Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems - Chapter 799

Chapter 796 Academic Foundation and Root Copy Wooden Table

In the Dune Plane, on the tenth underground floor of the research institute, Trajan’s video call came through.

Locke hadn’t expected his senior brother to contact him so quickly.

Trajan’s left eye, the brass demonic eye, was still as terrifying as ever, but the pollution wound left by the dark world on his right eye had healed.

It seemed he had spent some time resolving the problem.

Trajan said, “Junior brother, I just finished a close-range void exploration mission, and then I received a message from our teacher. By the way, our teacher asked me to transfer thirty magic crystal cards to you.”

Locke was stunned for a moment, then realized that this was the money Catherine the Witch had sent him for testing his wedding ring.

It seemed that seeing that he hadn’t taken any action for a long time, she had given him a subsidy.

Locke asked疑惑地问道, “Teacher, why not just give me this money directly?”

Wizard Trajan replied, “That’s not surprising. She has many research groups, and the connections between academic lines are very complex, involving a very intricate equity structure.”

“In short, there are generally three levels of fund flow. The first level includes the normal horizontal and vertical flow of funds within the True Knowledge Institute’s teams, as well as funding subsidies provided by the university.”

“This part of the public funds is stored among the groups, divided into group-specific public funds and the public funds of the entire team under the teacher’s supervision. The sources are resources brought in by the teacher, resources brought in by the group leaders, and project funds applied for by outstanding researchers like you. When you use the equipment within the group, you need to pay a certain amount, which can be used to maintain the equipment within the group. If there is a surplus, it can also become working capital within the group.”

“The second level is the general treasury within the academic lineage she has established.”

“The third layer is the funds she personally received, which are her personal funds. These thirty magic crystal cards are from the Academy Foundation’s accounts, while my fellow disciples and I are responsible for managing the Academy Foundation’s accounts,”

Wizard Trajan said. “The Academy Foundation was established at her insistence, introducing many oversight departments, and after hundreds of years of development, it has become quite successful.”

“Because she believes that without an Academy Foundation, the Academy will always remain just scattered interpersonal relationships.”

“As for why she gave you thirty magic crystal cards, it’s probably because she had something for you to do. She didn’t tell me about this. I just need to give you the money.” “

The main recipients of the Academy Foundation’s payments are Sun Ring Wizards and Third Ring Wizards, cough cough, you should be considered to be in the enjoyment stage,”

Wizard Trajan laughed. “Of course, this Academy Foundation can basically reimburse you to some extent when you do odd jobs for the teachers, although it can’t cover all your expenses.”

“At certain times, it can also regulate the resources within our Academy, acting as a public fund within the Academy that we voluntarily contribute to.”

“Therefore, the relationships between our academic factions will be closer. It’s worth mentioning that although the Rose Throne’s academic faction doesn’t have a public fund, they have workshops run by magic weavers and flower language masters’ shops, and they pay fixed internal taxes to their factions every year.”

“Moreover, a portion of the funds that the Magic Weavers’ Association and the Flower Language Masters’ Association pay to the Rose Witch each year is also used by her as a public fund for the academic faction, so the Rose Throne’s academic faction is quite powerful.”

Locke nodded slightly.

Indeed, an organization based purely on interpersonal relationships is bound to be loose and difficult to maintain for a long time.

Over time, the relationships between members will become completely unclear.

A good organization must have a healthy financial structure.

In any case, this organization must have an independent and readily available fund.

Essentially, after joining Golden Crown Mountain through the Cloud Ze Cup, he was immediately recruited into a large research team.

Most fortunately, he doesn’t seem to be a marginal figure in this team; as he won the Silent Holy Grail, he even received more and more resources.

The grant from the Scholarship Fund and the mission directly assigned by the witch Catherine are proof of this.

Trajan said to Locke, “Locke, you haven’t done a void exploration mission yet, have you?”

“Before you assemble your expedition team and begin your exploration of that plane, why don’t you come with me on a relatively simple near-ground void mission?”

“That way you can familiarize yourself with the environment of the endless void.”

Locke hesitated for a moment, but didn’t refuse, because he knew this was his senior brother’s good intention—he was trying to guide him.

If he weren’t his junior brother, he probably wouldn’t have been willing to guide him and familiarize him with void exploration.

