574: Seed of Civilization and Ancestral Leaders, The Rejection Incident
Inside the dormitory, Locke placed his left and right hands on the golden tower branch and the Little Vajra Jujube, while simultaneously chanting an incantation to completely establish a mana grafting relationship with both.
An abnormal magic pressure rose from the two powerful magic plants, eerie and ever-changing, with complex spirituality, attempting to resist establishing a mana grafting relationship with Locke.
But behind Locke, the spirituality of an Ancient Tree of Life seedling suddenly appeared. With the support of this spirituality, he used 9,100 magic pressure and boosted it to the limit of the First Ring through the fierce beast panel, forcibly establishing a mana grafting relationship with the two magic plants and incorporating them into the Distributed Psionic Network.
Locke panted softly. "As expected of luxury magic plants in the First Ring; establishing a mana grafting relationship with them is indeed difficult. Even with my fierce beast identity and the Ancient Tree of Life seedling, it was still this hard. If it were an ordinary Botanical Wizard, I estimate it would take at least a year to possibly imprint their soul on these two magic plants."
However, this way, the two luxury magic plants became Locke's left and right hands, as easy to use as his own limbs.
At the same time, the two powerful tree-type magic plants floated in mid-air, with Locke as the core, and began to construct the Spell Model for the Peach Arc Thorn Arrow.
A complex magic circle appeared beneath Locke's feet.
The Peach Arc Thorn Arrow is actually a semi-Ritual Magic. The reason it's called "semi" is that in the era when it first appeared, Ritual Magic didn't exist at all.
Ritual Magic all drew inspiration from ancient magic like the Peach Arc Thorn Arrow.
'The Peach Arc Thorn Arrow needs to connect with the spirituality of the Ancestral Leaders of the ancient human tribes on this land, who cleared the way through thorns and brambles, and borrow the power of the Spark of Civilization from them. Therefore, throughout the process, I must remain focused at all times, without the slightest distraction, and absolutely cannot harbor negative emotions; otherwise, the magic backlash will make things very dangerous for me.'
Locke thought to himself, 'Fortunately, the Little Vajra Jujube has the [Death Substitution] ability, which is a core function that even the Eternal Defense Field doesn't have.'
In this kind of magic backlash, a wizard's Eternal Defense Field is like an eggshell; it can easily withstand external attacks, but in this kind of internal-to-external self-backlash, the effectiveness of the Eternal Defense Field drops significantly.
Of course, it wouldn't be completely useless.
At least it wouldn't let a wizard self-destruct so easily.
At this moment, a mysterious magic circle appeared beneath Locke's feet, consisting of dozens of nested polygons. Inside the circle were three patterns: fire, a blade, and a seed.
The golden tower branch and the Little Vajra Jujube automatically flew into the magic circle, serving as the bridge to summon and connect with the spirituality of the Ancestral Leaders.
During this process, Locke entered a state of extreme focus, in which he even had a distorted perception of time.
But just as Locke wanted to analyze the mechanism behind this distorted perception, magic backlash followed immediately, crashing through his body like a violent river. His Mister Power and Life Reload manifested one after another with the help of the Five-Headed Snake magic plant he carried.
The Little Vajra Jujube dropped some of its fast-growing branches.
The magic circle beneath his feet also vanished.
Locke frowned. "I just subconsciously wanted to analyze that special state, and this instinctive analysis actually caused me to suffer magic backlash. But almost any wizard who encounters an unknown phenomenon would likely remember it, analyze it, or react slightly."
No wonder the Peach Arc Thorn Arrow has such a high danger level and is gradually being phased out.
"It was also because my thoughts were cluttered just now." Locke thought, "I might have misunderstood the focus required for the Peach Arc Thorn Arrow. Whether it's the ordinary Meditation Method or the Advanced Meditation Method, the so-called focus required is for me to simulate the spirituality of a certain power, which means I am actually still thinking."
"Not only thinking, but thinking with high concentration, and the content of the thinking is extremely complex."
He had learned two Meditation Methods in total.
The Ancient Tree of Life Meditation Method made his mana fluctuations like those of an ancient Treant, while the Nature Meditation Method made his magic pressure fluctuations close to the great World Tree.
But the Peach Arc Thorn Arrow required him to not think at all; even focusing on specific content was not allowed.
"It's probably about clearing the mind." Locke thought, "Making my brain stop thinking about anything at all."
"No, it's not that simple. While clearing the mind and stopping thought, my spirituality and magic pressure levels must also change accordingly, entering a special state of stillness."
