Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems - Chapter 840

Chapter 837 Thirty-five million magic stones in income and the determination to go further!

In the Wizarding World, on the edge of the Golden Crown Mountain region, in the capital of the Mortal Empire.

The bodies of three second-ring Dark Wizards in the mortal realm turned into sand drifting in the wind, disappearing without a trace. Hussein, witnessing this, was not surprised.

He crossed his arms, looked at Locke, and said, “Locke, your attack was truly swift. Seasonal Magic, World War.”

The blood mirror formed from Hussein’s right eye witnessed the entire process of Locke’s World War against the three Dark Wizards.

It could only be said that even ordinary wizards couldn’t launch a World War as easily as Locke.

This was something Hussein couldn’t understand.

It was as if the Great Magic Locke had mastered was vastly different from the Great Magic he had mastered.

Locke said to Hussein, “It’s alright. These three dark wizards brought me quite a few good things. So no need to thank me.”

Hussein smiled and said, “I used the Holy Blood Sacrifice Hands to curse them for you, further reducing their magical pressure and also dismantling one of their backup plans in advance.”

Locke asked, “How so?”

Hussein became serious and asked Locke, “What if those three dark wizards used the Vampire Conversion Curse to attract your subordinates to become vampires and enjoy a different kind of immortality?”

Locke frowned immediately.

Hussein said, “I foresaw this. After all, I know that for mortals, immortality, even if it’s just a different kind of immortality, is filled with the pain of being cursed forever, which is very tempting for many of them. Unless, I let them enjoy the eternal curse while taking away something else from them.”

“Wisdom.”

Hussein pointed to the three Holy Blood Sacrifice Hands formed from three drops of blood at his feet, which were three large hands made of blood. This was a standard feature of vampire magic, but different wizards used them with completely different powers.

“This is the [Primal Blood Curse] I invented. Through bloodline and reproduction, I cursed three vampire clans in the Heidelberg plane, robbing them of their intelligence. So, in your and your apprentices’ eyes, these vampires are just a bunch of beasts with little intelligence left.”

A tiger eye appeared on Locke’s forehead, scanning the three tentacles and sensing the terrifying curse contained within them. The advanced curse’s geometric formula was so complex that Locke couldn’t understand it at all.

Every step was filled with ingenious ingenuity.

Clearly, this was a spell invented by Hussein himself.

Hussein pointed to the curse and said, “This is a curse that can steal the intelligence of sinners. The deeper the sins, the stronger the curse. The intelligence of the vampires in that world was stolen by me. That’s why you don’t need to worry about your Rangers being turned.”

Locke knew what he was talking about.

After all, to enjoy a severely flawed ‘immortality,’ one must at least retain a considerable degree of intelligence.

If they were to be transformed into vampires, they would quickly become half-beasts, or suffer significant intellectual decline, leading to personality distortion or severe changes. Naturally, the allure of becoming vampires would be greatly diminished for them.

Locke pondered for a moment and realized that Hussein’s preemptive move had indeed greatly benefited him.

Moreover, this primordial blood curse had been infused with powerful magic runes, seemingly Hussein’s core magic.

‘The earlier a wizard can construct a power system, the faster they can advance to the second ring, and the fewer resources they need.’

Locke watched as the three tentacles returned to blood and went back into Hussein’s body, realizing that Hussein had likely already completed the initial construction of his power system.

‘Hussein’s magic pressure is only slightly over 10,000, but before I fought the three dark wizards of the Pale Pilgrimage, he had already surpassed me in the progress of constructing his power system.’

Locke realized the terrifying nature of such a super genius as Hussein.

‘If he continues to improve in building his power system, while I continue to lag behind, his magical pressure catching up to mine might only happen in a very short time.’

‘I still need to work harder.’

‘Among next year’s top-tier grant applications, those with higher qualifications than me are certainly formidable opponents. But those whose talent is no less than Hussein’s, such as Zeno and Antoine, are my greatest rivals.’

The path to becoming a top genius in the wizarding world is not easy.

Every step is fraught with competition, and a slight misstep could lead to falling off the track and entering a secondary track.

However, I don’t need to worry too much.

Because I am about to unlock the secret of atavism, possessing a second evolutionary mode, I can definitely create a bunch of projects and publish a bunch of articles.

‘ Locke asked Hussein, ‘So, have you published any articles about your Primal Blood Curse?’

