Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 838 The experiment of atavism is completed, and the golden wheat field reappears!

At Golden Crown Mountain and Dragon Blood Market, Locke rented a single room for the two of them at an inn in Dragon Blood Market for 100,000 magic stones per month. Since he only needed to pay for half a month, he only spent 100,000 magic stones in total.

Unfortunately, although there are rooms that cost 10,000 magic stones a month, the problem is that those rooms are either shared with other wizards or so small that they are practically just one room without any supporting facilities such as a laboratory.

Hussein and Henry, the old pirate, were both second-ring wizards; one was a genius lawyer, and the other was a seasoned, ruthless poison-wielding wizard.

I certainly wouldn't be stingy enough to let them stay in those kinds of rooms.

Therefore, they were given a treatment that was neither good nor bad.

The two were quite satisfied with the inn in Dragonblood Market.

Putting everything else aside, the living environment here is indeed quite good.

The inherited witchcraft array of Golden Crown Mountain constantly gathers the sun's fire from the sky, transforming it into a special magical tide that descends. Conducting experiments here is far more effective than down the mountain.

It can be said that every time Hussein came here, he felt that the magical tides in the air of Mount Golden Crown were much stronger than those in other areas.

If Locke hadn't given the old pirate a certificate, asking the Witcher squad of Mount Golden Crown to turn a blind eye, he would never have been able to set foot on Mount Golden Crown in his lifetime, given his status.

Therefore, old Henry's eyes darted around, wishing Locke would invite him to stay there for a year.

Of course, this is actually impossible.

Because he's a Void Pirate, and Void Pirates run out of money if they don't rob, he has no concept of saving.

Locke looked at old Henry and asked, "This must be the first time the Poison Blade Wizard has come to our Golden Crown Mountain, right? Are you settling in well? If you need anything, you can let me know."

Old Henry, the Poison Blade Wizard, was a proud man throughout his life. He turned his head away, snorted, and said, "Not...not bad."

"There are many alchemy shops on this street."

His eyes were shining.

This was the first time he had ever seen so many shops run by white wizard alchemists; it was truly a magnificent sight.

The shops at the pirate mothership port were practically operating on a blatant mix of robbery and sales; they were merchants to the strong, but outright bandits to the weak.

Therefore, this was the first time he had been immersed in the logic of such a powerful commercial society as the White Wizard Society.

Locke looked at the two of them and said, "I've discussed it with the hotel owner. I'll be using this hotel room as an interview location over the next few days to recruit about ten formal wizards."

Henry thought for a moment. If they were to explore an unexplored medium-sized plane, the number of ten first-ring wizards and three second-ring wizards, based on the level Locke had previously described to him, was actually too small.

There are enough second-ring wizards, but it would be better to double the number of first-ring wizards.

The current ten first-ring wizards are barely enough.

Henry said, "We can cut back on everything else, but there are three people we can't cut back on. The first is the seer. We have alchemists on our pirate ship who specialize in crafting prophetic artifacts and magic eyes."

"There should be quite a few prophets in your white wizarding society who can travel through the void. Prophets are essential for void exploration and planar exploration. They can even save the lives of an entire ship when we lose our sense of direction in the void!"

"The second candidate is a potion master, and specifically a healing potion master. Oh, we can save on that one."

Old Henry glanced at Locke.

He then remembered that Locke himself was the best potion master, but he didn't know if his level had reached the second ring.

"The third is an alchemist who can repair void warships. But I can do that; when I'm on the ship, ship repair is my job."

Locke nodded.

Then he only needs to recruit one more divination wizard.

Locke thought of Georgina the Witch.

But that won't work. Georgina the Witch is different from Hussein. Hussein owes him a huge favor, but if Georgina the Witch comes, he'll have to share the profits with her.

The most reasonable approach would be to interview an outstanding first-order crystallization wizard and hire him through a contract.

In any case, with his own strength, he could suppress these first-ring wizards.

Locke said to the two of them, "If you have any students you trust, you can bring them along."

The two did not exchange a word.

One was a pirate, someone who had no one he could truly trust at Mithril Law Firm.

Locke glanced at them. Well, it seemed there was little hope of getting these two to help him recruit anyone.

He had originally been hoping that the two second-ring great wizards would bring his students over.

Locke then explained to the two of them the information he currently knew about the three worlds.

After they finished speaking, they were both stunned.

Hussein looked puzzled.

"How can there be so many beings at the second ring level in the Three Cave Worlds? Gods? Are those giants living on the crater really false gods?"

The old pirate said, "Even a medium-to-large-scale world is usually only this level. And exploring a medium-to-large-scale world carries a high risk of death for a second-ring wizard."

"The endless void may contain a world of the most vicious and evil."

Locke nodded.

"That's all the information the Void Cube has for now. We'll have to see what happens when we get there."

"Hopefully we can recruit an excellent fortune teller."

Hussein said, "It would be best to recruit Quinnjoll. If Quinnjoll is not an option, then recruit those from Little Rest Mountain. They are the best prophetic wizarding university in Cloudswamp."

