Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems - Chapter 983

Chapter 975 The Unspoken Rules Along the Tianjiang River and Two Super Enchantment Production Lines

Two weeks later,

Locke followed the wizard Terence from Silver Peach Garden to the fifth floor of the Silver Peach Garden headquarters building. There, he saw two complete production lines. There were about ten tree stump-like objects on the floor; these were tree stump enchantments. To ensure efficiency and quality, the large-scale enchanting production equipment divided the enchanting process into at least five stages: initial enchanting, secondary enchanting, and multiple enchanting stages. This streamlined process allowed for the production of enchanted scrolls on one production line. The ten iron tree stumps indicated two

production lines. Along each of these two lines, each consisting of five metal tree stumps for enchanting, were four bookshelves—enchanting equipment and enchanting bookshelves. The tree stump enchanting system is an operating platform that connects to a complete set of enchanting knife equipment, enabling automatic enchanting. Each empty space on the enchanting bookshelf contains an enchanting scroll, where enchanters place their preset enchanting spells. By combining these scrolls, the enchanting knife on the tree stump can be manipulated to automatically complete the preset enchanting workflow.

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Wizard Terence introduced the two production lines to Locke, then said, “Although these can automate enchanting production, the production lines need to be debugged each time production begins. Therefore, these enchanting wands are needed to manipulate the enchanting bookshelves and adjust the preset storage order of the enchanting scrolls on the shelves. Sometimes, we also need to readjust the enchanting distance, and when production lines become chaotic, the enchanters need to readjust them as well.” “

In addition, annual maintenance also requires the enchanters to perform. When we need to enchant new spells, these enchanters need to adjust the order and type of enchanting scrolls that should be placed on the enchanting bookshelves and reset them.” “

Therefore, each production line requires at least one first-ring enchanter, and the level of this enchanter will relatively affect the efficiency of the enchanting production line and the quality of the enchanting scrolls produced.”

Locke nodded slightly. “That means we still need to hire two more first-ring wizards, and also apprentices,”

Wizard Terence said to Locke. “According to the rules of the wizarding lands along the Tianjiang River, we only need to hire first-ring wizards. If those first-ring wizards feel they are not up to the task, they can hire wizard apprentices themselves. If they are capable, the money should all go into their pockets.”

Locke nodded.

Terence showed Locke the cost of each enchantment.

“If we open the enchanting production line, we can enchant about five sets of enchanting scrolls per day. With two production lines, we can enchant ten sets per day. Each enchanting scroll requires enchanting paper and some small consumables. If we’re making a first-level enchanting scroll, the consumables consumed each time will be around three thousand magic stones. If we’re making a second-level enchanting scroll, the energy and consumable costs combined will be around one hundred thousand magic stones.” “

Of course, this is just for routine production. If there are special requirements such as suddenly increasing the enchanting accuracy, these costs will increase,”

Wizard Terence said. “These are just the normal losses in material costs.”

Locke knew that the other party was only calculating the consumption of raw materials and energy, because if labor and other transportation costs were included, the cost could be even higher.

Overall, the profits from these enchanted scroll production lines are significantly lower than those of Locke’s two super-products from the Augustus Shop Alliance: the Golden Dragon Claw Air Plant and the First-Ring Black Hummingbird Air Plant. Their competitiveness is also severely lacking. However, these two production lines are only for his own Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow series weapons and some subsequent magical plants, so they don’t need such high individual competitiveness and profit output.

Thus, considering the ten million magic stones he spent developing hybrid air plants in the key laboratory, plus the magic stones spent on purchasing these two production lines, he only has less than ten million magic stones left.

Because the Golden Dragon Claw Air Plant itself is expensive, the cultivation cost of adult plants, even without considering transportation, storage, and marketing costs, can reach around eight hundred thousand. Therefore, Locke previously consumed a considerable amount of money and magical resources in cultivating the Golden Dragon Claw Air Plant. Of course, the two funds would also provide subsidies, which would add up to a considerable amount, likely close to ten million magic stones. Adding to this the magic stones he received monthly from various sources and the magic stones from the Augustus Shop Alliance, his total income had reached one million magic stones. Therefore, he wasn’t particularly short of money.

