Chapter 795: The Banquet at Lilith’s Cottage and Witch Rose’s Decision

In the material storage room of the Melechi Shop Alliance headquarters, Witch Rose asked a staff member for Melechi's thirty years of wizard shoe design materials, put on a monocle, sat down, and began reading.

The wizards of the materials storage department were whispering among themselves.

"Which Second Circle wizard lord is this who has been dropped in from above? Has anyone found out her background? If her background is deep, would it not mean we could ingratiate ourselves with her and practically climb straight to the top?"

"Cannot find anything out. She uses the surname Tastin. It seems a very ordinary surname, and none of our leaders share it. In all likelihood she does not have much of a background. But even attaching ourselves to an ordinary Second Circle wizard would not be bad for us."

"A Second Circle wizard with no background... that explains why she was assigned here to the materials room, a quiet place with no real benefits. In that case, even if we attached ourselves to her, there would not be much to gain. At most our treatment in this materials room would be slightly better and a bit more relaxed."

Witch Rose, who was in the middle of reading the materials, gave a contemptuous glance and turned through Melechi's thirty years of records with a slight shake of her head.

She raised her head and looked at the three gasification wizards not far away who were whispering, taking no interest in what they were saying, and said coldly, "Bring me the design materials from within the past hundred years, the past fifty years, and materials from over a hundred years ago, divided into three categories. I want materials for both First Circle and Second Circle wizard shoes."

The three First Circle gasification wizards quickly said they would, then turned and got to work in earnest.

Regardless of whether they intended to attach themselves to this apparently unremarkable Second Circle wizard with no background, the work their superior had assigned still had to be done properly.

Lying flat meant completing one's own duties at the very minimum, without putting in effort on extra work or pursuing advancement.

It did not mean complete abandonment of all effort.

Working at an organization like Melechi, completely abandoning all effort was equivalent to being dismissed on the spot.

Witch Rose gave the three of them a cold glance and shook her head slightly.

"I did not expect Uncle Melechi's shop alliance to have deteriorated so badly. It is hard to believe that this was the wizard shoe shop alliance that a hundred years ago successfully broke through the commercial blockade of the large integrated shop alliances and rose to prominence."

"Great-grandmother sent me down to look at each department and gain practical experience. It is truly meaningful. The production-academia-research chain for wizard shoes is great-grandmother's private domain. The academia and research portions have no problems, but the production portion seems to have developed problems."

"Exactly where has the problem appeared?"

Witch Rose took out the Ganoderma magical plant and scanned the latest sales rankings of Locke's Black Giant Hummingbird wizard shoe.

"Top of the monthly list? Somewhat acceptable, I suppose. Interesting enough. Something of an opponent."

Witch Rose reflected, "But I have no time to deal with it right now."

Witch Rose's style of doing things was never to make a hasty move until she had fully understood where a problem lay.

As the Rose Witch's representative for the wizard shoe domain, she was proceeding with great caution.

"The focus is not on any competitor but on ourselves."

Witch Rose reflected, "After a hundred years, Melechi has deteriorated to this degree. Why exactly?"

"There must be a reason. Let me go and take a look at Solas Light Foot as well."

"Working out that reason is the most important thing for me right now."

Witch Rose concluded that the wizard shoe produced by the breeder playing around was not in fact the most urgent matter at hand.

Of course, this was a provocation and assault upon the Rose Throne's academic lineage from the Red Dragon Throne's side. She would certainly make the other party pay a painful lesson, in order to preserve the dignity of the Rose Council and the Rose Throne's academic lineage, and to deter outsiders from provoking the Cloud Marsh Wetlands' Rose Council.

Witch Rose reflected, "Beyond that, great-grandmother has not explicitly instructed me, but if I can help her respond to the impact of the new textile school wizards, I will certainly gain much more of her attention."

"The product should be the top priority."

Witch Rose swept a cold glance at the few gasification wizards fumbling around in a panic.

"These people work so slowly. I can see that there are far too many useless people within Melechi. Perhaps raising the hiring standards, examining the caliber of applicants' wizard academies, would be a better approach."

