Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems

Locke used the water hyacinth network to search for a First Circle wizard trader at the potion shop at Dragon Blood Market, found a shop that had the Hive Mind Potion in stock, and purchased a vial at ten thousand magic stones, with the delivery address filled in as his student Williams's address.

Locke exchanged a few more words with Williams, then sent her on her way, telling her that someone would deliver the Hive Mind Potion directly to her.

Locke said quietly to Witch Williams, "Then, we'll see each other again once you become a formal wizard."

Williams paused for a moment, then bowed to Locke and said, "Thank you, Teacher."

Williams turned and left.

Locke watched her go, thinking to himself that between Witch Williams and Senior Sister Shirley, he wondered which of the two would achieve what they were striving for.

Breaking through the limits of the soul was that difficult.

Every breakthrough was like walking a tightrope, and a single misstep would send one plummeting.

Locke received invitations on the water hyacinth network from representative wizards of Solas Light Foot and Melechi Magic Step, who apparently wished to negotiate an acquisition of the Augustus Wizard Shoes brand.

Locke thought it over for a moment, then sent them a message through the water hyacinth network. 'I want a World Stone from a medium-scale world, and one that no one has ever used.'

'If you can manage that, selling the Augustus Wizard Shoes brand is something I would consider. If not, there is nothing to discuss.'

Locke waited for a while. The representative wizards from the two shop alliances who received his message neither agreed nor refused. They both, as if by agreement, sent back the same reply, 'This afternoon at one o'clock, in Private Room Three at Witch's Kitchen in Dragon Blood Market. Let's talk.'

Locke frowned. Very well, they wanted to play cryptic games with him.

Were it not for the fact that both representatives were Second Circle wizards, he would not even have bothered responding, and would only have done so if they could reply directly. But since they were Second Circle wizards, he would go out of respect for their rank and see what the two of them had to say.

Locke summoned the Rainbow Sparrow and made his way to Dragon Blood Market. As he passed the Feathered Serpent Pavilion, out of a desire to find out the current condition of his rival in the Grand Magic Modeling Competition, he walked straight in to check on Wizard Smith's situation.

Of course, Locke would never admit that he wanted to see someone else's misfortune.

What puzzled him, however, was that Wizard Smith was at that very moment laughing and chatting with someone, walking down from the second floor alongside a witch.

His body and soul had fully recovered to normal.

A flash of surprise crossed Locke's eyes.

In just half a day, his soul's abyssalization had been resolved?

Even if Locke himself, a wizard who specialized in abyssal pharmacology, had stepped in, he absolutely could not have found a solution in such a short span of time.

Smith's situation was different from that of having abyssal energy eroding the magic within one's body. His very soul had been on the verge of abyssalization, which meant that even applying blank spirituality would not resolve his problem.

Wizard Smith noticed Locke, paused for a moment, then said with undisguised smugness, "Locke, did you come all this way out of concern for me?"

Wizard Smith spoke to Locke on relatively equal footing, likely because he viewed Locke as someone of the same station as himself, so there was none of that condescending air, but rather a tone full of competitive comparison.

Wizard Smith gestured toward the witch beside him and said, "Golden Crown Mountain truly is rich in talent. I posted a task at the Feathered Serpent Pavilion for barely an hour, and this witch came to rescue me from my urgent predicament."

"This witch is Medea, from the Spiral Basin."

At this, Witch Medea raised her head. She had an oval face, no eyebrows, but a full head of lush, flowing hair. Her lips curved into a smile, like a beauty out of the east. Yet the moment she looked up and saw Locke, her pupils contracted sharply, as though she had recognized something.

Instinctively, her eyes moved to the back of Locke's left hand. There was nothing there now, but Witch Medea still remembered planting the birthmark brand of Destined Death on the back of Locke's left hand all those years ago.

She had intended to provoke the fledgling young wizard of that time into a clash with Grand Wizard Sulla, then fish in troubled waters and use the opportunity to gather all the luck belonging to the Child of Fate in the Mage Plane.

