Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 958 Everyone, my day has 72 hours!
In the office of the Fund Department at the White Wizard Association branch headquarters in Yunze Wetlands, several wizards were processing 131 applications for special grants from ten major regions.

However, the Three Swamps only have fifty special grant slots each year, and these fifty slots still need to be divided equally among the three wizarding lands.

That means each wizarding land only has about 16 slots. If the Thunder Marsh takes up more slots this year, then the Cloud Marsh Wetland and Rain Marsh may have fewer slots.

Of course, for a wizard, that's more than enough.

The White Wizarding Association allocates between 1 and 5 standard top-tier grants to each wizarding land annually, while the Three Swamps receive far more grants each year than a normal wizarding land can receive.

At this moment, the fewer than ten Sun Ring Wizards, Moon Ring Wizards, and Star Ring Wizards in this office, along with a Deputy Director of the Three Ring Wizard Fund, are determining which projects will receive special grants.

A group of high-ranking second-circle wizards were quickly processing the documents.

A Moon Ring Witch read in a soft voice to the Third Ring Wizard Director the results of the collective discussion and processing by the staff in the office, and asked the Director to judge whether their judgment was reasonable.

They narrowed down the applications from over a hundred submissions to seventeen that would ultimately be approved.

In general, once you reach this stage, you can send the results to the White Wizard Association's regional headquarters located in the Starfield Sea, and then wait for the funds to be disbursed.

Under normal circumstances, the list of recipients sent by their White Wizard Association branch would not be rejected by the White Wizard Association regional headquarters located in the Starfield Sea.

The Moon Ring Witch said, "The Rose Council approved the project application submitted by Wizard Ducat, which is mainly the Crystallization of Imaginary Roots project. The goal is to reverse-engineer the mysteries of special imaginary roots through crystallization and to figure out the formation mechanism of special imaginary roots, which is still not fully understood."

The Third Ring Wizard Chief nodded slightly.

The development path of the crystallization magic plant technology is quite conventional. The Star Domain Sea required that it be vigorously developed in the eastern boundary region, with Yunze Wetland as a pilot area, and gradually promoted to the entire eastern boundary region.

The Moon Ring Witch said, "The second name on the approved list is Wizard Ducarlo from the Echo Valley in the Tenth District. His project application is also related to the crystallization technology of magical plants. It mainly focuses on the research of echo resonance within the crystallized magical plants, exploring the special performance of crystallized magical plants under sonic attacks. He believes that crystallized magical plants can enhance the sonic magic of their sorcery school and has proposed special applications..."

"The third name on the approved list is Wizard Gunter from the Cyrus Pioneer Military Academy in the Ninth District, who is also involved in the development of the magic plant crystallization technology..."

The Moon Ring Witch submitted three applications that their office deemed approved, but all of them were about magical plant crystallization technology. This made the third-ring wizard deputy director frown slightly, because he hadn't expected that Yunze Wetland had so many genius wizards and a long history and culture, but as soon as the Star Domain Sea pushed out the crystallization magical plant technology route, all the genius wizards in Yunze Wetland were swept up by this broken technology development route.

The Moon Witch glanced up at the deputy director's expression, but continued reading the documents in her hands.

There's no way around it, it's work.

Besides, not every year's list of approved applications for top-tier funding projects can satisfy everyone.

Yunze Wetland has so many slots, which are evenly distributed among ten major areas, so sometimes lucky people do get pushed up.

Moreover, sometimes the overall academic level is low in a given year, and sometimes it is too high in another year, which causes applications that would have been approved in previous years to be rejected in that year, and applicants to wait for another year's opportunity.

The Moon Ring Witch continued, "The application approved by Storm Tower is a project by Angela Witch of the Miss family. It explores the different growth trends of crystallized magical plants under different weather conditions. The highlight is the discovery of a crystallized second-ring magical plant that can gather lightning energy, which may create a new technical route for building the Lightning Spark Tower in Storm Tower and provide new construction materials."

"Because the Lightning Tower usually uses various types of Lightning Magic Stones developed by the Alchemy School."

The Lightning Spark Tower is a basic magical facility of the Storm Tower. After its construction, it can enhance the lightning magic belonging to the Storm Tower in a region, and can also transform into a wizard tower when necessary to provide support, defense, and ranged attacks.

