Chapter 806: Creating a Group Chat and Themed Events

One month later, in Locke's dormitory at Golden Crown Mountain's Origin Academy, he contacted Christine's student through the gray stone tablet.

Because the Green Witch had formed a cooperative relationship with Lilith’s Cottage, her student had signed a contract with Lilith's Cottage under the name of a joint cultivation program.

That is, after becoming a formal wizard through the Forest Sanctuary, she would first serve Lilith's Cottage for thirty years before being permitted to return to the Four Seasons Garden to teach.

The reason such harsh terms could be reached lay in the fact that the Four Seasons Garden had fallen into extreme decline during the black-and-white wizard war, while Lilith's Cottage, owing to Locke, had undergone a significant strengthening instead.

Going forward, Halen Vera and Dean Earl of Lilith's Cottage seemed to be preparing to leverage Locke's influence to restore Lilith's Cottage to its former position as the top wizard academy in the southeastern quadrant.

Locke had no objections to any of this.

As he had always said, the better the wizard university one came from, the more advantageous it was for oneself.

If one's wizard university was mediocre, that was fine too. One simply needed to take a slightly unconventional path and lift that wizard university up in the process.

At this moment, Ivy, the Green Witch's student, had successfully completed the rune inscription process under Locke's guidance, using three Red Earth Holly plants to form a permanent defensive force field on her own soul.

Witch Ivy had just become a formal wizard and appeared, through the image on the gray stone tablet, to be in a state of extreme exhaustion, yet her eyes were tremendously excited.

Out of safety considerations, the location chosen for her Forest Sanctuary was also within the research institute inside the Forbidden Forest. The magical fields inside that institute were sufficient, and after obtaining Locke's permission and arrangements, Lilith's Cottage had made repeated trips into the Forbidden Forest, moving large quantities of magical resources into that institute and restarting its operations.

They had also connected the institute to Lady Morgana's Magical Garden.

In this way, that institute had become a rather suitable location for a Forest Sanctuary.

These wizards, unlike Locke, did not need to consider advancing to higher-level wizard territories, and so placing a Forest Sanctuary in a location where the academy could provide concentrated protection was simply ideal.

Moreover, because of Locke's connection, the institute could also be protected by the Forbidden Forest.

At the same time, something that everyone understood without needing to say aloud was that choosing that institute this time was also meant to bring them a little closer to Locke.

It was just that in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands and the Star Domain Sea, only a Third Circle wizard had the standing to form a teacher lineage, and until that point everyone could only be described as an ordinary network of relationships. So this thing that everyone understood without speaking was left unspoken.

At this moment, Witch Ivy appeared weak in bearing but her eyes were full of joy, and she said to Locke, "Thank you, Teacher Augustine. Thank you for your guidance in helping me complete the Forest Sanctuary and become a formal wizard."

"And thank you as well, Teacher Christine."

Witch Christine and Wizard Halen Vera, standing to one side, gave an extremely gratified nod.

"You are now a formal wizard. My skin turned green due to an experiment, and you, during your apprentice stage, had your entire skin turn red as a result of fusing the plant cells of the Red Sea Star into your own cells in order to gain the special ability of photosynthesis."

"Then you shall be called the Red Witch from now on."

Red Witch Ivy immediately bowed to Christine and said, "Thank you for bestowing this name upon me, teacher."

Locke said to Witch Ivy, "Red Witch, in accordance with a contract you and I signed previously, I will hang my Moon of Evolution within your Forest Sanctuary."

"You are the third subordinate forest under my name."

The forest in the Louis Plane was a branch forest of his own Forest Sanctuary, while this Red Witch's Forest Sanctuary was a subordinate forest of his.

The Forest Alliance was constructed around three cores, Locke's Grand Magic, the forest ecological corridors, and the contract documents that Hussein had crafted for him.

Together, these three formed a very unique ecosystem that existed only among wizards.

This path had been completed by Locke entirely through a combination of opportunity and circumstance, yet its future development appeared promising.

The Red Witch bowed to Locke.

"Great Wizard Augustine, it is a great honor to join your subordinate forest plan."

She hastened to express her loyalty to Locke and was eager to convey her closeness toward him.