Locke thought of the literature he had read regarding the Peach Arc Thorn Arrow. "This is the [Blank State] mentioned in the literature. I didn't quite understand why stopping thought was called a Blank State back then, but thinking about it now, it truly refers to my spirituality entering a Blank State. Only then can I connect with the spirituality of the ancient Ancestral Leaders and borrow the special power of the Spark of Civilization from them."
"By letting the Little Vajra Jujube and the golden tower branch carry the power of the Spark of Civilization, I can use the Peach Arc Thorn Arrow—a spell that exceeds the theoretical maximum damage value of the First Ring!"
If the War Ancient Tree's War Spear can achieve the upper limit of damage output in the First Ring stage under certain magic pressure conditions, then the Peach Arc Thorn Arrow can break that limit.
The reason is simple: this spell has Second Ring characteristics, allowing it to link with the spirituality of Ancestral Leaders and achieve damage that an ordinary One-Ring Wizard cannot produce relying solely on their own magic pressure.
Furthermore, if Locke successfully constructs the Peach Arc Thorn Arrow, he can use the golden tower branch and the Little Vajra Jujube. These two magic plants themselves can also borrow the spirituality of the Fire Element Emperor and the Phoenix, as well as that sliver of Vajra spirituality from the Second Ring Level treasure, the Vajra Wizard Stone.
In other words, the damage of the Peach Arc Thorn Arrow will reach an incredible level.
But most importantly, Locke realized that the true purpose of this magic might not be for fighting enemies.
Instead, in ancient times, it was a spell wizards learned in advance specifically to break through barriers and reach the Second Ring.
This function was likely later considered by wizards to have been completely replaced by Ritual Magic, which is probably why no one learns the Peach Arc Thorn Arrow anymore.
However, Witch Yekaterina believed it was still necessary for him to learn the Peach Arc Thorn Arrow, as he could gain things from it that were different from learning Ritual Magic.
Of course, strictly speaking, Witch Yekaterina is very old. Locke couldn't tell if she had a nostalgic bias toward the Peach Arc Thorn Arrow or if she truly believed it had unique advantages.
Regardless, most First Ring Crystallization Wizards of this era... especially those outside the Yunze Wetland, truly haven't understood the real purpose of Ritual Magic.
So, it's also possible that many wizards haven't realized the function of the Peach Arc Thorn Arrow.
Locke said, "I'll just stick to the study plan the Throne Wizard arranged for me; that's the right path."
"First, she arranged for me to contract with the Emerald Dream Plane and made me realize the function of Ritual Magic. Now, she's arranging for me to learn the Peach Arc Thorn Arrow, letting me learn the key prerequisites for the Advanced Meditation Technique."
Locke said, "It's so thoughtful. Indeed, my judgment in coming to Golden Crown Mountain and following Witch Yekaterina was correct. I wonder if other researchers at Golden Crown Mountain get the same treatment. They probably do... Witch Yekaterina spent a lot of time just helping Witch Mason sign the contract for the Ancient Sky Mirage Realm."
"Guiding collaborative wizards and helping them toward the path of the Second Ring seems to be one of Witch Yekaterina's responsibilities. This is similar to how I help Williams and Gregor become Formal Wizards."
Locke studied the Peach Arc Thorn Arrow for a while longer, continuously putting himself into the special state required to learn it.
Through continuous connection with the spirituality of unknown existences, Locke seemed to see, on the ancient and vast land, ancestral people holding torches in their left hands and machetes in their right, practicing slash-and-burn agriculture and spreading the Fire of Civilization.
That was an ignorant period when humans had not yet discovered magic, a time when a seed had just broken through the soil and sprouted, possessing the greatest potential for the future.
As Locke connected with their spirituality, his understanding of Botany magic mysteriously began to increase in this special state.
Under the light of the Fire of Civilization, even the existing knowledge in his mind began to automatically restructure, constantly innovating and giving rise to new knowledge.
However, ten minutes later, the magic circle had already collapsed.
"Three hours..." Locke said. "To complete this spell for the first time, I need to maintain the magic circle ritual for at least three hours, which means entering a Blank State of spirituality with no thoughts at all for three hours."
"Furthermore, I've discovered something else—entering a Blank State of spirituality is for linking with ancient existences, but while in that state, it's also easy for others to take advantage of the opening."
"It would be troublesome if I encountered a nightmare creature or a Disk Creature. Fortunately, I have the spirituality of the Little Vajra Jujube, the Forest Sanctuary, the Ancient Tree of Life seedling, and the golden tower branch. These spiritualities can prevent anything from taking advantage of the opening."