The Lightning Spark Tower can even partially alter the laws of the surrounding planes, creating an environment favorable to lightning magic but unfavorable to other magic.

Furthermore, many advanced lightning spells in Storm Tower and its lineage require the use of Lightning Spark Towers. The more advanced the lightning spell, especially those involving large-scale warfare, the more Lightning Spark Towers are needed. Therefore, for these wizards, the significance of this research using crystallized magical plants is considerable.

As the ancestral home of the tertiary discipline of electric tower science, Storm Tower naturally has an extraordinary obsession with developing different lightning spark towers.

The Moon Ring Witch continued reading, "The projects approved by Cassilos University of the Arts this year are also related to crystallized magical plant technology... Boniface University is Georgina Witch's application; she's working on a project using crystallized magical plants to create different natural plant fibers... and..."

At this moment, the deputy director of the third-ring wizardry department could no longer hold back.

Because of the seven top wizarding academies in Yunze Wetland, five of them have already been mentioned, and all of their applications are related to crystallized magical plants. They have actually found a way to provoke crystallized magical plants from different angles.

Of the ten regions, the three that are all medium-sized academies have a few applications that are related to the crystallization of magical plants. That's one thing, but even the wizards from the True Knowledge Academy, the top academy in Yunze Wetland, send applications that can't stop talking about crystallization of magical plants.
The Deputy Director of the Third Ring Wizard Division couldn't help but raise his hand. "Wait a minute, I want to ask how many of these seventeen applications you approved are related to crystallized magical plants?"

The Moon Witch said, "Fourteen books."

The deputy director of the Third Ring Wizards couldn't help but say, "This is absurd."

"These people are really disgracing Yunze Wetland. Surely the seven top academies won't send in a single application this year that has nothing to do with crystallized magical plants?"

He had some doubts.

Given the intense competition among wizards in the seven top academies, it's understandable that they might be forced to choose the easiest path and conform to the crowd.

He even suspected that such intense competition might have side effects, such as scaring away many people who originally wanted to try new things, forcing them to be afraid to change tracks for fear of being backfired.

The Moon Ring Witch shook her head slightly.

"No, that's not it. The application submitted by the wizards from Quinjol University was written by Edgar David. His project is to resurrect the legendary ancient tree people—the [Sun Tree]—using branches of the Tree of Life."

"Legend has it that when the world is plunged into darkness, the Ancient Tree of the Sun releases its light and heat to temporarily replace the sun's function. The only recorded appearance of it is during the Dark Ages. However, it later mysteriously became extinct. The wizard Edgar successfully proved that by using special magic stones and planting branches of the Tree of Life, it is possible to grow an Ancient Tree of the Sun, and he believes that the earliest Ancient Tree of the Sun was born in this way."

The Third Ring Wizard's expression softened slightly, and he nodded a little.

"This is the normal level of our second-ring wizards in Yunze Wetland."

The Moon Ring Witch said, "There's also the wizard Locke Augustine from Mount Golden Crown. His application is to use the golden magic of the boundary between light and darkness to enhance the ancestral evolution magic he has successfully developed, so as to restore the magic plants to their maximum evolutionary potential."

Upon hearing this, the Third Ring Wizard looked up in surprise at the Moon Ring Witch.

His expression suddenly turned strange, because Locke's research was a project that could break the infinite loop of the second ring and potentially lead to the third ring.

This was no longer just ordinary research; it was a project that laid the foundation for the wizard's future path.

Unexpectedly, this year's special-level research grant for Yunze Wetland received an application of this caliber.

At this moment, a faint smile appeared on the face of the Third Ring Wizard.

"Not bad, this is acceptable."

"Now we can give the higher-ups an explanation. By the way, you mentioned earlier that there was another wizard's application that was unrelated to the crystallized magical plant?"

The Moon Ring Witch nodded and said, "Yes, sir. It's Wizard Mike from Kungudin Academy. He mainly focuses on studying the energy-locking structures of certain magical plants in order to apply these energy-locking structures to architecture and discover more efficient building structures. They are currently mainly studying the Variegated Sea Anemone in order to analyze its unique support structure in seawater..."

