Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems

The Rose Witch took out from her astral ring a dark red seal. The seal looked as though it had been carved from wood, but the moment it was produced it immediately drew sideways glances from quite a few wizards, including Second Circle alchemists present, and even the Director of the Demon Hunter Bureau of the Cloud Marsh Wetlands, a Third Circle alchemical master and a rare presence in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands, who immediately looked over.

The Demon Hunter Bureau Director said, "The Rose Throne is truly willing to put forward something substantial. Two young wizards, come and thank the Rose Witch for this prize."

"This is a Spiritual Resonance."

The Rose Witch gave the Demon Hunter Bureau Director a nod. "Director, you are too kind. In front of you, a master of alchemy, this single Spiritual Resonance of mine is nothing but a joke. You could refine one with a wave of your hand."

The Demon Hunter Bureau Director said, "I would not call it a wave of my hand. Rose Throne, do not embarrass me. Do not make it seem like I have the ability but am refusing to treat people. No matter how practiced I am, if I want to refine this Spiritual Resonance that is so critically important to alchemy, I cannot further shorten the fixed time required to extract it."

"This is purely a matter of patient grinding. My two students are grown now and will not refine Spiritual Resonance for me."

Witch Yekaterina reminded Locke, "Locke, please thank the Rose Witch. A Spiritual Resonance is the key to refining Second Circle-grade potions. Oh, by the way, you have also successfully refined two Second Circle-grade potions, have you not?"

"The Blank Potions."

At the long table, the Demon Hunter Bureau Director stroked his white beard. The moment the subject of alchemy was raised, he could not quite keep his mind on the swirling conflict around him and interjected directly. "Blank Potions? I have never heard of those. Red Dragon Throne, your student is not very old, and yet he has successfully refined Second Circle potions twice? That is no small matter. Does this not mean he is very close to qualifying for an expert-level alchemist certificate?"

Witch Yekaterina smiled without reply.

The Rose Witch's expression shifted subtly, and she gave a cold snort. The thought that Witch Yekaterina's student was suddenly close to passing for an expert-level alchemist certificate, a professional credential of substantial value, was deeply irritating to her.

The Rose Witch looked toward Witch Rose and said, "Rose, you should also go and take an expert-level floriographer exam recently."

Watching the two high-circle wizards bicker, Locke stood beside Witch Yekaterina, laughing inwardly.

Teacher, he had indeed successfully refined two potions. The Blank Spirituality Potion had been brewed using the Reverse Refining method.

What was strange was that he could brew the Blank Potion using the Reverse Refining method passed down to him by Wizard Otto in a single successful attempt, yet for some inexplicable reason, every attempt at brewing the Avatar Potion had failed.

He had directly wasted one million five hundred thousand magic stones.

And at this moment, something extremely important had appeared before him, the Spiritual Resonance.

At the long table, the Demon Hunter Bureau Director said quietly, "That said, the age does not quite add up. No matter how much of a genius one is, after becoming a Second Circle wizard, skillfully observing a Spiritual Resonance takes a very long time. Mastering control over the Spiritual Resonance takes even longer. Successfully drawing a Spiritual Resonance requires a yet longer period of practice."

"Learning to use a Spiritual Resonance requires large amounts of resources used in repeated potion brewing, developing a deeper understanding of a substance's properties through failures. This requires resources and time."

"Unless this young alchemist... is not using their own Spiritual Resonance, but someone else's."

Said without intent, heard with purpose.

Locke's body gave a slight tremor. He had not yet had time to look up Spiritual Resonance-related knowledge in Golden Crown Mountain's library's paid or free sections, but in this moment he understood that he had most likely been using Wizard Otto's Spiritual Resonance.

Because he could only successfully brew the Blank Potion using the Second Circle magical artifact Bronze Cauldron that King Otto had given him.

If that was the case, perhaps the patterns on the surface of the Bronze Cauldron contained the Spiritual Resonance.

Locke bowed to the Rose Witch. "Rose Witch, my teacher asks me to thank you."

The Rose Witch propped her right hand against her chin and gave a slight nod, half-closing her eyes. "Actually, you need not thank me yet. I am not necessarily giving it to you. You can have it only if you win."

The Rose Witch said, "Clever boy. The stakes are settled."

"Are you ready to have an exchange with my granddaughter?"

Witch Rose looked at Locke with an expressionless face. Behind her, a massive loom materialized, looking as though it were in the far, far distance, impossible for the eye to make out clearly.

But very quickly that loom drew closer and closer from the distance, until every detail of it exploded into Locke's field of vision.

Entirely dark grey-black in color, made of a special snow-forged inscription steel, its surface extraordinarily beautiful. Streams of water shot from two rows of nozzles on the loom, resembling ten fountains, with large quantities of coarse thread being drawn by the water current into spinning cups, from which fine thread was spun.

