Chapter 692: Purchasing a World Stone!
Locke left the defense hall, and the moment he stepped outside he saw all three of Witch Mason's group, who had gathered around and immediately asked whether he had passed the defense.
After receiving Locke's confirming nod, all three of them let out a collective sigh of relief at once.
After a month and a half of hard effort, consuming one million in funding and an additional five million magic stones of Locke's own money, they had finally completed the Tier 1 funding project.
Locke celebrated briefly with the three of them, then left the Origin Academy with a composed expression, rode the Rainbow Sparrow to Dragon Blood Market, found Witch Scarlett at Witch's Kitchen, and handed her the design blueprints for the fifth wizard shoe model, the magical plant seeds, and the Type 2 Tyrant Element cell conjugates.
Witch Scarlett also seemed to be having a difficult time. Wizards looking to terminate their agreements with her had been growing in number recently, and this was indeed fallout from her association with him.
If it continued long enough, it could even threaten her position at the Arthas Plantation.
After parting with Witch Scarlett, Locke thought it over and reached out to Wizard Kelt, who had always been his greatest patron and had also lent him money in the past.
Wizard Kelt had recently been transferred to the Longevity Peach Garden, and it was unclear whether he could be reached.
Come to think of it, he still had not repaid the thirty thousand magic stones he owed him.
All this time, Wizard Kelt had never once come to press him for it.
Locke, riding the Rainbow Sparrow high above Golden Crown Mountain, used a Wish Lingzhi magical plant to place a voice call to Wizard Kelt.
Wizard Kelt picked up immediately.
Behind Wizard Kelt at that moment was a scene of turbulent, crashing waves. A massive water tornado descended from the sky and was moving rapidly around him.
Wizard Kelt held the Wish Lingzhi in his right hand while continuously casting spells with his left, suppressing the shark-people priests before him.
"Locke, is something the matter? I am in the middle of a plane conquest."
"The Silent Chalice should be starting in about a week, shouldn't it. It's a shame I won't make it back to watch your competition." Wizard Kelt said with regret.
At that moment, the water tornado attempted to engulf him entirely.
Only then did Locke notice that within the water tornado were tens of thousands of shark-people soldiers, and behind Wizard Kelt was a True Eye of Truth, which indicated that the True Eye of Truth had taken notice of Wizard Kelt engaging in large-scale combat in a low-tier world, and had actively turned its attention there, beginning to record civilization credit points.
Locke noticed that Wizard Kelt's civilization credit points stood at 998, which likely meant that these native shark-people had violated wizard law, so Wizard Kelt's suppression of them did not consume many civilization credit points.
But to be honest, even in a plane conquest, even if the opposing side had violated wizard law, if you killed too many, civilization credit points would still continue to drop.
Wizard Kelt seemed amused by the tens of thousands of shark-people soldiers. "I was trading material goods with the common native inhabitants of this plane for water essence, and then out of nowhere, the empire of this world suddenly declared war on me. Since they declared war, that is equivalent to declaring war on the wizard world. Since they declared war, there is nothing more to discuss."
Wizard Kelt vented to Locke, "This civilization is at far too low a level. The strongest among them, the emperor, is only equivalent to a top-level wizard apprentice in rank. It is simply their combined military force that grants them the special ability to form a sea tornado."
"I am thinking about how best to handle this. My original plan was to use my Grand Magic to end it quickly, but I am afraid that the moment I bring out my Grand Magic, nine out of ten lives in this world will be wiped out, and my civilization credit points will drop by a massive amount."
"But if I switch to other magic, the magic pressure I release would still be far too overwhelming for them." Wizard Kelt thought, "This really is not easy to handle. In truth, this kind of low-tier world should be left to First Circle wizards to deal with. Their magic pressure is not as high, so they are far less constrained."
Locke smiled and said, "Would apprentice-level magic not work either?"
Wizard Kelt coughed. "A Second Circle wizard's magic pressure is too high. Even using only apprentice-level magic, the residual waves alone could cause widespread death among the mortals of this world. Because of the special nature of Grand Magic, I have no way of controlling the output of my magic pressure freely until I reach the star ring stage."
"Aren't you about to start the Grand Magic Modeling Competition too?"
"That competition has another name, the Plane Conquest Competition. Ah, the trouble I am having right now is exactly what you are about to encounter."
Wizard Kelt wore a mischievous grin.
He waved his left hand impatiently, and a single leaf drifted down. The enormous sea tornado collapsed abruptly beneath it.
Wizard Kelt kept glancing at his civilization credit points. Even though the opposing side had declared war on wizard civilization, the disparity between the two sides was simply too great.
Like a lower-dimensional being fighting a higher-dimensional being, the True Eye of Truth would be somewhat biased.
