Chapter 854: An Unexpected Ally

Golden Crown Mountain, Group Two's laboratory, inside Team Leader Cis's office.

Wizard Cis looked at Locke with envy, and handed over two black magical boxes containing Tourmaline King Peaches.

"Take a look. If there are no issues, sign here, and you can take them."

"I am truly envious of you. First you published a Tier 1 journal paper, and now you have won the Small Breath Cup championship. Although the Small Breath Cup has only held a few rounds, because they have controlled the quality of the champions and participants across the first five rounds, and combined with fairly successful commercial operations, the prestige is still quite high. Keep up the good work."

Team Leader Cis clapped Locke on the shoulder.

"The upper echelons of the Academic Committee believe you are a breeder whose talent can stand alongside Wizard Zeno. But if you ask me, your overall level far surpasses Wizard Zeno. Wizard Zeno is not the champion of the Magical Combat Competition and the Silent Chalice."

"By the way, Locke, you can also choose two First Circle level magical peaches from the Twelve Magical Peaches, aside from the Tourmaline King Peach and certain Second and Third Circle peaches."

Locke had come prepared. After bowing to Wizard Cis, he said, "Team Leader Cis, I would like to choose two Dragon Observation Peaches."

Wizard Cis paused.

"You chose the Teacher's Dragon Observation Peach? I had thought you would choose the White Dew Peach, the Water Cloud Peach, or the Golden Cloud Peach."

"The Golden Cloud Peach has an enhancing effect on the Grand Magic, though it is still a First Circle level magical peach."

"For you, the Golden Cloud Peach might be more suitable. After all, Second Circle projects and Second Circle papers, while they seem like things you can obtain at will, actually have limits depending on each wizard's innate potential, the platform they are on, and their current stage of development. Both Second Circle projects and Second Circle papers are actually limited in number."

"Especially since you are still in a rapid development phase right now, you may not feel this yet."

Wizard Cis said, "Although I do not know why, as a wizard grows older, the number of projects they can apply for directly and papers they can publish drops sharply. There are many reasons. For instance, Second Circle wizards are different from Third Circle wizards, in that the soul will ultimately undergo decline. It is possible that there is a part of the soul's decline we have not yet researched. Some papers from the Four Bright Waters suggest this is related to the maturation of the Heart's Light."

"Of course, there is also the most significant reason."

Wizard Cis said, "You should have noticed, I think. Conducting projects and publishing papers, at their core, are a research framework established by high-circle wizards to drive the advancement of wizard civilization, but they are also a path of power advancement designed by the high-circle wizards of wizard civilization for all wizards."

Locke gave a slight nod.

He had indeed dimly sensed this, and Wizard Cis, as a sun ring wizard, had openly laid it out for him, telling him in advance.

He had indeed, through publishing a Second Circle Tier 1 paper and winning a Second Circle competition championship, seen a further advancement in the forging of his Grand Magic, with his breeding studies also developing at a rapid pace.

Wizard Cis smiled and said, "The wizard world has always had many unspoken paths of advancement. Discovering these hidden paths is itself an ability an excellent wizard should possess."

"These taken-for-granted, deliberately concealed pieces of information will cause some wizards to not understand why they have failed."

"To not understand why other wizards advance so quickly. Perhaps at this very moment, I am unaware of certain hidden advancement paths that have been deliberately concealed. At the end of the day, all of this is a cultivation plan designed for us, who are young wizards by their standards, by the truly high-circle wizards."

"That is why they are the pioneers of civilization, rather than individuals who hoard power for themselves."

"But I have digressed. The key point is that on this advancement path, a wizard will continuously publish related papers and apply for projects as they perfect their Grand Magic."

Locke caught on and said, "So, Team Leader Cis, you mean that if a wizard deviates from their Grand Magic in order to publish papers, obtain projects, and win championships..."

Wizard Cis said calmly, "This is actually a paradox. Because if one deviates from the Grand Magic to do these things, it is fundamentally very difficult to succeed. Of course, there are also very few misguided unconventional geniuses who do fall into this trap. Their outcomes are often lamentable. In these situations, if they happen to encounter someone who gives them a word of guidance, things tend to turn out much better."

"If they are at a more ordinary wizard university, there may be no one to guide them, and there may even be people who deliberately mislead them because they are blocking someone else's path. There is nothing new under the sun."

Wizard Cis said, "So, Locke, the projects, papers, and competition championships tied to the forging of your Grand Magic are actually finite in number in the end. Therefore, based on this principle, Golden Crown Mountain has formulated an entire set of reward principles."