But the plan had not succeeded, so she had settled for the next best thing and made use of that local.

Witch Medea suppressed every trace of surprise in her eyes and greeted Locke as though she were meeting him for the first time. "Lord Augustine, hello. I am Medea."

"An unremarkable prophet."

Witch Medea was certain that Locke had only ever heard her name, and had never actually laid eyes on her. In that case, he should not be able to confirm her identity with certainty.

Although in truth, even if Locke did recognize her, it would not matter particularly.

The Smith Family employed people regardless of background and cared nothing about whether someone was a black wizard, so long as they were of use to the Smith Family.

Wizard Smith clasped his hands behind his back and looked at Locke with considerable satisfaction. "This Witch Medea gave me a way to resolve the problem. Quite satisfying."

Locke gave a nod and looked at Witch Medea with some puzzlement, unable to determine whether she was the witch who had planted Destined Death on him. "That's good to hear."

Witch Medea glanced at Locke, a smile at the corner of her lips, while inwardly she was roiling with turbulent waves of emotion.

They had met once years ago. At the time, Locke had been no more than a fledgling young wizard, so green and unpolished. Yet seeing him now, his magic pressure was overwhelming, and it was obvious he had entered the soul decline period.

His every word and action seemed to surpass even Grand Wizard Sulla in those years by some measure.

In such a short time, a person could change this dramatically. His rate of growth was truly staggering.

In those days he had been nothing more than a pawn on her board, a convenient tool she had used in passing during her game of wits against Grand Wizard Sulla in the Land of Six Towers.

And today, Locke was a researcher at Golden Crown Mountain, while she was a wandering soul with no academic post to speak of.

At that moment, Witch Medea suppressed the envy in her eyes, and even a trace of jealousy.

Witch Medea bowed to Locke and said, "Lord Augustine, I am a prophet. If you ever have need of my services, you are welcome to reach out to me."

Locke wore a politely distanced smile. Regardless of whether this person was the witch from the Mage Plane who had crossed swords with him from afar, her current allegiance clearly placed her outside the category of friend.

Locke gave a nod to indicate he had taken note of it.

Witch Medea's heart settled back into calm. She made a quiet resolve within herself that she would become a Second Circle wizard, and she would do it using the finest World Stone.

Years ago, she had schemed against Grand Wizard Sulla and won.

Now, she had schemed against Smith, and she would win again.

'According to the results of my prophecy, as long as I earn this man's trust and betray him at the most critical moment, I will be able to become a Second Circle wizard using an uncontaminated World Stone.' Witch Medea glanced toward Wizard Smith. 'But I must earn his full trust completely.'

'Back then, I schemed against Sulla and obtained the luck of an entire Mage Plane, then cast the Prophecy Poem and divined the direction my fortune lay. Looking at it now, I actually had at least two options at the time. One was this Wizard Smith, by seizing the critical moment when he needed his condition resolved to earn his trust.'

'The second was to earn the trust of this Wizard Locke, and betray him at the critical moment.'

A weighing of options played out in Witch Medea's mind. 'Fate is truly unpredictable. Who could have imagined that an ordinary young wizard from the Land of Six Towers would be able to grow to a height so far beyond my reach, shining this brilliantly? If I had earned his trust back when he was still weak and small, betraying him today would have been far simpler than dealing with someone like Smith.'

Witch Medea's thoughts settled. 'Of course, since I have already chosen Smith, I can only remain at Smith's side.'

'Yet the Storm Tower is a colossal force as far as I am concerned. Not just for me, it would be a colossal force even by the standards of the Spiral Basin. To fish in troubled waters and betray him at the Grand Magic Modeling Competition, my own abilities alone will not be sufficient.'

Witch Medea looked at Locke and Wizard Smith, who were still exchanging words before her, and thought, 'I must bring in a third-party force, the black wizard alliance of this region, the Twin Demon Realm!'

