Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems - Chapter 773

Chapter 770 Ling Hong’s Hundred Solutions and Shortcomings: Contributions and Arrival in the Southeast Corner Region

Three and a half weeks later, Locke looked at the blue-skinned troll wizard Ackerman and asked, “Mr. Ackerman, are there no more Linghong rubbings?” Wizard

Ackerman lifted his massive feet and walked between the peach wood floor and bookshelves of the library, then spread his hands to Locke and said, “No, Wizard Locke.”

“The potions of Mount Golden Crown are only so-so… cough cough cough, I mean, there is still a lot of room for improvement. Moreover, Linghong is extremely precious. Not to mention the original, even the rubbings are very valuable. I was able to find two rubbings for you before, which was already very good.”

Wizard Ackerman suggested, “Wizard Locke, if you have any second-ring contribution points, you can exchange them for Linghong rubbings. The library of Mount Golden Crown still has enough second-ring Linghong rubbings.”

After obtaining Linghong last time, Locke finally understood why he had failed to concoct clone potions before.

After reading extensively on spiritual macros in the free resources and consulting with the witch Catherine, he finally understood that a spiritual macro is an inherent attribute of a thing. While

a thing’s mass, density, and specific heat capacity are its inherent attributes, a spiritual macro describes its inherent attributes on a spiritual level.

Second-circle wizards can see the flow of dimensional power with their n*ked eyes; therefore, second-circle potion makers can, based on this, thoroughly research the trajectory formed by the past spiritual flows of a thing.

A spiritual macro is this very thing.

The reason second-circle potions are so powerful that their effects can affect beings at the level of second-circle wizards is because they have reached the level of utilizing spiritual macros when concocting potions.

Realizing this, Locke discovered that he had overlooked several seemingly insignificant details when looking at the recipe for the clone potion.

Specifically, when concocting the clone potion, a gold coin needs to be cut in half with a magic knife, then thrown into a magical flame to melt it into a golden ball, which is then thrown into a crucible.

He had followed the procedure strictly, but hadn’t realized its importance, essentially ignoring the “Spirit Macro” level.

Locke pondered, “Considering the ‘Spirit Macro’ level, when brewing potions, seemingly simple and meaningless actions like running potion ingredients along the rim of the cauldron or gently tapping it with a coin become crucial potion ingredients.” “

Because this represents a Spirit Macro to be added to the potion. A Spirit Macro is the hidden form of things, a potion ingredient’s concealed form on a spiritual level. It’s a product of a second-circle potion master’s insight into the truth of the world.”

The difference between potions brewed without and with a Spirit Macro is immense.

It’s a pity there aren’t many Spirit Macro rubbings even in the free zone.

A Spirit Macro is a hidden true form, a secret attribute, of potion ingredients.

While he seemed to understand what a Spirit Macro was and the meaning of the term, frankly, it wasn’t very useful.

He spent three and a half weeks repeatedly observing the crimson vampire stone spirit macro in his hand, but he felt that the spiritual changes of this macro were so complex that it seemed impossible to reproduce the spirit macro of this vampire stone from who-knows-how-many years ago with human power.

This meant that he couldn’t use the vampire stone’s spirit macro as a potion-making ingredient.

For a potion master, not being able to control the spirit macro is like losing an eye;

insufficient observational ability.

Therefore, naturally, he couldn’t successfully concoct a second-circle potion.

Locke also realized that the pattern on the bronze cauldron left to him by King Otto was actually a very high-level spirit macro, which was why he was able to use someone else’s spirit macro to concoct a blank potion.

But this couldn’t be considered a true success in concocting a second-circle potion.

Locke sighed.

“Then find me some reading experiences and research reports on Linghong rubbings,”

the Ackerman troll wizard said with a smile. “That’s possible. There are many such books in the free zone. I can find as many as you need. Besides, I don’t think you should spend expensive contribution points to exchange for Linghong rubbings right now.”

“Although I’m not a potion master, as an expert-level generalist, I can still give you some pointers. Linghong sounds very mysterious, but for a second-ring potion master, it’s just a different way of looking at the world. So, it’s a skill that requires repeated practice, like arithmetic, from shallow to deep, to master.”

“It would be more in your best interest to read these research papers on Linghong in the free zone first, and then exchange for Linghong rubbings.”

Locke thanked the Ackerman troll, “Thank you, Mr. Ackerman. You’ve given me a lot of advice over the past month.”

After a month of contact, the two had developed a good relationship.

Locke lacked the airs of native wizards in the wizarding world, and being a very studious archaeology wizard, he was well-liked by Wizard Ackerman.