...

In the southeastern quadrant, at Lilith’s Cottage.

Locke and Lady Irina completed a licensing arrangement on the spot. He planned to bring his two best-selling wizard shoes to the southeastern quadrant for sale.

The first was the Black Giant Hummingbird Bromeliad wizard shoe.

The second was the Demon Realm Bromeliad wizard shoe.

Locke signed a contract with Lady Irina and thought, "This time I have bypassed Arthas and am cooperating with Lady Irina directly. So I also need a production base of my own. If I want to use the Arthas production base, I would have to tell them I have cooperative dealings with merchant wizards from other wizard territories."

"Arthas seems to care very much about this. And so I cannot tell them."

"The reason wizard shoes have never caught on in the southeastern quadrant is simple: wizard shoes have always been priced too high among the various magical artifacts. A magical artifact costing a hundred thousand is already considered expensive at the First Circle level, but for a wizard shoe that is only the starting price."

"A First Circle wizard shoe typically requires five hundred thousand to a million magic stones, which is simply unimaginable for First Circle wizards in the southeastern quadrant."

Because in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands, a First Circle wizard's monthly salary was only slightly higher than that of a First Circle wizard in the southeastern quadrant by a few thousand magic stones.

But in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands, First Circle wizards had a large number of lateral and vertical fund application directions available to them, and the Cloud Marsh Wetlands had a large number of shop alliances, which in themselves represented a very important source of First Circle-level funds.

The southeastern quadrant had no shop alliances, which meant that at the First Circle stage, an important source of funding was missing entirely.

First Circle wizards in the southeastern quadrant simply could not afford wizard shoes priced that high.

But for Locke, he could easily lower the selling price of the pure magical plant wizard shoe. After all, the production cost of one pair of wizard shoes was approximately six thousand magic stones.

This meant First Circle wizards in the southeastern quadrant could afford wizard shoes.

Locke said, "Wizard shoes are also very useful for First Circle wizards. The greatest benefit is the increase in speed."

Locke said, "Lady Irina, consider this. Both you and your enemy are First Circle wizards. If their spell models are inferior to yours, they fall into a disadvantaged position. But what if your opponent is wearing a pair of wizard shoes, their speed is double yours, and you cannot catch them at all? What then?"

Lady Irina's expression shifted slightly.

She had previously been happy simply because she heard Locke say he would license her to sell wizard shoes in the southeastern quadrant.

But now, hearing Locke's example, she understood for the first time that wizard shoes were not an optional luxury for wizards, but a very important item.

Lady Irina considered for a moment and said, "A wizard with wizard shoes gains the initiative. Their speed has been enhanced, allowing them to choose at any moment whether to flee, double back, or press an attack."

Locke smiled again. "Not just a speed advantage. Wizard shoes also improve a wizard's leg strength and endurance."

"Having a pair of wizard shoes, whether venturing into forbidden places, or undertaking long journeys, provides an enormous enhancement for First Circle wizards. If someone is making a long trip, how can they manage without a good pair of shoes?"

Lady Irina said with feeling, "You are asking me to price the wizard shoes at around fifty thousand. When I was looking into inventory before, I also looked up the prices of First Circle wizard shoes and found most of them starting at a hundred thousand magic stones and going up to five hundred thousand."

"Lord Augustine, what you are doing is not only bringing pure magical plant wizard shoes to our southeastern quadrant, but also making it possible for the First Circle wizards of this impoverished backwater to afford them."

"Hearing you explain it like this, I realize now what an enormous loss it was for the wizards of our impoverished backwater not to have been able to purchase wizard shoes before."

Locke gave a slight nod. "There was once a witch who said before me that the new textile school believed truth lay between needle and thread. I find her view quite reasonable. A pair of shoes, worn by everyone, appears to be an ordinary item, yet within it lies the accumulated effort of many wizards."

"Technological progress should naturally spread to all wizard territories. Wizard shoes should reach wizard territories like the southeastern quadrant as quickly as possible, allowing the wizards here to also enjoy the fruits of civilization's advancement."