At that moment, Wizard Smith said to Locke, "This person strikes me as very useful. She is a highly capable prophet. I've brought her into my team. I specifically put together a team to advise me from behind the scenes in preparation for the Grand Magic Modeling Competition."

Wizard Smith looked at the clothes Locke was wearing and blinked. "Sometimes you ought to grow more accustomed to your own standing. You should be wearing a set of wizard robes worth at least five hundred thousand magic stones. Clothing is not only for practical use, it also conveys one's status."

"It prevents a great deal of unnecessary trouble. We will see each other again at the competition."

Wizard Smith gave Locke a parting nod and left the Feathered Serpent Pavilion.

Locke watched him go and shrugged. "I thought this fellow would be unable to recover from his injuries before the competition, and that the Storm Tower would have to swap in a replacement. Who would have thought his luck would turn out this well."

"Luck?"

Locke felt a flicker of alertness and looked at the retreating figure of Witch Medea. "Was it really just luck? If that woman is truly the witch who crossed swords with me from afar in the Mage Plane, then she is a black wizard..."

Locke's expression grew peculiar.

And even more peculiarly, he lifted his foot and stepped on something. He picked it up and found it was a magic crystal card.

Locke thought it over and immediately understood. There was no way he could have simply stumbled across ten thousand magic stones while walking.

This had to be the so-called First Circle prophecy school magic, the Windfall on the Road.

Through prophecy magic, one could arrange for something in one's possession to be delivered to a wizard by seemingly coincidental means, such as the wizard finding it while walking.

Although the effect seemed rather absurd, for the purpose of giving a gift, it was simply unmatched.

Locke picked up the magic crystal card. "Is this a gift to buy my silence about her identity?"

"Fair enough. I have no particular connection to that fellow Smith."

"Though I do wonder what that black wizard is lurking at his side trying to accomplish. To think she managed to get herself into the advisory team for the Grand Magic Modeling Competition."

Locke frowned, because by his own habits, he could never have brought an outsider into something as important as this.

...

Out on the street, Wizard Smith said to Witch Medea, "There is one matter. Before you arrived, a mediocre potion master came to treat me and examined my body, but lacked the ability to resolve the problem, and then left."

"I want you to handle this."

"The competition is nearly upon me, and my body data is my most important secret. Go investigate his background. If he is relatively obscure and isolated, sell him into one of my family's black wizard factories."

"If he has many friends and his sudden disappearance would prompt people to search for him, then help me set up a few tasks for him, and make sure he has no time for anything else for the next three months."

"You must ensure that this person does not fall into Locke's hands. Locke is the darling of the Dragon Blood Society at Golden Crown Mountain and has considerable resources. He may be even more ruthless than I am when he moves against someone."

Wizard Smith smiled. "I have seen too many people in my time who look perfectly respectable on the surface but are wolves in sheep's clothing. I worry Locke and I may be cut from the same cloth. I cannot afford not to be on guard."

Witch Medea knew this was a test. She had very successfully earned the man's trust.

Only by doing his dirty work for him would she be considered truly drawn into his inner circle of close confidants.

"Of course, my lord. I will see to it for you." Witch Medea showed nothing out of the ordinary on her face, but inwardly she was filled with revulsion toward the Storm Tower and the Smith Family.

Witch Medea felt more certain than ever that she had made no mistake in choosing Wizard Smith.

...

Inside Witch's Kitchen, Private Room Three.

Locke met with the representative wizards from Solas Light Foot and Melechi Magic Step. Witch Jesse glanced at Locke as he walked through the door and showed no inclination to stand.

It was instead Wizard Luwen of Melechi Magic Step, a round-faced and jovial man, who rose with a smile and gave Locke a nod. "Welcome, Wizard Augustine."

"Wizard Augustine, you truly are impressive for someone so young. I had a look at those wizard shoes you developed, and they are remarkable. Very few wizards can keep pace with well-known brands like ours in terms of technical achievement."

Wizard Luwen smiled. "Is there some special trick to it? Ha ha ha... surely it is not some special technique from Golden Crown Mountain? Has Golden Crown Mountain developed an interest in making wizard shoes recently?"