Wizard Trajan said, “I’ll be returning to the Dark World soon to explore the areas I didn’t finish last time, so my time is limited. To help you understand Void Missions, I’m accepting a mission from the White Wizarding Association’s Demon Hunter Division to destroy a Black Wizard pirate ship in the near-ground Void.”

“Although it will only involve near-ground Void activity, this will familiarize you with Voidcraft and Void combat techniques. That should be enough for you. The rest you can learn from the materials.”

Locke thanked him, “Thank you, Senior Brother.”

“Indeed, that’s enough.”

“Senior Brother Trajan, are these Black Wizards the pirates from the mother ship?”

Wizard Trajan smirked.

“That’s right, the most shameless, troublesome, and persistent Black Wizards of the Five Great Wars. Are you afraid, Junior Brother?”

Locke smiled, anticipation in his eyes.

“Senior brother, in the five great wars, I’ve already dealt with the Twin Demon Realms and the Pale Pilgrimage. This time, I’m really looking forward to fighting the black wizards on the Chaos Sea Mothership.”

“Senior brother Trajan, I earned a name for myself by killing black wizards in the Southeast Corner Region—the Eye Demon Wizard.”

Wizard Trajan seemed to appreciate Locke’s attitude.

“Good, as expected of my junior brother. Then, see you in a week at Little Peach Mountain. The ‘Gate of Hell’ at Little Peach Mountain is very close to the near-Earth orbit of the Void. Wizards from Golden Crown Mountain usually travel by flying vehicle and depart from the ‘Gate of Hell’ to enter the Void.”

“To tell you the truth, junior brother, I also earned my name by killing black wizards. They call me the ‘Executioner’!”

“Seeing your murderous aura reminds me of the days when I was a captain in the Demon Hunter Division when I was a Moon Ring Wizard. How nostalgic. Hahahaha…”

The next moment, Wizard Trajan hung up the phone.

Locke, meanwhile, was preparing to head to the Wizard Bank to collect the thirty magic crystal cards that Trajan had transferred to his account; he only needed to go and collect them.

Meanwhile, he planned to go to the Dragonblood Market to purchase experimental materials and consumables, and to conduct experiments using the magic fields within Group 2’s research institute.

Locke first went to the Sith Wizard’s office.

At this time, the Sith Wizard was working hard to restore the ecology of the Dune Plane. He looked at the consumable usage list Locke had given him, as well as the usage applications for the three magic mirrors and the Queen’s Chessboard.

The Sith Wizard blinked, considered for a moment, and said, “Locke, these usage records, why are they all related to pineapple-type magical plants or sea gold sand?”

Locke coughed, knowing that he had been going a bit too far lately, conducting too many experiments unrelated to Group 2.

Although the Sith Wizard turned a blind eye to him, and he couldn’t really be considered one, he was completely using the group’s resources for his own purposes.

First, he was already a familiar face in Catherine the Witch’s team and had made his own contributions.

Second, he had already received support from his teacher in the field of wizard shoes.

However, for Sith the Wizard, the leader of Group 2, although what he was doing was still within the academic lineage, it wasn’t Group 2’s responsibility.

While it wouldn’t exactly harm Sith’s personal interests, it was irrelevant.

Locke knew that even the best relationships needed maintenance.

“Group Leader Sith, air plants are excellent drought-resistant magical plants. I also have a series of follow-up research plans to deepen this direction,”

Sith the Wizard said with a half-smile.

“And incidentally, you can design even better wizard shoes?”

Locke asked without changing his expression.

“The excellent drought-resistant mechanism of magical plants inherently implies the existence of energy-locking structures that efficiently utilize energy. While researching drought resistance, it’s easy to discover efficient energy-locking structures. Incorporating these energy-locking structures into air plant magical plants makes it easier to create excellent wizard shoes.”

“Therefore, strictly speaking, my wizard shoe product is merely a byproduct of our Group 2 research,”

Locke said righteously.

“Team leader, I’m using the money I earn from the byproducts to support our Group 2’s research progress.”

The Sith Wizard signed his name on the five lists Locke gave him, along with the application lists for the use of the large equipment.