Halen Vera said, "In that case, if during the recent war each of our wizards had been equipped with a pair of pure magical plant wizard shoes, we would very easily have gained strategic advantages, free to engage or retreat entirely as we saw fit."

Locke and the others had already taken their seats.

Wooden elf maids were weaving between the banquet tables with serving trays, bringing dishes to the assembled wizards.

Locke thought over how he should set up a production base in the southeastern quadrant.

At his current stage, everything required money. Whatever could be borrowed should be borrowed. Whatever could be saved should be saved.

A production base was not suited to being established in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands, otherwise every pair of shoes would have to factor in shipping costs.

But renting magical fields here, hiring staff, and keeping an avatar here to watch over things would all be necessary, otherwise there were risks of technology leaking, and over time his wizard shoes could easily be pirated.

Most seriously, if Solas Light Foot and Melechi's magical weaver side seized an opportunity to directly pirate his wizard shoes, that would be a serious problem.

Although Lilith’s Cottage was his alma mater, there were simply too many unrelated wizards here.

Where there were many people, there were many prying eyes.

'My avatars are already insufficient. If I had one more Grand Magic, I could have one more avatar.'

Locke reflected, "But there is another option, which is to set up my wizard shoe production base within the Forest Sanctuary."

A flash of inspiration struck in Locke's mind.

In the past he had lacked the ability to modify the Forest Sanctuary's spell models, but now that he had established a cooperative Forest Sanctuary fund with Lilith’s Cottage, he could attempt to set up his wizard shoe production base within the Forest Sanctuary.

'Albert's Forest Sanctuary has formed an ecological corridor with mine. My moonlight can enter his forest directly. Using this, I can have my consciousness descend into his Forest Sanctuary, and by using one of the First Circle magical plants within his Forest Sanctuary, I can manage a few acres of magical field from a distance.'

Locke reflected. 'Then I only need to leave the seeds of two types of wizard shoes within Albert's Forest Sanctuary. As long as the main bodies of the two shoe types can be produced, I can then bring in enchanters from this area and have them follow the blueprints to complete the final processing of the two shoe types.'

'After all, sales volume in the southeastern quadrant will not be high. Opening ten acres of magical field near the Forbidden Forest will be sufficient. Actually, for something this minor, I as a great Second Circle wizard am too busy to be managing this myself.'

Locke realized that Wizard Albert was now something of a half-student of his.

"I just need to have him go and open the fields. The related application procedures and so on he can handle himself, as long as he is willing."

Locke immediately consulted with Albert.

Albert, seated at the table, smiled and said, "Of course. I have absolutely no objection."

Locke said, "Thank you, Albert. As compensation I will give you ten thousand magic stones per month. And as rent for using your Forest Sanctuary, I will also give you an additional twenty thousand magic stones per month."

Locke still believed that close friends should settle accounts clearly.

Feelings were feelings, but without interests to sustain them, feelings would also sour.

Albert could barely keep his smile suppressed.

"Locke, there is no need for you to pay this much. We are friends. And it was with your help that I was able to become a formal wizard."

But Albert did not refuse.

Because using his Forest Sanctuary to open magical fields required him to adjust his Forest Sanctuary's spell models and take on a certain degree of supervisory responsibility.

At the same time, Albert had also come to a clearer understanding of his own limits.

He would very likely spend his entire life at Lilith’s Cottage.

He was different from Locke and Witch Sophia.

His achievements would be limited. He did not aspire to walk far on the path of pursuing truth, but only hoped to make small and solid incremental progress, and with that he would be content.

And so he was very satisfied with the thirty thousand magic stones per month Locke was offering.

For him, this was already a very generous arrangement, more than enough to make many other formal wizards at Lilith’s Cottage envious.

Albert looked up and saw quite a few formal wizards casting envious glances at him.

Envious that he had cultivated a connection with the great wizard, and that the great wizard was giving him thirty thousand magic stones a month on top of it. Quite a few wizards appeared to have ideas of their own, as though they also wanted this task.