Hussein coughed. “

“There aren’t many journals on curses in Yunze Wetland, so submitting to those no-name journals is useless. I can only submit to Southern Witch Capital or Star Domain Sea. The price for a recent Star Domain Sea journal has increased from 40,000 magic stones to 50,000.”

“And if it’s a second-tier journal in Star Domain Sea, the requirements are even higher. My goal is to secure second tier and strive for first. So, I need to accumulate some good preliminary experimental data, then publish a batch of second-tier, first-tier journals in Star Domain Sea called ‘Darkness and Curses.'”

Locke had heard of the infamous “Darkness and Curses. “

According to his colleagues at Golden Crown Mountain, it was the favorite journal of bad wizards and wizards who liked to use curses. It contained a bunch of terrifying curse spells, capable of transforming the world into a hellish place with a single curse. Therefore, many holy wizards, when in a bad mood, would report this journal to the White Wizard Association.

However, after so many years of reporting, “Darkness and Curses” still exists.

Locke asked, “Why not submit to *Law and Contracts*? That’s a top-tier journal in the Starfield Sea.”

Hussein replied, “I wanted to submit too. But the articles in *Law and Contracts* are too biased towards contract masters. My Primal Blood Curse, on the other hand, is biased towards curse masters.”

Locke nodded, took out the Ganoderma lucidum plant, and saw that the old pirate Henry had contacted him.

He pointed the plant forward, and a beam of light appeared at its tip, shining in front of him.

Soon, a small, whale-shaped void spacecraft appeared in the sky.

The one-eyed old pirate Henry, with his indomitable stubbornness and hearty laughter, descended from the sky.

“Hahaha… Locke, I’ve arrived.”

A void spacecraft, through a mechanism similar to a teleporter, teleported to this phase coordinate via magical light.

“Locke, this is our pirate’s Light-Transmitting Voidship. What do you think? I told you we could move quickly within a wizarding territory.”

“Each time we use magical light to leap, we can move quickly. With this small flying vehicle, we can bypass the magical defenses scattered throughout the Cloud Marsh Wetlands and easily traverse it, plundering at will.”

Old Henry jumped off the whale ship, then his expression changed slightly. As a veteran pirate who had braved countless dangers, he was extremely sensitive to the smell of blood.

At this moment, he sensed that some kind of great battle had just taken place here.

Old Henry’s expression changed abruptly because the prosthetic artifact on his left hand was emitting a bright red light. Judging from the color of the light, he knew that more than one second-circle wizard had died here.

Old Henry became nervous.

“What, are there still enemies here? Do you want to board my Light-Transmitting Voidship to hide from them?”

While speaking to Locke, Old Henry glanced at Hussein out of the corner of his eye.

Locke said, “No need. There were indeed three second-circle wizard enemies, whom I just killed. It’s a coincidence that you arrived just as I finished killing them, Henry.”

Old Pirate Henry forced a smile.

“It is indeed quite a coincidence. Maybe it’s because the weather is nice today.”

He pointed to the poisoned blade in his left hand with his right hand and said, “This magical artifact is really useless. I’ve wanted to change this function of sensing how many formal wizards have died around me for a long time. It can only show how many people have died, but it can’t distinguish whether they were killed by our own people or by the enemy. Hahaha…”

Locke looked at old Henry strangely.

“Old Henry, why are your hands shaking?”

Old Pirate Henry raised his eyebrows, his hands trembling, and said, “I recently did an experiment related to neurotoxins, which damaged my sympathetic nervous system a bit. It’s okay, it won’t affect my ability to sail.”

“Ahem… And this is?”

Hussein smiled and said, “Mithril Law Firm, Hussein, I’m a lawyer.”

Old Pirate Henry immediately breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

“A lawyer? A lawyer is good, lawyers are reasonable.”

“Locke, Mr. Hussein, shall we set off now?”

Hussein looked at Locke.

Locke then asked Hussein, “Will the Pale Pilgrimage continue to hunt you down?”

He was mainly worried that after he entered the Void, the Pale Pilgrimage would continue to pursue him because of their pursuit of Hussein.

Hussein whispered, “You can rest assured about that. The three people you just killed are direct descendants of the Primordial Wizard. Currently, only they can find me through the [Claiming Ancestor].”

“But they have to get very close. Because I used the power of my debt slave bloodline, plus a confusion curse, to confuse the [Claiming Ancestor].”