If he killed too many, his civilization credit points would still drop, just not by a great amount.
But even losing a single point was something Wizard Kelt would feel pained about, and so he had been holding back all along, intending to gradually and carefully deal with the shark-people soldiers before him.
And there was one more consideration.
These shark-people soldiers were skilled at excavating the water essence from the deep ocean of this shallow sea plane. If he killed too many, the labor force might be affected.
A drop in the labor force would reduce the output of water essence.
He did not care whether the water essence came through commercial trade or through direct military conquest and taxation. But regardless, water essence was a necessary material for constructing the Sky Garden.
This was a task directly ordered by the Throne.
If it affected the Throne's plans, he would truly be in serious trouble, and there was a real chance he would be dismissed.
So Wizard Kelt was fighting very cautiously, essentially on autopilot. Since he had nothing better to do, he asked Locke, "My dear Locke, is there something you need my help with?"
Locke gave a nod. "Yes, Wizard Kelt. I would like to exchange a World Stone through the academy. I heard before that there are special channels for this, but when I searched through the materials, I could not find any publicly available application process."
"So I wanted to ask whether you could help me submit an application."
Wizard Kelt paused. "A World Stone? You're that eager? Wouldn't it be more relaxed to think about this after you pass the Grand Magic Modeling Competition? Why the urgency?"
Locke thought of Witch Nina's unprompted comment, and gave a nod. "Team Leader, I do genuinely need it. Could you check whether there is a channel available for the exchange?"
Wizard Kelt simply pressed his left thumb against his chin and thought, "That requires going through the special talent channel, and the conditions are quite high. There are requirements for journals, and requirements for Tier 1 journals and top-tier journals. You need to have published at least fifteen Tier 1 journal articles while at the First Circle stage within Golden Crown Mountain, and have received a top-level First Circle award, before you are given the opportunity to make the exchange."
"These conditions are quite demanding. After all, the hard requirements are fifteen Tier 1 articles, plus the receipt of one top-tier First Circle award, and also having won a championship in at least one competition at the level of a well-known wizard territory."
"Especially that top-tier award. Ordinary Tier 1 articles can be ground out through time and accumulated experience, but obtaining that particular award is something I feel may even be more difficult than obtaining a World Stone in the first place. And winning that competition is also very difficult."
"Looking at the conditions as a whole, I get the strange impression that wizards who need this channel to obtain a World Stone do not actually need to use this channel at all. And the First Circle wizards who genuinely need a World Stone through this channel simply do not have the qualifications or ability to use it."
Locke blinked. "Does the Istoria Archaeology Award count as a top-tier First Circle award? It is a First Circle archaeology award from the Star Domain Sea. The academy also gave me a Golden Cloud Peach as a prize."
Wizard Kelt paused, and in the next instant a wave came crashing toward him, but it was automatically blocked by the watercloud barrier of his permanent defensive force field and reflected entirely back, killing and wounding another large group.
The civilization credit points displayed by the True Eye of Truth changed to 997.
Wizard Kelt looked at the vast numbers of dead and injured shark-people soldiers, and was inwardly at a loss for words. "Damn divine right empire. Even now, they still come to throw their lives away."
"Damn it, another pile of quality laborers dead."
"This can't go on." Wizard Kelt's expression soured. "The difficulty of trampling over ants without actually killing them is far too high."
"If I had known, I would have sent a First Circle wizard. No, actually two Tier 1 wizard apprentices would have been enough."
"This kind of thing is much easier for low-circle wizards to handle. Coming here myself, even the slightest increase in my magic pressure seizes the planar force of this small-scale world, causing mass extinction of living beings."
Wizard Kelt looked at Locke and said, "The Istoria Archaeology Award? I've heard of that. It's quite famous, the most prestigious archaeology award at the First Circle level. What did you do to be able to receive an award like that?"
"It has been many years since the Istoria Archaeology Award was given to a First Circle wizard from outside the Star Domain Sea."
"Unless you have something of very significant value, capable of filling a research gap, you absolutely could not have received this award."
He had probably been away from the primary material plane for so long that he genuinely was not very up to date on Locke's recent activities.
Wizard Kelt said, "Then you have the Spell Combat Competition championship and the Istoria Archaeology Award. All that remains is fulfilling the fifteen Tier 1 journal articles."
Locke did a quick mental calculation. He had currently published sixteen Tier 1 journal articles.
And his research on the Glandular Root Pouch could yield another article to submit to Verdant Cloud Marsh.
That would bring him to seventeen Tier 1 journal articles.
He had not realized until he counted, and was somewhat taken aback. He had not expected to have so many Tier 1 articles to his name already.
