Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 848 The Southern Gold's Appeal and Reactivation: The Feathered Serpent Pavilion's Heavenly Ladder
After thinking it over, Locke decided to accept the friend request.

Soon, the other party sent him a message with a detailed introduction to the Southern Gold Journal. Locke read it briefly and found that it was a journal that had only been established for ten years and currently only had a second-ring section, without a first-ring section.

Moreover, although it is a journal about golden magic, according to Locke's observation, the words mentioned are not only about golden magic, but are also constantly shifting towards necromancy.

Locke was speechless.

Soon, the other party sent him a message: 'Hello, I am Solanas Mortes Moonring Wizard from the End Gardens. It's a pleasure to connect with such an excellent archaeologist as you, with in-depth knowledge of gold magic. Our journal, *Southern Gold*, is dedicated to helping young talents achieve higher status and greater academic success.'

"We at *Southern Gold* magazine hope to collaborate with you. We've noticed you recently participated in the Xiaoxi Cup and the Gold Cup, and you likely have several articles to publish. Therefore, we invite you to publish your articles in *Southern Gold*."

"Out of support for young people, and in recognition of the support from the White Wizards' Association of Southern Wizarding Capital for our work, the chances of your articles related to archaeology and gold magic being approved in our 'Southern Gold' journal will be significantly lower."

Locke was taken aback, because he didn't expect that the other party, as the Grand Wizard of the Moon Ring, would actually come to invite him directly.

To my surprise, the other party actually stated that if I submitted my manuscript to "Southern Gold", the journal would have a higher chance of acceptance.

This is how they entice themselves to submit articles to "Southern Gold".

'It seems the Holy Wizard Court in the Southern Wizarding Capital has relatively little influence, and the White Wizard Association, like the Six Towers, is controlled by certain groups. Otherwise, this Moon Ring Wizard would never dare to send me such a message on our first meeting.'

Locke said.

Sometimes, the reason for speaking vaguely is because you can't judge the other party's position, so you can't give them a chance to find fault with your words.

Therefore, one can only speak ambiguously.

The fact that this Moon Ring Archmage was so direct suggests that either the wizards of the Southern Wizarding Capital are all naive and straightforward, or that he is fearless and has nothing to fear.

The latter is clearly more likely.

Soon, the wizard Solanas Motes sent him a message saying, "Of course, this will not affect the academic honor of our Southern Gold at all. You can take a look at the list of contributors to our Southern Gold's recently approved articles, and you will find that this list has a high degree of overlap with that of the Intersection of All Things."

"Because only the young talents we favor will be granted the privilege of lowering the difficulty of getting their articles published. And these people already have the ability to publish in journals of the same level, and they have all been selected."

Locke glanced at the two lists sent to him, and his lips twitched slightly.

Goodness, this is more than just a high degree of overlap. If you didn't know better, you would think that "Southern Gold" and "The Boundary of All Things" are from the same company.

One copy of "The Boundary of All Things" and one copy of "Southern Gold," right?

Locke never expected that there would be journals plagiarizing each other.

Locke replied, "I'm honored to receive the invitation from *Southern Gold*. However, I've recently set my goals, and I'll submit suitable articles to *Southern Gold* in the future."

After careful consideration, Locke still did not decide to make "Southern Gold" his first choice.

Very simple.

If I have any articles related to golden magical plants, why would I publish them in "Southern Gold" instead of "Border of All Things," which has the highest credibility?
Besides, I already knew the techniques for publishing in the journal "Wanxiang Jiaojie" and lowering the acceptance threshold.

However, we shouldn't make absolute statements.

Because we might consider publishing articles in Southern Gold in the future, since it's a Q1 journal. If a suitable article comes along, we can definitely submit it there.

For an ordinary second-ring wizard, publishing in a first-zone journal is a decent way to advance their qualifications.

The wizard Solanas Mortes seemed to have realized that Locke had already considered "Southern Gold" as a backup plan, so he didn't send any more messages for a long time after Locke replied.

Locke waited a while and, seeing that he hadn't sent another message, called over three second-class wizard apprentice waiters from the Witch's Kitchen and asked them to carry his three crystallized wizard friends into the quiet room of the Witch's Kitchen to rest.

After arranging everything, Locke walked to the door of the witch's kitchen when suddenly a snowflake fell from above his head.

Locke stretched out his palm, and the snowflake landed quietly on his hand.

He looked up and saw that it was snowing heavily.

what's the situation?
Isn't it springtime now?
Meanwhile, some wizard customers in the witch's kitchen were whispering among themselves.

"Here we go again. There must be a problem along the Tianjiang River near the Sanze region. Could it be that there's trouble at Tianjiang again?"