However, while he earned a lot, his operations were also extensive. He was now essentially managing three shop alliances, leading Mason Witch and others, as well as two small teams within the key laboratory. He also needed to invest heavily in the two major spells he had applied for to accelerate forging, and continue completing the two major projects he had applied for, especially the special-grade grant.

Therefore, his financial situation was indeed tight.

Locke was eager to convert his achievements into commercial value.

Locke inspected the two production lines and said, “Then hiring formal wizards and enchanters is your responsibility.”

Wizard Terence hurriedly said, “Lord Locke, the cost of hiring employees can be spent on Silver Peach Garden. I plan to hire two crystallization wizards from the Tianjiang River, paying them 100,000 magic stones per month. Silver Peach Garden can cover this cost; we’ve already received some money from selling off shops recently.” “

Moreover, our number of shops has increased from dozens to twenty-one.”

“Our operations aren’t as large anymore, and our cash flow is actually more abundant.”

Wizard Terence was somewhat speechless. After selling off and closing most of the shops, he surprisingly found that the previously struggling Silver Peach Garden had become more flexible, even experiencing a sense of liberation.

Locke nodded. These two production lines were affiliated with the Aladdin Shop Alliance, so he needed to purchase them himself.

However, he could indeed utilize Silver Peach Garden’s buildings and manpower.

By streamlining the number of shops, Locke increased the monthly income of Silver Peach Garden from around 4.16 million to 6 million. Of course, all this money belonged to Silver Peach Garden, that is, to his teacher.

He couldn’t misappropriate it, otherwise he would easily violate wizarding law.

Simultaneously operating several shop alliances and holding an important position in one of them would easily blur the lines between public and private interests, and once blurred, it would be easy to fall into the trap of wizarding law.

Locke knew this. Some money was right in front of you, but it was destined not to be yours; it could only pass through your hands. He was merely the administrative head appointed by the witch Catherine at Silver Peach Garden.

But he wasn’t entirely without benefits; for example, taking a little extra money wouldn’t be a big deal.

Locke pondered, “Silver Peach Garden’s profits are actually increasing, but we’re far from being able to relax. The funds gained from selling shops are just a temporary fix. The more we sell, the faster we’ll collapse. Fortunately, this shop alliance is entirely controlled by our teacher; otherwise, our selling off of shops would easily cause panic among the wizard shareholders.”

Wizard Terence nodded in agreement, deeply agreeing.

Just as Locke and Wizard Terence were discussing this, Locke suddenly heard a commotion outside the window on the ground floor. Wizard Terence’s face immediately darkened, because he had been trying his best to maintain normalcy at Silver Peach Garden, even though there were indeed problems. He had been striving to preserve the dignity of the shop alliance’s headquarters, but now someone was causing trouble downstairs.

Wizard Terence said to Locke, “Lord Locke, please wait here for a moment. I’ll go down and see what happened.”

Locke took the initiative to walk towards the suspended staircase leading to the first floor. “We can go down together and see what happened.”

The two rode the staircase together and arrived at the first-floor lobby of Silver Peach Garden. The first-floor lobby of Silver Peach Garden was decorated with many peach tree-shaped chandeliers, full of the charm of an old and famous shop alliance.

At this moment, a fat, ordinary second-circle wizard shopkeeper in the lobby seemed very angry. There was a group of first-circle wizards blocking his way. The second-circle wizard was furious.

“I’ve been in Silver Peach Garden for over a hundred years, and I’ve always run the Silver Peach Garden shop located in the Tide Wizard Tower. How can the new administrative manager issue us an order to close our allied shops without our consent?” “Get out of the way. Get out of the way!”

The fat, second-circle wizard shopkeeper’s magical pressure suddenly surged. His small eyes released a cold gaze, and before the three crystallized wizards blocking his way could react, they were blasted away by his magical pressure.

He was ruthless this time.

After all, Locke had severed his roots. He was the shopkeeper of the Tide Wizard Tower, embezzling countless resources from that shop. Now Locke was closing the shop without warning, packing him and all the employees up and sending them away. And if they didn’t want to close the shop, they could simply take it and continue operating it.

It sounded good; it seemed like a direct gift to the shopkeeper, offsetting the compensation payment in this way.