"This special support structure is very useful for building on cliffs in the mountains. However, the main reason we approved their application was because Kungudin College and our association have a special 30-year benefit agreement. During this period, all their project applications and publications will receive preferential treatment."

The third-ring wizard nodded slightly; it turned out he was from Kungudin College, which had recently arrived in Yunze Wetlands.

The deputy director of the Third Ring Wizards suddenly smiled and asked the Moon Ring Witch, "So, which of these three project applications do you think is the best?"

The Moon Witch was somewhat flattered, because she and the Director had only a working relationship, and they weren't even from the same college.

Normally, this director wouldn't even bother to talk to her, but now that he's talking to her like this, it's essentially a way of giving her pointers.

Being able to converse with this third-ring wizard in daily life is essentially a perk of her job.

Any second-circle wizard can gain some advancement by having a one-on-one conversation with a third-circle wizard leader for a period of time.

Especially on issues unrelated to these job duties.

This type of question essentially tests her comprehensive understanding and judgment of magic, so the Moon Witch seized the opportunity and did not make up stories or simply try to evade the question.

"My lord, I believe... of the three applications, the highest quality is Edgar David's project application, followed by Locke Augustine's project application, and then Wizard Mike's application. The reason is that Edgar David's project application requires the restoration of the extinct Ancient Tree of the Sun. And the Ancient Tree of the Sun is a rare Star Ring-level magical plant."

"The development difficulty is unimaginable. Even I don't think I can complete this kind of work. Perhaps it's because everyone has their own expertise."

The third-circle wizard glanced at her with a smile, shook his head slightly, and remained silent.

Some things are wrong as soon as you say them, and wrong as soon as you answer them.

When the wrong person hears something correct, there is a high probability that they will make a wrong judgment, leading to even more wrong conclusions. In the end, they may even lose the opportunity to come into contact with the correct information because they have drawn too many wrong and deeply ingrained conclusions.

Therefore, sometimes a blank sheet of paper is better than a head full of wrong theories.

The deputy director shook his head slightly.

"I won't give you the correct answer to this question; you can interpret it however you like. You can go down and think about it carefully. You've been working with me for almost ten years now. Your progress has been decreasing lately, hasn't it?"

The Moon Ring witch swallowed hard, somewhat panicked. She had originally thought that with her Moon Ring level, she could offer insightful critiques of these lower-ring wizards, and that with careful consideration, she should have no problem.

But why did her answer still dissatisfy the leader?

Where did the problem lie?

Did she sort them in the wrong order?

The third-circle wizard glanced at her; that's why he didn't warn her.

If he told her the correct answer, this subordinate, who had always been quite smug, would give up thinking for herself. But he didn't give her the answer, firstly because everyone would have their own answer, and secondly because he wanted her to try to think for herself, which was better than her not wanting anything at all.

Of course, even so, this witch's talent is limited, and she may not be able to break through to the third ring wizard in the future.

However, how many people in the endless void can break through to become a three-ring life form?

Most civilizations are just endlessly spinning their wheels in the second ring.

The Moon Ring Witch bit her lower lip, deep in thought.

"Director, can all of these applications be approved?"

The deputy director chuckled, "I was originally going to reject a few applications and send them back for rewriting, but since they're ready to go, let's approve them all. Send the emails to these wizards through the Water Hyacinth system as soon as possible. I think these wizards are getting impatient waiting for the results."

"Put yourself in their shoes, and we should consider the feelings of those young people. When I was their age, I wasn't very patient either."

The deputy director laughed.

……

The next day, Locke received an email in the Water Hyacinth System. It was a reply from the Fund Department of the White Wizard Association in Yunze Wetland, congratulating him on passing the application for special funding, gaining access to the key laboratory, and obtaining a one-year usage right to the [Dream Engine].

At the same time, Trajan also sent him a message to congratulate him. Locke glanced at it and found that many wizards in his lineage had congratulated him.

Locke replied to each of them.

Trajan the wizard quickly sent a message.

