Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems - Chapter 849

Chapter 845 The Winning Over at the Crossroads of All Things and the Supreme God of the Three Cavern Worlds

Flavius asked Salonirus, “Give me a reason for rejecting this article?”

The wizard Salonirus glanced at Director Flavius, but didn’t answer immediately. He neither admitted fault, nor refuted, nor offered any reason. Instead, he picked up the article on the table and quickly began reading.

As a Grand Wizard of the Moon Ring and the editor of *The Boundary Between All Things*, he had the right to reject any article.

This was his right.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, even if he directly rejected an article, even the head wizard of the Sun Ring wouldn’t have a very solid reason to question him.

As long as there was indeed a reason to reject the article.

The wizard Flavius didn’t rush him, but tacitly allowed him to finish reading the submitted article. After all, he needed to wait for the wizard Salonirus to understand the whole situation before they could continue the discussion.

Ten minutes later, Wizard Salonirus finished reading the article quickly, and his heart gradually calmed down. “I’m sorry, Director Flavius, this was indeed my mistake. Although this research cannot compare to the research of the Sun Ring Archmages and Moon Ring Archmages, it’s questionable whether it can be published in Zone 1 if we disregard its special characteristics.”

“After all, it’s just an ordinary second-ring level magical plant. The research value of magical plants of this level cannot be compared with that of Sun Ring and Moon Ring level magical plants. Also, although the depth of the basic research theory is good, it still lacks refinement. But… I really can’t find a reason to reject it.”

“This article can definitely be published in Zone 2, and we can also try to publish it in Zone 1, although it depends on luck.”

After reading the article, Wizard Salonirus knew that he couldn’t find an excuse.

The reason was simple.

Even without considering the research object of the article, given the special characteristics of the boundary between the obscure and the bright, this article might be published in a lower-ranked Zone 1 journal.

It just needs a few minor revisions and the addition of a few key experimental data.

Based on the wizard Salonirus’s experience, if that young talent from Mount Golden Crown is lucky enough to encounter a reviewer who doesn’t discriminate based on seniority and patiently helps him revise and point out problems, then the article should be able to be published in a top-tier journal.

Therefore, his previous decision to have his student fabricate reasons to reject the paper was a clear act of dereliction of duty.

Considering the special nature of the research subject in the Boundary Between Darkness and Light, this article is on the most popular research direction in that region.

It could almost be published in “Boundary Between All Things” immediately.

Perhaps at this very moment, someone has already reported this article to the higher-ups of the Golden Dynasty, testing their attitude and whether the wizard should be given an extra reward.

The wizard Salonerus looked up at his student, the crystallized wizard, who was startled and stammered, “I went to find you immediately, but your secretary stopped me. Then I happened to run into the director in the corridor. The director cured my cognitive imbalance, and coincidentally, he saw the article I wanted to give you.”

The crystallized wizard was terrified, fearing his direct superior would think he was up to no good, using underhanded tactics, or siding with certain people in *The Intersection*.

The wizard Salonerus nodded, the suspicion and wariness in his eyes disappearing.

He reasoned logically that this was indeed the case. He wasn’t a suspicious person, knew his student’s character, and as a second-circle wizard, he could see more; naturally, he knew this was likely his oversight.

The wizard Salonerus could only admit his mistake.

“Director Flavius, I take full responsibility for this. If I had rejected the article, it would have been revised and submitted to another Zone 1 journal, which would have been a huge loss for our border region and for our Dark and Bright border region.”

“I am willing to accept your punishment.”

Flavius, the Sun Ring Wizard, nodded, his attitude softening.

“This is indeed a serious work error. If this article had ended up in another journal, and the author had indicated that we rejected his article, you would have diminished our journal’s authority in the field of gold magic.”

“Especially that Zone 2 journal recently established in the Southern Wizarding Capital, ‘Southern Gold.’”

Flavius’s face contorted with rage as he mentioned the journal’s name.

