Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems - Chapter 857

Chapter 853 You and Zhuoma aren’t good friends? Identity Ointment and the Invisible Cauldron Curse!

After leaving the library, Locke quickly read through the recipe for the [Name Potion]. Then, near his dormitory, he encountered a wild canine magical creature. This magical creature was a Blue Crystal Silver-haired Dog, characterized by its silver fur, elegant figure, and a blue crystal on its forehead, belonging to the apprentice-level magical creature.

Logically, it shouldn’t be wandering around Golden Crown Mountain; it would be eliminated by the wizard apprentices on missions. However, judging from its friendly demeanor, some researchers at Golden Crown Mountain probably found the Blue Crystal Silver-haired Dog cute and occasionally fed it. The

wizard apprentices couldn’t figure out the researcher’s intentions, so they probably didn’t dare touch this stray dog.

Locke stood in front of the Blue Crystal Silver-haired Dog, placing his palm on its head, about 1 centimeter from its forehead. Then, a bright blue arcane light appeared in Locke’s eyes.

“With my current level of spiritual macroscopic knowledge, I can extract the spiritual macroscopic component corresponding to the scientific name ‘Blue Crystal Silver-haired Dog’ from this dog. This is the most basic application of spiritual macroscopic knowledge, and it also marks my entry into the field.”

Because of constantly refining Zero Potions and using the Synthesis Cube to prepare second-ring potions in advance, his level of spiritual awareness is indeed very high.

At this moment, five flames appeared in Locke’s palm, and then a silver thread appeared on the dog’s forehead. Locke’s five primordial flames engulfed the silver thread, and then a small magic circle appeared in Locke’s hand, which was the spell model corresponding to a second-ring level name potion: the [Invisible Cauldron Charm].

In this invisible cauldron constructed from a mixture of magic and spirituality, a name potion was thus completed.

Locke put it into a potion bottle the size of a thumb and shook it in front of his eyes.

“Success.”

He was slightly out of breath. In a few breaths, he showed no signs of fatigue on the surface, but in fact, Locke was very tired inside.

This is the second application of spiritual macroscopic knowledge in potion-making.

The first use is to transform the spirit essence into a ritualistic action.

The second use is to extract the spirit essence and directly turn it into a potion ingredient.

Among all things, the name spirit essence is the easiest to transform into a potion ingredient due to the special nature of names.

However, this also caused Locke to rapidly deplete his spiritual knowledge.

On the surface, he appeared to have recovered, but Locke knew that something deep within his soul had been consumed.

Locke looked at the bottle of Blue Crystal Silver-haired Hound Name Potion in his hand, then prepared to take it back to use on his Four-Winged Great Azure Leaf Dragon Sparrow later.

Unexpectedly, a voice suddenly appeared behind him.

The witch Droma said to Locke, “Witch Augustine, do you also like keeping these magical pets?”

Locke turned around and saw the witch Droma, who had some centaur blood, walking towards him. The Blue Crystal Silver-haired Hound, as if seeing its master, wagged its tail, stuck out its tongue, and ran to Droma, rubbing against her robes

like a lapdog.

The witch Droma stroked its fluffy head.

“Poor thing. Because of the breach in the Tianhan River, it’s practically winter now. It’s so cold, and you still have to stay outside.”

Droma tossed it a tree fruit, and the blue-crystal silver-haired dog immediately wagged its tail and began to eat.

Droma’s eyes gleamed as she looked at Locke, her gaze lingering on the Name Potion in his hand for a moment, her pupils suddenly contracting.

“I didn’t expect Augustine’s Spiritual Arts to have reached this level,”

Droma mused.

‘Strange. I only heard that this witch was a breeding genius. But he’s already reached the point where he can concoct Name Potion.’

‘His Spiritual Arts have already reached the basics. I never heard of him being a genius in potion-making before. His potion-making level is almost the same as mine. He just became a second-circle witch, while I was a second-circle potion master three years ago. I have more experience than him; we’re both geniuses from the Advanced True Knowledge Academy, so who’s much worse than whom?’ “

How could he have raised his psychic abilities to this level in just a few months?”

Wizard Zhuoma did some mental calculations.

“He must have successfully concocted at least 15-18 second-circle potions, otherwise it would be impossible to accumulate this level of psychic awareness. Only by successfully concocting second-circle potions could one rapidly increase psychic awareness. Or perhaps, he’s actually a genius in potion-making?”

“So, he could achieve this level simply by drawing psychic rubbings?”

