Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems

Witch Victoria spoke, "Could you let me take a look at the treasure map you just took out?"

"I have no interest in a Second Circle wizard's treasure map itself, but it appears to be a product of the Pure-Blood Human Era."

Locke did not hesitate and took the treasure map out of his astral ring directly, handing it to Witch Victoria.

The treasure map itself had magical configurations embedded within it that would be difficult to break through.

Witch Victoria was not a sealing school wizard, and even as a Third Circle wizard, breaking through it in a short amount of time would be difficult.

Witch Victoria accepted the treasure map and looked it over, then handed it back to Locke.

"Yes, it is a product of the Pure-Blood Human Era. That era saw the existence of the Pure-Blood Cult, which used the extermination of deviant wizards as its stated cause, while its true purpose was the annihilation of specific magical knowledge lineages."

"Many wizards of that era, in order to prevent their own magical legacies from disappearing, could only hide them in the form of treasure caches. But once a wizard's treasure was hidden, there was the risk of no one ever being able to find it."

"And so treasure maps had to be left behind. A treasure map itself is a Second Circle magical artifact with various functions built into it. Its primary function is to identify suitable wizards."

"Generally speaking, they are wizards with a bloodline. Did you see the real treasure location displayed on it? The Pure-Blood Human Era was a time when all peoples placed considerable emphasis on their own bloodlines."

Locke gave a slight shake of his head.

"Witch Victoria, I am not certain either. One location display result did appear, but I do not know whether this result points to the truly correct location of that Second Circle wizard's treasure cache."

Witch Victoria nodded. "Then you will need to spend time confirming the result."

"This kind of Second Circle magical artifact uses a great deal of ancient techniques, some of which have been completely lost. And so it is difficult to find any shortcut method for breaking through it. If force is used to break through it, the magical artifact itself will be damaged, destroying all of the treasure routes stored within it. Within sealing school wizard circles, there has always been ongoing research into this area, looking for a method that can fully break through this type of ancient treasure map."

"Only, due to various factors, and because not many such treasure maps have surfaced, even when they do appear on the market, the holders are generally unwilling to use them for research purposes. They either hold them for themselves or trade them in the market. The supply of research subjects is therefore limited, and so there is currently no universal method for breaking through them."

Witch Victoria smiled. "If you confirm that you do not meet the conditions yourself, you can bring it to the market and sell it. After all, this thing is extremely valuable in the hands of a wizard who meets the requirements. Of course, if you do not mind the trouble, you could recruit some wizard apprentices who might potentially meet the requirements..."

"Only you would need to verify the results one by one and determine whether each treasure location is genuine. And the southeastern quadrant is still a medium-magic zone that is fairly close to a low-magic environment. Remaining there for an extended period would come at an extremely high marginal cost for you."

Locke gave a slight nod. So that was it.

Witch Victoria said, "There is also a compromise method. You could seek the assistance of a skilled seer, or a seal-breaker. Using advanced divination magic, they could divine the locations indicated by all seventeen targets and the changes in the related routes."

"Or you could invite a seal-breaker to blur the laws on your behalf and break through the inheritance conditions stipulated within the sealing magic." Witch Victoria said, "If I recall correctly, seal-breakers call this something like a Defined Inheritance."

"Not many contract wizards are willing to do this. Becoming a seal-breaker requires a sacrifice."

Locke gave a nod.

Previously, Hussein had demonstrated the Confusion Curse to him, and using the Confusion Curse required signing a contract with hell. First, it would directly forfeit one special unique-plane contracting opportunity, locking it to hell permanently.

And second, there appeared to be other side effects as well.

Signing a contract with hell was in itself an extremely dangerous affair, because hell was among the most adept at playing with contracts of all the unique planes.

Hearing Witch Victoria's suggestion, two potential people came to mind who might be able to help. The first was Hussein.

The second was Witch Georgina.

Because he realized that if Witch Georgina used the Fate Loom to cast Celestial Garment Hunters in reverse to extrapolate the true target and the correct route map from among the seventeen targets on the treasure map, that might also be a viable approach.

Of course, behind Witch Georgina was a key laboratory of Bonifacius University. If he handed the treasure map to her to break through, he would most likely not be able to hold onto the treasure.