Locke did not respond. The man had clearly come to probe for information.

And saying nothing was the best response.

The two people before him were both ordinary Second Circle wizards, roughly at the level of Wizard Zalan Bailey, though they were perhaps somewhat below him.

Locke was at this point very close to the Second Circle, and so possessed a degree of discernment. He could clearly perceive that the magic pressure of these two, both in quality and quantity, fell somewhat short of Zalan Bailey's.

Of course, that was only a preliminary assessment of magic pressure alone.

Since Grand Magic could amplify magic pressure by a significant multiplier, a comprehensive evaluation would need to factor in the Grand Magic and the permanent defensive force field as well.

Magic pressure was only the base stat. Grand Magic and the permanent defensive force field were the skill modules.

Locke exchanged a few casual pleasantries.

Witch Jesse looked down and sorted through some documents, then looked at Locke with a sideways glance. "Did you know that you have already violated a number of patent laws of the White Wizard Association?"

"For starters, the designs of the four wizard shoe models you have been selling through the Arthas shop carry extensive application of our Solas Light Foot's design patents."

"You have not submitted any application to us whatsoever. Furthermore, your pricing for wizard shoes is quite low, which raises suspicion of predatory commercial competition."

Locke blinked. "I thought the two of you invited me here because you genuinely wanted to discuss an acquisition."

Wizard Luwen chuckled.

Witch Jesse looked at the documents in her hand and said, "To be honest, I have evaluated your wizard shoe brand and it is fairly unremarkable. It achieved some sales through a combination of momentary luck and hype, nothing more."

"But it will not last. Especially recently, your wizard shoe customers are mostly opportunists looking to trade up for products from our two brands. You should understand this yourself. Your wizard shoes have no future."

Witch Jesse pushed a contract across to Locke. "Sign this. Ten million magic stones, an astonishing fortune, and it passes into your hands."

"For a First Circle wizard, having ten million magic stones is already a stroke of considerable luck. What we are purchasing is not your cheap wizard shoe brand. It is nothing more than a possibility, one that has nothing to do with you as a person."

Witch Jesse said, "I hope you can understand this clearly. Getting on the wrong side of a shop alliance as large as ours is not something anyone would want."

"A First Circle wizard... really cannot stir up much of anything."

Locke frowned, and right in front of the two of them, pulled out a chair and sat down directly across from them.

Witch Jesse shot him an irritated glare.

In her eyes, she was a Second Circle wizard and Locke was only a First Circle wizard. Their standings were not equal, and he should not have simply sat down.

But recalling that this was Golden Crown Mountain, Witch Jesse held back from saying anything to make him stand.

Had they been inside Solas Light Foot's own premises, she would already have slammed the table and berated Locke for having no sense of propriety.

Wizard Luwen wore a genial and good-natured smile and said to Locke, "Witch Jesse has a straightforward way of speaking. Don't take it the wrong way. I believe that for a young wizard like yourself, getting drawn too early into the affairs of the Wizard Council is not ideal."

"You would find yourself entangled in things you do not understand at all."

Wizard Luwen smiled. "In my view, selling your wizard shoe brand right now is absolutely not a losing proposition for you. You gain ten million magic stones immediately, at no cost and without having to give up anything else."

"What is there not to like about that? Oh, and we at Melechi Magic Step could even offer you a part-time position. Our shop alliance holds your personal talent in quite high regard."

Wizard Luwen smiled and said, "There really is no need to get tangled up in Council affairs."

Locke said with genuine puzzlement, "The Council?"

Witch Jesse immediately glanced at Locke, then lowered her head and said nothing.

Wizard Luwen was taken aback. "You don't know? I assumed you knew, and that was why you seemed so unafraid. Actually, of course, you are a First Circle wizard... you couldn't possibly know."

Wizard Luwen clearly had no intention of answering that question, and instead said, "Wizard Augustine, a person's talent has its limits. I looked at your schedule going forward, and I believe you will not have the time to develop a fifth wizard shoe model."