"Never hire a prophet from a minor wizarding university. I don't want to encounter unnecessary dangers while traveling through the void just to save money."

The old pirate said, "Don't worry, my ability to identify the direction of astral light is top-notch. As long as we don't encounter any special circumstances, there won't be any problems."

……

Half a month later.

Golden Crown Mountain, Sand Dune Plane, Group 2, ten-story underground laboratory.

Locke looked at the golden foxtail grass covering thirty acres in front of him. During this time, he had burned through more than four million magic stones and used various equipment from two sets. If the two sets did not have it, he would borrow it from outside.

At this moment, Locke, wearing the Sunlight Magic Mirror monocle, looked at the golden foxtail grass in front of him. He saw that the golden foxtail grass was parasitized by a golden lantern vine. As a dodder-type magic plant, the golden lantern vine was no longer a self-sustaining plant.

Its chloroplasts are almost completely gone, its stem surface is bulging with papillary organs, and it has differentiated into penetrating columns. These thin stems will break through the epidermis of the parasitized demonic plant, and then it will use specialized haustoria to penetrate under the epidermis of the parasitized demonic plant and begin to absorb the nutrients inside.

Besides its slender stems that penetrate the pillar and its suckers, the Golden Lantern Vine also produces fruits that resemble tiny golden lanterns.

Therefore, it looks extremely pleasing to the eye.

Locke used the Evolution Moon to shorten the growth cycle of the magical plants, accelerating the experiment, and then continued to experiment.

Locke continuously parasitized the Golden Foxtail Grass with the Golden Lantern Vine, constantly purchasing seedlings and seeds of the Golden Foxtail Grass, and spending resources to use the Evolution Moon to accelerate its growth. Despite this lavish spending, Locke discovered that most Golden Foxtail Grass seeds, after being parasitized, would become unable to reproduce.

Golden foxtail grass is a second-ring magical plant, but before it completes its development, that is, during the seedling stage, it is only a first-ring plant, or even at the level of an apprentice-level magical plant.

During the seed stage, once parasitized, the golden lantern vine will directly suck the host to death.

However, the seedlings of golden foxtail grass have a chance to survive after being parasitized, and will not wither and die.

In this situation, the seedlings of Golden Foxtail Grass may be too small and have too low a total amount of magic pressure, so the Golden Lamp Vine may directly absorb most of their nutrients, or even absorb some of their plant essence.

"When the Golden Lamp Vine parasitizes a non-tree-type magical plant, it will unintentionally absorb a portion of the plant's essence because the parasitized magical plant is too small."

Locke noticed this scene and said, "What's even more interesting is that the Golden Lamp Vine is one of the few parasitic magical plants that will actively try to keep the parasitized magical plant alive."

"Therefore, after the Golden Lantern Vine has had half of its plant essence stolen by the parasitized demonic plant, turning the parasitized demonic plant into a haploid, it will voluntarily give half of its plant essence to the Golden Foxtail Grass."

Locke finally understood what Russell meant.

Because after this relationship occurred, the golden foxtail grass in front of us clearly reverted to some of the magical plant traits of the original golden wheat.

The golden wheat that I had only seen in the spell model that recreated history seemed to appear before me again.

They are not exactly the same, but they are at least 70% similar.

Locke looked at the golden stem before him, its three narrow leaves with edges as thin as cicada wings, yet shimmering with a dazzling golden light. When the wind blew slightly, the leaves would resonate with a clear chime like a set of chimes.

The golden wheat fields that once covered the hillsides at the boundary between day and night seem to have come back to life.

What is most striking is that the awns hanging from the tips of the ears of wheat are not ordinary awns, but three hundred and sixty slender golden needles of the sun, which automatically adjust their direction according to the angle of the sun's ring, absorbing the sun's rays and converting them into energy.

Locke pondered, "It was a Golden Lamp Vine that unintentionally parasitized the seedling stage of the Green Foxtail Grass, absorbing the entire set of plant essence from the Green Foxtail Grass, turning it into a haploid magical plant. And before the Green Foxtail Grass was about to collapse because of this, the Golden Lamp Vine shared its entire set of plant essence with the Green Foxtail Grass."

"Because the Green Foxtail Grass lost a set of plant essences, the plant factors shaped by the special necromancy that caused it to degenerate naturally decreased by half. The set of plant essences that the Golden Lamp Vine shared with the Green Foxtail Grass, combined with the set of plant essences that the Green Foxtail Grass itself possessed, naturally allowed the Green Foxtail Grass to revive more of its historical characteristics."

"Because of the miraculous power of nature, a parasitic act by a magical plant caused the green foxtail grass to embark on a new path of evolution, and after many years it became the golden foxtail grass. The power of nature surpassed the magic of those necromancers thousands of years ago."

"According to Russell's ideas and my repeated experiments, this is probably why the golden foxtail grass can evolve again."

Locke knew what this meant.

“Now, after I repeated the process, this golden foxtail grass has once again shown signs of atavism.”