"The teacher asked me to take you into the key laboratory for the first time, to familiarize you with the area. There are quite a few procedures to go through, because the disguise god of the Persepolis Clan, [Maoqiu Chris], previously infiltrated and sabotaged the major key laboratories in the southern region, so the approval process for entering them is quite strict now. Each key laboratory has a project that could potentially change part of the situation on the front lines. For example, our Golden Crown Mountain breeding laboratory is currently working on a project to increase food production."

"Therefore, I need another week to help you complete the process. During this week, you need to make some preparations. At least one clone or the main body should stay on Golden Crown Mountain. It cannot go anywhere, and it cannot conduct any experiments. It is best to only conduct thought experiments. If you cannot pass the process, you may have to go through the process again for another half a month. There is no other way, there are just too many security measures now."

Locke was taken aback. A laboratory with such strict security measures must be very important to the wizarding world.

"It's alright, I can wait, senior brother. Just increasing food production? The laboratories at the little wizarding academy down there can do that, right?"

Trajan the wizard sent me a message.

"Haha...that's just ordinary grain. The core of the high-value agriculture at Golden Crown Mountain revolves around three meters, twelve peaches, and six teas. But only the three meters are mainly sold as a staple food, because the main function of our magic rice is to enable a wizard, or a high-energy life form, to maintain their mana in a low-magic environment and to overcome low-magic tidal concentration gradient environments..."

"Rice that can fill your stomach is certainly good, but our Golden Crown Mountain Magic Rice is designed to solve the energy replenishment problem for high-energy life forms in low-magic or even non-magic environments."

"You know that the grains of grass-like magical plants always have a relatively high energy density. But in essence, filling one's stomach is also a way to replenish energy. Mortals rely on eating rice to maintain the energy needed for movement, while wizards need to find things that can efficiently replenish their energy in the endless void."

Locke nodded slightly, as if he were in the wizarding world. During his apprenticeship, he could eat normal food to fill his stomach, but he also drank a lot of magic potions, magical dishes and magical materials to enhance his energy, replenish his physical strength and restore his vitality.

During my first stage as a wizard, I first entered the Land of Six Towers, where I used the six white towers to gather magical energy to replenish my power, and also relied on high-energy food to replenish my magical pressure.

On Golden Crown Mountain, because the inherited magic array can draw energy from celestial fire and convert it into a high-concentration magical tidal gradient, wizards living in this environment can restore a certain amount of their magical pressure by absorbing the magical tidal energy in the air. On Golden Crown Mountain, by absorbing the high-density energy in the air, one can maintain their magical pressure and restore some of the lost magical pressure.

Although I still sometimes eat foods with high energy density.

However, in the endless void, there are very few regions like Mount Golden Crown.

Even regions like the Land of Six Towers are rare. Even in the Wizarding World, in places like the Southeast Corner Wizarding Land, the concentration of magical energy in the air is so high that it doesn't support a wizard to eat by drinking dew and air. This is especially true for high-level wizards, otherwise they would absorb all the magical energy in the entire Wizarding Land.

Therefore, in such regions, it is indeed necessary to find ways to enable wizards to quickly replenish their magical pressure and meet the energy consumption of their daily activities with high-energy-density foods.

Locke thought for a moment and realized that although potions would work, they were very expensive.

Not all wizards can replenish their energy by brewing potions like I can. Besides, I can no longer maintain my daily magical pressure by brewing second-circle potions.

Because the cost of second-ring potions increases dramatically, far exceeding that of first-ring potions.

Locke pondered for a moment and realized a problem: if he planned to leave Golden Crown Mountain for an extended period and go to other regions, he would indeed find himself unable to replenish his magic pressure.

This is especially true after leaving Yunze Wetland.

Because his magical pressure was too high, while the magical pressure in the surrounding environment was sometimes even lower than his.

If a Star Ring Wizard were to enter the endless void and approach a small-scale world, he would soon discover that the so-called small-scale plane before him was merely a sphere slightly larger than himself floating in the endless void.

"In that case, the applications of Magic Rice might be wider than I thought. I only stay in high-energy-density environments for extended periods; even when I go to low-level wizarding areas, I don't stay for more than a few months. But high-level wizards who stay there long-term need to purchase large quantities of Magic Rice to maintain their magical pressure and prevent it from declining."

Therefore, the food problem remains severe in the wizarding world. A food shortage could seriously disrupt communication and exchange between the various wizarding territories.