“I was unlucky and accidentally ran into them. As a result, they drew my bloodline power and planted a blood curse on me, and then they followed me all the way. I tried to shake them off, not wanting to get entangled with them any longer, but unfortunately, they chose to barge into hell when there was no way to heaven.”

“As long as I don’t get too close to the direct descendants of these progenitor wizards again, there shouldn’t be any major problems. Besides, I suspect only this branch of descendants called ‘Bloodhand’ can find me,”

Hussein said seriously. “Because the inheritance I received is the bloodline of the Bloodhand clan.”

The old pirate on the other side blinked. “Bloodhand, Bloodeye, Bloodfoot, Bloodwing, Bloodheart, and Bloodsoul—these are the six direct descendants of the Blood Demon Palace from the Pale Pilgrimage. You took the bloodline of the Bloodhand clan? Hiss~ Then you must be a progenitor wizard’s blood bag?”

Old Henry silently moved away from Hussein.

A progenitor wizard’s blood bag is not to be trifled with.

Progenitor wizards are cruel, bloodthirsty, and exceptionally brutal. Every time they awaken, they sweep across the wizarding world, bringing disaster.

It’s said they are also very picky about their tastes; wizards who lack talent or aren’t brutal enough are unworthy of being their blood bags.

Therefore, every progenitor wizard’s blood bag is absolutely a brilliant and exceptionally skilled executioner.

Old Henry turned to look at Locke, swallowing hard. The Bewitching Wizard and someone like him seemed to have a good relationship.

Of course, of course.

If the Bewitching Wizard hadn’t chosen the path of life magic, he himself would probably have been targeted by the Primordial Wizard, who would have set a trap to lure him into obtaining a share of the Bloodline of Inheritance.

Old Henry shuddered again.

Something wasn’t right.

Each of the six clans possessed only one share of the Bloodline of Inheritance, corresponding to the sole Blood Pack during the Primordial Awakening—a cycle of slumber.

During the clan’s slumber, many affairs were managed by the six Blood Packs.

The Blood Packs’ status within the six clans was very strange. On one hand, the clans considered them merely servants of the Primordial Awakening; on the other hand, because the Blood Packs were servants of the Primordial Awakening, they were given a certain status within the clan.

The Bloodhand Clan must be desperate to reclaim their clan’s blood pack.

At this moment, Old Henry silently marked Hussein as a very dangerous individual.

Things were getting ridiculous.

For millennia, the progenitor’s blood pack had only circulated among dark wizards. This time, for some unknown reason, a lawyer from a top-tier red-circle law firm in the white wizarding world, like Mithril Law Firm, had become the progenitor’s blood pack.

Locke said to the two, “I still need to recruit some more people at the Dragonblood Gathering and prepare the void-flying vehicles. So, you two may have to wait another half month.”

“But it’s alright, I’ve already arranged for my student to prepare accommodations for you two at Golden Crown Mountain. If you need anything, or need a laboratory, you can tell me and my student, Gregor.”

Hussein was already somewhat famous in the white wizarding world, so he didn’t say anything, just nodded.

“Hmm, I’ll just stay at Golden Crown Mountain to avoid trouble.”

Old Henry coughed, thought for a moment, and agreed.

At this moment, five second-circle wizards from the Hall of Everlasting Radiance were rapidly approaching in a magical carriage.

To prevent things from becoming complicated, Locke and Hussein boarded Old Henry’s special pirate ship and used teleportation to transform into a beam of magical light, directly leaping towards Mount Golden Crown.

The five wizards from the Hall of Everlasting Radiance alighted from the magical carriage; they were all lecturers or contracted wizard mentors of the Hall of Everlasting Radiance.

They exchanged glances.

“A great battle just took place here; it seems more than one second-circle wizard died.”

“A second-circle archmage died? Oh, it seems most of the dead were dark wizards.”

After finding the second-class wizard apprentice inside the palace and learning the situation from him, they breathed a sigh of relief and exchanged glances.

“It seems a friend from Golden Crown Mountain happened to be passing by and dealt with those three reckless dark wizards for our Eternal Radiance Hall.”

“As expected of Golden Crown Mountain! They were all ordinary second-ring wizards, yet he killed three of them in one fell swoop. Second-ring archmages are considered ancestors in many lower-level wizarding territories. He killed three in one go.”

