Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems

Chapter 630: The Augustus Series Wizard Shoes, Commercial Competition, and New Plans!

Another week passed. Locke sat in his study, reading a reply from sun ring Wizard Lana of the Rose Council, and fell into deep thought.He had discussed the ecological corridor concept with Witch Lana three times, and each exchange had been greatly beneficial.

At that moment, Locke scattered a few oak seeds onto the wooden desk before him. The seeds quickly took root and sprouted, growing tiny trees the size of blades of grass from the surface of the desk.

These small trees on the desk grew into two parallel rows of tree barriers, like a sacred avenue. Meanwhile, faint traces of natural energy circulated along the path, seemingly forming a resonance with some distant forest.

"This is the ecological corridor I created following Witch Lana's approach." Locke fell into thought. "I have been exchanging letters with her for a full month. She has shared portions of her spell models with me, and combined with my own research, I have managed to produce a rough prototype of an ecological corridor."

"But using this as the foundation for the Forest Alliance Curse won't work."

"This sacred avenue looks very appealing, yet it requires exactly this kind of physical path to connect different forests. That completely contradicts the Forest Alliance concept, the idea of connecting the Forest Sanctuaries of different wizards with one another to form a greater forest kingdom."

"Every wizard's Forest Sanctuary will be moving around constantly. How could a physical avenue like this ever connect them all?"

Locke fell into thought. "But every time I come up with a new idea and share it with Witch Lana, hoping to exchange opinions, I always end up being refuted by her."

"It seems my idea doesn't hold up. Should I tell her my true purpose? If I told her what I actually need, could that change some of her thinking and get her to help me work through it?"

Locke had also asked Witch Yekaterina about it, but Witch Yekaterina had consistently never replied to him.

He wasn't particularly surprised by this.

Because most of the Origin Academy's researchers had added Witch Yekaterina as a contact on the water hyacinth network, and most researchers who sent messages to Witch Yekaterina received the same treatment.

There had once been a researcher who sent Witch Yekaterina a barrage of messages in the middle of the night. Nothing happened the next day, except that he had been quietly blocked.

Locke picked up his quill and wrote a few lines on the letter paper, then suddenly thought of something and set the quill down.

He furrowed his brow. "The Forest Alliance Curse is tied to the secrets of my advancement to the Second Circle. I shouldn't be going around telling people about it. And even if I really did tell her, what good would it do? Unless I disclosed all of my Forest Sanctuary's spell models to her, she would genuinely have no way to help me. And even if I were willing to disclose them, truly perfecting this would require at least one million magic stones' worth of resources, along with a large team of wizard talent."

"She and I have no relationship of any significance. Why would she go to that effort for me? Whether I tell her or not makes little difference." Locke slapped his forehead. "Since Witch Lana doesn't think my approach is viable, I should stop bothering her. I've already gained as much knowledge from her as I possibly can. There's nothing more to be gained."

Locke made up his mind. A flame of primordial fire ignited the letter paper and consumed it.

"Let me return to the starting point and redesign a spell model from scratch based on my own original thinking."

"The only problem is that this requires money and a research group. I should find more ways to earn money."

Locke waved his hand, and the miniature tree sacred avenue on the desk shrank back into two rows of sapling seeds, which then automatically dropped into his hand.

Locke left the dormitory, boarded the cloud whale, and headed to the Witch's Kitchen to see Witch Scarlett.

...

At the Rose Council, inside Witch Lana's office, Witch Lana casually asked her First Circle wizard assistant, "Any letters today from Golden Crown Mountain?"

The assistant shook their head. "No. That young man was writing to a sun ring wizard far too frequently. Perhaps a mentor has reprimanded him for it. That kind of behavior is rather impolite, after all."

Witch Lana curled the corner of her lips. "Impolite? I suppose. It's rare to see such a bold young wizard these days. And when I discuss things with him, I find his thinking to be quite good. Not exceptionally clever, but clear in his reasoning."

"Discussing things with him feels like exchanging ideas with a Second Circle wizard. If I'm not mistaken, he's already very close to becoming a Second Circle wizard. So I'm willing to give this junior a little encouragement."