"Great Wizard Augustine, I will cultivate my forest diligently and make our Forest Alliance grow ever stronger."

Locke gave a slight nod, then closed the communication.

With two wizards who had become First Circle wizards through the Forest Sanctuary having been successively cultivated via the Myst’s Power Research Institute at Lilith's Cottage, the cultivation system of that research center had taken preliminary shape.

As time passed, he could fully rely on that research center, along with the fund subsidies he had established, to see more and more wizards using Forest Sanctuaries come into being.

Locke thought, "Though it is still too early to be thinking this way, this could be considered preparation for the teacher lineage I will build in the future."

"Though, ultimately, it all comes down to the Forest Sanctuary being the cause that led to the subsequent development of a series of related magics."

Locke walked out of the dormitory and in the corridor encountered Daniel. Wizard Daniel, sporting a pair of dark circles under his eyes, saw Locke and paused for a moment, then said, "Locke, good evening. By the way, Locke, have you heard something? I heard it from a senior colleague of mine in the advanced Origin Academy, a weather wizard from the year above me."

"It seems that the Second Circle researchers in Golden Crown Mountain's advanced Origin Academy have created a group on the water hyacinth system for the purpose of applying for next year's special-grade grant. They exchange relevant information in the group and share various news to increase the chances of their applications being approved."

Locke was mildly taken aback.

Wizard Daniel asked carefully.

"Locke, were you added to the group?"

Locke shook his head.

Wizard Daniel fell into thought.

"Then it is because you only recently became a Second Circle wizard, and they did not invite you."

"Does that count as being excluded?"

Locke smiled and said, "More or less. But I do not mind."

"Thank you for going out of your way to let me know."

Locke thought it over briefly and guessed that he had indeed been excluded, for a number of reasons.

First, he had only just become a Second Circle wizard, and others were naturally going to be wary of newcomers.

Second, he had only been in the advanced Origin Academy for one year, so in other people's eyes, there was no urgency for him to apply for the special-grade grant. Applying at this point might even be seen as some kind of infringement on others' resources.

On top of all that, he generally did not mix in the circles of the advanced Origin Academy's researchers, even less so than Daniel in terms of engaging with others. Of course that would make him easy to isolate.

Locke said to Daniel, "There is no need to join a group like that."

He gave Daniel a slight nod and said, "I have other things to attend to, so I will be heading off first."

Locke looked at a message Witch Scarlett had sent him. Ever since a month ago, when he had deliberately released Old Pirate Henry, the old pirate had apparently gone back and mobilized his connections, causing a large number of wizards in the void pirate community to cancel their orders with Solas Light Foot.

Of course, this was mainly because the pirates had already been quite dissatisfied with Solas Light Foot to begin with.

So over the past month, Solas Light Foot had been in an extremely difficult position. The mass cancellations from void pirates had led some white wizard void explorers to begin developing doubts about Solas Light Foot as well.

And Melechi Magic Step had gone straight in to scoop up the opportunity.

This had caused Solas Light Foot to suffer tremendous losses over the past month.

These losses had even affected the sales figures for their various versions of Second Circle wizard shoes.

Solas Light Foot therefore decided to hold a themed event half a year from now, inviting well-known void explorers to endorse Solas Light Foot products in order to boost sales and restore their reputation.

Witch Scarlett had left him a message.

'Solas Light Foot is coming in strong this time. Apparently the themed event has invited a large number of fairly well-known Second Circle and First Circle wizard void explorers from the Cloud Marsh Wetlands.'

'They are spending hundreds of millions of magic stones. Judging by how aggressively they are moving, I think they intend to use this event to completely resolve the trouble we have caused them. Though of course we should not be their main target. We would not be worth this kind of mobilization.'

Witch Scarlett said, 'The Rose Witch, Melechi Wizard, and Solas Wizard have all left the Cloud Marsh Wetlands and are no longer in the eastern territory. The sun ring wizards of both houses have been looking at each other with disfavor for a long time, so I think the main target Solas Light Foot wants to eliminate right now is not us, but Melechi Magic Step.'

Locke nodded and said, "Yes, I heard this morning that Melechi Magic Step's wizard shoes have apparently also been receiving customer complaints, but it was quickly traced back and found to be people hired by Solas Light Foot."

