Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems - Chapter 587

Chapter 584 Participating in the Second-Class Fund Defense

The time displayed on the alchemy clock in the corridor showed that it was almost one o’clock. As it was my defense meeting, I had to get into the venue as soon as possible.

At the same time, Locke was about to go in with the information in his hand, but he found that the wizard Daniel, who looked listless, walked out of the conference room.

Wizard Daniel was stunned when he saw Locke. “Locke?”

Locke immediately realized that Daniel had recently applied for a project completion, so he smiled and said, “Daniel, how is it? Did you pass the second-class funding project? By the way, have you applied for the first-class funding project this time?”

Daniel fell silent, his face looked grim and his eyes gloomy, completely different from his cheerful appearance in the past.

Locke immediately realized that something was wrong and put away the smile on his face. At the same time, he noticed that this time, there were no shop allies following Wizard Daniel.

“What’s wrong?”

Daniel did not answer Locke’s question, but just lowered his head. Only then did Locke realize that he looked haggard and his wizard robe was not very clean.

He even had a cut on his face.

Daniel subconsciously wanted to dodge and turned away.

Locke frowned.

But Daniel stopped halfway, looked at Locke and whispered, “Yunze Wetland is more insidious than I thought. All my money has been swindled away.”

“Two million magic stones, and they let me borrow a loan of three million magic stones.”

Daniel said bitterly, “I didn’t even pass my defense today because I didn’t take it seriously due to lack of funds and the psychological trauma I suffered.”

“Today, I received a harsh rebuke from a three-ring weather master from Bonifacius University. He told me that there are many talented people in Jinmaon Mountain… Yunze Wetland, and told me not to be so self-righteous.”

“I’m not special!”

Daniel forced a bitter smile. “Locke, you’re right. Witch Reina… I don’t even know if her name is that. She’s really a liar.”

“She deliberately set up a trap and made me use up all my savings and loan money to invest all the funds in a problematic store. Now that store has filed for bankruptcy, and I can’t get my money back.”

“Besides, she disappeared without a trace.”

“You actually leveraged other people’s money to invest in venture capital!” Locke frowned. “Didn’t I send you the chat logs she sent me?”

“You can trust someone like her? Even if you really want to leverage, you should find a serious fortune teller who graduated from Quinnjord University. Group prediction is what they are best at. Quinnjord University has a rich discipline of predicting within chaotic systems.”

Daniel smiled bitterly. “I was blinded by love, and also by the one million magic stones she had earned me earlier. In the Fission Mausoleum, I had never come across such a large sum of money. So…”

“In short, I’m lost in money.” A hint of fear appeared in Daniel’s eyes. “Money is such a terrible thing. When I don’t have it, I feel like I need it so much, but when I get it, I become even more miserable.”

Daniel said bitterly: “Is it because I don’t have the ability to grab so much money?”

Daniel’s eyes were filled with confusion. “Anyway, after my colleagues in the lab found out I owed so much money, they all pretended I didn’t exist and wouldn’t talk to me unless I approached them.”

“Everyone avoids me, but when I ask them carefully about their attitude, they say I am overthinking it. But I know what they are thinking. They are afraid that I will cheat them out of their money. Locke…”

Locke didn’t know how to comfort him. “At least you now know the true face of that witch.”

Wizard Daniel shook his head. “Five million magic stones! How can I possibly pay it back? And without funding, I can’t complete my research. I think I might be expelled from the Academy of True Knowledge next year.”

Wizard Daniel smiled bitterly. “One wrong thought, and I’ve fallen from heaven to hell. I completely ruined a promising situation. Locke, I truly regret this… If I had known this would happen, I should have listened to you.”

“Then maybe I would have passed the second-class fund project with you now.”

“The Yunze Wetlands are truly too dangerous,” Wizard Daniel said. “Right now, my future has been destroyed by my own hands.”

Just as Daniel was about to leave, Locke suddenly stopped him. After thinking for a moment, he said, “Daniel, I know a great contractor named Hussein. If you need anything, I can recommend him to you.”

“No matter when or where, never give up hope.”

