Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems

Faced with Witch Yekaterina not giving him the sub-topic under the key individual plan directly, Locke expressed understanding.

After all, Witch Yekaterina's several plans seemed to be interlinked with one another, something that appeared to be an art mastered only by Third Circle wizards.

There was a kind of artful coherence in the arrangement between one project and the next.

And so unless he could demonstrate a certain capability and earn her trust, it would be difficult to enter her true plans.

Although he was her cooperating wizard, and perhaps the relationship was somewhat closer than that, it was only this.

For wizards, only interests were eternal.

To obtain that project, he had to demonstrate his own value and prove that he was not merely a student or a latecomer, but also a reliable and capable wizard.

Fortunately, many of the things he had done before were already sufficient to earn that trust.

Both the Spell Combat Competition and the Silent Chalice competition had undoubtedly built a foundational trust in his abilities within Witch Yekaterina. And so after he became a Second Circle wizard, she would directly hand him a task and entrust him with completing a piece of her strategic arrangement.

Even though, even now, he had not fully seen through the full context and implications of that task.

And now, she had set him two more tasks.

These two tasks clearly determined her assessment of his capability and were related to whether he could contend for this project.

Witch Yekaterina said, "These two rings are both prototypes of magical wedding rings. You may think of them as test rings. The test rings will record certain data, and I want to make this clear to you in advance."

"If you are able to use them, along with the Peach Heart Curse and the demon dragon bloodline, to complete the cultivation of a third Grand Magic, or to come close to completion, the test data will be transmitted to my side. This will be of great benefit to my development of the magical wedding ring."

"All right, Locke."

Witch Yekaterina placed a magical mirror in front of Locke. "Pass through this magical mirror and you will be able to return to the carriage. Wizard Chad and the others will not notice anything. You have only just become a Second Circle wizard, and the Academic Committee will arrange a celebration banquet to mark your advancement to Second Circle."

"And every Second Circle wizard at Golden Crown Mountain automatically receives the naming right for a mid-level academy."

Locke stepped into the magical mirror, and in the next moment he was back in the carriage.

Inside the carriage, the magical mirror duplicate that had been impersonating him mechanically rose from its seat, the corner of its mouth curving upward as though it had a will of its own.

It gave him a strange look, then bowed to him, stepped into the magical mirror door within the carriage, and vanished.

Locke was astonished.

"Teacher's mirror magic seems to operate in a remarkably intricate way, forming a system unto itself. It is not the alchemist school's approach, nor the enchantment school's approach. It seems more like a new magical path she has carved out within botanical magic, drawing reference from the mirror magic of alchemy and enchantment."

The essence of his Moon of Evolution was the Moon Mirror, and the Aura Ecology Curse was in fact the Mirror Ecology Curse. That had also been among the reference texts Witch Yekaterina had previously recommended to him.

And so Locke had seen through the underlying principle.

Locke thought to himself, "Perhaps my Moon of Evolution could also produce a projection like that. No... this involves a large amount of foundational knowledge and would require specific modifications to my Moon of Evolution. It would take at least ten years or more to complete. I should not even think about it."

By comparison, it would serve him far better to properly advance his magical power and strive to complete the second refinement as early as possible, advancing to star ring wizard.

Locke settled his mind and began running the advanced meditation method, his being dissolving into the cosmic primordial force waves, rapidly accumulating magical power at the level of primordial force waves.

Then he opened his eyes, sitting in the carriage, a look of disbelief crossing his face.

"Negligible. Exquisitely refined though it may be, the advanced meditation method that allowed one to break through the shackles between First Circle and Second Circle contributes a negligible amount to the advancement of magical power beyond the Second Circle."

Previously, when a wizard's mind merged into primordial force waves, it allowed their magical power to progress rapidly. But now, he felt his spiritual force increasing, yet even with the aid of the primordial force current of the great void primordial force plane, it was difficult to increase his magical power significantly.

"This is actually normal," Locke suddenly realized.

"My current magic pressure is already equivalent to somewhere between one-thirtieth and one-fifteenth of the magic pressure of a small-scale plane."