But this second-ring wizard knew perfectly well how much the Silver Peach Garden shop in the Tide Wizarding Tower was worth—practically nothing. Without the financial investment, technical support, and magical plant channels provided by the Silver Peach Garden headquarters, the shop’s value would be greatly diminished.

Moreover, he himself had mismanaged the shop, basically surviving only on subsidies from headquarters.

At this moment, the three crystallized wizards were sent flying backward, but they were surprised to find that they didn’t crash hard into the wall. A bunch of soft vines grew from the wall, gently catching them.

Locke stepped out from the suspended staircase.

“Mr. Jinx, do you have any objections to my decision?”

At this moment, Locke slowly walked out from the suspended staircase, calm and composed, seemingly very easy to talk to. But the moment Jinx saw Locke, his heart skipped a beat, feeling a certain awe and fear. In front of this wizard Locke, he couldn’t be arrogant anymore.

Jinx’s small eyes under his chubby face emitted a cold light.

“Mr. Augustine…”

“Lord Augustine,”

he changed his address, “I don’t think you can order our shop to close down without the collective approval of our store managers. That’s unreasonable.” “

And you’ve stopped paying my salary, no matter how many people I send, there’s been no response. I had no choice but to come and ask for your opinion in person.”

Locke said, “If you don’t want to close it, that shop is yours. You can take it.” “

I’ve seen the amount of money invested in your shop in the last hundred years, it’s at least seventy or eighty million magic stones, if not hundreds of millions. Although it’s just a shop, it’s the largest magic plant shop in the Tide Wizarding Tower, at least until the Olayer branch opened six months ago. You’ve done a great job, so the shop is yours. Do you have any objections?”

Jinx’s face turned red.

“I…”

Of course he did.

If a parasite can’t find a host, it’ll go crazy.

He was used to being a parasite. Even though he had other businesses and was a senior wizarding instructor at the Tide Wizarding Tower, this shop was just one of his main core interests, but he still wanted to protect it as much as possible.

Locke glanced at him and immediately understood his thoughts.

Silver Peach Garden had sold more than twenty shops, bringing in about 50 million in funds. The remaining shops, including the one in the Tide Wizarding Tower held by this shopkeeper, were unsellable, perpetually loss-making, rotten shops that had been losing money for a century, rotten from beginning to end. Even Olayer wouldn’t be interested in buying them if he put them on the market.

And clearly, this person didn’t want to go independent; he wanted to continue clinging to Silver Peach Garden.

Wizard Jinx’s eyes widened as she spoke.

“Lord Augustine, you are the culprit behind the dismantling of Silver Peach Garden. You sold so many shops, and most of them were bought by Olayer and other competitors. Our Silver Peach Garden has shrunk with each sale. Before you came, we were the largest alliance of shops; now, we are just a small player along the Tianjiang River. Even if you are a high-ranking wizard, you are responsible for this. Am I wrong?”

Locke looked at Wizard Jinx.

“Mr. Jinx, what do you want? Just state your demands.”

Wizard Jinx was taken aback, thinking that Locke had backed down after Locke’s public verbal attack.

“The shop at the Tide Wizarding Tower can be disbanded, but I demand to remain at Silver Peach Garden and have a new shop manager appointed. I’ll send one of my ordinary students from the Institute of True Knowledge to manage that shop alliance; this time, I’ll definitely manage it well,”

Wizard Jinx said to Locke. “Lord Augustine, I’ve made my decision. I have several excellent apprentices at my disposal who can be sent to that shop to work for you for free.” “

But you can’t fire me, and you can’t just cut off my salary,”

Locke said directly. “That’s impossible. My mind is made up, and there’s no going back.”

Wizard Jinx’s eyes widened. He hadn’t expected Locke to be so ruthless. As a senior wizarding instructor at the Tide Wizarding Tower, how could he tolerate such treatment?

He immediately took out a willow branch that resembled a shovel.

Wizard Terence was startled. “Lord Locke, be careful! He’s the mad fat man from the Tide Wizard Tower along the Tianjiang River. He’s a breeder and botanical wizard, most skilled at cultivating and using a magical willow-type plant called the ‘Wet Willow Shovel.’ This is a unique magical plant from our Tianjiang River region, capable of manipulating damp miasma.”

