Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 96 Clubs and One Month
A month passed quickly.

Inside the public botanical garden, Locke met with Hughes Kaufman, a first-class wizard apprentice. They weren't supposed to meet, but Hughes Kaufman arrived half a day early at the 500-acre public magic field area that Locke was in charge of.

Hughes glanced at the 500 acres of public magic fields, his eyes gleaming. He hadn't expected that a newly promoted first-class wizard apprentice would take such good care of the magic fields.

A second-class wizarding apprentice in the public botanical garden looked at Hughes Koffman in surprise. "Lord Koffman, what brings you here? The handover is supposed to be tomorrow..."

Hughes Kaufman waved his hand to dismiss the assistant, then walked toward Locke with a smile. "Hello, I am Hughes Kaufman, and my wizard mentor is Harlan Vera."

"Specializing in Transfiguration and botanical magic, a certified breeder." Hughes Kaufman was a debonair middle-aged man, appearing to be in his thirties. He seemed shrewd, with a smile in his eyes, yet not unapproachable.

He was a rather traditional-looking white wizard, wearing a light-colored wizard's robe with blue stripes on the shawl and a white wizard's hat. In Locke's current opinion, his magical power was indeed unfathomable, and he had no idea what level it was.

Unlike the third-class and second-class wizard apprenticeships, the gap between wizards at the first-class wizard apprenticeship is extremely large.

A wizard who has just become a first-class wizard apprentice has a magic power of at most a little over two hundred, but those wizards who have been first-class wizard apprentices for more than ten years may have a magic power of five or six hundred.

Moreover, this is only in terms of magical power; the gap between the two sides in terms of knowledge, magical experience, and the number of certificates will be enormous.

This is also why Locke's public botanical garden was relatively quiet.

He lacks the necessary experience and, in the eyes of outsiders, has not yet reached the level where he can truly engage in transactions, having accumulated several years of experience and maturity.

After all, it's extremely rare for a wood elementalist like the witch Sophia to advance so quickly as a "child of the elements."

It can only be said that the Child of the Elements is a born prodigy.

Locke couldn't gauge Hughes Kaufman's true abilities, so he simply nodded slightly and briefly introduced himself.

Hughes Kaufman's eyes lit up slightly. "Augustin, you take great care of these magical fields. How about we team up sometime?"

Locke was puzzled. "A partner?"

He instantly realized, "You mean, we'll work together to maintain these 500 acres of public magic fields, and try to choose the same magic field whenever possible to fulfill the academy's obligation to do labor?"

Hughes Kaufman laughed, "No wonder you became a first-class wizard apprentice in two years. You are indeed clever."

"There is indeed some rather deep water inside this public magic field."

"As you can see, first-class wizard apprentices cannot do free labor for the academy for a long time; they have their own things to do. So, they can only spare a few months a year to help take care of the academy's public magic fields. Therefore, there are often several first-class wizard apprentices taking care of the same part of the magic fields."

"Some first-class wizard apprentices are engaged in voluntary labor to care for public magic fields; others are hired by the academy with magic stones to specifically care for magic fields; and of course, there are a few cases where they owe money to the academy and can only repay it through labor."

Hughes Kaufman said, "That creates some problems."

"For example, your previous first-class wizard apprentice in charge of this part of the magic field did not pay much attention to this work and allowed the soil to degrade in magic, so that the magical plants could barely survive."

"But the survival rate of the magical plants is very poor, and they can easily all die in the following month."

"When a person is only responsible for short-term matters, he is likely to overlook the long-term benefits of something."

“But that would make our work more difficult next month,” Hughes Kaufman laughed. “So we usually team up and invite reliable first-class wizard apprentices to take care of specific magical fields together.”

"The area you are currently taking care of is the magic field that our group regularly takes care of."

Hughes Kaufman praised, "Augustine, you've taken excellent care of me."

"It seems you've put a lot of effort into this; I was a little worried at first."

"Why don't we team up? There are two first-class wizard apprentices in my group, and they are also formal breeders."

Locke nodded. No wonder this senior first-class wizard apprentice had come to him; it turned out it was because of this. In that case, he would indeed have a business connection with them.

Wizards are very pragmatic; once a connection of interest is established, they will definitely try to make contact.

Locke thought for a moment, "I can join temporarily."

"But I need to think about it."

Hughes Kaufman immediately understood Locke's concerns and laughed, "No problem, our group consists of experienced breeders who won't add to your workload."

Hughes glanced at Locke with surprise. Newly promoted first-class wizard apprentices rarely showed distrust towards older first-class wizard apprentices.

It seems this newcomer must have some unique and outstanding qualities.

Hughes Kaufman said, "Augustin, you haven't joined a club yet, have you? First-class wizard apprentices within Lilith Hut Academy form their own clubs, and they join each other to exchange information, or, like us, they form a new club together for some common benefit."

"First-class wizard apprentices usually join more than a dozen societies."

"The club is a place for first-class wizard apprentices in Lilith's Hut to exchange ideas and communicate. It is considered the main way for first-class wizard apprentices to interact with each other."

Hughes Kaufman chuckled, “Once you become more familiar with everyone, you’ll soon join more clubs. Now, my newly formed club—the Kaufman Public Magic Field Breeding Club—invites you.”

Hughes handed Locke a piece of paper. "This is our club's address. There's really nothing to do there; we don't usually go there."

"First-class wizard apprentices are very busy."

"However, we will stay in that club room. It's the time we're doing our volunteer work this year. You can stay there too."

"This way we can better plan which month of the year we will be able to perform our voluntary labor for the college's public plantation."

Hughes Kaufman raised his index finger and said, "The reason I formed this society is because when I first became a first-class wizard apprentice, I encountered a very unpleasant situation..."

"He poured... Herbal Essence Gel into the magic field."

Having studied potion-making for over two years, Locke immediately said, "Grass Spirit Essence? That stuff should have been banned long ago. Although it can eliminate weeds and diseases in magical fields and enhance the vitality of magical plants, it pollutes the soil, causing [Wood Elemental Hardening], resulting in semi-permanent pollution of the magical fields..."

Unlike ordinary breeders, Locke also has some knowledge of potion science, and Herbal Essence Gel is one of the masterpieces of potion science. However, this substance with extremely serious side effects is still being used by some breeders to this day.

Hughes Kaufman looked at Locke with surprise. “You know a lot about this, so I don’t need to explain. That’s right, the first-class wizard apprentice before me, to save himself trouble, actually poured herbicide directly into the magic field. The magic field deteriorated, and it happened within the month I was in charge; large swaths of magical plants died…”

Hughes Kaufman's expression was grim, as if he had thought of something bad. "In the end, I became the scapegoat because his wizard mentor was more powerful and stronger than me."

"The compensation alone was a huge blow to me. Luckily, the academy didn't make me pay for everything, and I was also able to save two-thirds of the magical plants."

"This is why I started this club. I don't want this kind of thing to happen again. Joining my club will benefit both of us."

“Augustine, you are a trustworthy breeder…assistant.”

Locke curled his lip. A breeder is a breeder, why add an assistant?

Forget it.

Locke had no interest in getting entangled with Hughes Kaufman over the title. These first-class wizard apprentices had been stuck at this stage for far too long, so they had become petty and meticulous, wanting to distinguish every little detail about hierarchy.

If it were the Witch Sophia, she probably wouldn't care whether this person was a breeder's assistant or a breeder; she would just call everyone a breeder.

After all, she felt that all of this was just a transition to becoming a senior breeder.

(End of this chapter)