Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 820 The Rest Cup, the Golden Cup, and the Trap
After a moment's thought, the wizard Trajan said, "We need to consider the prestige of these competitions and the timing of their events. If the dates are too far in the future, then participating in them won't be very meaningful for you."

"Because what you need right now is to acquire resources as quickly as possible."

"To propel you into the ranks of second-circle wizards and onto the right track in the second-circle world. What you need now are resources so that you can obtain top-tier funding more quickly, complete key sub-projects, and successfully leave the station."

"Time is life. You are working hard, and your competitors are working hard too, even harder than you. Because you can only work hard for 48 hours a day, but your competitors may have already used special treasures to work hard for 72 hours a day."

"Moreover, they have worked much harder than you for many years."

The wizard Trajan said, "Your opponents are all the second-circle wizards of the House of Truth within the last five years, a total of seven."

Locke was taken aback; there were so many.

That's right, Jinmianshan should have two senior researchers every year.

However, every year dozens of ordinary researchers join the Golden Crown Mountain Institute of Knowledge, and they all have the potential to become second-circle wizards during their future careers at the Institute.

Trajan the wizard said, "I have already sent you the information."

The wizard Trajan said, "Considering all the above, I think you can submit this project to the breeding section of the Xiaoxi Cup held by Xiaoxi Mountain."

"Although Little Hill is only second in the Quinjol region, its actual level is likely to have reached, or even slightly surpassed, that of Storm Tower. This is because Little Hill is very close to Quinjol and has put significant pressure on them. The Little Hill Cup is a competition trophy that Little Hill is promoting, and they desperately need excellent projects to participate in."

Trajan the Wizard said, “The Lesser Retreat Cup is a comprehensive competition with various events, but the most prestigious is the breeding category. Given the quality of the project your apprentice teacher gave you, winning the Lesser Retreat Cup should be a piece of cake for you.”

"Furthermore, if you participate in the Xiaoxi Cup with this project, I can help you get some subsidies. The chairman of the Xiaoxi Cup tournament committee is a friend of mine, and I can have the staff in the Xiaoxi Cup tournament committee office give you some magic stones to complete the follow-up work on your project."

"Besides that, the most worthwhile competition to participate in among the recent Wizarding Land-level second-ring competitions is probably the Golden Cup at the border of Darkness and Light."

"Oh, and there's also the [Crawler's Cup] that's being held in the Rainswamp recently. The Crawler's Cup mainly involves using second-circle magical plants to manipulate magical creatures, not magical plant development projects in this direction. Even if you participate, it's considered a default failure."

Locke nodded and asked, "I have a question, Senior Brother Trajan. If I win an award in these second-level competitions, will I receive a Tourmaline King Peach as a reward?"

The wizard Trajan said, “Of course. Moreover, the academy offers special extra rewards to the advanced True Knowledge Academy. In addition to the fixed reward of the Tourmaline King Peach, you can also choose one of the six magical peaches among the twelve peaches of Golden Crown Mountain, including the Golden Cloud Peach.”

"Essentially, the academy certainly hopes that you can participate in more competitions and win championships, which would be very beneficial to the academy. It's just that it's very difficult."

Trajan sighed, “When I was a regular second-circle wizard, I also dreamed of winning a lot of competitions quickly. But every competition had many second-circle wizards participating. Every second-circle wizard was once a genius at the first-circle stage.”

"So, at your stage, I had no choice but to give up on this idea."

"Later I found a better way. Become a plant hunter, enter the void, and explore valuable magical plants... This way, I can also indirectly complete second-level projects."

Inside the magic carriage, Locke's tiger eyes automatically opened, looking behind Trajan. "Senior brother, there seems to be something behind you."

Trajan's eyes remained calm. "I know."

Something seemed to be wailing in the darkness, then stumbled and staggered backward, eventually disappearing into the darkness.

Trajan the wizard said, "The Dark World is extremely dangerous."

"Being a plant hunter isn't an easy job. Which competition do you want to participate in?"