“Today’s despair may only be a joke to your future self. But if you give up hope, you will lose even that hope.”

Wizard Daniel was shocked. He turned to look at Locke, opened his mouth, and then shook his head and said, “There’s no need for a contractor. I don’t even have the money to hire one right now.”

“Locke, there are countless temptations on the road to truth. I failed to resist those temptations and allowed the weaknesses in my character to erode my heart, leading me astray and into the abyss.”

“I don’t feel wronged by the current outcome. You must never trust others as easily as I did.”

Daniel turned and left, whispering, “Locke, thank you. You are the only wizard who has encouraged me since this happened.”

“Just when I thought no one in the world would care about me anymore.”

Locke watched Daniel’s figure disappear at the end of the corridor and sighed slightly. There was nothing he could do. This was Daniel’s own choice.

The world of wizards is so cruel, and there is so much competition on the road ahead, with so many temptations and deceptions. People with weak wills will be dragged off the road of pursuing truth even if they are talented enough.

Locke pondered for a moment and whispered, “Whether I can move forward depends not only on my talent but also on my character. What happened with Wizard Daniel was a wake-up call for me. If I make the wrong choice, one step could lead me into an abyss. Because… this is the Yunze Wetland!”

A place where countless wizards were made and buried.

As many wizards have made great achievements and pursued the truth here, as many wizards have failed here, given up their dreams and stopped here.

The path of pursuing truth is so difficult, and there will be fewer and fewer fellow travelers. Therefore, every fellow traveler is so precious.

Team leader Celtic walked out of the conference room, ran into the corridor, and whispered, “Locke? What are you doing standing here? You’re the star of the show today. This is your defense meeting.”

“The Three Ring Wizard and the Sun Ring Wizard are all waiting for you, the protagonist, to take the stage.”

Celt came over and invited Locke to join him, whispering to him, “The three-ring wizard who will be presiding over your defense today is Master Miledy from the University of Arts, one of the seven top wizard organizations in Yunze Wetland.”

Locke looked at Team Leader Celtic with confusion. “Team Leader, is there a problem?”

“Casiros University of the Arts? So this three-ring wizard is a master speed painter?”

A flash of panic flashed in Team Leader Celt’s eyes, and he whispered, “Don’t ever mention the term ‘speed painter’ in front of the wizards from Casiros University of the Arts.”

“Within the visual magic sub-field of the School of Illusion, there are still many branches. The speed painters of Yunze Wetland are not the mainstream. The mainstream here are ink painters, who use water as a medium and ink as a brush.”

“Anyway, if you mention speed artists in front of Casiros University of the Arts, you’re likely to be targeted by those artists, like an old man swallowing arsenic. Those people at Casiros think speed artists have a serious misunderstanding of aesthetics, a bunch of soulless… speed artists.”

“Master Milady is not an ink painter either. He is a master breeder and a master bard.”

Team leader Celtic asked curiously, “Haven’t you heard of Casiros University? That’s where the artist from Yunze Wetland was born.”

“Casiros University’s ink painters have a tradition of not adding the finishing touch to a painting’s eyes. If you do, the subject in the painting will come alive and attack you.”

“The troubadours of Casiros University are also the trendsetters and big stars of Yunze Wetland. But the point isn’t this, but Master Miledy’s other identity—breeder.”

Seeing Locke’s increasingly puzzled expression, Team Leader Celtic whispered, “Master Miledy is also the main promoter of the Overlord Cultivation Method. Now you understand!”

Locke immediately knew what Team Leader Celtic was worried about.

Master Miledi is a master of both the school of illusion and the school of life. He is also an authority on the overlord cultivation technology of Yunze Wetland.

At this moment, Locke’s defense fell into his hands, just like Li Gui meeting Li Kui, or like waving a sword in front of Guan Gong.

Generally speaking, it is very troublesome if your research direction happens to be that of a big shot in the same industry.

Basically, you can only blame yourself for your bad luck.

Team leader Celtic said, “The most difficult thing is that there is a second-ring wizard among the judges this time, who also does Overlord breeding.”

“The judges this time were contacted by Witch Ekaterina. Your Majesty, the throne may have his own ideas.”