"It's just that his ideas can be quite fanciful. He's always thinking about things that have no practical application. If he could interact with me more, I could help discipline his thinking on behalf of his mentor. Give his ideas a bit more grounding in reality."

At that moment, Wizard Fleming walked into the office.

Witch Lana's expression immediately soured. "Why is it that I don't have a collaborative student wizard who is as clever as him?"

Witch Lana looked at Wizard Fleming, finding fault with him no matter how she looked at him, feeling an inexplicable irritation.

Wizard Fleming stood there with a blank expression, frozen in place.

Should he just leave then?

Witch Lana let out a sigh and swept a dissatisfied glance over Wizard Fleming. "Not a shred of situational awareness. I truly don't know how you ever became a full wizard."

"Go do something for me. The Chaos Battlefield opens in one week, and I need you to help me calibrate a campaign-level magical device..."

"The academic rankings in the Three Marsh Lands are such a nuisance. Other regions only need to compare articles, projects, and talent. But we in the Three Marsh Lands... hmph. Those officials from the White Wizard Association who sit in their offices all day actually believe that everything else can be faked, but only war results cannot be falsified. So they use war results as a supplementary basis for determining the academic standing rankings of each university..."

Wizard Fleming was a bit frightened and unsure whether he should respond. Looking at Witch Lana, whose eyes clearly expressed dissatisfaction with him, he steeled himself and opened his mouth. "Those Chaos followers from the Chaos World are no match for us with our Rose Flower Language magic."

Witch Lana looked at him. Wizard Fleming had already tensed up with anxiety.

But Witch Lana, uncharacteristically, smiled and said, "Mm. You've finally said something that sounds like a human being."

Wizard Fleming felt as though he'd been granted a reprieve and let out a quiet breath of relief, then walked out of her office.

...

Dragon Blood Market Castle. Locke and Witch Scarlett sat together in Private Room 23.

Witch Scarlett looked at him with some surprise. "What? I was actually expecting you to treat me to a meal. And yet here you are already out of money so quickly."

Witch Scarlett smiled wryly. "My dear Mr. Locke, did you go to a gambling house? Or invest in stocks?"

Locke said, "Something more terrifying than both of those. I went and did research."

Most of his funds had gone into the Forest Sanctuary.

Another portion had been put into the Queen's Chessboard to analyze the primordial force-level characteristics and structures of the light from the four planes within the Night Meteor.

Witch Scarlett nodded with understanding. "Good heavens. In just one month you managed to burn through eight hundred thousand magic stones on research."

"Well, there's always some wizard complaining that even gambling and investing in stocks doesn't drain money as fast as pouring it into research. But as long as there are results, that's what matters. The worst outcome is ending up with nothing to show for it."

Locke gave a small nod, finding this deeply true.

Witch Scarlett said, "Then let me treat you this time. Take a look at the menu. Oh, by the way, Locke, the reason I wanted to meet with you today is to ask whether you intend to continue operating the Augustus Wizard Shoes brand. If you do, we'll need to release the next pair of wizard shoes."

"While the momentum from your last pair's strong sales is still running, and while the heat from your Spell Combat Tournament championship in the Golden Crown Mountain district hasn't faded yet."

Locke nodded. "Of course. Since wizard shoes are this profitable, I can't possibly give them up."

Witch Scarlett handed Locke a document. "Take a look. These are the market fluctuations your wizard shoes have caused. There's quite a group of wizards out there who are absolutely furious with you right now."

Locke skimmed through it.

Most of it was still related to the Type 1 Tyrant Element industries. The wizard shoes-related industries had virtually no impact at the moment.

After all, this was different from the overall shock caused by Type 2 Tyrant Element. This was just one pair of pure magical plant wizard shoes, and it hadn't yet posed a threat to the various weaving workshops across the Golden Crown Mountain district.

Magical robes, wizard hats, and wizard shoes were the three major industrial pillars of the magical weavers of the Golden Crown Mountain district.

Witch Scarlett said, "I guessed that the great genius breeder Augustine would certainly keep developing in the direction of wizard shoes. So I have already applied for the Augustus Wizard Shoes trademark on your behalf. And thankfully I moved quickly."

Locke looked puzzled. "Why is that?"

