Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 814 Olivia the Witch, I'll give you a question!
Carter Dunn's eyes widened for a moment, then his pupils suddenly contracted. He had been ignored by the Witch Olivia and marginalized by the research group, which had made him somewhat insecure.

Carter wasn't very confident in himself.

But he never expected that he, a marginal figure in Olivia's research group and a temporary worker in the Rose Council, would receive funding from a senior researcher at Mount Golden Crown, a second-circle archmage.

Carter Dunn's eyes flickered slightly.

"Revered High Wizard, I am certainly thrilled that you are willing to sponsor me. But would you like to sponsor me personally, or the project I am currently working on?"

Locke said, "The Flower of Dreams."

If it were someone else, they might have to think carefully about which project it was, but this project was one of the few that Carter Dunn had been successful in the Rose Council and had been praised by the Witch Olivia.

So Carter Dunn immediately remembered, though a hint of doubt flickered in his eyes.

"Is that project also worth sponsoring?"

Although Carter Dunn was very excited about Locke's sponsorship, he was still very puzzled as to why Locke would sponsor such a project.

After all, although the idea of ​​the Flower of Dreams was conceived by him, the entire project was created at the request of the Witch Olivia in order to apply for the school's most beautiful project grant.

In other words, the project was never intended to be completed normally from the very beginning.

Even if a project fails to be completed, there will be no real accountability for that kind of funding. So it is the perfect way to boost the number of projects Olivia's lab currently has.

When Olivia the witch asked them to apply, she had already made her stance clear—

'When applying, they must be myth writers; when executing the project, they must be shrewd accountants; and when the project concludes, they must be magicians.'

Those low-quality school grants, even if they fail to complete the project, will not be held accountable. After all, you can't just lock them up in jail if they can't produce any results.

So Carter Dunn was puzzled; he hadn't expected Locke to fund the project.

"There's another question, Great Wizard. I am a wizard in the Olivia Witch Project Group."

“She is my group leader in the Rose Council.”

"Because of her management style, my 24 hours are all planned out by her. So, if you really want to sponsor me, it will probably be six months before I have time to complete that research. But, how many magic stones are you going to sponsor me?"

Locke glanced at him.

"One million magic stones."

Carter Dunn gasped.

This sum of money was a huge amount for him; it was very likely that all the resources he had used to learn magic from childhood to university would only amount to a little more than this sum.

Carter Dunn's eyes lit up. "Then rest assured, to repay your trust, I will immediately devote myself to the research on the Dream Flower in six months. May I ask your name?"

Locke said something to him.

"follow me."

He simply didn't have that much time. He waited for Carter Dunn to begin his research six months later; to be precise, he would directly help him complete the Dream Flower.

The reason we need this person is simply because he is the one who proposed this project and the originator of this idea. With his involvement, the speed, efficiency, and quality of completing the Dream Flower project will be higher.

But it's not like he's indispensable.

The investment required to complete the Dream Flower within a month is exactly one million magic stones, which Locke calculated in his mind.

A large portion of this money comes from additional expenses incurred to accelerate research.

When the patron called him, Carter Dunn naturally followed immediately and stayed close behind.

But he soon realized something was wrong.

Because Locke was heading straight for Olivia Bell Witch.

Carter Dunn was so frightened that his whole body went limp. He hadn't expected Locke to take him to find the Olivia witch.

The three met in the center of the White Rose Garden. The witch Olivia was wearing a gorgeous wizard's robe made of embroidered white peonies, and she looked elegant and dignified.

She looked at Carter Dunn with a puzzled expression, then at Locke and asked, "Friend from Golden Crown Mountain, is there something you need?"

Her tone was cold.

"Also, this place is very close to one of our Rose Council's advanced laboratories, so it's not convenient for outsiders to enter."

Locke stated his purpose directly.

“I have my eye on an unfinished project that Carter Dunn has called Dream Flower, and I want to invest one million magic stones in it.”

The coldness in Olivia Bell's eyes melted a little, and when Locke mentioned money, her face suddenly warmed up.