A Star Ring Wizard’s secretary beside him whispered a reminder: “Director, ‘Southern Gold’ is not a Zone 2 journal. Recently, they have promoted themselves from Zone 2 to Zone 1 by increasing their influence factor and inviting well-known wizards from the Gold School. Director…”

Flavius gritted his teeth.

The witch’s secretary realized something and immediately changed her tune, saying, “But they only got there through connections, which doesn’t change the fact that they’re a small, unknown publication. I estimate they’ll be back in District Two in a few years.”

Flavius Sun Ring Wizard sneered, “It’s not that I lack tolerance. It’s just that the Golden Magic journal founded by those dark wizards in the Southern Wizarding Capital—to put it nicely, it’s Golden Magic; to put it bluntly, it’s necromancy. Those damned bastards, hiding their identities, thinking no one knows they’re necromancers, didn’t dare use the name of necromancy to start a separate journal, so they dragged us, the Golden Magic, into it as a cover.”

“Many ignorant young wizards were actually fooled by such foolish tactics. During such an unpleasant time, Wizard Salonirus, you almost sent out such an article.”

Flavius Ring Wizard looked around at everyone, then at Wizard Salonirus, and said, “This will result in a deduction from your year-end bonus. Do you have any objections?”

Wizard Salonirus sighed helplessly.

“This was indeed my mistake. I was certainly too biased towards seniority.”

“Next time, I will read his article before making a judgment.”

To save those ten minutes, he had made such a huge mistake.

Damn it.

Year-end bonus!

Wizard Salonirus belatedly realized the pain; he had saved up a sum of money, planning to buy the staff he had always wanted at the end of the year.

Flavius Ring Wizard suddenly changed the subject. “Of course, there’s also a chance you won’t have your year-end bonus deducted.”

Wizard Salonirus’s eyes lit up slightly, and he immediately said, “Director, please speak.”

Wizard Flavius Sun Ring smiled and said, “I want this little guy to participate in the Golden Cup competition in our Horizon of Darkness and Light, the project he wrote this article on. But as far as I know, because of his senior brother, the Executioner Wizard, his project has already entered the Lesser Cup.”

“But I want him to use this project to participate in the Golden Magic Plant Competition within our Golden Cup. In this way, this year’s Golden Cup in our Horizon of Darkness and Light will definitely increase its popularity.”

“As far as I know, Augustine has already submitted his project to the Lesser Cup. So, I want you to persuade him to switch to the Golden Cup.”

The wizard Salonirus was feeling a headache coming on. Although he was a Moon Ring wizard, he had no connection with Locke. If it were a wizard from a small wizarding organization, he would definitely give them face when interacting with them.

An ordinary second-ring wizard would likely be at least somewhat polite to him, perhaps even grateful.

But the problem was, this wizard was a second-ring wizard from Mount Golden Crown, a senior researcher.

Mount Golden Crown had many Moon Ring, Sun Ring, and even third-ring wizards.

A Moon Ring wizard seemed very ordinary; in other people’s eyes, he might not be considered a particularly important figure.

Of course, objectively speaking, a Moon Ring wizard in the Three Swamps or other wizarding lands, as long as it wasn’t in the Star Sea, was considered a significant figure.

They would likely have their own team.

They were only one level below Sun Ring wizards, so they were second only to one, and above many others.

Saronerus the Wizard smiled wryly to himself. This was a tricky task, but the thought of his year-end bonus and the moon-ring wand he had his eye on kept him.

He said to Flavius, the head wizard, “Okay. Head, I’ll have my clone handle this as soon as possible. I just hope it’s not too late.”

Saronerus sighed inwardly. One wrong step could lead to eternal regret. If he had known it would turn out this way, he should have been more patient when reviewing the manuscript a week ago.

If he had turned even one more page, he wouldn’t have encountered this outcome; instead, he might have developed a decent article, which would have been a small achievement.

Flavius said, “Saronerus the Wizard, you need to hurry. Because you might not only be competing with the Little Rest Cup for talent, but also with *Southern Gold*.”