Similarly, it's likely that Momiji is an essential item for long-term dimensional exploration.

Locke said to the wizard Trajan, "I understand, senior brother. During this time, I will have my main body cease all activities to prevent any unnecessary problems from arising during the subsequent security checks."

Trajan the wizard sent over a string of laughing emojis.

"It's alright. When I first learned that the key laboratory at Mount Golden Crown was just to increase the production of magic rice, I also thought it was a bit childish. But later I realized that this rice is the most important thing for mortals, and it is also very important for us wizards. If we lose this rice, the territory of our wizard civilization will shrink by at least one-third."

Trajan the Wizard said to Locke, "In any case, you should let your main body rest well recently. I'm going to process the procedures for you now. Under no circumstances should your main body do anything within a week, as it may cause the process to get stuck."

“Once things get stuck, nobody knows what will happen. In my experience, it’s very difficult to get multiple departments to complete their self-inspections and figure out exactly where they’re stuck. In most cases, they’ll pass the buck, and that will cause trouble.”

Locke sent a message to the wizard Trajan: "Okay, I understand, senior brother."

His physical body remained in the dormitory.

If that's the case, then my main body can just meditate in the dormitory for a week.

It wasn't until I completed the process of entering the key laboratory and received all the relevant information about the sub-project from Catherine the Witch that I was able to do so.

That must be related to wedding rings.

Locke pondered, "And we still don't know what one of the three key laboratories on Mount Golden Crown looks like. So many wizards are eager to work there; there must be a reason. Even the God of Disguise attacked those key laboratories of the wizarding civilization. That's a fourth-circle wizard's laboratory; could it have even more advanced equipment?"

At this moment, Locke's clone left the dormitory and headed to the second set of dune planes to find Douglas.

One of his clones is currently in the Land of Dragonfall, conducting business negotiations with the Holy Land of the Windbringers.

Negotiations with the Holy Land of the Windbreakers were extremely complex. The other party seemed to have a lot of patience in business negotiations, so every percentage point of the dispute required a lot of time to discuss and explore the possible distribution of the benefits.

That might be the way the wizards of Dragonfall Lands operate, but in any case, if it weren't for the fact that the wizards of Cloudze Wetlands have a tradition of using clone magic, allowing one person to work for 72 hours a day, I probably would have been dragged out until they agreed.

At this moment, in the meeting room of the Holy Land of the Wind-Bearers, in the Land of Dragon's Fall.

Locke smiled as he looked at the few second-circle wizards from the Windwalker's Sanctuary. They wanted him to provide the Attila's Chain Lightning spell enchantment scroll for free or at a low price, but they had no intention of buying his spell usage license.

During this time, I've come to understand one thing: for the wizards of the Land of Dragonfall, the possibility of seizing every bit of benefit is incredibly tempting, which is why they've been so persistent on this issue.

only……

Locke, observing the increasingly agitated two people before him, began to ponder: 'Strange, why didn't the wizards of Dragonfall use avatar magic to create clones, but instead sent two second-circle wizards using their original forms to speak with me? Although using both the original form and clones simultaneously would consume more than twice the normal energy, this can be overcome with potions and sheer willpower; over time, one adapts.'

'The advantages of using clone magic outweigh the disadvantages.'

'It's just that people will get a little tired, and the drain on the Light of the Mind will be greater. But these can be compensated for, for example, by finding areas with a high concentration of magical tides... and so on...'

Locke gave a wry smile. "Yes, I was prejudiced. The biggest side effect of clone magic is the excessive consumption of mental energy, meaning it heavily relies on a high concentration of magic in the surrounding area to replenish it. The Three Swamps, backed by Cloud Lake, a natural magic-gathering place, naturally have this advantage. But the problem is that the natural resources here in the Dragonfall Lands are somewhat lacking."

'So the wizards here obviously don't like using clone magic. But judging from the way they can stay up for days and nights discussing a single issue with me, they seem to have other methods.'

The two wizards from the Windbound Holy Land had beads of sweat on their foreheads. They looked at each other and then silently gave the Star Ring Wizard from Cloud Marsh Wetland a thumbs up. They were both wearing special magical artifacts that enhanced their stamina, allowing them to work at maximum efficiency for 24 hours a day. The only price was that their bodies were under tremendous strain every moment, requiring them to consume large amounts of magic rice or other high-energy foods daily to replenish their energy.