“He’s particularly famous, and extremely skilled in combat. You must be careful, sir.”

Wizard Terence quickly stepped in front of Locke, casting a second-circle defensive spell from the Prophecy School.

However, Wizard Jinx, enraged, swung his Wet Willow Shovel, and countless streams of damp miasma passed directly through the defensive spell, blowing Wizard Terence away.

“Get out of my way, you wizard who’s bad at fighting! Today I’ll prove myself…” Jinx the wizard cried.

The next moment, Jinx’s eyes widened. He raised his hand, only to find that the Wet Willow Shovel in his hand had been reduced to a withered plant.

His eyes darted around, widening in surprise. Because the Wet Willow Shovel had died so suddenly and inexplicably, he instinctively summoned a Lotus Leaf Shield in front of him. But the next moment, that magical plant also withered and died.

The two second-ring magical plants withered and died, each turning into three seeds.

A total of six seeds floated above Locke’s palm.

Locke glanced at Jinx the wizard.

“Calm down now?”

Jinx the wizard, stunned, nodded stiffly.

The Wet Willow Shovel and the Jinx Lotus Leaf Shield—the former being one of the most famous second-ring magical plants along the Tianjiang River, the latter the culmination of his century of research. One for offense, one for defense.

The Wet Willow Shovel’s attacks are all-pervasive. Its unique water magic transforms into a mist that is virtually impossible to defend against except by ice and fire magic. This mist can penetrate various defenses, even equipment made of special magical alloys. During battle, it seeps into the joints of a wizard’s entire body. And this isn’t pure water magic; it’s miasma. Miasma

breeds various magical microorganisms. Once these enter the human body, they weaken it in every way, causing disease in all the joints.

Many magical plants along the Tianjiang River can generate miasma, so long ago this area was virtually uninhabited, only gradually becoming populated over time.

The Wet Willow Shovel has perfected this miasma-generating ability; its mist magic contains a large amount of highly toxic magical microorganisms symbiotic with the magical plants.

This is what has made Jinx the Wizard of Jinx so formidable.

An unsuspecting wizard is often caught off guard and tricked by her.

Just now, Jinx the Wizard, in a fit of rage, wanted to teach this outsider supervisor a lesson, which is why he attacked directly. He planned to back down immediately, then wait for Locke to suffer a minor setback before conceding further to prevent Locke’s retaliation, since he was no match for Locke in terms of raw strength. Only then could he find an opportunity to get Locke to agree to let him stay in Silver Peach Garden.

But he didn’t expect that before he could do any of that, his two most famous magical plants had both turned into seeds.

How could this be?

The Wet Willow Shovel was a magical plant he had meticulously cultivated for over two hundred years, it was beyond repair, it had reached its peak.

Now, it had become… become the three seeds in Locke’s hands.

Those were magical plants he had painstakingly cultivated with millions of magic stones, countless efforts he had poured into them, and now, everything was for nothing.

In that instant, Jinx the Wizard felt a chill run down his spine; it was too terrifying, too bizarre.

Locke looked at Jinx with a half-smile and said, “Mr. Jinx, have you thought it through now?”

Jinx nodded stiffly. “I understand. I’ll leave now. The Shop Alliance has its rules, and you must have your own thoughts. I respect all the decisions made by Lord Augustine.”

Locke said, “You just reminded me. The shop you’re running is going to close down, so you should distribute the severance pay to the wizards who originally worked there. Otherwise, they’ll be too pitiful. Understand?”

Jinx looked back at the shop door, not daring to take a single step outside.

At this moment, a sudden wave of regret washed over him. The more rashly he had stepped into that shop, the more heartbroken he felt now.

Jinx said, “I…I understand.”

Locke pointed to the door and said, “Then you can leave.”

Jinx immediately breathed a sigh of relief and slipped away as if his feet were greased.

As soon as Jinx stepped outside, he immediately found the magical carriage he had arrived in and quickly ordered the driver to leave. At the same time, he received messages from many former managers of Silver Peach Garden along the Tianjiang River. They had originally planned to have Jinx cause trouble to see what would happen.

Now, they all came to inquire about the current situation of this wizard from the Tide Wizard Tower.