"Many older wizards also see a sharp drop in the number of projects they can apply for and papers they can publish, because their Grand Magic has grown too mature or has gone down the wrong path and can no longer be forged further."

Locke nodded. In truth, Team Leader Cis had said so much simply to give him a wake-up call.

He seemed to think Locke should exchange for the Golden Cloud Peach as much as possible.

Because the Golden Cloud Peach could be hung on the Grand Magic, and the more that were hung, the more enhancement accumulated. This was essentially no different from adding attribute points.

The only difference was that the more were hung, the more qualitative changes would occur.

His Moon of Evolution currently had only two Golden Cloud Peaches hung on it, along with one Comet Gate. Locke estimated that if he could hang three Golden Cloud Peaches, a small qualitative advancement would occur. If he could hang ten Golden Cloud Peaches, a major qualitative advancement would occur.

So Team Leader Cis had gone to such lengths to say all of this for two reasons.

The first was to point out to him that the wizard world had cultivation paths set by high-circle wizards that would never be directly told to others.

Such as the top-tier genius pursuit of a top-level faculty position cultivation track he had perceived.

The second was to have him seize the opportunity and quickly exchange for Golden Cloud Peaches, and not assume that Second Circle Tier 1 papers and championships like the Small Breath Cup could be obtained at will.

Because he had to conduct competitions, do projects, and publish papers revolving around the forging of his Grand Magic. The related rewards were therefore actually capped in number.

After deliberating, Locke said, "Then give me one Dragon Observation Peach and one Golden Cloud Peach."

Locke chose this exchange for a simple reason.

He had never figured out what had happened to the younger sister of Camilla Witch of Mage City. The touch of humanity he had bestowed upon her using the stone spirit's spirituality had inexplicably made her behave strangely, and the Teacher's Dragon Observation Peach happened to be capable of bestowing humanity upon an animal's soul.

Although a complete humanity could only be bestowed by the Dragon Observation Peach King, even a single Dragon Observation Peach was sufficient for an experiment.

'The Golden Cloud Peach is very important. But the symptoms on Witch Camilla's younger sister involve cracking the mystery of the stone spirit of the Dune Plane.'

Locke thought: 'This touches on the very foundation of the Grand Magic and therefore cannot be ignored.'

Wizard Cis saw that Locke still had not let go of the Dragon Observation Peach, and gave Locke a surprised look, shaking his head slightly, saying nothing more.

Locke was not a beast-taming wizard. He could not understand what Locke was so insistent about keeping the Dragon Observation Peach for.

However, Wizard Cis did not continue to offer reminders.

After all, the other party was also a Second Circle great wizard, not his student. They were colleagues, so he could not override Locke's wishes and directly choose the reward on his behalf.

Wizard Cis said, "Understood. I will let the academy know. One Golden Cloud Peach and one Dragon Observation Peach will be with you shortly."

"By the way, Locke, keep up the hard work. I heard that Wizard Brandy of Group Three has had a fundamental breakthrough in his project. And others, from what I have heard, having exchanged ideas with each other, have also made some decent progress."

"Every year around this time, the competition enters a white-hot phase, and many good ideas begin to emerge during this period."

"That is about right."

Locke blinked and said calmly, "How so, Team Leader?"

Wizard Cis said, "I admire this composure of yours, always unruffled in a crisis, as if everything is within your control."

Locke smiled and said, "Not at all. In truth, I panic quite a lot of the time, Team Leader."

Wizard Cis smiled and said, "I heard that Wizard Brandy over there has finally, after three years, abandoned that worthless flesh-and-blood sacred tree research."

"Thank goodness. His head has finally cleared."

"As long as he throws out that worthless flesh-and-blood sacred tree, his mind is actually quite capable. Recently he has gotten hold of a Second Circle magical plant that has achieved a very rare symbiosis with the Second Circle magical creature, the Aegis Ice Domain Leopard."

"Apparently it is also a peach tree. Seems to be the Arctic Ice Peach."

Wizard Cis smiled and said, "The research of peach-type magical plants has always been of interest to our Golden Crown Mountain. So his research direction has finally gotten on the right track. Whether he figured it out himself or someone pointed him in that direction, I do not know."

"That Arctic Ice Peach grows on the glacier on the back of the Aegis Ice Domain Leopard. The ice domain on the Aegis Ice Domain Leopard's back is a characteristic of this magical creature. People had previously hypothesized that in natural environments, it was possible that a Second Circle magical plant might take root on the ice domain on an Aegis Ice Domain Leopard's back."