But this wizard in front of me doesn't seem to have a crystal artifact like the [Advanced Concentration Crystal], so the fact that he could hold out for so long is truly amazing.

One wizard felt that if things continued like this, even if he could enhance his work efficiency by focusing on the wafers and work with maximum energy, his body was indeed starting to give out.

"Wizard Augustine, our Windwalker's Sanctuary has agreed to allow Aladdin and your Silver Peach Garden to join forces to develop a flying magical plant for combat purposes, with the [Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow] as its core. We have agreed to your conditions, but this is the first time our Windwalker's Sanctuary has done business with flying weapon magical plants, and we are really unsure of our capabilities. The bottom line given to us by our superiors is that you should at least provide Attila's Lightning Chain for free."

The wizard exchanged a glance with another wizard, communicating with their eyes. Then he looked at Locke, his eyes seemingly full of sincerity.

“If this drags on any longer, neither of us can stand it, and it’s a real waste of both of our time, especially the time of a genius wizard like yourself. I think Mr. Augustine should make some concessions on Attila’s Chain Lightning.”

"After all, we don't know how well the Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow will perform in the market for flying magical plant weapons, so we're not really sure..."

Another wizard took the opportunity to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead. He looked at the wafer on the back of his hand and saw that it was a blue crystal chip that looked like an embedded chip. With his intentional activation, the wafer showed that it still had 24 hours left to run.

The wizard suddenly realized something terrifying: if the implanted alchemical device suddenly failed, his high work efficiency gained from the advanced concentration wafer would instantly disappear, and all fatigue would strike him in an instant, potentially preventing him from working for the next month.

The solution is to get up and find an opportunity to leave the meeting room before the wafer runs out of power, and then go find a Magic Energy Charging Station to recharge it.

The entire Dragonfall Lands have an exceptionally high demand for magical energy, so every day, large quantities of alchemical items that can replenish magical energy are imported from other wizarding lands and other colonized worlds through various means. Furthermore, due to the existence of wafers and other rechargeable magical artifacts, magical energy charging stations, similar to gas stations, are set up throughout the entire Dragonfall Lands.

The wizard said to Locke, "Mr. Locke, I have something urgent to attend to and need to go out first."

Although Locke didn't know about the crystal artifact, he immediately realized that the other party was about to give up and wanted to go out for a breather. He couldn't let him go at this moment.

Locke chuckled, “Wait, Wizard Takla. While everyone was having tea and resting, I prepared a document and would like to ask you two to take a look. It won’t take long; let’s look at it together and see if we can resolve our current differences.”

"By the way, this is my clone. So I'm not in a hurry, because I currently have two clones, plus my main body, so I can have three units that can move. Therefore, you don't need to worry about wasting my time, after all, I have 72 hours in a day."

The two exchanged a glance, and both saw apprehension and fear in each other's eyes.

The shamans of Yunze Wetland are too ruthless.

It turns out he has two clones!

His day has 72 hours!
The two exchanged a speechless glance. It was really a huge disadvantage for them to use their own efficient working hours to compete with Locke's 72-hour day, especially since the other party had been pushed to the limit for so long without wavering at all, and even used his spare time to make a document.

The two of them have already begun to waver.

Moreover, because Locke had to continue the meeting, the Takla Wizard couldn't find an excuse to leave the meeting room to replenish the magical energy of his wafer.

This made him increasingly anxious.

Locke glanced at the Takla Wizard and knew that the other party seemed to be in a hurry, so this negotiation should be over soon.

Negotiations with the wizards of the Windbringer's Holy Land are proving to be extremely difficult.

Fortunately, I have multiple clones, so I have plenty of time to stall the other party.

I absolutely cannot let myself bear the entire cost of enchanting the Great Blue Leaf Dragon Sparrow with Attila's Lightning Chain; that would be too much of a loss for me.

Locke originally sought cooperation with the Holy Land of Wind Chaser because he valued their technology, experience, and the ability to share costs. Ideally, the Holy Land of Wind Chaser should bear all of these costs, and Locke had complete confidence in this.