"It's hard to say. Judging from the appearance, the Tianjiang flood season is approaching, which has caused the elements in several nearby wizarding lands to become unbalanced, resulting in the chaos of the four seasons and heavy snow falling in all directions."

At this moment, a third sun appeared in the sky, and the three suns hung in the sky. Immediately afterwards, Locke clearly felt that the magical tide in the air became even more intense.

Moreover, this time it's not just that the concentration gradient of the magic tide has increased by one level, but at least two or three levels.

Locke noticed that as the concentration of the magical tide increased, all the root realms floating on the magical tide in the Cloud Marsh Wetland also rose as a result.

As the various root realms rise, the immense magic of the wizards affiliated with those realms also increases.

Locke even noticed that his magical power was increasing out of thin air.

Even though I haven't changed at all, I seem to have been strengthened again.

Locke looked at the three suns in the sky and felt as if the sun was shining brightly on him, and three fires in the sky were constantly sprinkling sunlight onto the earth.

The Starfield Sea's Demon Ascension Plan has taken another step forward!

But the next moment, what were originally just a few drifting snowflakes suddenly fell like an avalanche.

One of the wizards in the witch's kitchen, who was clearly from out of town and seemed to have come from the Tianjiang River, suddenly changed his expression and stood up.

"The concentration gradient of the magical tide is rising far too fast. There must be a problem with the magical seal dike along the Tianjiang River. The Tianjiang River has collapsed, and the [Tianjiang Flood] is coming."

Many wizards began to whisper among themselves.

"Is the Demon Winter coming again?"

"Oh no, the last time there was a mad winter was a hundred years ago. Young people these days have no idea how terrible a mad winter can be."

"If Mo Dong comes, won't we have to search for [firewood] again?"

Locke consulted some information through the Water Hyacinth System and discovered that the Tianjiang River is the most powerful magical river in the world, extremely complex, and its existence can no longer be explained by a single cause.

Its constituent forces are incredibly complex, with each section of the river being different; it can be said to encompass all things.

The Heavenly River flows through the Eastern Boundary Zone, the Central Boundary Zone, and the Western Boundary Zone, serving as a shared magical river for all three zones.

Tianjiang has seven major tributaries and three lakes, with Yunhu being the largest of them.

Among the seven major tributaries, there is one called the Tianhan River, which is located in the Wizarding Land along the Tianjiang River.

The Tianhan River is incredibly cold, and it possesses very complex ice elemental magic power within it; it is a river of ice elemental water.

This river of ice elemental magic energy is usually quite stable, but it could burst its banks if something unexpected happens.

Ten thousand years ago, during a wizard war, the weaker side attempted to turn the tide by breaching the banks of the Tianhan River. However, they not only failed but also caused the Tianhan River to change its course by destroying its banks. This led to the Tianhan River, a tributary of the Tianhan River that had been extremely stable, beginning a history of repeated flooding that lasted for ten thousand years.

Even after using magic to seal it into a riverbank, the problem could not be completely eradicated due to financial constraints.

However, with each subsequent increase in sealing magic, the riverbanks have become higher and higher. The Tianhan River has been stable for a hundred years now, so many wizards feel that the problem has been completely solved and there is no need to lift the seal, dredge the river channel, or eradicate the problem completely.

But who could have imagined that today, due to the third increase in the overall magical tidal concentration gradient of the fifty-three wizarding lands in the Eastern Boundary Sea, the Heavenly Cold River would experience its first breach in a century? Snowflakes are falling from the sky, and the collapse of the Heavenly Cold River will trigger a chain reaction.

It is likely that a massive snow disaster will occur throughout the entire eastern border region.

It's supposed to be spring, but it feels like the dead of winter.

Food supplies will decrease, and there will be corresponding impacts on all aspects of life.

Tianjiang has another name – Jingzhaojiang, which represents its boundless magical energy.

If the riverbanks of the Tianhan River are not repaired, this endless snow disaster will continue to engulf most of the eastern border region and spread, and may even spread to other border regions.

Inside the witch's kitchen, a witch slapped her forehead.

"Oh no! My recent research topic was tropical magical creatures, the Flame Whirlwind Snail. Those snails have extremely high requirements for environmental temperature. What am I going to do now? The Tianhan River has collapsed, and I'm afraid all my snails will die overnight."

Someone suggested to him, "Why don't you build a greenhouse?"

The summoning wizard looked grief-stricken.

"Where would I get the money?"

"Do you expect me to take out a loan from the bank just for a few snails?!"

"I have to change my research topic. I finally managed to breed five Flame Whirlwind Snails and was about to continue my research, but now, everything has been wiped out. Damn snow disaster, damn Tianjiang coast, damn Starfield Sea."