‘Wait… I remember that exchanging for a name potion recipe requires at least 1000 contribution points. Oh right, he recently published an article in Zone 1. He has those contribution points.’

Thinking of Zone 1, second-circle potion-making, Wizard Zhuoma’s feelings became even more complicated. She looked at Locke with a complex expression, even a hint of guilt in her eyes.

The witch Droma continued, “Witch Augustine, do you also enjoy taking care of these stray creatures?”

Locke smiled slightly, “Not really. I didn’t know this stray was fed by you. So when I saw it appear beside me, I tried to brew a name potion with it.”

“I hope I haven’t offended you,”

Droma laughed heartily.

“This dog is, after all, just a wild animal, not mine. It’s its honor that you’re using it to brew a name potion.”

Droma’s eyes gleamed, thinking of the upcoming witch’s gathering.

“Wizard Augustine, with next year drawing ever closer, we at the Academy of True Knowledge want to hold a Wizarding Night Gathering for mutual exchange.”

“This will increase our chances of getting our applications for special grants next year.”

Locke looked at Wizard Zhuoma with surprise. “I remember only one application can be submitted each year with a chance to receive special grant funding, right? The White Wizarding Association only allocates seven slots to Cloudze Wetlands each year.” “

And the seven top universities each have one application slot, submitted annually. In addition, some True Knowledge Academies in the other three of the ten regions also submit their applications.”

“Furthermore, other wizarding universities, large and small, in Cloudze Wetlands, and even branch campuses established by the Root Crown Royal Court in the Thunderlands, will apply. Therefore, even at Golden Crown Mountain, there will be institutions that help us submit applications but fail to get approved.”

“We were competitors before,”

Wizard Droma said with a smile. “We were competitors, but we were also from the same academy. Only through communication can we make progress together. That’s why we organized a mutual aid society and wizard night meetings to help each other.”

“Wizard Augustine, you’re new here, you don’t know, but this is the tradition of Golden Crown Mountain. We help each other. Besides, even if someone fails the competition within the academy this year, if they can join this mutual aid society, join this wizarding night meeting, and hone their skills,”

“then their chances of getting approved next year will increase, right?”

“So, it’s a win-win situation.”

Locke nodded, thought carefully, and said, “Indeed.”

Wizard Droma’s eyes brightened slightly.

“To be honest, I want to invite you to join our mutual aid society, to our small group, and to participate in the Wizarding Night Meeting. I think you’ll get a lot of help.”

“Zeno, a wizard in our society, almost got his special grant application approved during the academy’s review last year. This time, he’s even better prepared; he’s the most likely to get his application approved this year.”

“Besides him, there’s me and Brandy,”

Droma said. “If everyone trusts us, we might even share our own applications and revise them together. This can increase the chances of getting the grant.”

“However, we should stay away from Brandy. That guy isn’t a good person. I think Locke has already realized that.”

Locke nodded slightly.

“This mutual aid society and the Wizarding Night Meeting sound good. But I think I’ll pass.”

Droma’s smile faded.

His expression changed slightly.

“Since this is so beneficial, why not participate?”

Locke shook his head slightly, because it really didn’t appeal to him.

He only had projects and ideas; he could just work on them quietly.

Based on his current assessment, joining their mutual aid society and getting involved in this mess

was unnecessary .

The witch Droma, a little anxious, said to Locke, “Joining our mutual aid society has many benefits. When you lack ideas, you can find people to discuss and exchange ideas during the witch’s night meeting. Maybe you can get some inspiration.”

Locke shook his head slightly.

“Thank you for your kindness. I appreciate it, but I’ll pass. Witch Droma.”

“I’m very busy lately. I don’t have time to attend this mutual aid society, nor do I need anyone’s help to gain inspiration. Witch Droma, I’m busy, I’ll be going now. Oh, and thank you for your stray dog.”

Droma only had time to call out to Locke, “Remember to be careful with brandy. I won’t say anything else, just don’t trust brandy.”

Droma watched Locke’s departing figure, shaking her head slightly.

“Another Zeno.”

“Just as unsociable as Zeno. Zeno, Locke Augustine, Antoine… these people are all difficult to get along with.”

Wizard Zhuoma sighed. It seemed he wouldn’t be able to invite Locke to the Wizarding Night Gathering.

“There’s nothing I can do but go back like this. I wonder how everyone else’s research is progressing.”

Wizard Zhuoma was somewhat anxious. He worried that others had already finished their manuscripts while he was still without a single word.

