Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 843 The Headquarters of the Intersection Journal and the Purchase of Void Battleships

At the boundary between light and darkness, the Golden Dynasty lies in ruins.

This is a magical city, where gold is everywhere. It is one of the five most important cities of the Golden Dynasty, a city of ancient ruins.

The main wizarding university in the border region between darkness and light is the Golden Dynasty, which is mainly composed of five major colleges, including the Old Ruins City, the Ancient City of Merri, and others.

The Old Ruins City, once said to be the most glorious city at the boundary between darkness and light, possessed incredible, even miraculous, magical power. Even after suffering a devastating blow, the glory and miracles of ten thousand years ago still flow within this city.

Nine-tenths of the buildings in the old city are ruins, while one-tenth of the buildings were constructed over the past ten thousand years.

Therefore, half of the wizards living here reside in the ruins of buildings that are still usable, while the other half live in newly built structures.

But this is enough to prove just how vast the old ruins city once was.

The buildings reconstructed over the past ten thousand years are only one-tenth of the remaining ruins.

In the old ruins city, a bronze bell, only half of which remains, lies on the ground. The bronze bell is covered with rust and marks the passage of time. This is the headquarters of the journal "Border".

The bronze bell was as big as a small mountain. It was a high-level magical artifact of unknown grade, or perhaps a void flying device. In any case, no one could be sure of its specific function and original purpose.

Perhaps this is just a small accessory to a larger magical artifact.

However, this half-bronze bell, which is as big as a small mountain, contains many rooms, and because it uses a large amount of rare magical metals, it is an extremely precious magical resource in itself.

Therefore, this place became the headquarters of the journal "Intersection".

At this moment, inside the ancient bronze bells filled with unfathomable meanings, in an oval office, the editor-in-chief of the Myriad Realms, the Moon Ring Wizard [Saronius], used golden magic to manipulate a stack of documents in front of him, making them all float above his head.

The wizard Salonirus snorted coldly.

"What are these submissions? The ones I've been receiving lately are getting worse and worse."

His first glance is at a wizard's background, then at the wizarding university he currently works at and his corresponding position, then at his past submissions, such as how many journals he has submitted to, and finally at his current magical level.

Only after making these judgments does he look at the article's viewpoints, and only after confirming that the viewpoints are sound does he look at the research methods.

The wizard Salonerus was a wizard whose neck was adorned with numerous golden rings, and he wore two golden earrings. His eyes and brows exuded a feminine charm. Despite being a male wizard, he wore eyeliner and lipstick.

The wizard Salonirus casually stamped a gold seal on several submissions from wizards whose qualifications were clearly insufficient, marking them as rejected.

Once this label is attached, students will come and collect the rejected articles, and then his students will come up with a bunch of reasons to reject them.

It doesn't matter anyway.

The wizard Salonerus didn't want to waste a single ounce of energy on these worthless articles, so the students could provide the reasons for his refusal.

"The issue of bloodline must be taken seriously. It's not that a wizard without the golden bloodline can't pass the exam, but the threshold for passing it will be raised by a whole level."

The wizard Salonerus muttered to himself.

"Then there's the wizarding university. If there aren't any decent positions at a wizarding university, there's no point in continuing. Besides, the submitter's magic level should at least be at the Moon Ring level, and they should have previously published some articles in the second section..."

"Doing these eliminations first can reduce my workload."

The wizard Salonerus stamped the papers that failed to pass.

However, he does have a safety net mechanism.

Although he personally dislikes reading trash and thus chooses this efficient review method, he is prone to being punished by his superiors or attracting the attention of the academic committee if he makes a mistake.

Therefore, he would instruct his students to take a closer look at this article when they were drafting reasons for rejection for these rejected articles.

If you find objections to the rejected article, you can show it to him again.

The wizard Salonerus stared blankly at the article floating before him.

“Locke Augustine? Never heard of him. It doesn’t say here whether he has the Golden Bloodline. He’s a wizard from out of town… so the probability of him having the Golden Bloodline is not high.”