Wizard Ackerman said, “I think you’d better find a second-circle potion master to apprentice under or consult. Spiritual potion mastery is extremely complex, the core of second-circle potion mastery.”

“This kind of thing is difficult to learn from books; it’s a practical skill. It’s one of the few things I’ve read but couldn’t understand, so I can only memorize it perfectly.”

“To prevent mistakes, I can only memorize it flawlessly.” “

Of course, because of my contract with the academy, even if I have a lot of spiritual potion mastery stored in my mind, I can’t give it to you.”

Locke was somewhat troubled.

He hadn’t expected that continuing on the path of potion mastery after becoming a second-circle wizard would be so complicated.

Old Blue Ackerman was right; becoming an expert potion master, it now seemed, was indeed difficult to achieve simply by reading books.

However, the potions training at Mount Golden Crown was indeed mediocre, and the potions specialists were all from the deacon group. Aside from a slight connection with Wizard Daniel, he had no dealings with the other wizards in their group.

Going there to seek guidance so abruptly felt a bit abrupt.

Locke considered it for a moment, perhaps he could try his luck at the Feathered Serpent Pavilion, but of course, everything ultimately depended on himself. Therefore, he would definitely need to read more materials related to spirit magic during this time. The troll

wizard Ackerman recommended, “Besides that, I recommend that you subscribe to the spellbook ‘Spirit Magic Hundred Solutions’ when you have the chance. It costs 3000 second-ring contribution points.”

“I think that’s the most cost-effective introductory book for spirit magic,”

Locke nodded.

“Thank you, Mr. Ackerman.”

The contribution point system in Yunze Wetland is tiered, and points are not interchangeable.

Zone 1 of the second ring yields approximately 1500 contribution points, while Zone 2 of the second ring yields 800. However, unlike the first ring, Zones 3 and 4 of the second ring offer almost no contribution points.

Even publishing an article in a Zone 3 journal only earns 20 contribution points, and a Zone 4 journal only 10.

Locke believes that the entire Zone 3 and 4 journals within the second ring are more like a channel deliberately left for second-ring wizards to farm contribution points.

Therefore, the value of Zone 3 and 4 journals is predictably low.

These Zones 3 and 4 are similar to the contribution point exchange system of libraries before the first ring; basically, the main publishers of Zone 3 and 4 journals are the libraries of various colleges.

Essentially, it’s like submitting your articles to various libraries.

‘3000 contribution points would require publishing two articles in Zone 1 or four articles in Zone 2,’

Locke pondered. ‘It seems like a lot, but it’s actually a lot.’ “Because getting published in second-ring journals isn’t easy, especially in Zones 1 and 2.

Even Zones 3 and 4 have certain review requirements; it’s not something you can just do on a whim. So even using contribution points requires some cost.”

Locke frowned. “And I need to maintain a good reputation. Publishing too many Zones 4 and 3 journals will affect how top-tier wizards at those universities view me in the future.” “

Therefore, it’s best not to follow the example of those second-ring wizards who use Zones 4 and 3 for publication; at most, use Zone 2 journals.” “

Besides, if you want to quickly gain more contribution points to exchange for the [Spiritual Encyclopedia] I need, you can also do so through competitions, awards, and obtaining professional certificates.”

A wizard who obtains a second-ring potion master certificate immediately gains 10,000 contribution points.

That’s equivalent to publishing in seven top-tier Zone 1 journals.

This shows just how difficult it is to obtain a second-ring potion master certificate.

In the distant past, second-circle potion masters were extremely rare, practically nonexistent. Locke even suspected that, during the Age of Stars, second-circle potion masters might have been the elite group of potion masters.

After all, it was obvious that for a long time, potion masters’ circle levels were lower than those of ordinary wizards.

Locke looked at the Ackerman troll wizard and said, “Mr. Ackerman, besides that, in your memory, is there any archaeology grimoire in the library that I can exchange for?”

His own Wizard King’s Grimoire could only help him become a second-circle archaeologist and create legendary historical records, and that was it.

The most powerful spell recorded in it was [Summoning a Demon God].

Now, the only useful parts of this grimoire for him were the chapters on the bloodlines of ancient creatures and some other interesting minor spells.

The Ackerman troll wizard paused for a moment. “No. I remember the name of the second-circle level archaeological grimoire, it’s called the ‘Black and White Grimoire.’”

“It records the path to the third circle. Extremely valuable.”

Locke understood instantly. As a grimoire, it might not be so sensitive at the second circle level or below, but if it records a clear path to becoming a third-circle wizard, then such a grimoire can be considered an extremely valuable resource.

