Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems - Chapter 861

Chapter 857 The Alliance of Rose the Witch

Although Locke was suspicious, adhering to the basic principles of a white wizard, he coldly sat down on a sofa in the private room. He crossed his arms, sensing the near-star-ring wizard level of magical pressure emanating from Rose the Witch, and said, “The Tacitus family is a prestigious wizarding family within the Rose Council, and your teacher and my teacher are enemies.”

“You want to form an alliance with me?”

“Are you seeking a tiger’s skin; or do you have other motives?”

Locke asked coldly, his arms crossed.

Rose Tacitus slightly raised her chin, her eyes haughty. Locke noticed that she wasn’t looking at him while speaking, meaning she wasn’t paying attention to him at all; she was focused on something else.

Locke just didn’t know what she was paying attention to.

Rose the Witch said, “I’ll correct you on a few points. First, the Rose Throne and the Red Dragon Throne are not enemies, but competitors. The rivalry between academic lineages is not a true wizarding war.”

“Furthermore, there’s considerable cooperation between the two lineages. It’s not just me coming to you; people from your side also come to us, and similarly, people from our side come to your side.”

Locke suddenly spoke up, “I see. The Brandy Wizard recently abandoned his research on the Tree of Flesh and Blood because someone from your side reminded him.”

Rose the Witch glanced at Locke with surprise. This time, she truly focused her attention on Locke for a few seconds before quickly raising her chin slightly, making herself appear taller, and her attention shifted again.

“Indeed, you are very clever, which is why I thought you could join forces with me.”

“It was someone from the Rose Throne academy on Solas’s Lightfoot’s side who found the Brandy Wizard and persuaded him to abandon the Tree of Flesh and Blood. They pointed out that even if he worked on his project for another three years, it would be impossible to secure a top-tier grant. He wasn’t someone we would normally try to win over or interfere with, but Solas’s Lightfoot clearly wanted to create some trouble for you.”

“If you get bogged down in the failure of the top-tier grant application, you naturally won’t have much extra energy to interfere in other matters. Many things are more complicated than you think. Although you are now considered a core member of the Red Dragon Throne team, your qualifications are still too shallow, and your experience is insufficient.”

The Witch Rose sat on the sofa and said to Locke, “The second mistake you made is, do you think that we wizards are the kind of people who are in an academy, labeled, and then forced to choose a side because of the different labels we bear, unable to make our own judgments?”

“No. We are wizards, seekers of truth. We possess free will.”

“Academic lineage is one thing, but sometimes, personal interests and the interests of the academic lineage may not align.”

“Sometimes, those within the same camp are our true competitors. Isn’t that right? For example, in this year’s special grant, is my biggest competitor? It’s your colleagues.”

The witch Rose spread her hands, saying to Locke, “And is my biggest competitor you? Not in the short term. You and I both have competitors within the academic lineage. We are wizards, and we value interests most. As long as we have common interests, we can temporarily form an alliance, can’t we?”

Locke understood and immediately asked the two most important questions.

“What do you want me to do for you? What can you do for me?”

The witch Rose checked the various magic arrays in the Witch’s Kitchen’s No. 1 private room, ensuring that the room was completely soundproof and that all magical devices that could record audio and video were blocked.

“The Rose Throne ordered me to unite with Solas Lightfoot and Melochy Magicstep. But after the Third Ring Wizards and the Throne went to Genesis, these two shop alliances began to repeatedly defy me. It’s probably because I discovered their corruption,”

said Rose the Witch. “Currently, I cannot force my way into the true upper echelons of either alliance. Especially that Moon Ring Wizard supervisor from Solas Lightfoot, Holm, he’s truly cunning and despicable, relying on Hades Sun Ring’s trust in him, completely disobeying my orders.”

Locke probably understood the problem.

Although Rose the Witch was of noble status, she was still young, and not even a Star Ring Wizard.

If she wanted to enter the true power center of Solas Lightfoot, how could she command respect and defeat that Moon Ring Wizard supervisor after the Third Ring Wizards in her lineage collectively participated in Genesis?

Clearly, she had suffered quite a few setbacks recently.

Locke said, “So, you want me to help you deal with them?”

Rose, the witch, propped her right cheek on her right hand and leaned back on the sofa. “That’s right. These two shops are currently attacking each other, and they each have their own plans. I’ll help you launch a blockbuster wizard shoe that will thwart their schemes, right when these two shops hold their themed press conference.”

