Chapter 791: The Approach Grafting Method and Borrowing Experimental Consumables

Locke said to Dean Thompson and Halen Vera, "In addition to establishing the Forest Alliance Fund, I also want to form a project team."

"During the battle earlier, I obtained one of the worlds belonging to a Second Circle black wizard on the opposing side."

"But I need to consolidate my gains. I need botanical wizards to enter that world and help me tend the forest."

Locke thought for a moment and chose not to tell the two of them his true purpose, which was the star-forging of his Grand Magic.

Too much complex knowledge was involved in that explanation.

Locke said, "Albert's forest can open an entry point. I can allow their consciousness to enter that world, operating tree-men through an avatar method to work for me."

"I will pay wages. But the minimum requirement for this project team is formal wizard."

"And a confidentiality agreement must be signed. I will arrange the confidentiality agreement contracts, and the cost of the agreements will be paid by me personally."

Locke only needed to use the ecological corridor formed by the Forest Alliance Curse to set up specific spell models on that side, and this could be accomplished.

It was not difficult.

Halen Vera and Dean Thompson exchanged a glance, and both grew solemn, recognizing that this was no ordinary matter.

Otherwise Locke would not have specifically required that wizards joining this project team be at minimum formal wizards.

Locke said, "I will pay a supplement of ten thousand magic stones per month, having those formal wizards use their sleeping hours to carry out this task."

"It will not affect the academy's normal teaching and research arrangements."

"My requirements are: first, they must be botanical wizards. Second, they must be wizards from Lilith’s Cottage. Third, each wizard must take on certain responsibilities for forest maintenance, and may be required to transfer a portion of technology to the native inhabitants."

Wizard Halen Vera coughed once. "Locke, rest assured that the people at Lilith’s Cottage are basically all our own people."

"I will announce your task requirements within the academy and see whether any formal wizards wish to join your project team."

Dean Thompson hesitated slightly on one point.

"But working during sleeping hours, is that not pushing things too far? That is really putting the effort in. It can cause sleep paralysis disorder."

"Let me ask within the academy whether there are any formal wizards who do not currently have a project and would like to take on this task. I believe there will be quite a few interested people."

Locke was briefly stunned to hear this, and then suddenly realized that he had spent so long in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands that he had come to treat making maximum use of every moment, including every fragment of sleeping time, as completely normal.

In the Cloud Marsh Wetlands, using sleeping hours to do other things was a perfectly routine matter.

But in the southeastern quadrant, formal wizards were precious as the most pampered of gems. As long as you had no ambition and no desire to strive upward, things were entirely different.

The formal wizards here lived as richly and comfortably as kings of the mundane world.

How could they possibly be expected to endure hardship of this kind?

In Lilith’s Cottage, a formal wizard who wanted to lie flat and take things easy truly could live in great comfort.

Of course, if one wanted to push forward, it was equally as difficult.

During his time at Lilith’s Cottage, he had certainly seen formal wizards holding multiple positions simultaneously to earn more money.

It was all a matter of personal choice.

Locke said, "Very well. The initial requirement is approximately eight to ten First Circle botanical formal wizards. But they must be reliable people."

Locke thought it over. In truth, he could also hire people in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands.

But hiring through his alma mater in the southeastern quadrant had many invisible advantages.

First, the First Circle wizards here could commit to a lateral project on a long-term and stable basis.

Second, the cost would be relatively lower.

Third, confidentiality would be better managed. The factional composition here was far simpler. Many of Lilith’s Cottage's wizards were essentially his own people.

Just for this reason alone, it was worth hiring through them.

And the reason he had not gone to Golden Crown Mountain to hire people was straightforward. Golden Crown Mountain's First Circle wizards were all essentially facing up-or-out pressure, all of them prodigies. For the amount of money he was offering, they would never agree to it.

Even if they did agree, they could not commit long-term.

And this project was tied to the key of his Grand Magic's star-forging, which could not be handled carelessly. It was also going to be a fairly long and challenging undertaking.

And so he needed to establish this kind of project team together with his alma mater.

Wizard Halen Vera smiled and said, "In that case, I can recommend quite a number of suitable First Circle wizards from this side. Many of your junior and senior fellows are still struggling to find suitable employment. This is a perfect opportunity to give them a transitional step."

"Now that you are a great wizard, Locke, you can provide a job opportunity for your fellow apprentices under the same teacher."

Locke smiled. If they were junior and senior fellows from under the same teacher, that would indeed be better.

After all, this involved the design of a power system.

Locke said seriously, "However, I will need to conduct interviews. Only wizards who pass my interview can enter this project team."

Halen Vera and Dean Thompson nodded.

"Of course."

Halen Vera said, "Locke, we have prepared an evening banquet at Lilith’s Cottage for you and Hussein. I do hope you will attend."