Although he was not too attached to this unexpected windfall, there was no need to hand it over to someone else for nothing.

Witch Victoria said, "Having a half-plane that can accommodate Second Circle magical plants is indeed rather troublesome. How about this: you pay me ten million magic stones, and I can use the Thousand-Layer Forge Array to fold your half-plane for you. Though the raw materials would need to be provided by you, my dear Locke."

Locke paused for a moment, and then without showing any reaction on his face, extended his magical power into his astral ring, used the Lingzhi magical plant to open the water hyacinth system, and looked up information on the Thousand-Layer Forge Array.

He found that it was an extraordinarily high-level Third Circle-grade forge array.

Broadly speaking, it could fold an object upon itself like origami while preserving the object completely intact. Because it was a Third Circle-grade forge array, there was very little information available on it.

Locke could find almost nothing beyond its name.

Witch Victoria said, "I can use the Thousand-Layer Forge Array to fold several half-planes together and fold them into the half-plane you originally connected to in the subspace zone through your right eye."

"I estimate it would take six half-planes of roughly the same size as the one connected to your right eye to create a folded version of the half-plane with six layers of parallel space, sufficient to allow a Second Circle magical plant to grow."

Witch Victoria did a quick calculation.

"Six layers of parallel space can only meet your most basic requirements, meaning allowing your half-plane to accommodate Second Circle magical plants. To have a somewhat more comfortable margin, it would be best to bring eight half-planes, and I would use the Thousand-Layer Forge Array to overlay them into eight layers of parallel space for your half-plane."

"In that case, your half-plane would have nine present-world layers, and it is expected that your half-plane would undergo a dimensional upgrade."

Witch Victoria noticed the look of hesitation crossing Locke's face. "Is there a problem?"

Locke smiled ruefully.

"Witch Victoria, I do not have that much money."

Indeed, paying ten million magic stones to invite a Third Circle wizard to use a Third Circle-grade forge array was absolutely not expensive. On the contrary, it was already a friendship price.

And at this moment, if he really pushed himself, paying out this sum was not entirely beyond him.

But what came after? What about cost efficiency?

He was also a wizard who had worked on quite a few projects. After so many small First Circle-level projects had honed him, he had become fairly sensitive to cost control.

The Forest Sanctuary was a magical construct with no obvious follow-up path. Even the Forest Alliance Curse had been deduced and refined by him on the basis left by the former principal of Lilith's Cottage, Principal Lewis.

The subsequent research and development of the Forest Sanctuary, the continued expansion of the magical plant forest, having already reached the level of an Ancient Forest and needing to continue upgrading, and all three of these tasks required consuming large sums of money.

At minimum, it would cost several million magic stones just to start.

And collecting six half-planes would also require several million magic stones at minimum.

Adding it all up, following Witch Victoria's recommendation, he would be spending thirty million magic stones out of nowhere on this one project.

That was simply too staggering.

If he put his money into this, even if he could eventually scrape together that sum, it would severely delay everything else he needed to do.

"Right now I should still be putting resources into wizard shoes first, and second into plane conquest and the test rings..."

Locke thought to himself, "Only by putting resources into wizard shoes and making good products can I enter a positive income cycle."

"Money can summon more money, like a rolling snowball. If I spend everything I have in one go and end up with nothing in hand, who knows how long it would take to accumulate the sixteen or so million magic stones I have now."

Witch Victoria was momentarily taken aback, then did a quick cost calculation for Locke and nodded in agreement.

"Learning to control costs and developing the ability to manage money is a key quality for becoming an excellent wizard."

"And the most important quality."

"Truly impressive, Locke. You really know how to save money. Unlike my shop staff and apprentices."

Witch Victoria looked at Locke with a satisfied nod.

"In that case, overlaying your space would be a once-and-for-all solution. But if you want to control costs, I can offer you a temporary fix. I can have someone build an Elemental Fission Pool for your half-plane using wizard tower technology to temporarily strengthen it."

"I estimate it would cost only five million magic stones."

"Only this, of course, is not as perfect as my first proposal. It treats the symptom rather than the cause."