“That way, the stock prices of both shop alliances will be affected, the wizard shareholders will start to waver, and your shop alliance will become famous overnight.”

“Such a huge benefit, don’t you want it?”

“Your shop alliance will gain fame, and I can take the opportunity to unite with the wizards who support me and launch an attack on the power centers of the two shop alliances, truly controlling them.”

“Only then will the real battle between us begin.”

Locke looked at her questioningly.

“You’re a key figure in your academic lineage. If I told others what you said to me today, wouldn’t you be in a terrible mess?”

Rose, the witch, said dismissively.

“You can say whatever you want. Nobody will believe you. Besides, you’re not that kind of person, Locke Augustine. I’ve seen your resume; you’re not someone who acts on emotion. In some ways, we’re the same. We’re both people who will stop at nothing to achieve our goals.”

“The process doesn’t matter, does it? As long as the result is what matters.”

Locke gave her a deep look. “No, I’m afraid you and I are not the same kind of people.”

Rose frowned upon hearing this. She stood up and immediately headed to leave the room, showing no intention of lingering, as if she could simply find someone else if Locke disagreed with the deal.

Locke said, “Rose, although we’re not the same kind of people, that doesn’t mean we can’t cooperate.”

Rose the witch smirked, staring directly at Locke. “You still say you’re not the same kind of people? Actually, I knew long ago that you would choose to cooperate with me because my proposal would be entirely beneficial to you.” “

Of course, that’s only from your perspective.”

“If you can cooperate with Camilla the witch of the Nexus, the rival of Mount Golden Crown, then you can cooperate with me. The fact that you can become friends with Hussein, who almost killed you, and with the wicked Antoine, shows that you and I are both people with little sense of values.”

Locke glanced at Rose the witch and shook his head slightly.

“I think you’ve misjudged the situation.”

“However, you can sit down and tell me how you want to cooperate with me?”

Locke had just thought it over and realized that regardless of whether this so-called cooperation was a trap, accepting it was the right thing to do.

Besides, he was currently dealing with the inexplicable decline in sales of the second pre-sale of wizard shoes.

‘The struggles between academic lines and the internal conflicts among colleagues in the special funding program, external and internal contradictions, have ultimately converged.’ That’s right, behind internal strife, there is often support from external enemies. ‘

Every year, the special funding program enters a white-hot stage of struggle at this point, and perhaps every year outsiders suddenly intervene at this stage.’

‘It shouldn’t be the kind of idea of winning over certain people. After all, it’s extremely difficult to win over wizards from different academic lines. The case of Esther the Witch is ultimately a special case. But as long as someone suddenly intervenes and provides some help to some wizards who are slightly less skilled, the bad money can drive out the good, which can completely damage the talent production capacity of another academic lineage.’ Locke

instantly realized that top-tier grant applications were likely the hardest hit area every year.

It wasn’t just Golden Crown Mountain; other wizarding academies were probably experiencing the same thing. The fact that

Golden Crown Mountain had reached the top-tier grant stage before this vicious infighting occurred was already quite good.

Because other lower-level wizarding academies might already be facing severe “bad money drives out good” situations at even lower grant application levels.

Rose the Witch sat back on the sofa and said, “Mr. Augustine, you know too little about wizard shoes. I’ve seen the sales report for your first pair of second-circle wizard shoes. Your success on your first attempt was largely due to two things.”

Locke became serious and said to Rose the Witch, “Miss Tacitus, please speak.”

Rose the Witch said, “First, many of your friends and fellow wizards bought your first pair of wizard shoes. But within a short time, their demand was met.”

“I don’t know why, but your wizard shoes didn’t incorporate a ‘proactive periodic wear-out’ design.”

“That is, a planned wear-out of your wizard shoes at a certain stage. We wizard weavers certainly have ways to make a pair of wizard shoes last for thousands of years without frequent use, and even for more than ten years in dangerous void environments.”

“Of course we have the ability to repair severely damaged wizard shoes, instead of demanding they replace them entirely. We certainly have the capacity to extend their lifespan by providing regular annual maintenance.”

Rose the Witch’s lips curled into a mocking smile.

“But if we do that, where will we make our money?”

“Based on our experience with Solas Barefoot and Melochy Magic Steps, if we compromise with our customers, they will disrespect us. When Solas Barefoot and Melochy Magic Steps were first established, like every newly formed shop alliance, we were full of expectations for our customers.”