On top of that, his Tier 2 articles numbered in the dozens by now. Because he had hired generalist wizard apprentices to write articles quickly on his behalf, and because he had been continuously producing results with bromeliad-type magical plants, he had compiled and published a large number of Tier 2 articles to accumulate contribution points.
Adding them all up carefully, the total had already reached thirty-five.
And that was lower than it might have been because ever since joining Group 2, he had gone on an abyssal archaeology trip and was also preparing for the Silent Chalice Competition, leaving him little time to pad out his publication count. Otherwise, the number would have been even higher.
Locke said, "I have sixteen Tier 1 articles now."
Wizard Kelt was also startled. "That many? So many already. Then you can apply. You do indeed meet the conditions. I'll find someone to submit the application form on your behalf. I expect someone will come to you fairly soon to have you fill in the relevant materials."
"If you need it done, I can get on it right now."
"That said, even through this welfare-oriented channel, you will still need to pay five million magic stones."
Locke's eyebrow twitched.
A World Stone was truly expensive.
Five million magic stones was enough to fund a major project for a First Circle wizard.
And this was not a purchase channel. This was a welfare-oriented channel provided by Golden Crown Mountain.
'It is probably to prevent wizards from gaming the conditions to get a World Stone for free. These five million magic stones should be to cover the cost of obtaining it.'
Locke thought, "A World Stone requires a special method to force it out from a world. Even setting aside its intrinsic value, just extracting it requires consuming a massive amount of resources. Five million magic stones probably does not even cover the cost."
"Thinking about it carefully, this is genuinely a welfare arrangement. After all, the cost of doing something yourself and paying someone else to do it are completely different propositions. Though I do suspect Grand Wizard Sulla conquered the entire Mage Plane without spending five million magic stones."
Locke said to Wizard Kelt, "Alright, Team Leader. Please help me exchange for one. Thank you."
That way, he would soon have a World Stone in hand.
With that, combined with his Moon of Evolution, he could become a Second Circle wizard at any time. It was purely a matter of choice.
Of course, using that method to become a Second Circle wizard would compromise the completion of his Grand Magic, so it was not to be done unless absolutely necessary.
After thanking Wizard Kelt, Locke ended the call.
With that settled, he could go back and read up on more materials for the Grand Magic Modeling Competition, then wait out the remaining week and go participate directly.
Locke sat atop the Rainbow Sparrow, pondering why Witch Nina had so abruptly given him that hint. Had she heard some kind of wind from within the Rose Council?
Locke sensed a sudden abnormal disturbance in the magical tides. He looked up at the sky, and in the distance the sky seemed to be torn open by a great black hand. That hand plunged into this realm and unleashed a Demon Realm Storm upon a certain region of the land below.
That was the power of the Twin Demon Realm.
A great bell rang out from Golden Crown Mountain. 'The Ghost Gate has opened. The Demon Realm War has officially begun!'
'Wizards participating in the war, respond immediately and enter the Ghost Gate for the Demon Realm War.'
'Wizards on garrison duty are to restrict demonic beasts. Until the outcome of the Demon Realm War is decided, any pillaging of the Cloud Marsh Wetlands by demonic beasts is unlawful.'
At the same time, directly beneath the demonic beasts was the Demon Hub City.
The wizard leader of the Demon Hub City was a Third Circle wizard. He looked up at the terrifying demonic beast overhead, and a flash of disbelief crossed his face. "How is this possible? The Twin Demon Realm actually dares to target our Demon Hub City? That Demon Realm Storm is headed for us? Are they trying to..."
"No." The Lord of the Demon Hub City suddenly let out a cold laugh. "What kind of scheming is this? How could the Twin Demon Realm's target be our Demon Hub City..."
"All wizards, stand down and do not pursue. This matter has nothing to do with us."
The demonic beast suddenly changed course and swept toward a mid-to-small-scale wizard organization called the Rose Garden, located one thousand kilometers north of the Demon Hub City.
All magical tides in the vicinity of the Rose Garden were swallowed whole by the demonic beast in a single breath, and the entire environment was instantly reduced to a magic-dead zone.
The formal wizards and wizard apprentices within the Rose Garden fought back with everything they had, each one unable to believe why the demonic beast had suddenly turned and struck at them, leaving them completely unprepared.
The garden master of the Rose Garden, a Second Circle moon ring wizard, immediately looked toward the magical fields hidden deep within the most core area of the Rose Garden. "So it cannot be hidden after all."
The garden master's cold voice rang out over the Rose Garden. "All wizards without a contract are free to leave the Rose Garden. Any wizard with a contract, owing money to the Rose Garden, please remain and fight to the death to defend the Rose Garden."
She recited an incantation, and in an instant the wizard town where the Rose Garden stood was covered in a sudden bloom of magical roses in every color.