Witch Rose's magic pressure stood at 19,999, placing her at the very edge of the star ring wizard threshold, needing only one final push to complete the monetization of her Grand Magic and enter the virtual forging stage.

Quite a few of those present began murmuring to one another. This was especially true of the three Bureau Directors of the White Wizard Association, the Third Circle wizard representatives who had come on behalf of the seven premier universities, and the wizard directors of the ten top shop alliances, all of whom gave approving nods.

As the personal disciples of Throne wizards in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands, staging a demonstration of magic at one's own celebration banquet was not at all out of place.

It carried something of the ancient spirit of wizards from the Enlightenment Era.

And moreover, at this moment, they could also observe the respective levels of the students personally trained by the two most renowned Throne witches of the Cloud Marsh Wetlands.

It made for quite an entertaining spectacle.

The wizard director of the Arthas Shop Alliance in looked at Locke with amusement. He had recently heard that Locke's wizard shoe brand had earned the Arthas Shop Alliance quite a sum.

Arthas was at its core essentially a large landlord.

Though the fact that Solas Light Foot and Melechi Magic Step had grown large enough to leave this landlord was something that simply could not be helped.

Even though they had relatively quickly propped up the Blue Band shop alliance in the wizard shoe domain afterward, unfortunately Blue Band was a subsidiary of Solas Light Foot and remained under Solas Light Foot's control.

And so for the Arthas Shop Alliance, their interests lay with the independent merchants and small shop alliances, not with the large ones.

At this moment, the shuttleless water-cannon loom behind Witch Rose turned, rapidly refining various raw materials into thread.

Witch Rose, in her wizard robe adorned with Black Demon God Rose as decoration, had a graceful and formidable bearing. A contemptuous and confident smile crossed her beautiful face as she raised her right hand, brought her middle finger and thumb together, and a silk thread appeared in her hand.

"I hear that in the Silent Chalice competition, you faced off against Witch Georgina? Well, her level is rather mediocre at best. Which is why I think that may have led you to underestimate our textile school."

"Our textile school takes alchemy as its foundation. What is textile studies? Our Grand Magics are various kinds of looms, and there are over a hundred different types of looms alone, to say nothing of the specific distinctions within each type. The one behind me is the shuttleless high-pressure water-cannon loom developed by the Rose Council."

"This loom can maximize our weaving efficiency and significantly expands the range of raw materials that can be spun into thread. This is the Water-Cannon Loom."

Witch Rose looked at Locke, her eyes carrying unmistakable arrogance.

"The laughable new textile school of Bonifacius University places far too much emphasis on weaving methods while neglecting weaving materials. And so the last time you faced someone from our side, the true power of our textile school was not demonstrated at all."

Locke perceived the undeniable tone in her voice. He had originally intended to show her some courtesy since she was, after all, a guest, but now his own expression had become entirely neutral.

"Enough words. State the task."

Witch Rose pinched a thread of silk. The water-cannon loom behind her erupted with a cannon-like roar, and the various threads near her began to be twisted into thread under the force of the high-pressure water current.

Locke looked at her water-cannon loom and began to think.

"Similar to Wizard Chad, it primarily uses water as the greatest energy source?"

"This Grand Magic is interesting."

"This Rose Witch is Teacher's academic rival, and her granddaughter carries 19,999 magic pressure, which means she has at least four Grand Magic Runes. Whether she has more, I would say the probability is high. I just do not know how many Grand Magic Runes she actually has."

"But at minimum four."

As the personal disciple of a Throne wizard, the probability of not having acquired an additional Grand Magic Rune was very low, low enough to be set aside entirely.

The gap between Second Circle wizards was not only the foundational gap arising from the difference in magic pressure, but also the gap in the forging of Grand Magic spell models arising from Grand Magic Runes.

Of course, incorporating incorrect Grand Magic Runes that increased a Grand Magic's energy dissipation and reduced the instantaneous magic pressure amplification multiplier was also something that did happen.

At this moment, Witch Rose pinched a thread of transparent water-thread and said, "Look. Water can be spun into thread."

Then the loom behind her turned, and streams of light were woven into thread.

"Light can also be spun into thread."

"Wind can also be spun into thread."

Witch Rose reached out and grabbed a clump of air, then tossed it into the loom behind her. The loom roared and thundered, and various precious alchemical raw materials stored within the loom, star silver, dragon-fury steel, blood gold, wind element gel, were all added into it. The interior of the loom contained at least a hundred steps, each handled by a different piece of machinery inside.

Smelting the metals, combing the form, arranging into yarn, coarse spinning, fine spinning, becoming thread.

In the end, she raised a piece of thread in her hand. The thread was semi-transparent, like an air gelatin. She held the two ends of that piece of thread, smiled faintly at Locke, and began pulling outward. The thread suddenly extended, seemingly without end.