"Golden Crown Mountain..."

After some thought, the wizard Salonirus concluded that Mount Golden Crown was a decent wizarding university.

Of course he could watch it.

However, when he noticed that Locke was just an ordinary second-circle wizard, and had only just been promoted to second-circle wizard this year, he immediately frowned. When he discovered that Locke had not published any second-circle journals, he immediately raised his eyebrows.

"Hmm? Even the Second Ring Fund hasn't been completed yet."

"Didn't they even manage to secure the top-tier grant from Shinchi Institute?"

The wizard Salonirus lost patience and could no longer watch.

Because there are still a lot of manuscripts to review, and if he has any doubts about some of the experimental data in some articles, he needs to repeat the experiments to verify them.

In short, he had a lot of things to do today and naturally didn't want to waste his time on this unknown young man.

"Wanxiangjiaojie is a Zone 1 journal, yet someone submitted it directly to Wanxiangjiaojie without any Zone 2 journals available. Young people are too hasty and lack experience. Which Zone 2 wizard isn't a genius? Zone 2 journals aren't so easy to submit to."

"You should wait another ten years, let things settle down, and then submit your work."

The wizard Salonirus thought for a moment, then took the golden seal in mid-air and stamped the document with "disapproved".

An hour later, the wizard Salonerus had efficiently processed all the submissions for the day.

At that moment, a crystallization wizard pushed open the door and entered.

"Lord Salonirus, I have come to collect the article you rejected."

The wizard Salonerus nodded to him and said, "Hmm. It's on the table. Write down some plausible reasons for rejecting the articles I've rejected."

The crystallization wizard glanced at the stack of manuscripts in front of him and immediately swallowed hard.

These tasks were something that the wizard Salonirus could easily accomplish, but for him, they were extremely difficult.

After all, he was only a first-ring wizard.

But he thought that this could also be considered a form of training, so he steeled himself, stepped forward, picked up a stack of articles from the table, bowed, and turned to leave the office.

After returning to his workstation, the wizard sorted through the articles and then began selecting those that were easier to reject, starting to write reasons for his refusal.

Three hours later, he saw a submission from a wizard named Locke Augustine. After glancing at Locke's resume, he immediately understood why the wizard Salonerus had rejected it without hesitation.

He almost immediately picked up his magic quill and began writing in the blank space of the article, in the voice of the wizard Salonerus: 'Hello, Wizard Locke Augustine, thank you for submitting your article to The Crossroads. However, The Crossroads is a Zone 1 journal with high entry requirements, and you have no record of having your work accepted by Zone 2…'

The crystallization wizard suddenly wanted to open the article to see what it was about. He glanced at the article's viewpoint and froze on the spot.

"This……"

"Golden wheat?"

Many wizards at their workstations in the public office inside the bronze bell glanced at him; some thought he was noisy, others thought he was strange.

Golden wheat is a magical plant that has been extinct for a long time, and there are no specimens left. It was once a symbol of the boundary between the dark and the light.

There's no need to start arguing in a public place like the office.

The crystallization wizard quickly flipped through the article, only to find its contents making him dizzy. He was clearly reading the text and was certain he had memorized it, but he could only retain about one-tenth of the content.

This is one of the typical symptoms of cognitive imbalance.

The crystallizing wizard suddenly stood up from his workstation for the second time, startling the two wizards around him who gave him disapproving looks, as this was the second time he had acted so dramatically.

The crystallizing wizard covered his eyes.

"I've appeared, and I can feel everything breathing. Oh no, this article isn't simple. It concerns Golden Wheat, I must have the Wizard of Salonirus take a look. Has the Wizard of Salonirus not even read the title of this article? Is the task of being a reviewer for a second-tier journal in the first tier really that easy?"

"Oh no. I shouldn't have spoken ill of the High Ring Wizard behind his back."

Carrying Locke Augustine's article, he covered his eyes with his left hand and stumbled through the corridor inside the bronze bell toward the office of the wizard Salonius.