“But the reality is, we’ve been hurt time and time again.”

Rose the Witch said, “Customers are like flowing water, and the shop alliance is like a reservoir; how much we can retain depends on our abilities. If you have too much useless emotion towards your customers, you’re just wasting your energy.”

Locke frowned. He was now certain of one thing: whether it was Rose the Witch or the Rose Throne, their beliefs did indeed have some fundamental conflict with his and his teacher’s beliefs.

Rose the Witch said, “So, firstly, because you didn’t implement [Proactive Periodic Disposal], your customer base’s demand is now saturated.”

“Secondly, your first pair of wizard shoes was cheap, so many people bought them with the intention of saving money. But your second pair of wizard shoes is priced at two million. That’s the price of wizard shoes from the Vicos Shop Alliance.”

“This means your original price advantage is gone, and you’re missing a very important element of wizard shoes.”

Locke asked, “What’s missing?”

Rose the Witch replied, “Combat experience. This is the most important thing I’m here to remind you of.”

“Don’t mistakenly think wizard shoes are clothing or sporting goods. Second-ring wizard shoes and first-ring wizard shoes have a significant shift in positioning because second-ring and first-ring wizards have different main activity ranges and are at different levels.” “

First-ring wizard shoes are at most sporting goods and magical equipment, while second-ring wizard shoes are essentially important individual weapons. When exploring the void, without a good pair of wizard shoes, you’ll be unable to move an inch.”

“When Melochy and Solas Barefoot started out, we spent a lot of money hiring a large number of Void Explorers to enter various planes, live-streaming and recording their use of wizard shoes, venturing deep into the polar regions to test the limits of our designed wizard shoes.”

“The reason this is being omitted now isn’t because we’re deliberately blocking information, but because our shop alliance’s reputation has been built up, and we no longer need to do that.”

“But Void Explorers look at a wizard shoe’s combat performance.”

“All weapons ultimately depend on their combat performance. If your wizard shoes lack combat performance and a reputation for effectiveness, it will be difficult to gain acceptance among Void Explorers.”

Locke, now enlightened by Rose, realized that his poor sales were indeed due to a positioning error.

His second second-ring wizard shoe was positioned for Void polar exploration,

primarily targeting Void Explorers.

This was Solas Barefoot’s main development direction.

However, as a weapon-grade wizard shoe for this purpose, his shoe lacked combat performance.

The most important aspect of weaponry is practical combat training.

He had encountered a similar situation when selling magical plants in the Southeastern Region.

Locke pondered, “I see. It’s about changing your business strategy, using the same mindset you use to sell weapons when dealing with my second-ring wizard shoes. Since they’re weapons, they need combat experience.”

The witch Rose said, “However, you might be running out of time now. Organizing a void exploration takes at least six months. You’ll also need to buy void warships, hire void explorers, etc., which is extremely expensive…”

“Your little shop alliance probably doesn’t have many void explorer teams now. Solas’s Blind Foot and Melochy’s Magic Step don’t need void explorers for promotion anymore, as their reputation is already established, but they still need to maintain some void explorer teams to conduct planar exploration and development, searching for new materials, etc., through employment or contracts.”

Locke realized that the witch Rose didn’t know his recent trip to the Endless Void for planar exploration, likely because she only learned about him at least six months ago.

Locke pondered, “So that’s where the problem lies.” Locke

looked up at Rose the Witch and said, “Thank you for the reminder. We can indeed be allies for now, until you and I take down the current administrators of Solas Barefoot and Melochy.”

“But aren’t you afraid of raising a tiger that will eventually threaten your own interests?”

Rose the Witch’s pupils focused again as she looked at Locke. “I have absolute confidence in my abilities. I will soon advance to the Star Ring Wizard level, I will seize administrative control of the two major shop alliances, and I will have the support of the Tacitus family, as well as the help of my senior brother Hades Sun Ring.”

“As long as my plan succeeds, I will get this help. What do I have to fear?”

“Our cooperation isn’t me raising a tiger that will threaten my own interests; it’s you making a deal with a tiger. You are creating the biggest enemy in the history of the wizard shoe market.”

Rose the Witch stared into Locke’s eyes, a provocative smile playing on her lips. “Few who cooperate with me emerge unscathed. Let me tell you that.”