He couldn’t very well go around asking everyone how they were progressing.

So, Wizard Zhuoma was anxious at this moment, wishing he could go back immediately and start working.

He squatted down and wrapped a towel around the neck of the Blue Crystal Silver-haired Dog.

“Doggy, you’ll have to work hard for a while. I’m busy lately and might not be able to take care of you. But don’t worry.”

“With this towel on, no one will dare to hunt you down.”

“The Blue Crystal Silver-haired Dog’s skin can be made into a wizard’s robe, its blood can be used in medicine, and the crystal on its forehead is a natural treasure that can enhance the spiritual power of wizarding apprentices.”

Wizard Zhuoma snorted coldly.

“If I don’t put this scarf with my name embroidered on it on you, some reckless wizard apprentices might try to harm you.”

The dog shook its body, turned its head, and barked and wagged its tail around the witch Droma.

Meanwhile, Locke’s clone returned to the laboratory and began a new round of busy work.

A month later, the witch Mason had borrowed the [Bloodline Regeneration Pool] from the Bloodline Wizard Laboratory; it was a pool of blood.

Locke dripped his extracted dragon blood into it, and poured the blood of a magical creature called [Crimson Deer Blood] into the Bloodline Regeneration Pool, using the deer blood to replicate and regenerate a large number of diluted versions of dragon blood.

Locke then mixed this with a name-based potion, creating a liquid imbued with dragon blood.

Locke poured this liquid onto the magical plant he had grafted onto the dragon rose rootstock using a four-winged, large-leaved dragon sparrow, watering it daily to ensure complete grafting and enhance the dragon-plant essence within.

At the same time, Locke had the witch Mason and assistants like Douglas continuously activate growth magic arrays to help the magical plant slowly grow.

This month, Locke burned through another five million magic stones.

He calculated that his savings were now down to only 6.62 million magic stones.

Adding his regular monthly income of 600,000

, his original income from the Lilith Hut, the Six Towers, the licensing fees for the No. 2 Overlord Essence, and other expenses, totaled 300,000 per month.

However, with the sale of six new first-ring wizard shoes and one second-ring wizard shoe, as well as the sales of the Hydra and Five-Headed Serpent shoes, his monthly income reached 600,000.

Furthermore, with the continuous establishment of the Augustus Wizard Shoe Shop Alliance, this regular income was still expanding, heading towards the million-stone mark as the alliance succeeded. All that was needed

was for his shop alliance to truly be established.

Even so, Locke realized he was short of money.

Yes, after doing research to this point, he was starting to run out of money again.

Meanwhile, during his three months of research on flying magical plants, Locke finally managed to partially recreate the golden magic he had previously observed: Sephiroth’s Grip, using archaeological models and the spell models he had previously recorded.

Based on Sephiroth’s Grip, Locke already had design ideas for a second set of second-circle wizard shoes.

However, he was currently short of funds to realize his ideas.

In the laboratory, Locke pondered how to raise money. His previously developed Four-Winged Azure-Leaf Dragon Sparrow wasn’t particularly competitive among second-circle flying magical plants; even if he sold it, he might not be able to guarantee a profit.

It wasn’t that the magical plant was bad, but rather that he hadn’t yet established his reputation, and his breeding skills were indeed not comparable to those of the older generation of breeders.

Locke said, “Now I need to acquire some resources.”

“Research desperately needs resources.”

He took out the Ganoderma lucidum magical plant. Just then, for some unknown reason, an editor from the border of all things, a Moon Ring wizard, had actually traveled here by boat to invite him for a face-to-face meeting.

Locke keenly sensed this was an opportunity to make money.

Meanwhile, the results of the Xiaoxi Cup should be coming out soon.

Jinmianshan should be awarding himself two Tourmaline King Peaches.

To Locke’s surprise, Antoine actually contacted him.

Locke accepted Antoine’s voice call invitation.

“What’s up, Antoine?” Locke

frowned slightly, because Antoine was currently enjoying the pleasure of having two women in one arm.

Antoine said, “I need your help, Locke. I applied for a top-tier grant next year. Didn’t I prepare it in my previous life? But I encountered a bit of unexpected trouble. It’s a kind of potion that was quite common in my previous life… but it’s rare on the market now. So I wanted to invite you to refine this potion.”

Locke looked at Antoine strangely. “Doesn’t the Fisher family have any second-circle potion masters?”

Antoine asked. “Indeed, no. The last second-circle potion master died fifty years ago. Our family hasn’t had one since.”