At this moment, he felt that he was seeing a changing color in front of him, which meant that his cognitive imbalance was quite serious.

He struggled to return to the wizard Salonius's office, only to find the door locked.

In front of the office door, there was a simple workstation belonging to a liquefying witch, who could be considered the secretary of the wizard Salonirus.

He looked at the witch and asked, "Where has Lord Salonirus gone?"

The witch gave the young crystallization wizard a cold glance.

“Mr. Persepolis. Lord Belsaronirus has something to attend to this afternoon and should be out. If you have anything to say, you can contact him again in a week.”

The Persian wizard frowned immediately.

It's been a whole week since we last contacted each other.

That's the tricky part of the problem.

Because the wizard Belsaronelus had indeed instructed him to be in charge of the second review of the rejected articles; this was indeed a direct task given to him.

But this kind of task is more like a liability waiver, a way to shift blame.

If anything goes wrong later, the wizard Belsaronelus could easily use this incident to claim that he, Persepolis, had desecrated the work, causing the problem.

Because he has already authorized him to review the article a second time and report any issues.

The problem is that while authorization is one thing, whether there can be a smooth handover is another matter entirely.

'Logically, I need to send the results back within a week, as stipulated by the wizard Belsaronerus. But now, the wizard Belsaronerus won't be back for another week. This means that whether I send it or not, I will be violating the wizard Belsaronerus's rule.'

The Persian wizard Bruce's expression changed slightly.

Normally, articles examined using the methods employed by the wizard Belsaroneus are rarely found to contain errors.

Looking at a wizard's school, position, magic level, and past experience can generally be very helpful in filtering out a lot of things.

After all, exceptionally talented individuals are definitely a minority.

Most people are predictable by common sense.

but……

At that moment, Bosbury felt that the author of the article he held in his hand was a genius who could not be predicted by common sense.

For a moment, Bosphorus was at a loss for what to do.

The City of Old Ruins has many forbidden zones, areas where low-level wizards who enter will almost certainly die.

If the wizard Belsaronelus is in those places, then there's no way we'll find him this week.

Just as the wizard Persepolis was walking down the corridor, lost in thought and confused, not knowing what to do, someone suddenly called out to him.

“Persian Blues. Show me that article you have.”

"Ok."

The Persian Blue Wizard turned around and saw that the person who came was actually the Sun Ring Wizard Flavius, who was also the editor-in-chief of the Intersection of All Things.

Originally, Bosbury was in a daze and confused due to cognitive imbalance, but strangely, he didn't know why, but after saying just one sentence to this Sun Ring Wizard of the Golden School, all his symptoms were relieved.

The wizard Flavius ​​gently touched the boy's forehead, and a hidden true form of all things, a special spiritual essence, entered his forehead. Instantly, all the wizard's symptoms of cognitive imbalance disappeared.

The Persian wizard Bruce immediately handed him the article with utmost respect.

Flavius ​​the Wizard, according to legend, is the reincarnation of a third-ring wizard and a great alchemist. It is said that he possesses special, hidden knowledge that allows him to understand the secrets of turning lead into gold and comprehend the true mysteries of the Spirit Realm.

The Persian wizard Bruce bowed to him and said, "Thank you, Lord Flavius. Do I need to pay for the potion treatment?"

Flavius ​​said, "I didn't use any potions on you just now. I simply took the spirit essence from your name and injected it into your soul to help stabilize your consciousness. Your name is also part of that spirit essence."

The Persian wizard, Bruce, stared wide-eyed, finding it utterly unbelievable.

Flavius ​​said, "Everything in this world has aura." "Aura is an inherent property of objects, just like mass."

"Alright. If you can see an article with such severe cognitive imbalance, it must be of good quality."

Flavius ​​looked at the article in his hand. "You're probably looking for the wizard Salonirus. He's a very busy man. If he's not here, I'll proofread the manuscript for him. He's very young. But heroes have always emerged from among the young."