"With just a modest installation, the Elemental Fission Pool can convert void energy into elemental force, then use its internal functions to convert elemental force into planar force. Using that planar force to strengthen your half-plane will allow it to become a region capable of sustaining Second Circle magical plants."

Witch Victoria said, "A friend of mine mentioned that he has an Elemental Fission Pool that was removed from an abandoned Second Circle wizard tower. It is near the end of its service life, but it can maintain normal operation for at least ten years or more."

"If you want it, it would only cost one hundred thousand magic stones. Consider that a friendship price. This one hundred thousand covers transportation, installation, and related fees."

Locke thought about it briefly and understood the reason.

It was primarily a matter of time.

A wizard at the Second Circle stage, no matter how gifted, would find it very difficult to progress quickly, because their own energy density already exceeded most regions of the infinite void.

And so for a Second Circle wizard, ten years was simply too brief a span.

Clearly, the Elemental Fission Pool was difficult to resell at a meaningful price, which was why it was being half-gifted, half-sold at a total cost of one million magic stones.

An Elemental Fission Pool was a core component of an advanced wizard tower.

Locke estimated that a Second Circle-grade Elemental Fission Pool alone would be worth at least five hundred thousand magic stones, and that was before factoring in other costs.

So a one hundred thousand magic stone total cost was absolutely worthwhile, and could directly resolve the problem he was currently facing of his half-plane being unable to bear a Second Circle magical plant.

"Ten years is already enough for me. It is basically equivalent to having solved the half-plane problem outright."

Locke thought, "Ten years from now, I expect my finances will be considerably more abundant, and resolving this kind of problem can be done more thoroughly then."

"The Elemental Fission Pool will be entirely sufficient."

"Although it is not as perfect as using the Thousand-Layer Forge Array to overlay parallel space, the Elemental Fission Pool can already basically meet my requirements. Using the Thousand-Layer Forge Array to overlay parallel space would only be upgrading from sixty points to eighty points."

The Thousand-Layer Forge Array overlaying parallel space meant using folded space to bring a half-plane to the minimum total magic pressure level of a small-scale plane, thereby sustaining a Second Circle magical plant.

That approach would simulate a small-scale plane to the greatest possible extent and would be more perfect.

That was why Witch Victoria had recommended it initially.

Using the Elemental Fission Pool meant treating the half-plane as a wizard tower.

Out of considerations for cost control and practicality, Locke chose the Elemental Fission Pool.

Locke said to Witch Victoria, "Witch Victoria, please help me install an Elemental Fission Pool in this half-plane."

He took the contact lens from his right eye and placed it on the table.

Witch Victoria picked up the contact lens with a pair of tweezers, then placed it in a magic box.

"Certainly. Come back to collect it in half a month."

"I will arrange a builder crew I know to install the Elemental Fission Pool for you. You can rest assured, our magic glasses shop has a professional ability to keep our clients' information confidential."

Witch Victoria placed two additional lenses on top of Locke's contact lens. "These are partition lenses, which allow the builder crew to enter and work on it while concealing the client's information."

Locke rose, bowed to Witch Victoria, and said, "Thank you, Witch Victoria, for advising me and for finding me a more affordable modification plan."

Witch Victoria said, "You need not thank me. The owner of that near-end-of-service Elemental Fission Pool was already looking for a wizard to sell it to at half-price."

"Some alchemists develop an emotional attachment to their creations and even to the works they have worked with, viewing them as a kind of person and trying to prolong their lifespan as much as possible. This alchemist is that sort of wizard."

Witch Victoria said, "Speaking of which, very soon your teacher will be holding a banquet to celebrate your becoming a Second Circle wizard. Next Wednesday."

"Here, this is the invitation. The gathering is sure to be quite grand."

Locke looked at the invitation letter.

He was not surprised by this, because Witch Yekaterina had previously sent him a message telling him she would hold a celebration banquet for him the following week.

He had originally assumed it would be something like a small gathering among the teacher and students of his lineage, but it seemed Witch Yekaterina was making quite a big occasion of it, with presumably some other purpose behind it.

Witch Victoria smiled. "You do not need to be nervous when the time comes. After all, you are not the real main attraction. Simply enjoy the banquet that belongs to you."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!