"This already exceeds the magic pressure that an ordinary individual can reach."

"And so for me, the areas in the great void with a higher energy density than mine are actually a minority. The energy density of most areas is even lower than mine. For a Second Circle wizard, each incremental improvement requires resources in astronomical quantities."

"Even using the advanced meditation method to enter the state of Non-Self through emptying the mind, receiving the aid of primordial force waves, it cannot make me progress rapidly at the Second Circle stage. From another angle, for Second Circle wizards, only resources produced within high-level worlds like the wizard world would take effect on me. Resources from mid-scale worlds like the Silent Plane or the Mage Plane would be very difficult to have any effect on me now."

Locke thought to himself, "No wonder Second Circle wizards tend to be so old. Each breakthrough within the Second Circle level is probably even more difficult than the cumulative difficulty of all the breakthroughs at the entire First Circle stage combined."

"The higher I go, the greater my capabilities become, and the more money I earn, but the resources that are truly useful to me also become harder and harder to contend for."

Outside the magical carriage, Wizard Chad instructed the coachman to slow down, then rolled down the carriage window and called across to Locke. "Locke, I called for you once earlier. Why did you not respond? Is something wrong?"

Locke paused, then also rolled down his window. "Just now, I was thinking about some things."

Wizard Chad smiled, his eyes crinkling. "Worthy of the champion. Even during the journey back you are this hard-working and industrious, not wasting a single moment."

On the other side, in the two carriages, Antoine and Witch Preston seemed to have been pressured by Locke's diligence, and were both in their carriages reading as well.

Wizard Chad smiled at Locke. "I called you, but nothing in particular. I just saw that you had just become a Second Circle wizard, and wanted to ask whether you need to learn any projection magic."

Locke paused. "Projection magic?"

Wizard Chad said, "Yes. Our Second Circle wizards' signature magic is not Grand Magic, but projection magic. Because of the existence of Grand Magic, we are essentially able to divide our attention between two things at once. And so the possibility of developing projection magic arises."

"With projection magic, we can turn one day into forty-eight hours."

"Your true body can be here, while your projection is elsewhere."

"Generally speaking, a Second Circle wizard will have at least one projection. Some sun ring wizards even have three or four projections, and these are not superficial projections. Each projection is equivalent to a true body."

Wizard Chad said, "The projection magic that Golden Crown Mountain's Academic Committee generally studies is the Peach Fruit Avatar."

"Using a peach tree's fruit as the core, it creates an independent living avatar capable of displaying combat power somewhere between the First Circle and Second Circle."

"The Second Circle wizards from our Landbridge generally use the Tea Tree Avatar instead. The greatest purpose of these projection spells is not for combat, but for getting work done. Think about it, you controlling two bodies simultaneously..."

"And so for Second Circle wizards, one Grand Magic can correspond to one projection that is equivalent to the true body. If it were not the case, the projection would have no meaning and would be nothing more than something useful for temporary combat."

Locke suddenly understood. So that was how it worked.

Wizard Chad smiled. "Beyond these commonly used projection spells, this senior here also has a rare special projection spell obtained from ancient ruins, called the Wood Dragon Avatar. What do you think? Interested? With this Second Circle spell model, you could in the future forge the most suitable Second Circle projection for yourself. And it is not expensive, only six million magic stones."

The corner of Locke's mouth twitched.

So the senior was at it again. Seeing that he had just entered the Second Circle stage and urgently needed a projection spell, he had come to peddle his spell book to him.

Wizard Chad reached across two carriages and passed Locke a name card.

"I opened a shop alliance specifically for selling spell books, called Chad's Magic Bookshop."

"Just at the Dragon Blood Market. If you need anything in the future, feel free to go there."

"It is this senior's business. And the Wood Dragon Avatar is no ordinary thing. It has a great many advantages..."

Locke wore a smile and politely declined.

First, he did not yet understand projection magic.

Buying rashly would be very unwise.

Second, he did not have that much money on him at the moment.