"Huh? This is... a reversion to ancestral golden wheat!"

Flavius ​​was momentarily stunned. He looked up in surprise at Bosbrus, his tone revealing dissatisfaction.

"Wizard Salonirus, have you even read a single title of this article?"

The Persian wizard Bruce hesitated, as this matter involved his direct superior, and he couldn't quite explain it.

Flavius ​​shook his head slightly. He wasn't communicating with Bosbrus just now; he was simply making his own judgment.

"If he had even seen the title, he wouldn't have dared to reject the article without notifying me."

"Saronius's work attitude has been getting worse and worse lately."

Flavius ​​Zyrax took the article and quickly left.

Bosbrus swallowed hard; he had a feeling that his boss had gotten himself into a big problem this time.

At this moment, Flavius ​​the Sun Ring Wizard returned to his office with Locke's article, and he began to read it carefully.

"Excellent thinking, clear ideas. It seems like there are multiple people guiding the process, but the main ideas are coherent."

Flavius ​​Sun Ring saw the last part, which included a test result of the magical plant's morphological characteristics.

There are also magical images left behind by related schools of illusion.

His eyes lit up after reading the article.

"Brilliant Photon Plant Factor? I haven't seen this kind of plant factor in so many years. This is Golden Wheat."

Flavius ​​the Sun Wizard was somewhat excited. He immediately realized what was happening and summoned three wizards from the Golden Dynasty to serve as judges.

However, his main purpose was to bring them over to see if this was indeed Golden Wheat.

Flavius, the Sun Ring Wizard, looked at the candidates. He first found two high-ranking nobles from the Golden Dynasty, and then he found a member of the Golden Dynasty's royal family, a student of the Russell Throne, who was also a Sun Ring Wizard.

Although the golden wheat has more of a spiritual symbolic meaning than a practical one for the border area between darkness and light, the border area has lost the golden wheat for a long time.

This has special significance for the border area between darkness and light.

Could it be that in his generation, he will be able to see that golden wheat stalk again?
Flavius ​​the Sun Wizard said, "Please have the three judges take a look first."

"Let's see how they evaluate this article."

……

Jinmian Mountain, Dragon Blood Market, inside the Dragon Blood Market branch of Another Dimension Taoyuan.

The second-ring wizard shopkeeper looked at Locke and said, "Wizard Augustine, what kind of void warship do you want to buy? What is your budget? We can also rent one."

Locke asked, "Before coming here, I read a lot of information about void warships. I wonder what kind of void warships you have here? Could you tell me about them?"

The shopkeeper of the second-ring wizard shop smiled and said, "Of course."

"Void warships represent a significant achievement in alchemy. Otherworldly Peach Garden primarily manufactures three types of void warships. The first is magical metal-based void warships, and the second is magical plant-based void warships. Of course, regardless of the type, alchemy and enchanting magic are indispensable. The third type of void warship is relatively niche in Cloud Marsh Wetlands, but we are still developing it. That is, biological void warships."

"Plant-type void warships are generally modified accordingly; they are rarely purely plant-type or biological void warships. Oh, by the way, purely plant-type void warships are very expensive."

Locke smiled; he knew why he said that.

A magical plant that can traverse the vast void—what level of magical plant must it be?

After all, the magical plant is a living entity. Crossing the Great Void is equivalent to a living entity traversing the Great Void.

That level of magical plant is definitely not priced like an ordinary void warship.

The second-circle wizard said, "Biological void warships are a different matter altogether. They might actually be cheaper than magical metal void warships. This is because it's quite common for living beings to traverse the Great Void within the plane."

"There are many reasons. The main reason is that the content of ether, which is most important to living organisms, is relatively scarce in the plane, but in the Great Void, the content of ether is more abundant than other elements."

"Compared to magical plants, the etheric element is more important to animals."

"But biological-type void warships also have their own problems. They are less adaptable to the environment. The void is not empty; there is a void virus. If you get infected, it will be very troublesome. Moreover, they are large creatures with strong personalities and wills, and it is difficult for wizards other than those of the Summoning School to control them."