"But actually, I only need to optimize two steps to achieve a perfect artificial atavism."

"The first step is to soak the semi-mature golden foxtail grass in seven separate soaks with a mixture of yellow mushroom extract in a 7:1 ratio."

Instead of using a crucible and direct soaking, Locke used the Fire Tree Silver Flower spell, and an enchanted knife appeared in his hand. The enchanted knife absorbed the yellow mushroom essence, and then the Fire Tree Silver Flower enchanted knife flew towards the golden foxtail grass and injected into the enchanted plant.

Next, he used a powerful growth-accelerating technique to speed up the growth of the golden foxtail grass. Then, when some abnormal atavistic factors appeared on these golden foxtail grasses, he used a magical magnetic field to cut them off in advance.

After seven injections of yellow-skinned mushroom extract, Locke obtained a golden foxtail grass that had undergone further atavism.

The golden foxtail grass had already begun to absorb the key plant factors of golden wheat and started to absorb the surrounding light.

"The second step is to remove the parasitic behavior."

Locke used the Fire Tree Silver Flower Spell to cut off the Golden Lamp Vine.

Instantly, the golden foxtail grass severed its parasitic relationship with the golden lantern vine.

At this moment, the golden foxtail grass clearly possessed at least one key plant factor from the key golden plant essence of Golden Wheat.

With Locke's generous infusion of magical resources, the watering with various nutrient-rich soils, and even the effect of [Verdant Spirit Breath] which can increase the growth speed and quality of second-ring magical plants, this magical plant grew rapidly and became an adult.

Locke established a magical grafting relationship with the magical plant, and with a wave of his hand, the magical plant flew into his hand.

Locke looked at the magical plant that had stolen his magical radiance and knew that its ancestral nature had reached a certain level.

"The atavism has been completed."

"By pouring the Yellow Mushroom Essence into my Evolution Moon, just like the Zero Potion, I can use the Fire Tree Silver Flower Spell to send it into a magical plant. First, I'll use the Golden Lamp Vine to turn the magical plant that's going to undergo reversion into a haploid, then let the Golden Lamp Vine share a set of plant essence with it, and then proceed with the reversion. Both the success rate and the degree of reversion after success will be improved."

Most importantly, this mechanism avoids triggering the necromancy spell that embodies the essence of the foxtail grass family plants.

It seems that this process of extracting plant essence, turning it into a haploid, and then sharing the plant essence to turn it into a diploid weakens the effect of necromancy, or perhaps it makes foxtail grass no longer a pure foxtail grass.

Locke pondered, "This combination of techniques will also be useful for other magical plants. Because the Golden Lamp Vine's behavior of absorbing and sharing plant essence increases the possibility of its natural reversion to ancestral evolution."

Essentially, the plant essence of the Golden Lantern Vine is very short; it is a typical magical plant with very few plant factors.

It contains very little plant essence information.

However, it is possible to share plant essence with a magical plant, allowing that magical plant to combine into a normal diploid.

In other words, when a magical plant becomes a double, what actually works is its original plant essence, while the plant essence of the Golden Lamp Vine is basically in a passive state.

It's like two people forming a team, but only one person is actually doing the work while the other is just playing around.

This results in a magical plant, during its development, displaying more of the magical plant traits contained within its plant essence. Combined with Locke's yellow-skinned mushroom extract, this directly disrupts the mechanism of inhibitory factor expression, causing it to undergo atavistic evolution.

While it's impossible to completely revert to our ancestral form, judging from the current state, we've at least managed to revert to about 70-80%.

Of course, this is also because there is sufficient research data on golden foxtail grass.

Locke pondered, "The precision of the atavism can still be improved. Because the parasitic mechanism of the Golden Lamp Vine can be optimized. The ratio of yellow-skinned mushroom extract and white jade aloe can still be adjusted."

"However, the atavism has been successfully completed so far. Moreover, I can now conduct experiments on my flying magical plants."

Locke, holding the magical plant, made a video call to the Xiaoxi Cup tournament committee office.

Although the deadline for participating in the Xiaoxi Cup is still six months away, the competition will not be held for another six months or more.

But I don't have that much time to waste.

Let's just submit the work directly and end this competition.

I am very satisfied with the completion of this project. If the Xiaoxi Cup team is also satisfied, we can almost win the championship ahead of schedule.

Ultimately, let Xiaoxi Cup's studio determine the specific solution.

Now I can focus on the Golden Cup and exploring different dimensions.

In this way, my progress should be considered relatively fast among the competitors for the top-tier funding.

I just received a large amount of funding, which allows me to directly develop my entry for the Golden Cup and the second Wizard Shoes.

'If the Little Rest Cup could settle my score early, I could immediately get a Tourmaline King Peach.'

Locke pondered, "That's right, it's time to pay attention to other markets around the Rose Throne. Given the current academic rivalry, whatever I do will be attributed to my teacher. This allows me to explore markets I wouldn't normally be allowed to access."

'It's time to see what other markets offer opportunities to make even more money.'

(End of this chapter)