Locke said, "Senior, I intend to first familiarize myself with the Second Circle world, and then think about the projection magic question."

Wizard Chad smiled. "Is that so? I only recommended it because I thought you might need a projection spell book urgently. No offense taken."

Seeing Locke's curious expression, he said, "Now that you have become a Second Circle wizard, you will probably want to make a trip back to your hometown at some point. After all, becoming a Second Circle wizard is an achievement that very few wizards can accomplish, and it marks an important milestone in your life."

"Many Second Circle wizards will go back and have a look during this period. It is only human nature. Both Golden Crown Mountain and Landbridge will approve the relevant leave, and of course leave is leave, but work still needs to be done, so they generally leave behind a projection."

"That way you can take your leave, visit your family, and continue working at Golden Crown Mountain at the same time. Leave and work will never conflict. Is that not convenient?"

Locke's eyes went wide and he gave a slight cough.

"Senior Chad, projection magic is only popular in one of the three marshes, is it not?"

Wizard Chad paused, then thought about it.

"It is only popular in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands. The wizards of the Thunder Marsh Lowlands are somewhat more relaxed, and the wizards of the Rain Marsh Swamplands tend to enjoy life a bit more."

"Projection magic is useful, but the mental energy it demands, and the toll it takes on one's spirit, is doubled. And furthermore, no matter how many projections one has, if two projections are both not sleeping, the damage is also doubled..."

Wizard Chad said, "Because projection magic does not increase total mental energy, not all wizards choose it. Aside from essentially all Second Circle wizards in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands using it, Second Circle wizards elsewhere simply use it or not according to personal preference."

Locke gave a slight nod. As he had expected. "And what about the Star Domain Sea?"

Wizard Chad paused, then raised his middle finger and waggled it outside the carriage window.

"Let me put it this way. We in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands work hard enough, right? But in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands, not working hard only means having no future. In the Star Domain Sea, not working hard will cause you to starve to death. In the literal sense."

"In the Star Domain Sea, not working hard carries the danger of survival itself, while in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands, not working hard only means being marginalized. That is the difference. And so in the Star Domain Sea, anything that can improve your competitive edge by even a small amount will be put to use, including projection magic, which in many wizards' eyes has no small side effects."

Locke gave a slight nod.

He chatted with Wizard Chad for a few more words about the Second Circle world, and then the two ended their conversation.

Locke sat inside the magical carriage and began to think.

Wizard Chad's words had actually given him a mental jolt.

He had been away from the southeastern quadrant for so long. He truly should go back and have a look.

Locke also thought of the very starting point of everything, the Corfu Island World, that ordinary island world of common people.

Thinking carefully, it truly was astonishing.

He was a wizard apprentice who had walked out from an ordinary island, and now he had become a Second Circle wizard, a Second Circle wizard of highly respected standing even within the southeastern quadrant.

Looking back at this moment, he found that he had already stood at a relatively elevated position within the wizard world.

If he chose not to go to the Star Domain Sea at this moment, and instead sought a teaching position within the Cloud Marsh Wetlands, he could go even to any of the seven premier academies.

Equally, if he went to any wizard organization in the Eastern Border Region at this moment, he would be a guest of honor.

It was time to go back and have a look.

Of course, the prerequisite was to first learn a projection spell, so that he could do research and visit home without one interfering with the other.

Locke sat in the carriage and began calculating how to develop going forward.

Since advancing as a Second Circle wizard was so difficult, the two special First Circle-equivalent projects that amounted to welfare had to be properly secured.

He should help his teacher complete the data monitoring work for the wedding ring test rings as quickly as possible.

At the same time, the commercial dispute with those two shop alliances should be coming to a temporary close at this moment. Over the coming days, the share prices of those two shop alliances should be falling continuously.

Beyond that, he needed to build up his own resume.

Locke opened the water hyacinth system and discovered that the backend had a number of letters. Looking at them, they turned out to be letters from various parts of the Eastern Border Region.

There were even some recruitment letters from certain wizard academies of the Star Domain Sea.