“Next month, after our journal is printed, I estimate *Southern Gold* will be eyeing him.”

Saronerus the Wizard’s expression changed slightly, because this was a very likely scenario.

Recently, the people in the office of that off-the-beaten-path journal have been trying to contact the contributors to each issue after subscribing to their journal, urging them to submit their work to *Southern Gold*.

Breeding prodigy like Locke Augustine, a young wizard without much of a foothold in the second-circle world, is a young talent urgently needing articles and projects to prove himself. Isn’t that exactly the kind of contributor *Southern Gold* is trying to recruit?

Wizard Salonirus nodded, “I understand. I’ll try to get this wizard to participate in the Golden Cup Golden Magic Plant Competition.”

…

At Golden Crown Mountain, Locke’s true form was already seated in the streamlined, spindle-shaped [Explorer Vanguard].

Inside the Explorer Vanguard’s cockpit,

Locke donned the standard exploration gear for a second-circle wizard.

He wore a deep red wizard’s robe, woven from the wool of a second-circle magical creature called [Vulcan Goat], a blend of dozens of materials, woven by magic weavers into Vulcan wool yarn.

Every corner of it was enchanted with magic circles, possessing a complete layer of enchantment called the [Flame Body] enchantment magic model.

Activating this robe, made of Vulcan wool and styled as the [Flame] Wizard Robe, would allow the Flame Body enchantment magic model on the robe to combine with one’s own permanent defensive force field shell.

This meant enchanting one’s own permanent defensive force field.

However, this was practically impossible at the first level of the wizard’s cultivation. This

was because a first-level wizard’s permanent defensive force field was three-dimensional and could not be inscribed.

Locke wasn’t entirely clear on the specific principles, but this technique of enchanting a permanent defensive force field shell was considered extremely advanced in enchanting, and it was the foundation of the wizard robe’s magical artifact status.

That is, enchanting a permanent defensive force field!

Locke activated the Flame Body at this moment, and a beam of spiritual light erupted from the soles of his feet and the top of his head. Of course, this scene would be invisible to those who couldn’t directly perceive spirituality with the n*ked eye.

But if one could see it, they would see that above their head was a volcano erupting, and flames were constantly being released from beneath their feet.

Flame Body is an enchantment for a permanent defensive force field shell, but it’s a universal spell. After all, this is a universal wizard’s robe that can be sold to all wizards, so naturally there wouldn’t be any incompatibility issues.

If this thing dared to be sold, all compatibility issues must have been resolved.

In fact, after activating Flame Body, Locke felt a change in his physique.

He simply gained high resistance to the fire magic of the Evocation school, and the Flame Body increased the strength of his permanent defensive force field shell by about ten percent.

At the same time, it seemed that his permanent defensive force field shell had acquired some fire magic attributes, allowing him to reflect damage back when attacked.

Normally, adding fire magic to one’s permanent defensive force field, even just an enchantment, would immediately trigger a conflict between plant magic and fire magic.

But this didn’t happen.

After some thought, Locke immediately realized that this was definitely an application of Spiritual Magic.

“The so-called ‘Flame Body’ is actually an artificial addition of a physique to me. This is done at the ‘Rank’ level, adding a layer of this ‘Flame Body’ physique to my ‘Rank.’ So my physique has become the ‘Flame Body.’

This ‘Flame Body’ has also been carefully designed with a magical model, simply enchanting my Permanent Defensive Field and my own magical power without causing any other effects. This is probably the result of countless hours of research by those magic weavers and enchanters.” Locke looked

at the instruction manual for the wizard’s robe. The reflective magic power of the ‘Flame Body’ is actually related to the magical pressure intensity of one’s own Permanent Defensive Field shell.

Anyway, it can only enhance one’s own Permanent Defensive Field by about 10%, and at the moment of the opponent’s attack, it reflects the attack back in the form of flames with one-tenth of the magical pressure intensity of one’s own Permanent Defensive Field shell.