“Judging from the description, the person who did it seems to be a bewitching wizard from Golden Crown Mountain. He helped us out; we should thank him sometime. Consider this a favor we owe him.”

…

After Locke and the others left, a little girl wearing a stiff, grayish-white coarse cotton dress, the hem only reaching below her knees, walked out from the streets of the mortal capital.

She had two ponytails and stared directly and nakedly in the direction of the palace, where the five second-ring wizards were located.

“I thought the wizarding world had been so boring all these years. Who knew that after this revival, so many interesting characters would appear?”

The little girl smirked. “Looks like there’ll be some fun in store. Teacher Ekaterina, you didn’t expect this, did you? I’m back. Hahahaha… I told you, you couldn’t bring yourself to kill me.”

“Hahahaha…”

“Thanks to this ever-rising magical tide, my original seal is no longer indestructible. Teacher Ekaterina, you cut off my path to advancement, betraying me as your student. I will ruin your reputation! I see, your lineage and that lineage are locked in fierce combat.”

“Then let’s start by destroying your lineage.”

…

Half a month later, Golden Crown Mountain, Witch’s Kitchen.

Scarlett the Witch sat before Locke, handing him eighty million in payment.

Scarlett’s hands were trembling; she had never handled such a large sum in her life.

If anything went wrong, even if she were a debt slave for ten lifetimes, she couldn’t repay this money.

So when she handed the magic stones to Locke, she visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

Locke asked curiously, “Wasn’t it seventy million magic stones?”

Scarlett the witch took a sip of her bluefish tea, cleared her throat, and then said to Locke, “Lord Augustine. Arthas has decided to change the cooperation contract with you, so now it’s a 60/40 split, you get 60%, we get 40%.”

“Arthas can continue to provide you with the sales and production chains. This is an order from the higher-ups in Arthas.”

“So, the net profit this time is fifty million magic stones. According to the new contract, you get thirty million in profit, and we get twenty million. In addition, Arthas’s upper echelons have recognized you as a high-quality partner, so this time they’ve given you an extra five million magic stones, making a total of eighty million magic stones.”

In the past two weeks, Locke sent out an avatar to personally escort the shipment.

However, nothing actually happened. After the goods arrived at Arthas headquarters, they were immediately sent to various locations through Arthas’s logistics system.

Solas, with his bare feet, wasn’t foolish enough to attack Arthas’s logistics system.

Ultimately, Arthas was essentially a platform providing breeders and other wizards with a complete logistics, manufacturing, and sales system. If Solas Lightfoot dared to hire people to attack Arthas’s ground logistics, even the Rose Throne behind Solas Lightfoot might not be able to withstand it.

After all, Arthas was backed by a group of fourth-ring wizards.

Locke calculated that he needed to set aside some money to repay the loan, but the remaining 45 million magic stones were all his own.

Scarlett the Witch said to Locke, “Our first pair of second-ring wizard shoes has achieved good results. Perhaps we could raise the price a bit? How about we raise it to the level of Blue Ribbon’s shoes, starting at three million magic stones?”

Locke thought for a moment and asked, “What would happen if we raised the price?”

Scarlett the Witch thought for a moment and said, “Sales might be halved, because the reason our wizard shoes sold so well this time was because the price was low.”

“But the quality of our wizard shoes is still somewhat inferior to Blue Ribbon’s. However, although sales might be halved, I think revenue could increase by at least a third, or even half.”

“After all, we’ve already tripled the selling price.”

Scarlett the Witch seemed quite satisfied with the current situation, a smile playing on her lips.

“I should be able to qualify for the Platinum Trader award at the end of the year. This is all thanks to your great help.”

“It’s truly an honor to be your partner.”

“Currently, based on this sales performance, we’ve become a well-known wizard shoe shop alliance in the Starfield Sea, and we can definitely raise our prices.”

“From now on, we can rest easy and start making money.”

Locke frowned, tapping his fingers on the table, a hint of dissatisfaction rising in his eyes for the first time towards his partner.

“Scarlett, and then? What are your plans?”

Scarlett the Witch looked surprised.

“And then? Lord Augustine, isn’t that enough? Your pioneering pure magical plant wizard shoes have achieved such success on their very first appearance. You could easily call yourself a renowned wizard shoe designer.”

“Your wizard shoes are truly a great success. I’ve heard that even newspapers want to interview you.”