Jinx hesitated for a moment before replying to each of them, “Respect Lord Augustine’s ideas and the Silver Peach Garden’s business strategy.”

This left the former managers, who had been secretly plotting trouble, completely dumbfounded, because they didn’t understand Jinx’s meaning. Logically, given Jinx’s status as a second-circle wizard and his rather arrogant personality, it was unlikely that this would be the outcome, whether he was angry about being wronged or happy about gaining an advantage.

A sense of foreboding settled over many of the wizards who were contacting him.

What could possibly frighten a high-ranking wizard instructor from the Tide Wizarding Tower like this?

Inside the magic carriage, Jinx, the wizard, gasped for breath. He seemed to see Locke’s gaze upon him again. “That gaze… that didn’t look like a white wizard’s gaze. He…”

“He really did intend to eliminate me just now.” “

And I’m a second-circle wizard, after all. The difference in magical level between me and him shouldn’t be that great, yet under his magic, I was like an infant, utterly powerless. Why is that?”

Locke’s eyes flashed before Jinx’s eyes again, and his hands trembled.

Suddenly, Jinx saw a magical glow flash on the ring on his left hand.

“There are official wizards from the White Ice Tower nearby. Damn it, I don’t have any protective magical plants on me anymore. And they’ve appeared at this time…” “I can’t afford to offend the new administrator of Silver Peach Garden again, and besides…”

Wizard Jinx pondered, “I see that Olayer’s momentum is so strong lately, I can’t protect this part of the profits no matter what. I might as well just give up on this part of the profits. These people are not easy to mess with.”

Wizard Jinx said to the first-stage liquefaction wizard of the Summoning School who was driving the magical carriage, “Speed up a bit.”

“We need to avoid the official wizards from the White Ice Tower. If we encounter them, we won’t be able to leave.”

In the lobby on the first floor of the Silver Peach Garden headquarters, a tall, thin wizard stood in the lobby.

He wore a simple short wizard’s robe, which was very close-fitting, and a tie around his neck.

Locke looked at the wizard and asked, “Sir, I don’t recall seeing you before. If you are a guest…”

Wizard Terence reminded Locke, “This is Wizard Abram from the White Wizard Association along the Tianjiang River.”

Wizard Abram clapped his hands, looking at the six magical plant seeds in Locke’s right palm.

“I heard before that the new administrator of the Silver Peach Garden, sent from the higher wizarding lands, is an excellent breeder. Meeting you today, I can confirm his excellence. I never imagined that the renowned Grand Wizard of the Tide Wizarding Tower, who has afflicted so many with his magical plant miasma, couldn’t even last a single round against you.”

Wizard Abram smiled at Locke, “Mr. Augustine, I am Wizard Abram, it is an honor to meet you.” Locke nodded slightly.

“Wizard Abram, what brings you here?”

Abram asked. “It’s not convenient to talk here. Manager Augustine, I’ve communicated with your previous managers, and we have some private business dealings…”

Locke nodded, dismissed the attendants, and instructed Wizard Terence to handle the affairs in the hall.

Locke then led Abram to a quiet room on the second floor and activated a silencing spell. As soon as

Abram sat down, he spoke to Locke, “Wizard Augustine, I think you’re new here and not aware of this. Along the Tianjiang River, there exists something that doesn’t exist openly, no one knows about it, but many people have dealt with it—I am one of them, I’m a member of the Tianhanjiang Investment Bank.”

Locke immediately looked at him.

Terence had indeed told him that when he was sorting through the assets of Silver Peach Garden, he always found several payments with no traceable source, the amount being approximately sixty million magic stones.

Abram the Wizard spoke directly: “Our Tianhanjiang Investment Bank invested in Silver Peach Garden and signed a series of contracts. However, because the previous executives were dismissed, and these transactions were too secretive, so…”

“Look,” he continued, “according to the seven rounds of funding, if Silver Peach Garden fails to repay us as agreed, we can obtain the corresponding shops, and even management rights. According to the last contract, if Silver Peach Garden cannot give us a return of 120 million within ten years, then we are entitled to the terms of the contract.”

