Chapter 796: Three Types of Curse Guarantors and a New Form of Committee Oversight

Locke looked over the materials Christine had provided on her student, gave a slight nod, and said, "Acceptable. You can try discussing a cross-academy cultivation contract with Teacher Halen Vera and Dean Thompson. These are matters for you all to work out among yourselves."

"I have looked at this student's materials. If Lilith’s Cottage reaches a cooperative agreement with you, then I have no objection. Only completing the Forest Sanctuary requires not just this student's personal talent, but also at least one million five hundred thousand magic stones in resources."

Green Witch's face lit up with a trace of delight.

Because this amounted to receiving Locke's approval on his end. As for the need to negotiate with Lilith’s Cottage, she had originally trained under Lilith’s Cottage herself and was quite confident in being able to reach a cooperative agreement with them.

On the other side, both Halen Vera and Dean Earl Thompson raised no objections. Cross-academy cultivation was fairly common and was also a way of elevating Lilith’s Cottage's standing.

One could say that because of the war between white and black wizards, combined with the successive emergence of Sophia and her student, Lilith’s Cottage's standing in the southeastern quadrant was on a steep upward trajectory.

As long as no other external academic lineage suddenly entered the scene and made a move.

Locke's handling of the matter was reasonably balanced, giving both Witch Christine and Lilith’s Cottage their due face.

A single banquet had produced at least three cooperative arrangements of value to him.

That was practical.

Once the banquet concluded, Locke returned to his alchemy hut at Lilith’s Cottage. Perhaps because the time since he and Witch Sophia had left was too short, the cluster of alchemy huts they had lived in had not been cleared out by the academy at all, with everything still just as it had been, even the interior arrangements unchanged.

It was evident that the academy had sent third-class wizard apprentices to come and maintain it at regular intervals.

Locke first sent the treasure map he had to Hussein through the water hyacinth system and waited for Hussein's response, using the time in the meanwhile to read through his Spiritual Resonance materials.

Two hours later, Locke received a reply from Hussein.

'I am sorry. I cannot fulfill the agreement. I cannot decode this map.'

Hussein sent over a message.

'You can substitute a different agreement.'

'This treasure map has very powerful protective spells placed on it. The first layer of protective spells is fake, appearing to be only at an ordinary Second Circle level. After I broke through the first layer, I discovered a star ring-level protective spell beneath it. After breaking through the first layer, I had a ten-minute window of inaction before the first layer of protective spells automatically restored itself.'

'With both a first and a second layer of protective spells, there is no guarantee that a third or even more layers do not exist.'

Hussein indicated, 'I searched the Mithril Law Firm's materials on your behalf. The Mithril Law Firm frequently accepts commissions to unlock certain treasure maps left over from the human pure-blood age, so I invoked my access privileges and looked up relevant materials for you.'

Locke sent a message through the water hyacinth system asking, 'What did you find?'

Hussein replied, 'I found two possibilities. The first possibility is that this is a common type of barrier school magical map encryption from the human pure-blood age, called the Triple Magic Key. That is, if one does not possess a specific bloodline, one must break through the barrier school spells three consecutive times, with only a ten-minute window to break each layer.'

'The second possibility is even worse. This magic map may also be a Quintuple Magic Key. In other words, the final layer would be a sun ring-level barrier school spell. Five layers of keys stacked and combined through complex calculation can achieve an effect very close to a Third Circle-level barrier school result.'

'At present, it cannot be determined whether it is a triple key or a quintuple key. The reason this type of multi-layered key has been phased out is that its unlocking code is excessively complex. As time passes, the code is extremely prone to being lost, and in many cases even the wizard organization itself has lost the ability to unlock the key and open the magical inheritance.'

Hussein sent over a wry smile emoji.

'Because I am an ordinary partner at the Mithril Law Firm and may soon be promoted to senior partner, I know about these things. Many wizard universities have magical inheritances in their possession whose passwords they have already forgotten, and they come to us hoping to find a way to open them.'

'And so, Locke, I do not have the ability to open this wizard treasure map with its unknown number of magical key layers. If you have need of it, I can introduce you to my colleagues.'

Locke asked directly, "How much would it cost for your colleague to take on this once?"

Hussein said, "That depends on the situation. Ordinary Second Circle lawyers cannot solve this map. The design standard of multi-layered keys specifies a time limit for both technical unlocking and brute-force unlocking. That is, even for us, brute-forcing our way through requires manpower, resources, and time."

"This is precisely the fundamental thinking behind this type of multi-layered magic key barrier school spell model. Even if a skilled wizard capable of technically or forcibly cracking a magical lock is encountered, they are still forced to waste a large amount of time. And so my estimate is that this commission would cost at minimum ten million magic stones as a starting price, and this is already accounting for the discount I can help you negotiate."