Witch Scarlett took a sip of her witch watermelon juice and said, "If I had been one step slower, those magical weavers would have registered that trademark before me. And there are also some litigation matters... in short, there's a great deal going on. You haven't been exposed to this industry much, so you don't know how complicated things are inside it."

"But rest assured, you have me as your gold-tier trader, and there's Arthas too, plus you're a researcher at Golden Crown Mountain. So they wouldn't dare go too far."

"And furthermore, the White Wizard Association's Divine Master Tribunal for the Golden Crown Mountain district is right up on your Golden Crown Mountain, and your mentor is one of the academic consultants of that tribunal."

"So it will be very difficult for them to give you trouble through legal channels."

Witch Scarlett said, "When I was a silver-tier trader before, I encountered many complicated situations. For instance, there was once a collaborative wizard of mine who released a pair of magical plant gloves, and those magical weavers felt that it infringed on their territory."

"They used a bunch of registered design patents to take my collaborative wizard to the tribunal, claiming he had violated the design patents held by those magical weavers."

Locke furrowed his brow. "That shouldn't be very effective, should it?"

Witch Scarlett smiled and said, "Locke, winning the case isn't the only way to make someone back down in this world. Raising the other party's costs is already sufficient to resolve most situations."

"My collaborative wizard couldn't stand the harassment. By the time things had escalated to the point where even people from the Ethics Review Committee came down to investigate, that wizard of mine had already completely abandoned all research and development of related magical plant products."

"Only then did the matter die down."

Witch Scarlett said, "The magical weavers of Cloud Marsh Wetland, due to the personalities of certain high-circle wizards among them, operate as a fairly closed circle with rather ruthless methods."

"They have long since registered a large pile of largely useless design patents in areas like magical robes, wizard shoes, and wizard hats, just waiting for the moment a competing product appears, so they can use those design patents to entangle you in nonsense disputes."

"As for why they haven't done that now..."

Witch Scarlett gave a mysterious smile. "That's because you have someone backing you, Locke. I honestly hope some oblivious party goes ahead and stirs up trouble with you in the tribunal. Most of my other clients don't have nearly the same standing as you."

"So we usually end up being pushed around by those magical weavers. This can't be sold, that can't be sold."

"Anything that sells well, we can't sell!"

"But if they try that approach against you, they might end up in the wizard prison. All the nearby tribunals are staffed by Golden Crown Mountain's people, and they're almost entirely under Witch Yekaterina's control. That's no secret. Everyone knows it."

"A fair number of wizards who have crossed that Throne wizard before have been dealt with by that tribunal."

Witch Scarlett said, "Beyond dragging you into litigation, there are even more sophisticated methods."

"For instance, deliberately planting someone with a criminal record into a competitor's workshop, then immediately reporting them, triggering the Ethics Review Committee, the Academic Committees of various academies, and several White Wizard Association divisions to come and investigate."

"There are also cases where someone hires a wizard from the opposing workshop, tricks them into signing a non-compete agreement, then allows that person to 'accidentally' engage in technical collaboration with their former employer, and then takes them to tribunal for unfair competition."

Witch Scarlett said, "If something like that happened, even Lady Throne Yekaterina would have difficulty helping you openly. And besides, she is a Throne after all. I imagine she couldn't unconditionally help her student in every matter."

"The only reason I'm telling you all this is because I hope you will be extremely careful, Locke. There are magical weavers who may try to attack you through underhanded means."

Locke furrowed his brow. "I never realized the business practices of Cloud Marsh Wetland's magical weavers were this ruthless."

"They seem completely different from the breeders."

He had previously caused a crash in the stock price of certain breeders' Tyrant Element industries, but once Witch Yekaterina stepped in, nobody had come after him over it.

Witch Scarlett said, "Different industries aren't inherently different from one another, but the people in them are. And the personality of a high-circle wizard who works in a given field can greatly influence the overall culture of that entire industry."

"The cutting edge academic center for magical weavers is Bonifacius University and the Rose Council. The problem originates from the Rose Council's side. The Rose Council's overall academic culture is just..."

Witch Scarlett coughed. "Never mind. That's not something a small First Circle crystallization-stage wizard like me should be commenting on."