"Also, I can draw lessons from the magic circle of Ritual Magic." Locke's current thinking process, strengthened by the Fire of Civilization, was clearer and followed a sort of vague intuition. "Ritual Magic is composed of multiple parts, each being the result of years of research by High-Ring Wizards from the Star Domain Sea, and those research results have been integrated into the wizards' magic level system."
"Although wizards still have much secret knowledge that they only teach their own students—and even then, they might hold something back—among the higher-ring wizards, many seem to strive to have their research results incorporated into the wizards' power level system."
"Therefore, young wizards like us can even enjoy the benefits brought by the research results of those High-Ring Wizards. Moreover, this Fire of Civilization seems to provide a significant boost to my thinking. It's not that it makes me smarter, but it makes my ability to find key points much more acute."
Locke suspected this was one of the main reasons Witch Yekaterina had him learn Peach Arc Thorn Arrow.
By now, it was already the afternoon of the second day.
Locke decided to take a break. Having suffered continuous magic backlash, he was physically and mentally exhausted. The Little Vajra Jujube also needed time and magical energy to self-recover its lost fast-growing branches.
He first returned to the public laboratory and discussed his project progress with Witch Mason and the others. He found that the pathway mechanisms between 26 types of Pineapple-type Magic Plants and the fertility of magical creatures had all been analyzed once.
At the same time, the analysis of six natural unknown magic structures had been completed, and the grant money was basically spent.
Locke consulted with them regarding the experimental process for tyrant element no. 2. The others would handle the remaining trivial experiments, while he would go to the Feathered Serpent Ancient Pavilion to borrow the queens chessboard.
Next, Locke found Gregory and Williams to ask about their progress in increasing magic pressure and their preparations for the competition, as well as Williams's status on the school team for the Potion Relay Race.
At her workstation, Williams gave Locke a clever smile. "Thank you for your concern, mentor. I'm doing very well on the school team. The wizard leading the team thinks I'm performing excellently."
"She believes my theoretical foundation is solid, and I told her that it's all thanks to your teaching."
Williams said with no small amount of pride, "The school team's guiding mentor decided to let me represent our Golden Crown Mountain in the Potion Relay Race on the day of the Sports Festival."
The Potion Relay Race wasn't about brewing potions. Instead, it involved a group of six First-Class Wizard Apprentice Potion Master Assistants. During the competition, they had to choose and drink a bottle from a large number of unlabeled potions, but a batch of poisons was mixed in among them.
So, the so-called Potion Relay Race was a test of a Potion Master's eye for detail. Of course, there were also unorthodox methods, such as using poison resistance to forcibly compensate for one's lack of identification ability.
The Sports Festival at Golden Crown Mountain wasn't just an internal festival; it also invited most of the nearby wizard organizations of Golden Crown Mountain, inviting their Wizard Apprentices and even Formal Wizards to participate in the athletic competitions.
In Cloud Marsh, these so-called athletic competitions were essentially tied strongly to commerce and politics.
By holding an annual Sports Festival, Golden Crown Mountain could strengthen the cohesion between the students and Formal Wizards within the academy. It also allowed some wizards to take the opportunity to work on projects, and it could draw in nearby small and medium-sized wizard organizations to showcase Golden Crown Mountain's dominance!
In essence, this was a collective activity hosted by Golden Crown Mountain for all the major nearby wizard academies.
In fact, when Golden Crown Mountain wanted to target a specific Wizard Academy, it could indirectly boycott it by not inviting it to participate.
Of course, for Golden Crown Mountain, hosting the Sports Festival also seemed to garner special sponsorship from the White Wizard Association headquarters, which was always happy to see such events take place.
Similarly, those small wizard organizations likely linked participating in the Sports Festival with obtaining specific resources or better recruitment opportunities.
Thus, only after understanding the details of Golden Crown Mountain's Sports Festival did Locke realize why an ordinary Second Ring Wizard had gone to Witch Yekaterina to complain when Williams joined the school team.
It was truly because the Sports Festival was a much more meaningful and important holiday than something like the True Love Festival, which existed solely for commercial purposes.
Behind this festival lay issues involving the allocation of quotas for Wizard Secret Realm resources and resource distribution among the academy's upper management.
Sports were a variant of war, a place where major wizard academies competed for dominance over a region's resources.
Black Wizards needed to obtain resources through war and destruction, while White Wizards always sought to avoid unnecessary destruction. They hoped to become wealthier through war, so they found a new form of warfare—sports.
In fact, by holding athletic competitions, the major wizard academies participating in this alternative war could even turn a profit.
Essentially, the Yunze Cup competition back then was also a form of 'war'.
It was just that the wizards shifted their own war onto the Mekani and the Suryas, two subordinate civilized races.