"We are all wizards who have worked on wizard shoes, so naturally we understand each other. Every wizard shoe model requires money and energy to develop, and not every one will be a bestseller. Once a model fails to cover its costs in profit, or only barely covers them without any real gain, a vicious cycle sets in."

Wizard Luwen said, "So many young wizards have followed that road to ruin, borrowing money until they ended up as debt slaves."

"While you are still turning a profit, cutting your losses in time is what I believe to be most in your interest. What you should be thinking about now is taking this money and using it for your Origin Academy projects, rather than continuing to wade into murky waters."

"Do you really think that with our shop alliances pressing in from all sides, a wizard shoe brand founded by a single First Circle wizard stands any chance of survival?"

"All losses begin from the moment of the first gain." Wizard Luwen said with evident sincerity, "I am thinking about this from your perspective. From where I stand, you have no way of guaranteeing that every wizard shoe model you develop will succeed, and now you are also facing the blow of objective reality."

"I have seen too many people make a little money early on, let it go to their heads, and end up... faring very poorly... ah..."

Witch Jesse raised an eyebrow and said, "And furthermore, your legal violations are something we have not yet settled with you. Young man, I advise you to be sensible."

Locke raised his head and swept a cold gaze across the two of them. "You have both wasted my time. I believe I mentioned one thing when I agreed to come, which was that I came to discuss the World Stone with you."

The expressions on their faces differed, but it was clear that both of them found it somewhat outrageous to hear Locke bring up the World Stone.

Witch Jesse broke into a scornful laugh outright. "He is no more than a First Circle wizard."

Locke scanned them both with a glance. "Why must both of you put on this kind of act? Do you truly think it will have any effect on me? I may be a First Circle wizard, but I am a First Circle wizard of Golden Crown Mountain. And what manner of Second Circle wizards are the two of you, exactly?"

"If you believe I have violated the law, go to the Sacred Wizardry Tribunal right now."

"If you believe I will not be profitable in the future, then why bother coming to acquire me?"

Locke said, "To avoid wasting both of our time, I will not bother with further pleasantries. To put it plainly, my bottom line is a World Stone that has never been used by any wizard. Give me that, and I want no money, and I will abandon this entire line of technology as well."

If he stopped making wizard shoes, he could always start making magical garments.

Both fell under the domain of the magical weaver, after all.

And given that magical weavers had maintained their monopoly for so long, it was precisely the kind of market that would be easiest for him to find gaps to exploit.

A look of awkwardness flashed across Witch Jesse's and Wizard Luwen's faces.

Though there was indeed a difference in magical rank between them and Locke, Locke as a senior researcher at Golden Crown Mountain had a background and record that was, in comparison to theirs, simply too brilliant.

Brilliant enough that neither of them particularly wished to dwell on it.

Witch Jesse and Wizard Luwen exchanged a glance. All emotion had drained from both of their expressions. The two of them had been playing the classic good cop and bad cop routine from the very beginning.

Wizard Luwen was not truly that considerate of others.

And Witch Jesse was not truly that harsh.

It had all been nothing more than pressure to get Locke to sign.

But now that Locke had stated his bottom line with finality, there was naturally no point in continuing with that approach.

Witch Jesse tapped the table with her fingers and said in a flat, emotionless tone, "A World Stone... that is impossible. For a shop alliance like ours, a World Stone is an extremely precious hard currency. It is out of the question to spend a genuine World Stone on a mere possibility like you."

Locke said, "What a pity. I do not see myself as a mere possibility. I am the representative of a new technology capable of threatening and overthrowing the wizard shoe shop alliances of your two brands. The founder of a future new wizard shoe shop alliance, I would say, is worth a World Stone."

Wizard Luwen smiled and said, "Locke, only a Second Circle wizard has the qualifications to establish a shop alliance. Right now you are only a First Circle wizard, and you are putting yourself in a very dangerous position."