Locke picked up the contract but didn’t open it. Instead, he looked directly at the signature on the last page, finding it was the previous executive’s signature and Silver Peach Garden’s magical seal.

Locke sensed the aggressive approach and calmly said, “So, Abram the Wizard?”

Trouble. He hadn’t expected private lending institutions to exist along the Tianjiang River, and it seemed to be some kind of unspoken rule in this area.

Every wizarding territory has its own unique circumstances and details. Being new to the area and taking over such a long-established shop alliance, he was bound to encounter similar situations.

Wizard Abram then spoke up: “Our investment bank certainly doesn’t have the capability or desire to operate a large shop alliance. My people and I admire Mr. Locke Augustine’s abilities. Therefore, we have prepared an eighth contract. We have decided to reopen magic stone loans to you and inject another 30 million magic stones into Silver Peach Garden. In addition to repaying our previous debts, you also need to repay us 60 million magic stones within five years. If you cannot do this, then we want to obtain the patent and production line for Peach Dart Branches.”

“And the ownership of Silver Peach Garden’s headquarters.”

Wizard Abram looked at Locke, his eyes seemingly particularly sincere.

“Our investment bank knows that Mr. Locke Augustine has recently had some conflicts with Olayer, and Olayer… that shop alliance has also rejected investments from our investment bank and other investment banks.”

A shadow fell over his face.

“We happen to dislike Olayer as well. So, we’re willing to inject funds into you, giving you the full capacity to wage a commercial war against Olayer, and if you ultimately succeed, both I and the wizards behind me will be overjoyed.” “

In addition, we’ve prepared thirty million magic stones to inject more funds into your Aladdin Shop Alliance. Similarly, if you can’t repay us sixty million magic stones within five years, then we should receive 10% of the Aladdin Shop Alliance in your possession. That’s fair, isn’t it? Mr. Augustine, we’ve eased the debt pressure on your Silver Peach Garden, and we’re also prepared to inject a total of sixty million magic stones into your two shop alliances,”

said Wizard Abram.

Locke glanced at him.

Abram adjusted his tie and said, “I and the wizards behind me are numerous, and we all hate Olayer. I think this new alliance of shops like Olayer will definitely be wiped out by us.” “

There’s no right for such an absurd alliance to survive on this land,”

Locke glanced at him. “Olayer actually rejected your investment?”

Abram also looked displeased. He said, “Yes. Very rude, Rose; Tacitus, arrogant and conceited, she kicked us out.”

Locke said, “Olayer has seven products that are selling very well recently, and she recently released the Tricolor Rose Dart. I’ve seen many wizards from the Tide Wizard Tower and the White Ice Tower buy this magical plant weapon and achieve considerable success. This has seriously affected our Silver Peach Garden business. With these products on hand, her cash flow is very abundant, so she naturally doesn’t need your investment.”

A slight smile appeared on Abram’s face.

“But wouldn’t it be easy for us, Silver Peach Garden and the investment bank, to suppress them?”

Locke said, “It’s not that simple. In the weapon and plant retail industry, Rose Witch’s Olayer is very professional, and her tricolor rose darts have been selling like hotcakes in the past week. You’re just out of touch and don’t know.”

Abram asked, “May I ask how you found out?” Locke

said, “I had my wizard apprentices camp out in front of each of their shops for a week and then calculated the foot traffic and sales.” “That’s normal data collection. It doesn’t take much effort.”

Abram’s face turned icy. Clearly, he couldn’t stand Olayer at all. The shop alliance could operate normally, and the investment bank’s value was built on those old and corrupt shop alliances. A healthy and excellent shop alliance like Olayer made him and the wizards behind him seem to have no reason to exist, making the White Wizard Association’s ban on their wizard decentralized funds seem legitimate and reasonable. Abram the wizard gave a look of disgust, then took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his mouth.

“Mr. Augustine, how about we, as traditional allies, work together to make Olayer disappear?”

“Just like we did before.”

Locke suddenly said, “Was Silver Peach Garden good before? If it was, why am I here?”

