barefoot is coming in with great force. It's said that this themed event has invited a large number of well-known second-circle wizards and first-circle Void Explorers from Cloudswamp Wetlands."

"They spent hundreds of millions of magic stones. Judging from their aggressive approach, they probably want to use that event to completely eliminate this problem of ours. Of course, we shouldn't be their primary target. They don't need to go to such lengths to deal with us."

Scarlett the Witch said, "The Rose Witch, along with the Melochy Wizard and the Solas Wizard, have all left Cloudswamp Wetlands and are no longer in the Eastern Boundary. Their respective Sun Ring Wizards have long disliked each other, so I think Solas, the Barefoot Wizard, most wants to eliminate not us, but Melochy Magic Step."

Locke nodded. "Yes, I heard this morning that Melochy Magic Steps' wizard shoes had also received customer complaints, but it was quickly found out that it was someone hired by Solas Barefoot."

"The two companies are now at odds. At present, they are arguing with each other, so it is unclear what the truth is."

Scarlett the Witch sent a message.

"We're about to face a full-scale attack from Solas's barefoot. We should take advantage of this time to sell more wizard shoes, and ideally, make a few more types of first-level wizard shoes."

"This way, when Soras unleashes his power, we'll have a better chance to respond."

Locke said, "Don't worry about that, Scarlett the Witch. However, I've been busy with other projects lately, so I'd like to put the matter of the first-ring wizard shoes on hold for now."

"I don't have that much energy on my own right now."

Scarlett the witch, who was on the other side of the Water Hyacinth system, looked tense. She was in a manor in one of the colonies of Arthas.

"Huh? Wizard Locke actually rejected me. Why did he reject me?"

“That’s right, he’s a wizard from Golden Crown Mountain, not someone who makes wizard shoes.”

"Most of the money he earns from the wizard shoes goes towards subsidizing his research at Golden Crown Mountain. Sigh."

Scarlett the Witch sighed.

"If he doesn't want to, there's nothing I can do to force him."

"But after Soras barefoot held the themed event, even if the main target is not us Augustus, I estimate that it will be difficult for us."

There's no way around it; the survival of a newly established online store alliance is just that difficult.

Most new store alliances eventually go bankrupt.

Only a minority of shop alliances can survive.

Therefore, most second-circle wizards did not choose to open a shop alliance, or they opened one casually to make a show of it. Most of them were still applying for funds or working for others on the shore.

Meanwhile, Locke's clone went to Bonifacius University.

Locke's true form is heading to the underground research institute in the Dune Plane, where he will use his hundred-acre magical field on the tenth floor to make the final breakthrough in the cost of imaginary roots.

To achieve this, two things are needed.

First, the botanical research system that I established myself, which is based on the Evolutionary Moon – the blooming and withering of flowers – the synthesis of Rubik's Cubes.

Secondly, there was the library from the witch Stephania, Boniface, and the Rose Council.

Locke's first stop was Bonifacius University.

Because of his agreement with the new textile science department at Bonifacio University, he was able to use the equipment in Georgina Witch's laboratory and, through their laboratory, borrow Bonifacio University's library card.

Locke's true form stood before the magic field, pondering, "Whether it's creating small groups or organizing themed events, it doesn't really make much sense."

"What really matters is having tangible products or research results. Top-tier funding relies on good research goals, research plans, and good preliminary experimental data, while Wizard Shoes relies on excellent product quality."

"Let's give it a try. Hopefully, we can complete the exploration of imaginary roots within the next six months."

Locke also realized that it was a mistake for him to focus on power levels and forge powerful magic, just like other wizards.

Because the foundation of his great magic is evolution, and his main ecological community consists of various magical plants and treants.

This means that the cultivation system of ordinary intelligent races cannot establish a suitable level system for one's own great magic.

Therefore, unlike others, studying the roots of imaginary numbers is the right path for oneself.

The imaginary root is the final challenge in crafting the second-ring wizard shoes.

Bonifacius University is a beautiful university located beside a lake. In the laboratory of this college, the witch Georgina looked at Locke and said, "Locke, welcome to our Bonifacius University."

"You've come here to finalize your previous collaboration with our university, haven't you?"

Locke remained expressionless.

"Well, almost."

The requirement for improving the Black Swan Pineapple was actually very simple for me; I could complete it within a few days using the research system I had built.

My main purpose in coming here was to borrow books from the Boniface University library and to think about the problem of reducing the cost of imaginary roots.

Everything else is secondary.

Georgina's eyes, hidden beneath the wooden witch mask, seemed to be filled with joy.

"Then, come with me to the lab. See if you need any equipment, and I'll try my best to get it for you. If not, I can help you borrow equipment from other labs."

Locke said, "No rush, let's go to the library first."

Georgina the witch looked at Locke strangely.

"Alright. Take a few days to relax. There's really no need to rush. Please."

(End of this chapter)