Clearly, when you were a talent, you were no longer the one seeking entry into a wizard university. It was those wizard universities seeking you to join them.

Locke looked at the information from the three Star Domain Sea wizard universities that had quietly sent him messages, and immediately furrowed his brow.

"They all seem to be fringe academies of the Star Domain Sea. I somehow have the feeling they are all about to close their doors."

Locke quickly used the data query function of the free library within the water hyacinth system to look up these three. While saying they were about to close their doors was somewhat exaggerated, these three wizard academies were indeed ones that, within the Star Domain Sea, occupied a position that was not quite the lowest tier, but was not good either.

It was no wonder that they had proactively sent him messages inviting him to come and teach.

And they had also proposed a long list of seemingly wonderful terms, including that he could go there as a lecturing mage directly, without any probationary period.

Locke thought about it.

"They are all fairly ordinary. Before, I thought that as long as one Star Domain Sea institution wanted me, that would be enough, and just a somewhat better one would do. But now, my ambitions have grown."

"I will wait. Better ones will come along. And there is still a great deal I have not finished at Golden Crown Mountain's Origin Academy."

Locke sat in the carriage and began examining how much wizard tax he owed as a member of the wizard parliament.

He opened the wizard parliament interface within the water hyacinth system and saw the wizard tax displayed there: three million.

Locke's eyes widened at this.

"Three million magic stones per year?"

"No wonder when the Silent Witch first became a Second Circle wizard, she was driven into a corner with nowhere to turn, and could only go to the Silent Plane to open up a trading market, hoping to pay her taxes that way."

Locke blinked and fell into stunned silence.

The tax was simply too high.

Two years would be six million magic stones. Ten years would be thirty million magic stones.

That meant he had to pay a monthly membership fee of two hundred and fifty thousand magic stones.

And his income at the First Circle stage had peaked at three hundred thousand a month.

And that had already been beyond what ordinary First Circle wizards could earn.

It had been built on the foundation of having many new products and an established brand.

Of course, because of his prior planning, his Augustus Wizard Shoes were already up and running ahead of schedule. So his actual income would likely far exceed three hundred thousand.

But not every Second Circle wizard could market themselves the way he could or have access to so many unique products.

In other words, the vast majority of Second Circle wizards would be absolutely unable to pay their taxes in the early period.

Because you could not possibly put all the money you earned into tax payments. You still had to do research, purchase equipment, recruit staff, and so on.

Locke furrowed his brow and clicked through the wizard parliament interface to find that, if he could not pay, the unpaid tax would accumulate, though no interest would be charged. Whenever he had the funds to repay the outstanding tax, he could do so.

During the period of outstanding taxes, he would still retain his voting rights and the exemption rights of a Second Circle wizard.

It would simply result in a continuous deduction of his civilization credit score.

And the civilization credit score was tied to matters such as bank loans, plane conquest services, priority in grant applications, and other affairs.

After all, if your civilization credit score was low, it demonstrated that your financial state was not good and your capabilities were insufficient, and project reviewers would naturally take these factors into account.

No, wait. This tax was too high.

Second Circle wizards were clearly bearing a portion of the tax burden on behalf of the First Circle wizard population. As long as First Circle wizards also paid taxes, the tax borne by Second Circle wizards could likely be reduced by one-third, or even more.

Locke thought it through carefully and found that this fixed tax system imposed a very high tax on lower-level Second Circle wizards, while for higher-level Second Circle wizards, it was a fairly ordinary tax.

In other words, it was disadvantageous for the lower levels within the Second Circle, and advantageous for the higher levels within the Second Circle.

Furthermore, Locke discovered that if one could not pay the tax, there was another option, which was to convert the tax into corvée service.

If you could not afford to pay in money, you could pay with labor.

Locke saw a special notice below indicating that if this year's payment could not be met, one could apply to the White Wizard Association's Tax Bureau for corvée service in lieu of tax payment. As long as one completed specific tasks assigned by the White Wizard Association, the following year's tax could be directly reduced or exempted.