“It’s not that I would betray him; I never break an agreement willingly. It’s just that when I want to cooperate with someone and become an ally, it means I have absolute confidence that I can devour them. Locke, you’re heading down a dead end, not me.”

“Scared? You can refuse.”

Locke ignored Rose the Witch’s provocation and then began to think seriously. Rose the Witch was indeed very dangerous, but this cooperation was actually extremely profitable for him.

Because this was exactly what he was going to do.

Whether he cooperated with her or not, challenging the two old giants of the Wizard Shoe Shop Alliance was something he was doing and was bound to do.

Cooperating with Rose the Witch would at least provide him with additional help in the near future.

And the source of this help was indeed somewhat beyond his expectations.

Locke said, “Ms. Tacitus, it’s a pleasure to cooperate. We can add each other as friends within the Water Hyacinth System.”

Rose the Witch glanced at Locke and said, “It seems you’re not convinced. Fine, at least until we achieve our common goal, we will indeed be the best allies.”

Rose the Witch took out a Ganoderma lucidum plant and touched it with the one in Locke’s hand, thus adding each other as friends. Before leaving Room 1, she said, “I will share intelligence with you. We currently have a common enemy.”

Rose the Witch left the room.

Locke, meanwhile, remained in Room 1, organizing the information provided.

“Now, someone on Soras’s Lightfoot side is supporting the Brandy Wizard, wanting to help him compete with me, increase my pressure, and force me to waste my energy on applying for special funding.”

“I wonder if they’ll only support the Brandy Wizard, or if they’ll support others. Based on the current situation, if they can support one, they can support a second…”

“And Rose the Witch, in order to enter the power center of the two shop alliances, has chosen to cooperate with me, a business competitor of both alliances.”

In other words, internal stability requires external defense. “If we just let them act freely, it will cause me a lot of trouble,”

Lockes thought. “It’s not that Golden Crown Mountain can’t find out these things, the key is that even if they do, there’s not much they can say.

Because if a wizard can attract and find projects, that’s his personal ability.

Soras, with his bare feet, insists that they admire this wizard, which is why they keep sending him resources, and that’s certainly not against any rules.”

Even for Golden Crown Mountain, having outsiders provide genuine resources to the True Knowledge Institute for free was still a win.

After all, Golden Crown Mountain wasn’t the only academic lineage.

Locke said, “Therefore, if I want to secure a spot in the Special Funding application this year, to reduce the possibility of external trouble, I must thoroughly teach Solas a lesson in commercial competition, so they will no longer have time to secretly fund my rivals in the Special Funding application.”

“Internal stability must be achieved before external threats can be addressed.” “

Only by eliminating external enemies can the competition between me and my colleagues, supported by external forces, not become a vicious competition targeting me personally.”

Locke had organized his thoughts.

The timing of Rose’s arrival was very clever. If she had arrived later, he would have missed the weapon testing during his exploration of the plane.

But just in time, his main body had just entered the Three Caves Plane.

Locke left the Witch’s Kitchen, boarded the Rainbow Sparrow, and quickly headed to Little Peach Mountain. Through the Peach Garden, he entered the Dune Plane and arrived at the tenth floor of the 2nd Research Institute.

Locke looked towards the Bloodline Regeneration Pool, where countless copies of his own bloodline, partially replicated, were mixed with Name Potion and being used to nourish the Great Azure Leaf Dragon Sparrow grafted onto the rootstock of the Demon Dragon Rose.

At this moment, the Great Azure Leaf Dragon Sparrow was nearing maturity.

He had already spent five million magic stones and one dose of Zero Potion on this Great Azure Leaf Dragon Sparrow.

Fortunately, it was finally about to reach adulthood.

After observing, Locke judged, “Wait another week, and we can probably try the ancestral evolution.”

“However, if we try the ancestral evolution now and it fails, we’ll have to start all over again. That’s too time-consuming and resource-intensive. After successful cultivation, I’d better use the ‘flower blooms and fades’ technique to turn it into three fertile seeds, and then cultivate them individually. Although this will cost about five million more magic stones, it’s the safest approach.”

“Moreover, this method can also confirm whether the grafting cultivation has truly been completed, and not just a simple graft. At the same time, this plane exploration will be more significant to me.”

“First, I can test various newly cultivated magical plants.”

“Second, I can conduct a third attempt at extreme magic forging in that plane.”

(End of Chapter)