"But no such precedent had ever been found until now. And Wizard Brandy obtained from a plant hunter this extremely rare Arctic Ice Peach magical plant that had achieved symbiosis with a Second Circle magical creature."

"This has attracted the attention of the Throne. Because the Throne is very fond of research in this direction. It is as if it sits precisely on the Throne's line of appreciation."

Wizard Cis smiled and said, "That young man has turned out to be capable after all."

"But that is Group Three's researcher. You are our Group Two's researcher, so you need to work extra hard."

Locke gave a slight nod, thoughtful. "Understood, Team Leader."

Locke exchanged a few more words with Wizard Cis, then left Team Leader Cis's office.

It was the start of the year now, and his competitors were beginning to have ideas and new breakthroughs during this period, planning to begin applying for this year's special-grade grant project around mid-year. This was perfectly normal.

In fact, if they had had no breakthroughs at all during this period, that would have been the abnormal situation.

However, Locke was somewhat surprised that Wizard Brandy would suddenly abandon the flesh-and-blood sacred tree research he had persisted with for three years. Had he figured it out himself, or had someone given him guidance?

Locke returned to the tenth underground floor of Group Two's research institute.

On that floor, ten acres of magical fields held speed-grown First Circle seedlings of downgraded golden ear wheat used as rootstocks, grafted together with downgraded speed-grown First Circle Great Blood Wave Bromeliad magical plant cuttings.

His second pair of wizard shoes was going to take the golden magic route, referencing the Sephiroth's Grip spell model and modifying some of that spell's characteristics into a Second Circle botanical spell model.

Then he would ask an enchanter to enchant it onto the wizard shoes.

The reason for grafting the golden ear wheat was simply to have the Great Blood Wave Bromeliad begin to take on golden magic characteristics, for use in casting that spell.

So this round of grafting would not cost too much money or resources, as it only required cultivating one plant specimen with a certain degree of golden magical plant factors.

The cultivation difficulty was considerably lower.

However, Locke planned to use the grafting cultivation method in the early stage and then upgrade and optimize it using the Spirit Breath cultivation method later.

This way, he could also use it to practice his Spirit Breath cultivation method, bringing his breeding level to the standard of a Second Circle breeder.

At the same time, by designing a Second Circle botanical spell model himself, this would simultaneously improve his understanding of both golden magic and botanical magic, further forging his Grand Magic.

Of course, this would be somewhat challenging.

Locke was already prepared to invest considerable money and overcome many obstacles.

If it ultimately still did not work, he could look through the library for botanical spell models designed by others in the past, borrow from them, and piece something together that could at least roughly fulfill some of the functional aspects he had envisioned.

So Locke had prepared for two possible outcomes.

Locke checked Arthas's pre-sale platform, and there was a problem. He did not know whether it was because this was a conceptual pre-sale or some other reason.

Within the past month of pre-selling, the sales had been paltry, only twenty-one orders.

This formed a sharp contrast with the roaring success of his previous Second Circle wizard shoe pre-sale.

Locke looked at this number with puzzlement. He asked Witch Scarlett about it, and Witch Scarlett did not seem to know what had happened either. She replied that she was looking into the cause.

But at minimum it was certain this had nothing to do with Solas Light Foot or Melechi's Magic Steps.

Locke stood in the laboratory, saying with puzzlement, "What happened?"

"Things are a bit less smooth lately."

At the same time, he received a message from Witch Mason via the water hyacinth system. She said a witch from the Origin Academy had come looking for him, claiming to have important matters to discuss and hoping to meet him in person.

But the meeting had to be at one of the Witch's Kitchen's private rooms.

Locke looked at the address Witch Mason had sent, his brow furrowing slightly.

...

The Witch's Kitchen, Private Room No. 1. A soundproofing wizard formation had already been activated inside.

Locke walked in and saw a witch standing inside Private Room No. 1 with her back to him. Judging by her silhouette, she did not appear to be old.

He seemed to vaguely recognize her but could not recall exactly where he had seen her.

Locke looked at her and fell into thought.

He suddenly remembered who this was.

He had only met her once.

At the banquet his teacher had held to celebrate him becoming a Second Circle wizard.

The witch turned around. On the left shoulder of her wizard robe bloomed a single black rose.

"Hello, we meet again for the second time. Locke Augustine. I am Rose Tacitus."

Witch Rose had a very sharp chin, with a touch of coldness in the depths of her eyes, making her appear unapproachable, even somewhat cold-edged.

"I have come this time to propose a temporary alliance with you."