"Many of your old friends at Lilith’s Cottage are waiting to see you again. And you have not come back to the academy in a very long time."

Locke waved his hand and dispelled the magic pressure walls. "Very well."

"It has indeed been a long time since I came back to the academy. This time I would truly like to see my old friends again."

"By the way, Dean, I have a friend named Patty, a second-class wizard apprentice at Virdantia University. She was one of the first people I studied magic with. If possible, could she transfer to Lilith’s Cottage?"

"Virdantia University is no longer a good choice for her now."

"I recall she was studying something like potion type identification at Virdantia..."

Halen Vera paused.

"Then she does need to consider transferring. Because that discipline was already not valued at Virdantia, and its only formal wizard, Quinn, was killed in the war."

"Returning to Virdantia would leave her with no studies to pursue."

Dean Thompson thought for a moment.

"Since it is your suggestion, Locke, I will approach Virdantia University and propose to purchase that wizard apprentice's transfer."

"As long as we pay the training expenses Virdantia invested in her, we should be able to bring her over. Though she will also need to consider her coursework transfer."

Locke gave a slight nod.

As a friend, doing this much was already a considerable gesture. As for whether Witch Patty would choose to restart her studies or had other plans, that was not for him to decide.

He had only brought it up in passing.

...

In the Cloud Marsh Wetlands, at Golden Crown Mountain's library, Locke continued reading through documents, and at last, after working through a large volume of botanical literature, came across an article that might potentially help him.

"As expected, continuous reading of documents can spark ideas."

Locke looked at the document in his hand. It was not even a Second Circle article, but a First Circle one.

Something Locke had called up on a whim.

It was the approach grafting method within the graft cultivation methods. There were many types of grafting within the graft cultivation method, and because he had advanced so quickly, he had only mastered a few of the most principal and common grafting techniques.

"Approach grafting: cut long tongue-shaped incisions into the roots of two magical plants, press the incisions of both plants together, and create a temporary symbiosis."

In other words, ordinary grafting methods involved taking parts from two magical plants and permanently grafting them together into a single magical plant.

The approach grafting method, on the other hand, used the graft cultivation method to join two magical plants together, but both plants retained their own original root systems. The two magical plants remained two separate individuals rather than becoming one.

The two plants were simply grafted and healed together through the incision, establishing a temporary nutritional channel.

The article had been written by a Second Circle botanical wizard of Golden Crown Mountain at the First Circle stage, a figure from five hundred years ago.

The approach grafting method was divided into three stages.

First, the two magical plants are grafted together, establishing a temporary nutritional channel.

Second, eighty percent of the connecting part between the two plants is severed, to test whether the weaker plant can survive independently.

Third, the connection between the two is severed entirely.

The approach grafting method was originally used to rescue precious but weakened individual magical plants.

The nutrition from a robust magical plant would be used to strengthen the weakened individual.

And the wizard who wrote this article had been trying to research whether the first stage of the approach grafting method could be maintained indefinitely, allowing two magical plants to form a permanent nutritional channel.

Locke reflected, "Using the approach grafting method within the graft cultivation methods, it is indeed possible to make two magical plants share a root system."

"This is a line of thinking. But there is a problem. First, this article's conclusion is that the approach grafting method cannot remain permanently in the first stage, achieving permanent symbiosis."

"Because three major problems arise. One, disorder in the plant's vascular system leading to imbalanced nutrient distribution. Two, worsening growth competition. Three, structural damage resulting in tumour-like callus formation."

The wizard who had written this article had been quite patient, conducting this single experiment over ten years, and so within the article's acknowledgements Locke found a variety of long-term outcomes of approach grafting two magical plants into symbiosis.

Generally speaking, within three years the weaker plant's death rate could reach eighty percent.

Even if the weaker plant did not die, because of the tumourisation of the approach graft wound tissue, the nutritional channel created by the graft method would rupture within five years.

In other words, the conclusion of this article was that approach grafting could not be used to keep one magical plant dependent on another for an extended period of time.

Locke reflected, "But at least it has given me a line of thinking."

"Using the approach grafting method within the graft cultivation methods, it is possible to make two magical plants share a root system. I can arrange some relevant experiments soon to confirm whether using approach grafting, allowing one magical plant to benefit from another's robust root system, can also share the virtual root function of the other plant's root system."

It should be possible.

Because virtual roots were simply a supplement to ordinary roots.

The approach grafting method could make two magical plants share the function of ordinary roots, so it should certainly be able to share virtual roots as well.

But the problems remained numerous. This was at best just a line of thinking.

Because even if this could be achieved, the approach grafting method could not be maintained for a long period of time. This was more like a transitional measure, a form of support from a robust magical plant to a weak one.