“Sure, Wizard Carter Dunn is an outstanding wizard in my research group, and I have always thought highly of him. He is also one of my capable assistants. Wizard Augustine must have made the right choice in investing in him.”

Locke looked at the witch Olivia in surprise, not expecting that she would recognize him at a glance.

However, since I recently participated in the Silent Grail War and am considered a fairly well-known wizard, it's not too strange that I would be recognized.

Olivia Bell said, “Witch Augustine, you can transfer that horizontal funding to him. He can stay in my research group and help you complete the Dream Flower project.”

Locke said, "That's why I came to you. I want him to help me complete the Dream Flower. The reason is simple: I want to see results as soon as possible."

Olivia Bell the Witch frowned.

"That doesn't make sense. He's part of my research group, so naturally he's subject to my allocation. Even if you invest money in him, it's money invested in my research group."

Locke laughed and said, "No, I want to invest the money in Wizard Carter Dunn personally, not in your research group."

If I were to invest in Olivia's research group, who knows how much of my money would actually be used for research? And if Olivia just randomly found a vaporization wizard or even a few first-class wizard apprentices to complete her research, I would be left with no one to complain to.

Olivia the witch clearly hadn't expected Locke to be so insistent; the slight warmth that had just appeared on her face vanished instantly, replaced by anger.

If Locke doesn't invest in her research group, what does that have to do with her?
Since there was no financial connection, she naturally had no reason to give Locke a friendly look.

Olivia glanced at Carter Dunn, whose mind was completely blank, then looked seriously at Locke and said, "What real meaning can a toy like the Dream Flower have? Wizard Augustine, you..."

Locke said, "How about this, we're all breeders, let's not argue. I'll give you a difficult problem right now. If anyone in your lab can solve it, I'll invest in your research group."

“If not, then you should agree to give Carter Dunn a vacation so he can come with me to complete that project.”

Olivia the Witch was about to get angry, but she held back for the sake of the money.

Although it was only one million magic stones, as a second-circle wizard who had to manage the entire large research group, she had to save money in every aspect and rack her brains every day to obtain more funding.

Therefore, she did indeed want Locke's one million in funding.

She had already thought it through. She had a piece of equipment in her lab that was already worn out, and if she received this million-dollar grant, she would immediately replace it with a new one.

As for that dream flower?

"Just find a few wizard apprentices to go and pretend, that'll do." Olivia thought about it seriously. She was already 80 years old, while Locke was just a young man in his twenties. Moreover, she was a Star Ring Witch, a proper second-ring breeder, with years of accumulated experience.

It was ridiculous that Locke wanted to present her with breeding problems.

Olivia the Witch laughed and said, "Sure. Just don't ask questions about chemistry."

The lion fights the rabbit with all his strength.

Even as an 80-year-old witch, a Star Ring Wizard, and a Second Ring Breeder, she didn't want Locke to pose a question on evolution, which was his specialty.

After all, we're all second-ring wizards, so we're all on the same level.

If Locke were to pose a tricky question about plant evolution, she would be in trouble.

Locke said, "Okay."

Carter Dunn never expected that Locke, the financial backer who was supposed to fund him, would actually approach Team Leader Olivia directly and even start a rivalry with her.

He remained silent throughout.

This was a contest between two second-ring wizards, and had little to do with him personally.

He was like a small boat caught between two storms; the best course of action was to remain silent.

Locke flipped his palm over, and a regular bottle of sea gold appeared in his hand.

"I would like to ask the witch Olivia to use this sea lynx as rootstock and find a magical plant that can be grafted onto it. It just needs to be done within three hours."

Olivia the Witch frowned.

"Grafting? This is just an ordinary first-level magic plant."

“I can just pick any magical plant from the garden here, even an apprentice-level magical plant, and graft it.”

Locke laughed.

"As expected of the Witch Olivia, you've successfully grafted an apprentice-level magical plant onto a first-level magical plant. If you succeed, it will demonstrate your mastery of grafting techniques. Now, please."

Olivia the witch glanced at Locke and snorted coldly. Although she was extremely displeased, she began to ponder deeply.