Then she released both hands, and the thread snapped back to its original state.

A stunning elasticity.

At the same time, the piece of thread drifted in the air like the wind, appearing to have absolutely no mass.

Locke watched this calmly and began his analysis.

First, the special woven thread type of the water-line was most likely an innate ability of her Grand Magic. At its core, it was a kind of magic that converted water resources into water thread and formed a positive cycle through some method.

The tiger's eye on Locke's forehead opened. The eyes of the Three-Eyed Tiger Cat shone with a divine light that seemed to illuminate Witch Rose's body, and Witch Rose furrowed her brow slightly, disliking the sensation of being perceived so clearly.

At this moment, Locke used the power of his ancient creature bloodlines to enhance his insight, and he saw that behind the water-cannon loom there appeared to be a great river.

"Weaving the currents of a river into thread can bring order to the river. In my assessment, this Witch Rose's Grand Magic is in fact positioned in the middle section of the largest river in some colonial world, weaving the river's currents into thread and bringing that river into calm."

Locke quickly formed a judgment.

"And the weaving of light-thread and wind-thread should be capabilities she realized by subsequently adding Grand Magic Runes. In truth, it is not that light and wind have been turned into thread. Looking more carefully, quite a few alchemical materials have been incorporated."

"And so it only makes use of a portion of the wind and a portion of the light."

"By rights, she should have at least two more Second Circle spell models with Grand Magic Runes added to them. The old textile school focuses on materials, so they are most likely both a special type of thread as well."

Locke formed his judgment.

Only at this moment it was after all not a confrontation. Neither side would show all their methods, and so Locke could not see more than this.

At this moment, Witch Rose curved the corner of her mouth.

"Why confine yourself to the grass and trees of the present world? This wind, this water, these mountains, these trees, all can become thread for our textile studies."

She produced a Second Circle magical plant, the Great King Jade Vine. The vine's entire body was like green jade, exquisitely beautiful. Its overall shape resembled a great swallow, looking like the most beautiful jade magical plant in the world.

At this moment, the vine seemed to sense its own fate, its leaves and branches trembling slightly. In the next moment it was tossed by Witch Rose into her water-cannon loom.

The moment the vine entered the water-cannon loom, it was submerged into different magical power baths inside the loom, rapidly soaked and degummed, followed by an internal mechanism scraping away the woody tissue and separating out the long fiber bundles, then combing with iron brushes.

The entire process flowed like water, with all the long fiber bundles of this Second Circle magical plant Great King Jade Vine combined with the air-thread, transforming into a jade-like thread.

Locke watched her dazzling and self-satisfied performance and felt a growing impatience.

"This person is blowing their own horn. She is not necessarily better than Witch Georgina just because she says so. Fortunately, at this moment she is here to exchange with me and set a task. If this were a competition, there is no way I would be giving her this much time. One Grand Magic and she would be out of the competition."

"If this were a fight to the death, I would have already thrown a strike at her face by now. Calm down, calm down. Do not make it look like I have no composure."

Locke worked hard to convince himself.

"We are all civilized people. Everyone here is a white wizard, and breaking the law in front of this many important figures is not a good look."

"Three Bureau Directors of the White Wizard Association are right here."

Locke maintained a polite smile and gestured toward Witch Rose with a welcoming expression.

"Please, continue."

Witch Rose raised her chin proudly. Her right hand reached out, and thread upon thread of material that was neither quite jade nor quite cloud appeared in her hand.

A great bundle.

Witch Rose said, "This is a special thread I have designed, called the Cloud Whisker Thread. This cloud thread has almost no weight at all. Let it into the air and it floats away."

"When struck by a magical attack, it retreats."

"Even without me driving it with any magic, this thread will flutter and dance through the air on its own like a dragon's whiskers. That is why I call it Cloud Whisker Thread."

The loom behind Witch Rose moved, and very quickly a large piece of Cloud Whisker Cloth woven from Cloud Whisker Thread floated up into the sky above the wizard town.

In just a brief moment, it was the size of an entire room.

Locke paused.

"This is a display of efficiency. She has not said it in so many words, but I know this kind of Cloud Whisker Thread is an outstanding material for making Second Circle wizard shoes."

This was not easy to deal with.

This was a blatant display of power directed at him.

This Cloud Whisker Thread appeared to have been woven from thread made from wind element, combined with the plant fiber thread from a Second Circle magical plant, the Great King Jade Vine, combined further with the water thread from the loom. Three threads merged into one, together becoming a Cloud Whisker Thread.

The wizards present had actually all understood the Rose Witch's true intent.

The Organization Bureau Director of the Cloud Marsh Wetlands was suppressing a laugh and quietly thinking, "Locke defeated the new textile school's Witch Georgina. And so for the old textile school's wizards who want to assert their supremacy, the best option is not to go and challenge Witch Georgina, who is under the heavy protection of Bonifacius University."