It could not be maintained beyond three years.

But setting that aside.

Because three years was already a fairly long time.

The real problem was that approach grafting required making incisions on the branch parts of the magical plants, with the incisions of the two plants pressed together.

How was he supposed to get the wizard shoe's magical plant to graft with the Time Shadow Fern on the Stygian iron tree?

Locke reflected, "It is not entirely impossible. It would only require making the two spaces offset from each other."

"But this idea is even more far-fetched and impractical. Just the cost issue alone is something I cannot solve. Wait... the virtual sea..."

"Every world has a virtual sea. The element coupling phenomenon within the virtual sea is more severe. Many different virtual seas may have element coupling linkages with one another, allowing energy to flow between them."

"This is also why the virtual seas of many worlds are so powerful. The virtual sea is more prone to element coupling phenomena, and is even considered by some wizards to be one of the energy sources consumed by a world's ongoing development."

"Because this means a world can absorb developmental energy through the virtual sea, and the virtual sea can have energy connections with the virtual seas of stronger worlds."

"The world can therefore draw energy from the virtual sea."

Locke called up documentation on the virtual sea.

"Perhaps continuing to deepen the approach grafting method can be figured out through the virtual sea."

"And not just the virtual sea. The Stygian River is fundamentally a place where consciousness flows into. Making good use of this characteristic, perhaps as long as two magical plants can complete an approach graft on the level of consciousness, one could make use of the Time Shadow Fern's virtual roots in physical material reality."

"The Time Shadow Fern is now grafted onto the Stygian iron tree, and so can draw upon a portion of the Stygian iron tree's energy. As long as I can find a way to complete the approach graft without physical contact, perhaps I can draw upon that Stygian iron tree's energy. I would gain a powerful energy body capable of indefinitely sustaining shared virtual roots."

"No longer needing to worry about the situation where sharing a single virtual root leads to insufficient energy for the virtual root to obtain."

Locke returned to the Dune Plane's laboratory carrying five articles on the virtual sea. After exchanging greetings with Witch Mason and the others, he made his way to the first acre of magical field on the tenth level.

Because this involved virtual roots, it was an experiment that Witch Mason and the others could not assist with.

He would have to do it himself.

Locke took this opportunity to run a test. He first used the Spiritual Vein Suturer to make an incision on an unimportant branch of the Golden Peach Tree, then placed the Golden Peach Tree into this acre of magical field. He opened the magical tide concentration gradient control panel for this level, raising the magical tide concentration gradient of this one acre of magical field.

At the same time, a glass dome covered the magical field to prevent magical tide from dissipating.

Locke took out a tree fern Climbing Fern, made an incision in it with the grafting knife, then brought the two magical plants together, deploying the Advanced Graft Healing spell model.

Locke rapidly made fine adjustments to the spell model and allowed the two wound sites to heal.

He then looked at the two magical plants and noticed nothing.

Locke furrowed his brow, and then thought of something.

"Right. This alone is not enough. There is a very large difference between a Second Circle magical plant and a First Circle magical plant, and so I cannot stop at this step the way the article did."

"The core of the approach grafting method is an artificial nutritional channel."

"And so I must construct an efficient nutritional channel, allowing the Golden Peach Tree's energy to enter the Climbing Fern. This might allow me to make use of the Golden Peach Tree's virtual roots and then supply energy to my Climbing Fern, and then with the Moon of Evolution deploying the Lunar Cultivation Method, I might be able to turn my Climbing Fern into a Second Circle magical plant without independently adding virtual roots to the Climbing Fern."

Locke reflected, "An artificial nutritional channel... this should be straightforward to design."

"I will use the Firetree Silver Blossom Curse as an enchantment blade to forcibly connect the vascular bundles of the two magical plants."

Locke recited the incantation, and in an instant a small flame resembling a fire tree and silver flower danced at the connection point between the two plants. Ten minutes later, the Climbing Fern's energy showed a rise. Its fronds spread wide, as though on the verge of being filled to bursting by the energy.

The entire Climbing Fern radiated an energy glow.

Locke's heart jolted.

"It worked. They actually shared the virtual root."

"Then as long as I use the Moon of Evolution, I can allow the Climbing Fern to use this energy to complete its evolution."

"If this is truly the case, then as long as I resolve the question of how to make two magical plants use the approach grafting method without physical contact, I can make multiple magical plants share a single magical plant's virtual roots."

"Now I can go to Bonifacius University and the Rose Council's library. First browse Golden Crown Mountain's library for a month, then go to Bonifacius University's library for a month, then the Rose Council's library for a month."

"Surely by then I will have thought of a solution."

Locke scanned the magical field. The greatest advantage of being backed by a large group was the ability to borrow experimental equipment and consumables.

He had just run another experiment entirely for free.

Excellent.