'Locke Augustine is a genius in breeding; why would he have me graft this ordinary magical plant?'

'His talent in breeding is probably no less than mine.'

The witch Olivia casually broke off an apprentice-level magical plant from the garden, then used a grafting knife to treat both of them. She then grafted the apprentice-level White Beauty rose onto the sea holly fern that Locke had given her.

The next moment, the White Beauty rose was destroyed, and the entire rose withered.

Olivia the witch held the sea ginseng and immediately frowned.

"how is this possible?"

She was extremely confident in her skills.

Let alone grafting an apprentice-level magical plant onto a first-ring magical plant, with her abilities as a second-ring breeder, even grafting an ordinary plant onto a first-ring magical plant, although a bit difficult, is not impossible to try.

But her grafting attempt failed.

Is there some mystery involved?
The witch Olivia looked thoughtful as she gazed at the sea lily.

"It looks like just an ordinary sea lycoris radiata. Your idea of ​​using tree ferns to enhance the potency of this sea lycoris radiata is not bad. But it's only at the level of a first-level breeder."

"This is just an ordinary Lygodium japonicum plant. How could it have failed?"

As the witch Olivia walked through the garden, she casually plucked a white angel rose. This was a one-ringed enchanted plant, possessing a powerful natural magical structure that could inflict a sense of inexplicable happiness on anyone who approached it.

Olivia the Witch grafted it onto the sea hyacinth in just five minutes, but the graft suddenly broke off the next moment, and the graft failed again.

At this moment, the witch Olivia glanced at Locke in surprise.

She stared intently at the Lygodium japonicum plant in front of her.

At this moment, the seemingly ordinary sea hyacinth had become a mystery in her eyes, and all mysteries should have an answer, but she didn't know what that answer was.

Locke only wanted to give it a try, but he didn't expect that the strange energy on the talking tree deep in the Forbidden Forest would actually stump the serious second-ring breeder in front of him.

On that day, he witnessed the battle between the Talking Tree and the wizard Jugglus Juggler, and copied the negative energy particle field from it. Now, he simply used the archaeological spell [Historical Replay] to borrow this strange energy from the past and let the tree fern Sea Sand absorb that power.

At that time, he sensed that the power seemed capable of destroying spell models.

Naturally, Olivia's second-circle botanical spell, Greater Grafting Healing, will lose its effect.

After twenty minutes of deliberation, the witch Olivia grafted the white angel rose onto the sea hyacinth for the second time. This time, she had clearly tweaked the powerful grafting healing spell model.

A green light appeared between the two magical plants.

Under Olivia's expectant gaze, the grafted relationship between the two lasted for a minute, but after a minute, it suddenly broke apart.

A look of astonishment appeared in Olivia's eyes.

She looked up at Locke in disbelief.

Locke shrugged, indicating that she should continue.

"If you have a wizard in your lab who can complete the grafting within the remaining three hours, I'll consider you the winner."

Olivia the Witch frowned.

"Insanity."

This was the first time in her life she had ever seen such an arrogant wizard. He wasn't even a second-ring breeder, yet he dared to give questions to everyone in their laboratory.

What she didn't know was that Locke had changed his mind at the last minute. He saw that even the Witch Olivia was helpless against the strange energy deep in the Forbidden Forest. In addition, when he looked up information before, he didn't know if he hadn't mastered the relevant keywords, but he couldn't find any useful information.

Of course, it's also possible that my permissions aren't sufficient, which is why I can't find information about this.

Therefore, Locke was now inclined to use Olivia's laboratory to test this strange energy.

Anyway, this strange energy wasn't his own; he had just borrowed it from the past and temporarily absorbed it using sea gold sand.

If we can use these external forces to solve the mystery of this strange energy, even just solving one or two parts of it would be good.

Neither way will I lose money.

Olivia, the witch in front of him, clearly took this as a tactic that Locke had already mastered, and she naturally couldn't save face.

'That doesn't make sense. Why did the grafting fail?'

(End of this chapter)