Locke nodded to Gregor and Williams. "That's good. Work hard. Things will be relatively quiet on my end for a while, at least until I pass the second-tier grant and obtain the first-tier grant."
"So, you need to make good use of this free time to finish your competition entries as soon as possible."
"Gregor, here is a new topic for you. Williams, after observing your work, I found some flaws, so I've specially put together a reading list for you."
"If you follow the topic and the reading list I've provided, you'll be able to discover the flaws in your current Breeding Science designs for yourselves. This will be much more efficient than me telling you the flaws directly."
"This way, you can actually learn it."
Williams said with pleasant surprise, "Thank you, Teacher. Your way of teaching seems different from other Formal Wizards."
Locke thought of Sophia the Witch. Sophia also rarely taught him anything directly, instead only giving him problems to solve and reading lists.
Locke said, "I'm just using a teaching method that is more friendly to smart people."
Gregor said with some lack of confidence, "Teacher? Am I considered a smart person too?"
Williams shot him a glare.
Locke said, "Alright, you two go on ahead."
Locke left the public Breeder laboratory, but he didn't head to the Feathered Serpent Ancient Pavilion immediately. Instead, he first went to his staff dormitory to find Schneider, who was temporarily staying there and writing articles for him.
Schneider lowered his head somewhat guiltily, not daring to look Locke in the eye. "I'm sorry, Lord Augustine."
"I've been working for a month, but recently only one article on the mechanism pathway of the Great Yellow Duck Pineapple and one on the Great Black Diamond Pineapple have entered the tier 2 journal, 'Environment and Plants'."
"The other two were rejected."
Locke frowned, not expecting this to happen.
He had brought Schneider in to write the articles, listing himself as the corresponding author and then giving the first and second authorship to Gregor and Williams respectively.
Though they didn't know it themselves.
Mainly, since it was only a tier 2 journal, if he gave his colleagues or friends a first authorship in tier 2, they might actually take offense.
Even if someone like Daniel were to inexplicably find himself with a tier 2 first authorship, he would likely feel uncomfortable about it.
Besides, if he just added names randomly and attracted the attention of the Ethics and Morality Review Committee and the Academic Committee, it would be a hassle.
And Gregor and Williams had, at the very least, done some grunt work in many of his experiments.
So, adding their names wasn't much of an issue.
Locke asked Schneider to bring over the rejection letters.
After reading through the pile of rejection letters sent to his residence by the journal editors, Locke finally understood what was going on.
It had nothing to do with Schneider's ability to organize data or write articles, nor did it have anything to do with the quality of his key experimental data.
The problem lay with himself.
To be precise, it was because he was the corresponding author.
When he submitted papers before, he had used Witch Yekaterina's name as the corresponding author, so he hadn't noticed this issue at all.
"It's because I'm only a researcher at the True Knowledge Institute and don't hold a senior teaching position. So when I act as the corresponding author, the three reviewing wizards are somewhat biased regarding seniority."
After all, journal peer review is a task where it's impossible to use too many resources for repetitive verification. Finding a few peers to take a look is already good enough.
In such a case, to ensure the quality of the journal, reviewers would inevitably adopt some preconceived notions.
For example, articles where a High-Ring Wizard is the corresponding author must have guaranteed quality, and the possibility of data falsification is low.
While these ideas are very unfair to young First Ring wizards, they are indeed based on certain objective reasons.
Of course, there are also non-objective reasons; it might just be that the academic status of young First Ring wizards is lower, so they can be pushed aside to make way for articles listed with Second Ring or Third Ring Wizards as corresponding authors.
Using Witch Yekaterina as the corresponding author for his previous articles was equivalent to borrowing part of her academic and social status.
Therefore, when submitting to major journals, they would be seen immediately by the editors and treated with seriousness and trust by the peer reviewers invited by those editors.
But when he acted as the corresponding author himself, the situation was completely different.
That's why out of four submissions to tier 2 journals, only two were accepted—it was because his current academic status was relatively low.
As for why two of his articles were accepted, it was likely due to good luck, happening to encounter three reviewing wizards who didn't have too much seniority worship, so they let them through.
Among them, because the Great Yellow Duck Pineapple was related to the new natural magic structural component of the great yellow duck crown pineapple he had published in the tier 1 'Green Grass Cloud Marsh', that related article on the Great Yellow Duck Pineapple had the endorsement of a tier 1 journal. Thus, whether it was the editor, the editor-in-chief, or the three reviewers, they had more reason and confidence to let that article pass into a mere tier 2 journal.
'Environment and Plants' was also a top-tier Botany journal within the second district of Cloud Marsh, so the entire mechanism responsible for reviewing would be relatively fair.