Locke thought for a moment and said, "Senior, I want to participate in more second-ring level projects to earn academy rewards. Applying for grants is indeed highly competitive, but I have a significant advantage in these kinds of competitions. I want to participate in more second-ring level competitions."

Locke's thinking was very clear, because the two-ring vertical funding projects were actually all basic research.

This kind of basic research is highly valuable and difficult to develop, but its commercial value may not be very high.

However, the various competitions are different. There are many of these competitions, and what they actually seek is not to deepen or explore the content of a certain basic research.

Instead, they developed some kind of powerful magical plant.

Therefore, their own shared imaginary root system, and the related wizard shoes they developed, can participate in such competitions.

It's just that the wizard shoe competition in Yunze Wetland is currently being held by Solas Barefoot and Melochy Magic Step, so there's no need for me to make a fool of myself. That's why I didn't plan to use wizard shoes and the shared imaginary root system to participate.

However, if you participate in the competition yourself, you can use the synthesis cube and your own extremely powerful magic system to quickly develop all kinds of powerful magical plants.

Not only can you participate in the magical plant competition, but you can also participate in the magical potion competition.

Locke said to the wizard Trajan, "Besides the Creeper Cup, senior brother, I'd like to participate in all the competitions."

Trajan the wizard was clearly taken aback for a moment.

Are you all participating?

"It seems you have grand ambitions."

"Alright, as long as you have enough energy, you can participate in as many competitions as you want. However, each competition requires an entry fee and qualification review. Some competitions require you to have a Level 2 Breeder certificate. The three competitions I just recommended to you don't require that. About half of the ordinary Level 2 competitions require a certificate, while the more advanced Level 2 competitions basically all require you to have a Level 2 Breeder certificate."

The wizard Trajan said, "I just contacted the tournament committee of the Little Rest Cup for you, and they have sent you a friend request on the Water Hyacinth system."

"The Xiaoxi Cup tournament committee office is very optimistic about your project. Therefore, they are willing to provide five million magic stones to support you in completing the subsequent content."

"The condition is that you must submit this project to the Xiaoxi Cup."

Locke sat in the magic carriage, stunned for a moment, because he did not expect that his senior brother would make a contact and immediately bring him a sponsorship of five million magic stones.

Indeed, I desperately need money right now.

Because all the money was invested in goods, I really need more funds to develop other projects.

"My senior brother is amazing! He managed to get me sponsorship with just a little effort."

Locke opened the Water Hyacinth system and saw that a Star Ring Wizard had requested to add him as a friend. He also saw the specific requirements for participating in the Golden Cup sent to him by Trajan.

The Golden Cup has two competition zones: the First Ring and the Second Ring. Each zone has different competitions. For example, the Second Ring competition zone has three events: the Golden Cup Flying Breeding Magic Plant Competition, the Golden Cup Golden Magic Plant Breeding Competition, and the Golden Cup Golden Magic Spell Model Competition.

In principle, a wizard can only participate in one match in the Golden Cup at a time, and multiple entries for the same event are not allowed.

Locke's goal, however, is the Golden Cup Flying Breeding Magic Plant Competition.

This is mainly because I actually have a raw material that can be developed into a second-ring flying magical plant, namely the Magic Dragon Rose!
The current Dragon Rose is essentially a wild second-ring magical plant, unbred and undeveloped.

The plant that has been with him the longest is the Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow. Locke has always planned to combine the Magic Dragon Rose with the Great Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow to develop a second-ring flying magical plant that is more suitable for him.

And it is even more powerful.

Therefore, his gaze instantly fell upon the flying magical plant competition beneath the golden cup.

The wizard Trajan said, "Winning the championship will grant you the Tourmaline King Peach, and the academy will also give you corresponding rewards for placing in the top three."

Locke asked, "Senior brother, if I participate in the Golden Cup, could you ask the Golden Cup tournament committee for some participation subsidies?"

Trajan the Wizard gave a wry smile. “Junior Brother, you’re being a bit delusional. The reason I can help you get subsidies from the Little Breath Cup is because of the quality of your project itself, and because I have a deep friendship with the wizard in that office.”