Only their permanent defensive force fields were not Forest Sanctuaries, and so even if they wanted it, there was nothing they could say.

Locke sat at the banquet. At this moment he was the guest of honor, and so he set the rhythm of the event.

Halen Vera and Dean Thompson followed Locke's gaze.

Locke said, "Shopkeeper Yuri, it has been a long time."

Witch Yuri stood with a complex expression and bowed to Locke. Her current magic pressure was only two hundred and ten.

This was because the harm done to her soul by the decline curse had meant that over the years, she had only barely managed to repair some of the soul damage she had sustained during the curse.

Any advancement was a luxury for her.

Her plan for herself was to fully repair the soul damage within five years, after which she could try to increase her magical force and finally make a push to become a formal wizard.

If she could cross that threshold, she would be in an entirely different tier.

What Witch Yuri had not anticipated was that Locke had returned, and not merely as a formal wizard, but as a Second Circle wizard.

Witch Yuri looked at Locke with a complex expression. Her mind surfaced the image of Locke as a second-class wizard apprentice, entering the shop for the very first time.

Who could have imagined that the wizard apprentice of those days would become a great wizard.

Witch Yuri seemed to be looking at a legend.

And she had become a figure within that legend's story.

This made her feel a kind of shared pride.

Witch Yuri bowed to Locke. "Lord Augustine, thank you for still remembering me."

Locke looked at Yuri and said, "Yuri, your soul damage has still not fully recovered? Hmm... I removed the parasitic demon from your body back then, but looking at it now, my technique was still quite unpolished at the time, and so I was not able to resolve the problem fully in one go."

Locke turned his right hand upward, and a flame of primordial fire appeared. In the next instant, he used the Reverse Refining method with the primordial fire, enveloping it around her.

Before Witch Yuri had finished her look of surprise, threads of spirituality formed from the flame entered her soul.

When the flames faded, Witch Yuri felt as though she had been completely renewed.

That faint sense of weakness and helplessness had vanished entirely.

Locke said to her, "I used a Second Circle alchemist's technique to refine your soul once, restoring it to its peak condition. That should save you roughly five years of soul repair time."

"I also removed the residual spell toxicity within your soul. This should somewhat increase your chances of becoming a formal wizard."

Witch Yuri was overwhelmed with emotion. "Thank you... Locke, have you become a Second Circle alchemist?"

At the banquet, the assembled First Circle wizards all showed expressions of surprise. They had not expected Locke to possess this kind of ability.

So this was what a Second Circle alchemist could do?

Locke thought for a moment. He had intended to explain clearly that he was not yet a Second Circle alchemist, that the standard for an expert-level alchemist was very high, and that the emergence of Spiritual Resonance studies had raised alchemy to an entirely new and unprecedented level.

But then he thought about it, and even if he explained this to Yuri, she would not be able to understand it. So Locke only gave a slight nod.

He neither confirmed nor denied what he was.

Witch Yuri bowed to Locke, aware that her standing was lower and that she should not speak with Locke for too long or take up too much of his time. She returned to her seat.

Locke scanned the banquet and noticed that his two friends from his second-class wizard apprentice days had not appeared. That was most likely because they were still second-class wizard apprentices.

He thought it over briefly but did not dwell on it.

For who he was now, merely expressing a slight indication of intent would be sufficient to indirectly help them.

Following this, many formal wizards tried to strike up conversations with Locke, displaying themselves like peacocks, talking about various projects and their magical philosophies before him, hoping to attract his attention, gain his goodwill, and perhaps even obtain project funding.

After all, his current standing and accumulated wealth was ordinary by Cloud Marsh Wetlands standards, but in the southeastern quadrant he was already a great magnate.

A casual gesture from him could make many formal wizards very comfortable indeed.

It was a pity that after listening to them describe their projects, Locke could not help but feel deeply disappointed.

The quality was simply too low.

Without noticing it, Locke's standards had risen considerably.

Ordinary projects could no longer interest him.

The wizards of the southeastern quadrant, even when trying to recommend themselves, were of limited caliber. Even producing projects comparable to the Diamond Succulent level he had achieved at the Land of Six Towers was something very few of them could manage.