The fact that the other party has been talking to me for so long on this issue means they expect me to make concessions.

The other party's expectation that I would make concessions likely stems from the fact that the Windwalker's Sanctuary also has an interest in the magical plants enchanted with Attila's Chain Lightning.

The two wizards exchanged glances and began to secretly contact their superiors to inquire about the next steps.

An hour later, in the same meeting room, both men received a message from their leader: they could cover the cost of all enchanted Attila's Chain Lightning, but they wanted to discuss with Locke whether the technology could be applied to other flying machines in the Windseeker Sanctuary.

The wizard Takra immediately told Locke the request with a smile. Just when he thought Locke would most likely agree and compromise, Locke pondered for a moment and said, "I refuse. Attila's Chain Lightning can only be applied to the Great Blue Leaf Dragon Sparrow at present."

"Unless the Wind Chaser Sanctuary is willing to pay an additional sum for a license to use the product. Our current partnership is based on Aladdin, but I recall that Aladdin currently only has two products."

The wizard Takla gave a wry smile, because negotiating with Locke would also be a tough battle for him.

Initially, they thought Locke was young and easy to talk to, and that they could get something for nothing. But it turns out he was really too tough.

The wizard Takra smiled wryly and said, "Is there really no room for discussion? Then we can only continue to talk and hope to resolve our differences as soon as possible."

Locke said, "Alright, I happen to have a clone that needs to go to the Abyss. Our Cloud Marsh Wetlands has a wide variety of clone magic, so even though we're negotiating here, my clone can still go to the Abyss to take care of some business."

The two second-ring wizards exchanged a glance. Is this the confidence of a star-ring wizard?
The two gave a wry smile.

Normally, relying on their possession of the crystal magic artifacts, they usually hold the upper hand when negotiating with wizards from other wizarding territories.

Who can outlast them?
But now, the one who holds the upper hand in the negotiations is actually this wizard from Yunze Wetland.

The two rarely negotiated with the wizards from the Three Swamps, since the Dragonfall Land was located on the edge of the Eastern Boundary, which was relatively far from the Central Boundary.

Therefore, when they suddenly met, they immediately felt uncomfortable.

The wizard Takra was still puzzled.

'I remember that the clone spell consumes a lot of Mind Light, yet he managed to send a clone into the abyss. He truly is a Star Ring Wizard… Mind Light is indeed powerful.'

...

At Mount Golden Crown, Locke found Douglas and said to him, "Actually, I sensed a long time ago that you have an ancient soul within you."

Douglas's expression shifted slightly, as if he were getting anxious, and he opened his mouth as if to speak.

Locke waved his hand and said, "But I don't care about such things at all. There's nothing strange about it. Even if that ancient soul was a third-ring wizard in its previous life, don't forget, I've beaten even the reincarnation of a third-ring wizard in the arena. Why should I care about an ancient third-ring soul? I'm not telling you this to pry into your secrets, but to tell you that I wasn't confident in retrieving that treasure before. After all, that place is already being watched by the Dark Evil King."

“But things are different now. I’m a Star Ring Wizard now, and I think if we make some preparations, we should be able to bypass the Dark Lord and get that treasure.”

Since his main body was effectively prohibited from doing anything for a week, he could focus all his energy on having his clone take Douglas to retrieve the treasure they had previously failed to obtain.

Douglas was somewhat excited, because only by obtaining that secret treasure could he advance to the second-circle wizard level and awaken his teacher, King Lagmamon.

Douglas said to Locke, "Thank you, boss..."

Douglas bowed to Locke. "It wasn't that I intentionally concealed the truth from you before; it's just that after I accidentally leaked the information, the Brandy Wizard's attitude towards me..."

"This makes me very afraid that if I tell you this information, you will become like that too. But I didn't expect it; it was really my own narrow-mindedness."

Even though Locke knew he might have inherited the legacy of the ancient witch king, he wasn't tempted in the slightest.

In Douglas's eyes, this was the difference between Locke and Brandy in their character.

Douglas said, "But the Dark Lord is a third-ring level being. How can we deceive him, bypass him, and take the treasure?"

(End of this chapter)