The Celtic team leader patted Locke on the shoulder. “Good luck.”

“Locke.”

Locke nodded, then firmly pushed open the door of the conference room and walked in. At that time, more than a dozen wizards in the conference room looked at Locke.

There were three defense judges, some wizards attending the lecture as auditors, and wizard representatives from various major store alliances.

At the same time, Locke also saw Master Miledy from Casiros University of the Arts. He was wearing a red, white, black, and blue plaid wizard robe, with ten magic rings on his hands, two magic necklaces around his neck, several magic bracelets on his arms, and a bunch of magic weapons on his body.

These magical devices are more decorative than practical.

At the same time, he has a magic tattoo on his right arm, and his hair is long, but it has been dyed.

Locke also discovered that Master Miledy was wearing heterochromatic contact lenses.

It’s so fashionable!

Locke looked at the witch Ekaterina’s seat in the conference room as usual. It was a pity that the witch Ekaterina still did not come to attend the final defense meeting of the second-class fund project.

The seat where his co-mentor should have been sitting was empty.

Despite this, the table in front of that position was still filled with special fruits from Golden Crown Mountain as a sign of respect for the Throne Wizard.

Master Milady snapped his fingers. “Very good, the young man has come in. Hello, hello… we can begin…”

There was a strange rhythm in Master Miledi’s speech, as if he was rapping. But when he spoke like this, every word was so clear that it would penetrate into everyone’s ears and could not be forgotten.

He clearly didn’t use any magic, but because his words followed certain magical laws, his voice contained a magical power even without using magic.

Master Miledi looked at Sith George, the second-ring Sun Ring wizard from Group 2 of the Golden Crown Mountain, who was standing beside him.

“I hope the defense of your researcher from Golden Crown Mountain will be more interesting. The performance of that wizard named Daniel just now was really poor. The logic should be explosive and the data should be tough. And the young wizard above, don’t speak like you are chanting.”

Sis George beside him was the most trusted confidant among the confidants of the witch Catherine. He was always serious. Therefore, when faced with the three-ring wizard talking like this, he could only force a smile from his dead face to make it seem that he matched the style of the three-ring wizard.

Wizard Sith George smiled stiffly and said, “Well… I didn’t personally lead these two wizards, so I don’t know much about them. I hope their performance will not disappoint us, especially Master Milady.”

The third wizard was a second-ring breeder from the Rose Council. He smiled. “Augustine… I think I’ve heard that name recently. Where?”

Master Milady smiled, then made a pistol gesture toward Locke on the stage, pointing his index fingers at him and saying,
“Don’t be nervous, don’t be casual. Academics are rigorous, not street tricks. If your argument is strong enough, I’ll nod my head… Oh yeah…”

Sith, who was standing next to him with a serious face, had already started to sweat profusely. He seemed to be completely unable to stand Master Milady’s style, but he did not dare to disobey the authority of the three-ring wizard. At this moment, the expression on his face was a little distorted.

On the stage, Locke was calm and composed. He nodded to Master Milady and said, “Okay, thank you for your guidance, Teacher Milady.”

“I try not to be nervous.”

Milady looked at Locke in surprise, as if she had discovered something. “You’re quite courageous. I like your character. Finally, we caught someone alive in Golden Crown Mountain.”

The Sith wizard seemed to have found an outlet for his anger. He coughed, frowned at Locke, and began to scold him, saying, “This is a defense. Pay attention to the seriousness. You must be respectful in front of a three-ring wizard.”

Master Miledy looked at him unhappily. “Little Sith, relax. The data needs to be firm, but don’t look so stiff, like you owe tens of millions.”

The Sith wizard was in complete disarray.

He looked at Master Milady in confusion. In his eyes, Witch Catherine had always been an extremely majestic and mysterious figure. He could not understand her words and actions at all.

At this moment, the image of the three-ring wizard became shaky under the impact of Master Miledy.

The third judge from the Rose Council smiled. He had seen enough of the show, so he said to Locke, “Researcher, you may begin.”

“I hope you can give us a non-boring defense.”

(End of this chapter)