"And moreover, you would likely need to sign a contract sharing a portion of the wizard treasure's equivalent value in magic stones."

Locke was somewhat speechless.

Ten million magic stones to unlock a wizard treasure map?

What lay behind this wizard treasure map was still uncertain, and spending tens of millions on a whim was simply far too costly.

And even once the map was unlocked, organizing an expedition would cost more money.

No wonder wizard treasure maps were the kind of project that required investing a large amount of assets for decryption.

'Witch Zoe had this map in her possession, and she probably never anticipated that this map would be this complex. After all, she was only a crystallization wizard, and would naturally not have imagined that the wizard treasure magical map she was working through bit by bit in her spare time was a task she could never complete in her entire lifetime.'

Locke felt a certain awe inwardly. Choose the wrong path, and this is what happens.

Going in completely the wrong direction.

No matter how much effort you pour into it, it is difficult to gain any results.

The key issue is that for a very long time, you may not even know whether you should give up or persist in this direction. Giving up might mean surrendering achievements that were just a thin veil away from your grasp; persisting might mean walking down a road without turning back, with the path ahead only growing darker.

Locke thought it over and decided to temporarily set aside the exploration of this wizard treasure map.

After establishing a firm footing at the Second Circle and becoming a star ring wizard, he could think about it again then.

After all, exploring this wizard treasure map had something of a gambling quality to it, and no one knew what the map from the human pure-blood age actually pointed toward.

Perhaps it was simply the bloodline inheritance treasure of certain wizards with special bloodlines from that era.

'The magical protections here were not designed with the intent of hiding the treasure completely. Because as technology advanced in the future, that would be virtually impossible to achieve. And so their thinking was to raise the cost and price for wizards of non-native bloodlines to crack and find the treasure they left behind.'

Hussein appeared very apologetic. After all, Locke had previously moved against the Ghost Sacred Order for him, and had also dealt with the Pale Pilgrimage's Bone Palace Second Circle black wizard, yet now Hussein could not decode the magic map for Locke.

Locke replied, 'It is fine. This kind of thing cannot be forced after all.'

'For me, it is not a pressing matter.'

'Hussein, in any case, both you and that Wizard Isaac can come with me for the plane exploration. The three of us should be enough to form a plane exploration team. At most we would hire a few experienced First Circle wizards additionally.'

'So that counts as you providing two people. Which is equivalent to completing two of my tasks, in line with the equal value principle of our deal.'

Hussein said with some embarrassment, 'Very well. In that case, I will not need the compensation for this plane exploration.'

Locke said, "Beyond that, I would like to hire you to draft three contracts for me."

Locke briefly explained that he needed a fund sponsorship contract, a Forest Sanctuary cooperative contract laying out the obligations of the Forest Alliance and using law to strengthen cooperative relationships within the Forest Alliance, and a plane information confidentiality contract for visits to the Louis Plane.

Locke did not want to cut corners on this, and so conducted a normal transaction with Hussein, the rising star of the Mithril Law Firm.

After all, these three contracts were far too important.

And only by spending money could one purchase quality cooperation.

Saving money in matters this critical was tantamount to asking for trouble.

In the end, the two of them reached an agreement. Locke paid a total of one million five hundred thousand magic stones for him to draft three types of contracts, with ten copies of each type.

Locke planned to have them prepared now and left at Lilith’s Cottage, to avoid the trouble of sending contracts back and forth.

After all, there were vast distances between wizard territories, and logistics costs were high.

Hussein indicated, 'Rest assured, Locke. The contracts I draft will not have any obvious loopholes. I have received rigorous training from the Mithril Law Firm and clients frequently come to us to draft reasonable and tight contracts. Right, for the guarantors on the three contracts, you may choose.'

'The Aztec Curse Coins, or the Mithril Silver Code are both options.'

'Oh, right. Recently our Mithril Law Firm has also established partial cooperation with the White Wizard Association in the Central Border Region's Origin Place, so we can also use their curse guarantor, the Suspended River Water.'

Locke understood that these guarantors were in essence powerful curse magics that protected the validity of agreements. The Aztec Curse Coins were the general-purpose guarantors provided by the White Wizard Association.

A replica of an Aztec Curse Coin would be affixed to the contract, and should anyone violate it, the coin would flip, bringing the curse's power down upon the violator.

Because the essence of a contract was not that it stipulated some universal law that must be followed. That was not the logic of commercial contracts.

The essence of a contract was that it provided the price to be paid for violation.

In other words, if someone could bear that price, they could violate it.

Locke asked, "What are the respective characteristics of the Mithril Silver Code and the Suspended River Water?"

Hussein answered quickly. "The Aztec Curse Coins, once flipped, produce powerful curse damage against a wizard, which is not lethal but causes their body to decay."