"The breeding industry has a large number of practitioners, so there are many high-circle wizards, all with very different personalities. As a result, the breeding industry tends to be more tolerant and accommodating."

"Actually, in the magical weaving field, the presence of Bonifacius University as a counterbalance keeps things relatively manageable. It's the flower language field that's truly something else."

"The environment in the flower-language wizard community is even worse."

"Magical flower shops are fairly well known as places prone to black market operations. They exploit wizard apprentices, making them do decades of odd jobs without teaching them a single genuine skill."

"They force outside wizards to handle highly toxic magical flowers, depleting their lifespans, all to work for their magical flower shops."

Witch Scarlett gave a slight shake of her head. "So many problems it's laughable. The Rose Council has spread itself too thin and has somewhat lost the ability to manage things properly."

"Who would have thought that inside the most beautiful, most splendid flower shops, the darkest industrial ecosystem had been brewing all along!"

Locke furrowed his brow. "So no one does anything about it? Doesn't the Ethics Review Committee step in?"

Witch Scarlett shook her head. "Of course they manage it. But that is the Rose Council! Even the White Wizard Association's branch offices have to show some deference. And besides, there are always ways around the rules."

"Even if someone conducts an undercover investigation, the moment you show up at one shop, the second and third ones already know you're coming. In short, the magical weaving industry's ecosystem is rather poor, and that academy from the Rose Council is just a peculiar place."

Locke gave a small nod.

Witch Scarlett asked Locke, "Do you have any direction for the second pair of wizard shoes yet? Ideally something made with Type 2 Tyrant Element again, a tyrant-ization product. Your Type 2 Tyrant Element left a deep impression on everyone."

"You could develop a whole product line of tyrant-ization wizard shoes! That would make it much easier to promote and leave a strong impression in wizards' minds."

Locke said, "During the period when I was researching bromeliads, I accumulated quite a bit of bromeliad technical knowledge. There are two bromeliads that I think could work similarly to the Giant Hummingbird Bromeliad for wizard shoes."

"I can continue along the same lines as the first Giant Hummingbird Bromeliad wizard shoes. The two varieties are the Big Snow Crown Bromeliad and the Flame Bromeliad."

"I can first tyrant-ization both of them, see whether the performance can be improved, and then follow the framework of the Giant Hummingbird Bromeliad wizard shoes to produce them. The overall framework of the Giant Hummingbird Bromeliad wizard shoes is excellent."

"I'm confident I can create two pairs of wizard shoes that will be of great benefit to wizards."

Locke said, "I just need... funding."

"Scarlett, do you have any way to get me the money I need to develop new wizard shoes in a short period of time?"

Maintaining the current magical field output for the Five-Headed Snake and Giant Hummingbird Bromeliad wizard shoes also required a certain amount of ongoing funding.

If not for Scarlett having a stock of seeds on her end, Locke wouldn't even be able to fulfill orders right now.

There was no way around it. Research consumed money at a ruinous rate, and Locke needed to bring his strength to a satisfying level before the abyss exploration.

So he had poured a great deal of money in.

Witch Scarlett was not surprised by this at all. "That's just how it is. A genius like you earns a lot and spends even more. But don't worry, I can try to apply to Arthas for a research sponsorship on your behalf."

"You already have two hit products with us at Arthas, so you've earned certain privileges."

"I estimate I can have a commercial sponsorship of two hundred thousand magic stones secured for you within three days. It would serve as an investment and support for your development of new products."

Witch Scarlett asked, "Will two hundred thousand be enough? If not, I can dip into my own savings to back you up."

Locke thought it over. "Mm, two hundred thousand should be fine."

Witch Scarlett smiled and said, "In that case, I hope you can develop the two products as soon as possible. Because coming up here in the Golden Crown Mountain district, there are two consecutive minor holidays: World Walking Day and the Shoe-Changing Festival."

"Wizard shoes sell exceptionally well on both of those days."

"And I've heard that the Five Major Wars are about to begin one after another. We can only sell within the Golden Crown Mountain district, but Golden Crown Mountain is about to enter into a genuine demon realm war with the Twin Demon Realm very soon."

"That won't be like the minor skirmish last time!"