"The two of them have come to blows now. Currently they are arguing back and forth, and it is impossible to tell what the truth is."

Witch Scarlett sent a message.

"Then we are about to face a full-scale assault from Solas Light Foot. We should take advantage of this period to sell as many wizard shoes as possible and ideally produce a few more First Circle wizard shoe varieties."

"That way, when Solas Light Foot makes their move, we will be better positioned to respond."

Locke said, "On that topic, you can relax, Witch Scarlett. But I have been busy with other projects recently, and I would like to put the First Circle wizard shoe matter on hold for now."

"On my own, I do not have that much energy to spare at the moment."

On the other side of the water hyacinth system, Witch Scarlett's expression became tense. She was currently at a plantation in a colonial world in Arthas.

"Hmm? Wizard Locke is actually turning me down. Why?"

"Well, of course, he is a wizard of Golden Crown Mountain, not someone devoted specifically to wizard shoes."

"Most of the money he earns through wizard shoes probably still goes back to fund research at Golden Crown Mountain. Sigh."

Witch Scarlett let out a sigh.

"If he is unwilling, there is nothing I can do to force him."

"It is just that once Solas Light Foot launches their themed event, even if we at Augustus are not their primary target, we are likely going to have a very hard time."

There was nothing to be done about it. The difficulty of survival for a newly established store alliance was simply this great.

The end result for most new store alliances was closure.

Store alliances that survived were always in the minority.

That was why most Second Circle wizards had not chosen to open a store alliance, or had opened one casually as a formality while still devoting most of their energy to applying for grants or working under someone else's banner.

On the other side, Locke's clone went to Bonifacius University.

And Locke's main body headed to the underground research institute in the Dune Plane. He intended to use the hundred-acre magical field on the tenth level to make his final breakthrough on the cost problem of virtual roots.

To achieve this, two things were required.

First, the botanical research system he had built, consisting of the Moon of Evolution, Flowers Bloom and Fall, and the Synthesis Cube.

Second, information from Witch Stephanie, Bonifacius University, and the Rose Council's library.

Locke's first destination was Bonifacius University.

Due to his agreement with Bonifacius University on the new weaving studies, he was permitted to use the laboratory equipment in the facility where Witch Georgina worked, and through her laboratory he had borrowed a library pass from Bonifacius University.

Locke's main body stood before the magical field and thought, "Whether it is creating group chats or holding themed events, none of it is of much significance."

"What truly matters is having products or research results to show for it. A special-grade grant depends on a good research objective, a solid research plan, and strong preliminary data, while wizard shoes depend on the quality of the product itself."

"Let me put in the effort. I hope I can complete the exploration of virtual roots within this half year."

Locke also noticed something, which was that if he were to focus on power ranking and forging his Grand Magic in the same way other wizards did, that would be the wrong approach for him.

Because the foundation of his Grand Magic was evolutionary studies, and his primary ecological community consisted of various magical plants and tree people.

This meant that using the ordinary cultivation system of intelligent races would not produce a well-suited ranking system for his Grand Magic.

So, unlike others, researching virtual roots was the right path for him.

And virtual roots were the final bottleneck problem standing between him and producing Second Circle wizard shoes.

Bonifacius University was a beautiful university situated by a lake. Inside the university's laboratory, Witch Georgina looked at Locke and said, "Locke, welcome to our Bonifacius University."

"You are here this time to fulfill the cooperation agreement with our university, I take it."

Locke kept a neutral expression.

"More or less."

The request to improve the Black Swan Bromeliad was actually quite simple for him. Using the research system he had built, he could complete it within a few days.

His main purpose in coming here was to borrow from Bonifacius University's library and think through the difficult problem of reducing virtual root costs.

Everything else was secondary.

The eyes beneath Witch Georgina's wooden mask seemed very happy.

"Then follow me to the laboratory. Take a look at what equipment might be lacking, and I will do my best to submit a request for it. If it is not available, I can help you borrow equipment from other laboratories."

Locke said, "There is no rush. Let us go to the library first."

Witch Georgina gave Locke a curious look.

"That is fine too. Take a few days to relax first. There really is no need to be in such a hurry. This way, please."