Scarlett the Witch took another sip of her bluefish wizard tea.

Locke frowned, giving her a deep look, then said, “No, that’s not enough. We need to go further.”

“Right now, we’re just a third-rate wizard shoe shop alliance. We need to enter a higher market and gain a better reputation. Not only that, I want to revolutionize this market.”

“The current wizard shoe market is expensive, with many additional fees. Many wizards in the Three Swamps need to buy wizard shoes to explore the void, but are forced to give up because of the price,”

Scarlett the Witch said. “Lord Augustine? You mean…?”

Locke said, “We will define the price of second-ring wizard shoes. This first pair, the Great Bloodwave Pineapple Wizard Shoes, is my creation, so the price remains unchanged. Even later, when my shop alliance is established, I will not only further optimize it, but also further reduce its price.”

“I want to make wizard shoes no longer expensive, no longer an exclusive item for a few wealthy wizards, but something that every wizard in the Three Swamps can afford.”

“Just like the founder of Solas’s Barefoot, hundreds of years ago, the wizard Solas wanted to create the best shoes in the world, so that wizard shoes wouldn’t just be ordinary magical artifacts, but magical artifacts to help wizards explore the void. He did achieve that, but that was all he went for; his wizard shoes became more and more expensive.”

Locke said to Scarlett the witch, “Scarlett, I’m going to challenge the second-tier wizard shoe shop alliance, to surpass Blue Ribbon, surpass Solas, surpass Melochy in the second-ring market. In the future, I want to become the best wizard shoe shop alliance.”

Scarlett the witch was stunned.

“The wizard shoe market is one of the backyard markets of the two third-ring wizards. Although the market is not large, it is also a reservoir for them to accumulate a lot of funds. If that’s the case, we might directly confront those two third-ring wizards… wait…”

Scarlett the witch realized.

Locke’s academic lineage was hostile to those two third-ring wizards.

In other markets, if Locke were to act so recklessly, he would likely face a crushing defeat at the hands of high-ring wizards. Only the wizard shoe market, controlled by the Rose Throne, would allow Locke to act so recklessly.

Because others would only see it as an order from the Red Dragon Throne.

Even the two third-ring wizards would have to compete fairly.

Scarlett Witch hadn’t expected Locke’s ambition to be so great.

Locke said to Scarlett Witch, “Wait for my second wizard shoe creation. The quality of that one should be much better, so we can raise the price. Raising the price now would be suicide. Our future doesn’t end here.”

Scarlett Witch said, “Yes, Lord Augustine. Whatever you want to do, I will do it with you.”

A flame of determination burned in Scarlett Witch’s eyes.

So be it.

The bold will thrive, the timid will starve.

As long as Locke wants to go for it, she’ll follow.

That way, she’ll have a better chance of becoming a second-ring wizard!

Moreover, while others now see her as siding with the Red Dragon Throne, this ironically grants her the protection of the Red Dragon Throne’s lineage, preventing her from being harmed.

Scarlett the Witch has witnessed countless tragic cases of traders offending High Ring Wizards and being fired or manipulated into becoming debt slaves.

But now, she also has High Ring Wizards behind her, she has people too. Given this, why not launch an attack on those high-ranking privileged classes?!

Scarlett the Witch pondered for a moment, then suddenly suggested to Locke, “If you’re so confident in your second creation, could you tell me what kind? Solas Barefoot and Melochy are currently running themed events. Although we’re just a small, humble shop alliance, if they can do it, so can we. They’ll hold large-scale themed events with renowned explorers, and we’ll hold smaller themed events with moderately famous explorers.”

Scarlett the Witch smiled, “After all, we’re smaller and more agile.”

Locke thought for a moment, recalling the golden hand that reversed energy wielded by the mutated dragon, and said, “Then, the direction for the second wizard’s shoes should be some kind of golden magic.”

“A wizard’s shoe that is unaffected by surrounding energy, spirit, and matter, suitable for some kind of polar expedition.”

“Even the most difficult and complex dimensional environments can be adapted to. First-ring and second-ring versions, even apprentice versions, can be made. One set, three versions.”

Scarlett the Witch exclaimed with delight, “This is indeed a good direction. This is the polar exploration type of wizard shoes. These wizard shoes are highly sought after among explorers! This is the root of Solas’s barefoot style!”

(End of Chapter)