Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems - Chapter 757

Chapter 754 The World of Epirus and the Invasion of the Styx

Locke received a special magical plant standard requirement document from a key laboratory at Boniface University, transmitted by the witch Georgina.

He opened the document and glanced at it. First, this key laboratory was currently developing a new type of textile engineering yarn.

Therefore, the requirements document listed fifteen indicators related to this yarn, such as fiber length, fineness, and breaking strength. However, this fiber performance requirement table was not really relevant to him.

This was actually a task for targeted magical plant variety improvement.

If he were to cooperate with them, he would at most be responsible for improving the new magical plant variety.

But Locke noticed that the document included a document, which turned out to be a contract for a specially appointed breeder.

Locke glanced at it and found that it was actually a job offer. It stated that he would be paid three million magic stones within one year, and would be provided with the corresponding equipment and related rights needed for the experiment, as well as a special grant of three million magic stones for him to improve the new magical plant variety.

The contract period was one year.

During this year, he would be a visiting researcher at Boniface University.

This is a fairly common form of cooperation between wizarding universities and individual wizards. Of course, for a wizarding academy as large as Boniface University, such an agreement is generally not reached with ordinary first-ring wizards.

Usually, they simply pay the wizard and require them to complete the task, much like the relationship between a company and its employees.

However, he is now a second-ring wizard. Although wizarding academies like Boniface and Golden Crown Mountain each have thousands of second-ring wizards, it’s enough to allow for collaboration through a “guest professorship.”

Becoming a Sun Ring wizard would likely grant him an even higher status and potentially more generous compensation.

Sun Ring wizards are relatively few in number.

Among all second-ring wizards, Sun Ring wizards hold the most unique position.

Of course, Star Ring and Moon Ring wizards already have significantly higher status than second-ring wizards; with each step upwards, the number of their peers inevitably decreases.

Locke glanced at the contract, which stated that if he accepted it, he would become a senior visiting researcher at Boniface University.

Such titles are meaningless; they’re just for show.

The wizarding university in Yunze Wetlands has a plethora of over-issued titles. If the university can’t afford it, they’ll just give empty titles.

Any title not linked to a legitimate teaching position recognized by the White Wizarding Association can be considered a mere literary rhetoric.

Locke pondered for a moment, “Does this contract also include a one-year usage period for ten acres of magical fields within Boniface University?”

Georgina the witch sent a message.

‘Yes, Mr. Augustine. The director of our key laboratory admires your talent in breeding and would like to invite you to collaborate.’

‘As you see in the requirements and contract, the development of this new material is itself for the cause of justice for us White Wizards.’

‘Epiros is a commercially viable colony of our Boniface University, but that world is invaded by a tributary of the Styx. The Sons of the Styx routinely attack the Epirus plane and plunder its population.’ “

And the people of Epirus, once swept into the River Styx, will die because they cannot adapt to the environment of the underworld. At the same time, their armies, unable to adapt to the underworld, will be forced to watch as the Children of the Underworld plunder their world’s lives.”

“Currently, magical plants have proven to possess the power to restrain the underworld. Therefore, our new textile science is developing new magical plant threads to create a bright future for the people of Epirus.”

Locke, looking at the long message from Georgina the witch, immediately understood that Boniface University had found a new market.

According to this, how much the wizards of Epirus needed magical robes that could adapt to the underworld environment and resist the aura of the River Styx!

Even ordinary people in that world needed them. Moreover, Boniface University might even be able to sell their magical robes in every world invaded by the River Styx.

This would be a huge market.

Locke pursed his lips; Georgina the witch’s spouting white wizard’s justice was arguably even more hypocritical than that of a holy wizard.

After all, in the eyes of the Holy Wizard, making money is a virtue, and not making money is morally corrupt.

However, these things are irrelevant to him.

After all, the development of new types of high-quality silk threads was done by the key laboratory at Boniface University, while he could at most potentially develop an improved variety of magical plant for them.

The overall plan should be handled by the Sun Ring Wizard behind that laboratory.

But…

Locke looked at the name of that magical plant and was speechless.

Why was this?

It was actually a pineapple magical plant called Black Swan Pineapple!

It was a common first-ring magical plant, and the cultivation requirements were to find a way to make the plant fibers of the Black Swan Pineapple finer and longer.

Because the original version of the Black Swan Pineapple, although it could barely meet the requirements of the new textile magic weavers, was difficult to weave into silk threads because its plant fibers were coarse and short.