That was three million magic stones in tax.

Locke sat inside the magical carriage and began to think. "Clearly, for ordinary Second Circle wizards, very few would be able to pay their taxes in full."

"And so the White Wizard Association, through this method, can have Second Circle wizards from all over the world serve it."

Clever, truly clever.

By making Second Circle wizards fall into tax debt, they could only be compelled to serve it.

The White Wizard Association had used this mechanism to transform itself from a nominal and conceptual organization into a powerful one capable of commanding large numbers of Second Circle wizards.

Locke looked through the related entitlements. Since three million magic stones in membership fees were to be paid each year, the benefits would naturally be substantial.

First and foremost, First Circle wizards had undeniably benefited.

To say nothing of other things, the overall social environment under the White Wizard Association was in essence a kind of welfare in itself.

Equally, Second Circle wizards who paid their fees would therefore gain voting rights, which was both a form of welfare and a form of entitlement.

The other miscellaneous benefits were extremely numerous, and Second Circle wizards held a considerable number of special extra-legal rights.

Setting aside these miscellaneous benefits, the main benefits also came in three forms.

The first major benefit was that the White Wizard Association would distribute to each Second Circle wizard one bottle per year of a Second Circle-grade potion beneficial to the advancement of magical power.

The variety would differ and the effects would vary, but every year a batch would definitely be distributed through the White Wizard Association.

The second major benefit was that the White Wizard Association would open to all dues-paying Second Circle wizards a Second Circle-grade wizard secret realm called the Forbidden Library.

Entry was permitted once every ten years.

It was a Second Circle-grade wizard secret realm maintained by the White Wizard Association, and could be said to be the largest Second Circle-stage wizard secret realm in the entire wizard world.

According to the description, the interior of that library contained knowledge of every kind without exception. Every wizard who entered would receive different things based on their individual talent, personal qualities, and unique circumstances.

One could say that for many wizards who had no access to other Second Circle wizard secret realms, this secret realm was the only opportunity they would ever have to access a Second Circle-grade wizard secret realm.

And during the years when they were unable to enter the secret realm, they were said to receive Wisdom Light granted by the library.

This was a special spirituality enhancement resource that could even be distributed to one's students.

The Forbidden Library's resource acquisition was dependent on one's level of aptitude, especially in certain directions.

And so for wizards whose aptitude in certain specific directions was not high, the greatest utility of visiting the library was to harvest Wisdom Light.

The third major benefit was patent protection.

At the Second Circle stage, the situation was entirely different from the First Circle stage. At the First Circle stage, the entire wizard world showed extreme disregard for patent protection.

But at the Second Circle stage, patents were treated with very serious weight.

This was probably because for First Circle wizards, much of their research was in fact repetitive research, and it was very difficult to say that there was no borrowing and copying involved.

Wizards like Locke and Sophia were actually the minority.

After all, at the beginning stages, with levels not high, the best way to improve was through borrowing from others.

Besides, First Circle wizards' research was essentially an atmosphere group, at least in the context of the Eastern Border Region's overall wizard civilization.

And so the whole of society took a fairly dismissive stance toward the patent rights of First Circle wizards.

But Second Circle wizards were different.

The first major difference was that Second Circle wizards were one and all dues-paying members.

They had paid money.

And naturally, having taken money, the White Wizard Association had to act in the interests of those who had paid.

The White Wizard Association had established a committee specifically dedicated to reviewing the patent rights of Second Circle wizards, called the Patent Committee. This had resulted in an extremely high level of importance being placed on patents at the Second Circle stage.

Locke also noticed that within the wizard parliament interface, there was another option for plane pioneering.

"It seems that as long as one joins the plane pioneering plan and is in the middle of a plane pioneering period, one can always enjoy a tax reduction policy."

"But aside from freelance wizards, probably no one could freely and independently carry out plane pioneering. After all, there is still work to be done at the academy."

"Wait, Second Circle wizards have projection magic and effectively have forty-eight hours in a day. So it may not be impossible after all."