Fortunately, this set of second-circle magical artifacts is powerful enough, so wearing it directly enhances the defensive power of one-tenth of the Permanent Defensive Field shell.

Meanwhile, he was also wearing a pair of gloves called the “Silent One’s Gloves,” which had transformed into two points of light, hidden in his palms.

Normally concealed, they could be used when a thought was uttered, and a set of magical gloves woven from the silk of the second-circle creature, the “Ogra Giant Spider,” would appear on his hands.

These magical gloves could block most biological invasions, energy intrusions, and curse damage, and could also isolate magical energy and reduce the influence of abnormal spiritual forces.

In short, they could protect him when in contact with unknown objects; and they could also protect the unknown object, preventing any unnecessary contamination of the precious specimen due to contact.

Locke was wearing a wizard’s hat called the “Spellweaver,” which increased his casting speed and boosted his instantaneous magical amplification by approximately 10%. The

accompanying Spellweaver’s veil, when worn, made Locke appear as if he were wearing some kind of mecha visor emitting a blue glow.

At this moment, the other wizards in the cockpit, like Locke’s attire, also looked like wizards wearing mecha visors, creating a fantastical atmosphere.

However, these ten first-ring wizards of varying ranks were only wearing ordinary first-ring wizard robes provided by Locke, and their wizard shoes were also black hummingbird pineapple wizard shoes provided by Locke.

These were currently the best first-ring wizard shoes in the Three Swamps.

At this moment, the old pirate Henry was still dressed as before, only now wearing a pirate wizard hat. He himself was a human-machine, capable of enchanting himself, and many of his components were magical artifacts, so he didn’t have a high need for the white wizarding society’s wizard robes, wizard hats, and other items. It

can only be said that Locke had previously overwhelmed the old pirate Henry by forcefully using his high magic pressure and the combined power of the Demon Dragon Rose and the Demon Dragon bloodline, but the old pirate Henry still possessed quite a few high-tech magical artifacts.

Hussein’s situation was actually similar to his; as the Blood Ancestor’s true form, he inherently had a certain function in replacing wizard robes.

At this moment, the Infinite Mountain continued to rise, and the Exploration Vanguard, under Locke’s control, also flew towards the sky above the wizarding world, breaking through the barrier of the wizarding world.

Old pirate Henry took a sip of wizard’s wine, smacked his lips, and then looked excitedly at the scene outside the cockpit, saying, “The Great Void, I’m back. Hahaha…”

“Captain Locke, quickly enter the Golden Channel.”

“Planetary gravity locks onto the target plane…”

Old pirate Henry’s eyes seemed to gleam.

“Great, I haven’t received a raiding mission in months. My hands are itching to get back to work.”

“Damn this system, I think its design is anti-wizard! A failed raid actually affects subsequent project applications! The margin for error is too low!”

Hussein glanced at him, then whispered to Locke, “Locke, because this operation will use the Golden Channel, it will be watched by the Eye of Truth. If our teammates do anything out of line, we will also lose civilization credit points. Do you know that?”

Locke smiled.

Old pirate Henry glared at Hussein and took another sip of wizard’s wine.

“Do you think I’m some kind of ruthless killer? If there’s nothing to rob, do you think I need to use force?”

“I will follow the captain’s orders in this operation. That’s the code of conduct for us pirates.”

The old pirate Henry glanced at Locke and assured him.

In his eyes, Locke was the captain of this operation, and the highest-ranking person in charge.

At this moment, Locke piloted the Exploration Vanguard Void Battleship, instantly entering the Golden Channel, simultaneously manipulating the control panel to lock onto the three-hole world.

A magic wand hovered in mid-air in Locke’s cockpit—this was the control panel of the Void Battleship. A wizard’s Void Battleship could be controlled with a magic wand.

This was the same as the Peach Boat.

Locke then turned to look at the ten first-ring wizards: three at the vaporization stage, four at the liquefaction stage, and three at the crystallization stage. He would pay them their monthly wages according to market rates, plus a Void exploration allowance—

double their monthly salary .