The breakage rate of the silk threads reached 70%.

At the same time, there was a third requirement, which was to enhance the Black Swan Pineapple’s ability to resist the aura of the underworld, by about doubling it.

Locke’s pupils constricted slightly upon seeing this requirement; it was likely a new addition.

The original requirements were probably just two: to make the plant fibers of the Black Swan Pineapple thin and long.

This contract probably wasn’t originally intended for him.

Bonifacio University likely had their sights set on other breeders.

But after the Silent Grail, they changed their minds and discovered that their Lunar Cultivation Method could indeed produce specific environmental adaptations through the reverse flow of dimensional information.

Therefore, they added a third requirement for him.

Locke pondered for a moment, then presented the contract’s opening to the witch Catherine, asking if he could sign it, whether this would bypass the academy. Catherine

quickly responded.

‘Yes. Nobody will bother with such a trivial matter. It’s perfectly normal for a second-circle wizard to serve as a guest speaker at various wizarding universities.’

‘Even though the Rose Council and Mount Golden Crown have many conflicts, wizards from both academies still serve as guest speakers at each other’s institutions.’

“Could you show me the requirements for this task?”

Locke immediately sent a screenshot.

The witch Catherine replied, “No problem. They must have taken a liking to your personal cultivation method after the Silent Grail incident and want to establish a good relationship with you. The New Textile School has just become independent and is easily doomed. They don’t want to rely on the alchemy school, so they’ll not only offend the Old Textile School but also a large number of alchemists. They’re

practically in a precarious position.” “

Therefore, they must choose their natural ally, which is us breeders.”

“Having seen their task requirements, I understand now. The so-called truth of the New Textile School must be manifested in the clothes worn by mortals. The Old Textile School indeed doesn’t focus on the low-level magical clothing market for mortals and wizard apprentices. For the New Textile School to rise, besides needing a large number of talented people, it needs something more direct—the market.” “

It seems the New Textile School wants to take the lower-level market route.”

Locke suddenly realized.

That’s right, only with money can one claim to have risen; without money, one is nothing.

Catherine the Witch, worthy of her title as a Throne Wizard, saw through the future development path of the new textile science with just one transaction.

Locke sent a message to Georgina the Witch.

‘I can sign this contract. But it’s impossible to sign a contract so simply on the Water Hyacinth System.’

‘How about we sign a formal contract at the Witch’s Kitchen at the Dragonblood Gathering in a few days?’

Locke looked at the Water Hyacinth System and waited a while, but the other party did not reply immediately.

After a while, Georgina the Witch finally sent a message.

‘Okay, Mr. Augustine.’

…

At Bonifacius University, in the key laboratory of [Heraclitus], Heraclitus was the proposer of the [Flowing Material Weaving] theory in the new textile science. He was

also a representative figure of the new generation of the new textile science.

Several Throne Wizards of the new textile science at Bonifacius University were waiting for him to become a Third Ring Wizard so that the [Flowing Material Weaving] theory could be turned from a falsehood into reality.

Georgina the witch was currently working part-time for him, and once she was discharged from the Institute of True Knowledge, she would likely go directly into this key laboratory.

The interior of this key laboratory was a vast artificial river, with banks lined with vegetation, and artificial rocks and various other features in the middle.

Heraclitus addressed a first-ring wizard, saying, “Amo, place a two-meter by two-meter square stone in the middle of the river. I want to observe the changes in the water flow…”

Amo immediately directed three minotaur slaves to move the stone.

Heraclitus Sun Ring nodded.

“Georgina, it’s good that you can become a second-circle wizard. It’s even better that you’re willing to study with me. Listen carefully, I don’t care about your past, your origins. Because in my doctrine, I believe this world is a great river.”

“You can’t step into the same river twice. Everything is changing. Change is the eternal theme of this world, and change is a river.”

Heraclitus Sun Ring seemed to be immersed in the beauty of the [Flowing Things Weave] doctrine. He was writing and drawing on the paper in his hand, calculating the changes in the water flow.

“Everyone, everything is changing, and finding the laws within this change and putting them into an unchanging framework, that is what I believe we new weaving wizards should do. And the framework I’ve chosen is the great river.”

“You’ll see if you gain any new insights from this great river before you. After you leave the station, work with me. I will teach you how to brew honor…”

“Georgina, has Augustine agreed?”