"But I don't have much of a relationship with the Gold Cup tournament committee office."

Locke had no choice but to give up.

Trajan suddenly spoke up: "Locke, besides that, there is one more thing I really need your help with."

Locke said, "Senior brother, please speak."

"If I can help, I definitely will."

Trajan the Wizard said, “It won’t be too troublesome. It’s just that I need to go to the Dark King’s chambers again to confirm one thing: whether the Dark King is the sole ruler of this great world. But for some reason, I cannot let the Dark King know my name. Once the Dark King knows my name, I will never be able to leave the Dark World for all eternity, and my name will fall into his hands.”

“Therefore, I need you as my confidant. I will now place the name in your hands and use the power of the Black Hole Peach to perform a secret ceremony.”

“You will be the keeper of my name, and I entrust my name to you for safekeeping. My name will be stored in the Black Hole Peach, but if I put my name directly into the Black Hole Peach, I will never be able to take it out again. My name will be sealed away forever by the Black Hole Peach, just like magical trash. So I need a keeper to retrieve my name when I need it.”

"I don't know if this is possible?"

Inside the magic carriage, Locke pondered for a moment.

"If that's the case, will the Lord of Darkness come and ask me for my name?"

Trajan the wizard said, "I will try to avoid contact with him."

"He shouldn't be able to find you. But even if he does, because of the distance across the void, as a Sun Ring level being, he can't do anything to you, a Second Ring Wizard."

“I was originally going to ask someone else, but you just happened to find me at this time, so I thought I'd ask you to help me out.”

Locke laughed and said, "Of course. I'm not afraid of any Dark King, but I'm afraid of delaying my senior brother's affairs."

"Senior brother, you can entrust your name to me for safekeeping."

Trajan the wizard said, "Raise your right hand."

"And recite this incantation."

Locke recited the incantation as instructed, and a black, peach-shaped rune appeared on his right wrist.

Trajan and Locke chanted their spells simultaneously, their spell powers overlapping, summoning the Black Hole Peach. Immediately afterward, the Peach rune pattern on Locke's wrist seemed to dissolve as if it had been soaked in water.

Black ink dripped from Locke's wrist, and then a small black hole appeared at the feet of Locke and the wizard Trajan.

Trajan chanted a spell, plucked his name from his soul, and placed it into the small black hole.

Trajan the Wizard said to Locke, "From now on, I will close the Black Hole Peach. You are the only one who can retrieve my name from the Black Hole Peach. Note that once I close the Black Hole Peach, you must never utter my name. If you do, my name will emerge from the black hole and return to my hands."

Locke nodded.

'Trajan is already so powerful, yet he still harbors such fear of the Dark Lord.'

At this moment, the wizard Trajan chanted the spell again, and Locke and the black hole beneath his feet slowly closed.

In the instant the black hole completely closed, Locke forgot the name of the wizard Trajan.

But soon, Locke remembered the name of the wizard Trajan.

Trajan the Wizard chuckled, "I trust you to handle things. Locke, protect my name." A moment later, he ended the video call.

Locke, on the other hand, looked at the magic peach pattern on his right wrist.

"In that case, I'll be my senior's confidant. I need to be careful not to mention his name. I didn't ask earlier whether, besides not being able to say his name, I also couldn't write it down. Oh well, I'll just assume I can't mention his name."

Locke could sense the wizard Trajan's trust in him.

As the person responsible for keeping the secret, I can say that I have complete control over his name at this moment. If I die, his name will be lost forever in the Black Hole Peach.

Although I don't know what will happen when a person loses their name.

If he were to reveal the name at a crucial moment, the Dark Lord would seize the opportunity to obtain it.

Therefore, this job of keeping secrets is something that cannot be obtained unless one is absolutely trustworthy.

Locke checked the pre-sales in Alsace and found that the pre-sale volume was rising rapidly, with twenty-five pairs already sold.

"Huh? What's going on? Why is it so popular?"