But there was also a liquefying wizard in the witch's kitchen, who stood up excitedly.

"Hasn't everyone noticed that it's become much easier for us to advance?"

“I used to think that it would take me another twenty or thirty years to become a crystallization stage wizard. But now, I am so close to becoming a crystallization wizard.”

Locke glanced at the Witch's Kitchen. The Starfield Sea's demon-ascension plan had already caused a lot of chaos. Some were sad, some were happy, some gained benefits, and some lost benefits.

But no matter what, it seems that Starfield Sea will not change its plans.

Locke looked at the Ganoderma lucidum plant and discovered that the Yunze Council had issued an emergency proposal—whether to fund the repair of the Tianhan River along the Tianjiang River.
The options to provide funding and refuse funding received over two hundred votes instantly, and the number of votes is still growing.

Locke thought for a moment and chose to vote for "providing funding".

the reason is simple.

The project along the Tianjiang River was recently secured by Jinmian Mountain. It seems that it was Jinmian Mountain's internal academic committee that won the bid, and the person mainly responsible for this matter happens to be from my own academic lineage.

That is, the lineage of the Red Dragon Throne.

Therefore, in this frigid river embankment collapse, the one most affected is likely to be one's own academic lineage.

In other words, he got himself into trouble while watching the drama unfold.

This can be considered an undeserved disaster.

Locke pondered.

Meanwhile, at the Rose Council, Hades Sun Ring Wizard, who was in charge, immediately looked displeased after discovering that the Tianhan River, a tributary of the Tianjiang River, had breached its banks. He and the Rose Council both had some businesses and assets along the Tianjiang River.

Now, these assets are going to depreciate.

and many more……

Hades suddenly smiled.

"However, most of the projects along the Tianjiang River are currently located at Jinmian Mountain. Hahaha... Although we also suffered losses, I only lost 100, while Jinmian Mountain lost 300."

He smiled for a while, then stopped smiling and shook his head slightly.

"What a foolish, self-comforting thought I have. As a Sun Ring Wizard or White Wizard, it's utterly wrong of me to have such a foolish thought. Even if it's just a small loss of property, it's still unacceptable."

"Ideally, we should not lose a single penny, but only my enemies should lose theirs."

"Therefore, we still need to fund the restoration of the Tianhan River along the Tianjiang River. The breach of the Tianhan River is no joke. The Calamity of the Demon Winter will summon those beings from beyond the heavens who are eager to cause trouble in the wizarding world. Those dark wizards, those disc-shaped creatures."

"This must be resolved as soon as possible."

……

Locke's clone was about to return to his dormitory; he was planning to visit the long-missed Feathered Serpent Pavilion.

Because he possessed complete information on becoming a second-ring breeder, and had the unique inheritance of the witch Catherine.

But I don't have any second-level inheritance related to potion-making, those truly high-quality inheritances.

Locke had asked people to search for magical inheritances before, but they could only find some shoddy, low-quality ones.

Therefore, he decided to go to the Feathered Serpent Pavilion to see if they could offer him any help.

Furthermore, if necessary, you can restart the ladder test yourself.

I wonder what the connection is between the Heavenly Ladder of the Feathered Serpent Pavilion and the Heavenly Ladder of Truth.

Just as Locke was about to head there, Solanas Mortes Moon Ring Wizard from the Southern Gold Kingdom suddenly sent him a message.

"Perhaps our magazine, *Southern Gold*, could commission an article from you."

"Wizard Augustine, you seem to be searching for the legacy of Second Ring Archaeology. Our Southern Wizarding Capital possesses a Black and White Tome."

Locke, who had been nonchalant, suddenly became serious.

There are only one thousand copies of the Black and White Magic Codex in total, not counting those that have been lost in history.

But this person said that their Southern Gold had access to a black and white magic book?
Is it true or false?

trap?

Locke sent a message.

'Could I borrow the Black and White Magic Book once?'

Solanas Mortes, the Moon Ring Wizard, replied immediately.

"That black and white grimoire is the private property of the White Wizards' Guild's public library in the Southern Wizarding Capital, which is also the Wizarding Capital Library. It cannot be borrowed according to regulations. However, we have a special agreement with that library, allowing us to obtain a small number of rubbings from it."

"That library is actually managed by a wizarding university. Our White Wizarding Association in the Southern Wizarding Capital is somewhat special. The predecessor of this White Wizarding Association was a very large, multi-functional wizarding university."

'Wizard Augustine, if you submit your work to us, I will do my best to get you that rubbing.'

Locke squinted.

(End of this chapter)