Georgina the witch bowed and said, “Lord Heraclitus, he has agreed. It’s just that we don’t know if he can truly develop the magical plant varieties we need within this year.”

The wizard Heraclitus smiled, his eyes narrowing.

“I have high hopes for him. We have higher-ring wizards in our New Textile School who also think highly of him.”

“However, the key point isn’t whether the development will succeed. That’s a matter of probability; all development work must accept the possibility of failure. The key point is that the New Textile School needs to maintain close cooperation with excellent breeders, so establishing cooperative relationships with wizards who may become excellent breeders in the future is extremely important.”

“Of course,” Wizard Heraclitus smiled. “That’s decades from now. But as magic weavers, we should have the vision to see fifty years from now.”

“I will arrange for the Star Ring Wizard to sign the contract with Locke. You will represent our laboratory in handling subsequent cooperation with him. You are both young and talented; you should be able to agree on many ideas.”

“The Old Textile School has recently been cooperating with some alchemical wizards. Currently, they seem to be trying to use commercial competition to take away several markets we control and force us to abandon our development path.”

“At least for the next ten years, it will likely remain a commercial war. But the future is hard to say…”

“After all, Yunze Wetlands is full of dark wizards.”

Georgina’s eyes behind her witch mask suddenly changed.

“I’ll kill every dark wizard I see.”

…

After accepting the cooperation request from Boniface University, Locke checked the stock price trends of Solas’s Barefoot and Melochy’s Magic Step again through the Water Hyacinth System and found that the stock prices of the two shop alliances had fallen by at least one-fifth. They

should have fallen even more.

Originally, there were two downward curves forming a large plunge curve, with the stock prices falling by at least one-third.

But later, it seemed that the wizards behind the two shop alliances exerted their power, investing a lot of funds to forcibly raise the stock prices, or even make them rise slightly .

This behavior is essentially a way to further deplete their resources and reduce their cash flow.

It’s just using money to buy health.

Locke looked at the two downward curves. The first one was after he won the Silent Holy Grail Championship, when there was a slight drop.

Obviously, some wizard stock investors immediately realized what was going to happen next.

The second drop was when he was wearing the Bloodwave Wizard Shoes and chasing down the dark wizards of the Crimson Deep.

That incident had the most severe impact, with the stock prices of both wizard shoe shop alliances plummeting rapidly.

Locke checked other wizard shoe shop alliances and found that their stock prices had also declined, although a few smaller, less popular shops were showing an upward trend.

Clearly, the continued success of his pure magic plant wizard shoes had led many wizards to believe that this would cause a major shift in the wizard shoe market.

With his becoming a second-circle wizard, this shift had become an unstoppable trend.

However, the wizards of Cloudze Wetlands were still unclear about the final outcome of this conflict, and many were still betting on the superior magic weaver wizard shoes.

Locke considered this and decided to go to the Golden Crown Mountain library to check if there was a suitable clone spell for him.

This was a significant advantage for a second-circle wizard; not learning it would be a loss.

In the highly competitive environment of Cloudze Wetlands, he needed to learn a clone spell as soon as possible.

…

At the Soras Barefoot Technology Seminar, the Moon Ring Wizard Director’s face was extremely grim. He glared at everyone at the meeting, especially the head of the Crisis Pre-Management Department.

The head of the crisis management department remained silent, head bowed, to avoid being blamed.

The head of the Moon Ring Wizards said, “After the Silent Grail incident, our Shop Alliance actually spent 120 million magic stones to save our stock price from plummeting, thus preventing the risk of stock market turmoil!”

“Many wizard shareholders seem to have doubts about our future, believing that Solas’s Footwear is no longer the monopoly it once was! They think we will be eliminated in the future!” “

The direct losses are over 100 million magic stones, and that doesn’t even include the indirect losses!”

“Just a ridiculous wizard shoe brand founded by a first-ring wizard, yet it used the Silent Grail to cause many wizards to lose faith in our Shop Alliance, forcing us to lose a lot of money to make up for the losses!” “

Are you all useless! So many people, and you were bullied like this by just one person!”

At the technical seminar, many wizards were moved.

Some were indifferent, some looked grim, and some showed anger.

A designer whispered, “It’s that guy Jesse. He couldn’t even kill a first-ring wizard.”

At the meeting, the second-ring wizard, the chief designer of the second-ring section of Solas’s bare feet, was also losing face.