And projects of that caliber, in his current eyes, were no longer worth ranking.

Whether he participated or not, the rate of progress for someone at his current level would be very slow either way.

What he was most lacking at the moment were talented people and time.

As a great Second Circle wizard, his energy was limited. He could only invest that limited energy in the places that would yield the most important results.

For the remainder of the banquet, Locke primarily spent his time building rapport with those of Halen Vera's formal wizard students who had stayed in the southeastern quadrant.

Green Witch exchanged greetings with Locke. The two had cooperated on certain things before.

Locke had some curiosity about the Four Seasons Garden's four seasons botanical studies, and so he exchanged a few words with her, and she gave him some of the Four Seasons Garden's foundational magical texts as a gift.

Due to factional restrictions, she could only give Locke some less core aspects of the four seasons studies.

'Four seasons studies: spring, summer, autumn, winter, divided into four seasons, primarily researching the relationship between the four seasons and plants, along with four seasons magical plants,' Locke reflected.

'The Four Seasons Garden has people above it. If I were unaware of the backing behind it, I could directly seek to conduct transactions, and ignorance would be an acceptable excuse. But now I am a Second Circle wizard researcher at Golden Crown Mountain, and the Four Seasons Garden has the backing of the Root Crown Royal Court's Throne wizard's academic lineage.'

'This actually prevents me from simply circumventing the restrictions to conduct transactions.'

Locke was now discovering what it meant to stand higher, see further, but see less of the fine details.

Having a higher magical level certainly brought its own advantages.

But in certain fine points, there were also things that became more complicated.

Take the current situation, for instance: he could not simply bypass restrictions to obtain the core teachings of the Four Seasons Garden's four seasons studies.

Even merely circumventing the restrictions to obtain the four seasons botanical studies itself would be a form of encroachment on another academic lineage.

'There is a saying that a newborn calf does not fear the tiger. This is probably something like that. In this kind of situation, a crystallization wizard might actually find ways to work around it and obtain the four seasons studies, and it would be a trifling matter.'

Locke reflected.

'But so be it. Just the publicly available four seasons studies materials are sufficient for my purposes. If I want the more core and secret knowledge, I can simply write directly to the Root Crown Royal Court at the Raze Lowlands and apply for a borrowing permit for their library.'

Green Witch, seeing that Locke seemed very pleased with the four seasons studies materials she had sent as a gift, immediately broke into a warm smile and asked quietly, "Lord Augustine the great wizard, we are practically in the same circle."

"I have a student here whose magic pressure has already reached eight hundred. I wonder if she might be able to learn your Forest Sanctuary and receive your blessings?"

Albert, listening nearby, grew somewhat anxious.

After all, although Locke had established the Forest Alliance Fund, it was meant to subsidize promising wizard apprentices who hoped to use the Forest Sanctuary to become formal wizards in the future. That was a matter for the future.

But if Christine's student also used the Forest Sanctuary to become a formal wizard, then he would no longer be Locke's sole option in the short term.

Was Green Witch not trying to compete with him for the thirty thousand magic stones a month position that Locke was offering?

Albert asked, "Witch Christine, is your student willing to temporarily change her area of study? It might be better not to force things."

Witch Christine said, "I am also a Lilith’s Cottage graduate. That wizard apprentice is my personally taught disciple. I have been cultivating her according to Lilith’s Cottage's botanical studies approach from the start. What she has been studying is the Harvest Force Field."

"The Harvest Force Field is one of the three types of anti-negative-energy force fields that make up the Myst’s Power. I checked the materials and read the article that Lord Augustine published in the Southeast journal."

Locke knew that the Harvest Force Field was not Lilith’s Cottage's primary permanent defensive force field spell model option, and so that spell model was not restricted by the academy's contract. It could be passed on to others.

Green Witch looked at Locke and said, "Lord Augustine, my student is well-suited to learn our Lilith’s Cottage's Forest Sanctuary."

Albert coughed once. "She is the Four Seasons Garden's student. How did she suddenly become our..."