"As for the Summoning School of Yunze Wetlands... it's pretty ordinary. So, we have the fewest of this type of Void Warships in our shop, and the quality is relatively poor. However, I think you'll still focus on the Magic Metal type Void Warships, which are the mainstream, followed by the Magic Plant type Void Warships."

The second-circle wizard led Locke to the shelves in the shop of Another Paradise, where the shelves were filled with various model ships.

Locke glanced at them and realized that these were not models, but real void warships that had been shrunk by a transformation spell.

'I remember that in the Transfiguration school of magic, changing one's own form isn't the most difficult thing; the most difficult thing is changing one's own volume, making one's volume larger or smaller.'

"This is an extremely advanced transformation technique, at least at the second level. That's why it can turn a massive void warship into a model toy on a shelf."

The second-circle wizard shopkeeper picked up a angular ship from the shelf. The ship's surface was covered with heavy magical armor plates, and in the center was a star-destroying cannon.

"This magical ship is called the Arcane Forger, and it is entirely forged from the rare magical metal [Arcane Blue Iron]. Look, even the observation windows have been carefully designed."

The second-ring wizard shopkeeper pointed to the observation window of the cockpit of the void warship, an observation window that was as clear as transparent glass.

"We're not using Time Crystals here. Those Time Crystals aren't very reliable for navigating inside the Great Void. We're using the No. 1 Magic Energy Siphon Glass."

"It's a special transparent magical material that was recently developed in the Land of Dragonfall."

"It is said that an alchemist, combining spiritual energy, used spiritual energy technology in a groundbreaking way within the traditional alchemical material synthesis array to create a special type of glass."

"In addition, the ship's hull has a total of thirty-two enchantments, forming a special enchantment magic array..."

Locke asked, "And what about the price?"

The second-ring wizard shopkeeper smiled and said, "It's not very expensive. Eighty million magic stones. After all, this is a void warship, the crystallization of magical civilization. Although it is only a second-ring level void warship, it is composed of a large number of second-ring, first-ring, and apprentice-level magical artifacts."

"So the price is naturally high. In the past, void warships would cost hundreds of millions, but now the price has been driven down by those few manufacturers."

The second-ring wizard shopkeeper observed Locke's expression and immediately said, "You don't have to buy a brand new one. If it's a second-hand one, the price should drop to around 60 million. However, I don't recommend buying a third-hand one. Although the price of a third-hand void warship will be reduced by about 50 million magic stones, it usually has some minor problems. With the cost of repairs, it may not be more cost-effective than a second-hand one, and there may even be safety issues."

"Our store only provides warranty for new and used Void Warships."

"In addition, you can also rent it. The deposit is one time the rental price, and the daily rental price is generally one ten-thousandth of the price of the Void Battleship itself. The rental price is calculated based on the first-hand market price of the Void Battleship."

Locke nodded slightly.

In other words, if you were to rent this void warship, which costs 80 million magic stones, the daily rental fee would only be 8000.

The problem is that void travel, even near-ground void travel, is measured in months, not to mention that void travel over slightly longer distances is measured in years.

Therefore, the rental fee for a year would be close to 2.9 million magic stones.

If Void Exploration takes five years, it will be much more expensive, with the rental fee costing around 14.4 million magic stones.

Locke judged that renting seemed to be only worthwhile for explorations lasting less than three years; anything longer than five years would be too expensive.

Locke asked, "Are there any more affordable prices? Otherworldly Paradise is Catherine the Witch's shop; we're on the same side."

The smile on the Second Ring Wizard Shopkeeper's face remained unchanged.

"Even between brothers, accounts should be kept clear."

"I am the professional manager hired by Her Majesty the Throne, so naturally I must protect her interests and ensure that they are fully protected."

"However, Wizard Augustine, there's no need to rush. The shop does indeed have some void warships that offer better value for money."