"The Mithril Silver Code, as the Mithril wizard's Grand Magic, works closely with the various bureaus of the White Wizard Association. And so the moment someone violates the contract, the primary direction of punishment is monetary compensation."

"To make up for your losses."

"The Suspended River Water is a curse guarantor unique to the Origin Place's White Wizard Association. It consists of water from the Origin River, which is naturally of immense weight. The water flows from above downward, and nothing can float on its surface. Only magical power can cause objects to float on the Suspended River. And so a drop of Suspended River Water placed on a magical contract means that should anyone violate the agreement, a portion of the magical power protecting their soul is withdrawn, and the Suspended River Water then falls upon their soul."

Locke gave a slight nod. He had also heard of the Origin River, a remarkable river that brought abundant magical resources to the Central Border Region yet also brought considerable destruction.

The entire river floated in the air, tens of meters above the ground, somewhat reminiscent of the mythological Weak Water from his previous life.

It was said that the Central Border Region had in the past devoted a great deal of energy to managing the Suspended River's waters.

Locke thought for a moment and said, "I will go to the Fairy Bank in a few days and pay you there. Let us use the Mithril Silver Code as the guarantor."

The Mithril Silver Code would better ensure that someone compensated him monetarily if they violated the contract. If the other party had no money to pay, at most he would end up with a debt slave.

And he was conveniently short of people to do work.

Were it not for Golden Crown Mountain's limited student quota, Locke would have wanted to take on a few more first-class wizard apprentice students.

Unfortunately, first-class wizard apprentices at Golden Crown Mountain were precious commodities, rare resources even for formal wizards.

After all, the quality of Golden Crown Mountain's apprentices was simply too high.

He could not possibly obtain a third one in a short period.

Hussein said, "Very well. There is no rush on the money. I trust your character. You are the most recently prominent researcher at Golden Crown Mountain and would not violate an agreement over such a small amount."

"I also think using the Mithril Silver Code as the guarantor would be better. This way, you might even end up gaining a few debt slaves."

"Right, if you are short of people to do work lately, you can take a look at the talent market under our Mithril Law Firm. There are many people there who have become debt slaves or are heavily indebted after losing lawsuits. We even specifically opened a talent market for this reason. After all, those people cannot really help the law firm with its work, and so they can only be rented out."

Locke put away the Ganoderma magical plant and shook his head.

"The Mithril Law Firm truly is a law firm that earns money through winning lawsuits."

"To have accumulated so many debt slaves that they opened a dedicated rental talent market."

Locke sent Hussein a message.

"There is one more thing. I want to set up a fund committee to help oversee my funds."

This kind of fund oversight could either be handled by hiring professionals, or by asking students.

But hiring professionals had a problem: if you paid no attention to things yourself, it was easy to be sidelined.

And so Locke wanted to find a reliable friend to take charge of this matter.

And Hussein was the perfect candidate for this.

Hussein thought for a moment, then sent Locke a message.

'The southeastern quadrant is too small. There is no law firm there, and the Mithril Law Firm has no branch office there.'

'But Locke, rest assured. Your situation is one I am familiar with. I have provided this kind of service for multiple clients before, and it was even how I got my start.'

Hussein said, "Under normal circumstances, as a great Second Circle wizard, the greatest fear after establishing a committee is being unable to effectively control it."

"And so professionals are often needed to be hired to run the committee."

"Given the distances between wizard territories, the costs are quite significant."

"Often the legal expenses alone in a year reach over a million magic stones."

Locke furrowed his brow.

This kind of expenditure was painful for him at this stage.

It was not at all a productive investment, but purely a supervisory one.

Hussein said, "And so I innovated a bit. Drawing on my extensive experience in the Blood Curse Court with mutual checks and mutual suspicion, I created a new form of committee oversight at the Mithril Law Firm and provided corresponding legal advisory services."

"This earned me a large amount of wealth and reputation in the early stage. That said, I will provide this service for free. After all, I did not fulfill the earlier agreement to help you decode the wizard treasure map."

Hussein sent over a message. "I dislike going back on agreements."

"I can draft a contract for you, requiring only thirty thousand magic stones, just the cost price. I will have all the committee personnel in the southeastern quadrant sign this contract together, creating a collective curse. Should anyone violate the agreement, the entire committee would be collectively cursed."

"This way, human nature itself creates the constraints. The committee's internal structure forms its own system of checks and balances."

A light gleamed in Locke's eyes. This was indeed a brilliant approach.

It could save wizards a considerable amount of legal expenditure.

Hussein had not placed all security on the magical contract alone, but used one magical contract as a starting point, leveraging the mutual checks of human nature among the signatories, thus ensuring the committee could fulfill its duties.

Locke asked, "Hussein, my friend, how much would a normal legal consultation cost?"