"During wartime, wizard shoe sales will definitely rise again." Witch Scarlett raised her eyes and looked at Locke. "So I want to put forward a request."

"Could you develop one additional pair of wizard shoes specifically designed for the demon realm war? Here is the relevant material on the demon realm war."

"The general requirements are something like: durable, with a certain anti-theft function, counter-detection, anti-tracking, anti-spatial-disturbance properties."

"Beyond those, the basic functional requirements of wizard shoes should also be included. The foundational combat functions like acceleration, resistance to void forces, protection of the feet, and adaptive response to the laws of the world."

Locke raised an eyebrow. "Those requirements are quite demanding."

Witch Scarlett said, "That request is just an additional one. If you can't do it, or if you don't have the time, it doesn't matter in the least."

"This is actually a set of collective requirements put out for open tender by Golden Crown Mountain and various major wizard organizations. During demon realm wars, the major wizard organizations issue equipment sets to their wizards..."

"These equipment sets ensure a basic minimum standard of performance in wizard warfare and raise the academy's overall capability. The tender is divided into internal bids and external bids."

"Each product can in principle only be submitted to one wizard academy. After all, the major wizard academies don't want their demon realm war equipment sets to be identical to those of other wizard organizations. Violating this principle tends to invite collective quiet retaliation."

"You're a researcher at Golden Crown Mountain's Origin Academy, so normally the internal tender wouldn't come around to you. But the final results of the internal and external tenders are compared, and the product with better performance and greater trustworthiness is ultimately selected."

"All of Golden Crown Mountain, as well as other wizard academies, conduct external tenders as a supplement. If a better option presents itself through external bidding, they're not averse to adopting it."

"A wizard equipment set includes magical robes, wizard shoes, magical gloves, a wizard sword and wand, a wizard hat, one magical ring, and one magical necklace."

"They are only lent to wizards for use during the war and must be returned afterward."

Locke gave a small nod. "I can give it a try."

Witch Scarlett smiled and said, "Go ahead and try. But there's no problem if it doesn't work out. The competition is fierce after all. Among however many wizard shoe designs are submitted, only one can pass Golden Crown Mountain's review."

"And even if it passes the review and beats out all competitors, if it doesn't outperform the internally tendered design in the final comparison between the internal and external bids, it all ends up being wasted effort."

"Because the requirements are so stringent, many wizards who lack sufficient ability don't even bother entering. But I believe you should give it a try."

Witch Scarlett said, "On the off chance it works out, you would earn yourself a large sum of money once again, and it would also be excellent for your reputation."

"Once our wizard shoes join Golden Crown Mountain in the demon realm war and perform well," Witch Scarlett paused, and a complex expression mixing desire and ambition flashed in her eyes, "that achievement would feed back and benefit the Augustus series wizard shoe brand we've established."

"The wizard shoes under this brand could sell even better. Perhaps we could even establish a dedicated workshop, rent a region in one of Arthas's colonial worlds, and produce exclusively there. Earn even more, and hold a stronger position at Arthas to negotiate better contracts."

"Turn this wizard shoe brand into a famous brand. Standing alongside the famous wizard shoe brands established by the magical weavers of Cloud Marsh Wetland!"

"That group of well-known magical weaver brands, Vicos, Awesom, Sylandi... and those two most famous wizard shoe brands of Cloud Marsh Wetland, Melechi Magic Step and Solas Light Foot, or 30K as they call it!"

Locke nodded. "You've already planned all of this, Scarlett. You seem very excited though?"

Witch Scarlett laughed and said, "I'm not embarrassed to admit it. If I can successfully establish a brand like this for you, I could be promoted to platinum-tier trader!"

"If I become a platinum-tier trader, I would have the resources to push my magical pressure to the First Circle limit, and possibly even become a Second Circle wizard."

"Of course, all of this is still just a dream of mine for now."

Witch Scarlett took a sip of her wizard tea and said thoughtfully, "My ambitions aren't as grand as you geniuses. As long as someone casually hands me a World Stone from a colonial plane, I'll be satisfied. Becoming a Second Circle wizard is all I need."

"There's no need to be excellent at everything."

"After all... given my level of talent, a Second Circle wizard is my ceiling."