"But rather to go and face Locke Augustine, who defeated Witch Georgina and took first place in the Silent Chalice."

"As long as they beat him, they can tell everyone that the old textile school has surpassed the new textile school."

Academic factions squabble for nothing more than a little reputation.

Of course, the Rose Witch was not only using Locke to assert dominance and suppress the new textile school. Her primary purpose was still to pick a quarrel with Witch Yekaterina.

So this was hitting two birds with one stone.

No, perhaps three birds.

Witch Rose made a welcoming gesture toward Locke.

"Breeder Augustine, please shoot down this Cloud Whisker Cloth of mine."

"I am a renowned wizard shoe designer. This Cloud Whisker Cloth is a shoe upper material I have developed for a new Second Circle wizard shoe. Brother Augustine has only just recently become a Second Circle wizard, so I have specifically come to offer some guidance to my junior."

Locke smiled.

This was personal rivalry.

A conflict between a magical weaver shoe craftsman and this breeder who had suddenly charged into the market and wreaked havoc.

Locke summoned his Golden Palace Legacy Branch along with his small golden jujube arrow, since he only needed to hit the cloth and not destroy it. He did not use his full power.

Locke drew his bow and nocked his arrow, just about to shoot. "The main difficulty should be that Cloud Whisker Cloth. The material is special, extremely light. And furthermore, that characteristic of automatically retreating from magical attacks makes it a top-tier wizard shoe material."

"Is this intended to use my attacks as a test for a competitor's magical attacks? That seems pointless."

"So the key point is to overcome that characteristic?"

"That is difficult, but as long as I temporarily modify the spell model and split the Peach Bow Thorn Arrow into two arrow shafts at the moment of release, catching it front and back simultaneously, it should work."

"For me as a Second Circle wizard, this is an ability gained through rapid spell model modification during combat."

"Of course for me as I am now, it is somewhat of a stretch and would require focused concentration..."

Locke drew his bow and nocked his arrow. Under the watchful gaze of his five senior fellows, he was just about to loose the arrow.

Wizard Trajan seemed about to say something but stopped himself.

But at precisely this moment, it seemed to Locke as though a dragon head had appeared before his eyes, eyes blazing with fury, black horns and red pupils, neither quite demon nor quite deity, which startled him.

In an instant, Locke's superintuition was activated, and in the next moment he sensed that something was wrong.

Something was wrong.

This Cloud Whisker Cloth was not simple.

Locke furrowed his brow.

Witch Rose furrowed her brow.

And Locke's forehead produced a tiger's eye, gazing down from above. The Three-Eyed Tiger Cat's power of insight was extraordinarily formidable.

If one could say all Second Circle wizards could see the flow of planar force with the naked eye, then an ordinary wizard's eyes were like those of an ordinary person, while the Three-Eyed Tiger Cat's eyes were like those of someone equipped with an electronic telescope.

At this moment, under this powerful sight's enhancement, Locke quickly sensed the anomaly.

"Something is wrong."

Locke figured it out.

He looked at the Cloud Whisker Cloth hovering over everyone's heads, casting shadow below. But what was lifting it from beneath was not the textile school's Root Field but the botanical school's Root Field.

"This is not cloth at all."

Locke finally understood what had nearly caught him off guard.

"For weavers, magical artifacts are spell models. This piece of cloth is a spell, a spell model connected to the water-cannon loom. But this Witch Rose's water-cannon loom is not a purely textile school Grand Magic at all. It is primarily a textile school magical construct, with a botanical school spell model incorporated as an auxiliary component."

"The evidence is that the main body of that loom is only half magical artifact. There is also a magical plant component. I should have realized this long ago."

"That cloth, through some unknown spell model, is anchored onto the botanical Root Field. If I attack that cloth with botanical magic, I am equivalent to standing at a lower position in the botanical Root Field and attacking a magical artifact at a higher position of the botanical Root Field."

Locke now fully understood.

While it was not impossible to attack, doing so would make it extremely difficult to hit the target, equivalent to being forced to attack from below. And the Cloud Whisker Cloth was already inherently difficult to hit.

Difficulty upon difficulty.

Under superintuition's warning, Locke had observed through his tiger's eye to detect this setup, and worked through this entire trap.

This was why she needed to give him a task and restrict the type of magical attack he could use.

If he simply switched to any attack magic other than botanical school, her trick would not work at all.

Root Fields were a platform, only this platform had different heights at different levels.

The degree of lifting was identical, but because magic pressures differed, everyone's Grand Magic was positioned at different heights on this tiered platform.

At this moment, Witch Rose's magic pressure was 19,999, meaning her Grand Magic was definitely positioned higher on the botanical Root Field than his own Grand Magic, the Moon of Evolution.