Hussein said, "Not expensive. Approximately two hundred to three hundred thousand. I have calculated the price. A normal committee's combined audit and legal services cost at least one to two million, but using my method, the cost can be compressed to around five hundred thousand."

"There have even been times I made a small profit on top of that."

"There was a client from the Southern Border Region. I helped him establish a committee, designed the contracts, and in a situation where his committee was derelict in its duties, I used legal mechanisms to help him recover a million magic stones from that committee, with one hundred thousand going to my side."

"After that, he frequently came back to work with me."

Hussein said, "As for exactly who it is, it is not convenient to say. In any case, it is a wizard from a wizard territory in the Southern Border Region. The shop alliances there earn much of their money not through actual business, but through attracting investment, or deliberately engaging in lawsuits with committees and other shop alliances to obtain funds."

"It was quite an eye-opener for me. The Mithril Law Firm is an excellent platform, and through this platform I have been able to deal with many high-level clients."

Locke held the Ganoderma magical plant and gave a slight nod.

"Indeed. A platform is very important."

No wonder Hussein could become a Second Circle wizard in such a short time. He had innovated a new form of committee oversight, found a legal specialty uniquely his own, and found a powerful patron from the Southern Border Region.

At the same time, Locke quietly noted this fairly important piece of information: 'Shop alliances in the Southern Border Region enjoy using lawsuits to extract money from their cooperative partners.'

Hussein said, "Wherever you go, what matters most in white wizard society is money."

"The reason the two of us could advance to Second Circle wizards so quickly, beyond talent, was most importantly that each of us found our own means of generating wealth. Locke, your talent is stronger than mine, and your eye for opportunity surpasses mine. You are always able to bring in more projects."

"As for me, I can only use the understanding of human nature I learned from my experience at the Blood Curse Court and make my way in the lawyer world of white wizard society. Fortunately, no one can escape the domain of human nature."

Locke and Hussein exchanged a few more words and finalized the specifics of their cooperation.

He contacted Halen Vera through the gray stone tablet and, using Halen Vera's network of connections, assembled a six-person fund committee specifically charged with examining the use of funds for his Forest Alliance Fund and the Louis Plane project expenses.

The chairperson of his fund committee was taken on by Halen Vera himself.

Halen Vera accepted this responsibility very readily.

As compensation, Locke was required to pay the six committee members ten thousand magic stones per year, meaning sixty thousand magic stones annually to the committee.

This committee was responsible for overseeing the use of the one million magic stones Locke had injected into each of the two major funds, along with the applicant screening process.

In this way, through this committee and the two major funds, Locke had effectively made his mark in the southeastern quadrant and laid down a certain foundation.

After Locke and Hussein ended their call, he tallied up what he had spent so far.

Hiring Hussein to draft contracts had cost a total of one million five hundred and thirty thousand magic stones. Added to the sixty thousand paid to the committee for this year, plus two million magic stones injected into the two major funds, his total investment at Lilith’s Cottage came to three million five hundred and ninety thousand magic stones.

At this point, Halen Vera sent him a message.

'Locke, would you like to form some kind of breeder competition under your name as well? Ha ha, if you are interested, I believe that with your current reputation, many wizards would compete eagerly to join.'

Locke felt his head growing heavier. Teacher Halen Vera naturally wanted him to put together a well-known competition in the southeastern quadrant.

That would make his network of connections even more impressive in scope.

A network of connections was the subordinate product of an academic lineage. When many such networks stacked together, they formed an entire lineage.

Of course, because of Lilith’s Cottage's severed academic lineage, only networks of connections remained without a lineage to hold them together.

The entire southeastern quadrant was nothing more than the outermost edge of the high-circle wizards of the Eastern Border Region's academic lineages.

Even the Four Seasons Garden and Virdantia University risked losing contact and severing ties from their main lineages at any moment.

But at this moment, his problem was simply having no money.

Locke replied, 'There is no need, Teacher Halen.'

'I do not yet need to establish a competition of my own.'

The cost of establishing a competition even exceeded that of establishing a fund. After all, establishing a fund only required overseeing the use and applications for sponsorship money, whereas a competition committee would need to be funded every few years to manage the running of the event.

And as far as Locke knew, the vast majority of competitions in the wizard world were very difficult to recoup their costs on.

Competitions like the Cloud Marsh Cup and the Silent Chalice, the kind that could generate revenue, were very successful large-scale commercial competitions. They had all been built up by high-circle wizards, requiring vast networks of connections and the commercial model that came with a high-circle wizard's standing, which was what allowed those competitions to break even.

At this moment, as an ordinary Second Circle wizard himself, establishing such a competition was still far too premature.

Halen Vera seemed very regretful and sent a message through the gray stone tablet.

'Very well. A gifted breeder like you should establish a breeder competition named after yourself.'

'Only then can you inspire those students to study with you as their model and goal.'