Locke was somewhat taken aback, because this was the first pair of second-ring wizard shoes from the Augustus Wizard Shoe Shop Alliance, so he originally thought that the sales volume would not be very high, but he did not expect that it would reach the limit of his pre-sale so quickly.

If that's the case, I'll have no choice but to take out a loan from the bank and find a way to increase the sales of the first batch of wizard shoes to one hundred pairs.

Actually, for the second-ring wizard supplies market, one hundred is already a very high number.

Since these were my first pair of second-ring wizard shoes, and my skill level was still limited, I didn't price them too high. Each pair of wizard shoes could only earn me 500,000 magic stones. In addition, I had to share the profits with the platform, so I could only earn 250,000 magic stones per pair of wizard shoes.

The reason Locke sets its prices this way is primarily because its only current advantage lies in its low prices.

Secondly, there's no need to price the basic models too high.

For subsequent upgraded versions, a higher price is acceptable.

Moreover, if they use Arthas's production line, they only need to provide the seeds to Arthas.

"Although we don't have control of the production line, there may be some problems later on, but those are problems that will only arise when the business grows bigger."

Locke thought, “I can stick to an asset-light approach and build my Wizard Shoes Alliance into a brand.”

"The production line can currently be used in Alsace."

At least until he becomes a third-ring wizard, Arthas will always be his friend.

Locke began searching for wizards on the Water Hyacinth System and scheduled loan applications with the five major banks.

He also noted that the voting in the Yunze Council had ended.

The White Wizard Association of the Cloud Ze Council still maintains the tax exemption right for first-ring wizards.

"Hmm? The Yunze Council has started pressuring me to pay taxes."

Locke realized that he had been putting off paying his taxes for a long time.

But in essence, he still owed the White Wizard Association three million magic stones in taxes.

On the Water Hyacinth system, the official account of the White Wizard Association sent me a message.

"Loch Augustine, here are some Void Exploration quests suitable for you. If you don't want to pay taxes this year, you can accept any of the following Void Exploration quests."

Locke glanced at the exploration missions and found that most of them were exploration missions to medium-sized or medium-to-large-sized worlds, with a small number being plane conquest missions.

For example, in the world of Saxony Purgatory, a demon lord who defected to the wizarding world recently issued a declaration of rebellion against the White Wizarding Association and refused to accept its rule.

They are recruiting second-circle wizards to participate in the war. If they participate, they will be exempt from this year's taxes.

Locke frowned.

“It’s good that doing these tasks can save three million in taxes. But for a second-circle wizard, it’s too much of a waste of time. A year can be wasted if you do one task.”

"For me now, the time and opportunity costs outweigh the monetary costs. So it's impossible for me to undertake a void exploration mission just to avoid paying taxes to the White Wizard Association."

Locke shut down the Water Hyacinth system and noticed that all thirty pairs of Bloodwave Pineapple Wizard Shoes he had opened for pre-sale had been snapped up.

There were also comments asking me to sell more.

Locke frowned as he looked at the comments, because he hadn't expected his second-ring wizard shoes to be so popular.

what happened?
……

At Quinnjoll University, wizard Edgar addressed the second-ring wizards in his laboratory: "This time we're going to the Great World of Gardner, a world where fire element makes up 30% of the entire world. Even ordinary people in Gardner possess a very strong affinity for fire element."

"The ground of Gardner is so bad that our shoes will spontaneously combust if we walk on it for too long. So we need a good pair of wizard shoes."

A ring wizard standing in front of him nodded and said, "Not bad."

"If we enter the land of Gardner without wearing wizard shoes, we will find it impossible to move an inch. Forget about doing research, the time we spend changing shoes and treating our feet every day is enough to keep us from doing anything else."

"However, wizard shoes from Yunze Wetland are very expensive. The cheapest pair of second-ring wizard shoes costs between two and three million."

"The Magic Weavers' Guild monitors the secondhand market for wizard shoes very closely, which means that prices will hardly drop, but the quality will drop significantly."

The wizard Edgar said, "Then let's buy these pure magic plant wizard shoes."