He coughed and then said in a steady voice, “Just one person, of course, couldn’t possibly cause us to lose over a hundred million. That’s too exaggerated. I’ve told you all not to be too obsessed with the stock market. Stock market fluctuations are common; it’s a matter of confidence.”

“When others temporarily lose confidence in us, the stock price will drop. But soon, they will regain their confidence, and the stock price will rise. We ourselves are like a frightened rabbit, taking this kind of ephemeral thing as stock price too seriously. To stop the stock price from falling, we actually invested a large amount of working capital…”

“Over a hundred million is just the final cost we incurred. If we look at the funds we used at the time, that’s far too exaggerated. Moreover, a large portion of that money is still tied up at various points. So, the real money we lost in the short term is much more than that.”

The Moon Ring supervisor looked grim; he was under pressure to resign.

His plan to force Jesse the Witch to join the dark wizards in assassinating Locke was flawed, and its failure had driven him to the brink of despair by the wizards of the board, council, and overseer.

Furthermore, he faced a legal crisis.

At the very least, Solas Lightfoot needed to compensate Locke and Mount Golden Crown, and if he were abandoned by Solas Lightfoot, he risked imprisonment.

The Moon Ring Master feared that, under normal circumstances, Solas Lightfoot wouldn’t abandon him.

But what if Solas Lightfoot wanted to force him to deal with Locke Augustine’s affairs, just as he had forced Jesse the Witch?

Pushing a first-ring wizard to the limit, turning him into a debt slave, and then forcing him to ally with the dark wizards and engage in an “asset battle” with Mount Golden Crown, exchanging inferior assets for superior ones…

wasn’t this what Solas Lightfoot had always excelled at?

A shiver ran down his spine at the thought.

No.

He shouldn’t be thinking like this.

A Moon Ring Wizard was already incredibly valuable and held a high position in Solas’s Lightfoot organization.

He wouldn’t be abandoned so easily.

At that moment, the Moon Ring manager’s eyes flashed with a fierce light as he looked at the head of the crisis management department at the meeting.

Although this was unlikely, one had to protect oneself, not rely on the conscience of others.

He had to act preemptively and find some scapegoats!

The Solas’s Lightfoot Shop Alliance was a massive organization, and such a large organization meant that its decision-makers wouldn’t think like a single person or a small group.

This meant there were many loopholes to exploit.

He needed to clarify the issues at this meeting and find scapegoats.

The Moon Ring Director began, “The biggest person responsible for this incident is the Crisis Pre-Management Department. This department completely misjudged Locke’s strength, and also misjudged the possibility of him quickly becoming a second-ring wizard and rapidly creating the second-ring wizard shoe plant…”

The head of the Crisis Pre-Management Department widened his eyes, and as a first-ring crystallization stage wizard, he hurriedly defended himself.

“No, wait, gentlemen. I’m just a small department manager, I…”

At the technical seminar, many wizards exchanged glances. No one wanted to stand up for this small first-ring crystallization wizard and offend the Moon Ring Director, who was unlikely to step down.

So, many remained silent.

A few wizards even sneered and suddenly interrupted, putting him down.

“Agreed, no problem.”

“The Crisis Pre-Management Department should have discovered this matter in advance and nipped the danger in the bud.”

The Moon Ring Director’s eyes swept over the other wizards at the meeting. One first-ring crystallization wizard was simply not enough to fill this hole.

After all, Golden Crown Mountain was involved.

A second-circle wizard, at least an ordinary second-circle wizard, must step forward and take responsibility for this mess; otherwise, it will inevitably backfire on him sooner or later.

The Moon Ring Supervisor immediately looked at an ordinary second-circle witch who had remained silent during the meeting. She was the wizard who had brought in the head of the crisis management department. She

was also the production supervisor of Solas’s Lightfoot, and the one who directly ordered Jesse to intercept Locke.

The Moon Ring Supervisor’s eyes flashed coldly, and the witch suddenly felt afraid, because she realized that when the supervisor ordered her to relay his orders to Jesse to intercept Locke…

it was done in a private space.

There was no True Vision Crystal monitoring, and no paper documents!

Moreover, she wasn’t well-liked in Solas’s Lightfoot. Because of her position as production supervisor, she often clashed with other wizards.

After all, she was responsible for overseeing material transportation, product design, and manufacturing, ensuring the smooth operation of all production stages in Solas’s Lightfoot.

How could she not offend people in this process?

(End of Chapter)