"Arcane Forgers are mainly used for large-scale conquest activities, so they are equipped with heavy armor and many weapons, even a planet-destroying cannon."

"Perhaps you are better suited to the pure void exploration type."

The second-ring wizard shopkeeper then recommended three more slightly cheaper magical metal void warships: the Pioneer, the Leader, and the Explorer.

The initial price of the three ships was around 60 million.

These were not equipped with large-scale destructive weapons like the Star Destroyer, which could blast an entire comet plane with a single shot. Locke hadn't even considered using them, because with those kinds of weapons, the moment the cannon fired, magic stones would be worth a fortune.

The three void warships each have their own unique characteristics and design styles.

Locke set his sights on the [Explorer Vanguard]. This void warship was made entirely of arcane mithril, possessing powerful magic immunity. At the same time, its surface was enchanted with eighteen layers of enchantment magic arrays, giving it eighteen layers of shields.

What concerned Locke the most was that this void warship was the fastest among the void warships recommended to him by the shopkeeper.

It has a total of twenty layers of enchantment arrays, only eighteen of which are used for defense. There are also two rare layers specifically designed to increase the movement speed of the exploration vanguard. One layer is an enchantment of Void Formless Energy Fluid, which can utilize Void Formless Energy to flow on the surface of the Void Warship, slightly increasing the speed of the exploration vanguard.

The second tier of enchantment is a level 2 Greater Haste enchantment, which increases the Voidwarf's movement speed.

While the Vanguard Explorer doesn't carry large-scale weapons like the Planet Destroyer, it primarily enhances its speed and ensures safety. Furthermore, this void warship contains sixteen void-class light-energy mayfly turrets capable of bombarding the ground.

Of course, it also consumes a lot of energy per minute.

In every respect, Locke was satisfied with the void warship.

After all, I'm just going to a medium-sized world, not to fight a Great Void War, so I don't need to use a Void warship of the Arcane Forger level.

This pioneering exploration vessel is perfect for me; it's fast, which saves me time.

The store manager of the Second Ring Road said, "However, according to the old tradition, these void warships are just destroyers."

Locke nodded slightly.

he knows.

According to the Wizarding World's past definitions, Void Warships were divided into four classes: Destroyers, Starships, Death Ships, and Destruction Ships.

Of course, this is a classification method left over from the era of exploring the Great Void.

In the modern magical age, more and more wizards feel that this classification method is outdated and has lost its practical function. In the modern magical age, this is not a big deal.

However, many wizards still care a lot about this classification due to historical inertia.

'Second-tier void warships are generally destroyers.'

Locke pondered, "The few void warships of the Sun Ring class are likely star cruisers."

"The next two are truly devastating weapons. Legend has it that in the distant past, wizards piloted void warships into the depths of the Great Void to wage war, bringing a catastrophe to the Great Void. But later, the wizards paid a necessary price, ending that era of madness, evil, yet vibrant life—the Age of Great Void Exploration."

Locke said to the manager of the Second Ring Road store, "Let's take this Explorer Vanguard. I'm very satisfied with it. I'll rent it."

The second-ring wizard shopkeeper said, "Okay. You need to provide your personal Civilization Credit Score's Eye of Truth code so I can check your credit score. If it's below 900, you can't rent it."

"Next, you will need to provide your shop's affiliate credentials and your tax payment records for this year. These are all required by the White Wizarding Association."

"According to the Void Warship Management Law, the act of renting a Void Warship must be registered with the Warship Management Division of the White Wizard Association."

"Then, you sign a contract with us, pay a deposit, and you can take the void warship away."

The second-ring wizard shopkeeper smiled and said, "We're all on the same side, so we definitely won't cheat you."

Locke nodded.

"can."

He immediately realized that having a shop alliance would likely be necessary in the wizarding world.

Because under this system, even if a first-ring wizard has money, he cannot rent a void warship in his own name.

No wonder many second-circle wizards, even if they go bankrupt, still open a shop alliance to stay afloat.

　Asking for a monthly ticket~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)