A look of surprise and uncertainty flashed in the eyes of the Star Ring Wizard.

"Pure magic plant wizard shoes? Augustus? This is a brand we've never heard of before."

"Is this okay?"

"Gardner Great World is extremely dangerous; even Sun Ring Wizards have a high mortality rate there. We cannot risk our lives to save money!"

Inside the laboratory, an alarm sounded, and cries for help from Quinnjoll's wizards came through the telepathic magic array.

“A group of indigenous people in Gardner is attacking our Research Institute No. 1 in Gardner. We need support. Please send support from Quinjoll University as soon as possible.”

The Star Ring Wizard's face turned ugly.

Wizard Edgar said, “It seems the situation is very urgent, and our laboratory has a limited budget. Instead of spending a lot of money to buy Solas Barefoot and Melochy Wizard Shoes, or even more expensive wizard armor, we should buy these shoes from the Augustus Wizard Shoe Shop Alliance.”

"The designer of this store alliance is a good friend of mine."

Ignoring the skeptical look in the eyes of the group leader before him, Wizard Edgar said frankly, "This is a powerful friend. I have absolute confidence in his abilities. If you won't wear it, I will."

The Star Ring Wizard's gaze softened. He knew Edgar's character; anyone who could earn Edgar's approval must indeed be of a high level.

"No, I trust your judgment. Edgar, then let's buy his wizard shoes, thirty pairs, I expect."

The wizard Edgar paused for a moment.

"Thirty pairs, that's thirty million magic stones?"

"Do we need that many people?"

The Star Ring Wizard nodded.

"Gardner is a massive world. If it weren't for the invention of wizard shoes and wizard armor, we wouldn't even be able to operate in Gardner. It's not that Gardner is particularly powerful, but rather that the environment there is so unique that wizard shoes or wizard armor are necessary for us to walk around normally."

"Back then, it was Quinnjol, the Rose Council, Mount Golden Crown, and the Storm Tower that jointly attacked the Great World of Gardner, allowing us to enter that world. The Great World of Gardner has a large number of indigenous groups still existing in primitive societies. It has great potential for development."

The wizard Edgar was somewhat surprised.

"Was primitive society that powerful?"

The Star Ring Wizard said, "It's mainly a matter of distance. The world of Gardner is very far from the wizarding world, so the power we can deploy is limited. Moreover, primitive society is just a stage of civilization development, but that doesn't mean there are no strong individuals at this stage."

"Gardner is a world with a large number of false gods. Almost every native tribe has its own tribal deity. The first reason I'm taking you there is to broaden your horizons. The second reason is that there is a tree god in Gardner, and my teacher wants me to take you to see it. Perhaps it will help with your 'Return to the Tree of All Things' journey."

"By the way, Edgar, did you sign up for the Golden Cup? Are you participating in the Flying Magical Plant Competition or the Golden Magical Plant Competition?"

Wizard Edgar said, “I participated in the Golden Plant Competition under the Golden Cup. I’m not good at flying plant competitions. And right now, I need a lot of resources, and I predicted that someone would participate in the Golden Cup flying plant competition. So, I deliberately avoided him.”

Inside the laboratory, the Star Ring Wizard senior looked at him strangely.

"That's strange. You actually went out of your way to avoid someone. Who is that person?"

……

In the Yunze Wetland Jinmian Mountain area, Locke's magic carriage suddenly stopped.

The wizard driving the magic carriage, who was at the vaporization stage, hesitated for a moment before speaking into the carriage: "Lord Locke, a few patients have suddenly blocked our way."

"They seemed to be afflicted with some kind of plague and were pleading with us for help. They wanted to invite us to a place."

"Should we stop?"

Inside the carriage, Locke frowned, lifted the carriage curtain, and looked outside.

Outside was a desolate wilderness; this place seemed to be the territory of a mortal empire.

It could be said that there were almost no wizards.

The wizards blocking their way were all first-class wizard apprentices.

Locke sneered. This was clearly a trap; he just didn't know who had set it up.

Locke said, "Ignore them. Let's go."

(End of this chapter)