At this moment, Locke had hired a crystallization stage witch, Ida.

Ida, a witch who graduated from Little Rest Mountain, was most skilled in pendulum divination.

At this moment, a small iron ball dangled from her sleeve, and she silently chanted an incantation, beginning to divine good and bad fortune and observe the trajectory of the ball.

Meanwhile, on the ship were ten formally appointed wizards, each accompanied by two students who also served as their assistants. The students’ salaries were paid by the ten formally appointed wizards themselves.

Locke could not directly command them.

In a sense, these wizard apprentices were merely tools for the first-level wizards he had hired—tools for these “people.”

He only needed to give orders to the official wizards, who in turn commanded their students to help them complete the instructions given by Locke.

At this moment, Ida’s two students began recording the results of their teacher’s pendulum swing.

Ida’s eyes emitted a deep blue arcane light.

“Revered Archmage Augustine, one of life’s closest kin, one of wisdom. At this moment, I will activate pendulum divination for you throughout the entire process. I will inform you of any anomalies. My two students will record each pendulum divination I perform every twenty minutes, and record the results as pendulum spectra.”

“I will use the pendulum results every twenty minutes to predict our short-term fortunes and misfortunes, and read the pendulum spectra to foresee our overall future and past.”

“My Ida, the witch of Little Rest Mountain, will ensure our void voyage is safe and sound, and will try to prevent any accidents.”

Hussein and the old pirate Henry nodded repeatedly, extremely satisfied with the Ida witch Locke had invited.

Although Hussein’s original expectation was that Locke would recruit a prophetic wizard from Quinjol, Little Rest Mountain itself was a branch of Quinjol’s family.

Therefore, Little Rest Mountain’s prophetic wizards were also quite skilled.

The old pirate Henry chuckled, “With so many of us traveling together this time, we’re practically a large void exploration team. I’m really looking forward to this void exploration.”

…

The Three Hole Worlds, at this moment, were locked onto by the Void Warship, the Vanguard Exploration Ship, across a vast distance.

On the crater, eleven giants were enjoying the service of the world spirits they had conjured, beings called Aife, in their palace, admiring beautiful songs and dances.

Suddenly, their palace began to shake violently; the ornate roof began to collapse, the exquisite crescent-white pillars began to fall, and the giants who were enjoying Aife’s service rose from the ground, picked up their weapons, and glared angrily at the entire world.

They stood on the crater, looking down at the mortal world below, the region they called “Earth.”

But they found no trace of anything that had shaken their divine power, causing their palaces to begin to crumble.

At this moment, the Oracle Giant among the giants suddenly spoke: “The Supreme God has sent a message. He says that the power that descended last time has once again locked onto our world. With his arrival, our divine power will begin to decline daily. This is because our divine power is built upon our being the strongest, the sole ruler, and the sole deity of this world.”

“When the power of an outsider locks onto our world, it intervenes in the fate of our world. Therefore, we brothers and sisters are no longer the sole rulers of this world, and our divine power will decline.”

“The Supreme God says that the outsider is extremely powerful, possessing incredible strength. His breath, when it descends upon our world, becomes a storm that tears the world apart. His gaze, when it falls, will engulf our world in flames. He is a demon god!”

The fire giant frowned. “I fear no invading enemy. In my youth, I once single-handedly defeated seven demon wolves. You all know my power; my trident will burn my enemies to ashes like a raging fire.”

The sea giant said, “Ask the God-King. He is the strongest among us. Even if all of us combined grabbed a rope, he could easily pull us all from the earth onto a crater and hang us on that rope.”

At this moment, a female giant spoke up: “Wait, if that outsider has already joined the fate of our world, can we influence their fate by manipulating the fate of this world?”

“We have a brother who exists beneath the earth, controlling the life and death of mortals on earth, and in his palace resides his daughter who can manipulate fate. Perhaps he can help.”

(End of Chapter)