And archaeology is a sparse field of study, so the number of Black and White Grimoires existing in this world should be very small.

The Ackerman troll wizard thought for a moment and said, “Right. The grimoire originated from the aberrant wizard ‘Peacock Lord’ during the era of autocratic monarchs. The Peacock Lord ordered the archaeological wizards of the time to pool their wisdom and create the first grimoire in history.”

“Then, they copied that original grimoire, dividing it into lower-level grimoires. I remember that there were only… a thousand Black and White Grimoires derived from that original grimoire!”

Locke frowned.

A thousand?

Such black and white magic books are indeed rare enough. If there are only a thousand copies, then considering those that were damaged, lost, or seized by various organizations and placed in their vaults, the number of black and white magic books that remain in this world and are still in normal circulation is unknown.

That means if he can’t obtain a Black and White Magic Codex, his path in archaeology will be cut off.

Locke sensed that at the second ring stage, all resources are scarce, whether it’s resources that directly enhance his mental strength, the inheritance of potion-making, or the inheritance of archaeology, all are much scarcer than at the first ring and apprentice stages.

Fortunately, this is Golden Crown Mountain, at least there is no shortage of botanical inheritance.

Evolutionary biology here is extremely advanced. In the past month, he has read a lot of content related to ecology and evolutionary biology in the free area, and even found the opportunity to consult the witch Catherine twice.

He has made considerable progress.

Of course, in this month, his magic pressure has only increased by 1 point.

He calculated that if he uses advanced meditation for a year, his magic pressure can only increase by 12 points, in ten years by 120 points, and in a hundred years by 1200 points.

Due to unknown reasons, the lifespan of second-ring wizards today is four-fifths less than that of second-ring wizards in the era of stars, and the upper limit of lifespan has been greatly reduced.

Therefore, even if a second-circle wizard were to exert all their strength, it’s uncertain whether they could raise their magic pressure to over 10,000 within their lifetime. This is

because increasing mental strength becomes increasingly difficult in later stages.

Moreover, based on Locke’s inquiries, he confirmed that his own rate of improvement was actually above average.

This was likely due to the constant influx of natural force from the plane of origin and the physical modifications he underwent with solar potions during his first-circle wizarding phase; his aptitude wasn’t bad.

Consequently, many second-circle wizards progressed much slower than him.

Some increased their magic pressure by only one point every six months, or even one point every year.

This explains why many wizards remained at the ordinary second-circle stage their entire lives.

In such circumstances, without external assistance, it’s difficult to escape this predicament and accelerate progress.

Locke looked at Wizard Ackerman and said, “Besides the reading report on the Linghong rubbing, Mr. Ackerman, could you do me another favor?”

Wizard Ackerman smiled and said, “Locke, what is it?”

Locke said, “I remember there are some documents related to wizard shoes in the library. Could I have some of those?”

For the past month, he had been taking time to think about how to solve the problem of the high cost of imaginary roots and design his first pure magic plant wizard shoes.

Wizard Ackerman glanced at Locke.

“Of course, there are many materials here. It’s just that we at Golden Crown Mountain don’t have many high-quality articles on wizard shoes. The libraries of Bonifacius University and the Rose Council have more materials.”

“You can apply for a library card and read them at the Rose Council.”

“If you have friends in the Rose Council, you can even borrow documents that require certain permissions to access. Those articles contain the best methods for studying wizard shoes in Cloud Swamp Wetlands.”

Locke immediately thought of the witch Lana, whom he had met at the Rose Council.

Speaking of which, it was only because he took the initiative to write a letter that he had the opportunity to meet her.

Locke nodded. “I’ll visit the Rose Council’s library when I have the chance and borrow some of their articles.”

Wizard Ackerman extended his right hand, and a spellbook flew into his grasp automatically.

“But our Golden Crown Mountain library isn’t bad either. I know you’ve been trying to develop second-circle wizard shoes lately.”

“Wizard Locke, you haven’t considered this, but it’s an advantage unique to you as a wizard of Golden Crown Mountain.”

Locke paused, taken aback.

“What?”

This is the greatest advantage of generalist wizards; they are well-read, true doctors, not specialists. Their understanding of each field is superficial, but their overall knowledge of many disciplines is remarkable.

They can offer ideas that I hadn’t thought of before.

Wizard Ackerman smiled and said, “The School of Power Science has a third-level discipline called Wave Science, and the Senate of Mount Golden Crown is the ancestral home of Wave Science.”