“Stop being cheeky,”

the Sith Wizard chuckled. “Even on Golden Crown Mountain, not many people would so readily link their own products to our Group 2’s basic research. However, your point is interesting: a better shape for drought-resistant plants means a better energy-locking structure, which translates to higher-performance wizard shoes.”

“Locke, you have a keen sense for connecting basic research with practical applications.”

“And I’ve seen that same sense in my teacher, the Red Dragon Throne. You and she are so similar in every way.”

The Sith Wizard said, “Do whatever you want.”

“Anyway, the Mason Witches’ first-class grant is still for our Group 2’s project. With your help, they should be producing results soon, and hopefully, they can discover several new energy-locking structures in air plant magic.”

Locke smiled wryly; this was an invitation to trade.

The Sith wizard would allow him to use the shared equipment of Group 2, permitting his various equipment usage requests, but he needed to guarantee that his group would produce more research results related to energy-locking structures.

However, this did not conflict with his own interests.

Locke said, “Of course.”

The Sith group leader smiled. “By the way, I recently bought a lab from a second-circle wizard after he went bankrupt and liquidated his assets.”

“I got his most expensive and best piece of equipment—the [Rhizosphere Copy Table], or simply the copy table.”

“It’s a large-scale second-circle magical artifact in botany, costing around ten million, but the related consumables and maintenance costs are very high, so only a large team can afford to buy and maintain it.” “

Now, his lab can’t afford to maintain the copy table anymore, so he sold it to me. The rhizosphere system of plant roots is a black box structure, because the rhizosphere is the microenvironment of plant roots in the soil; if it’s even slightly affected or damaged, it has no research value.”

“But with the copy table, we can record the changes in various natural magical structural components of the plant root’s rhizosphere environment.”

“I think this is very meaningful for our Group 2’s research, so I bought it. It should also be useful for your research. Our Group 2 is currently lacking excellent researchers, so you can use it for now. Remember to be careful; after all, it’s a third-hand magical artifact, don’t break it.”

“If it gets damaged, we’ll have to find someone to fix it, which will cost a lot of money.”

Locke was somewhat moved, not expecting the Sith Wizard to support him so much.

Clearly, Zaran Bailey had deeply hurt him.

Locke thanked him, saying, “Thank you, Sith Team Leader.”

Sith nodded, “No need to thank me. The Zaran Bailey incident taught me that things can’t be rushed. The more you rush, the greater the damage you cause, and the slower things get. I’ve reflected on that incident very well…”

…

At this moment, Locke’s Ancient Tree Fruit clone had returned to the southeastern corner region, to Lilith’s Hut.

At Lilith’s Hut, Locke saw the familiar port city, and the familiar alchemy huts standing throughout it.

A wave of familiar yet strange memories washed over him.

At this time, anti-undead barriers—life fields—were still in place throughout Lilith’s Hut.

In the center of the port city, next to the public classroom alchemy hut, tables were set up for a banquet, laden with sumptuous food.

When Locke entered the center of the banquet, he saw many familiar faces, first and foremost Lady Irina.

Lady Irina, still dressed in her elaborate wizard’s robes like a noblewoman, her hair styled in magnificent attire, approached Locke with a glass of wizard’s wine, saying, “Lord Augustine, it’s been a long time.”

“My business partner, those magical plants you invented during your apprenticeship are selling very well. Would you be interested in bringing the new magical plants you developed in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands to our Southeast Corner Region?”

Lady Irina smiled radiantly. Perhaps the best decision she ever made was establishing the Augustus Magical Plant Specialty Store with Locke.

Locke nodded slightly to Lady Irina.

Lady Irina then promptly downed the glass of wizard’s wine.

“A toast to our second-circle wizard,”

Locke said to her. “Lady Irina, I mainly develop many pure magical plant wizard shoes in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands. If you need them, I can authorize you to sell them.”

Lady Irina’s eyes lit up immediately, even showing great excitement.

“Wizard shoes don’t sell very well in the Southeastern Corner to begin with.”

“Therefore, wizards in the Southeastern Corner didn’t have a very clear understanding of what wizard shoes actually were.”

“If I were to manage your product for you, then from the very beginning, the Southeastern Corner’s understanding of wizard shoes would likely be limited to purely magical plant-based wizard shoes.”

(End of Chapter)