“Besides, it concerns an important secret of mine, and I want to find some acquaintances to help me brew potions. And then I thought, Locke, your potion-making skills are excellent, so I wanted to ask you.”

Locke looked at him strangely. “Who told you my potion-making skills are excellent?”

Antoine’s eyes were odd. “Hmm? Aren’t you and the witch Droma on good terms? He told others you’re friends. He also told others that you can already brew name potions, that you can extract the essence from someone’s name out of thin air.”

Locke pursed his lips.

“Antoine. Do me a small favor.”

Antoine dismissed the people around him and said, “Go ahead.”

Locke said, “When you have a suitable opportunity in the future, please tell others that I don’t know the witch Droma.”

Antoine smiled and said, “Okay.”

“By the way, the closer we get to the internal review of the special grant applications, the more careful we need to be. The number of places in the Advanced Academy of Truth is limited, and some people have reached the point of disregarding everything to achieve their goals.”

“What happened last year happened just before the internal review of the applications.”

“But who did it is now a matter of much speculation, and no one knows.”

Locke nodded.

Antoine said, “The potion I need you to concoct isn’t a true second-circle potion; it’s just a variant of a name potion.”

“Since you know how to concoct proper name potions, you must know this one. It’s just a bit more complicated, and for some reason, it’s not only unpopular now, but you can’t buy it in potion shops anymore, and even potion makers who know the recipe are becoming increasingly rare.”

“Here’s the potion recipe.”

Locke glanced at the file he received; it read [Identity Ointment].

Locke frowned. He seemed to have heard of this recipe before. To be sure, he immediately used the Water Gourd System to search for it.

Yes, he had indeed read about Identity Ointment before; its other name was [Name-Applying Ointment].

The principle of this potion was simple: using name potions, one could extract the spiritual essence from another person’s name to create a potion. So, by making an ointment, one could attach another person’s name to their body, thus impersonating another person at the spiritual essence level.

However, this application was very limited.

Because it has absolutely no effect on low-level wizards.

Whether it’s a curse or an offensive spell, at the low level, it’s rarely used to lock onto someone using magic, because that level is too high.

Furthermore, wizards using this method cannot truly impersonate others, as others can directly see that you are a different person, or through spiritual or magical means.

True magic that attacks enemies by targeting someone else’s name cannot be solved simply by attaching someone else’s name to yourself.

In other words, this potion has very limited uses.

It’s even less effective than a single-ring potion or a potion of a thousand faces for concealing identity.

Under these circumstances, it’s perfectly normal for this potion to be phased out and disappear.

Moreover, this potion has caused an issue.

Even if you need to attach a name potion to someone else, drinking a name potion wouldn’t normally cause any harm.

Even the most advanced name potions, because a person can have multiple names, even those identical to someone else’s, rarely pose a significant danger.

However, for some reason, a small number of wizards experience identity recognition problems after prolonged use of this identity potion.

This peculiar disease, because it affects so few people and is so difficult to detect, has remained unsolved due to a lack of research.

This has significantly reduced the number of wizards willing to concoct Identity Ointment.

The White Wizarding Association has also listed this potion as a forbidden drug.

However, because its effects are limited and there are many better alternatives, no one is willing to waste their energy overcoming its side effects.

Locke glanced at Antoine. Although he didn’t know what Antoine intended to do with the Identity Ointment, he could make the deal.

He needed to concoct a second-circle potion daily to enhance his psychic abilities,

and the Identity Ointment wasn’t particularly difficult to make.

Locke asked, “How much are you offering?”

Antoine replied, “The job itself isn’t difficult; I’ll offer five million magic stones. But considering I need your confidentiality, I’ll give you six million magic stones.”

“My requirement is that you concoct an Identity Ointment for me.”

“And you must keep it a secret.”

“I will provide you with the formula and materials.”

Locke nodded slightly. Six million magic stones to concoct a second-circle potion was definitely a high premium.

Identity Ointment wasn’t a particularly difficult potion to concoct.

But considering it was a forbidden drug of the White Wizarding Association, the price was reasonable.

Frankly, while this forbidden drug wasn’t particularly harmful, it would still be quite troublesome if the Ethics and Morality Review Committee came looking for trouble.

If Antoine hadn’t been an old acquaintance, he wouldn’t have dared to make this kind of deal with him.

Only acquaintances would dare to do this kind of transaction.

No wonder he sought out a familiar potion maker; that was the reason.

(End of Chapter)