Locke pointed to the contract and said, “This contract was signed by the previous administrator, and he’s currently serving his sentence in the wizard prison on Golden Crown Mountain. He has to do at least a hundred years of community service before he can be released. If you want him imprisoned for another fifty years, you can go to the Holy Court on Golden Crown Mountain. I can pay for the travel expenses. As for repaying the money and abiding by the contract, even if you signed a valid magical contract with him, the person who signed it wasn’t me, and it wasn’t Silver Peach Garden.” “

I’ve seen the names on it. Besides the previous administrator, there are also some shopkeepers on the list, and coincidentally…” “I fired them all.”

The smile on Abram’s face suddenly froze. He wanted to reach a past agreement with Locke, but Locke directly told him that they were not allies.

It was that blatant.

Locke didn’t fall into his trap. First, his layoffs were the right decision; thankfully, he acted quickly, or people would have come knocking on his door demanding their money back.

Second, even if he had seen the money, it was almost entirely embezzled by the wizards of Silver Peach Garden. Since it was money that had never reached his hands, why should he repay it? Even

better, these people were nothing more than rats in the gutter along the Tianjiang River, operating illegally.

And if they wanted to be his enemy—a cold glint in Locke’s eyes—they had truly chosen the wrong opponent. He had been invited by his teacher to deal with Silver Peach Garden, and he was determined to do it well.

“These investment banks probably want to plunge Silver Peach Garden into a death spiral of financial deprivation before swarming in and devouring it. Their appetites are clearly enormous; they’ve even set their sights on the Aladdin Shop Alliance, which I’m collaborating with on the Dragonfall Lands side. Keep in mind, this shop alliance is a product of the alliance between the Dragonfall Lands and the Border of Darkness and Light, and these people even want to take a bite out of that.” “

They seem to be a bunch of insatiably greedy lunatics. It’s not hard for me to guess why Rose rejected them.”

“If I accept this agreement, I’ll be dragged into it. I naturally don’t want to break ties with the unspoken rules along the Tianjiang River, but obviously continuing this agreement is pointless.”

Abram’s expression stiffened, then he actually smiled, seemingly oblivious to Locke’s refusal. “I see. Well then, I’ve disturbed you. Mr. Augustine, I’ll be going now.”

Abram turned and left hastily. The moment he realized Locke was about to renege on the agreement, he immediately abandoned any attempt to maintain his stance.

Because, in reality, these people couldn’t operate in the open.

He had already witnessed Locke’s style of doing things. If he, a second-ring wizard, dared to say another word, would he leave unscathed? Moreover, after receiving Locke’s response, he immediately understood that neither Locke nor Rose, these two wizards from the Cloud Marsh Wetlands, had any intention of abiding by the unspoken rules of their Tianjiang River region.

After leaving Silver Peach Garden, Abram’s expression immediately darkened. He chanted spells repeatedly, notifying several wizards who had secretly joined the investment bank to report the results.

Soon, he boarded a magic carriage.

In the dimly lit magic carriage, an old wizard’s voice appeared in Abram’s ears.

“It turned out like this. Just when we were about to completely trap Silver Peach Garden, suddenly the Red Dragon Throne imprisoned the former supervisor in the wizarding prison, and Olayer also entered our land because of their academic lineage war. But these Cloud Marsh Wetlands people completely disregard our local unspoken rules.”

Abram was somewhat unwilling.

“Are all our money just going to go down the drain?”

The old wizard’s voice appeared in his ears.

“Don’t panic. The distance between the east and west banks of the Tianjiang River is very, very far, and the waters here are deep.” “Let

‘s leave it at that. For now, don’t put any pressure on Silver Peach Garden. From your description, Locke Augustine doesn’t mind breaking ties with us. He’s also very assertive. We’re not going to sit on a dangerous roof. Just wait and see how things develop.” “Just one sentence—the two powerful dragons can’t suppress the local snake.”

Inside Silver Peach Garden, Locke said to Wizard Terence, “Look, the Witch Rose invited us to attend the ceremony. It’s the first [Rose Building] she opened along the Tianjiang River.”

Wizard Terence was completely dumbfounded.

“What is that?”

Locke asked. “It seems Rose has come up with a new business strategy. I think she’s turned down some offers here… Anyway, she should find a new way to raise enough funds, and this might be the method she’s found. The invitation is for next month. My product is also nearing completion, and if it meets expectations by then, I’ll take the opportunity to visit the buyer along with them.”