“Power Science at Mount Golden Crown is extremely advanced. Our power masters’ research on the biomechanics of human and various magical creatures’ walking is so detailed it’s unbelievable.”

“Look at this book, this is a work written a hundred years ago by Wizard Noshor Fisher, ‘The Relationship Between the Angle of Spine Sway and Foot Deformation During Human Walking.’”

“And this one, ‘The Weight-Bearing Structure and Pressure Distribution of the Forefoot of Human Wizards During High-Speed Movement.’”

“And this one, ‘The Pressure Distribution of the Foot When a Human Wizard Lands After a Jump…’”

Wizard Ackerman looked at Locke and said, “You see, these are your advantages. Advantages that those Rose Council wizards wouldn’t utilize.”

“The Rose Council’s main research in mechanics is in materials mechanics and dynamics, but their research on human biomechanics is nowhere near as in-depth as ours at Golden Crown Mountain. In my opinion, if you could read all one thousand articles related to human biomechanics in this free area, the wizard shoes you design would at least be much more comfortable.”

Locke asked doubtfully, “They can’t borrow articles from Golden Crown Mountain?”

Wizard Ackerman shook his head.

“That’s not the main problem, but rather that the magic weavers are working behind closed doors, each of them only active in their own little alchemy workshops.”

“They haven’t paid attention to other disciplines for a long time.”

“In fact, many wizards in Cloud Marsh Wetlands have been annoyed with them for a long time.”

The troll Ackerman raised his foot.

“Look, I just wanted to buy a pair of everyday second-ring magic artifacts, but inexplicably, I was forced to spend five million magic stones.”

“I clearly only bought the cheapest one at first.”

Ackerman seemed very concerned about this. He was already relatively poor, and he had been ripped off by the magic weavers for five million magic stones, not to mention the annual maintenance fees.

Thinking of this, Wizard Ackerman became even more indignant.

“Someone should have dealt with those magic weavers a long time ago. They even try to rip off scholars. Ever since they monopolized the wizard shoe market in Cloudswamp Wetlands, the definition of wizard shoes has changed.” “

The magic weavers are adding more and more definitions to their wizard shoes. Sigh, if I weren’t forced to, sometimes I wouldn’t even want to buy wizard shoes,”

Wizard Ackerman said. “It’s just that when going to certain dangerous places, especially the Outer Realms, I really need a decent pair of wizard shoes to walk normally in certain worlds, or to quickly escape if I encounter danger.”

Locke nodded slightly.

A pair of shoes, seemingly ordinary, is actually a reflection of the level of magical light industry.

Wizard Ackerman said, “So, Wizard Locke, I support you.”

After talking with him for a while, Locke left the library and returned to his dormitory, while arranging work for the three witches, Mason and the other two, regarding the Ganoderma lucidum plants. During

this time, the three of them had helped him with a lot of research on pineapple plants in the first ring.

After all, he had used a lot of existing data from Group 6 and his previous research on pineapple plants when developing pineapple wizard shoes.

Now that this data and accumulation had been used up, he needed to find more promising pineapple-type magical plants for wizard shoe development.

Of course, in the future, it might not be limited to pineapple plants, but for now, he was focusing on air plants, which had already achieved great success in the wizard shoe field.

This investigation work was quite tedious, and Locke was eager to quickly understand the various common knowledge within the second ring, so the three witches, Mason and the other two, took the initiative to help him with this work.

Of course, in exchange, he would also help the three of them find topics that could be funded by first-class grants and help them complete the work.

This was quite simple.

Anyway, when he was developing the second-circle wizard shoes, he would inevitably be involved in more energy-locking structures. He could pick three of them and give them to the three researchers; that would probably help them secure their first-class grant.

The relationship between second-circle and first-circle wizards was, after all, one of mutual benefit.

At this moment, Locke saw that the witch Mason had sent him a picture of a first-circle magical plant called [Iron Nail Pineapple] through

the Water Hyacinth System. Locke looked at the pineapple and began to consider whether it was usable. Ultimately, he cautiously added it to a list of his backup grafted magical plants.

At the same time, Locke sensed something and looked up towards the southeast corner of the region.

It seemed that the wizard airship carrying his Ancient Tree Fruit had arrived in the southeast corner.

This was good.

Locke maintained two bodies simultaneously, picked up a cup of hot water prepared for him by the servants on the living room table, and placed a wizard tea bag inside—[Blue Fish Tea].

Each tea leaf resembled a blue fish.

Locke took a sip of the bluefish tea, and the fatigue from simultaneously controlling two bodies was finally relieved. He understood why this wizard’s tea was even more popular among second-ring wizards.

(End of Chapter)